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Articles 31 - 49 of 49
Full-Text Articles in Archaeological Anthropology
Public Ritual Sacrifice As A Controlling Mechanism For The Aztec, Madeline Nicholson
Public Ritual Sacrifice As A Controlling Mechanism For The Aztec, Madeline Nicholson
Honors Scholar Theses
For decades, archaeologists have researched the fascinating finds of Aztec sacrifice. Evidence of their sacrifices are seen on temple walls, stone carvings, bones, and in Spanish chronicler drawings. Although public ritual sacrifice was practiced before the Aztecs, with evidence from the Olmec civilization (1200-1300 BCE) and Maya (200-900 BCE), Aztec sacrifices are among the most extensively documented. How does such a practice survive in different civilizations through different rulers? This thesis will analyze the phases of Aztec public ritual sacrifice (specifically the location, length, and number of sacrifices) and the close relationship to their origin myths, or founding stories. It …
An Iterative 3d Gis Analysis Of The Role Of Visibility In Ancient Maya Landscapes: A Case Study From Copan, Honduras, Heather Richards-Rissetto
An Iterative 3d Gis Analysis Of The Role Of Visibility In Ancient Maya Landscapes: A Case Study From Copan, Honduras, Heather Richards-Rissetto
Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications
For several decades, Geographic Information Systems (GISs) have held center stage in archaeological studies of ancient landscapes. Recently, three-dimensional (3D) technologies such as airborne LiDAR and aerial photogrammetry are allowing us to acquire inordinate amounts of georeferenced 3D data to locate, map, and visualize archaeological sites within their surrounding landscapes. GIS offers locational precision, data overlay, and complex spatial analysis. Three-dimensionality adds a ground-based perspective lacking in two-dimensional GIS maps to provide archaeologists a sense of mass and space more closely attuned with human perception. This article uses comparative and iterative approaches ‘tacking back and forth’ between GIS and 3D …
Talking With The Dead From Southern Mexico: Tracing Bioarchaeological Foundations And New Perspectives In Oaxaca, Ricardo Higelin Ponce De León, Guy David Hepp
Talking With The Dead From Southern Mexico: Tracing Bioarchaeological Foundations And New Perspectives In Oaxaca, Ricardo Higelin Ponce De León, Guy David Hepp
Anthropology Faculty Publications
In recent years, bioarchaeological research has emerged as one of the principal tools for studying diverse aspects of ancient society through the analysis of human remains. Oaxaca, Mexico is a culturally diverse region of Mesoamerica that today boasts at least sixteen discrete ethnolinguistic groups. Bioarchaeology in Oaxaca has traditionally focused on the Late Formative and Classic period (500 BCE–800 CE) Zapotec city of Monte Albán, and on its hinterland. Largely descriptive, these studies provided basic discussions of health, nutrition, and funerary offerings. Beyond the Valley of Oaxaca, much less comprehensive bioarchaeological research has been undertaken to date. Never before have …
The Early Pottery Of San Antonio, Department Of Chinandega, Nicaragua, Kelsey I. Willis
The Early Pottery Of San Antonio, Department Of Chinandega, Nicaragua, Kelsey I. Willis
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
I analyzed the potsherds (n=732) recovered from the 2009 archaeological excavations at the site of San Antonio in Chinandega, Nicaragua. I classified the pottery in accordance with the Type: Variety-Mode system that is used almost exclusively in Mesoamerica and the Greater Nicoya Sub-Region. Identifications of known ceramic wares, groups, types, and varieties were made through comparisons with reference specimens from type collections housed at several institutions. New taxa were defined as needed in accordance with the established protocols of the Type: Variety system (e.g., Smith et al. 1960) and as subsequently amended (e.g., Rice 1976). In the thesis, I describe …
Producing Goods, Shaping People: The Materiality Of Crafting, Julia A. Hendon
Producing Goods, Shaping People: The Materiality Of Crafting, Julia A. Hendon
Anthropology Faculty Publications
The study of craft production has a long and venerable history in archaeological research on ancient societies. In this chapter, I consider the crafting of useful and desired things from a materiality perspective by looking at the interactions between the craftpersons, the materials with which they work, and the ways that their end products are valued in society. I use two examples: working with fibers by the Maya of Mesoamerica and with metals by the Moche of Andean South America. These are two very different kinds of materials whose characteristics affect how one interacts with them. Crafting was a part …
