Bioarchaeology Of Pre Columbian Mesoamerica

Author : Cathy Willermet,Andrea Cucina
Publisher : University Press of Florida
Page : 273 pages
File Size : 53,9 Mb
Release : 2018-09-03
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9780813052373

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Bioarchaeology of Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica by Cathy Willermet,Andrea Cucina Pdf

This volume offers a novel interdisciplinary view of the migration, mobility, ethnicity, and social identities of pre-Columbian Mesoamerican peoples. In studies that combine bioarchaeology, ethnohistory, isotope data, and dental morphology, contributors demonstrate the challenges and rewards of such integrative work when applied to large regional questions of population history. The essays in this volume are the results of fieldwork in Honduras, Belize, and a variety of sites in Mexico. One chapter uses dental health data and burial rituals to investigate the social status of sacrificial victims during the Late Classic period. Another analyzes skeletal remains from multiple research perspectives to explore the immigrant makeup of the multiethnic city of Copan. Contributors also use strontium and oxygen isotope data from tooth enamel and dental morphological traits to test hypotheses about migration, and they incorporate ethnohistorical sources in an examination of ancient Maya understandings of belonging and otherness. Revealing how complementary fields of study can together create a better understanding of the complex forces that impact population movements, this volume provides an inspiring picture of the exciting collaborative work currently under way among researchers in the region. A volume in the series Bioarchaeological Interpretations of the Human Past: Local, Regional, and Global Perspectives, edited by Clark Spencer Larsen

Author : Vera Tiesler
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 269 pages
File Size : 46,7 Mb
Release : 2013-10-16
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781461487609

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The Bioarchaeology of Artificial Cranial Modifications by Vera Tiesler Pdf

The artificial shaping of the skull vault of infants expresses fundamental aspects of crafted beauty, of identity, status and gender in a way no other body practice does. Combining different sources of information, this volume contributes new interpretations on Mesoamerican head shaping traditions. Here, the head with its outer insignia was commonly used as a metaphor for designating the “self” and personhood and, as part of the body, served as a model for the indigenous universe. Analogously, the outer “looks” of the head and its anatomical constituents epitomized deeply embedded worldviews and longstanding traditions. It is in this sense that this book explores both the quotidian roles and long-standing ideological connotations of cultural head modifications in Mesoamerica and beyond, setting new standards in the discussion of the scope, caveats, and future directions involved in this study. The systematic examination of Mesoamerican skeletal series fosters an explained review of indigenous cultural history through the lens of emblematic head models with their nuanced undercurrents of religious identity and ethnicity, social organization and dynamic cultural shift. The embodied expressions of change are explored in different geocultural settings and epochs, being most visible in the centuries surrounding the Maya collapse and following the cultural clash implied by the European conquest. These glimpses on the Mesoamerican past through head practices are novel, as is the general treatment of methodology and theoretical frames. Although it is anchored in physical anthropology and archaeology (specifically bioarchaeology), this volume also integrates knowledge derived from anatomy and human physiology, historical and iconographic sources, linguistics (polisemia) and ethnography. The scope of this work is rounded up by the transcription and interpretation of the many colonial eye witness accounts on indigenous head treatments in Mesoamerica and beyond.

Author : Aleksandar Bošković
Publisher : Archaeopress Publishing Ltd
Page : 98 pages
File Size : 48,8 Mb
Release : 2017-01-26
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781784915032

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Mesoamerican Religions and Archaeology by Aleksandar Bošković Pdf

The main goal of this book is to produce a methodologically sound and ethically valid interdisciplinary introduction into the exciting world of ancient Mesoamerica.

