The earliest Lowland Maya are commonly recognized by permanent architecture and the appearance of pottery. However, when other lines of evidence are considered, strong continuities with late Archaic ...populations can be seen. Reconciling these views relies on more than simply gathering more data. It is also necessary to consider the effect of decades of scholarship that defines the precolumbian Maya as “civilization” rather than considering the historical contexts of important transitions, such as the one that culminated with sedentism, the adoption of new technologies, and participation in long-distance exchange. The Archaic-to-Preclassic transition was relatively brief and largely obscured by the practices of establishing permanent dwellings. Nevertheless, this period must have been extremely dynamic and marked by significant cultural change, making it important to researchers interested in early Mesoamerica. Using three lines of evidence—subsistence, economy and technology, and stratigraphically controlled radiocarbon data—this article argues that the Lowland Maya had their cultural origins at least in the late Archaic and that the case for pottery before ca. 1000 B.C. remains uncertain. Future research is needed to determine precisely how far back in time certain cultural practices that characterize Preclassic and Classic Maya society can be documented.
Often characterized by distinctive chipped-stone technology, the Calf Creek cultural horizon made its first appearance in the central and southern plains of North America some six thousand years ago. ...Distributed over a known area of more than 500,000 square miles, it is one of the largest post-Paleoindian archaeological cultural complexes identified to date. One of the most notable aspects of Calf Creek culture is its distinctive, deeply notched bifaces, many of which show evidence of heat-treating. Recent targeted dating suggests that these unique traits, which required exacting knapping and other techniques for production, arose in a relatively narrow window, sometime around 5,950–5,700 calendar years before the present. Given the wide geographical distribution of Calf Creek artifacts, however, researchers surmise that these technological innovations, once adopted, spread fairly quickly throughout the associated cultural groups. Editors Jon C. Lohse, Marjorie A. Duncan, and Don G. Wyckoff have collected in this comprehensive volume much of what is currently known about the Calf Creek cultural horizon. In a collaboration involving professional and academic archaeologists, landowners, and avocationalists, The Calf Creek Horizon brings together for the first time in a single source fine details of geographic distribution, regional variability, typology, and technological aspects of Calf Creek material culture. This first-ever “big picture” view will inform and direct related research for years to come.
Were most commoners in ancient Mesoamerica poor? In a material sense, yes, probably so. Were they poor in their beliefs and culture? Certainly not, as Commoner Ritual and Ideology in Ancient ...Mesoamerica demonstrates. This volume explores the ritual life of Mesoamerica's common citizens, inside and outside of the domestic sphere, from Formative through Postclassic periods. Building from the premise that ritual and ideological expression inhered at all levels of society in Mesoamerica, the contributors demonstrate that ideology did not emanate solely from exalted individuals and that commoner ritual expression was not limited to household contexts. Taking an empirical approach to this under-studied and under-theorized area, contributors use material evidence to discover how commoner status conditioned the expression of ideas and values. Revealing complex social hierarchies that varied across time and region, this volume offers theoretical approaches to commoner ideology, religious practice, and sociopolitical organization and builds a framework for future study of the correlation of ritual and ideological expression with social position for Mesoamericanists and archaeologists worldwide.
We used a XAD-purified AMS radiocarbon method to date 62 bison specimens from different contexts on the very southern extent of the Great Plains of North America to produce a precise chronology of ...bison population expansions spanning the last 6000 years. Sixty-one of these samples provide stable carbon and nitrogen isotope data indicating relative temperature and moisture conditions during intervals defined by the presence of bison within this time span. This chronology indicates climatic conditions favorable to bison were present in the greater central Texas area, including the uplifted Edwards Plateau and extending to the Coastal Plain during periods from ∼5955 to 5815, ∼3290 to 3130, 2700 to 2150, and 650 to 530 cal BP. However, isotope results suggest climatic conditions differed for each period. The earliest “Calf Creek” period was characterized by cool but dry conditions, the later “Late Archaic 1 & 2” periods were increasingly warmer and wetter, and the latest “Toyah” period was cooler and drier than the Late Archaic periods, but warmer and wetter than Calf Creek. Both the Calf Creek and Toyah periods had higher variability within these overall trends. Comparison with regional records suggests that these periods represent variation within generally cool–dry climates. Human adaptive response to increased bison availability resulted in significant cultural changes across all four periods.
