bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
“The Light of Printing“: William Tyndale, John Foxe, John Day, and Early Modern Print Culture*
Authors: King John N.
Published: April 2006

John Foxe, the martyrologist, and John Day, the Elizabethan master printer, played central roles in the emergence of literate print culture following the death of William Tyndale, translator of the New Testament and parts of the Bible into English. In so doing, Foxe and his publisher contributed to the accepted modern belief that Protestantism and early printing reinforced each other. Foxe's revision of his biography of Tyndale in the second edition ofActs and Monuments of These Latter and Perilous Days(1570) and his collaboration on Day's 1573 publication of Tyndale's collected non-translation prose place intense stress upon the trio's active involvement in the English book trade. The engagement of Foxe and Day with Tyndale's publishing career exemplifies ways in which these bookmen exploited the power of the printing press to effect religious and cultural
An Essential Resource for the Aging: Dance Therapy
Authors: Helm Jocelyn B. , Gill Kathleen L.
Published: April 2006

How marvelous to observe what pure ecstasy dance brings to small children where the movement has become an exploration of the total being. “spontaneity and creativity working together toward a knowing, doing, and valuing experience” (Dimondstein 249). But dance as defined in America, when applied to the young means one thing, to the middle-aged another, and to the aged something entirely different.

The whole spectrum of movement is diminished for the aged. Within our system we have subtle culturally determined reinforcers which encourage negative self-images and attitudes as people grow old. Our society prescribes, along with what we eat, wear, and think, even how and when we shall grow old. Individuals are forced to assume the characteristic physical and mental attitudes of the aged, once they have acquired a certain number of years. The current aged population is a product of its upbringing - of the youth culture and “the Pepsi generation.” Forced into obsolescence, the bodies of the aged become “folded inward” reflecting and enforcing their withdrawal from society. Their perception of themselves as fragile is visible in their every movement.

This paper focuses on aging as a natural biological process and studies the role of movement and exercise in this process. It puts forth the thesis that regular programs of dance and movement are vital for the physical and mental well-being of the aged in our society.
Resource Teachers: Their Role
Authors: McLoughlin James A. , Kass Corrine
Published: April 2006

Resource teachers have become a mainstay in the delivery of educational services to learning disabled youth. However, significant problems have occurred in implementing resource room programs and in specifying the parameters of the role of the resource teacher. McLoughlin and Kass have applied role analysis constructs to identify and describe critical considerations in the successful fulfillment of the role of the resource teacher. The authors delineate ways to identify problems common to resource delivery models.
Construction Site for More Justice: The International Criminal Court After Two Years
Authors: Kaul Hans-Peter
Published: April 2006

The International Criminal Court (ICC) was officially opened in The Hague on March 11, 2003, in a special ceremony attended by Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan. Less than four years after the historic breakthrough by the Diplomatic Conference of Plenipotentiaries in Rome on July 17, 1998, the Statute of the ICC had entered into force on July 1, 2002. The required number of sixty ratifications, which is laid down in Article 126, paragraph 1 of the Rome Statute, was reached much faster than for other comparable multilateral treaties and faster than had been expected by the global public. Secretary-General Annan attracted widespread attention when he observed that July 1, 2002, was a decisive landmark in breaking with the cynical worldview of people like Joseph Stalin, who is alleged to have remarked that while “a single death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic.”
The Law-in-Action of the International Criminal Court
Authors: Arsanjani Mahnousk H. , Reisman W. Michael
Published: April 2006

When we are dealing with words that also are a constituent act, like the Constitution of the United States, we must realize that they have called into life a being the development of which could not have been foreseen completely by the most gifted of its begetters.

—Missouri v. Holland (Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., J.)

As the International Criminal Court (ICC) moves from an exhilarating idea to a carefully negotiated document and finally to an operational institution, the cogency of its conception will be tested by the manifold realities of international politics, not the least of which will be the practical and financial limits those realities may place upon investigation and prosecution. The drafters of the Rome Statute benefited from important previous experiments—the Nuremberg Tribunal and the International Criminal Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda. But once the Court is launched, the predecessors and prototypes that were so helpful in the drafting stages will be of less and less assistance. The ICC must operate in a substantially different context than the earlier efforts, and the problems it will encounter (and already is encountering) will be different from and may prove more formidable than those facing its prototypes.
The 2004 Judicial Activity of the International Court of Justice
Authors: Crook John R.
Published: April 2006

During 2004 the International Court of Justice decided three important matters. In March the Court found that the United States had violated the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations with respect to a number of Mexican nationals sentenced to death in U.S. state court proceedings. In a much-noted advisory opinion, the Court concluded in July that Israel's construction of a security wall or fence in occupied Palestinian territory violated international law. And in December it found that it did not have jurisdiction over Serbia and Montenegro's claims against eight NATO countries regarding NATO's 1999 bombing campaign aimed at halting the conflict in Kosovo. In other developments, the Court heard and had under deliberation Germany's preliminary objections to Liechtenstein's suit regarding certain property of Crown Prince Adam. Finally, Judge Gilbert Guillaume, a member of the Court since 1987 and its former president, announced that he would resign in February 2005.
Prehistoric Genetic and Culture Change: A Bioarchaeological Search for Pre-Inka Altiplano Colonies in the Coastal Valleys of Moquegua, Peru, and Azapa, Chile
Authors: Sutter Richard C.
Published: April 2006

