bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A Bio-Bibliographical Note on Coray
Authors: Bywater I.
Published: April 2006

The publication of Coray's correspondence with Chardon de la Rochette (Lettres inédites de Coray, Paris, 1877) and of the little autobiography prefixed to the volume makes us pretty familiar with the circumstances of Coray's life from 1790 to 1796. But, as there are still some obscure points in his history during this period, the following notes may perhaps some day be of interest, whenever a complete biography of the illustrious Hellene comes to be written.

(1) In 1800 Coray published an edition of Hippocrates περὶ ἀέρων, ὑδάτων, τόπων, his letters showing that he had been for years hard at work on this author. There are probably very few in this country who know that at the time of the Revolution Coray was in constant communication with two English scholars, Thomas Burgess, afterwards Bishop of Salisbury, and Holmes, the editor of the Septuagint; and that he in 1792 contributed to an almost forgotten Oxford publication, the Musei Oxoniensis litterarii conspectus et specimina, edited by Burgess, a paper of Emendations on Hippocrates. The learned Greek is thus introduced by the editor to the English readers of the Museum:—‘Emendationes in Hippocratem nunc editas accepi cum duobus aliis fasciculis ab auctore eruditissimo sagacissimoque, hodie medico Parisiensi, V. Cl. Corayio, qui ad prelum Oxoniense parat Observationes in omnia Hippocratis opera.’
Some Thoughts on ‘Hereditary’ and ‘Proprietary’ Rights in Land under Customary Law in Thirteenth and Early Fourteenth Century England
Authors: Smith R. M.
Published: April 2006

A recent polemical essay by Alan Macfarlane constructed a picture of the social structure of medieval rural England premised on the notion that there was little difference in the nature of family attachment to land between freeholders and those who held their property ‘according to the customs of the manor.’ This essay has received severe criticism from R. H. Hilton, who argues that it ‘ignores the implications of the considerable predominance in many areas of customary land held in villein (i.e. servile) tenure, attempting to assimilate it to freehold as though it were equivalent to sixteenth century copyhold.’ The scale of the difference between these two positions may be attributed to the current state of research into the operation of customary law and its tribunals.
Research Films in Ethnomusicology: Aims and Achievements
Authors: Dauer A. M.
Published: April 2006

In 1963 the Institute for Scientific Cinematography received the financial means to carry out its first expeditions to make documentary films, and the first comprehensive plans were made for the visual and aural recording of the music of various ethnic groups and of entire populations. Since then, four expeditions have taken us to Thailand, Chad, Hadramout, and the Ivory Coast.
An Investigation into the Tonal Structure of the Maqamat
Authors: Carmi-Cohen Dalia
Published: April 2006

The maqamat of Arab music are generally understood as melody types, similar to the Hindu ragas and the Greek nomoi. Yet, modern theory tends to treat them quite abstractly as scales in the Western sense. Even learned Arab musicians, when asked about the interrelationships of different songs in a given maqam, will point to a scale comprised of fixed interval relationships as the only binding factor, seemingly undisturbed by the fact that the improvisatory sections of songs—for instance, their openings or interludes like the ya-leil or the maual—are clearly based on specific melody types.

The basic studies of Idelsohn, Farmer and others, though discussing various aspects of the maqamat, say little about the nature of the living music. Hampered by the lack of precise tools of measurement, these pioneers failed to answer a number of pertinent questions. For example, do all songs written in a particular maqam share common melodic elements, and, if so, to what extent are these fixed for a particular social group ? Such patterns might be of many different types, possessing the most varied tonal and rhythmic characteristics.
The Bon-Odori in Hawaii and in Japan
Authors: Smith Barbara B.
Published: April 2006

The origin of the Bon-Odori, or Bon Dance, is described in the Ullambana Sutra of Buddhist scripture. It tells how Mauggallana (sometimes spelled Maudgalyana, and in the Japanese language called Mokuren), one of the ten disciples of Buddha, became aware of his mother's suffering in the inferno of the dead. He tried to relieve her hunger by offering her rice, but when she brought it to her lips it turned to fire. Mauggallana went to the Buddha for help and was advised for his mother's sake to give food-offerings to the bhikus (priests), on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when they returned from the mountains after their long meditation during the rainy season. The spontaneous dance of joy following his mother's release from the torment of hell was the first Bon Dance. This ritual offering and festive celebration became an annual event.
Bushman Counterpoint*
Authors: England Nicholas M.
Published: April 2006

Although contrapuntal practices of the type to be described below will be encountered in most Bushman communities within the Northern Language Group (as well as in several communities of the Central and Southern Language Groups), the Bushmen to whom I refer specifically in the title of this paper are the of South West Africa and Bechuanaland. The speak a dialect of !Kxõ (traditionally, !Kung, in the literature of ethnology), the principal Northern Bushman language. There are approximately 1500 in all, and roughly 1000 of them live within the area called Nyae Nyae over the past decade by members of the Peabody-Harvard Kalahari Expeditions. Nyae Nyae is a corruption (a convenient simplification) of the Bushman name, , which means Great Flat Place and refers to a large water pan prominent among a group of such pans in the northeastern portion of South West Africa.
Archaeology and Archaeoastronomy of Mount Tlaloc, Mexico: A Reconsideration
Authors: Iwaniszewski Stanisław
Published: April 2006

