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Articles 1 - 5 of 5
Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
The Contact Period Of Central Peten, Guatemala In Color, Timothy W. Pugh, Leslie G. Cecil
The Contact Period Of Central Peten, Guatemala In Color, Timothy W. Pugh, Leslie G. Cecil
Faculty Publications
When Bernal Díaz del Castillo passed by Nojpeten with Hernán Cortés in 1525, he remarked upon the Itza capital’s brilliant whiteness, even from a great distance (Jones 1998:69). However had he stood in the central plaza, he would have discerned that the sun’s reflection eclipsed artifacts and architecture of a variety of colors. The archaeological record is frequently similarly whitewashed by our focus upon form, weight, and distribution. Nevertheless, color helped imbue the Contact period (AD 1525-1697) world of the Maya of the Petén lakes region of Guatemala with significance. This paper investigates the colors of ritual paraphernalia encountered in …
Low Frequency Temperature Variability And Native American Horticulture In The Northern Southwest And Eastern Great Basin, James R. Allison
Low Frequency Temperature Variability And Native American Horticulture In The Northern Southwest And Eastern Great Basin, James R. Allison
Faculty Publications
Recent paleoclimatic studies reconstruct low-frequency variability in temperature that may have affected the success of Native American horticulture. Potential effects of this temperature variability include shifts in the range of elevations within which horticulture was viable, and changes in the northern limits of horticulture- based economies. This paper examines radiocarbon dates and other chronological data from Fremont and Puebloan sites in Utah, eastern Nevada, and northwestern Arizona, comparing the low-frequency temperature reconstructions with the timing of expansion and contraction in the northern frontier of maize horticulture and temporal shifts in the elevations of farming settlements.
Astronomical Implications For The Mound Of The Cross At Paquimé, Chihuahua, Mexico, Michael T. Searcy, David Derrick
Astronomical Implications For The Mound Of The Cross At Paquimé, Chihuahua, Mexico, Michael T. Searcy, David Derrick
Faculty Publications
The fourteenth-century site of Paquimé represents the apogee of the Casas Grandes cultural tradition. Monumental architecture such as effigy mounds and ball courts contrast sharply with other sites in the U.S. Southwest/Northwest Mexico. In particular, the Mound of the Cross, a cardinally aligned mound structure, suggests that those at Paquimé were aware of and may have tracked celestial bodies as part of a seasonal round. Findings also suggest that the alignment of the cross can be attributed to solar patterns that are different than today’s due to earth’s precessional cycle.
Social Variability In The Emergence Of The Pueblo World, Richard Wilshusen, Gregson Schachner, James R. Allison
Social Variability In The Emergence Of The Pueblo World, Richard Wilshusen, Gregson Schachner, James R. Allison
Faculty Publications
Between A.D. 650 and 950, there was a near total reorganization of society in the northern Southwest. In some areas, intensive agriculture, high population growth rates, and large villages appeared. In others, diverse mixes of subsistence strategies enabled the creation of aggregated communities and semi-sedentary settlements within the same landscape. A third pattern of high mobility and seasonal use of smaller settlements defined much of the periphery. In many areas, people pursuing more than one of these patterns resided simultaneously. We propose that the patterns established by A.D. 800 were integral in the shaping of later Pueblo history.
Meanwhile, In The West: Early Pueblo Communities In Southeastern Utah, James R. Allison, Winston B. Hurst, Jonathan D. Till, Donald C. Irwin
Meanwhile, In The West: Early Pueblo Communities In Southeastern Utah, James R. Allison, Winston B. Hurst, Jonathan D. Till, Donald C. Irwin
Faculty Publications
The early Pueblo settlement of what is now southeastern Utah exhibits patterns that complement and contrast with trends in better-known regions such as southwestern Colorado (see Wilshusen et al., Chapter 2). Shortcomings in the current data limit the detail we can include in this description, but a number of patterns are clear. This chapter elucidates the patterned variability in the area's settlement strategies, the basic trends associated with social organization, and the basic demographic trends through time. We hope to develop, in the end, a basic historical narrative for these last centuries of the first millennium.