•Mid to late Holocene bison from the far Southern Plains provide stable isotope data.•Climate for four bison periods is reconstructed using carbon and nitrogen isotopes.•Bison expansion into the study area is associated with relatively cold, dry climates.•Variations within these climatic conditions are quantified.
We present a record of late Holocene volcanic eruptions with elemental data for a sequence of sampled tephras from Lake Amatitlan in Highland Guatemala. Our tephrochronology is anchored by a Bayesian ...P_Sequence age-depth model based on multiple AMS radiocarbon dates. We compare our record against a previously published study from the same area to understand the record of volcanism and environmental changes. This work has implications for understanding the effects of climate and other environmental changes that may be related to the emission of volcanic aerosols at local, regional and global scales.
•Late Holocene volcanic activity in Highland Guatemala was episodic.•Elemental data from multiple tephras are presented and compared with published source data to identify sources of eruptions.•Sequence is controlled by Bayesian age-depth model.•Volcanism did not seriously affect regional populations, as opposed to Late Formative mega-droughts, but may have exacerbated drought recoveries in the case of Ilopango.
A recent publication by Keith Prufer and colleagues based on new data from southern Belize defines a "Lowe complex" and seeks to relate these finds to Late Paleoindian technologies in North and South ...America. This review corrects some parts of the record as presented by Prufer et al.
Alienating Ancient Maya Commoners Lohse, Jon C
Archeological papers of the American Anthropological Association,
03/2013, Letnik:
23, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Determining whether or how ancient Maya commoners were alienated from the results of their labor first requires that scholars recognize what impediments or biases have hindered a theoretically ...informed view of commoners and their social roles. Using historical developments in Mesoamerican archaeology as a guide, I examine why Maya archaeology since the mid-1980s has tended to focus so strongly on elites, often to the exclusion of commoners. I then discuss different identities that Maya commoners may have assumed based on alienable or inalienable social labor in both public and private contexts. PUBLICATION ABSTRACT
6 Alienating Ancient Maya Commoners Lohse, Jon C.
Archeological papers of the American Anthropological Association,
03/2013, Letnik:
23, Številka:
1
Journal Article
ABSTRACT
Determining whether or how ancient Maya commoners were alienated from the results of their labor first requires that scholars recognize what impediments or biases have hindered a ...theoretically informed view of commoners and their social roles. Using historical developments in Mesoamerican archaeology as a guide, I examine why Maya archaeology since the mid‐1980s has tended to focus so strongly on elites, often to the exclusion of commoners. I then discuss different identities that Maya commoners may have assumed based on alienable or inalienable social labor in both public and private contexts.
Evidence from preceramic Paleoindian and Archaic time periods in Belize has been recorded over the past quarter of a century by a number of projects. This paper summarizes previously published ...information and presents new archaeological data in bringing the hunting-and-gathering and itinerant horticultural millennia of this region into a more accurate and comprehensive perspective than has been presented to date. The Paleoindian period includes influences from North as well as South America, with settlement preferences shown for river valleys and near-coastal margins. Cave sites hold particular promise for yielding new and well-preserved remains from this early period. The Archaic, beginning as early as 8000 B.C., is poorly dated until 3400 B.C. and was probably characterized by mobile hunter-foragers. The Late Archaic includes two facets, the Early (3400–1900 B.C.) and the Late (1500–900 B.C.) Preceramic, and represents the first appearance and gradual spread of cultivation together with habitat modification. The period beginning around 1500 B.C. shows intensifying maize cultivation, apparently mobile populations, and also the emergence of well-defined stone tool traditions that trend into the early Middle Preclassic. Ceramics seem to appear unevenly from ca. 1200 to 900 B.C., when the Cunil and Kanocha complexes in western Belize and Swasey sphere in northern Belize are reported.
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