Production Characteristics of Postclassic Maya Pottery from Caye Coco, Northern Belize

2005 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 355-384 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marilyn A. Masson ◽  
Robert M. Rosenswig
Keyword(s):  
Regional Scale ◽  
Major Type ◽  
Postclassic Period ◽  
Terminal Classic ◽  
Attribute Analysis ◽  
Production Variability ◽  
Early Postclassic ◽  
Late Postclassic ◽  
Postclassic Maya

AbstractThis analysis of production variability of Postclassic Maya pottery from consumer contexts at Caye Coco implies that household pottery making varied and that products destined for different social and functional use contexts were made with differing degrees of standardization. New chronological and typological information from the Terminal Classic and Early Postclassic Periods at Caye Coco provide data important to the study of long-term interregional affiliations leading up to the Late Postclassic. Our attribute analysis of major type and form classes of Postclassic Period vessels quantifies the relative diversity and homogeneity of products made for Caye Coco consumers. Greater standardization is found in serving dishes and other slipped vessel forms as opposed to unslipped storage and food preparation containers within the site’s assemblage, and evidence for regional scale similarities in dish attributes is also found. High levels of serving dish standardization likely reflect conditions of open social and economic boundaries and perhaps the direct exchange of some vessels. Minimally, stylistic templates were broadly shared due to the widespread use of highly visible serving dishes at regional feasts and religious celebrations.

Linguistic Divergence and the Collapse of Preclassic Civilization in Southern Mesoamerica

1987 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 367-382 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce H. Dahlin ◽  
Robin Quizar ◽  
Andrea Dahlin
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Communication Networks ◽  
Classic Period ◽  
Late Classic ◽  
Postclassic Period ◽  
Proximate Cause ◽  
Terminal Classic ◽  
Early Postclassic ◽  
Ultimate Cause ◽  
Early Classic Period

Based on published lexicostatistical dates, two intervals in the prehistory of southern Mesoamerica stand out as fertile periods in terms of the generation of new languages: the Terminal Preclassic/early Early Classic Periods, and the Early Postclassic Period. After comparing archaeological evidence with language distributions within the subregions of southern Mesoamerica during the first of these periods, we conclude that the cultural processes during both periods had the same potential for producing rapid rates of linguistic divergences. Just as rapid proliferation of linguistic divisions was symptomatic of the well-known collapse of Late Classic Maya civilization, so it can be taken as a sign of a collapse of Terminal Preclassic civilization. Both collapses were characterized by severe population reductions, site abandonments, an increasing balkanization in material culture, and disruption of interregional communication networks, conditions that were contributory to the kind of linguistic isolation that allows language divergences. Unlike in the Terminal Classic collapse episode, small refuge zones persisted in the Early Classic Period that served as sources of an evolving classicism; these refuge zones were exceptions, however, not the rule. Although the collapse of each site had its own proximate cause, we suggest that the enormous geographical range covered by these Early Classic Period site failures points to a single ultimate cause affecting the area as a whole, such as the onset of a prolonged and devastating climatic change.

Migration of the Zoques to the Mountain Region of Tabasco, Mexico

2021 ◽  
pp. 223-232
Author(s):  
Eladio Terreros-Espinosa
Keyword(s):  
Mountain Region ◽  
16Th Century ◽  
Mountain Range ◽  
Postclassic Period ◽  
Trade Routes ◽  
Terminal Classic ◽  
Linguistic Evidence ◽  
Significant Area ◽  
Late Postclassic ◽  
Exchange Network

The mountain region of Tabasco was a significant area in the interregional exchange network in pre-Hispanic times and during the colonial period. Additionally, the exchange of various regional products followed the intricate network of trade routes within the coastal plain and Chiapas. Therefore, the role played by the settlements of the Sierra Tabasqueña within the commercial chain that existed between pre-Hispanic times and the first half of the last century was undoubtedly reflected among these territories. Trade was an important part of the economy of the Zoque settlements established in the Tabasqueña mountain range. Linguistic evidence suggests that the Proto-Mixe-Zoque speakers from several centuries BC were among the first foreign groups to migrate to Tabasco, merging with the local inhabitants. The documents written by Spaniards in the first half of the 16th century state that the Province of the Sierra de Tabasqueña was occupied by Zoque-speaking inhabitants. Based on the analysis of pre-Hispanic pottery recovered in this region, a chronology can be proposed from the Early Preclassic to the Protoclassic period, continuing into the Late-Terminal-Classic through the Late-Postclassic period.

