Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-42gr6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T13:41:03.230Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Beginnings of Village Life in Eastern Mesoamerica

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Rosemary A. Joyce  and
John S. Henderson
Rosemary A. Joyce
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720
John S. Henderson
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Excavations in northern Honduras have produced evidence of initial village life that is among the earliest cases documented in Mesoamerica. Settlement beginning prior to 1600 B. C., the production of sophisticated pottery by 1600 B. C., and integration in economic exchange networks extending into Guatemala and Mexico by 1100-900 B. C. (calendar ages), are all consistent with patterns recorded in the Gulf Coast, Central Highlands, and Pacific Coast of Mexico. Supported by a suite of 11 radiocarbon dates, these findings overturn traditional models that viewed Honduras as an underdeveloped periphery receiving delayed influences from Mexican centers.

Resumen

Resumen

Gracias a las excavaciones que se han realizado en el norte de Honduras se han recuperado evidencias de los orígenes de la vida aldeana en la región, que se cuentan entre los casos más tempranos en Mesoamérica. Los inicios de los asentamientos en fechas anteriores a 1600 a. C., la producción de cerámica elaborada hacia 1600 a. C. y la integración a redes de intercambio económico que llegaban hasta Guatemala y México alrededor de 1110-900 a. C. (años calendáricos), son consistentes con los patrones que se han registrado en la costa del Golfo de México, el altiplano central mexicano y la costa del Pacífico, en particular el Soconusco. Con base en la posición estratigráfica de los artefactos y 11 fechas de radiocarbono, se definen cinco fases tempranas que abarcan desde fines del periodo Arcaico (Sauce), el Formativo Temprano (Barahona, Ocotillo, Chotepe) y principios del Formativo Medio (Playa). Con estos fundamentos, se cuenta con evidencias contrarias a los modelos tradicionales, en los que se conside raba que Honduras era una periferia subdesarrollada de centros ubicados en México desde donde llegaban con retraso influencias culturales.

Type
Articles
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 12 , Issue 1 , March 2001 , pp. 5 - 23
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 2001

