Download or read book Obsidian Distribution and Exchange in the North central Frontier of Mesoamerica written by J. Andrew Darling and published by . This book was released on 1998 with total page 1136 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Obsidian Reflections written by David M. Carballo and published by University Press of Colorado. This book was released on 2014-09-15 with total page 350 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Departing from the political economy perspective taken by the vast majority of volumes devoted to Mesoamerican obsidian, Obsidian Reflections is an examination of obsidian's sociocultural dimensions—particularly in regard to Mesoamerican world view, religion, and belief systems. Exploring the materiality of this volcanic glass rather than only its functionality, this book considers the interplay among people, obsidian, and meaning and how these relationships shaped patterns of procurement, exchange, and use. An international group of scholars hailing from Belize, France, Japan, Mexico, and the United States provides a variety of case studies from Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, and Honduras. The authors draw on archaeological, iconographic, ethnographic, and ethnohistoric data to examine obsidian as a touchstone for cultural meaning, including references to sacrificial precepts, powerful deities, landscape, warfare, social relations, and fertility. Obsidian Reflections underscores the necessity of understanding obsidian from within its cultural context—the perspective of the indigenous people of Mesoamerica. It will be of great interest to Mesoamericanists as well as students and scholars of lithic studies and material culture.
Download or read book Obsidian Reflections written by David M. Carballo and published by University Press of Colorado. This book was released on 2014-05-15 with total page 350 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Departing from the political economy perspective taken by the vast majority of volumes devoted to Mesoamerican obsidian, Obsidian Reflections is an examination of obsidian's sociocultural dimensions—particularly in regard to Mesoamerican world view, religion, and belief systems. Exploring the materiality of this volcanic glass rather than only its functionality, this book considers the interplay among people, obsidian, and meaning and how these relationships shaped patterns of procurement, exchange, and use. An international group of scholars hailing from Belize, France, Japan, Mexico, and the United States provides a variety of case studies from Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, and Honduras. The authors draw on archaeological, iconographic, ethnographic, and ethnohistoric data to examine obsidian as a touchstone for cultural meaning, including references to sacrificial precepts, powerful deities, landscape, warfare, social relations, and fertility. Obsidian Reflections underscores the necessity of understanding obsidian from within its cultural context—the perspective of the indigenous people of Mesoamerica. It will be of great interest to Mesoamericanists as well as students and scholars of lithic studies and material culture.
Download or read book Obsidian written by M. Steven Shackley and published by University of Arizona Press. This book was released on 2005-09 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Obsidian was long valued by ancient peoples as a raw material for producing stone tools, and archaeologists have increasingly come to view obsidian studies as a crucial aid in understanding the past. Steven Shackley now shows how the geochemical and contextual analyses of archaeological obsidian can be applied to the interpretation of social and economic organization in the ancient Southwest. This book, the capstone of decades of investigation, integrates a wealth of obsidian research in one volume. It covers advances in analytical chemistry and field petrology that have enhanced our understanding of obsidian source heterogeneity, presents the most recent data on and interpretations of archaeological obsidian sources in the Southwest, and explores the ethnohistorical and contemporary background for obsidian use in indigenous societies. Shackley provides a thorough examination of the geological origin of obsidian in the region and the methods used to collect raw material and determine its chemical composition, and descriptions of obsidian sources throughout the Southwest. He then describes the occurrence of obsidian artifacts and shows how their geochemical fingerprints allow archaeologists to make conclusions regarding the procurement of obsidian. The book presents three groundbreaking applications of obsidian source studies. It first discusses an application to early Preceramic groups, showing how obsidian sources can reflect the range they inhabited over time as well as their social relationships during the Archaic period. It then offers an examination of the Late Classic Salado in Arizona's Tonto Basin, where obsidian data, along with ceramic and architectural evidence, suggest that Mogollon migrants lived in economic and social harmony with the Hohokam, all the while maintaining relationships with their homeland. Finally, it provides an intensive look at social identity and gender differences in the Preclassic Hohokam of central Arizona, where obsidian source provenance and projectile point styles suggest that male Hohokam sought to create a stylistically defined identity in at least three areas of the Hohokam core area. These male "sodalities" were organized quite differently from female ceramic production groups. Today, obsidian research in the American Southwest enjoys an equal standing with ceramic, faunal, and floral studies as a method of revealing social process and change in prehistory. Shackley's book discusses the ways in which archaeologists should approach obsidian research, no matter what the region, offering a thorough survey of archaeological obsidian studies that will have methodological and theoretical applications worldwide. The volume includes an extensive glossary created specifically for archaeologists.