This paper reevaluates the architectural remains atop Mount Tlaloc in light of recent contributions by Aveni et al. (1988), Broda (1989, 1991a, 1991b), and Townsend (1991). Evidence suggests that there were at least two phases of architectural activity on the mountain. An archaeoastronomical analysis of the ceremonial enclosure leads to the suggestion that the orientation of the structure reveals a paradigm marking out specific days by denoting positions of the sun-at-horizon events at intervals of 20 days. This may be a reference to the nemontemi days of the Mexican 365-day solar calendar. Mount Tlaloc also appears to be associated with other mountains through visual lines that correlate with sunrise on dates when ceremonies were performed in sanctuaries situated on prominent elevations.
Hierve el Agua, Mexico: Its Water and Its Corn-Growing Potential
Authors: Hewitt William Paxton
Published: April 2006

Este informe discute intentos iniciales por cultivar maíz con el uso de agua procedente de Hierve el Agua, y también evalúa los análisis de agua y los datos palinológicos disponibles en las terrazas de dicho sitio. La discusión se extiende también a la toxicidad de boro en el sitio, así como al origen de los minerales disueltos en el agua. Urge cooperación entre instituciones de México y en los Estados Unidos de Norteamérica con el motivo de experimentar con el cultivo de plantas en Hierve el Agua.
Ceramic Seriation and Site Reoccupation in Lowland South America
Authors: DeBoer Warren R. , Kintigh Keith , Rostoker Arthur G.
Published: April 2006

A long-standing debate in Amazonian archaeology is whether large sites represent contemporaneous communities or palimpsests accrued through multiple reoccupations. Quantitative ceramic seriation has been used to support the latter view. This argument is evaluated in terms of its statistical basis and its assumptions about sources of ceramic variability. On the basis of this evaluation, we conclude that the case for reoccupation, based on seriation, is unconvincing.
Land Evaluation and Ancient Maya Land Use in the Upper Belize River Area, Belize, Central America
Authors: Fedick Scott L.
Published: April 2006

In this study I examine local-scale associations between land resources and the density distribution of Maya residential sites for the prehistoric population maxima of the Late Classic period (ca. A. D. 600-900). Methods involve agricultural land evaluation following USDA guidelines, under assumptions of hand-cultivation technology. I give specific attention to the issue of concordance between the geographic scale of household agricultural production and the scale at which agricultural land evaluation is conducted. The focus is the upper Belize River area of Belize, Central America, where intensive archaeological survey and local-scale land-resource mapping provide the data necessary for a detailed analysis of ancient land-use patterns. The analysis reveals a strong and consistent relationship between prehistoric Maya settlement density and the agricultural productive capability of local soil types. For each land type, I discuss the amount of land available for each residential locus and probable cultivation methods used. I argue that the ability to identify clearly and quantitatively the association (or lack of association) between household settlement pattern and agricultural land capability is a necessary component of regional studies that seek to test models of Maya political economy and social change.
Marine Shell Bead Production and the Role of Domestic Craft Activities in the Economy of the Guangala Phase, Southwest Ecuador
Authors: Masucci Maria A.
Published: April 2006

SpondylusandStrombusshells are believed to have been sacred items in Latin American societies, often traded over long distances. Studies of the manufacturing sites of these and other prized marine shells have been mainly undertaken to investigate the long distance trade networks and symbol systems of the ancient societies. In contrast, this report examines evidence from small, inland sites of the Regional Developmental Period-Guangala Phase in southwest Ecuador to understand the role of shell working as a craft activity within the local socioeconomic system. It is shown that this activity, which involves interaction between littoral and inland dwellers, played an important role in subsistence adaptations to the semi-arid southwest coast of Ecuador. These findings will also be of interest to scholars of the subsequent period seeking to understand the organization of the late prehistoric Ecuadorian trading chiefdoms.
In Quest of Prehistoric Amazonia
Authors: DeBoer Warren R. , Kintigh Keith , Rostoker Arthur G.
Published: April 2006

Meggers's commentary does not effectively address our critique of the seriational argument that large Amazonian sites always represent occupational palimpsests. As a consequence, more general claims about the limitations that Amazonian environments posed for prehistoric cultural development based on this same argument remain unconvincing and fail to account for relevant variability in the archaeological record.
An I-Shaped Ball-Court Form at Pampa de las Llamas-Moxeke, Peru
Authors: Pozorski Thomas , Pozorski Shelia
Published: April 2006

Recent excavations at the Initial Period (1800-900 B. C.) site of Pampa de las Llamas-Moxeke in the Casma Valley, Peru, have revealed the presence of an I-shaped court that is architecturally very similar to prehistoric I-shaped ball courts commonly found in Mesoamerica. Although it is possible that there is a connection between the I-shaped court at Pampa de las Llamas-Moxeke and those of Mesoamerica, such a connection appears unlikely given the isolated nature of the former court in terms of time (700 years too early) and space (2,500 km too far south). It seems much more probable that this unique I-shaped court housed a special religious or secular activity within Pampa de las Llamas-Moxeke and represents a possible unrecognized facet of early complex society during the Initial Period.
Temprana Complejidad Funeraria de la Cultura Chinchorro (Norte de Chile)
Authors: Standen Vivien G.
Published: April 2006

