- Department of Anthropology, AS 237
1400 Washington Ave.
Albany, NY 12222 - (518) 442-4709
Robert M. Rosenswig
SUNY: University at Albany, Anthropology, Faculty Member
- McGill University, Anthropology, AlumnusUniversity of British Columbia, Anthropology, AlumnusYale University, Anthropology, Alumnusadd
- Mesoamerican Archaeology, Origins of Agriculture, Settlement Patterns, Prehistoric Settlement, Ceramic Analysis (Archaeology), Formative Mesoamerica, and 33 moreOlmec archaeology, Anthropological Archaeology, Anthropology, Archaeology, Prehistoric Archaeology, Prehistory, Belize archaeology, Mexican Archaeology, Cross-Cultural Studies, Taphonomy, Social Stratification, LiDAR, Historical Materialism, Archaeological Ethics, LiDAR for Landscape Archaeology, Development of complex societies, Cultural Evolution, Ancient economies (Archaeology), Archaeological Method & Theory, Archaeological Theory, Maya Archaeology, Social Evolution, Social Inequality (Anthropology), Ancient economy, Chiefdoms (Archaeology), State Formation, Theoretical Archaeology, Landscape Archaeology, Economic archaeology, Land Use Change, Social Inequality, Household Archaeology, and Preclassic Maya Archaeologyedit
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Many archaeologists do not realize that their commonsense assumptions about what constitutes money naturalize orthodox (neoclassical) economic theory. Rather than the orthodox view of money as primarily a medium of exchange, this paper... more
Many archaeologists do not realize that their commonsense assumptions about what constitutes money naturalize orthodox (neoclassical) economic theory. Rather than the orthodox view of money as primarily a medium of exchange, this paper presents the heterodox claim of money as primarily a unit of account imposed by those with political power. This heterodox understanding casts money as the mechanism at the heart of ancient states' political economies. A brief history of heterodox chartalist macroeconomics is followed by eight starting points from which archaeologists can explore the operation of state money using the material remains of past societies. Ancient Mesoamerica provides a case study that developed independently of better-known monetary histories from ancient Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Greek, Indus, and Chinese civilizations. Monetized state economies date back to at least AD 600 in Mesoamerica and possibly as early as 300 BC. Cacao beans, standard lengths of cotton cloth, and shell and greenstone beads functioned as the currencies of taxation that underwrote political economies across ancient Mexico and Central America. I conclude that similar organizing principles, by which elites in hierarchical pluralities have extracted and deployed surplus production, resulted in the independent invention of money as an accounting system among unrelated ancient societies the world over. My primary argument is that money-understood as a politically controlled system of accounting-is largely missing from our analysis of ancient complex societies.
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This article defines social and financial money as distinct institutions that account for different realms of value. I present a fundamental dichotomy among economists' where orthodox theory defines money as a medium of exchange whereas... more
This article defines social and financial money as distinct institutions that account for different realms of value. I present a fundamental dichotomy among economists' where orthodox theory defines money as a medium of exchange whereas heterodox chartalist economists characterize it as a unit of account. I argue that (pre)historical data provides clear evidence in support of the heterodox position. The unit of account function of money is exemplified by how wampum accounted for social debts and was expanded to also serve financial functions by European colonial governments. The heterodox position is further evidenced with the metal coins that denominated Rome's financial money that transitioned to serve primarily social purposes in early Anglo-Saxon Britain. Focusing on the accounting function of social and financial monies transcends the Polanyian special-versus-general-purpose framework that often still structures archaeological practice. With this framework of money defined by what gives it value, I then evaluate recent claims that financial money was integral to the political economies of Bronze Age Europe. I conclude that the adoption of the orthodox assumption that money is primarily a medium of exchange inhibits understanding of what money is and how the political economies of ancient societies were organized.
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The Archaic period in the Maya region represents six millennia (7000-1000 BCE) when non-ceramic-using peoples began to experiment with domesticates and reduce their settlement ranges. The single longest epoch of the Mesoamerican... more
The Archaic period in the Maya region represents six millennia (7000-1000 BCE) when non-ceramic-using peoples began to experiment with domesticates and reduce their settlement ranges. The single longest epoch of the Mesoamerican chronology, these early millennia are often overshadowed by the investigation of more recent peoples who built cities and have left evidence of elaborate artistic traditions. The Belize Archaic Project (BAP) began work over 20 years ago after the fortuitous discovery of aceramic deposits containing heavily patinated lithic tools and debitage under Postclassic settlements in the Freshwater Creek drainage of northern Belize. The 2019 field season marks a renewed phase of this project and initiates a program of systematic settlement survey and test excavations. This paper presents initial results of a systematic program of auguring that documented 87 Archaic-period sites and excavations at four of these locales during the summer of 2019. The renewed BAP investigates local land use patterns and foraging adaptation as well as the dynamic manner in which they affect (and are impacted by) climate change and evolving local forest and lacustrine ecology.