Download or read book Pathways to Prismatic Blades written by Bradford Andrews and published by Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press. This book was released on 2002-12-01 with total page 151 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume explores the social and economic processes involved in the manufacture of obsidian prismatic blades, one of the sharpest cutting instruments ever produced in the prehistoric world. Focusing on ancient Mesoamerica, contributors examine the variation in the way the blades were manufactured and the causes behind their variation.
Download or read book Intra site Obsidian Distribution and Consumption Patterns in Northern Belize and the North Eastern Peten written by Helen R. Haines and published by BAR International Series. This book was released on 2012 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Long-distance trade of obsidian in the Maya realm has been documented as early as the Middle Formative Period (1000-400 BC). Obsidian exchange continued in each succeeding period, through the Post-Classic (AD 900-1525), varying in both intensity and source of origin. It is the temporal variations in source utilisation that have formed the basis for obsidian research in the Maya area. By focusing on the origin of the obsidian and the temporal context these studies provide valuable information in documenting shifts in source utilisation. This work focuses on the distribution and consumption of obsidian on an intra-site scale with an intent to determine if variation in source utilisation can be attributed directly or indirectly to contextual variations. For the purposes of this study three types of context were identified, functional, archaeological and social. Information regarding obsidian consumption was compiled from ten sites and two survey areas spanning four geographic regions across Northern Belize and North-eastern Peten.
Download or read book Trade and Exchange in Early Mesoamerica written by Kenn Hirth and published by . This book was released on 1984 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Chetumal s Dragonglass written by Max A. Seidita and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 149 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Obsidian is one of the most common materials preserved in the archaeological record of Mesoamerica. Because of this and obsidian's unique chemical properties, it has become one of the most common means by which to explain ancient exchange and production. Northern Belize has largely been absent from discussions of Postclassic Mesoamerican economies. The limited amount of obsidian research that has been done is unable to draw comparisons to the region's primary site during this period, Santa Rita Corozal. This thesis remedies this by exploring the importation, production, and distribution of obsidian at the Postclassic Maya primary center of Santa Rita Corozal, Belize. Through the application of the lithic technology approach and the use of pXRF (portable X-ray fluorescence) spectrometry, it is possible to establish the sources of obsidian being exploited, the stage of reduction of obsidian imports, the major obsidian industry, and obsidian distribution for Santa Rita Corozal's Postclassic Period.
Download or read book The Mesoamerican World System 200 1200 CE written by Peter F. Jimenez and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2020-08-27 with total page 261 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Between 200 and 1200 CE Central Mexico was the setting for the formation and disintegration of two states, Teotihuacan and Tula. At their peaks, both urban centers established distant ties throughout Mesoamerica. The nature of their relations has been the focus of analysis and debate for decades. In this study, Peter Jimenez uses the latest advances in world-systems analysis to study interaction networks in West Mexico from the early Classic to Post-classic period. He demonstrates how the archaeological record contains empirical evidence for the impact of global processes on local developments, in detail, in realms, and at spatial scales, which are revealed here for the first time. His examination of West Mexico's relations to the core states of Central Mexico also underscores the critical role that the semi-periphery played in overall world-system configuration and operation in ancient Mesoamerica.
