ARCL 2029: Archaeology of Mesoamerica
Hear Ye, Hear Ye! Potential changes in light of the COVID-19 pandemic: Please note that information regarding teaching, learning and assessment Institute of Archaeology in this module handbook endeavours to be as ARCL 0031 Archaeology of Mesoamerica accurate as possible. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, however, its fluctuating nature, and Term I, 2020-21 possible updates in government guidance, Year 2/3 module option, 0.5 Unit, 15 credits there may need to be changes during the Live stream Tuesdays 4 – 6 p.m. course of the year. UCL will keep current Prof. Elizabeth Graham – Rm 614 students updated on any changes to teaching, With invaluable assistance from Panos Kratimenos learning and assessment on the students’ web [email protected] pages https://www.ucl.ac.uk/students/ , which include FAQs.
No set office hours. Contact Prof. Graham (Liz) via e-mail or check the Moodle site for the booking link.
Refer to the IoA home page (https://www.ucl.ac.uk/archaeology/current - students) for links to the IoA Student Handbook & IoA Study Skills Guide. See Section 2, below, for details. 2020-21, ARCL0031, Page 2
A page from a Mixtec (Ñudzavui) codex known as the Vienna Codex. http://www.mesolore.org/tutorials/lear n/16/Colored- Lyrics/174/Prose.%20Agosto%202017
A mural fragment from an apartment compound at Teotihuacan, Mexico. Looted originally, but likely from one of the Techinantitla compounds NE of the city centre.
Matrícula de Tributos records the geographical extent of the Aztec tribute empire. This is a page showing the names of towns paying tribute/tax, and lists the items: feathers, warrior costumes, jaguar skins, shields, that were sent as tribute (taxes) to Tenochtitlan. Ca. 1519. http://www.mesolore.org/viewer/view/1/ Matrcula-de-Tributos?page=5
Zapotec funerary urn, dated Monte Alban IIIb, A.D. 500-750. Line drawing of Lintel 21 from early in the reign of Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art, Bird Jaguar IV (Yopaat Bahlam), from the Maya Toronto. site of Yaxchilan in Mexico. Dated 9.0.19.2.4 https://textilemuseum.ca/cloth_cl 2 K’an 2 Yax. This is 9 baktuns, 0 katuns, 19 tuns, 2 ay/resources/zapotec_003.html winals, 4 kins on the weekday 2 K’an, the 2nd day
of the month Yax. In our calendar, 15 October, A.D. 454.
Olmec head from the site of Chert (flint) sculptures from the site Villahermosa in Mexico, on the Gulf https://www.peabody.harvard.edu of Altun Ha, Belize /cmhi/detail.php?num=21&site=Ya Coast. xchilan&type=Lintel
Moodle is the main software format for this course. Information will be regularly posted by Liz in the News Forum on Moodle (at the top), and you will receive an automatic email notification with her words of wisdom. You cannot reply to these emails via Moodle but you can e-mail Liz (or Panos) directly if you have a question. I’ve also set up an MS Teams ARCL0031 module 2020-21, ARCL0031, Page 3
1. MODULE OVERVIEW
Module description The best known people of Mesoamerica are the Aztecs and the Maya, but there are hundreds of other culture and language groups in the region. Mesoamerica is one of the world’s culture areas in which urbanism and states arose. This module is intended to familiarise you with the geography of the region, the variety of environments, agriculture, foods, languages, cultures, and achievements. Remarkably, many of the languages and traditions are alive and well in this region, and cultural continuity is strong.
Aims I have two primary aims: 1) That you will see value in learning about Mesoamerican cultural traditions and historical experience; 2) That you will learn to be critical about the ways in which archaeologists, other academics, film makers, popular writers, and the media in general synthesise and make sense of information about the civilisations of Mesoamerica, or about ancient civilisations generally. On successful completion of this course: You should be aware of the major environmental zones of Mesoamerica, the resources distinctive to these zones, and the range of human-environmental relationships. You should have a basic understanding of the rise of urbanism across Mesoamerica. You should have some familiarity with the art and architectural styles of Mesoamerica.
Learning outcomes: On successful completion of this course you should: Be explicitly aware of how archaeologists acquire, assess, and interpret data. Be able to assess theoretical approaches critically (e.g., climate change, cultural evolution, niche construction) Have acquired a range of research and writing skills. Have learned how to integrate ideas from a variety of sources. Be assiduous in the practice of source citation.
Methods of assessment Two essays, each of which is worth 50%. Details are provided in the Assignment section on Moodle.