This investigation uses a bioarchaeological approach to test the existence of pre-Inka colonists within the Andean coastal valleys of Moquegua, Peru, and Azapa, Chile, as predicted by Murra's (1972) classic model of verticality. The archaeological evidence and biodistance results obtained using genetically controlled dental traits from 859 skeletal and mummified remains indicate that the Late Intermediate period (A.D. 1100-1476) coastal Chiribaya people of the Moquegua Valley, Peru, likely represent descendants of altiplano populations that migrated to the coastal region following the disintegration of the Middle Horizon (A.D. 750-1100) Tiwanaku colony located in the middle Moquegua Valley. In the neighboring Azapa Valley, Chile, genetic change among prehistoric populations was due to gradual in situ microevolution of local populations rather than colonization by altiplano people. Coastal populations of the Azapa Valley maintained biocultural continuity with the Archaic period Chinchorro coastal population. It is concluded that Murra's model of direct verticality should be evaluated using both biological and archaeological data on a case-by-case basis.
The Anabaptists, the Reformers, and the Civil Government
Authors: Schaff Harold H.
Published: April 2006

In dealing with the Anabaptists as a group which discovered or held political and social views of their own, it is first of all desirable to escape from any possible preconceived notion to the effect that the term “Anabaptist” must be used to designate a variety of groups all united to a greater or less degree by some principles or beliefs commonly held. At the outset of the movement such men as Konrad Grebel and Felix Manz, in Switzerland, gave some semblance of unity to the various divisions of the sect by moving from one place to another, and by thus serving somewhat in the capacity of liaison officers. But the movement was still very young when one must say of it that there were a great many small and distinct groups which held nothing of any importance in common, yet which were generally to be designated under the term Anabaptist. Thus, considering the real character of the Anabaptist movement and its chief significance—which I take to be social—the name given to the Anabaptists is less relevant than at first might be supposed. The sectaries did not call themselves Anabaptists; and they resented the use of the name by others. At least from the year 1525 on the name was nothing but an external designation for the various sects. As Sebastian Franck has affirmed, the sects were so disunited amongst themselves that he scarcely knew how to write anything certain or final about them; and he was unable to find even two Anabaptist congregations which held views exactly the same.
The French Language in Louisiana and the Negro-French Dialect
Authors: Fortier Alcé
Published: April 2006

It may be of some importance to the professors of French in the United
States to know something about the history and form of that language as used
in the Old French settlement of Louisiana. It is a well-known fact that the
descendants of the French in the colonies have always retained the language
of the mother country. In America, as, a general rule, the children of
Germans, of Spaniards and Italians know very little of the speech of their
fathers, while we see Americans of French origin retaining the language of
their ancestors as a mother-tongue down to the fifth and sixth generations.
The same thing can be observed in Canada and my friend, Prof A. M. Elliott,
has shown with what tenacity the Canadians have clung to their original
language, and how the French element, contrary to the general law of the
philosophy of history, seems to be absorbing the English population to such
an extent that the country tends to be “Frenchified,” and that a Jones or a
Smith speaks French better than the language of his ancestor, the English
conqueror, or of his father, the English settler.
The Place of English in the College Curriculum
Authors: Hunt Th. W.
Published: April 2006

It is now customary among the most advanced students of modern education
to divide the area of collegiate studies into the three great departments of
Science, Philosophy, Language and Literature. Although within the sphere of
a liberal training there are some studies not strictly included in this
division, it is for all practical purposes a convenient and comprehensive
one. It is with the last of these three departments that the present paper
will deal. We mean by English,—the English Language and Literature as
including, also, the subject of English style and criticism. The place of
English as thus defined among other collegiate branches is one of the many
open questions before the educators and the educated public of to-day. It is
a question so prominent and so urgently pressing for discussion and
adjustment, that it must in some way be met. In the recent Modern Language
Convention held at Columbia College, N.Y., it elicited special interest and
clearly indicated the drift of modem opinion regarding it. It is the object
of the present informal discussion to say a word on its behalf, if so be the
department of English in our American Colleges may be more truly appreciated
and a more generous provision be made for its needs.
The Oracle Inscriptions discovered at Dodona
Authors: Roberts E. S.
Published: April 2006

Students of archaeology are now familiar with the splendid work in which Constantin Carapanos two years ago gave to the world the results of his discoveries at Dodona. The vexed question of the site of the ancient temple was finally set at rest, it will be remembered, by the discovery of a large number of inscriptions recording dedications to Zeus Naïos and Dione. The immense quantity of relics and works of art brought to light in the course of the excavations has been exhaustively catalogued in the work, Dodone et ses Ruines, and they have been illustrated and described by various scholars and reviewers. The inscriptions, too, have, at least on the Continent, come in for some share of notice and criticism. A detailed account of these inscriptions—their contributions to the lexicon, to dialectology, to local and general history, and to topography—is still a desideratum. For, as was only to be expected, the interpretations and criticisms of Carapanos himself are rather general than critical. His text, moreover, is frequently open to objection.