Paleoecological Evidence of an Early Postclassic Occupation in the Southwestern Maya Lowlands: Laguna Las Pozas, Guatemala

2001 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 149-166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin J. Johnston ◽  
Andrew J. Breckenridge ◽  
Barbara C. Hansen
Keyword(s):  
Classic Maya ◽  
Classic Period ◽  
Maya Lowlands ◽  
Postclassic Period ◽  
Refugee Population ◽  
Terminal Classic ◽  
Early Postclassic ◽  
Maya Collapse ◽  
Terminal Classic Period

Magnetic, palynological, and paleoecological data indicate that in the Río de la Pasión drainage, one of the most thoroughly investigated areas of the southern Maya lowlands, a refugee population remained in the Laguna Las Pozas basin long after the Classic Maya collapse and the Terminal Classic period, previously identified by archaeologists as eras of near-total regional abandonment. During the Early Postclassic period, ca. A. D. 900 to 1200, agriculturalists colonized and deforested the Laguna Las Pozas basin for agriculture while adjacent, abandoned terrain was undergoing reforestation. After discussing the archaeological utility of magnetic analyses, we conclude that following the Maya collapse, some refugee populations migrated to geographically marginal non-degraded landscapes within the southern lowlands not previously occupied by the Classic Maya.

THE NORTHERN MAYA COLLAPSE AND ITS AFTERMATH

2003 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 151-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony P. Andrews ◽  
E. Wyllys Andrews ◽  
Fernando Robles Castellanos
Keyword(s):  
Eleventh Century ◽  
Classic Period ◽  
The South ◽  
Maya Lowlands ◽  
Postclassic Period ◽  
Terminal Classic ◽  
Early Postclassic ◽  
Societal Structure ◽  
Maya Collapse ◽  
Chichen Itza

Recent adjustments to the chronology of the northern Maya Lowlands have brought about a closer alignment of the decline of Terminal Classic/Early Postclassic Yucatecan polities with the collapse of the southern Maya states. The collapse of the entire Classic-period societal structure throughout the lowlands can now be compressed into a 200- or 250-year period and seen as a progressive chain of events that began in the south and culminated with the fall of Chichen Itza in the eleventh century. This new reconstruction has led us to propose eliminating the Early Postclassic period, the existence of which was based largely on a purportedly late occupation of Chichen Itza. We assign this final occupation of the Itza capital to the Terminal Classic period, which ended sometime in the eleventh century in the northern Maya Lowlands.

SHIFTING PATTERNS OF OBSIDIAN EXCHANGE IN POSTCLASSIC OAXACA, MEXICO

2011 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 123-133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc N. Levine ◽  
Arthur A. Joyce ◽  
Michael D. Glascock
Keyword(s):  
Detailed Analysis ◽  
Visual Analysis ◽  
Postclassic Period ◽  
Sociopolitical Change ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Early Postclassic ◽  
Late Postclassic ◽  
Diachronic Analysis

AbstractIn this paper, we present a diachronic analysis of obsidian procurement patterns during the Postclassic period in the Lower Río Verde region of Oaxaca. The study is based on x-ray fluorescence (XRF) and visual analysis of obsidian artifacts from excavated household contexts at Early Postclassic (a.d.800–1100) Río Viejo and Late Postclassic (a.d.1100–1522) Tututepec (Yucu Dzaa). We report the presence of at least six sources of obsidian imported to the lower Río Verde region in the Early Postclassic, whereas during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries of the Late Postclassic, the local assemblage was dominated by obsidian from Pico de Orizaba and Pachuca. Changes in obsidian procurement patterns in the lower Río Verde region through time are interpreted in light of sociopolitical change at the local, regional, and macroregional scales. The study represents the most detailed analysis of Postclassic period obsidian exchange yet reported from Oaxaca.