Se describen y analizan los patrones funerarios del sitio chinchorro Morro 1, localizado en la costa norte de Chile. Se excavaron 134 inhumaciones. Se identificaron los tres patrones funerarios conocidos para esta cultura: (a) cuerpos con momificación artificial, que corresponden a entierros secundarios y múltiples, (b) cuerpos cubiertos con arena, y (c) cuerpos sin tratamiento de ningún tipo. Estos dos últimos patrones constituyeron enterramientos individuales y primarios. Se evalúa si la práctica de la momificación artificial compromete a todos los individuos de la cultura chinchorro, o si por el contrario, hay mecanismos selectivos donde cierta categoría de individuos fueron sometidos a este tratamiento. Se concluye que fetos, neonatos, lactantes y niños presentan las más altas frecuencias de momificación artificial, y la mayor complejidad en los procedimientos empleados. Esta práctica se inicia con esta categoría etaria a los 7000 a.P. y finaliza también con neonatos y niños después de los 4000 a.P. Mientras que entre los 5500-4000 a. P. se encuentran cuerpos de todas las edades con momificación artificial.
Mortuary Practices, Social Development, and Ideology in Precolumbian Puerto Rico
Authors: Curet L. Antonio , Oliver José R.
Published: April 2006

Mortuary practices rank among the best sources of archaeological data from which to infer social organization, ideology, religious beliefs, and to a certain extent, the political structure of past societies. This essay (1) reviews mortuary practices among prehistoric groups of Puerto Rico, (2) proposes a possible sequence of changes through time, and (3) presents explanations that account for the observed changes. Aside from evident correlation with broad cultural developments, changes in mortuary practices can be understood best in the context of parallel developments in social, political, and economic complexity. We argue that in Puerto Rico a shift in mortuary practices from burying dead relatives in centralized cemeteries to the disposition of the dead in domestic contexts was strongly related to a shift from largely kin-based societies to the ranked organization of cacicazgos (chiefdoms). Particularly, we conclude that the shift in social organization from emphasis on extended descent groups that acted as corporate groups to nuclear households reflects a strategy utilized by the emerging elite to dismantle and reorient previous communal institutions. This shift was accomplished through the monopolization, by the emerging elite, of the tenets surrounding the cult of the ancestors to create a legitimizing ideology.
The Sanctuary of Titicaca: Where the Sun Returns to Earth
Authors: Dearborn David S. P. , Seddon Matthew T. , Bauer Brian S.
Published: April 2006

In Inka mythology, a large sandstone rock on the Island of the Sun, in Lake Titicaca, was the origin place of the sun. It was there that the sun first emerged and designated the Inka as his children. Under Inka rule, and perhaps before, this rock was a destination of pilgrims who went to worship and make offerings to the sun. We present evidence that a set of solar markers existed on a ridge northwest of the sacred rock. These structures framed the sunset for groups of watchers on the June solstice, near the time of the sun festival, Inti Raymi. Historic information coupled with the organization of archaeological sites within the sanctuary area on the island suggests that elites and common pilgrims may have observed the sunset from different locations.
El Desarrollo Cultural En El Valle De Azapa, Extremo Norte De Chile Y Su Vinculación Con Los Desplazamientos Poblacionales Altiplánicos
Authors: Rothhammer Francisco , Santoro Calogero M.
Published: April 2006

The results of an analysis of cranial measurements obtained from 223 skeletal samples, exhumed in 11 archaeological sites of Arica littoral and the Azapa valley, in extreme north Chile are presented. The object of this analysis is to reconstruct the biological history of the prehistoric inhabitants of the coast and the valley, in the context of their interaction with demographically and culturally more developed centers around Lake Titicaca. To this end, an osteological collection exhumed in that region is included in the analysis. The results reveal the microevolution of a coastal population with Andean roots that possibly arrived at the coast of Arica some 9,000 years ago, whose phenotypic features are recognizable until the time of contact with populations of the XVI century. This group gave origin to the inhabitants of the valleys, which during the Formative Period (3,500 B. P.) became farmers. The coastal groups maintained contact with certain groups from the valley (AZ-70). Nevertheless, the characteristic coastal features are accentuated starting from the Late Archaic Period (PLM-7 site), possibly due to genetic drift not compensated for by immigration. During the Formative Period, gene flow occurred from the highlands to the valleys, judging by a decrease in biological distance. This flow reached its maximum intensity in the Middle Horizon and the Late Intermediate Period (AZ-8). It is suggested that the migrations from the highland to the valleys are related to the disintegration of Tiwanaku.
An Interdisciplinary Perspective on the Origin of Maize
Authors: Eubanks Mary W.
Published: April 2006

