Browsing by Subject "Preclassic"
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Item Emerging perspectives : a new cross-contextual analysis of the niche monument corpus(2019-07-16) Nuckols Wilde, Catherine Lindsey; Guernsey, Julia, 1964-; Stuart, David, 1965-; Covey, Ronald; Papalexandrou, AthanasioPreclassic niche monuments, found from Guatemala to Chiapas to Veracruz, portray anthropomorphic figures emerging from a high-relief cavity. Despite being frequently lumped into other, more well-known categories (niche altars/thrones, boulder monuments, etc.), certain of these monuments along the Pacific Coast of Mexico and Guatemala exhibit characteristics that merit their own sculptural category. Presently there is no study of the monuments as such. For this project, I aim to fill this gap in the scholarship. By focusing on niche monuments found along the Pacific Coast of Mexico and Guatemala, I have assembled a corpus of seven monuments and situated them within a broader matrix of communication and exchange. In this paper, I will present my analysis of the corpus of niche monuments, including their context (when available), iconography, and their geographic and chronological qualities. By studying these monuments as a corpus, I have found significant similarities between them that include a variant of the Olmec-style “flamed eyebrow”, watery contexts, and central niche figures likely linked to notions of transformation or were-jaguar imagery. Recognition of these traits will provide greater insight into the sculptural program of the Middle to Late Preclassic transition, as well as the scope of this artistic style within Mesoamerica prior to and following this periodItem Geoarchaeological and archaeobotanical approaches to human-environmental interactions during the Archaic to Preclassic Periods in Northwestern Belize(2015-05) Aebersold, Luisa; Valdez, Fred, Jr., 1953-; Beach, TimothyThis report reviews human-environmental interactions in Northwestern Belize during the transition from Archaic (8000 to 4000 B.P.) to Preclassic periods (4000 B.P. to 2000 B.P.). Specifically, the transition of subsistence strategies from nomadic hunter-gatherer to more sedentary food production, which we still do not fully understand in the tropical lowlands of the Maya region. It is during this pivotal era that early to mid-Holocene humans domesticated a wide variety of plants and animals, establishing a new human niche strategy that dramatically changed environments around the world. This report considers how human niche construction, a theoretical framework that expressly attributes populations with deliberate ecosystem engineering strategies, plays an integral role in the Anthropocene. I present my plans for analyzing sediments and microbotanical remains to contribute to knowledge about paleoenvironment and human-landscape interactions to provide direct evidence for transformative behavior by humans.Item Getting to the bottom of it : geoarchaeological and paleobotanical investigations for early transitions in the Maya Lowlands(2018-12) Aebersold, Luisa; Valdez, Fred, Jr., 1953-; Hartigan, John; Rosen, Arlene; Beach, Timothy; Buttles-Valdez, PalmaThe cultural transition from the Archaic (8000 to 2000 BC) to the Preclassic Period (2000 BC – AD 250) in the Neotropics is critical for understanding the early development of Maya civilization in the Lowlands. This dissertation presents a model for some of the earliest inhabitants in northern Belize and explores the magnitude and timing of impacts concerning initial human-environmental interactions during the early stages of the Holocene. Specifically, geoarchaeological and paleobotanical evidence concerning the transition of subsistence strategies from semi-nomadic hunting and gathering into more intensive agricultural subsistence strategies in the Maya Lowlands. A multi-proxy approach addresses questions related to early anthropogenic change tied to the success of early sedentary villages in northern Belize. Insight concerning the long occupation of Colha and manipulation of the Blue Creek rejollada provide an opportunity to understand cultural transitions and trajectories of early Archaic people. This dissertation provides new radiocarbon dates, archaeological excavations, and environmental histories for Colha and the Blue Creek rejollada. The paleobotanical component of this research includes a dental calculus study expanding on food consumption, food processing, and evidence for the use of economic fibrous materials. An ethnobotanical component of this research contributes to understanding early Maya economic systems by providing overlap in horticultural and agricultural practices in the region despite cultural and temporal distances between ancient and modern people. Together, multiple