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Despite the abundance of lithic debitage at preceramic sites in the Maya Lowlands, these data have rarely been studied in detail. We analyzed the chipped chert debitage from Caye Coco and Fred Smith, two Archaic period sites in the... more
Despite the abundance of lithic debitage at preceramic sites in the Maya Lowlands, these data have rarely been studied in detail. We analyzed the chipped chert debitage from Caye Coco and Fred Smith, two Archaic period sites in the Freshwater Creek drainage of northern Belize, to evaluate strategies of lithic raw material procurement, stone tool production, and tool use. The technological and use-wear analyses of the debitage demonstrate that the sites' inhabitants procured most of their tool stone from the Northern Belize Chert-bearing Zone (NBCZ) and relied on hard-hammer percussion to produce flakes for use as expedient tools and some crude bifaces and unifaces. Although similar patterns of raw material procurement and tool production are demonstrated at both sites, some differences exist, including bipolar reduction at Caye Coco. Based on use-wear analysis, the debitage at the island site of Caye Coco was primarily used for working wood, shell, and hard contact materials and for digging soil. On the shore at Fred Smith, most use-wear is consistent with working wood, plants, and hard contact materials, as well as digging soil. For both sites, analyses suggest the increasing importance of a horticultural subsistence strategy with reduced mobility and reliance on some cultigens that were locally produced.
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Resumen: Este artículo describe dos complejos arquitectónicos vecinos que juntos forman la arquitectura monumental del sitio Anita Grande, en la región de Línea Vieja, vertiente Caribe Central de Costa Rica. Proponemos que estos dos... more
Resumen: Este artículo describe dos complejos arquitectónicos vecinos que juntos forman la arquitectura monumental del sitio Anita Grande, en la región de Línea Vieja, vertiente Caribe Central de Costa Rica. Proponemos que estos dos complejos reflejan la evolución del estatus cacical de los residentes del sitio. Análisis cerámico y datos radiométricos ubican la construcción monumental en 950-1250 E.C., con evidencias de ocupaciones del sitio en periodos previos. La información presentada en el presente artículo fue generada a partir de monitoreo del sitio desde el 2004 y una temporada de excavación en el 2018. Concluimos que la construcción arquitectónica de Anita Grande es indicativa de autoridad cacical, materializada a través de un diseño inicial que fue subsecuentemente aumentado, por un segundo complejo distanciado 500 m con alineamiento de cazadas empedradas. Palabras clave: arquitectura; cacicazgo; desarrollo; calzadas; basamentos; plazas. Derivative development in the chiefly architecture of Línea Vieja: Two neighboring complexes of the Anita Grande archaeological site, Central Caribbean of Costa Rica Abstract: This article describes two neighboring architectural complexes that together form the monumental architecture of the Anita Grande site in the Línea Vieja region, Central Caribbean watershed of Costa Rica. We propose that these two complexes reflect the evolving chiefly status of the site's residents. Ceramic analysis and radiometric data place the monumental construction to CE 950-1250, with evidence Cuadernos de Antropología está bajo una licencia Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0
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Mesoamerica is one of the cradles of civilisation where kingdoms and states emerged during the latter part of the first millennium BCE. Recently collected lidar (light detection and ranging) and archaeological survey data document for the... more
Mesoamerica is one of the cradles of civilisation where kingdoms and states emerged during the latter part of the first millennium BCE. Recently collected lidar (light detection and ranging) and archaeological survey data document for the first time the entire kingdom of Izapa, on Mexico's southern Pacific coast. New settlement survey data track changing distribution of population from 1000 BCE-100 CE and indicated the city's population reached 5725 inhabitants. Izapa was the capital of a regional kingdom with more than 40 lower-order monumental centres that were built according to the same design principles and together formed an administrative hierarchy within the kingdom. Recent dating confirms the apogee of the kingdom at 300-100 BCE and volcanological reconstruction suggests that the Tacaná volcano eruption corresponds with archaeological evidence of political and demographic disruptions to the kingdom. This study exemplifies the transformative capability of lidar technology for documenting earthen mound in tropical environments.
