Low-Intensity Investigations at Three Small Sites Along Lake Xaltocan in the Northern Basin of Mexico

2016 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 257-263 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher T. Morehart ◽  
Destiny L. Crider
Keyword(s):  
Classic Period ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Low Intensity ◽  
Infrastructural Development ◽  
Northern Basin ◽  
Basin Of Mexico ◽  
Late Postclassic ◽  
Site Function ◽  
Small Sites ◽  
Habitation Site

This report describes recent low-intensity archaeological investigations conducted at three small sites in the northern Basin of Mexico. The sites are represented by surface artifact scatters and are located on the former shoreline of the now-drained Lake Xaltocan, originally one of the principal lakes in this region. Fieldwork included mapping surface concentrations and site dimensions, conducting test excavations, and recovering surface collections. The analysis of surface artifacts focused on determining site function and chronology. Based on fieldwork and analysis, we propose that Michpilco likely was a habitation site with a substantial occupation during the Classic period. The smaller Non-Grid 5 site was occupied during the Epiclassic period, and site Non-Grid 6 was occupied during the Late Postclassic to colonial periods. These sites reflect occupations in a lacustrine landscape throughout different periods. They also exemplify the rapid disappearance and threat of destruction that looting, infrastructural development, and agriculture pose to archaeological sites in the region.

Exchange Implications of Obsidian Source Analysis from the Lower Rio Verde Valley, Oaxaca, Mexico

1995 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arthur A. Joyce ◽  
J. Michael Elam ◽  
Michael D. Glascock ◽  
Hector Neff ◽  
Marcus Winter
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Coast ◽  
Classic Period ◽  
Source Analysis ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Basin Of Mexico ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Monte Alban ◽  
Middle Formative ◽  
Exchange Patterns ◽  
Obsidian Source

This article considers the results of instrumental neutron-activation analyses of 61 obsidian artifacts recovered from excavations at four archaeological sites in the lower Río Verde valley on the Pacific coast of Oaxaca, Mexico. Determinations of source locations of these artifacts permit the examination of changes in obsidian exchange patterns spanning the late Middle Formative to the Classic period. The results show that through most of this period the importation of obsidian into the lower Verde region was dominated by sources in the Basin of Mexico and Michoacan. The data allow us to evaluate previous models of interregional relations during the Formative and Classic periods, including interaction with the highland centers of Monte Albán and Teotihuacán.

scholarly journals Settlement Patterns and Urbanization in the Yautepec Valley of Central Mexico

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 378-416
Author(s):  
Michael E. Smith ◽  
Timothy S. Hare ◽  
Lisa Montiel ◽  
Anne Sherfield ◽  
Angela Huster
Keyword(s):  
Settlement Patterns ◽  
Classic Period ◽  
Central Mexico ◽  
Cultural Dynamics ◽  
Local Society ◽  
Basin Of Mexico ◽  
Late Postclassic ◽  
Changing Patterns ◽  
Yautepec Valley ◽  
The Impact

Abstract We carried out a full-coverage survey of the Yautepec Valley in the 1990s to reconstruct demography and settlements and their changes through time. We investigated the extent to which well-documented developments in the adjacent Basin of Mexico were paralleled in Yautepec, as well as the impact of regional empires and economies on local society. Our analyses focused on Teotihuacan relations in the Classic period and relations with the Aztec empire and the Mesoamerican world system in the Middle and Late Postclassic periods. In addition to locating, mapping, and describing sites and taking grab-bag artifact collections, we also made a series of systematic intensive surface collections (5 × 5 m) and test excavations at samples of Classic and Postclassic sites. In this paper, we describe the survey and changing settlement patterns in the Yautepec Valley. We also present several analyses of changing patterns of urbanization through the Prehispanic era. We conclude with a synthesis of changing social and cultural dynamics in this region.