Download or read book The Archaeology of Drylands written by Graeme Barker and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2003-09-02 with total page 457 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many dryland regions contain archaeological remains which suggest that there must have been intensive phases of settlement in what now seem to be dry and degraded environments. This book discusses successes and failures of past land use and settlement in drylands, and contributes to wider debates about desertification and the sustainability of dryland settlement.
Download or read book Encyclopedia of Prehistory written by Peter N. Peregrine and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 486 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Encyclopedia of Prehistory represents temporal dimension. Major traditions are an attempt to provide basic information also defined by a somewhat different set of on all archaeologically known cultures, sociocultural characteristics than are eth covering the entire globe and the entire nological cultures. Major traditions are prehistory of humankind. It is designed as defined based on common subsistence a tool to assist in doing comparative practices, sociopolitical organization, and research on the peoples of the past. Most material industries, but language, ideology, of the entries are written by the world's and kinship ties play little or no part in foremost experts on the particular areas their definition because they are virtually and time periods. unrecoverable from archaeological con The Encyclopedia is organized accord texts. In contrast, language, ideology, and ing to major traditions. A major tradition kinship ties are central to defining ethno is defined as a group of populations sharing logical cultures. similar subsistence practices, technology, There are three types of entries in the and forms of sociopolitical organization, Encyclopedia: the major tradition entry, which are spatially contiguous over a rela the regional subtradition entry, and the tively large area and which endure tempo site entry. Each contains different types of rally for a relatively long period. Minimal information, and each is intended to be areal coverage for a major tradition can used in a different way.
Download or read book The Give and Take of Sustainability written by Michelle Hegmon and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2017-04-24 with total page 317 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sustainability strives to meet the needs of the present without compromising the future, but increasingly recognizes the tradeoffs among these many needs. Who benefits? Who bears the burden? How are these difficult decisions made? Are people aware of these hard choices? This timely volume brings the perspectives of ethnography and archaeology to bear on these questions by examining case studies from around the world. Written especially for this volume, the essays by an international team of scholars offer archaeological and ethnographic examples from the southwestern United States, the Maya region of Mexico, Africa, India, and the North Atlantic, among other regions. Collectively, they explore the benefits and consequences of growth and development, the social costs of ecological sustainability, and tensions between food and military security.
Download or read book Mesoamerican Lithic Technology written by Kenn Hirth and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 378 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Any overview of prehispanic society in the Americas would identify its obsidian core-blade production as a unique and highly inventive technology. Normally termed prismatic blades, these long, parallel-sided flakes are among the sharpest cutting tools ever produced by humans. Their standardized form permitted interchangeable use, and such blades became the cutting tool of choice throughout Mesoamerica between 600-800 B.C. Because considerable production skill is required, increased demand may have stimulated the appearance of craft specialists who played an integral role in Mesoamerican society. Some investigators have argued that control over obsidian also had a significant effect on the development and organization of chiefdom and state-level societies. While researchers have long recognized the potential of obsidian studies, recent work has focused primarily on compositional analysis to reconstruct trade and distribution networks. Study of blade production has received much less attention, and many aspects of this highly evolved craft are still lost. This volume seeks to identify current research questions in Mesoamerican lithic technology and to demonstrate that replication studies coupled with experimental research design are valuable analytical approaches to such questions.
Download or read book Mesoamerican Ritual Economy written by E. Christian Wells and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Exploring the intersection of spirituality and materiality, Mesoamerican Ritual Economy will be of interest to all scholars studying how worldview and belief motivate economic behavior."--Jacket.
Download or read book Greater Mesoamerica written by Michael Stewart Foster and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Based on recent archaeological surveys and excavations, the chapters in this volume provide current, comprehensive, area-by-area summaries of the region's Precolumbian past, noting the discovery of new...
Download or read book Dissertation Abstracts International written by and published by . This book was released on 1998 with total page 436 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book American Doctoral Dissertations written by and published by . This book was released on 1997 with total page 806 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