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The internal control and external sovereignty that define nation-states today has a long (pre)history. Many archaeologists undertheorize sovereignty by only implicitly inferring the sovereign status of the polities they study. Sovereignty... more
The internal control and external sovereignty that define nation-states today has a long (pre)history. Many archaeologists undertheorize sovereignty by only implicitly inferring the sovereign status of the polities they study. Sovereignty also remains insufficiently operationalized in terms of its material remains, especially for those ancient societies without written accounts. During the final centuries before the Common Era, a network of kingdoms existed along the Pacific coast of Mexico, Guatemala, and El Salvador. Large earthen mounds that formed
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Chacmools are a distinctive sculptural form associated with the Mesoamerican cities of Chichen Itza and Tula. A recently excavated sculpture found at Las Mercedes in Costa Rica, over 2000km to the south, closely resembles the Mesoamerican... more
Chacmools are a distinctive sculptural form associated with the Mesoamerican cities of Chichen Itza and Tula. A recently excavated sculpture found at Las Mercedes in Costa Rica, over 2000km to the south, closely resembles the Mesoamerican chacmools. Comparing this new chacmool-like sculpture with similar examples at the American Museum of Natural History and the National Museum of Costa Rica, the authors demonstrate that these sculptures were common in lower Central America, and propose a connection between Central America and Mesoamerica dating back to AD 1000. They interpret the Costa Rican chacmools as ritual furniture employed by local chiefs to enhance their power and prestige through the enactment of Mesoamerican-inspired rituals.
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Monumental architecture is fundamental for understanding ancient complex societies as it is the result of coordinated projects that frame political and ceremonial activity 1. A new study documents hundreds of architectural centres in... more
Monumental architecture is fundamental for understanding ancient complex societies as it is the result of coordinated projects that frame political and ceremonial activity 1. A new study documents hundreds of architectural centres in Mexico, revealing monumental architecture at a scale unimaginable even a decade ago 2 .
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The fourth millennium b.p. in the Maya lowlands provides an interesting case, with mobile, aceramic peoples documented, while ceramicusing villagers lived in other parts of Mesoamerica. Rather than ask why ceramic containers and village... more
The fourth millennium b.p. in the Maya lowlands provides an interesting case, with mobile, aceramic peoples documented, while ceramicusing villagers lived in other parts of Mesoamerica. Rather than ask why ceramic containers and village life took so long to reach the Maya lowlands, the question can be inverted to posit that a mixed horticultural-foraging adaptation was so effective that it persisted longer than elsewhere. I propose that the so-called 4.2 ka b.p. event was the ultimate cause of increased sedentism and the first adoption of ceramic containers in a limited number of regions of Mesoamerica. My musings are grounded in the comparisons of data from the Soconusco region of southern Mexico and evidence from northern Belize at Colha and Pulltrouser Swamp, as well as the Freshwater Creek drainage. I assume that proximate behavior must account for local adaptations and different rates of change in each region of Mesoamerica. Therefore, regional adaptation in northern Belize during the Late Archaic period provides the evidence with which to reconstruct local adaptation. Excavations and regional reconnaissance document a distinctive orange soil horizon at Progresso Lagoon associated with patinated chert tools and an absence of ceramics. Stone tool assemblages from the preceramic components of three sites in the region indicate a spatial separation of tool use and resharpening at island versus shore. Starch grains recovered from these stone tools indicate that preceramic peoples in northern Belize harvested maize and several other domesticated plant species. These data are consistent with local paleoenvironmental studies that document an extended period of horticultural activity during the fifth and fourth millennia b.p. prior to the adoption of ceramics. Lithic assemblages and associated dietary information from multiple sites provide glimpses of the data necessary to reconstruct Late Archaic period adaptation from a single locale. Such data will be required to understand the proximate causes for the transition to a more settled, village life.
