Settlement Patterns in Two Regions of the Southern Maya Lowlands

1972 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Voorhies
Keyword(s):  
Settlement Patterns ◽  
Cultural Factors ◽  
Maya Lowlands ◽  
Population Densities ◽  
Culture Area

AbstractThe Izabal zone is a physiographic region located near the southeastern frontier of the southern Maya lowlands. Its environment is compared with that of northeast Peten, a second region of the same culture area. Prehistoric settlement patterns of the 2 regions are compared and differences in distribution of settlements, estimated population densities and types of settlements are noted. These differences are related to various environmental and cultural factors.

Texcoco Region Archaeology and the Codex Xolotl

1973 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 412-423 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas H. Charlton
Keyword(s):  
Thirteenth Century ◽  
Settlement Patterns ◽  
Cultural Factors

AbstractThe use of a hypothesis of conflict between Tula and Cholula by Parsons (1970) to account for settlement patterns and ceramics of the Toltec periods in the Texcoco region has resulted in the introduction of inconsistencies in the settlement interpretations of the preconquest Texcoco sequence. The Tula-Cholula Conflict Hypothesis is based on inadequate data and not supported. However, it is possible to interpret the settlement and ceramic changes of the Texcoco sequence using ecological and cultural factors suggested by Parsons for periods earlier than the Early Toltec. The correlations suggested by Parsons (1970) between the Codex Xolotl and the Early Toltec period rested in part on the use of the Tula-Cholula Conflict Hypothesis. With the elimination of this hypothesis, it is possible to correlate the 2 basic culture patterns of the Codex, as defined by Parsons, with terminal Late Toltec and Early Aztec. These correlations support Dibble"s original thirteenth century date for the early events depicted in the Codex Xolotl.

Mogollon Settlement Patterns in Pine Lawn Valley, New Mexico

1960 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 538-546 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elaine Bluhm
Keyword(s):  
New Mexico ◽  
Social Organization ◽  
Settlement Patterns ◽  
Arable Land ◽  
Settlement Pattern ◽  
Cultural Factors ◽  
Great Kivas

AbstractSettlement patterns are described for each phase of the sedentary agricultural occupation of the area from Pine Lawn phase (200 B.C.-A.D. 500) through Tularosa phase (A.D. 1100-1250), when the area was abandoned. Through time domestic structures changed from rounded to rectangular, from semi-subterranean to surface, and decreased in size. Earlier villages tended to be on higher, more defensible locations while later ones were lower, closer to water and arable land. Villages were generally random in plan, and great kivas, the only ceremonial structures identified in the area, appear to have served more than one village. From the settlement pattern data it is possible to construct a population curve for the area which may be partially explained in terms of botanical and climatological as well as cultural factors. Pine Lawn Valley Mogollon may have had some multi-village social organization which in later times may have united the entire valley. In this respect the Mogollon may have been intermediate between the well-integrated, segmented Anasazi communities in the plateau and the more politically structured Hohokam communities in the desert.

14. Prehistoric Settlement Patterns in the Maya Lowlands

1965 ◽  
pp. 360-377
Author(s):  
Gordon R. Willey ◽  
William R. Bullard
Keyword(s):  
Settlement Patterns ◽  
Maya Lowlands

Pottery and Politics: Contextualizing the Classic to Postclassic Transition in Champotón, Campeche

2016 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 527-548 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jerald D. Ek
Keyword(s):  
Settlement Patterns ◽  
Gulf Coast ◽  
Classic Maya ◽  
The Political ◽  
Archaeological Research ◽  
Maya Lowlands ◽  
Archaeological Data ◽  
The Past ◽  
Regional Settlement ◽  
Economic Ties

The past decades have witnessed major advancements in our understanding of Classic Maya political history, particularly geopolitical dynamics centered on hegemonic states. Yet there has been only halting progress toward historically based archaeological research focusing on the political, social, and economic impacts of political domination and subordination. To address this deficiency, I examine changes in settlement patterns and ceramic sphere affiliation in the Río Champotón drainage within broader historical and geopolitical developments. In this region, the end of the Classic period is characterized by dramatic changes in ceramic links, with a shift from inland-focused traditions to the incorporation within a coastal ceramic sphere—the Canbalam sphere—that linked maritime trade centers between northwest Yucatán and coastal Tabasco. These transitions were embedded within major reorientations in regional settlement patterns and broader geopolitical dynamics centering on the expansion and dissolution of the Kanu’l state, or Snake Dynasty. Following the decline of the Snake Dynasty of Calakmul, communities in central Campeche forged new political and economic ties with emergent centers along the Gulf Coast and the northern Maya Lowlands. The results of this study demonstrate the transformative nature of hegemonic interpolity relationships and highlight the potential for new avenues of conjunctive research combining historical and archaeological data sources.

STONES, BONES, AND CROWDED PLAZAS: Evidence for Terminal Classic Maya warfare at Colha, Belize

2005 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason W. Barrett ◽  
Andrew K. Scherer
Keyword(s):  
Settlement Patterns ◽  
Classic Maya ◽  
Secondary Site ◽  
Maya Lowlands ◽  
Terminal Classic ◽  
Maya Site ◽  
Using Data

This study provides a synthetic review of the Terminal Classic collapse of the Maya site of Colha, Belize, based on new data drawn from recent lithic and osteological studies and previously reported information. The well-known Colha skull pit has figured prominently in previous hypotheses of the site's collapse, which focus on either warfare or ritual termination. In this review, these two hypotheses are reexamined using data from: (1) shifts in settlement patterns; (2) transitions in lithic production; and (3) the death en masse of at least 55 individuals coincident with the site's abandonment. Based on the evidence presented here, we argue that warfare precipitated Colha's collapse. In light of Colha's role as a secondary site that functioned primarily as a lithic-production locality, the Terminal Classic destruction of the site illustrates the significance of material motivations in Maya warfare and accents the diversity of collapse processes in the Maya Lowlands.

Culture Areas and Interaction Spheres: Contrasting Approaches to the Emergence of Civilization in the Maya Lowlands

1979 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
David A. Freidel
Keyword(s):  
Theoretical Approach ◽  
Local Area ◽  
Social Conditions ◽  
Maya Lowlands ◽  
Origin And Evolution ◽  
Culture Area ◽  
Alternative Approach ◽  
Maya Civilization ◽  
Interaction Spheres ◽  
Lowland Maya

Recently several models have been proposed for the origin and evolution of lowland Maya civilization. These models share a basic spatial framework, the culture area, which is logically tied to a particular theoretical approach to the emergence of lowland Maya civilization. The culture area approach rests on the premise that sociocultural innovation occurs as a localized response to local natural and social conditions. Such innovation subsequently diffuses outside the local area through successful competition with alternatives. The empirical archaeological expectations of models based upon this approach are not satisfied at the site of Cerros, a Late Preclassic center on the coast of northern Belize. An alternative approach, the interaction sphere, better accommodates the evidence from Cerros and other Preclassic sites in the Maya Lowlands. The culture area models, the evidence from Cerros, and the interaction sphere approach and its theoretical ramifications are discussed.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document