lines of evidence expand and refine understanding of early human-environmental dynamics, which become integral to the success of subsequent Maya populationsItem Mortuary Chocolate among the Ancient Maya: An Iconographic Analysis of the Exemplar from the Spouted Vessels of Colha(2019) Davenport Clark, Morgan; Valdez, Fred Jr.In this thesis, I investigate the iconography on a Preclassic spouted vessel (“chocolate pot”) from the Maya site of Colha, Belize. I begin by historically contextualizing the vessel’s form, which is generally believed to have been used to froth nonalcoholic chocolate drinks, and culturally contextualizing the ritual use of cacao, which appears in mortuary contexts because of its association with rebirth. I then discuss the association between chocolate drinks and gourd containers—an association that is mythologically based in early and contemporary Maya creation myths—which continues to bear out with the use of ceramic vessels that imitate gourds. Finally, I move on to the case study vessel, the iconography of which I break into three parts: the punctated band on the vessel’s shoulder, the quatrefoil extending from the punctated band, and the volutes extending from the lobes of the quatrefoil. I argue that the punctated band is an index of gourd skeumorphy, as the incising visually corresponds to a recent decipherment for gourd in the Classic Mayan hieroglyphs. The quatrefoil and volutes together represent an animated flower or cave mouth, or perhaps both, given that one represents life, and the other, supernatural communication with ancestors and deities. After discussing these parts discretely, I discuss how they function as a single unit. The punctated band opens toward the spout, highlighting the rituality of the act of blowing into the vessel to produce froth. By doing so, the preparer breathed life into the drink so the drink might give new life to the partaking deceased. At the same time, the preparer’s breath animated the vessel’s iconography, activating its invocation to link the realms of the living and the supernatural and allowing the deceased to be born again into the world of the ancestors.Item Preclassic Maya funerary patterns in northern Belize : an analysis of interment attributes from Colha, Cuello, and K'axob(2011-12) Obledo, Micaela Nerio; Valdez, Fred, Jr., 1953-; Wilson, Samuel M.; Rodriguez-Alegria, Enrique; Guernsey, Julia; Buttles, Palma J.This dissertation presents an analysis of Preclassic period (1000 B.C. – A.D. 250) funerary attributes of three Maya sites in northern Belize, Central America: Colha, Cuello, and K’axob. The dataset is comprised of 133 interments from Colha, 131 interments from Cuello, and 98 interments from K’axob for a total of 362 Preclassic interments. Analysis has been conducted on a suite of 12 variables representative of this dataset and their interrelatedness: age, sex, artifact material type, artifact material form, cranial orientation, burial position or posture, functional designation of architecture in which an interment is placed, presence or absence of indications of burning, presence or absence of red mineral pigmentation, functional designation of artifacts, presence or absence of a cross motif, and presence or absence of a head cover (vessel covering the cranium). This research project has four main objectives: 1) provide a structured presentation of Preclassic interment data for Colha, Cuello, and K’axob, 2) present a thorough and cogent analysis of the interrelatedness of the suite of variables abovementioned, 3) document any significant trends and anomalies that are evidenced within the funerary attributes of these sites, and finally 4) to offer an interpretation of those patterns and deviations seen within the analysis as they relate to intrasite and intersite social differentiation and dynamics through the Preclassic. The analysis within this volume demonstrates that the elaboration and variation of interment attributes increase over time in Preclassic at the three sites of study. This is paralleled by a development of ritual and ceremonial architecture for public activities. Differential access to materials and forms is indicated throughout the Middle, Late and Terminal Preclassic, with the level of disparity between the apparent elite and non-elite increasing over time. Adult males are generally accompanied by higher numbers and a greater variety of goods than are females and subadults. This indicates a power and/or status differential between the two sexes and age groups, with male adults being the most highly esteemed individuals within the social stratification system. This study demonstrates the dynamic and multifaceted material representations with which Preclassic Maya of Northern Belize expressed their identity in death.