In a classification of these inscriptions our attention is at once drawn to an obviously new category; and it is with this alone that we propose to concern ourselves in the present article. The category comprises a quantity of more or less legible inscriptions engraved upon one or both sides of leaden plates often not exceeding a millimetre in thickness. These plates form a unique series of documents belonging to the archives of the famous oracle at Dodona, and contain the questions addressed, or prayers offered, to the deity by his votaries, who might be either communities or individuals.
On Some Ionic Elements in Attic Tragedy
Authors: Verrall A. W.
Published: April 2006

Among the happy circumstances which in the fifth century B.C. favoured the development of Hellenic art must be reckoned as an important element the peculiar distinctions and relations of the Hellenic dialects. These relations were such as it would probably be difficult to parallel. The several idioms, most of them separately cultivated up to the standard of literature, differed from each other sufficiently to make their broad characters readily perceptible, and yet resembled each other sufficiently to be mutually intelligible. Each of the great branches of the cousinhood had its own characteristic product, and the total of these was the common inheritance of the nation. The language thus resembled an organ with several sets of stops; poetry was at once provincial and classic; and the literature enjoyed by a felicitous balance the conflicting advantages of fixed and fluctuating speech. That the great artists of Athens perceived their own strength is in a general way sufficiently obvious. The distinction between the Doric chorus and the Attic dialogue is alone a proof of the fact. But it seems not unlikely that closer examination may reveal to us more subtle applications of the same method, and that, besides the keener perception which we may thus gain of the tone and feeling of particular passages, we may even be able to employ our knowledge of such laws as an instrument of criticism and interpretation. This paper is an attempt to represent under this aspect the facts respecting the use by the three tragedians of the substantives and adjectives in -οσυνος and -οσυνη.
A Romaic Ballad
Authors: Ramsay W. M.
Published: April 2006

The following popular song was shown me by M. Fontrier, one of the directors of the museum belonging to the Evangelical School in Smyrna, who had heard it during a visit to Icaria in the year 1874. As the song is interesting from its reference to mediaeval history, I urged M. Fontrier to publish it, but he preferred to put it at my disposal. With his kind help, which is always most generously given in everything that concerns the study of Greek, the following pages have been written. A slight account of the historical circumstances to which the ballad refers would form a fitting commentary; but materials for this are not at hand. The account given by Ross (Reisen auf den griech. Inseln, ii. 6, 156 ff.) of his visit to the island forms an excellent geographical commentary. M. Fontrier visited most parts of the island, and from his notes I give some additions and corrections to Ross on points connected with the ballad.

[The event referred to in the ballad seems to belong to the occupation of Icaria by the Genoese in the middle of the fourteenth century, when the island of Chios was conquered by that people, and became the property of a Maona or trading company, who held it for 220 years, from 1346—1566.
Guido Adler's “The Scope, Method, and Aim of Musicology” (1885): An
English Translation with an Historico-Analytical Commentary
Authors: Mugglestone Erica
Published: April 2006

In 1884 a triumvirate of Austro-German music historians, Friedrich
Chrysander, Philipp Spitta, and Guido Adler, founded the first journal of
musicology,1 the newest fledgeling amongst the
sciences,2 namely, the
Vierteljahrsschrift für Musikwissenschaft
[Musicology Quarterly]. The first issue opened with a paper written by
Adler, defining the scope, method and aim of the new science. This proved to
be a potent formative influence on the establishment and development of the
academic discipline of musicology in Europe and elsewhere, notably the
United States of America, an influence that is strongly felt to the present
day. Thus, in the New Grove Dictionary of Music and
Musicians (1980: s.v. “Musicology,” by Vincent Duckles,
et al.), its importance is made evident in
that it is summarised as the still extant model of musicology.
A Note on the Dundo Museum of the Companhia de Diamantes de Angola
Authors: Vilhena Julio de
Published: April 2006

The Dundo Museum, in the town of that name which is the administrative certtre of the Companhia de Diamantes de Angola, in Lunda (Portuguese West Africa), was founded by that Company in 1945, based on an ethnographic collection composed already at that time of several hundreds of objects representative of the native populations of that vast district situated in the very heart of Africa.
Continuity and Change in Traditional Folklore*
Authors: Pop Mihai
Published: April 2006

Rumanian folklore is at present undergoing an intense process of transformation of its old and rich traditions. This is due to changes in the way of life, the conceptions and the culture of its creators. Some folklore has had to be abandoned as obsolete and some has become crystallised in fixed forms and is no longer productive. On the other hand, some old genres have acquired a new popularity and a large number of new songs and dances are enriching our folklore.