POLITICAL TRANSFORMATIONS AND THE EVERYDAY IN POSTCLASSIC OAXACA

2014 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 389-410 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arthur A. Joyce ◽  
Marc N. Levine ◽  
Stacie M. King ◽  
Jessica Hedgepeth Balkin ◽  
Sarah B. Barber
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
Market Exchange ◽  
Postclassic Period ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Political Autonomy ◽  
Political Transformations ◽  
Regional Authority ◽  
Political Relations ◽  
Early Postclassic ◽  
Late Postclassic

AbstractWe use excavations of low-status houses to explore Postclassic political and economic transformations in the lower Río Verde Valley, Oaxaca. Following the collapse of Classic period political institutions, commoners experienced greater economic and political autonomy. Residential excavations at Río Viejo indicate that commoners took advantage of the absence of regional authority to gain greater control over surplus craft products, especially cotton thread, as well as access to social valuables and long distance trade. By the Late Postclassic period, the region was once again dominated by powerful rulers. Yet household excavations at Tututepec show that Late Postclassic commoners continued to control some surplus craft production and had access to social valuables like copper and polychrome pottery via market exchange. We argue that Late Postclassic political relations were a product of negotiations among elites and commoners that in part reflect the greater economic autonomy and political power that Early Postclassic people had acquired.

THREAD PRODUCTION IN EARLY POSTCLASSIC COASTAL OAXACA, MEXICO: TECHNOLOGY, INTENSITY, AND GENDER

2011 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 323-343 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stacie M. King
Keyword(s):  
Postclassic Period ◽  
Textile Production ◽  
Household Level ◽  
Early Postclassic ◽  
Spindle Whorls ◽  
Late Postclassic ◽  
Household Activities ◽  
Gender Based ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Local Use

AbstractExcavations at the site of Río Viejo in coastal Oaxaca, Mexico, yielded evidence of intensive cotton thread production during the Early Postclassic (a.d.975–1220). Spindle whorls were recovered in relatively large quantities in and around houses at Río Viejo, indicating that thread production was interspersed with other household activities and residents likely produced enough thread for local use and for export. Measurements of coastal spindle whorls show that the Río Viejo thread was unique compared to other coastal and highland sites in Oaxaca and Mesoamerica beyond. I argue that this uniqueness may in part stem from the particular variety of cotton that they were spinning, but also might reflect an interregional demand for their thread. The whorl data are presented in multiple ways to compare to other sites where intensive thread production has been proposed. Here, I discuss the problems inherent in whorl calculations and make a call for more standardized recording, ideally with volumetric density measures. In the final section of the paper, I use mortuary data and other lines of evidence to re-evaluate the ethnohistorically-documented relationship between women and textile production. In coastal Oaxaca, the evidence suggests that thread production was not linked to specific gender identities in a way that is marked archaeologically. Instead, adult members of households in coastal Oaxaca materially emphasized a shared group identity over any specific gender-based identities. The production of thread was a broadly shared household-level practice that involved multiple producers, which both created and reinforced social bonds between residents and provided Early Postclassic residents with secure and comfortable access to highland goods, paving the way for the more developed thread production industry in the Late Postclassic period.