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We explore Maya social organization after the Classic-period "collapse" using mortuary and osteological patterns. Our data consist of 78 burials from the Freshwater Creek drainage of northern Belize: 24 dating to the Terminal Classic... more
We explore Maya social organization after the Classic-period "collapse" using mortuary and osteological patterns. Our data consist of 78 burials from the Freshwater Creek drainage of northern Belize: 24 dating to the Terminal Classic period (AD 800-1000) and 54 to the Postclassic period (AD 1000-1500). These mortuary data allow us to infer continuity in the populations occupying a single river drainage between these periods. During the Postclassic, a greater diversity of grave inclusions interred with individuals at Caye Coco are consistent with the higher status of some of its residents who had greater access to wealth items and more elaborate domestic architecture compared to inhabitants of the smaller settlement of Laguna de On island. These grave inclusion results are consistent with cross-cultural patterns defined by the Saxe/Binford hypothesis that social organization can be inferred from mortuary patterns. A new development in Postclassic burial customs in our study region was the establishment of formal cemeteries. Consistent with the Saxe/Goldstein hypothesis, we interpret this change as the increased importance of local, lineage-based authority after large, Classic-period kingdoms had dissolved. Considering mortuary and osteological patterns together allows for a fuller understanding of Postclassic Maya social organization than either type of data would alone.
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In this paper, I discuss what is known of the Late Archaic occupation in northern Belize. The second millennium BC is the "Early Formative" for most of Mesoamerica but the subsistence and residential adaptation of the Maya lowlands... more
In this paper, I discuss what is known of the Late Archaic occupation in northern Belize. The second millennium BC is the "Early Formative" for most of Mesoamerica but the subsistence and residential adaptation of the Maya lowlands residents up until ~1100 BC consisted of mixed foraging-horticulturalists with no ceramic containers or permanent villages. This means that an "Archaic" strategy persisted in the Maya area for almost a thousand years longer than elsewhere in Mesoamerica. I review evidence from the site of San Estevan where first ceramic-using (i.e., Swasey phase) villagers are documented with little evidence of their predecessors. Next, I review evidence of Archaic-period occupation on the west shore of Progresso Lagoon where maize, squash and chili peppers were cultivated by mobile foragers. Finally, I present plans to thoroughly document and date the second and third millennium BC occupation of Progresso Lagoon and explore how the global climatic change impacted the adaptation of forager-horticulturalists.
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Mesoamerica is one of the cradles of civilisation where kingdoms and states emerged during the latter part of the first millennium BCE. Recently collected lidar (light detection and ranging) and archaeological survey data document for the... more
Mesoamerica is one of the cradles of civilisation where kingdoms and states emerged during the latter part of the first millennium BCE. Recently collected lidar (light detection and ranging) and archaeological survey data document for the first time the entire kingdom of Izapa, on Mexico's southern Pacific coast. New settlement survey data track changing distribution of population from 1000 BCE-100 CE and indicated the city's population reached 5725 inhabitants. Izapa was the capital of a regional kingdom with more than 40 lower-order monumental centres that were built according to the same design principles and together formed an administrative hierarchy within the kingdom. Recent dating confirms the apogee of the kingdom at 300-100 BCE and volcanological reconstruction suggests that the Tacaná volcano eruption corresponds with archaeological evidence of political and demographic disruptions to the kingdom. This study exemplifies the transformative capability of lidar technology for documenting earthen mound in tropical environments. Résumé La Mésomérique est un des berceaux de la civilisation, où les royaumes et les états émergent au cours du premier millénaire avant notre ére De récentes données de reconnaissance terrestre et áerienne par lidar (light detection and ranging) ont permis pour la première fois de définir l'extension du royaume d'Izapa, sur la côte Pacifique du Mexique. Ces données permettent de suivre le développement de la population entre 1000 et 100 AEC, atteignant jusqu'à 5725 habitants. Izapa fut la capitale d'un royaume gouvernant plus de 40 sites subordonnés, dont le tracé des constructions monumentales réplique les mêmes principes architecturaux, ce qui reflète l'existence d'une hiérarchie administrative. Les études chronométriques récentes confirment l'apogée du royaume entre 300 et 100 AEC, et permettent de faire le lien entre les altérations démographiques et politiques observées et la sequence d'éruptions du volcan Tacaná. Cette étude démontre la particulière utilité de la technologie lidar pour enregistrer des sites composés de monticules artificiels de terre dans une végétation tropicale.