The renewal of tradition is characterized by changes in the function and consequently in the very structure of the folk creations. New variants appear which acquire gradually an indpendent structure. The changes in the formation and structure not only affect isolated creations but whole categories, causing important modifications in the traditional system of the folklore genres, their interrelation and their artistic form.
Bartók's Melodies in the Style of Folk Songs
Authors: Vargyas Lajos
Published: April 2006

It is known that Bartók had a high opinion of the aesthetic value of folk songs. We find the following passage in his work (Bartók, 1931): “In their small way, they are as perfect as the grandest masterpieces of musical art. They are, indeed, classical models of the way in which a musical idea can be expressed in all its freshness and shapeliness … with the simplest of means.” This was written by an artist whose compositions very rarely included melodies as rounded off as those of folk songs. Surfeited with the over-ripe melodic style and the exaggerated cult of harmonies of the romantic school, Bartók—like his contemporaries—made rhythm and tone-colour effects predominant in his works.
Jewish and Gentile Folk Song in the Balkans and Its Relation to the Liturgical Music of the Sephardic Jews in Bulgaria
Authors: Kaufman Nikolay
Published: April 2006

The synagogical songs of the Sephardic Jews in Bulgaria can be divided into two main sections: (1) recitative singing of texts in prose, which is performed in accordance with definite fixed patterns in different scales, and (2) solemn hymns on poetic texts.

The recitatives differ in their manner of performance and in melody from the people's songs of the Balkans. Similar are only their scales, which are in general encountered in the songs of all Balkan peoples (including the Sephardic Jews in Bulgaria).

The solemn hymns, however, are very close in melody to some urban songs of the Balkan peoples, and in particular to those of Greeks and Bulgarians. In certain cases we encounter direct borrowings of melodies from urban folkore, to which paschal, atonement (Yom Kippur), Friday evening, etc., synagogical songs are sung. Performed by the cantors and the congregation, these songs show a certain similarity with liturgical songs in general.
Song in Hopi Culture, Past and Present1
Authors: List George
Published: April 2006

The Hopis are the westernmost of the Pueblo Indian tribes. Their reservation is located in an arid and rather isolated section of north-eastern Arizona. Here their villages are distributed among the southern spurs of the great Black Mesa, a tableland stretching many miles to the north. The eleven villages on the reservation form three clusters. Moving from east to west, these groups of villages are known as First Mesa, Second Mesa, and Third Mesa.

The old village of Oraibi, on Third Mesa, was first settled in the thirteenth century and is thus the oldest continuously occupied site in the United States. In the first decade of this century Oraibi was the scene of a political struggle between a progressive faction wishing to adopt certain of the white man's ways and a conservative group who opposed this path. In the Hopi language the wordHopisignifies “the peaceful people.”
Drained Fields at La Tigra, Venezuelan Llanos: A Regional Perspective
Authors: Spencer Charles S. , Redmond Elsa M. , Rinaldi Milagro
Published: April 2006

This paper discusses drained-field studies in Venezuela, beginning with the first investigations two decades ago that focused on field systems themselves and proceeding to recent research by the authors that examined the drained fields of La Tigra as part of a regional-scale project in the state of Barinas. The La Tigra fields are dated to the Late Gaván phase (A.D. 550-1000), a time of extensive habitation in the region. An analysis of excavated pollen samples from the drained fields and a nearby village site has revealed that whereas maize was the predominant plant, there was notable intersite variability in the secondary cultigens. The paper also considers whether population pressure could have prompted the construction of the La Tigra fields. A comparison of archaeological population estimates to estimates of potential population under varying assumptions of productive capacity yields no indication of demographic pressures. We suggest that drained-field construction in this case was motivated primarily by political-economic considerations, part of a strategy whereby the regional elite sought to stimulate and mobilize the production of surplus by village farmers.
New Chronometric Dates for the Puquios of Nasca, Peru
Authors: Clarkson Persis B. , Dorn Ronald I.
Published: April 2006

Numeric age assessments of organic material encapsulated by rock varnish present on stone lintels of two “puquios” in the Nasca region of the south coast of Peru indicate a Precolumbian age. Accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon analyses at the Isotrace Laboratory revealed ages of cal A. D. 560(620)650 and cal A. D. 600(640)660 (1 sigma). These calibrated measurements are considered to be appropriate in the context of the archaeological settlement pattern data for the region. As well, the written documents of the colonial period neither confirm nor deny the presence of the puquios. Three assumptions are inherent in the acceptance of these dates: (1) AMS14C dating and its application to rock varnish yield reliable results, (2) sample contamination can be recognized, and (3) determination of the age of the puquios rests upon testable available information; ex silentio arguments about the presence or absence of the puquios in the Nasca region before the Spanish conquest are inadequate for the resolution of the question.
Classic to Postclassic at Ek Balam, Yucatan: Architectural and Ceramic Evidence for Defining the Transition
Authors: Bey George J. , Hanson Craig A. , Ringle William M.
Published: April 2006

