Relationships between Early Preclassic and Early Middle Preclassic Phases in Northern Belize: A Comment on “Lowland Maya Archaeology at the Crossroads”

1984 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 628-631 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel R. Potter ◽  
Thomas R. Hester ◽  
Stephen L. Black ◽  
Fred Valdez
Keyword(s):  
Maya Lowlands ◽  
Maya Archaeology ◽  
Middle Preclassic ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Lowland Maya

In a recent paper, Marcus (1983) provides a timely synthesis of the rapidly accumulating body of data from various projects in the Maya Lowlands. One of the specific problems discussed by Marcus is that of temporal and cultural definition of the Swasey phase at the sites of Cuello and Colha, and its relationship to other early components. Our comment presents new data from Colha that were not available to Marcus. These data have significantly expanded our understanding of the earliest occupations at the site and have important implications for intersite comparisons.

The Earliest Lowland Maya? Definition of the Swasey Phase

1979 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 92-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Norman Hammond ◽  
Duncan Pring ◽  
Richard Wilk ◽  
Sara Donaghey ◽  
Frank P. Saul ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Material Culture ◽  
Maya Lowlands ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Burial Practice ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Middle Formative ◽  
Lowland Maya

Recent excavations in Belize have resulted in the discovery of an earlier period of sedentary occupation than has hitherto been documented in the Maya Lowlands. The Swasey phase is stratigraphically antecedent to occupations of the early Middle Formative, the earliest horizon located until now, and associated radiocarbon dates suggest a persistence from 2000–1000 b.c./2500–1300 B.C. The ceramic and lithic material culture of the phase are described, together with architectural construction and burial practice, and the overall cultural identity is recognized as ancestral to the known Maya Lowland Formative. External contacts of the Cuello site are documented by exotic minerals, and the possible external antecedents for the Swasey ceramic tradition are canvassed.

The Isthmian Origins of the E Group and Its Adoption in the Maya Lowlands

Maya E Groups ◽  
2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takeshi Inomata
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Coast ◽  
Gulf Coast ◽  
Cultural Tradition ◽  
Maya Lowlands ◽  
Construction Methods ◽  
Preclassic Period ◽  
Middle Preclassic ◽  
Middle Formative ◽  
Diverse Groups ◽  
Lowland Maya

Recent investigations at Ceibal (Seibal) and other Preclassic Period (1000 BCE–250 CE) sites indicate that the E Group assemblage was originally developed around 1000-900 BCE as an element of a standardized site plan called the Middle Formative Chiapas pattern (MFC) through interactions among diverse groups inhabiting the Isthmian region, including the southern Gulf Coast, Chiapas, the southern Pacific Coast, and the southwestern end of the Maya lowlands. The Maya in the central and eastern lowlands began to adopt the E Group after 800 BCE and to create their own cultural tradition by applying their construction methods, by developing new symbolism and ritual, and by discarding most other elements of the MFC pattern. After many of the Isthmian centers collapsed at the end of the Middle Preclassic Period (ca. 350 BCE), the lowland Maya became the most avid builders of E Groups in Mesoamerica.

Preclassic Ceramics from Chalchuapa, El Salvador, and Their Relationships with the Maya Lowlands

1970 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 441-462 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert J. Sharer ◽  
James C. Gifford
Keyword(s):  
El Salvador ◽  
Ceramic Material ◽  
Analytical Procedure ◽  
Time Interval ◽  
Maya Lowlands ◽  
East Central ◽  
Analytic Procedure ◽  
Maya Area ◽  
Middle Preclassic ◽  
Lowland Maya

AbstractApplication of the type-variety analytical procedure to Preclassic ceramic material excavated from mound-fill deposits at Chalchuapa, El Salvador, has provided important indications of possible ceramic relationships between this site-zone and the Maya Lowlands. Of the five ceramic complexes, the earliest (the Tok ceramic complex) seems related to the Early Preclassic (Cuadros phase) of south coastal Guatemala and Mexico. Pottery of the early Middle Preclassic (the Colos and Kal ceramic complexes) appears to involve certain direct type-variety relationships with the Lowland Maya Xe and Mamom ceramic spheres. Late Middle Preclassic pottery (the Chul ceramic complex) is evidently almost exclusively affiliated with Highland Guatemala (the Providencia phase at Kaminaljuyu). Pottery of the Late Preclassic and "Protoclassic" (the Caynac ceramic complex) at Chalchuapa continues to reflect these ties (now with the Miraflores, Arenal, and Santa Clara phases at Kaminaljuyu). Apart from such ties, however, there are also significant indications of renewed ceramic connections with the Maya Lowlands during this time interval that we believe might have been of some consequence for the development of the Classic Lowland Maya. The implications of these ceramic relationships for the problem of the initial occupation of the east-central Maya Lowlands and the later intrusive Floral Park ceramic sphere at Barton Ramie are discussed. The paper also considers the implications of this evidence for the type-variety analytic procedure and proposes a tentative outline of Preclassic ceramic relationships in the Maya area.

