3rd ANNUAL SOUTHEAST CONFERENCE
ON MESOAMERICAN ARCHAEOLOGY AND ETHNOHISTORY
October 26-27, 2007
University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC
ABSTRACTS
1.- AUTHOR: J. Christopher Gillam
INSTITUTIONAL AFFILIATION: University of South Carolina (SRARP-SCIAA)
TITLE:“Pleistocene Crossroad of the Western Hemisphere: The Isthmus of Tehuantepec and Mesoamerica’s Role in the Peopling of the Americas.”
ABSTRACT: Although best known for its complex societies of the later Holocene, Mesoamerica also played a significant role in the peopling of the Americas during the late Pleistocene. The Isthmus of Tehuantepec, in particular, is a likely crossroad for early cultures moving between the Pacific and Gulf coasts. Recognized as a pathway for the peopling of South America from the north, it may also be an early point of entry for the peopling of eastern North America. When interpreted from a coastal migration perspective, recent hemispheric-scale geographic analyses lend support to this hypothesis. The significance of this region to understanding the initial peopling of the Americas increases further as growing support for a coastal migration from eastern Asia is evidenced in recent Paleoindian studies.
2.- AUTHOR: Joseph Mountjoy
INSTITUTIONAL AFFILIATION: University of North Carolina-Greensboro
TITLE: "Middle Formative (1000-800 B.C.) Shaft and Chamber Tombs in the Mascota Valley of Far Western Jalisco".
ABSTRACT: Archaeological research in the Mascota Valley of Western Jalisco over the last six years has yielded rich shaft and chamber tombs with evidence for long distance trade networks. This paper presents current interpretations of the relationships between three sites in the Mascota Valley, and between the Mascota Valley and other West Mexican and Mesoamerican Formative sites.
3.- AUTHOR: Jim Reed
INSTITUTIONAL AFFILIATION: Currently editor of the Institute of Maya Studies newsletter and a former president of the Institute
TITLE: “Understanding 2012.”
ABSTRACT: A totally new program that explains the Maya Long Count Calendar end date of December 21, 2012 that is straight forward and for the first time in color (featuring NASA photography). Jim has lived in Guatemala and Belize for seven years and since then endeavors to share his accumulated knowledge on a variety of topics concerning the Maya and their homeland.
4.- AUTHOR: Karen Pereira
INSTITUTIONAL AFFILIATION: University of Florida
TITLE: "Placing Naranjo into Context: the Middle Formative occupation in the Valley of Guatemala".
ABSTRACT: No Abstract
5.- AUTHORS: Amy J. Hirshman and Helen P. Pollard
INSTITUTIONAL AFFILIATION: West Virginia University and Michigan State University (respectively)
TITLE: “Firing Variability and Paste Construction in Tarascan Fine Ware Ceramics: a Preliminary Assessment.”
ABSTRACT: Visual inspection and compositional analysis of sherds from Tzintzuntzan, the capital of the western Mesoamerican Late Postclassic Tarascan state, and Urichu, a tertiary Tarascan administrative center, provided conflicting evidence regarding paste variability in fine ware paste recipes. In the absence of direct evidence for firing technology, a refiring experiment should provide an important indication of the importance of firing temperature variability to the visible identification of ceramic paste variability.
6.- AUTHORS: E. Christian Wells, Karla L. Davis-Salazar, and José E. Moreno-Cortés
INSTITUTIONAL AFFILIATION: University of South Florida
TITLE: “The Discovery, Recovery, and Analysis of an Ulúa-style Marble Vase from the Palmarejo Valley, Honduras.”
ABSTRACT: In 2005 while conducting salvage archaeology in the Palmarejo Valley of northwest Honduras, we discovered an Ulúa-style marble vase associated with a mortuary assemblage underneath a residential building. The discovery is unique because no other such vase has ever been documented in situ using modern archaeological techniques and standards. As a result, very little is known about how and when these objects were used. This paper reports the details and context of the find, its significance to Honduran and Mesoamerican archaeology, and an analysis of pollen and charcoal associated with the vase and its contents. We also discuss the ethical implications of the discovery as it concerns stakeholders at all levels of the project, including local community members, government officials, and our own research team.
7.- AUTHOR: Andrei V.Tabarev
INSTITUTIONAL AFFILIATION: Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Novosibirsk, RUSSIA
TITLE: “Mesoamerican Studies in Russia; Current Situation and Perspectives.”
ABSTRACT: Mesoamerica and its ancient cultures were of high interest of Russian scholars since the end of XIX century. In spite of modest chances to reach the region and to conduct field researches Russian scientists (archaeologists, linguists, and historians) made a good portion of work including the Olmec culture, Maya writing system, Aztec society. The series of illustrated books and articles cover almost the whole cultural sequence of Mesoamerica. After the pause during 1990 th next generation of active scholars is seeking for new directions of studies and ways of cooperation with international brotherhood of mesoamericanists. Siberian region is of special point in this process – traditionally all Mesoamerican studies were concentrated in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Recent years demonstrate the perspectives for new center with wide Pre-Columbian specialization in Novosibirsk ( Siberia).
8.- AUTHORS: Jessica Boulware and Laura Cahue
INSTITUTIONAL AFFILIATION: University of South Carolina
TITLE: “Silent People in Dusty Boxes: A Survey of Skeletal Collections in Michoacan, Mexico”
ABSTRACT: Recent initiatives at the Centro INAH-Michoacan to document and relocate archaeological and archaeological collections resulted in the “re-discovery” of skeletal collections long thought to be lost. Here we present a preliminary inventory of what is available and where we are in the process of re-documenting their provenience. We also discuss the factors we believe are contributing to the curatorial challenges faced by INAH regional centers.
9.- AUTHOR: David Haskell
INSTITUTIONAL AFFILIATION: University of Florida
TITLE: “Representing and Practicing Hierarchy in the Prehispanic Tarascan State.”
ABSTRACT: Archaeologists often use the concept of hierarchy in the context of investigations of archaic states in ways that that either ignore actors or views them as preconstituted actors holding certain preexisting ranks. Such approaches lead us away from recognizing variations in how hierarchy is created through practices and thus how some actors define, establish, and reproduce their hierarchical superiority over subordinates. This paper seeks to examine the ways in which a concept of hierarchy radically different from that commonly used by archaeologists was conceptualized and constituted in specific practices in the prehispanic Tarascan State of West-Central Mexico. Through an analysis of the ethnohistoric record, we see how the Tarascan king defined his relationships with the lesser nobility. We can combine other documentary evidence with archaeological data to examine the practices in the past that actually constituted these relationships and therefore the Tarascan State.
10.- AUTHOR: Terrance Weik
INSTITUTIONAL AFFILIATION: University of South Carolina
TITLE: “The Maroon Heritage of Veracruz: Cimarrones in Amapa nad Yanga.”
ABSTRACT: No Abstract
11.- AUTHORS: Laura Cahue and Joseph Mountjoy
INSTITUTIONAL AFFILIATION: University of South Carolina
TITLE: “The Bioarchaeology of El Pantano, a Middle Formative Cemetery Site in the Mascota Valley of Jalisco. Mexico.”
ABSTRACT: El Pantano is a Middle Formative cemetery site located in the Mascota Valley in the state of Jalisco in west Mexico. This paper will discuss the demographic composition, diet and biogeochemical analyses of these early agriculturalists.