This paper addresses objections raised in an article by Bennetzen et al. (2000) in response to MacNeish and Eubanks (2000). Bennetzen et al. interpret the findings reported by MacNeish and Eubanks as opposition to the teosinte hypothesis for the origin of maize. However, by demonstrating a mutagenic mechanism that could have generated the genetic diversity essential for the transition from teosinte to maize, and the subsequent explosive evolution of maize in the archaeological record, the Tripsacum-diploperennis introgression derivatives confirm that teosinte is a progenitor of maize. Although Bennetzen et al. claim that the Tripsacum- diploperennis crosses are not credible, DNA fingerprinting verified that the hybrids contain genes from their teosinte and Tripsacum parents. Archaeobotanical remains of teosinte, Tripsacum, and hybrid specimens have been reported from Tamaulipas and Oaxaca. One of the "hybrid" specimens from Tamaulipas is virtually identical to an experimental Tripsacum-diploperennis segregate. The ability to experimentally reproduce forms that closely resemble archaeological specimens lends compelling support to the hypothesis that intergeneric hybridzation gave rise to the mutations that, through human selection, transformed teosinte into domesticated maize.
A Response to Long's Radiocarbon Determinations That Attempt to Put Acceptable Chronology on the Fritz
Authors: MacNeish Richard S.
Published: April 2006

Long and Fritz argue that AMS dates on early maize were rejected because MacNeish suspected they were contaminated with bedacryl. In fact a letter from MacNeish to Long in 1988 addressed several possible explanations for the problems with the dates. The dates were rejected because they were inconsistent with well-established stratigraphic sequences and associated artifacts and ecofacts. The evidence is briefly summarized here, and the inconsistencies in the Arizona dates pointed out. It appears that the problem lies less with possible contamination with bedacryl, and more with the treatment of the samples by the Arizona laboratory.
Dimensional Standardization and Production Scale in Mesoamerican Ceramics
Authors: Arnold Philip J.
Published: April 2006

The relation between vessel standardization and ceramic-production scale is firmly entrenched in the archaeological literature. This discussion challenges that relation, arguing that standardization is neither a necessary nor sufficient characteristic of craft specialization. Data gathered among seasonal potters in southern Veracruz, Mexico, demonstrate that product uniformity is easily achieved by nonintensive ceramic producers. The factors contributing to dimensional standardization and their implications for archaeological interpretations of pottery manufacture are discussed.
El Comercio Clasico de Obsidiana: Rutas Entre Tierras Altas y Tierras Bajas en el Area Maya
Authors: Arnauld M. Charlotte
Published: April 2006

Aunque las tres fuentes principales de obsidiana se encuentran ubicadas en las tierras altas, los modelos propuestos hasta la fecha para reconstruir la distribución de este material en las tierras bajas no suelen tomar en consideración los factores sociopolíticos e históricos que han afectado las entidades mayas de tierras altas. Sin embargo, estos factores son determinantes de los sistemas comerciales a larga distancia. Al examinar y comparar la ruta por tierra de Alta Verapaz y la ruta fluvial–marítima del Motagua–Caribe en una perspectiva geográfica, sociopolítica, e histórica que integra los grandes centros de Kaminaljuyú y de Quiriguá, así como los centros de Verapaz, se concluye que la segunda ruta fue sin duda más activa que la primera en el comercio de obsidiana, entre otros bienes. Pero, la complejidad de las secuencias históricas de estos centros y la variabilidad de sus estructuras sociopolíticas sugieren que la competencia entre las dos rutas fue intensa y provocó cierta inestabilidad en los sistemas comerciales y flujos de obsidiana, por una y otra ruta.
A Ceramic Compositional Perspective on the Formative to Classic Transition in Southern Mesoamerica
Authors: Neff Hector , Bove Frederick J. , Robinson Eugenia J. , Arroyo L. Barbara
Published: April 2006

We use neutron-activation analysis data on Formative- and Classic-period pottery along with analyses of modern ceramics and raw materials to examine changes in ceramic production and consumption on the central Guatemalan Pacific slope at the beginning of the Classic period. In particular, we wonder if the processes that generated regional distributions of two Formative-period wares (White Paste and Fine Red) were the same as or different from the processes that generated regional distribution of Classic-period Flesh ware. We identify probable production zones for the three regionally distributed wares based on raw-material analyses, consideration of the geological context of different zones, and distributional evidence. We find major differences between production/consumption of the Formative and Classic regionally distributed wares. This reinforces the notion that some kind of dramatic historical discontinuity affected the lives of Pacific-slope people around A. D. 200.
Paracas in Nazca: New Data on the Early Horizon Occupation of the Rio Grande de Nazca Drainage, Peru
Authors: Silverman Helaine
Published: April 2006

Nasca culture and, particularly, Nasca ceramic iconography are held to evolve directly and smoothly out of antecedent Paracas. Yet the data reviewed in this article indicate that Paracas remains in the Río Grande de Nazca drainage, the heartland of Nasca culture on the south coast of Peru, are limited in nature, a fact that makes it difficult to derive Nasca from Paracas in Nazca. In contrast, there are rich and abundant Paracas remains in the Ica, Pisco, and Chincha valleys, at the Paracas type site itself, and along the Bahía de la Independencia. I look to the Ica Valley for the origins of the Nasca style.
A Classic Maya House-Lot Drainage System in Northwestern Belize
Authors: Lohse Jon C. , Findlay Patrick N.
Published: April 2006