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Andrews, V, Wyllys, E. 1990 The Early Ceramic History of the Lowland Maya. In Vision and Revision in Maya Studies, edited by Flora S. Clancy and Peter D. Harrison, pp. 1–20. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Andrews, V, Wyllys, E., and Hammond, Norman 1990 Redefinition of the Swasey Phase at Cuello, Belize. American Antiquity 54:570–584.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arroyo, Barbara 1995 Early Ceramics from El Salvador: The El Carmen Site. In The Emergence of Pottery, edited by William K. Barnett and John W. Hoopes, pp. 199–208. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Bishop, Ronald L., and Lange, Frederick W. 1993 Sources of Maya and Central American Jadeites: Data Bases and Interpretations—A Summary. In Precolumbian Jade: New Geological and Cultural Interpretations, edited by Frederick W. Lange, pp. 125–130. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Blake, Michael 1991 An Emerging Early Formative Chiefdom at Paso de la Amada, Chiapas, Mexico. In The Formation of Complex Society in Southeastern Mesoamerica, edited by William R. Fowler, pp. 27–46. CRC Press, Boca Raton.Google Scholar
Blake, Michael, and Clark, John E. 1993 The Power of Prestige: Competitive Generosity and the Emergence of Rank Societies in Lowland Mesoamerica. In Factional Competition and Political Development in the New World, edited by Elizabeth M. Brumfiel and John W. Fox, pp. 17–30. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Blake, Michael, Clark, John E., Voorhies, Barbara, Michaels, George, Love, Michael W., Pye, Mary E., Demarest, Arthur A., and Arroyo, Barbara 1995 Radiocarbon Chronology for the Late Archaic and Formative Periods on the Pacific Coast of Southeastern Mesoamerica. Ancient Mesoamerica 6:161–183.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brainerd, George 1958 The Archaeological Ceramics of Yucatan. Anthropological Records 19. University of California Publications in Anthropology, Los Angeles and Berkeley.Google Scholar
Canby, Joel 1951 Possible Chronological Implications of the Long Ceramic Sequence Recovered at Yarumela, Spanish Honduras. In The Civilizations of Ancient America, Selected Papers of the 29th International Congress of Americanists, Vol. 1, edited by Sol Tax, pp. 79–92. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Clark, John E. 1994 Los olmecas en Mesoamerica. El Equilibrista and Turner Libros, Mexico and Madrid.Google Scholar
Clark, John E., and Gosser, Dennis 1995 Reinventing Mesoamerica’s First Pottery. In The Emergence of Pottery, edited by William K. Barnett and John W. Hoopes, pp. 209–222. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Coe, Michael D. 1961 La Victoria: An Early Site on the Pacific Coast of Guatemala. Papers of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, No. 53. Harvard University, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Coe, Michael D., and Diehl, Richard A. 1980 In the Land of the Olmec. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Coe, Michael D., and Flannery, Kent V. 1967 Early Cultures and Human Ecology in South Coastal Guatemala. Contributions to Anthropology 3. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Demarest, Arthur 1987 Recent Research on the Preclassic Ceramics of the Southeastern Highlands and Pacific Coast of Guatemala. In Maya Ceramics: Papers from the 1985 Maya Ceramic Conference, edited by Prudence M. Rice and Robert J. Sharer, pp. 329–340. International Series 345 (ii). BAR, Oxford.Google Scholar
Fash, William L. 1985 La secuencia de ocupación del grupo 9N-8, Las Sepulturas, Copán, y sus implicaciones teóricas. Yaxkin 8:135–150.Google Scholar
Fash, William L. 1991 Scribes, Warriors and Kings: The City of Copan and the Ancient Maya. Thames and Hudson, New York.Google Scholar
Flannery, Kent V., and Marcus, Joyce 1994 Early Formative Pottery of the Valley of Oaxaca. Memoirs Vol. 27, University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology, Ann Arbor.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flannery, Kent V., and Marcus, Joyce 2000 Formative Mexican Chiefdoms and the Myth of the ‘Mother Culture.’ Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 19:1–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garber, James, Grove, David C., Hirth, Kenneth, and Hoopes, John 1993 Jade Use in Portions of Mexico and Central America. In Precolumbian Jade, edited by Frederick W. Lange, pp. 211–231. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Grove, David C. 1997 Olmec Archaeology: A Half Century of Research and Its Accomplishments. Journal of World Prehistory 11:51–101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Healy, Paul 1974 Cuyamel Caves: Preclassic Sites in Northeast Honduras. American Antiquity 39:433–437.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hendon, Julia A., and Joyce, Rosemary A. 1983 Questioning ‘Complexity’ and ‘Periphery’: Archaeology in Yoro, Honduras. Paper Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, St. Louis.Google Scholar
Hester, Thomas R., Iceland, Harry B., Hudler, D. B., and Shafer, Harry J. 1996 The Colha Preceramic Project: Preliminary Results from the 1993–1995 Field Seasons. Mexicon 18(3):45–50.Google Scholar
Jacob, John S. 1995 Ancient Maya Wetland Agricultural Fields in Cobweb Swamp, Belize: Construction, Chronology, and Function. Journal of Field Archaeology 22:175–190.Google Scholar
Jacob, John S., and Hallmark, C. T. 1996 Holocene Stratigraphy of Cobweb Swamp, a Maya Wetland in Northern Belize. Geological Society of America Bulletin 108(7):883–891.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Joesink-Mandeville, Leroy 1993 Comayagua Valley. In Pottery of Prehistoric Honduras: Regional Classification and Analysis, edited by John S. Henderson and Marilyn Beaudry-Corbett, pp. 234–248. Monograph 35. Institute of Archaeology, UCLA, Los Angeles.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, John G. 1994 Pollen Evidence for Early Settlement and Agriculture in Northern Belize. Palynology 18:205–211.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Joyce, Rosemary A. 1992 Innovation, Communication and the Archaeological Record: A Reassessment of Middle Formative Honduras. Journal of the Steward Anthropological Society 20:235–256.Google Scholar
