The Emergence of Social Complexity in the Precolumbian Socioceremonial Center of Java in Southern Costa Rica.

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The settlement of Java is a Precolumbian socioceremonial center located on a hilltop in the Coto Brus Valley, in Southern Costa Rica. An intensive survey of the site revealed that the main occupation of the site occurred several centuries earlier than previously thought. Java is one of the largest settlements from the Aguas Buenas period, with an area of approximately 40 ha and a population between 400 and 800 people. In spite of the copious amounts of stone sculptures, petroglyphs, and possibly residential earthen mounds, the ceramic and lithic remains have the characteristics of a domestic assemblage and they show very little variation across the different sectors of the site. In other words, there are no indications of inequalities based on wealth accumulation or access to fine ceramics or specialized tools, which are often interpreted as status markers. Finally, the concentration of the population on the hilltop, the privileged view of the valley, and the clearly delimited layout of the settlement indicate a potential concern about the threat of violence. These results question long-held assumptions in the regional archaeology about the relationship between hierarchy and monumentality.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 38702.0