Off-mound excavations at a residential group near the site of Dos Hombres, Belize have revealed a series of unusual modifications to the limestone bedrock. The primary purpose of these modifications appears to have been to facilitate drainage of excess surface and subsurface moisture during periods of heavy rain. By utilizing a variation of lithic mulching in the soil, however, the Maya also may have been able to slow the loss of moisture through evaporation during lengthy dry periods. We suggest that these finds reflect soil and water management in house-lot gardening, and that these measures were necessary to overcome localized geologic, pedologic, and regional climatologic conditions. The use of such a drainage system together with gravel fill at the household level is previously unreported in the Maya Lowlands, and represents an important line of inquiry into gardens as ancient agricultural production systems.
Formative-Period Architecture at the Site of Yarumela, Central Honduras
Authors: Dixon Boyd , Joesink-Mandeville L. R. V. , Hasebe Nobukatsu , Mucio Michael , Vincent William , James David , Petersen Kenneth
Published: April 2006

During the Formative period (ca. 1000 B.C.-A.D. 250) at the site of Yarumela in central Honduras, an indigenous society developed that was constructing monumental architecture well before 400 B.C. Experimentation with new building materials and techniques reached a peak ca. A.D. 200 just prior to the site's abandonment, by which time religious temples and elite residences had undergone a transition from simple pole-and-thatch structures to more complex adobe and stone constructions. Overall labor investment in monumental architecture may, on the other hand, actually have declined during this same period.
Geographic Identities of the Sacrificial Victims from the Feathered Serpent Pyramid, Teotihuacan: Implications for the Nature of State Power
Authors: White Christine D. , Spence Michael W. , Longstaffe Fred J. , Stuart-Williams Hilary , Law Kimberley R.
Published: April 2006

This study addresses the political and military structure of early Teotihuacan through the analysis of oxygen-isotope ratios in skeletal phosphate from 41 victims of a sacrifice associated with the Feathered Serpent Pyramid. Oxygen-isotope ratios are markers of geographic identity. A comparison of bone and enamel values, which provides a contrast between environments experienced during growth and those of adulthood, illustrates that at least four different regions are represented in this sample. Those identified as soldiers had either lived locally since childhood or had moved to Teotihuacan from several foreign locations. Most had lived in Teotihuacan for a prolonged period before their death. This pattern suggests foreign “recruitment” or mercenary behavior. The women had either lived all their lives in Teotihuacan or had moved from there to a foreign location. Most of the individuals in the center of the pyramid (burial 14) did not come from Teotihuacan, nor had they lived in the city long before their deaths. We suggest that the choice of victims was meant to demonstrate Teotihuacan's powerful ideology to the rest of the Mesoamerican world. Notably, this isotopic evidence of physical interaction between Teotihuacan and foreign regions considerably predates the currently existing archaeological evidence.
The Interpretation of Survey Data: Two Case Studies from the Maya Area
Authors: Hendon Julia A.
Published: April 2006

This paper explores certain methodological issues relevant to the interpretation of archaeological data derived from surface survey. Recognizing the significance of survey to the study of regional settlement patterns, I argue that how we classify these data bears directly on our ability to reconstruct the past. Comparison of site typologies created by the Seibal and Copán projects with their excavation results provides a way to evaluate the accuracy of site classifications based on surface features. I discuss the effectiveness of the typologies in capturing variation pertinent to the study of social organization and site function, and consider the importance of variation within sites, within types, and across types not expressed in the typologies to suggest that such elaborate typologies assume a higher degree of data visibility than is generally possible. The analysis underscores the critical role excavation plays in mesoamerican archaeology as a source of data unavailable through survey.
Ancient Cultural Contacts between Ecuador, West Mexico, and the American Southwest: Clothing Similarities
Authors: Anawalt Patricia Rieff
Published: April 2006

Clothing styles, design motifs, and techniques of cloth production found in codex illustrations and on pottery and extant textile fragments suggest diffusion of culture traits from the northern coast of South America to West Mexico and on into the American Southwest. The non-mesoamerican garments depicted in a West Mexican sixteenth-century manuscript and on mortuary figurines buried more than 1,000 years earlier in an adjacent area find analogs only in styles that were present in Ecuador from 1500 B. C. up to the time of Spanish contact. Clothing and textile design motifs represented on figures found in the West Mexican shaft tombs of Ixtlán del Río, Nayarit, indicate that these parallels existed as early as 400 B. C. A variety of other data suggest that intermittent maritime contact persisted between Ecuador and West Mexico through the intervening period and into the sixteenth century.
Textiles and Ethnicity: Tiwanaku in San Pedro de Atacama, North Chile
Authors: Rodman Amy Oakland
Published: April 2006

