Anthropomorphizing the Cosmos: Middle Preclassic Lowland Maya Figurines, Ritual, and Time. PRUDENCE M. RICE. 2019. University Press of Colorado, Louisville. xx + 284 pp. $74.00 (hardcover), ISBN 978-1-60732-888-9.

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 209-210
Author(s):  
Julia Guernsey
Keyword(s):  
Middle Preclassic ◽  
Lowland Maya

Relationships between Early Preclassic and Early Middle Preclassic Phases in Northern Belize: A Comment on “Lowland Maya Archaeology at the Crossroads”

1984 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 628-631 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel R. Potter ◽  
Thomas R. Hester ◽  
Stephen L. Black ◽  
Fred Valdez
Keyword(s):  
Maya Lowlands ◽  
Maya Archaeology ◽  
Middle Preclassic ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Lowland Maya

In a recent paper, Marcus (1983) provides a timely synthesis of the rapidly accumulating body of data from various projects in the Maya Lowlands. One of the specific problems discussed by Marcus is that of temporal and cultural definition of the Swasey phase at the sites of Cuello and Colha, and its relationship to other early components. Our comment presents new data from Colha that were not available to Marcus. These data have significantly expanded our understanding of the earliest occupations at the site and have important implications for intersite comparisons.

scholarly journals AFTER 40 YEARS: REVISITING CEIBAL TO INVESTIGATE THE ORIGINS OF LOWLAND MAYA CIVILIZATION

2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 187-201 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takeshi Inomata ◽  
Daniela Triadan ◽  
Kazuo Aoyama
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Pattern ◽  
Gulf Coast ◽  
Field Investigations ◽  
Preclassic Period ◽  
Research Designs ◽  
Maya Civilization ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Middle Preclassic ◽  
Maya Site ◽  
Lowland Maya

AbstractThe Ceibal-Petexbatun Archaeological Project has been conducting field investigations at the lowland Maya site of Ceibal since 2005. Previous research at this site by Harvard University allowed us to develop detailed research designs geared toward specific research questions. A particularly important focus was the question of how lowland Maya civilization emerged and developed. Comparison with contemporaneous sites in central Chiapas led us to hypothesize that the residents of Ceibal established a formal spatial pattern similar to those of the Chiapas centers during the Middle Preclassic period (1000–350b.c.). Through excavations of important elements of this spatial pattern, including a probable E-Group assemblage and large platforms, we examined how the Ceibal residents participated in interregional interactions with Chiapas, the Gulf Coast, and other areas, and how construction activities and architecture shaped the course of social change.

The Isthmian Origins of the E Group and Its Adoption in the Maya Lowlands

Maya E Groups ◽  
2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takeshi Inomata
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Coast ◽  
Gulf Coast ◽  
Cultural Tradition ◽  
Maya Lowlands ◽  
Construction Methods ◽  
Preclassic Period ◽  
Middle Preclassic ◽  
Middle Formative ◽  
Diverse Groups ◽  
Lowland Maya

Recent investigations at Ceibal (Seibal) and other Preclassic Period (1000 BCE–250 CE) sites indicate that the E Group assemblage was originally developed around 1000-900 BCE as an element of a standardized site plan called the Middle Formative Chiapas pattern (MFC) through interactions among diverse groups inhabiting the Isthmian region, including the southern Gulf Coast, Chiapas, the southern Pacific Coast, and the southwestern end of the Maya lowlands. The Maya in the central and eastern lowlands began to adopt the E Group after 800 BCE and to create their own cultural tradition by applying their construction methods, by developing new symbolism and ritual, and by discarding most other elements of the MFC pattern. After many of the Isthmian centers collapsed at the end of the Middle Preclassic Period (ca. 350 BCE), the lowland Maya became the most avid builders of E Groups in Mesoamerica.