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This paper uses Least Cost Path (LCP) analysis to explore travel routes between the Gulf Coast and Soconusco regions of Mexico. LCP results are compared between the two regions during the late Early Formative period (1400-1000 cal BC)... more
This paper uses Least Cost Path (LCP) analysis to explore travel routes between the Gulf Coast and Soconusco regions of Mexico. LCP results are compared between the two regions during the late Early Formative period (1400-1000 cal BC) when San Lorenzo was the largest Olmec center on the Gulf Coast and the Middle Formative period (1000-400 cal BC) when La Venta replaced it. We contrast the well-known Tobler Hiking Function and the less well known Anaya Hernandez method to determine the LCP routes for each period as well as to calculate changes required to make the voyage as one Gulf Coast center eclipsed the other. We compare LCP models with changing locations of political centers and with colonial-period accounts of actual travel through the region that allows us to infer the logic of Olmec era trade networks. Methodologically, we show how the Anaya Hernandez friction values for LCP analysis are more appropriate for mountainous environments as they more reliably model the importance of slope than the Tobler Function does. Substantively, we demonstrate how important population centers were located along LPC routes. Further, that beginning during the Middle Formative period there were more connections to the highlands of Chiapas and Guatemala than in earlier times.
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This article presents new settlement survey data from the Izapa center of southern Mesoamerica, a site long known for its corpus of low-relief stelae. These data, which track the changing distribution of population from 1000 BC-AD 100,... more
This article presents new settlement survey data from the Izapa center of southern Mesoamerica, a site long known for its corpus of low-relief stelae. These data, which track the changing distribution of population from 1000 BC-AD 100, indicate that the city's population peaked at 5,725 inhabitants. Izapa was the capital of a regional kingdom with more than 40 lower-order monumental centers and a territory that covered at least 450 sq. km. Recent AMS dates confirm the apogee of the kingdom at 300-100 BC, and volcanological reconstruction suggests that a Tacaná volcano eruption corresponds with archaeological evidence of political and demographic disruptions to the kingdom. Patterns at Izapa are contextualized in terms of Inomata and colleagues' (2014) call for redating Kaminaljuyu, placing the erection of stelae there to after 100 BC, as well as Love's (2018) and Mendelsohn's (2018) responses in this journal. Izapa was an integrated kingdom from 700-100 BC, and "Izapa-style" sculptures were a novel medium of political communication introduced after the polity had been functioning without them for centuries. If Inomata and colleagues' (2014) proposal is correct that low-relief stelae were erected only after 100 BC at other centers in southern Mesoamerica, this was centuries after the practice was established at Izapa. En este trabajo se presentan nuevos datos sobre el centro de Izapa, un sitio en el sur de Mesoamérica conocido por su conjunto de estelas en bajo relieve. Nuevos datos sobre el patrón de asentamiento muestran los cambios en la distribución demográfica entre 1000 aC y 100 dC e indican que la población de la ciudad llegó a alcanzar unos 5.725 habitantes. Izapa fue la capital de un reino regional con más de 40 centros monumentales de orden inferior y un territorio que cubría al menos 450 km 2. Los fechados radiocarbónicos por AMS confirman el apogeo del reino entre 300 y 100 aC y la reconstrucción vulcanológica sugiere que una erupción del Volcán Tacaná se corresponde con la evidencia arqueológica de interrupciones políticas y demo-gráficas en el reino. Los patrones en Izapa se contextualizan con base en la propuesta avanzada por Inomata y colaboradores (2014) de una nueva datación para Kaminaljuyú, con la erección de estelas después de 100 aC, así como las respuestas de Love (2018) y Mendelsohn (2018) publicadas en la edición actual de esta revista. Izapa fue un reino integrado entre 700 y 100 aC y las esculturas del "estilo Izapa" fueron un medio novedoso de comunicación política. Si es correcta la propuesta de Inomata y colaboradores (2014) que las estelas en bajo relieve fueron erigidas solo después del 100 aC en otros centros en el sur de Mesoamérica, esto ocurrió siglos después de que dicha práctica se estableciera en Izapa.