Examining textiles and other usually perishable artifacts, this paper focuses on textile style as an indicator of ethnicity in archaeological textiles excavated in the cemetery of Coyo Oriental, San Pedro de Atacama, Chile. The Coyo Oriental cemetery was occupied during a period of strong Tiwanaku influence in San Pedro de Atacama (A. D. 500-1000) recognized in artifacts decorated with Tiwanaku images. The analysis presented here identifies at least two distinct textile styles recognized in tunic striping, embroidered selvage treatments, and headgear, a fact that possibly indicates a multiethnic use of the cemetery and oasis of Coyo Oriental. Associated textiles and artifacts suggest that one group represents a local style and ethnic group and the other is a different ethnic group closely related to Tiwanaku. Instead of only minor Tiwanaku influence, I suggest that the oasis was home to a foreign altiplano population who maintained for centuries an ethnic identity visible in a distinct textile style.
The Ethnoarchaeology of Salt Production at Lake Cuitzeo, Michoacán, Mexico
Authors: Williams Eduardo
Published: April 2006

Salt has always been a strategic resource of primary importance. In Prehispanic times, salt was used mainly for human consumption, and after the Spanish conquest it became, in addition, an important commodity for silver processing and cattle raising. Salt production and trade in the Lake Cuitzeo basin are analyzed from the perspective of ethnography, archaeology, and ethnohistory. We know that salt from Araró, one of the towns where this research is focused, was paid as tribute in the early colonial era. Ethnohistorical sources concerning salt production in the Lake Cuitzeo basin are discussed, including information on the quantity of salt paid by each town in the first half of the sixteenth century. Contemporary salt-producing sites and methods are described, including the amount of brine and earth used, and the average yield of each finca, or salt-producing unit. Modern and ancient techniques and processes are compared, and found to be similar. The “archaeological visibility” of these activities is assessed, using examples from several areas of Mesoamerica to illustrate the archaeological features and artifacts (e. g., mounds, canals, and specialized pottery types) connected with salt making.
Restos Humanos Asociados a la Pirámide de Akapana (Tiwanaku, Bolivia)
Authors: Manzanilla Linda , Woodard Eric
Published: April 2006

Este trabajo proporciona datos sobre las recientes excavaciones llevadas a cabo en la estructura de Akapana, Tiwanaku, Bolivia. Esta es la construcción religiosa más masiva y alta del sitio. Después de mencionar algunos datos de las temporadas de campo 1988 y 1989, se describe una serie de restos parciales humanos articulados, ubicados en un ángulo remetido del sector norte de la estructura. Los autores ofrecen una serie de hipótesis alternativas para explicar este patrón, poniendo especial énfasis en la componente ritual.
Prehispanic Causeways and Regional Politics in the Llanos of Barinas, Venezuela
Authors: Spencer Charles S. , Redmond Elsa M.
Published: April 2006

In this article we discuss the Prehispanic earthen causeways (calzadas) that traverse the llanos (humid savannas) of Barinas state, Venezuela. A salient question is why the calzadas in this area connect some archaeological sites but not others. Some scholars have proposed that the calzadas were constructed primarily as an adaptive response to seasonal flooding. We assess this proposition by examining Late Gaván phase (A. D. 550-1000) data from along the Río Canaguá and find a lack of positive association between sites that experience seasonal inundations and linkage to the calzada network. Instead, we conclude that the configuration of Late Gaván calzadas is better explained by a series of economic, military, and religious factors, all related to the political dynamics of chiefdom organization on the regional level.
Gliptodontes y Cazadores-Recolectores de la Region Pampeana (Argentina)
Authors: Politis Gustavo G. , Gutiérrez María A.
Published: April 2006

Desde principios de siglo se ha propuesto la coexistencia de los gliptodontes con los cazadores recolectores pleistocénicos de la región pampeana, pero las evidencias presentadas para apoyar esta hipótesis fueron ambiguas. El componente inferior del sitio La Moderna (región pampeana, República Argentina) indica que un representante de esta familia, Doedicurus clavicaudatus, fue faenado a orillas de un pantano, utilizando un instrumental expeditivo de cuarzo cristalino, hacia ca. 7,000 a 7,500 a. P. En este artículo se presenta una síntesis de los hallazgos de La Moderna y se resume y discute también el registro de restos de gliptodontes y de un armadillo extinto (Eutatus seguini) de otros sitios arqueológicos pampeanos. Los hallazgos de La Moderna y de otros sitios con fauna pleistocénica, tales como Arroyo Seco 2, apoyan la hipótesis de que en la región pampeana, la mayoría de las extinciones faunísticas se produjeron luego de los 10,000 a. P. y que en consecuencia, varios géneros pleistocénicos sobrevivieron hasta el final del Holoceno temprano.
Exotic Goods and Everyday Chiefs: Long-Distance Exchange and Indigenous Sociopolitical Development in the South Central Andes
Authors: Goldstein Paul S.
Published: April 2006

Long-distance exchange of exotic preciosities, while it can occur in any sociopolitical context, may be associated with both chiefly formation and state hegemony. In the south central Andes, shared stylistic elements in early complex societies of Paracas-Nasca on the Peruvian south coast and Pukara in the altiplano suggest their contact via intermediate areas. Unfortunately, interpretations of the interaction of these great traditions tend to neglect indigenous sociopolitical development in regions between the two culture areas. Recent systematic survey in one such intermediate region, Peru's Moquegua Valley, has shed light on an indigenous pre-Tiwanaku culture with distinctive regional settlement patterns, complex mortuary practices, and a local ceramic tradition known as Huaracane (385 cal B. C-cal A. D. 340). Surface collections and test excavations confirm a minimal presence of exotic Pukara and Paracas-Nasca ceramics and textiles in association with elite local residential contexts and a late Huaracane mortuary tradition known as “boot tombs” that appears after 170 cal B. C. As there is no general emulation of foreign styles, domestic activities, or practices, an agency-oriented local perspective is favored over globalist colonial or clientage models to explain the role of exotica in a climate of competitive sociopolitical development.
Mortuary Patterns of Regional Elites in the Lake Patzcuaro Basin of Western Mexico
Authors: Pollard Helen Perlstein , Cahue Laura
Published: April 2006

