Ritual architecture : 5 weeks. 7 states. 11 cities. 1 village.

AbstractPrevious interpretations of the occupation history of La Milpa, Belize, which were based on preliminary ceramic data, suggested that occupation of the site fluctuated dramatically from the Late Preclassic to the Terminal Classic (400 b.c.–a.d. 850). It was determined that the modest Late Preclassic village became a large Early Classic city with regal-ritual architecture and carved monuments. In Late Classic I, it appeared the site was nearly abandoned. Its reoccupation and exponential growth in Late Classic II was followed by rapid abandonment before the end of the Late Classic III/Terminal Classic. New ceramic analyses utilizing attribute analysis with an emphasis on formal modes has clarified the sequence and, in turn, softened the occupation curves. This article provides descriptions of the Late Classic I, II, and III ceramics, along with revised percentage frequency graphs of La Milpa's occupation history based primarily on the work of the La Milpa Archaeological Project (1992–2002).

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Achaemenid “ritual architecture” vs. “religious architecture”:

Persian Religion in the Achaemenid Period / La religion perse à l’époque achéménide ◽

10.2307/j.ctvckq50d.13 ◽

2017 ◽

pp. 385-416 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Pierfrancesco Callieri

Keyword(s):

Religious Architecture ◽

Ritual Architecture

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Ritual Architecture in Prehistoric Complex Hunter-Gatherer Communities: A Potential Example from Keatley Creek, on the Canadian Plateau

American Antiquity ◽

10.7183/0002-7316.75.3.599 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 75 (3) ◽

pp. 599-625 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Jesse Morin

Keyword(s):

Comparative Analysis ◽

Social Inequality ◽

Study Region ◽

The Core ◽

History Of ◽

Site Cluster ◽

Ritual Architecture ◽

And Training

A comparative analysis of housepit structures at the Keatley Creek site on the Canadian Plateau indicates that the ones on the periphery of the site cluster as a group, distinct from the domestic housepits in the core of the site. Comparison of the material attributes from a sample of peripheral structures with expectations of various nondomestic structures for the study region suggests that these structures were used as feasting or meeting-houses and not domestic residences. These peripheral structures originate during the Plateau horizon (2400–1200 B.P.) occupation of the site and were also used during the late Kamloops horizon (400–200 B.P.). It is argued here that understanding the history of these structures as loci of restricted ritual knowledge and training can contribute much to our interpretations of the bases and origins of social inequality in Keatley Creek, and other transegalitarian communities.

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Sacred Earthen Architecture in the Northern Southwest: The Bluff Great House Berm

American Antiquity ◽

10.2307/1593798 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 67 (4) ◽

pp. 677-695 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Catherine M. Cameron

Keyword(s):

Spatial Distribution ◽

Chaco Canyon ◽

San Juan ◽

Sacred Place ◽

Great House ◽

Earthen Architecture ◽

Bluff Great House ◽

Ritual Architecture

This article reports on the excavation of a “berm”—an earthen mound that surrounds the Bluff Great House in southeastern Utah. Comparisons are made to Chacoan-era (A.D. 850–1150) great house mounds in Chaco Canyon and to other berms and mounds at great houses throughout the Chacoan region. Great house mounds in Chaco Canyon and berms outside Chaco Canyon are assumed to have been ritual architecture, and continuity in the use of mounded earth and trash as a sacred place of deposit is traced through time from the Pueblo 1 period to modern Pueblos. The Bluff berm does not seem to have been constructed as the result of ceremonial gatherings (as has been suggested for the great house mounds in Chaco Canyon), but there is intriguing evidence that it continued to be used into the post-Chacoan era (A.D. 1150–1300), perhaps as a result of a restructuring or revival of Chacoan ideas in the northern San Juan region. Examination of the spatial distribution of berms suggests that they are most common at great houses south and west of Chaco Canyon; the northern San Juan region, where Bluff is located, has far fewer such features, possibly because the revival of Chacoan ideas in this region was short-lived.

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