The E Group as Timescape

Maya E Groups ◽  
2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Prudence M. Rice
Keyword(s):  
Central Mexico ◽  
The South ◽  
Maya Lowlands ◽  
Community Renewal ◽  
Small Hand ◽  
Middle Preclassic ◽  
Lowland Maya

Small, hand-modeled, anthropomorphic figurines of fired clay are abundant in Middle Preclassic (1000–350 BCE) Mesoamerica, especially Central Mexico, the Isthmus, and regions to the south. They are variably present in the southern Maya lowlands and virtually absent in the northern lowlands, raising many questions about their meanings and uses. I propose that Middle Preclassic lowland Maya ceramic figurines: 1) were manipulated in integrative community renewal rituals associated with females and maize, and celebrated in early versions of E Groups; and, more speculatively, 2) were icons related to development of head-variant glyphs used in the script-iconography of the 260-day sacred almanac.

THE FIRST MAYA TRADE WARE? NEW DATA ON MIDDLE PRECLASSIC-PERIOD MARS ORANGE PASTE WARE FROM HOLTUN, GUATEMALA

2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 821-827 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael G. Callaghan ◽  
Daniel E. Pierce ◽  
William D. Gilstrap
Keyword(s):  
Neutron Activation Analysis ◽  
Activation Analysis ◽  
Neutron Activation ◽  
Short Distance ◽  
Maya Lowlands ◽  
The West ◽  
Preclassic Period ◽  
Production And Distribution ◽  
Middle Preclassic ◽  
Combined Data

This study reports on type: variety-mode classification, digital stereomicroscopy, petrography, neutron activation analysis, and previously published reports and characterizes production and distribution of Mars Orange Paste Ware in the Middle Preclassic-period Maya Lowlands. The sample consists of 2028 sherds of Mars Orange Paste Ware from Holtun, Guatemala, and 4105 sherds reported from sites in Central Belize and Peten Guatemala. The combined data suggest Mars Orange Paste Ware was a “short-distance” trade ware produced in the northeastern Maya Lowlands and distributed from Central Belize to the west.

El Achiotal

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Jane Acuña
Keyword(s):  
Geographic Location ◽  
Political Authority ◽  
Maya Lowlands ◽  
Preclassic Period ◽  
Middle Preclassic ◽  
Conventional Models ◽  
And Control

This chapter summarizes the archaeological and iconographic evidence from Structure 5C-01 that indicate rulership was established at the small center of El Achiotal in the Late Preclassic period. The symbolic vocabulary at El Achiotal suggests rulers were knowledgeable of the widespread ideology that was being institutionalized in the southern Maya lowlands as well as the more ancient symbolic vocabulary that represented the institution of kingship developed by the Middle Preclassic at La Venta and other centers in Mexico. Variables such as geographic location and control over knowledge provided Late Preclassic centers with leverage to negotiate their status and power within the broader regional geopolitics, thus challenging conventional models used to understand early political authority and its organization over the landscape.

Introduction

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Kathryn Brown ◽  
George J. Bey
Keyword(s):  
Social Complexity ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Classic Maya ◽  
Maya Lowlands ◽  
Time Period ◽  
New Information ◽  
Preclassic Maya ◽  
Middle Preclassic ◽  
First Time

This introduction to the edited volume by Brown and Bey summarizes past research on the Preclassic Maya and discusses an explosion of new information from the last fifteen years pushing back the origins of social complexity into the Middle Preclassic. This chapter highlights the fact that this volume brings together important archaeology and research considering the Middle and Late Preclassic periods from both the southern and northern Maya lowlands for the first time. The Late Preclassic was long thought to be the time period by which archaeologists could explain the rise and nature of Classic Maya culture. However, as the fifteen chapters in this volume argue, any discussion of the development of social complexity must be focused on the Middle Preclassic (1000-300 B.C.).

The Lowland Maya “Protoclassic”

1998 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
James E. Brady ◽  
Joseph W. Ball ◽  
Ronald L. Bishop ◽  
Duncan C. Pring ◽  
Norman Hammond ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Distribution ◽  
Maya Archaeology ◽  
Actual Existence ◽  
Lowland Maya

AbstractThe term “Protoclassic,” employed regularly but inexplicitly in the literature of lowland Maya archaeology, has become increasingly nebulous and ambiguous in both meaning and usage. This paper reviews the history and use of the term and presents a formal redefinition of the Protoclassic as a ceramic stage based explicitly and exclusively on ceramic criteria. Some suggestions regarding future use of the term also are offered. The paper further addresses and resolves a number of persisting questions regarding Protoclassic orange wares, including problems concerning the actual existence of the “Aguacate ceramic group.” and the relationships of Aguacate-group pottery to other emergent orange wares of the terminal Late Preclassic and initial Early Classic periods. The nature and significance of the “Holmul I Style,” the “Floral Park Ceramic Sphere.” and the relationships of the two to each other and the larger, redefined “protoclassic” ceramic stage also are examined. A spatial distribution for protoclassic ceramics considerably expanded over what has ever been reported previously is described, and Chronometric data are presented to support a revised chronology for the protoclassic ceramic stage. Finally, ceramic data are offered that suggest a real subdivision of the protoclassic ceramic stage into an early, emergent facet originating entirely within Late Preclassic lowland traditions, and a later, fully “Classic” facet corresponding to the early Tzakol (Tzakol 1) ceramic horizon.

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