Jade, Scepters, and Seats of Power: Symbols of Authority on the Central American Coast, 300 BC-AD 300

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Coastal Connections: Pacific Coastal Links from Mexico to Ecuador" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

This paper documents a widespread shift during the period from 300 BC-AD 300 toward symbolism associated with authority and rulership along the Pacific coast, throughout the region spanning between southern Chiapas and the Nicoya Peninsula of Costa Rica. During this period, several notable changes in burial patterns, status-affirming objects, and iconographic motifs occurred, suggesting that inequality became more institutionalized among Pacific coastal cultures. This paper addresses some of these common motifs and practices associated with authority while addressing the regional diversity in the application of these themes. Specifically, this paper addresses four classes of artifacts discovered in burials and other elite contexts dating to 300 BC-AD 300. These objects, including Usulutan pottery, jade ornaments, zoomorphic scepters, and "seats of power," illustrate shared concepts of political authority.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)   •
• Coastal Connections: Pacific Coastal Links from Mexico to Ecuador

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 23644