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Izapa is famous for its monumental architecture and extensive corpus of carved stelae dated to the Late Formative Guillén phase (300-100 cal b.c.). The site was first established, however, as the capital of a kingdom during the second... more
Izapa is famous for its monumental architecture and extensive corpus of carved stelae dated to the Late Formative Guillén phase (300-100 cal b.c.). The site was first established, however, as the capital of a kingdom during the second half of the Middle Formative period (750-300 cal b.c.). Little is known of the first centuries of the site's occupation or how this early kingdom coalesced with Izapa as its capital. In 2012, the Izapa Regional Settlement Project (IRSP) excavated 21 test units and ran 10 radiocarbon accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dates in order to begin correcting this lacuna. These excavations were the first at the site to screen soil matrices and recover artifact samples that can be quantitatively analyzed. We undertook excavations in areas north and south of Group B, the original center of Izapa. This work dates the northern expansion of the site's main platform (under Mound 30a) to the Terminal Formative Itstapa phase (cal a.d. 100-300) that resulted in a doubling of the platform's size. Further, we documented that there were three distinct construction episodes in the Terminal Formative expansion and that a central staircase and ramp were built of stone during the second episode. Buried below the Terminal Formative platform expansion was a white clay surface built during the Escalón phase (750-500 cal b.c.) and used through to Guillén times. At the long, linear Mound 62 that defines the eastern edge of Izapa's site core, we documented two episodes of Guillén-phase monumental construction. Buried below this construction fill at Mound 62, a hearth feature and stone alignment are dated to the late Middle Formative based on radiocarbon assays and the results of ceramic analysis. Excavations at Mound 72 and 73 documented that Izapa's E-Group (newly recognized with lidar [light detection and ranging] data) was established in the late Middle Formative period and then significantly augmented during the Guillén phase. The architectural program at Izapa saw its apogee during the Late Formative period, but was first established during the preceding centuries of the Middle Formative. Ten new AMS dates confirm the dating of the Escalón, Frontera, and Guillén phases to 750-100 cal b.c. Ceramic analysis allowed us to differentiate quantitatively between midden deposits and construction fill through the site's occupation and to recognize domestic versus public spaces during the first centuries of the Izapa kingdom's coalescence. We identify late Middle Formative period middens based on the high density of ceramics in addition to good surface preservation of sherds and a lack of temporal mixing of types. The designation of high-artifact density middens contrasts with the contents of Late and Terminal Formative construction fill with lower ceramic sherd densities and mixing of temporally diagnostic types. Off-mound contexts (where construction fill was mined) had even lower ceramic densities than construction fill and the sherds were very eroded. Analysis of ceramic remains from late Middle Formative period midden deposits also allowed us to infer differences in public and domestic areas of the site during the first centuries of its occupation. Formal and metric variables from these ceramic assemblages identify dish-to-jar ratios that differentiate domestic contexts (with an assortment of vessel forms) from more publically oriented areas of the site (with more serving dishes). The differential distribution of rim diameters of fancy and plain dishes allows us to identify areas of Izapa where domestic activities predominate and indicate that more publically oriented feasting practices occurred at the site center near the main pyramid (Mound 30a) during the late Middle Formative period.
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The peoples of southern Mesoamerica, including the Classic period Maya, are often claimed to exhibit a distinct type of spatial organization relative to contemporary urban systems. Here, we use the settlement scaling framework and... more
The peoples of southern Mesoamerica, including the Classic period Maya, are often claimed to exhibit a distinct type of spatial organization relative to contemporary urban systems. Here, we use the settlement scaling framework and properties of settlements recorded in systematic, full-coverage surveys to examine ways in which southern Mesoamerican settlement systems were both similar to and different from contemporary systems. We find that the population-area relationship in these settlements differs greatly from that reported for other agrarian settlement systems, but that more typical patterns emerge when one considers a site epicenter as the relevant social interaction area, and the population administered from a given center as the relevant interacting population. Our results imply that southern Mesoamerican populations mixed socially at a slower temporal rhythm than is typical of contemporary systems. Residential locations reflected the need to balance energetic and transport c...
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The word *kakaw(a)(‘cacao’,Theobroma cacao) was widely diffused among Mesoamerican languages, and from there to much of lower Central America. This study provides evidence establishing beyond reasonable doubt that this word originated in... more
The word *kakaw(a)(‘cacao’,Theobroma cacao) was widely diffused among Mesoamerican languages, and from there to much of lower Central America. This study provides evidence establishing beyond reasonable doubt that this word originated in the Mije-Sokean family; that it spread from the Mije-Sokean languages in or around the Olmec heartland into southeastern Mesoamerican languages; that its diffusion into Mayan languages took place between about 200 B.C. and A.D. 400; and that it spread from a Mije-Sokean language in or near the Basin of Mexico into languages in the region. It shows that each of the arguments presented by Dakin and Wichmann (2000) against a Mije-Sokean origin is either unworkable, is based upon false premises, or is not relevant; and that their proposed alternative — that it originated in and spread from Nawa into other Mesoamerican languages — conflicts with the mass of evidence relevant to the issue.This study also discusses the linguistic details of vocabulary for ...