TRANSFORMATION OF THE TERMINAL CLASSIC TO POSTCLASSIC ARCHITECTURAL LANDSCAPE AT CAYE COCO, BELIZE

2002 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 213-235 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert M. Rosenswig ◽  
Marilyn A. Masson
Keyword(s):  
Classic Period ◽  
Political Organization ◽  
Postclassic Period ◽  
The West ◽  
Terminal Classic ◽  
Systematic Effort ◽  
Political Center ◽  
Late Postclassic ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Maya Site

In this paper, we analyze the distribution of Late Postclassic (A.D. 1250–1500) architecture and associated artifacts of the Maya site of Caye Coco, Belize. Artifact density and distribution suggest that different buildings served different functions and reflect a range of domestic and non-domestic activities at the island. An assessment of the labor investment required to build the seventeen structures at Caye Coco provides evidence of the degree of social hierarchy at this site, as many more people would have been required to build its elite residences than could have lived in them. The shift in the focus of architectural construction to the island at Progresso Lagoon in the Late Postclassic contrasts with the predominance of construction on the west shore during the Terminal Classic period. This trend reflects the emergence of a new political center among the lagoon settlements. It also may suggest an increased concern with aquatic transportation of trade goods during the Postclassic period, as Caye Coco is the most prominent island of the lagoon, which connects directly to the Caribbean Sea. The architecture at Caye Coco suggests that Late Postclassic political organization of northeastern Belize was more hierarchical than has been previously documented. This paper is the first systematic effort to quantify architectural labor investment and size distribution at a southern lowland Postclassic Maya site in order to address the issue of sociopolitical hierarchy.

scholarly journals Aztec and Tlaxcalan Economic Interaction: Blockade or Interregional Exchange?

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Bianca L. Gentil ◽  
A. Gabriel Vicencio Castellanos ◽  
Kenneth G. Hirth
Keyword(s):  
Regional Distribution ◽  
Distribution Networks ◽  
Postclassic Period ◽  
Regional Trade ◽  
Trade Patterns ◽  
Lithic Tools ◽  
Economic Interaction ◽  
Late Postclassic ◽  
Large Center ◽  
The Impact

This study investigates the impact of the Aztec Triple Alliance on trade and economic activity in the region of Puebla-Tlaxcala during the Late Postclassic period (AD 1200–1519). Ethnohistorical sources describe the Aztec Triple Alliance as constantly at war with settlements in the Tlaxcala region. To weaken their Tlaxcalteca rivals, the Aztecs imposed a trade blockade to reduce the flow of resources into Puebla-Tlaxcala. This article uses archaeological evidence to evaluate the effectiveness of this blockade. It compares the types of obsidian used to manufacture lithic tools from Aztec-controlled sources with those used within Puebla-Tlaxcala. Information from the large center of Tepeticpac and the small obsidian workshop site of Cinco Santos II, both in the Tlaxcala domain, are compared to other sites in Central Mexico prior to and during the height of Aztec influence. The results show little difference in regional trade patterns: obsidian from Sierra de las Navajas and Otumba was used in proportions in the Tlaxcala region in the Late Postclassic similar to those used during earlier periods. If an embargo was attempted, it was largely unsuccessful in isolating Tlaxcala from broader regional distribution networks.

Residue Analysis of Cooking Vessels from Early Postclassic Xaltocan, Central Mexico

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
Kristin De Lucia ◽  
Linda Scott Cummings
Keyword(s):  
Fourier Transform ◽  
Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Residue Analysis ◽  
Food Preparation ◽  
Central Mexico ◽  
Early Postclassic ◽  
Ceramic Vessels

This article examines the use of cooking vessels from Early Postclassic (AD 900–1250) Xaltocan, Mexico, through residue analysis of ceramic sherds. The analysis combined phytolith and starch analyses with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Because our understanding of prehispanic foodways in central Mexico is based largely on sources that describe or depict Aztec practices in the sixteenth century, we ask how foods were similar or different prior to the Aztecs. We also seek a better understanding of how plainware vessels were used in prehispanic times. Although there is long-term continuity in the preparation of foods such as tamales and corn gruels, we find that additional foods such as tuber-based stews were prepared in the Early Postclassic. In addition, some ceramic vessels, such as comales and crude bowls, had a wider range of food preparation functions than expected.

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