Based primarily upon evidence from the site of Urichu in the Lake Pátzcuaro Basin of Michoacán, we propose that changes in the burial practices of local elites document a transformation of these elites from highly ranked local chiefs into a socially stratified elite class associated with the emergence of the Tarascan state. Two distinctive mortuary patterns that represent the Classic-Epiclassic and Late Postclassic periods are presented. These patterns vary in the age and sex composition of differing mortuary facilities, the preparation and treatment of the bodies, the mortuary facilities, the types of burial goods, and the location of the burials within settlements. Comparison to mortuary practices from the sites of Loma Santa María (Morelia), Guadalupe (Zacapu Basin), Tingambato, and Tres Cerritos (Cuitzeo Basin) place these patterns in a regional context. By contrasting the earlier mortuary pattern, which is associated with societies poorly known, with the later mortuary pattern, which is associated with the well documented Tarascan empire, it is possible to propose a model of a transformation in regional political economies associated with the emergence of the Tarascan state in the Postclassic period. This transformation involved a shift in elite identity from one primarily associated with imported finished goods from distant powerful centers and control of prestige goods networks, to an identity primarily associated with locally produced, distinctively Tarascan, goods and control of tributary, military, political, and ideological networks.
A Calendrical and Demographic Tomb Text from Northern Peru
Authors: Urton Gary
Published: April 2006

The focus of this study is on a khipu—a knotted—string recording device-from the Chachapoya region of the northeastern Andes of Peru. The khipu was one of 32 khipus discovered, along with some 220 mummy bundles, in 1996 in a half-dozen chullpas (burial houses) built into a rock-overhang overlooking a lake, called Laguna de los Cóndores, near the town of Leymebamba (Department of Amazonas). The cultural materials found with the mummies and khipus date from the pre-Inkaic Chachapoya culture (ca. A. D. 800-1450), through the Inka occupation of the region and on into the early colonial era. It is argued that the khipus stored with the dead represented tomb texts, which contained information pertaining to the history of the mummies and the social groups descended from them. One of the khipu samples (UR6) is interpreted as a combined biennial calendar and census of the tribute payers in Chachapoya territory, around Laguna de los Cóndores, in late Prehispanic times. It is argued that khipu UR6 was the source of information from which the first colonial census in the region was drawn up by the Spanish administrators, in 1535.
The Chronology of Conquest: Implications of New Radiocarbon Analyses from the Cañada de Cuicatlán, Oaxaca
Authors: Spencer Charles S. , Redmond Elsa M.
Published: April 2006

Recently obtained radiocarbon determinations from the Cañada de Cuicatlán, Oaxaca, Mexico, have made it possible to revise the chronological placement of the Perdido phase (from 600-200 B. C. to 750-300 B. C.) and the Lomas phase (from 200 B. C.-A. D. 200 to 300 B. C.-A. D. 200), the latter being the phase for which substantial evidence of a Zapotec conquest of the Cañada has been recovered. The revised chronology brings the Lomas phase into close alignment with the Late Monte Albán I (300-100 B. C.) and the Monte Albán II (100 B. C.-A. D. 200) phases, during which the early Zapotec state emerged with its capital at Monte Albán in the Oaxaca Valley. The new Cañada dates support the proposition that territorial expansion outside the Oaxaca Valley played a major role very early in the process of Zapotec primary state formation. This strategy of extra-Valley expansion appears to have been initiated before all areas within the Oaxaca Valley were fully integrated into the Zapotec state.
Merchant Colonies, Semi-Mesoamericans, and the Study of Cultural Contact: A Comment on Anawalt
Authors: Pollard Helen Perlstein
Published: April 2006

Using evidence of dress modes, metallurgy, mortuary structures, and language, Anawalt (1992) presents a model of the impact of Ecuadorean trading colonies on West Mexican prehistory. But the model is built on inaccurate data about the Tarascans, and simplifies, to the point of distortion, the prehistory of the region. Furthermore, by linking the hypothesized Ecuadorean colonies to a semi-mesoamerican quality that is assumed to characterize West Mexico, Anawalt perpetuates a normative, typological approach to the definition of Mesoamerica and the study of cultural interaction.
Ancient Maya Defensive Barricades, Warfare, and Site Abandonment
Authors: Palka Joel W.
Published: April 2006