The Fall Of Teotihuacan, Elizabeth P. Ale
The Fall Of Teotihuacan, Elizabeth P. Ale
Undergraduate Research Posters
In this project I present a survey of multiple theories regarding the dissolution of the ancient Mesoamerican city of Teotihuacan. This complex city-state was established around 100 BCE and became one of the largest and most powerful sites in Mesoamerica. Located about 25 miles northeast of what is today known as Mexico City, Teotihuacan was home to many advanced technological and social structures, including a pyramid called The Pyramid of the Sun that boasted a base as large as the Great Pyramid of Giza’s. At some time between the 7th and 8th century CE, Teotihuacan went into decline. …
Communing With Nature, The Ancestors And The Neighbors: Ancient Ceramic Musical Instruments From Coastal Oaxaca, Mexico, Guy David Hepp, Sarah B. Barber, Arthur A. Joyce
Communing With Nature, The Ancestors And The Neighbors: Ancient Ceramic Musical Instruments From Coastal Oaxaca, Mexico, Guy David Hepp, Sarah B. Barber, Arthur A. Joyce
Anthropology Faculty Publications
The Mesoamerican Formative period (1600 BCE–CE 250) saw the establishment of sedentism, dietary transformations and the development of ceramic technologies for subsistence, artistic representation and the region’s earliest preserved musical instruments. These instruments include aerophones such as whistles, ocarinas and flutes. In this paper, we describe sixty-three ceramic aerophones from mostly Formative period contexts in coastal Oaxaca, Mexico. We situate our analysis in the broader contexts of research on music and iconography in Mesoamerican archaeology, as well as of the anthropology of sensory perception. Through a consideration of archaeological context, artifact form and technical properties, we conclude that music was …
Cultural And Contextual Differentiation Of Mesoamerican Iconography In The U.S Southwest/Northwest Mexico, Michael T. Searcy
Cultural And Contextual Differentiation Of Mesoamerican Iconography In The U.S Southwest/Northwest Mexico, Michael T. Searcy
Faculty Publications
Ample research has documented the long-term interaction between Mesoamerica and the U.S. Southwest/Northwest Mexico (SW/NW). Nelson (2006:345) has used the phrase ''Mesoamerican interaction markers" as a way to describe evidence of the is contact in the SW /NW. He further defines these as "a variety of archaeological patterns that are reminiscent of Mesoamerican counterparts" including "objects, practices, and styles." Some of the interaction markers that have been studied at length are trade goods such as copper bells, macaws, shell, and iron pyrite mirrors (Bayman 2002; Bradley 1993; Ericson and Baugh 1993; Kelley 1966, 1995; Mathien 1993; McGuire 1993p; Nelson 2000; …
Social Memory And Ritualized Practice In Prehispanic Honduras, Julia A. Hendon
Social Memory And Ritualized Practice In Prehispanic Honduras, Julia A. Hendon
Anthropology Faculty Publications
This paper discusses ritualized practices in domestic spaces as signs of an ongoing and dynamic engagement between the people living there and non-human material and incorporeal social actors, using archaeological evidence from the ancient town of Cerro Palenque and related sites in northwestern Honduras occupied from the 7th to 11th centuries. The paper considers the ways that figurines, pottery, and other kinds of material culture were given meaning through their involvement in these ritualized practices, the materiality of the objects themselves, and their association with human bones. These practices are situated in particular spaces and occur at particular points in …
Social Interaction At The Maya Site Of Copan, Honduras: A Least Cost Approach To Configurational Analysis, Heather Richards-Rissetto
Social Interaction At The Maya Site Of Copan, Honduras: A Least Cost Approach To Configurational Analysis, Heather Richards-Rissetto
Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications
In this article, I employ least cost paths using GIS to measure the relationship between site configuration and social connectivity at the ancient Maya site of Copan, Honduras. I investigate two questions. First, did people of different social classes experience varying degrees of social connectivity? Second, did people living in different parts of the city experience difference degrees of social connectivity? Ultimately, the goal is modify traditional configurational analysis using least cost analysis (LCA) to identify how social hierarchy was embedded in landscapes and how ancient people may have strategically manipulated landscapes to structure social interaction and community organization.
