Centralizing Central America: New Evidence, Fresh Perspectives, and Working on New Paradigms

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Centralizing Central America: New Evidence, Fresh Perspectives, and Working on New Paradigms" at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Ironically, Central America has tended to be peripheral in Latin American archaeology, as scholars (and their funding agencies) have gravitated to the more glamorous cultures of Mesoamerica and Andean South America. Nevertheless, a growing cadre of young Central American archaeologists (and a handful of intrepid international scholars) have followed in the footsteps of such trailblazers as Baudez, Coe, Cooke, Haberland, Lange, Lothrop, Stone, and Willey. This session will present new evidence and fresh perspectives from Central America (including El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama), organized around the themes of cultural ecology, complexity, regional interaction, and social identities. Presenters include scholars who have recently contributed to a publication series on the cultural mosaic of ancient Central America, as an opportunity to further expand their research and develop stronger linkages across the region. As we move from the substantive to the more theoretical, we hope to move Central American archaeology toward more anthropologically engaged interpretations.