Spearthrower Owl Hill: A Toponym at Atetelco, Teotihuacan

2008 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 459-474 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jesper Nielsen ◽  
Christophe Helmke
Keyword(s):  
Classic Period ◽  
The North ◽  
Great Size ◽  
Late Postclassic ◽  
Historical Individual ◽  
Naming Practices

The important Classic period site of Teotihuacan is renowned for its great size, ancient influence, and intricately decorated polychrome murals. The latter are the focus of the present study, in particular the unique landscape scene from Murals 2 and 3 from Portico 1 of the North Patio of the Atetelco residential compound that depicts a row of toponymic hill signs. The three hills have identical qualifying elements embedded, identified as combinations of an owl and a spearthrower. The murals thus make a repeated reference to a place named “Spearthrower Owl Hill.” The dating of the murals to the Early Xolalpan phase (ca. A.D. 350–450) makes them contemporary with the so-called Teotihuacan entrada into the Maya lowland sites such as Tikal, where hieroglyphic texts make mention of a Teotihuacan-affiliated individual known as “Spearthrower Owl.” From these findings—and based on Mesoamerican naming practices—we go on to suggest that the Atetelco toponym and the historical individual share the name of a common forebear, possibly that of a previously unidentified Teotihuacan martial patron deity. As such, the Early Classic Teotihuacan “Spearthrower Owl” deity has much in common with the legendary Huitzilopochtli of the Late Postclassic Mexica. Our reexamination of the murals from Atetelco shows the enormous potential that further studies in Teotihuacan writing and iconography still have for our understanding of the history and religion of this major Mesoamerican site.

The Politics of Classic-Period Ritual Interaction

1993 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 121-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith Francis Zeitlin
Keyword(s):  
Classic Period ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Social Differentiation ◽  
Sociopolitical Complexity ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
Social Competition ◽  
Settlement Systems ◽  
Regional Centers ◽  
Stone Sculpture ◽  
Coastal Lowlands

AbstractThe Classic period along the Oaxaca Coast was a time of population growth and increased sociopolitical complexity, as marked by the prominence of hierarchical settlement systems, large regional centers, and the proliferation of monumental artworks. An iconographic examination of standing stone sculpture from six archaeological sites between the Rio Verde and the Río de los Perros indicates that these later Classic societies were concerned with the same religious themes that prevailed at that time throughout the Peripheral Coastal Lowlands: the Underworld death and rebirth of the celestial deities in mythical events reenacted in the ritual ballgame. With no single dominant power dictating cult orthodoxy, independent political leaders interpreted these rituals freely. As permanent public expressions of the polity's stature, the sculptures and the religious message they encoded appear to have both enhanced a leader's prestige in intergroup social competition and helped foster internal social differentiation.

OBSIDIAN BLADES FROM CERRO PORTEZUELO: SOURCING ARTIFACTS FROM A LONG-DURATION SITE

2013 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 177-184 ◽  
Author(s):  
William J. Parry ◽  
Michael D. Glascock
Keyword(s):  
Classic Period ◽  
Trade Pattern ◽  
The West ◽  
Basin Of Mexico ◽  
Long Duration

AbstractThis paper reports source identifications for a sample of obsidian prismatic blades from the site of Cerro Portezuelo, Mexico. Although the sample is highly biased and stratigraphically mixed, some interesting results were obtained. Compared to contemporary sites in the region, the frequency of green Pachuca obsidian was unusually low (65%), while obsidian from the distant Ucareo source was unusually abundant (14%). This pattern appears to hold for both the Classic and the Postclassic periods and differs from Classic Teotihuacan. This contrast implies that Cerro Portezuelo was not importing all of its obsidian directly from Teotihuacan during the Classic period but, rather, was obtaining some quantity of Ucareo obsidian from other sites, most likely located to the west. This trade pattern would eventually spread throughout the Basin of Mexico, after the fall of Teotihuacan, but it is foreshadowed during the Classic period at Cerro Portezuelo.