Author : Gabriel D. Wrobel,Andrea Cucina
Publisher : University of Florida Press
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 44,5 Mb
Release : 2024-07-23
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 1683404459

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Mesoamerican Osteobiographies by Gabriel D. Wrobel,Andrea Cucina Pdf

Author : Sarah Kurnick,Joanne Baron
Publisher : University Press of Colorado
Page : 288 pages
File Size : 43,6 Mb
Release : 2016-03-21
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781607324164

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Political Strategies in Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica by Sarah Kurnick,Joanne Baron Pdf

Political authority contains an inherent contradiction. Rulers must reinforce social inequality and bolster their own unique position at the top of the sociopolitical hierarchy, yet simultaneously emphasize social similarities and the commonalities shared by all. Political Strategies in Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica explores the different and complex ways that those who exercised authority in the region confronted this contradiction. New data from a variety of well-known scholars in Mesoamerican archaeology reveal the creation, perpetuation, and contestation of politically authoritative relationships between rulers and subjects and between nobles and commoners. The contributions span the geographic breadth and temporal extent of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica—from Preclassic Oaxaca to the Classic Petén region of Guatemala to the Postclassic Michoacán—and the contributors weave together archaeological, epigraphic, and ethnohistoric data. Grappling with the questions of how those exercising authority convince others to follow and why individuals often choose to recognize and comply with authority, Political Strategies in Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica discusses why the study of political authority is both timely and significant, reviews how scholars have historically understood the operation of political authority, and proposes a new analytical framework to understand how rulers rule. Contributors include Sarah B. Barber, Joanne Baron, Christopher S. Beekman, Jeffrey Brzezinski, Bryce Davenport, Charles Golden, Takeshi Inomata, Arthur A. Joyce, Sarah Kurnick, Carlo J. Lucido, Simon Martin, Tatsuya Murakami, Helen Perlstein Pollard, and Víctor Salazar Chávez.

Author : Susan Toby Evans,David L. Webster
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 993 pages
File Size : 48,5 Mb
Release : 2000-11-27
Category : Reference
ISBN : 9781136801860

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Archaeology of Ancient Mexico and Central America by Susan Toby Evans,David L. Webster Pdf

This is the first comprehensive, one-volume encyclopedia in English devoted to pre-Columbian archaeology of the Mesoamerican culture area. In more than 500 articles by the major experts in the field, this work brings the most recent scholarship to an examination of regional environments and their cultural evolution. Entries range from the familiar and world-renowned archaeological discoveries of Maya and Aztec sites to more recent excavations such as the Sayil archaeological zone in the Yucatan and Teopantecuanitlan in Guerrero. A rich historical and cultural resource on one of the world's six cradles of civilization, this reference is ideal for students, scholars, and prospective travellers.

Author : Vera Tiesler
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 1055 pages
File Size : 52,9 Mb
Release : 2022-05-23
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781000586329

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The Routledge Handbook of Mesoamerican Bioarchaeology by Vera Tiesler Pdf

This volume brings together a range of contributors with different and hybrid academic backgrounds to explore, through bioarchaeology, the past human experience in the territories that span Mesoamerica. This handbook provides systematic bioarchaeological coverage of skeletal research in the ancient Mesoamericas. It offers an integrated collection of engrained, bioculturally embedded explorations of relevant and timely topics, such as population shifts, lifestyles, body concepts, beauty, gender, health, foodways, social inequality, and violence. The additional treatment of new methodologies, local cultural settings, and theoretic frames rounds out the scope of this handbook. The selection of 36 chapter contributions invites readers to engage with the human condition in ancient and not-so-ancient Mesoamerica and beyond. The Routledge Handbook of Mesoamerican Bioarchaeology is addressed to an audience of Mesoamericanists, students, and researchers in bioarchaeology and related fields. It serves as a comprehensive reference for courses on Mesoamerica, bioarchaeology, and Native American studies.