The Classic-to-Postclassic transition in the Maya Lowlands is a focus of contemporary debate. At the site of Ek Balam, Yucatán, excavation of Structure GS-12 provided an architectural stratigraphy that spans this period. GS-12-sub was a Late Classic (Pure Florescent) building razed during the construction of GS-12-1, a C-shaped structure of a form generally identified with Postclassic occupations on the Yucatán Peninsula. At Ek Balam the building is associated with Cehpech-sphere ceramics and dated to the Terminal Classic. These data are in general agreement with the dating of such structures at other lowland sites including Uxmal. We contend that C-shaped structures, when found associated with Cehpech-sphere ceramics, are a horizon marker for the Terminal Classic-to-Postclassic transition on the Yucatán Peninsula, and that they illustrate the culture changes that occurred at this still poorly understood boundary. They may be the remains of administrative buildings used by the Maya following the cessation of monumental construction at major centers. Besides contributing to our understanding of the ancient Maya, the implications of this article extend to the general study of collapse and abandonment of complex societies.
The Moche Revolt of the Objects
Authors: Quilter Jeffrey
Published: April 2006

Stories involving the death of the sun and a subsequent revolt of objects against humans are variants of a common and ancient Native American myth, and it is argued that a number of art works from the Moche culture of the Peruvian north coast depict a variant of this myth. The “Revolt of the Objects” theme is part of a narrative sequence representing an important epic of the late Moche culture that is linked to other Moche art, larger symbolic concepts, and sociopolitical events. Now that simple diffusionistic explanations are no longer applicable, the occurrence of similar themes in myths and art throughout the Americas is a subject that should be reexamined.
Late Postclassic Chronology in Western Morelos, Mexico
Authors: Smith Michael E. , Doershuk John F.
Published: April 2006

Chronology building is an integral part of the archaeological research process, and changing research questions often require the refinement of existing chronologies. This view is illustrated with a description of the derivation, refinement, and confirmation of a ceramic sequence for the Postclassic period in Morelos, Mexico. The joint application of stratigraphy and quantitative ceramic seriation produced a five-phase Postclassic chronology. To deal with problems in distinguishing the stylistically similar ceramics of the final three phases, discriminant-function analysis was employed, resulting in the confident phasing of nearly all excavated contexts at the sites of Capilco and Cuexcomate. Calendar years are assigned to the phases by radiocarbon dating, and the implications of the dated sequence are explored briefly.
The Preceramic Period Site of Paloma, Peru: Bioindications of Improving Adaptation to Sedentism
Authors: Benfer Robert A.
Published: April 2006

The nature of the adjustments made by the steadily increasing population of central coastal Peru in the Middle through Late Preceramic time periods can be examined by careful study of bioindicators. Nonspecific indicators of stress (NSIS) preserved in human remains provide independent evidence for validating paleodemographic hypotheses. If life expectancy improves over a period of time, one expects diminished indication of nonspecific stress. Decreasing stress over time also may imply increasing fertility in precontraceptive peoples, which, along with declining mortality, would lead to population growth. However, the converse does not follow; populations may grow over time whether responding to increasing, stable, or decreasing stress. Other factors, such as changing subsistence strategies or hybrid vigor, also may be useful in explaining diminished indications of either nonspecific stress or population increase. The complex relations among (a) population structure and density (PSD), (b) nonspecific indicators of stress, and (c) diet have not yielded deductions that could form a universal set of expectations. However, several kinds of adaptation that are distinct with respect to population growth and health status are considered and illustrated with analyses of 201 skeletons from the preagricultural village of Paloma in central coastal Peru.
Demografia en la zona puuc: El recurso del metodo
Authors: Becquelin Pierre , Michelet Dominique
Published: April 2006

Datos sobre asentamiento nuevamente obtenidos en el sitio puuc de Xculoc y sus cercanías (Campeche, México), nos permiten calcular el tamaño de la población de este sector en el momento de su auge (900-1000 D.C.). Los datos incluyen dimensiones de los pisos internos de toda residencia potencial, así como las capacidades de las cisternas subterráneas (chultunes) que constituían las únicas fuentes de agua durante la temporada seca de seis meses (noviembre-mayo). La división de las superficies y capacidades totales por coeficientes basados en datos etnoarqueológicos produce cifras de población menores que las que se habrían obtenido por medio de la aplicación de las proporciones utilizadas en el sitio cercano de Sayil (McAnany 1990; Tourtellot et al. 1990). Los resultados sugieren que es necesario re-examinar los cálculos de la población maya del horizonte Clásico producidos durante los pasados 20 años. La reducción de 30 a 50 por ciento que proponemos tendría implicaciones sustanciales en cuanto a nuestra concepción de la organización económica, política, y social de la sociedad clásica maya.
The Tronadora Complex: Early Formative Ceramics in Northwestern Costa Rica
Authors: Hoopes John W.
Published: April 2006