Kennedy, Nedenia 1980 The Formative Period Ceramic Sequence from Playa de los Muertos, Honduras. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.Google Scholar
Kennedy, Nedenia 1986 The Periphery Problem and Playa de los Muertos: A Test Case. In The Southeast Maya Periphery, edited by Patricia A. Urban and Edward M. Schortman, pp. 179–193. University of Texas Press, Austin.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kosakowsky, Laura 1987 Preclassic Maya Pottery at Cuello, Belize. Anthropological Papers 47. University of Arizona, Tucson.Google Scholar
Lesure, Richard 1997 Early Formative Platforms at Paso de la Amada, Chiapas, Mexico. Latin American Antiquity 8:217–235.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lesure, Richard 1998 Vessel Form and Function in an Early Formative Ceramic Assemblage from Coastal Mexico. Journal of Field Archaeology 25:19–36.Google Scholar
Longyear, John M. III 1969 The Problem of Olmec Influences in the Pottery of Western Honduras. Proceedings, 38th International Congress of Americanists 1:491–498. Stuttgait-München.Google Scholar
Love, Michael W. 1990 La Blanca y el Preclásico Medio en la Costa del Pacífico. Arqueología: Revista de la Directión del Instituto National de Antropología e Historia, Segunda época 3:67–76.Google Scholar
Love, Michael W. 1991 Style and Social Complexity in Formative Mesoamerica. In The Formation of Complex Society in Southeastern Mesoamerica, edited by William R. Fowler, pp. 47–76. CRC Press, Boca Raton.Google Scholar
Lowe, Gareth 1981 Olmec Horizons Defined in Mound 20, San Isidro, Chiapas. In The Olmec and Their Neighbors, edited by Elizabeth P. Benson, pp. 231–256. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
McCandless, Kenneth A. 1998 Chemical Characterization and Source Provenance Analysis of Obsidian Artifacts from Puerto Escondido. Unpublished undergraduate honors thesis, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Niederberger, Christine 1976 Zohapilco. Colección Cientifica No. 30. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico.Google Scholar
Pohl, Mary D. (editor) 1990 Ancient Maya Wetland Agriculture: Excavations on Albion Island, Northern Belize. Westview Press, Boulder.Google Scholar
Pohl, Mary D., Pope, Kevin O., Jones, John G., Jacob, John S., Pipemo, Dolores R., deFrance, Susan D., Lentz, David L., Gifford, John A., Danforth, Marie E., and Kathryn Josserand, J. 1996 Early Agriculture in the Maya Lowlands. Latin American Antiquity 7:355–372.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pope, Kevin O. 1985 Palaeoecology of the Ulua Valley, Honduras: An Archaeological Perspective. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Geology, Stanford University, Stanford.Google Scholar
Pope, Kevin O. 1987 The Ecology and Economy of the Formative-Classic Transition along the Ulua River, Honduras. In Interaction on the Southeast Mesoamerican Frontier, edited by Eugenia J. Robinson, pp. 95–128. BAR International Series 327. Oxford.Google Scholar
Popenoe, Dorothy 1934 Some Excavations at Playa de los Muertos, Ulua River, Honduras. Maya Research 1:62–86.Google Scholar
Porter, Muriel N. 1953 Tlatilco and the Preclassic Cultures of the New World. Viking Fund Publications in Anthropology, 19.Google Scholar
Pring, Duncan 1977 The Preclassic Ceramics of Northern Belize. Ph.D. dissertation, University of London. University Microfilms, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Rue, David J. 1989 Archaic Middle American Agriculture and Settlement: Recent Pollen Data from Honduras. Journal of Field Archaeology 16:177–184.Google Scholar
Rue, David J., Freter, AnnCorinne, and Ballinger, Diane A. 1989 The Caverns of Copan Revisited: Preclassic Sites in the Sesesmil River Valley, Copan, Honduras. Journal of Field Archaeology 16:395–404.Google Scholar
Rust, William, and Sharer, Robert J. 1988 Olmec Settlement Data from La Venta, Tabasco, Mexico. Science 242:102–104.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sharer, Robert J. 1978 The Prehistory ofChalchuapa, El Salvador, vol. 1. University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Sharer, Robert J. 1989 The Olmec and the Southeast Periphery of Mesoamerica. In Regional Perspectives on the Olmec, edited by Robert J. Sharer and David C. Grove, pp. 247–271. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Stuiver, Minze, and Kra, Renee S. (editors) 1986 Calibration Issue, Proceedings of the 12th International 14C conference. Radiocarbon 28(2B):805–1030.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Talma, A.S., and Vogel, J. C. 1993 A Simplified Approach to Calibrating (Super 14) C Dates. Radiocarbon 35:317–322.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vaillant, George C. 1934 The Archaeological Setting of the Playa de los Muertos Culture. Maya Research 1:87–100.Google Scholar
Viel, René 1993 Evolución de la cerámica de Copán, Honduras. Instituto Hondureño de Antropología e Historia and Centro de Estudios Mexicanos y Centroamericanos, Tegucigalpa and Mexico.Google Scholar
Viel, René, and Cheek, Charles 1983 Sepulturas. In Introducción a la arqueología de Copán, Honduras, vol. 1, pp. 551–609. SECTOR, Tegucigalpa.Google Scholar
Voorhies, Barbara 1996a Subsistence Strategies on the Eve of Complexity: The Late Archaic Period in South Coastal Chiapas, Mexico. In The Origins of Complex Societies in Tropical Forests, edited by Thomas R. Hester, Laura Laurencich-Minelli, and Sandra Salvatori, pp. 19–26. Colloquium XXXIV, XIII International Congress of Prehistoric and Protohistoric Sciences, A.B.A.C.O., Forli.Google Scholar
Voorhies, Barbara 1996b The Transformation from Foraging to Farming in Lowland Mesoamerica. In The Managed Mosaic, edited by Scott Fedick, pp. 17–29. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Voorhies, Barbara, and Kennett, Douglas 1995 Buried Sites on the Soconusco Coastal Plain, Chiapas, Mexico. Journal of Field Archaeology 22:65–79.Google Scholar
Willey, Gordon R. 1969 The Mesoamericanization of the Honduran-Salvado-ran Periphery: A Symposium Commentary. Proceedings, 38th International Congress of Americanists 1:533—542. Stuttgart-München.Google Scholar