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Modes of production are used in a variety of ways by authors in this book but all employ the framework as an analytical tool to explore the reproduction of society. Each chapter author provides examples of how one or multiple modes of... more
Modes of production are used in a variety of ways by authors in this book but all employ the framework as an analytical tool to explore the reproduction of society. Each chapter author provides examples of how one or multiple modes of production (in succession or simultaneously) promotes distinctive questions and new insights about the past. The aim of the volume is not to (re)affirm the value of mode of production analysis to those already convinced of its utility, but instead to suggest to a broader audience that such analyses can provide insights that are not available through conventional archaeological approaches. As a group, we follow Marx’s analysis of capitalism in making our cases for the utility of mode of production analysis by working through concrete examples.
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Izapa is famous for its monumental architecture and extensive corpus of carved stelae dated to the Late Formative Guillén phase (300-100 cal b.c.). The site was first established, however, as the capital of a kingdom during the second... more
Izapa is famous for its monumental architecture and extensive corpus of carved stelae dated to the Late Formative Guillén phase (300-100 cal b.c.). The site was first established, however, as the capital of a kingdom during the second half of the Middle Formative period (750-300 cal b.c.). Little is known of the first centuries of the site's occupation or how this early kingdom coalesced with Izapa as its capital. In 2012, the Izapa Regional Settlement Project (IRSP) excavated 21 test units and ran 10 radiocarbon accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dates in order to begin correcting this lacuna. These excavations were the first at the site to screen soil matrices and recover artifact samples that can be quantitatively analyzed. We undertook excavations in areas north and south of Group B, the original center of Izapa. This work dates the northern expansion of the site's main platform (under Mound 30a) to the Terminal Formative Itstapa phase (cal a.d. 100-300) that resulted in a doubling of the platform's size. Further, we documented that there were three distinct construction episodes in the Terminal Formative expansion and that a central staircase and ramp were built of stone during the second episode. Buried below the Terminal Formative platform expansion was a white clay surface built during the Escalón phase (750-500 cal b.c.) and used through to Guillén times. At the long, linear Mound 62 that defines the eastern edge of Izapa's site core, we documented two episodes of Guillén-phase monumental construction. Buried below this construction fill at Mound 62, a hearth feature and stone alignment are dated to the late Middle Formative based on radiocarbon assays and the results of ceramic analysis. Excavations at Mound 72 and 73 documented that Izapa's E-Group (newly recognized with lidar [light detection and ranging] data) was established in the late Middle Formative period and then significantly augmented during the Guillén phase. The architectural program at Izapa saw its apogee during the Late Formative period, but was first established during the preceding centuries of the Middle Formative. Ten new AMS dates confirm the dating of the Escalón, Frontera, and Guillén phases to 750-100 cal b.c. Ceramic analysis allowed us to differentiate quantitatively between midden deposits and construction fill through the site's occupation and to recognize domestic versus public spaces during the first centuries of the Izapa kingdom's coalescence. We identify late Middle Formative period middens based on the high density of ceramics in addition to good surface preservation of sherds and a lack of temporal mixing of types. The designation of high-artifact density middens contrasts with the contents of Late and Terminal Formative construction fill with lower ceramic sherd densities and mixing of temporally diagnostic types. Off-mound contexts (where construction fill was mined) had even lower ceramic densities than construction fill and the sherds were very eroded. Analysis of ceramic remains from late Middle Formative period midden deposits also allowed us to infer differences in public and domestic areas of the site during the first centuries of its occupation. Formal and metric variables from these ceramic assemblages identify dish-to-jar ratios that differentiate domestic contexts (with an assortment of vessel forms) from more publically oriented areas of the site (with more serving dishes). The differential distribution of rim diameters of fancy and plain dishes allows us to identify areas of Izapa where domestic activities predominate and indicate that more publically oriented feasting practices occurred at the site center near the main pyramid (Mound 30a) during the late Middle Formative period.