The correlation of archaeological features with tephra stratigraphy and radiocarbon dates in the volcanic cordillera of northwestern Costa Rica has provided evidence for an Early to Middle Formative ceramic complex dating to at least 2000 B.C. Tronadora ceramics have been found in association with evidence for early horticulture and sedentism. Stylistic comparisons with other early pottery from Central America have helped with the refinement of our chronology for the earliest sedentary societies in Costa Rica and Nicaragua. Differences between Tronadora pottery and the earliest complexes of Mesoamerica and southern Central America indicate a high degree of regionalization in ceramic styles during the Early Formative period. Similarities also indicate, however, the common participation of northwestern Costa Rica and southern Mesoamerica in broad interaction networks at this time. Tronadora pottery does not represent an incipient technology or the result of a diffusion of ceramic production from Mesoamerica or northwestern South America. Instead, it implies the existence of an earlier and still-undefined period of technological experimentation in the Central American isthmus.
A Middle Archaic Archaeological Site on the West Coast of Mexico
Authors: Voorhies Barbar , Kennett Douglas J. , Jones John G. , Wake Thomas A.
Published: April 2006

The Cerro de las Conchas shell mound, located on Mexico's south Pacific coast, was formed between 7,500 and 6,000/5,500 years ago, during the Middle Archaic period. Few Mesoamerican coastal sites are as early or have been studied so intensively. Limited diversity in the artifact assemblage and faunal origins, the presence of bedded strata, and the absence of features associated with permanent residency indicate that the site was used intermittently as a processing station for aquatic foods. Seasonality studies on clam shells suggest that this occurred year round. The site likely was situated initially adjacent to a brackish water lagoon near a tropical rainforest because faunal studies indicate a strong focus on lagoonal taxa, whereas a forested environment is indicated by phytoliths. Toward the end of the Middle Archaic, however, an increase in faunal and artifact richness, an emphasis on fauna with a tolerance for marine conditions, and phytolith evidence for more disturbance vegetation compared to earlier times, may be due to marine transgression. Later, pottery-using agricultural peoples used the site for farming and possibly residency. This example of early human adaptation to a coastal environment of Mesoamerica permits a corrective to previous research that is weighted heavily in favor of upland settings.
Analisis Quimico de Pisos de Ocupacion: Un Caso Etnografico en Tlaxcala, Mexico
Authors: Barba Luis , Ortiz Agustín
Published: April 2006

La arqueología moderna ha enfocado su atención al estudio de las áreas de actividad para entender formas de vida y patrones de subsistencia. Esto ha conducido a que se manejen niveles de análisis cada vez más pequeños, tales como los estudios de microarqueología, la recuperación de información botánica por medio de la flotación de restos vegetales, y el estudio de fitolitos y polen. Hasta el momento, el análisis químico de los pisos representa la escala más pequeña de estudio, ya que se está tratando con iones y moléculas químicas invisibles, impregnadas en los pisos. Sin embargo, la interpretación arqueológica de estos datos necesita estar sustentada por estudios etnoarqueológicos para entender los patrones de contaminación de actividades universales como el comer, cocinar, almacenar, etcétera y poder extrapolarlos coherentemente a contextos arqueológicos.

El presente trabajo muestra la relación entre las actividades humanas practicadas in situ y la distribución de compuestos químicos orgánicos e inorgánicos que impregnan los pisos de un área habitacional localizada en el poblado de San Vicente Xiloxochitla, en Tlaxcala, México.

Las pruebas químicas aplicadas a 76 muestras identificaron las concentraciones de carbonatos, fosfatos, pH, hierro, calcio, albúmina, ácidos grasos y carbohidratos, además de registrar su color Munsell. Los mapas de distribución muestran que las mayores alteraciones producidas por la ocupación están relacionadas principalmente con las actividades alimenticias y con los desechos de los animales. El resto de las actividades tuvieron un impacto menor en el enriquecimiento químico de los pisos pero a pesar de ello resultan claramente reconocibles. Lo anterior constituye una prueba fehaciente del tipo de información que los compuestos químicos impregnados en los pisos pueden proporcionar en contextos arqueológicos, especialmente cuando los materiales sobre los pisos son escasos.
Obsidian-Hydration Dating, the Coner Phase, and Revisionist Chronology at Copan, Honduras
Authors: Braswell Geoffrey E.
Published: April 2006

The technique of obsidian-hydration dating contains great potentials for error, from both laboratory determinations of rate constants and measurements of effective hydration temperatures (EHTs) in the field. The rate constants used to determine these dates are of questionable validity and need to be independently verified. Significantly, no measurements of EHTs were taken at the site of Copán, Honduras, until the majority of the obsidianhydration dates were calculated. An error of but a few Kelvins in estimated EHT can lead to dates that are in error by several centuries. In view of the likelihood of large errors in the Copán obsidian dates, the assertion that the Late Classic Coner phase should be extended beyond A. D. 900 (Webster and Freter 1990a) is premature.
Vestiges of Prehispanic, Sloping-Field Terraces on the Piedmont of Central Veracruz, Mexico
Authors: Sluyter Andrew , Siemens Alfred H.
Published: April 2006

