- United Kingdom
- Boston University, Archaeology, Emeritusadd
- noneedit
Review article of three books detailing personal histories of Archaeology, in Europe, the Americas, and worldwide prehistory
Research Interests:
Describes the transition from a closed elite residential patio (900-400 BC) to an open temple plafroms (400 BC - AD 400) at the Maya site of Cuello, northern Belize. The dwellings were demolished and the patio infilled with rubble to... more
Describes the transition from a closed elite residential patio (900-400 BC) to an open temple plafroms (400 BC - AD 400) at the Maya site of Cuello, northern Belize. The dwellings were demolished and the patio infilled with rubble to create a level surface supporting a small temple and other buildings. A mass burial of 32 persons, at least 31 adult males, marked the transition and offers evidence of human sacrifice. 1987 excavations yielded this detail, complementing that of 1976-1980 work. The article was written in 1990 but published only in 2006, without modification beyond an updated citation.
Research Interests:
Summary of excavation and analysis at an early Maya village site up to 1995. (Further work was carried out in 2000 and 2002)
Abstract The distinctive character of Olmec art and culture within the wider Mesoamerican tradition was only fully recognised in the twentieth century. The authenticity and significance of several aspects of Olmec workmanship and imagery,... more
Abstract The distinctive character of Olmec art and culture within the wider Mesoamerican tradition was only fully recognised in the twentieth century. The authenticity and significance of several aspects of Olmec workmanship and imagery, however, remain the subject of debate. Here, the authors report on an incised stone celt (axe) from southern Mexico, which bears imagery relating it to the Middle Preclassic Olmec of the earlier first millennium BC. The image is interpreted as a Mesoamerican maize deity grasping a corn ear fetish. Originally discovered in 1910, its early date makes the object valuable for confirming debated aspects of Olmec art and culture.
Research Interests: Archaeology and Antiquity
It is well known that14C dating of fossil bone with seriously depleted protein levels, or bone that has been consolidated with preservatives, can produce erroneous results. In the tropics, warm and moist soil conditions lead to constant... more
It is well known that14C dating of fossil bone with seriously depleted protein levels, or bone that has been consolidated with preservatives, can produce erroneous results. In the tropics, warm and moist soil conditions lead to constant reworking of organic matter and add to the danger of bone contamination. Because of this,14C dating of preservative-impregnated bone from such areas has rarely been successful. We report here a set of AMS dates on both unconsolidated animal bone and polyvinyl acetate/polyvinyl alcohol (PVA/PV-OH) impregnated human burials from the Maya site of Cuello, Belize. The steps needed to purify the samples are described, together with details on the use of qualitative infra-red (IR) spectra as a means of assessing sample purity.
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Archaeology and Antiquity
Research Interests:
Traces ancient Maya concepts of post-mortem life and immortality, from documented instances of the Classic Period (AD 250-900) back through the Middle Preclassic (1000-400 BC). Detailed examples from the Preclassic village site of Cuello,... more
Traces ancient Maya concepts of post-mortem life and immortality, from documented instances of the Classic Period (AD 250-900) back through the Middle Preclassic (1000-400 BC). Detailed examples from the Preclassic village site of Cuello, Belize
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Archaeology and Antiquity
Research Interests:
The formative period of Maya civilization has been the subject of recent attention, both in discussion (e.g. Adams, 1977) and in excavation; several projects have been established specifically to investigate the processes that led to the... more
The formative period of Maya civilization has been the subject of recent attention, both in discussion (e.g. Adams, 1977) and in excavation; several projects have been established specifically to investigate the processes that led to the Classic Maya florescence in the first millennium AD. Among these has been the Cuello Project, a joint venture of the British Museum, the National Geographic Society and Rutgers University; this article summarizes the results of the third and final season of the project’s excavations at Cuello, Belize (Fig. I), which took place from January to March, 1980. The terminology for excavated features, structures etc. is detailed in Hammond (1978). The site was discovered during extensive surveys in 1973–4 (Hammond, 1974, Fig. I), and its potential for the study of the Preclassic or Formative period which preceded the rise of Classic Maya civilization led to a test excavation in 1975. The sequence of building levels and pottery preserved by the growth of Platform 34, a large flat construction with a small superincumbent pyramid (Str. 35) (PL. XXVIa), lying to the southwest of the main part of the site (Donaghey, et al., 1976, Fig. 2), showed that the uppermost floors on the platform had been laid in the Late Formative (conventionally 300 BC–AD 250 ), over structures of the Middle Formative (1000–300 BC). Below these were earlier deposits associated with pottery of pre-Middle Formative date which was assigned to the Early Formative (2000–1000 BC).