In a recent report (Latin American Antiquity11:283-299), Bruce Dahlin presents evidence from Chunchucmil, Yucatan, and other ancient lowland Maya centers, which indicates that low stone and earth barricade walls may have been important defensive constructions. He also postulates that population annihilation occurred during Maya warfare, particularly at Chunchucmil. In this commentary I explore alternative explanations regarding Maya defensive works and warfare derived from recent archaeological research and historic sources from the Maya lowlands. The existence of palisades or thorny bush on barricade walls, and more gradual abandonment of Maya sites during episodes of conflict, warrant further consideration and testing along with Dahlin"s intriguing hypotheses.
The Potential Role of Small Depressions as Water Storage Features in the Central Maya Lowlands
Authors: Weiss-Krejci Estella , Sabbas Thomas
Published: April 2006

Small depressions are a frequent landscape feature in the northeast Petén and northwestern Belize. Although generally considered the remains of seasonal ancient Maya water cisterns, they have not been subject to systematic study. Excavation of 16 depressions in northwestern Belize showed that these features are either natural sinkholes (dolines) or quarried cavities. In three depressions, quarrying for construction materials and mining for clay was evident and two depressions are the remains of collapsed chultuns. Depressions probably also served as areas where household activities were carried out, they may have played a role as gardens, and were used as trash dumps. For one quarter of the sample, a water storage function was established. Water input-output calculations showed that these features could have held water year round and thus theoretically could have played a much more important role in supplying water than commonly assumed. The study indicates that Classic Maya population could have relied on decentralized water sources and suggests that hypotheses of centralized water management in the central Maya lowlands should be critically reviewed.
People with Cloth: Mesoamerican Economic Change from the Perspective of Cotton in South-Central Veracruz
Authors: Stark Barbara L. , Heller Lynette , Ohnersorgen Michael A.
Published: April 2006

We examine the ways that textile production, exchange, and consumption were integrated into the political economy of the Gulf lowlands, Mexico, over the course of two millennia. Archaeological, botanical, and historical data concerning cotton textile production reveal that changes in the industry resulted from alterations in the cotton plant, shifts in the local political economy, and changes in the relationship of the Gulf lowlands to other key regions of Mesoamerica. Initially, textiles did not figure prominently in social displays, and there is little archaeological evidence for spinning of cotton thread. Subsequently, textile production may have been stimulated by elite substitution of locally crafted items for increasingly scarce exotic imports toward the end of Olmec times in the Preclassic period. The political and cultural stature of the Gulf lowlands increased during the Classic period in conjunction with a greater emphasis on cotton processing and use of textiles. During the Postclassic period, ruralization of once-key localities and possible conversion of the western lower Papaloapan Basin to a tributary status correlated with changes in the attributes of whorls and in representations of textiles.
The Function of Niched Halls in Wari Architecture
Authors: McEwan Gordon F.
Published: April 2006

Recent archaeological study of the architecture at the Wari site of Pikillacta provides information concerning the function of one of three basic Wari architectural forms. These buildings, called Type II niched halls, occur at both Pikillacta and Viracochapampa, the two largest known Wari provincial sites. Their function can be deduced from a variety of evidence: data from excavations and associated artifacts, analogy with earlier, contemporary, and later Andean ritual/ceremonial buildings, and representations of buildings in Wari art. Based on this analysis, the niched halls apparently served as lineage halls where both real and fictive kin came to formally worship their ancestors. It is suggested that co-option of conquered elites by adoption, and thereby establishing a set of reciprocal obligations, may have been a strategy practiced by the Wari as a principal feature of their statecraft.
The Archaeology of Dual Organization in Andean South America: A Theoretical Review and Case Study
Authors: Moore Jerry D.
Published: April 2006

The concept of dualism has become a major theme in archaeological, ethnohistoric, and ethnographic studies of native South American societies. This article reviews use of the concept by archaeologists and ethnohistorians in the Andes, and considers an ethnohistoric and archaeological case from the Nepeña Valley of the Peruvian North Coast. The review shows that various ideas have been described by the terms “dualism” or “dual organization,” and that archaeologists have interpreted paired sets of remains as the material expressions of dualism. The Nepeña Valley data document a paradoxical case in which the power of local lords, who shared rule, was based on dual organizations, and yet the settlement pattern is clearly hierarchical. This suggests that although dual principles may have formed the social syntax of authority, political power—particularly access to labor—was asymmetric, suggesting, in turn, the need to reconsider the relationship between material remains and complex social principles such as dualism in archaeological approaches to prehistoric social and political organizations.
At the Margins of the Monte Alban State: Settlement Patterns in the Ejutla Valley, Oaxaca, Mexico
Authors: Feinman Gary M. , Nicholas Linda M.
Published: April 2006

A recent systematic archaeological survey in the Ejutla Valley, Oaxaca, Mexico, enables us to examine long-term settlement-pattern changes in this small region and its shifting Prehispanic relation with the larger, adjacent Valley of Oaxaca. Throughout the sequence, Ejutla was settled less densely than Oaxaca, though the degree of difference varied through time. Ejutla was not a simple microcosm of Oaxaca; rather the former region shifted from a sparsely inhabited frontier to a more-dependent periphery that maintained different degrees of autonomy over time. Through a multiscalar examination of this contiguous area larger than a single valley, new perspectives are gained concerning political and economic relations and processes at the macroregional scale for the southern highlands of ancient Mesoamerica.