Author : Gabriel D. Wrobel
Publisher : Springer Science & Business
Page : 292 pages
File Size : 51,6 Mb
Release : 2014-04-16
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781493904792

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The Bioarchaeology of Space and Place by Gabriel D. Wrobel Pdf

The Bioarchaeology of Space and Place investigates variations in social identity among the ancient Maya by focusing on individuals and small groups identified archaeologically by their inclusion in specific, discrete mortuary contexts or by unusual mortuary treatments. Utilizing archaeological, biological and taphonomic data from these contexts, the studies employ a variety of methodological approaches to reconstruct aspects of individuals’ life-course and mortuary pathways. Following this, specific mortuary behaviors are discussed in relation to their local or regional cultural setting using relevant archaeological, ethnohistoric, and/or ethnographic data in an effort to interpret their meaning within the broader social, political and economic contexts in which they were carried out. This volume covers a number of topics that are currently being debated in Maya archaeology, including identification and discussion of the role and extent of human sacrifice in Maya culture, the use of ancestors for maintaining political power, the mortuary use of caves by both elites and non-elites, ethnic distinctions within urban areas and the extent of movement of people between communities. Importantly, the papers in this volume attempt to test and move beyond static, dichotic categories that are often employed in mortuary studies in an effort to better understand the complex ways in which the Maya conceptualized and manipulated social identity. This type of nuanced case-study approach that incorporates historical, archaeological and theoretical contextualization is becoming increasingly important in the field of bioarchaeology, providing valuable sources of data where small, diverse samples impede populational approaches.

Author : Cynthia Kristan-Graham
Publisher : Dumbarton Oaks
Page : 658 pages
File Size : 46,7 Mb
Release : 2007
Category : History
ISBN : 0884023230

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Twin Tollans by Cynthia Kristan-Graham Pdf

This volume had its beginnings in the two-day colloquium, "Rethinking Chichén Itzá, Tula and Tollan," that was held at Dumbarton Oaks. The selected essays revisit long-standing questions regarding the nature of the relationship between Chichen Itza and Tula. Rather than approaching these questions through the notions of migrations and conquests, these essays place the cities in the context of the emerging social, political, and economic relationships that took shape during the transition from the Epiclassic period in Central Mexico, the Terminal Classic period in the Maya region, and the succeeding Early Postclassic period.

Author : Susan Toby Evans
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 52,7 Mb
Release : 2008
Category : Central America
ISBN : 0500287406

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Ancient Mexico and Central America by Susan Toby Evans Pdf

In recent decades archaeologists have made enormous progress in revealing the prehistory of the rich and varied civilizations of ancient Mesoamerica. This textbook captures the excitement and rich details of these ancient peoples, surveying every aspect of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica from Paleoindian times (c.1800 BC) to the European intrusion in 1519. It provides up-to-date over-views of the best-known regional cultures, such as those of the Olmecs, Maya, Zapotecs and Aztecs, including exciting new discoveries. But it also offers balanced coverage of other areas of Mesoamerica where important discoveries have been made in recent years, encompassing the developmental trajectory of such regions asWest Mexico, Guerrero, the Gulf lowlands, and the northern and southern frontiers of Mesoamerica.

Author : Joshua Englehardt,Michael D. Carrasco
Publisher : University Press of Colorado
Page : 427 pages
File Size : 44,7 Mb
Release : 2019-05-27
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781607328360

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Interregional Interaction in Ancient Mesoamerica by Joshua Englehardt,Michael D. Carrasco Pdf

Interregional Interaction in Ancient Mesoamerica explores the role of interregional interaction in the dynamic sociocultural processes that shaped the pre-Columbian societies of Mesoamerica. Interdisciplinary contributions from leading scholars investigate linguistic exchange and borrowing, scribal practices, settlement patterns, ceramics, iconography, and trade systems, presenting a variety of case studies drawn from multiple spatial, temporal, and cultural contexts within Mesoamerica. Archaeologists have long recognized the crucial role of interregional interaction in the development and cultural dynamics of ancient societies, particularly in terms of the evolution of sociocultural complexity and economic systems. Recent research has further expanded the archaeological, art historical, ethnographic, and epigraphic records in Mesoamerica, permitting a critical reassessment of the complex relationship between interaction and cultural dynamics. This volume builds on and amplifies earlier research to examine sociocultural phenomena—including movement, migration, symbolic exchange, and material interaction—in their role as catalysts for variability in cultural systems. Interregional cultural exchange in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica played a key role in the creation of systems of shared ideologies, the production of regional or “international” artistic and architectural styles, shifting sociopolitical patterns, and changes in cultural practices and meanings. Interregional Interaction in Ancient Mesoamerica highlights, engages with, and provokes questions pertinent to understanding the complex relationship between interaction, sociocultural processes, and cultural innovation and change in the ancient societies and cultural histories of Mesoamerica and will be of interest to archaeologists, linguists, and art historians. Contributors: Philip J. Arnold III, Lourdes Budar, José Luis Punzo Diaz, Gary Feinman, David Freidel, Elizabeth Jiménez Garcia, Guy David Hepp, Kerry M. Hull, Timothy J. Knab, Charles L. F. Knight, Blanca E. Maldonado, Joyce Marcus, Jesper Nielsen, John M. D. Pohl, Iván Rivera, D. Bryan Schaeffer, Niklas Schulze