Houses In A Landscape: Memory And Everyday Life In Mesoamerica, Julia A. Hendon
Houses In A Landscape: Memory And Everyday Life In Mesoamerica, Julia A. Hendon
Gettysburg College Faculty Books
In Houses in a Landscape, Julia A. Hendon examines the connections between social identity and social memory using archaeological research on indigenous societies that existed more than one thousand years ago in what is now Honduras. While these societies left behind monumental buildings, the remains of their dead, remnants of their daily life, intricate works of art, and fine examples of craftsmanship such as pottery and stone tools, they left only a small body of written records. Despite this paucity of written information, Hendon contends that an archaeological study of memory in such societies is possible and worthwhile. It …
Cultural And Contextual Differentiation Of Mesoamerican Iconography In The Southwest/Northwest, Michael T. Searcy
Cultural And Contextual Differentiation Of Mesoamerican Iconography In The Southwest/Northwest, Michael T. Searcy
Faculty Publications
Ample research has documented the long-term interaction between Mesoamerica and the U.S. Southwest/Northwest Mexico (SW/NW). Nelson (2006:345) has used the phrase "Mesoamerican interaction markers" as a way to describe evidence of this contact in the SW/NW. He further defines these as "a variety of archaeological patterns that are reminiscent of Mesoamerican counterparts" including "objects, practices, and styles." Some of the interaction markers that have been studied at length are trade goods such as copper bells, macaws, shell, and iron pyrite mirrors (Bayman 2002; Bradley 1993; Ericson and Baugh 1993; Kelley 1966, 1995; Mathien 1993; McGuire 1993b; Nelson 2000; Riley 2005). …
Heterarchy As Complexity: Archaeology In Yoro, Honduras, Julia A. Hendon, Rosemary A. Joyce, Russell Sheptak
Heterarchy As Complexity: Archaeology In Yoro, Honduras, Julia A. Hendon, Rosemary A. Joyce, Russell Sheptak
Anthropology Faculty Publications
Based on archaeological evidence from the Cuyumapa Valley in Honduras, including the presence of multiple ballcourts, this paper argues that archaeologists need to pay more attention to Carole Crumley's concept of heterarchy when considering social relations, political relations, and power in ancient societies such as those of the Maya and their neighbors in Mesoamerica. We redefine complexity to include less centralized but regionally heterogeneous societies in which social and political relations are not all centralized into a single hierarchical structure. The Cuyumapa Valley falls in the zone traditionally described as the southeastern edge or periphery of Mesoamerica. Yet our research …
Local Interaction And Long Distance Connections In The Ulua Valley: The View From Cerro Palenque, Julia A. Hendon
Local Interaction And Long Distance Connections In The Ulua Valley: The View From Cerro Palenque, Julia A. Hendon
Anthropology Faculty Publications
The site of Cerro Palenque, the largest settlement in the lower Ulua Valley (Sula Valley) in Honduras during the ninth and tenth centuries AD, was a locus of craft production of figurines and pottery, feasting, the ballgame, and other events associated with its ballcourt. Based on the analysis of imported obsidian, the evidence for ritual and craft production, and the layout of the settlement, Cerro Palenque maintained long distance trade connections with Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize. It also took part in local rituals and events with its smaller neighbors in the valley.