Preclassic Ceramics from Chalchuapa, El Salvador, and Their Relationships with the Maya Lowlands

1970 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 441-462 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert J. Sharer ◽  
James C. Gifford
Keyword(s):  
El Salvador ◽  
Ceramic Material ◽  
Analytical Procedure ◽  
Time Interval ◽  
Maya Lowlands ◽  
East Central ◽  
Analytic Procedure ◽  
Maya Area ◽  
Middle Preclassic ◽  
Lowland Maya

AbstractApplication of the type-variety analytical procedure to Preclassic ceramic material excavated from mound-fill deposits at Chalchuapa, El Salvador, has provided important indications of possible ceramic relationships between this site-zone and the Maya Lowlands. Of the five ceramic complexes, the earliest (the Tok ceramic complex) seems related to the Early Preclassic (Cuadros phase) of south coastal Guatemala and Mexico. Pottery of the early Middle Preclassic (the Colos and Kal ceramic complexes) appears to involve certain direct type-variety relationships with the Lowland Maya Xe and Mamom ceramic spheres. Late Middle Preclassic pottery (the Chul ceramic complex) is evidently almost exclusively affiliated with Highland Guatemala (the Providencia phase at Kaminaljuyu). Pottery of the Late Preclassic and "Protoclassic" (the Caynac ceramic complex) at Chalchuapa continues to reflect these ties (now with the Miraflores, Arenal, and Santa Clara phases at Kaminaljuyu). Apart from such ties, however, there are also significant indications of renewed ceramic connections with the Maya Lowlands during this time interval that we believe might have been of some consequence for the development of the Classic Lowland Maya. The implications of these ceramic relationships for the problem of the initial occupation of the east-central Maya Lowlands and the later intrusive Floral Park ceramic sphere at Barton Ramie are discussed. The paper also considers the implications of this evidence for the type-variety analytic procedure and proposes a tentative outline of Preclassic ceramic relationships in the Maya area.

The E Group as Timescape

Maya E Groups ◽  
2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Prudence M. Rice
Keyword(s):  
Central Mexico ◽  
The South ◽  
Maya Lowlands ◽  
Community Renewal ◽  
Small Hand ◽  
Middle Preclassic ◽  
Lowland Maya

Small, hand-modeled, anthropomorphic figurines of fired clay are abundant in Middle Preclassic (1000–350 BCE) Mesoamerica, especially Central Mexico, the Isthmus, and regions to the south. They are variably present in the southern Maya lowlands and virtually absent in the northern lowlands, raising many questions about their meanings and uses. I propose that Middle Preclassic lowland Maya ceramic figurines: 1) were manipulated in integrative community renewal rituals associated with females and maize, and celebrated in early versions of E Groups; and, more speculatively, 2) were icons related to development of head-variant glyphs used in the script-iconography of the 260-day sacred almanac.

CROCODILES, SHARKS, AND SOME SPECULATIONS ON CENTRAL PETEN PRECLASSIC HISTORY

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 230-247 ◽  
Author(s):  
Prudence M. Rice
Keyword(s):  
Political Geography ◽  
Urban Landscape ◽  
Preclassic Period ◽  
The World ◽  
Middle Preclassic ◽  
Lowland Maya

AbstractThe first part of this two-part essay discusses the important roles crocodiles and sharks played in Preclassic (and later) political geography and myths of cosmogenesis in Mesoamerica. They are associated with sacrifices resulting in creation of the world and births of some major gods. Crocodiles are also associated with fertility, rebirth, and renewal of seasonal and temporal/calendrical cycles. Recent investigations at Nixtun-Ch'ich’ show that its gridded urban landscape, established in the Middle Preclassic period (ca. 800–400 b.c.), was likely modeled on a crocodile's back. The second part of the essay presents some speculations on the early role of this site and crocodiles in central Peten. At Tikal, archaeology and retrospective texts indicate that crocodiles appeared in early versions of the site's emblem glyph and in the name of an early ruler. Nixtun-Ch'ich’ might be the legendary chi place, important in the dynastic foundations of several lowland Maya centers.

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