Landscape Setting as Medium of Communication at Chavín de Huántar, Peru

2015 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 513-530 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel A. Contreras
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Dynamic Environment ◽  
Formative Period ◽  
Monumental Architecture ◽  
Peruvian Andes ◽  
Chavin De Huantar ◽  
Dynamic Landscape ◽  
Multiple Audiences ◽  
Late Formative ◽  
Chavín De Huántar

The Central Andean ceremonial centre of Chavín de Huántar is situated in a dramatic, mountainous and dynamic environment high on the eastern slope of the Peruvian Andes, yet the site's landscape setting has remained in the shadow of its monumental architecture, complex lithic art and highly elaborated material culture. Nevertheless, that dynamic landscape setting was an integral part of the site's significance as a ceremonial centre and may be read as evidence of the capacity, worldview and message of the site's builders. First, Chavín's setting is evidence of capacity, demonstrating the considerable degree of labour mobilization and organization, as well as expertise, implied by the site's modified landscape. Second, Chavín's landscape, considered in its Central Andean context, provides evidence of worldview, demonstrating that landscape setting was a medium of interest for Chavín's designers. Third, the modified landscape provides evidence of message, allowing exploration of what Chavín's designers were trying to communicate, and to whom. Focusing on these three aspects in reading Chavín's landscape suggests that landscape setting was a vital aspect of Central Andean Middle and Late Formative Period (1000–500 bce) ceremonial centres and argues that emergent elites actively exploited landscape setting as a communicative medium and forum for dissemination of ideology, deliberately communicating to multiple audiences.

Llamas on the Land: Production and Consumption of Meat at Chavín de Huántar, Peru

2016 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 497-511 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvana A. Rosenfeld ◽  
Matthew P. Sayre
Keyword(s):  
Formative Period ◽  
Local Economy ◽  
Monumental Architecture ◽  
Bone Tools ◽  
Peruvian Andes ◽  
Production And Consumption ◽  
Economic Strategies ◽  
Chavin De Huantar ◽  
Abundant Evidence ◽  
Chavín De Huántar

Chavín de Huántar is a Formative-period site (broadly 1500–200 B.C.) in the Peruvian Andes known for its highly complex art and monumental architecture. Recent excavations in the La Banda sector uncovered domestic settlements. The zooarchaeological analysis demonstrates that meat was locally produced and many bone tools were manufactured in this sector. These results contrast with previous faunal analysis from other parts of the site in which it was argued that dry camelid meat on the bone (ch’arki) was traded in exchange for local crops. The local economy of Chavín de Huántar was complex, showing different economic strategies across the site. While there is abundant evidence for the trade of lightweight exotic goods at the site (seashells, marine bone, obsidian, and cinnabar), the subsistence economy was locally focused.

scholarly journals The Life and Death of a Child: Mortuary and Bodily Manifestations of Coast–Interior Interactions during the Late Formative Period (AD 100–400), Northern Chile

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Christina Torres-Rouff ◽  
Gonzalo Pimentel ◽  
William J. Pestle ◽  
Mariana Ugarte ◽  
Kelly J. Knudson
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Life Experience ◽  
Formative Period ◽  
Northern Chile ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Life And Death ◽  
Interregional Interaction ◽  
Intercultural Identity ◽  
Late Formative

Camelid pastoralism, agriculture, sedentism, surplus production, increasing cultural complexity, and interregional interaction during northern Chile's Late Formative period (AD 100–400) are seen in the flow of goods and people over expanses of desert. Consolidating evidence of material culture from these interactions with a bioarchaeological dimension allows us to provide details about individual lives and patterns in the Late Formative more generally. Here, we integrate a variety of skeletal, chemical, and archaeological data to explore the life and death of a small child (Calate-3N.7). By taking a multiscalar approach, we present a narrative that considers not only the varied materiality that accompanies this child but also what the child's life experience was and how this reflects and shapes our understanding of the Late Formative period in northern Chile. This evidence hints at the profound mobility of their youth. The complex mortuary context reflects numerous interactions and long-distance relationships. Ultimately, the evidence speaks to deep social relations between two coastal groups, the Atacameños and Tarapaqueños. Considering this suite of data, we can see a child whose life was spent moving through desert routes and perhaps also glimpse the construction of intercultural identity in the Formative period.