THE CONSTRUCTION OF MEMORY: THE USE OF CLASSIC PERIOD DIVINATORY TEXTS IN THE LATE POSTCLASSIC MAYA CODICES

2011 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 449-462 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabrielle Vail ◽  
Christine Hernández
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Knowledge ◽  
Classic Period ◽  
Seasonal Cycles ◽  
Postclassic Period ◽  
The Past ◽  
Cyclical Time ◽  
Late Postclassic ◽  
Celestial Bodies ◽  
Time Periods ◽  
Human Actors

AbstractMaya codices were important repositories of cultural knowledge and traditions passed down through the centuries. Rather than being focused on human actors, however, the Late Postclassic period Maya screenfolds contain almanacs that predict the movements of celestial bodies during earlier time periods. The purpose of these seemingly “out-of-date” tools was to predict the future based on notions of cyclical time. Recent research suggests that centuries-old astronomical almanacs do more than model the past or formulate rituals. Instead, they are formulated to integrate celestial events with other cycles of time and to contextualize them with events from the mythic past, such as the destruction of a former world by flood. The memory of this calamitous primordial event, framed in terms of astronomical and seasonal cycles, is preserved in pre-Hispanic and historic documents as a means of conveying the ill-fortune associated with like-in-kind events that are certain to repeat, and of scheduling the performance of appropriate ritual actions to mitigate their destructive potential.

scholarly journals Long-Distance Trade under the Aztec Empire: The Archaeological Evidence

1990 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael E. Smith
Keyword(s):  
High Volume ◽  
Political Control ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Archaeological Data ◽  
Basin Of Mexico ◽  
Late Postclassic ◽  
Data Signal ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Exchange Activity

AbstractThis article presents archaeological data on Late Postclassic long-distance trade in central and northern Mesoamerica. Aztec trade goods from the Basin of Mexico (ceramics and obsidian) are widespread, while imports from other areas are much less common, both in the Basin of Mexico and elsewhere. The artifactual data signal a high volume of exchange in the Late Postclassic, and while trade was spatially nucleated around the Basin of Mexico, most exchange activity was apparently not under strong political control. The archaeological findings are compared with ethnohistoric sources to further our knowledge of the mechanisms of exchange, the effect of elite consumption on trade, and the relationship between trade and imperialism.

A Test of the Relationship between Site Size and Population

1996 ◽  
Vol 61 (3) ◽  
pp. 573-579 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katharina J. Schreiber ◽  
Keith W. Kintigh
Keyword(s):  
Historical Data ◽  
Areal Extent ◽  
Weak Correlation ◽  
Peruvian Andes ◽  
Two Factors ◽  
Site Function ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Habitation Site

Archaeologists, especially those doing regional surveys, generally assume that there is a correlation between the areal extent of a habitation site and the number of people living at that site. This paper uses a combination of archaeological and historical data from the Peruvian Andes to examine this assumption. We find that, in this case, only a weak correlation holds between these two factors. However, a consideration of site function and topography may render the apparent ambiguities understandable.

UNDERGROUND PITS (CHULTUNES) IN THE SOUTHERN MAYA LOWLANDS: EXCAVATION RESULTS FROM CLASSIC PERIOD MAYA SITES IN NORTHWESTERN PETÉN

2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clarissa Cagnato
Keyword(s):  
Strong Evidence ◽  
Classic Period ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Ancient Maya ◽  
Maya Lowlands ◽  
Macrobotanical Remains ◽  
Local Patterns

AbstractChultunes— underground pits carved into bedrock — have been reported by the hundreds in the Maya region, yet debate on their principal use continues to this day. Sincechultuneshave not yielded solid data to answer the questions posed by Maya archeologists, they are sometimes not completely excavated or reported in detail. This article presents a review of previous work onchultunesin the Maya lowlands, followed by the presentation of new data from sixchultunesexcavated at archaeological sites in northwestern Petén, Guatemala. I argue that, although these underground features were primarily used for utilitarian purposes, there is strong evidence thatchultunesalso had ritual importance to the ancient Maya. The variability in the shape, size, and associated cultural materials, including macrobotanical remains, justifies further in-depth investigations ofchultunes. Archaeologists should consider investigating these features more systematically, as a larger comparative sample ofchultunescould aid in assessing whether there are local patterns of construction, use, and reuse. Thus, excavations of these features should be encouraged.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document