Author : Julie Nehammer Knub,Christophe Helmke,Jesper Nielsen
Publisher : Archaeopress Publishing Ltd
Page : 138 pages
File Size : 47,9 Mb
Release : 2014-01-19
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781784910518

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Palaces and Courtly Culture in Ancient Mesoamerica by Julie Nehammer Knub,Christophe Helmke,Jesper Nielsen Pdf

This volume collects eight recent and innovative studies spanning the breadth of Mesoamerica, from the Early Classic metropolis of Teotihuacan, to Tenochtitlan, the Late Postclassic capital of the Aztec, and from the arid central Mexican highlands in the west to the humid Maya lowlands in the east.

Author : William M. Ferguson,Richard E. W. Adams
Publisher : UNM Press
Page : 286 pages
File Size : 52,6 Mb
Release : 2001
Category : History
ISBN : 0826328008

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Mesoamerica's Ancient Cities by William M. Ferguson,Richard E. W. Adams Pdf

The authors have thoroughly revised the text for this new edition, and they have added over thirty new photographs and illustrations as well as a completely new chapter by Richard E. W. Adams on regional states and empires in ancient Mesoamerica."--BOOK JACKET.

Author : John Staller
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 389 pages
File Size : 42,5 Mb
Release : 2008-03-12
Category : History
ISBN : 9780387769103

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Pre-Columbian Landscapes of Creation and Origin by John Staller Pdf

Pre-Columbian Andean and Mesoamerican cultures have inspired a special fascination among historians, anthropologists, archaeologists, as well as the general public. As two of the earliest known and studied civilizations, their origin and creation mythologies hold a special interest. The existing and Pre-Columbian cultures from these regions are particularly known for having a strong connection with the natural landscape, and weaving it into their mythologies. A landscape approach to archaeology in these areas is uniquely useful shedding insight into their cultural beliefs, practices, and values. The ways in which these cultures imbued their landscape with symbolic significance influenced the settlement of the population, the construction of monuments, as well as their rituals and practices. This edited volume combines research on Pre-Columbian cultures throughout Mesoamerica and South America, examining their constructed monuments and ritual practices. It explores the foundations of these cultures, through both the creation mythologies of ancient societies as well as the tangible results of those beliefs. It offers insight on specific case studies, combining evidence from the archaeological record with sacred texts and ethnohistoric accounts. The patterns developed throughout this work shed insight on the effect that perceived sacredness can have on the development of culture and society. This comprehensive and much-needed work will be of interest to archaeologists and anthropologists focused on Pre-Columbian studies, as well as those in the fields of cultural or religious studies with a broader geographic focus.

Author : Andrew K. Scherer,John W. Verano
Publisher : Dumbarton Oaks Research Library & Collection
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 53,5 Mb
Release : 2014
Category : Indians of Central America
ISBN : 0884023958

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Embattled Bodies, Embattled Places by Andrew K. Scherer,John W. Verano Pdf

Embattled Bodies, Embattled Places examines the nature of war in Mesoamerica and the Andes. Drawing on anthropological archaeology, bioarchaeology, and ethnohistory, the essays consider the similarities and differences of warfare in cross-cultural perspective, from the importance of captive-taking to rituals of sacrifice and performance.