POWER MATERIALIZED: THE DART-THROWER AS A PAN-MESOAMERICAN STATUS MARKER

2011 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 371-388 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald A. Slater
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Social Status ◽  
Formative Period ◽  
Ample Evidence ◽  
Graphic Communication ◽  
Highly Effective ◽  
History Of ◽  
Late Formative ◽  
High Social Status

AbstractThroughout the deep history of Mesoamerica, the dart-thrower (a.k.a. atlatl) played a vital utilitarian and symbolic role. Although it was a highly effective tool exploited for practical purposes such as hunting and warfare, ample evidence exists which reveals its association with themes of authority, power, and prestige. The survival of ornamented dart-throwers, as well as the context in which the implement appears in Mesoamerican material culture and forms of graphic communication, reveal its role in the production and assertion of high social status. This argument will be supported by archaeological and ethnographic evidence which demonstrates that the dart-thrower served as a pan-Mesoamerican symbol of power beginning no later than the Middle to Late Formative period and continuing through the Conquest.

scholarly journals Intrasite spatial organization at Chavín de Huantar during the andean formative: three dimensional modeling, stratigraphy and ceramics

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Mesia-Montenegro
Keyword(s):  
Computer Aided Design ◽  
Spatial Organization ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Ceramic Phase ◽  
The North ◽  
Chavin De Huantar ◽  
Food And Beverage ◽  
Archaeological Materials ◽  
Late Formative ◽  
Chavín De Huántar

The ceremonial center of Chavín de Huántar is located in the north central Peruvian highlands at 3,200 m.a.s.l. I have investigated the Wacheqsa sector, located immediately to the north of the monumental core with the objective of understanding the archaeological deposits that formed this area, and to analyze their chronological and spatial relationships.This research presents a new methodology for the investigation of intrasite space organization of stratigraphic components. I demonstrate that careful sampling programs can be extremely advantageous in investigating intrasite variation, in particular when all stratigraphic records are modeled using computer aided design (CAD). I identify five prehistoric spatial analytical units in the Wacheqsa Sector: Early Platforms, Water Flood, Late Platforms, Stone Rooms and Midden. I use bivariate kernel density estimations in order to investigate ceramic modalities and comprehend the nature of the activities developed in each unit, cross- referencing this line of evidence with the distribution of archaeological materials. I also use the Boone index as a measure of diversity in order to quantitatively segregate the analytical units identified.The Wacheqsa Sector was occupied from 1200 BC to 500 BC, during the Middle and Late Formative Periods. I have divided the prehistoric occupation into two phases. The oldest one (Urabarriu 1200-800 BC) encompasses the Early Platforms and Water Flood analytical units. The Early Platforms unit represents the oldest domestic settlement located in this sector. The Water Flood analytical unit provides evidence regarding canalization of the Wacheqsa River during this phase. The latest occupation phase (Janabarriu 800-500 BC), encompasses the Late Platforms, Stone Rooms and Midden analytical units. The Stone Room analytical unit represents a late settlement in the Wacheqsa Sector, the Midden provides evidence for suprahousehold food and beverage consumption and the Late Platforms unit seems to be a buffer area between these two units.In addition, the dating of these units shows that Chavín was contemporary with ceremonial centers of the Andean area during the Middle and Late Formative. It also demonstrates that the Janabarriu ceramic phase is 400 years earlier than previously suggested, being contemporary with the largest architectural phase at monumental core.