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Comments by various authors on Kaufman and Justeson (2007), in turn a commentary on Dakin (2000), a dialogue on cacao, chocolate, and related subjects. My own commentary is #4 of 8 and, like the others, brings new data to the table and... more
Comments by various authors on Kaufman and Justeson (2007), in turn a commentary on Dakin (2000), a dialogue on cacao, chocolate, and related subjects. My own commentary is #4 of 8 and, like the others, brings new data to the table and cites additional literature.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Excavations and regional reconnaissance survey in Mesoamerica’s tropical Maya lowlands of northeastern Belize document the association of a distinctive orange soil horizon with patinated stone tools dating to the Archaic period (8000-3500... more
Excavations and regional reconnaissance survey in Mesoamerica’s tropical Maya lowlands of northeastern Belize document the association of a distinctive orange soil horizon with patinated stone tools dating to the Archaic period (8000-3500 cal BP). Archaic period deposits of this type were found along the Freshwater Creek drainage and on small islands associated with this riverine system. Stone tool
assemblages (n = 778) from these sites indicate a spatial separation of tool use and resharpening at island versus shore sites at Progresso Lagoon and Laguna de On and expand the range of stone tool types reported from the Archaic period in the region. Starch grains (n = 81) were recovered from seven of these stone tools (two unifaces, four bifaces, and a hammer stone) and indicate that preceramic peoples in northern Belize used these implements to harvest or process maize along with several other domesticated plant species. The presence of starch from chili pepper, manioc, and taxa of the bean and squash families is also documented on a number of the same tools. These data are consistent with paleoecological studies in the region suggesting an extended period of horticultural activity in the Maya region prior to the adoption of ceramics and settled village life that occurred after ~3000 cal BP.
assemblages (n = 778) from these sites indicate a spatial separation of tool use and resharpening at island versus shore sites at Progresso Lagoon and Laguna de On and expand the range of stone tool types reported from the Archaic period in the region. Starch grains (n = 81) were recovered from seven of these stone tools (two unifaces, four bifaces, and a hammer stone) and indicate that preceramic peoples in northern Belize used these implements to harvest or process maize along with several other domesticated plant species. The presence of starch from chili pepper, manioc, and taxa of the bean and squash families is also documented on a number of the same tools. These data are consistent with paleoecological studies in the region suggesting an extended period of horticultural activity in the Maya region prior to the adoption of ceramics and settled village life that occurred after ~3000 cal BP.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
The development of food production in Mesoamerica was a complex and protracted process. We argue that while maize had been cultivated for many millennia, this cereal grain assumed a markedly more important role in the political economy of... more
The development of food production in Mesoamerica was a complex and protracted process. We argue
that while maize had been cultivated for many millennia, this cereal grain assumed a markedly more
important role in the political economy of the Soconusco (and elsewhere in Mexico, Guatemala and
Belize) only after 1000 cal BC. Macrobotanical data from the long-occupied village of Cuauhtémoc
document low-level maize production from 1900 to 1400 cal BC with a significant increase during the
final centuries of the site’s occupation after 1000 cal BC. Botanical evidence of increased maize consumption
at this time occurred with evidence for changing groundstone use, intensified exploitation of dog and
deer as well as iconography linking maize with rulership. This was also when monumental architecture
was first built to mark a regional hierarchy of political centers. Changes evident in the Soconusco at
1000 cal BC parallel transformations in both highland and lowland regions of Mesoamerica when
ceramic-using villagers expanded into new environments, farther away from the permanent water
sources favored by Late Archaic and Early Formative peoples. We interpret the changes evident at
1000 cal BC in terms of both proximate historical factors as well as ultimate adaptive causes to produce
a fuller understanding of changing Mesoamerican food production practices.
that while maize had been cultivated for many millennia, this cereal grain assumed a markedly more
important role in the political economy of the Soconusco (and elsewhere in Mexico, Guatemala and
Belize) only after 1000 cal BC. Macrobotanical data from the long-occupied village of Cuauhtémoc
document low-level maize production from 1900 to 1400 cal BC with a significant increase during the
final centuries of the site’s occupation after 1000 cal BC. Botanical evidence of increased maize consumption
at this time occurred with evidence for changing groundstone use, intensified exploitation of dog and
deer as well as iconography linking maize with rulership. This was also when monumental architecture
was first built to mark a regional hierarchy of political centers. Changes evident in the Soconusco at
1000 cal BC parallel transformations in both highland and lowland regions of Mesoamerica when
ceramic-using villagers expanded into new environments, farther away from the permanent water
sources favored by Late Archaic and Early Formative peoples. We interpret the changes evident at
1000 cal BC in terms of both proximate historical factors as well as ultimate adaptive causes to produce
a fuller understanding of changing Mesoamerican food production practices.