Moving From A Grinding Halt: Expanding The Interpretation Of Ground Stone Through Ethnoarchaeology, Michael T. Searcy, Jaime Holthusen
Moving From A Grinding Halt: Expanding The Interpretation Of Ground Stone Through Ethnoarchaeology, Michael T. Searcy, Jaime Holthusen
Faculty Publications
Some of the most ubiquitous artifacts found at archaeological sites across Mesoamerica are manos and metates. Yet these important household implements continue to be underrepresented in the archaeological literature. This paper highlights recent ethnographic research on groundstone produced and used by four Mayan communities in Guatemala. We demonstrate how the size of grinding surfaces can be indicative of function, and how modern taboos can be examined to explore notions of gender. Groundstone from the site of La Quemada, Mexico is then analyzed in light of such inferences to evaluate the consistency of archaeological patterning with ethnographic observations.
Importation Of Obsidian At Cerro Palenque, Honduras: Results Of An Analysis By Edxrf, Julia A. Hendon
Importation Of Obsidian At Cerro Palenque, Honduras: Results Of An Analysis By Edxrf, Julia A. Hendon
Anthropology Faculty Publications
The results of source analysis by EDXRF of obsidian artifacts from the Mesoamerican site of Cerro Palenque in Honduras are reported and changes over time discussed. Sources of obsidian include Ixtepeque, El Chayal, Jalapa, San Martin Jilotepeque, and San Barolome in Guatemala. Some Pachuca obsidian from Mexico was also found. Honduran sources include La Esperanza and La Union. The implications of the obsidian sources are discussed in the context of changes at Cerro Palenque over time as it becomes the largest settlement in the lower Ulua Valley (Sula Valley) in the ninth century AD.
Bodies Moving In Space: Ancient Mesoamerican Human Sculpture And Embodiment, Holly Bachand, Rosemary Joyce, Julia A. Hendon
Bodies Moving In Space: Ancient Mesoamerican Human Sculpture And Embodiment, Holly Bachand, Rosemary Joyce, Julia A. Hendon
Anthropology Faculty Publications
Judith Butler’s proposal that embodiment is a process of repeated citation of precedents leads us to consider the experiential effects of Mesoamerican practices of ornamenting space with images of the human body. At Late Classic Maya Copán, life-size human sculptures were attached to residences, intimate settings in which body knowledge was produced and body practices institutionalized. Moving through the space of these house compounds, persons would have been insistently presented with measures of their bodily decorum. These insights are used to consider the possible effects on people of movement around Formative period Olmec human sculptures, which are not routinely recovered …
A Flexible Corporation: Classic Period House Societies In Eastern Mesoamerica, Julia A. Hendon, Rosemary A. Joyce
A Flexible Corporation: Classic Period House Societies In Eastern Mesoamerica, Julia A. Hendon, Rosemary A. Joyce
Anthropology Faculty Publications
House society models, based on the work of Levi-Strauss but since refined by cultural anthropologists and archaeologists, provide a good model for understanding social organization among the ancient Maya and their neighbors in Mesoamerica based on a comparative study of societies in the Copan Valley, the lower Ulua Valley (Sula Valley), and the Cuyumapa Valley, all in Honduras. Social Houses are flexible, enduring social groupings that define kinship flexibly, recognizing adoption, marriage, shared residency, and other factors as ways to create ties that endure over generations.
Household Archaeology And Reconstructing Social Organization In Ancient Complex Societies: A Consideration Of Models And Concepts Based On Study Of The Prehispanic Maya, Julia A. Hendon
Anthropology Faculty Publications
Studies of the settlement pattern in the Copan Valley, Honduras, indicate that a House society model provides the best way to understand the social organization of the Late Classic period Maya. The House society model, based on Levi-Strauss's original work but since modified by anthropologists and archaeologists, does not replace household archaeology. Instead, the model allows archaeologists to discuss the continuation of social identity over time.