THE EARLY IZAPA KINGDOM: RECENT EXCAVATIONS, NEW DATING AND MIDDLE FORMATIVE CERAMIC ANALYSES

2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 373-393 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert M. Rosenswig ◽  
Brendan J. Culleton ◽  
Douglas J. Kennett ◽  
Rosemary Lieske ◽  
Rebecca R. Mendelsohn ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Formative Period ◽  
Ceramic Analysis ◽  
Differential Distribution ◽  
Monumental Architecture ◽  
Good Surface ◽  
Mound 72 ◽  
Late Formative ◽  
Group B ◽  
Middle Formative ◽  
Ams Dates

AbstractIzapa is famous for its monumental architecture and extensive corpus of carved stelae dated to the Late Formative Guillén phase (300–100 calb.c.). The site was first established, however, as the capital of a kingdom during the second half of the Middle Formative period (750–300 calb.c.). Little is known of the first centuries of the site's occupation or how this early kingdom coalesced with Izapa as its capital. In 2012, the Izapa Regional Settlement Project (IRSP) excavated 21 test units and ran 10 radiocarbon accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dates in order to begin correcting this lacuna. These excavations were the first at the site to screen soil matrices and recover artifact samples that can be quantitatively analyzed.We undertook excavations in areas north and south of Group B, the original center of Izapa. This work dates the northern expansion of the site's main platform (under Mound 30a) to the Terminal Formative Itstapa phase (cala.d.100–300) that resulted in a doubling of the platform's size. Further, we documented that there were three distinct construction episodes in the Terminal Formative expansion and that a central staircase and ramp were built of stone during the second episode. Buried below the Terminal Formative platform expansion was a white clay surface built during the Escalón phase (750–500 calb.c.) and used through to Guillén times. At the long, linear Mound 62 that defines the eastern edge of Izapa's site core, we documented two episodes of Guillén-phase monumental construction. Buried below this construction fill at Mound 62, a hearth feature and stone alignment are dated to the late Middle Formative based on radiocarbon assays and the results of ceramic analysis. Excavations at Mound 72 and 73 documented that Izapa's E-Group (newly recognized with lidar [light detection and ranging] data) was established in the late Middle Formative period and then significantly augmented during the Guillén phase. The architectural program at Izapa saw its apogee during the Late Formative period, but was first established during the preceding centuries of the Middle Formative. Ten new AMS dates confirm the dating of the Escalón, Frontera, and Guillén phases to 750–100 calb.c.Ceramic analysis allowed us to differentiate quantitatively between midden deposits and construction fill through the site's occupation and to recognize domestic versus public spaces during the first centuries of the Izapa kingdom's coalescence. We identify late Middle Formative period middens based on the high density of ceramics in addition to good surface preservation of sherds and a lack of temporal mixing of types. The designation of high-artifact density middens contrasts with the contents of Late and Terminal Formative construction fill with lower ceramic sherd densities and mixing of temporally diagnostic types. Off-mound contexts (where construction fill was mined) had even lower ceramic densities than construction fill and the sherds were very eroded. Analysis of ceramic remains from late Middle Formative period midden deposits also allowed us to infer differences in public and domestic areas of the site during the first centuries of its occupation. Formal and metric variables from these ceramic assemblages identify dish-to-jar ratios that differentiate domestic contexts (with an assortment of vessel forms) from more publically oriented areas of the site (with more serving dishes). The differential distribution of rim diameters of fancy and plain dishes allows us to identify areas of Izapa where domestic activities predominate and indicate that more publically oriented feasting practices occurred at the site center near the main pyramid (Mound 30a) during the late Middle Formative period.

