Feasting, Shell Middens, and Monumentality in Northeastern Honduras

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Ceramics and Archaeological Sciences 2024" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

At the site of Selin Farm (AD 300–1000) in northeastern Honduras, recent research revealed repeated episodes of large-scale feasting occurring over a period of nearly a thousand years leading up to major shifts in local social and political organization (Goodwin 2019; Reeder-Myers et al. 2021). Shell midden mounds at the site contain large deposits of well-preserved pottery, lithics, and faunal remains disposed of as part of feasting events, including one artificial mound that represents the earliest example of monumental architecture in the region. Feasts have been identified as arenas where local politics are played out—emergent leaders use these performances to merge long-standing traditions and new rituals (and ritual objects) in an effort to alter their social standing. By focusing on feasting contexts and evaluating the origin of the pottery used in these settings via compositional studies using neutron activation analysis, the current study aims to bring together information on participation in regional exchange systems and emerging complexity in northeastern Honduras to understand how these two significant sociocultural changes were intertwined in the past.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)   •
• Ceramics and Archaeological Sciences 2024

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 37793.0