Some prominent Mesoamericanists long considered lowland central Veracruz to have been agriculturally unproductive prior to the Totonacs' construction of a canal-irrigation system at Zempoala during the Middle Postclassic period (A. D. 1200-1400). This evaluation reflects a long-standing negative predisposition toward tropical lowlands and a preoccupation with the significance of canal irrigation in the emergence of urban societies. However, an appreciation of mesoenvironments and their ecological interrelations has led to a reevaluation of agriculture in central Veracruz. In wetlands to the south of Zempoala, evidence of canals and planting platforms supporting maize cultivation by A. D. 500 demonstrates that people were intensively cultivating that mesoenvironment by the Classic period (A. D. 1-850). Moreover, vestiges of sloping-field terraces occur throughout some 1,000 km2of piedmont west of those wetlands. Direct evidence for crops and a chronology are still lacking for these latter fields, but ethnohistorical data and plant ecology suggest cotton, maize, agave, and a Prehispanic origin.
Mortuary Practices and the Social Order at La Quemada, Zacatecas, Mexico
Authors: Nelson Ben A. , Darling J. Andrew , Kice David A.
Published: April 2006

Epiclassic occupants of the site of La Quemada left the disarticulated remains of 11-14 humans in an apparently sacred structure outside the monumental core of the site. Several lines of evidence are reviewed to generate propositions about the ritual meanings and functions of the bones. A comparative analysis reveals the complexity of mortuary practices in northern and western Mexico, and permits the suggestion that these particular remains were those of revered ancestors or community members. The sacred structure is seen as a charnel house, in which the more ancient tradition of ancestor worship expressed in shaft tombs was essentially perpetuated above ground. Hostile social relations are clearly suggested, however, by other categories of bone deposits. Recognition of the rich variability of mortuary displays leads to questions about their role in the maintenance of the social order.
Ancient and Modern Maya Exploitation of theJuteSnail (Pachychilus)
Authors: Healy Paul F. , Emery Kitty , Wright Lori E.
Published: April 2006

Although the economic basis of the ancient lowland Maya civilization was principally maize agriculture, throughout their long history the Maya remained proficient fishers, hunters, and gatherers. Research increasingly has suggested early and extensive Maya exploitation of the freshwater molluscan speciesPachychilus, called jute by the modern Maya. This report reviews archaeological evidence for use of this stream- and river-dwelling invertebrate and summarizes recent data from the site of Pacbitun, in western Belize.Pachychilusnot only was used for dietary purposes, but occasionally was included in Maya ritual deposits. Ecological information on the habitat ofPachychilusis given, as well as a description of its nutritional value and contemporary methods of collecting and processing jute in the modern Maya community of San Antonio (Cayo), Belize. It is concluded thatPachychiluswas one minor but widespread element of the ancient Maya subsistence regime.

Although the economic basis of the ancient lowland Maya civilization was principally maize agriculture, throughout their long history the Maya remained proficient fishers, hunters, and gatherers. Research increasingly has suggested early and extensive Maya exploitation of the freshwater molluscan speciesPachychilus, called jute by the modern Maya. This report reviews archaeological evidence for use of this stream- and river-dwelling invertebrate and summarizes recent data from the site of Pacbitun, in western Belize.Pachychilusnot only was used for dietary purposes, but occasionally was included in Maya ritual deposits. Ecological information on the habitat ofPachychilusis given, as well as a description of its nutritional value and contemporary methods of collecting and processing jute in the modern Maya community of San Antonio (Cayo), Belize. It is concluded thatPachychiluswas one minor but widespread element of the ancient Maya subsistence regime.
Ecology and Ritual: Water Management and the Maya
Authors: Scarborough Vernon L.
Published: April 2006

How the ancient Maya of the central Yucatecan Lowlands managed their water and land resources remains poorly known, although crucial to an understanding of ancient political economy. Recent archival research and field data suggest the widespread use of artificially altered, natural depressions for the collection and containment of water, both for potable consumption and agricultural ends. During the Classic period (A. D. 250-900) several of the principal cities in the Maya area constructed their largest architecture and monuments at the summit of hills and ridges. Associated with these elevated centers—”water mountains”—were sizable, life-sustaining reservoirs quarried into their summits. The effect of this town-planning design was the centralization of a primary and fundamental resource. Although elite managers controlled the water source, other decentralizing forces prevented anything similar to Wittfogel's “total power.” However, by ritually appropriating the everyday and mundane activities associated with water by the sustaining population, elites used high-performance water ritual as manifest in the iconography to further centralize control. The significance of modifying the urban landscape in the partial image of the ordinary water hole defines the extraordinary in Maya ritual.
Integration of Archaeological Phase Information and Radiocarbon Results from the Jama River Valley, Ecuador: A Bayesian Approach
Authors: Zeidler James A. , Buck Caitlin E. , Litton Clifford D.
Published: April 2006