Research Interests: Archaeology and Antiquity
The Preclassic community of Cuello, the earliest village site hitherto excavated in the Maya Lowlands, centred on Platform 34, a flat-topped eminence where investigations between 1975 and 1993 documented occupation from at least 1200 BC... more
The Preclassic community of Cuello, the earliest village site hitherto excavated in the Maya Lowlands, centred on Platform 34, a flat-topped eminence where investigations between 1975 and 1993 documented occupation from at least 1200 BC to c. AD 400 (Hammond 1991; Hammond et al. 1995). Between 1000 and 400 BC the locus was occupied by a courtyard which with successive rebuildings became both larger and more formally organized, domestic activities shifting to the margins and ritual, including ancestor veneration, becoming more important (Hammond & Gerhardt 1990). Around 400 BC the final Middle Preclassic structures on the north, west and south sides of the court were ceremoniously demolished, their faqades hacked off and their superstructures burned. The entire courtyard was filled with rubble prior to the construction of the broad, open Platform 34, which itself underwent successive enlargements over the ensuing seven centuries.
Research Interests:
Casteel&…
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Advances a model of coastal trading stations on small offshore islands, with bulk-breaking to local canoe traders moving to inland centers
Research Interests:
Traces ancient Maya concepts of post-mortem life and immortality, from documented instances of the Classic Period (AD 250-900) back through the Middle Preclassic (1000-400 BC). Detailed examples from the Preclassic village site of Cuello,... more
Traces ancient Maya concepts of post-mortem life and immortality, from documented instances of the Classic Period (AD 250-900) back through the Middle Preclassic (1000-400 BC). Detailed examples from the Preclassic village site of Cuello, Belize
Reports the discovery of a number of jadeite sources in the Motagua Valley, Guatemala, and application of XRF, INAA, and mineralogical analyses in an effort at characterisation, with limited success.
Address on the 175th Anniversary of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society, noting some major archaeological events of 1822, and their consequences.
Describes the 1938 discovery and exploration of La Milpa, a large Maya site in northwestern Belize, by J. Eric S. Thompson from unpublished notes and photographs archived at Harvard. Later re-exploration after 1988 is noted
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Archaeology and Antiquity
Research Interests: Archaeology and Antiquity
Research Interests: Archaeology and Antiquity
Book reivew
Research Interests: Archaeology and Antiquity
Research Interests: Archaeology and Antiquity
Research Interests: Archaeology and Antiquity
A first notice of the mushy element in the subsistence base of the Maya realms.
Research Interests: Archaeology and Antiquity
The discovery of an ancient Chinese seal in an Oxfordshire garden three centuries ago still provokes interest. This note examines how the seal came to be published by Dr Robert Plot, and what it might have represented.
Research Interests: Archaeology and Antiquity
Research Interests: Religion, Archaeology, Art, American Culture, Localization, and 13 moreEthnology, Antiquity, Maya, GPS, Cosmogony, Settlement, Habitat, Topography, Belief, Method, Spatial Organization, PYRAMID, and Pyramide
Research Interests: Archaeology and Antiquity
Este artículo presenta las evidencias arqueológicas recuperadas de una de las comunidades mayas más temprana del Preclásico Medio que se hayan excavado extensivamente. Se hace una breve mención de las formas de vida de la población... more
Este artículo presenta las evidencias arqueológicas recuperadas de una de las comunidades mayas más temprana del Preclásico Medio que se hayan excavado extensivamente. Se hace una breve mención de las formas de vida de la población preclásica, así como de su entorno natural, sus cultivos, su alimentación y de la elaboración de papel amate que aquella empleaba para plasmar símbolos. Todas estas evidencias muestran una sociedad estratificada, cuyos rangos superiores tenían acceso a productos exóticos importados desde regiones lejanas. Como conclusión, el autor pondera la importancia de realizar investigaciones acerca del momento final del Preclásico Medio (700-400 a. C.).