Rediscovering the Aztecs and Mayas: Field Exploration, Archaeological Exhibits, and National Museums

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin M. Gosner
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Material Culture ◽  
Mexico City ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
The United States ◽  
Formative Period ◽  
Monumental Architecture ◽  
Southern Mexico ◽  
Record Keeping ◽  
International Investors

In the last decades of the 18th century, with the visit in 1784 of José Antonio Calderón to the Maya ruins at Palenque and the discovery in 1790 of the statue of Coatlicue and the Stone of the Sun in the central plaza of Mexico City, the study of ancient Mexico entered a new era. In the century that followed, teams of field surveyors, mapmakers, graphic artists, and artifact collectors worked across central and southern Mexico as well as in Guatemala. Some were commissioned by the Spanish Crown or later by national governments; many arrived from England, France, Germany, and eventually the United States. Early on they worked side by side with geologists, geographers, and field biologists as part of natural history expeditions, accumulating collections of artifacts that would be displayed in curiosity cabinets and early museums alongside trays of colorful butterflies and stuffed tropical birds. And then, as foreign travel books won popular audiences in Europe and the United States, and as international investors arrived in Mexico and Central America, archaeology also was taken up by enthusiastic amateurs looking to sell books, build private collections, or organize international trade fairs. For serious students of ancient history, field exploration and advances in archaeological record-keeping transformed a body of research and scientific speculation that since the 16th century had been dominated by theologians, historians, and philologists, who studied Spanish chronicles and native language annals but paid scant attention to the remnants of material culture. In the process, Aztecs and Maya were rediscovered as historical subjects, their histories disconnected from that of contemporary Indian peasants and recast as rivals to the great civilizations of the Old World. Ruins of monumental architecture, recovered artifacts in sculptured stone or finely crafted metals, and ancient texts inscribed on wooden lintels and bark cloth were reclaimed as part of national patrimonies to be protected by new state agencies and displayed in modern museums. On January 20, 1911, the International School for American Archaeology and Ethnology formally opened in Mexico City, and this formative period in the archaeological study of ancient peoples ended. Manuel Gamio introduced the study of stratigraphy to fieldwork practices in Mexico and the discipline was transformed once again.

The Prehistory of Hawai‘i

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick V. Kirch
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Environmental Gradients ◽  
Hawaiian Islands ◽  
Stone Tools ◽  
Cultural Variation ◽  
Sociopolitical Complexity ◽  
Monumental Architecture ◽  
Specialized Production ◽  
The World ◽  
Divine Kingship

The Hawaiian Islands are the most isolated inhabited archipelago in the world. Initially colonized around A.D. 1000, the environmental gradients of rainfall and island-age have influenced subsequent cultural variation and differentiation in the islands. Settlements are typically dispersed hamlets and integrated within agricultural facilities such as irrigated pondfields and dryland field systems. Populations were politically organized in idealized pie-shaped units or ahupua`a that typically encompass a cross-section of island resources. Material culture , including fishhooks, stone tools, and religious temples, is broadly similar within these units, but there is also much evidence for elite control of specialized production in some areas. The Hawaiian Islands are the archetypal chiefdom society, although based on changes in demography, monumental architecture (heiau) and royal centers, intensive agriculture, and divine kingship, the population had likely crossed the threshold of sociopolitical complexity to that of an archaic state prior to the arrival of Europeans in 1778.

Tradition Brought to the Surface: Continuity, Innovation and Change in the Late Formative Period, Taraco Peninsula, Bolivia

2010 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 157-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew P. Roddick ◽  
Christine A. Hastorf
Keyword(s):  
Food Production ◽  
Formative Period ◽  
Ancestor Veneration ◽  
Gravitational Forces ◽  
Titicaca Basin ◽  
Late Formative ◽  
Diachronic Study ◽  
Construction Of Place ◽  
Innovation And Change

Based on more than a decade of research on the Taraco Peninsula, Titicaca Basin, Bolivia, we discuss the role of memory, tradition and ancestral participation from the earliest settled communities to the founding and influence of the Tiwanaku order. We examine the shifting role of social memory vis-à-vis public ceremonies, pottery and food production. While the earlier phases give a sense of familial community and the construction of place through ancestor veneration, the later phases suggest stronger lineage commemoration, with families acting as gravitational forces in the burgeoning political developments. Our diachronic study on the Taraco Peninsula tracks these practices illustrating the movement along a discursive–non-discursive continuum, with some practices brought to the surface and politicized.

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