Archaeological syntheses of western Ecuadorian prehistory have been hampered by a lack of reliable absolute chronologies and detailed cultural sequences for many key areas, one of which is northern Manabí Province, known principally as the territory of the Jama-Coaque cultural tradition. This study presents a seven-phase cultural sequence for the Jama River valley of northern Manabí that spans over 3,600 calendar years. A statistical model relating the successive archaeological phases is established, based on prior knowledge of the stratigraphy and ceramic seriation from key archaeological sites throughout the valley. A Bayesian statistical approach is then employed to calibrate 37 radiocarbon determinations for the purpose of estimating calendar dates for the limits of these phases. Apart from its contribution to the prehistory of a poorly studied area, the analysis illustrates the value of a probabilistic Bayesian approach to radiocarbon calibration, especially when the determinations relate to archaeologically predefined phases. It also demonstrates the dangers of uncritically applying generalized periodization schemes to specific sequences of historical development and highlights the need for reassessing Ecuadorian chronology through more precise interregional correlations.
Mexican Obsidian at Tikal, Guatemala
Authors: Moholy-Nagy Hattula
Published: April 2006

More than 1,200 artifacts from Tikal provide new information about the presence of Mexican obsidian in the Maya Lowlands and Teotihuacan"s possible role in its transmission. In addition to the source of green obsidian near Pachuca, six other Mexican sources were identified in the Tikal sample. These artifacts date from the early Late Preclassic into the Early Postclassic periods. Over 96 percent are prismatic blades and thin bifaces, whose recovery contexts, spatial distributions, and signs of use-wear indicate they were predominantly utilitarian and domestic artifacts used by all social groups. They were commodities that were transported over Highland-Lowland long-distance exchange networks of considerable time depth. This long-standing, interregional exchange of goods is essentially different from the relatively brief adoption and integration during the Early Classic period of objects, art styles, and behavior of Teotihuacan origin. Obsidian sequins and eccentrics of Teotihuacan style were material components of this latter phenomenon. Their forms and recovery contexts suggest use in rituals borrowed from Teotihuacan, but by lesser elites or wealthy commoners rather than by Tikal"s rulers.
Tecnologia y funcion de las puntas de Paijan: El aporte de la experimentacion
Authors: Pelegrin Jacques , Chauchat Claude
Published: April 2006

En el curso de las investigaciones sobre el Paijanense de la costa nor-peruana, se estableció un programa de experimentos de talla de las puntas de proyectil llamadas puntas de Paiján. Diez experimentos de talla fueron realizados con implementos y materiales locales y sistemáticamente documentados: definición de las fases del proceso, tiempo de trabajo, recuento y descripción de todas las lascas-desechos, pesos, características de los productos obtenidos al fin de cada fase. Los resultados proporcionan información de orden económico sobre una actividad importante de los paijanenses y tienen consecuencias socio-culturales. Estos resultados se aplicarán al estudio de talleres arqueológicos ya recolectados. La ausencia de fauna terrestre de gran tamaño en los restos alimenticios de los sitios de vivienda y la morfología especial de las puntas sugieren que aquéllas han sido empleadas para atravesar peces marinos de tamaño mediano a grande, los cuales se encuentran en los basurales arqueológicos.
Houses on a Hill: Classic Period Life at El Palmillo, Oaxaca, Mexico
Authors: Feinman Gary M. , Nicholas Linda M. , Haines Helen R.
Published: April 2006

The increasing attention devoted to the investigation of prehispanic houses in Mesoamerica owes much theoretically and methodologically to the early household archaeology undertaken decades ago in the Valley of Oaxaca. Yet despite the large sample of Formative period houses excavated in this region, little is known about domestic life during the later Classic and Postclassic periods. In this paper we broaden the database of Classic period houses by reporting on excavations on five residential terraces at El Palmillo, one of many large hilltop terraced sites in the valley that collectively housed as much as two-thirds of the region"s Classic period population. Occupied for centuries, the terraces and their associated domestic compounds at El Palmillo underwent a series of coordinated episodes of wall construction, repair, and spatial modification. Craft activities-especially the production of chipped stone tools and maguey fiber for cordage and cloth-were an important part of domestic life. The relative importance of these different household economic activities varied from terrace to terrace, indicating that domestic production was specialized and operated at the household level. Maguey and other xerophytic plants also provided important subsistence resources. Differences in access to nonlocal goods have been documented between terraces, although the extent of such variation is not marked in the present sample. Although preliminary, the El Palmillo findings provide a new empirical basis from which to examine domestic life and the economic and organizational foundations of Classic period hill-top terraced settlements in Oaxaca. These findings reflect on larger issues about the basic economy of later prehispanic Mesoamerica and the articulation of domestic units and household production into larger socioeconomic networks that theoretically extended well beyond ancient Oaxaca.