Week-by-week summary T1 = Term 1, T2 = Term 2
Week Date Topic T1, Wk1 06 Oct Introduction – Mesoamerican traits, regional divisions, chronology T1, Wk2 13 Oct Culture areas, environments, Palaeoindian, Archaic T1, Wk3 20 Oct Domesticates, Initial and Early Formative T1, Wk4 27 Oct Terminology, Middle formative T1, Wk5 03Nov Late & Terminal Formative T1, Wk6 READING WEEK 9 to 13 November T1, Wk7 17 Nov Teotihuacan: Overview, and the art of the city T1, Wk8 24 Nov Teotihuacan barrios, and writing - First essay due T1, Wk9 01 Dec The Classic Maya T1, Wk10 08 Dec Collapses and the rise of Postclassic centres T1, Wk11 15Dec The Aztecs and the Spanish conquest T2, Wk2 19 Jan Second essay due
Lecturers: Mainly Elizabeth Graham but also Panos Kratimenos, and guest lecturers on Teotihuacan. I will update you via the Forum announcements and the relevant Sections on Moodle. 2020-21, ARCL0031, Page 4
Weekly module plan Details are provided below in Section 3. Basically, the module is taught through lectures (largely pre-recorded) and tutorial question-and-answer sessions, and discussions. There are readings and pre-class activities to be completed in advance, and you are expected to attend the live tutorial.
Workload This is a 15-credit course which equates to 150 hours of learning time including session preparation, background reading, and researching
and writing assignments. Weekly live-streamed class/seminar (questions, discussion) = 20 hrs. Self-guided preparation (reviewing weekly pre-recorded lectures) = 30 hrs. Weekly readings = 30 hrs. Preparing discussion questions, short assignments, other online activities = 20 hrs. Required essays = 50 hrs. TOTAL = 150 hrs.
2. ASSESSMENT Given word Allowable Methods of assessment: count First essay: 2,000/2,500 words, due 25 November 2020 50% 5,000 4,750-5,250 Second essay: 2,000/2,500 words, due 20 January 2021 50% 4,500 4,275-4,725 TOTAL 100% 4,000 3,800-4,200 3,500 3,325-3,675 3,000 2,850-3,150 Essay guidance as well as suggested essay questions for the first and second 2,500 2,375-2,625 essays are posted in Moodle in a separate document. You can also come up 2,000 1,900-2,100 with your own essay question, but it must be approved by me (EG) first. 1,500 1,425-1,575 More on this in the live class 1,000 950-1,050
Coursework submission, assessment criteria, & information on late submission can be found in the IoA Student Handbook (Section 12): https://www.ucl.ac.uk/archaeology/current-students/ioa-student-handbook .
The IoA Study Skills Guide https://www.ucl.ac.uk/archaeology/current-students/ioa-study- skills-guide focuses on writing support—for example, guidance in preparing different types of assignments. Referencing guidelines can also be found here.
The IoA Academic Writing Moodle page https://moodle.ucl.ac.uk/course/view.php?id+10959 provides details of the academic writing support resources at the IoA, including tutorials and workshops run by Dr. Julia Shaw and the academic writing PGTA (Postgraduate Teaching Assistant), Rafie Cecilia.
Details on penalties for late submission are in the online UCL Academic Manual, Chapter 4, Section 3.12 https://www.ucl.ac.uk/academic-manual/chapters/chapter-4-assessment- framework-taught-programmes/section-3-module-assessment#3.12
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3. GUIDANCE ON READING, RESOURCES, AND PREPARATION FOR CLASS
Here’s the plan: Readings are assigned each week. They are listed below according to the respective week, but can be accessed directly via links in the Reading List under Library Resources in Moodle—the Library block is in the right-hand column on the page. We are not permitted by copyright laws to include links here in the Handbook that are not completely (no cost) open access. So I have included only links that to my knowledge are open access. The library links are both to required readings, and other readings. Lectures with slides on each week’s topic(s) are pre-recorded (Lecturecast Universal Capture Echo360) and available on Moodle under the respective week. These are to be viewed prior to the live tutorial on Tuesday afternoons from 4 to 6 pm. The live sessions are intended mainly for your questions and discussion. During the live class we can go over any of the slides for which you have questions; I have uploaded the slide presentations without voiceover on Moodle to make it easier for you to ‘leaf’ through. There are weekly unmarked quizzes that are designed to help you with the readings. These should be submitted on the day of the relevant class, or earlier. As of 28 September, you will have to e-mail me the quizzes. I download them into a folder right away so don’t be worried about anonymity. If you wish to remain anonymous just put your CN number and not your name at the top. Answers will be posted the day after submission. We will likely discuss these in class. And Panos and I may figure out a way for you to upload directly to Moodle. HOT QUESTIONS: After watching the lecture and completed the readings, submit questions you have to HOT QUESTIONS. There will be a link each week under the appropriate Section/Week. These will be used to help Panos and me frame the discussion when we all met at 4pm every Tuesday. Questions can be submitted anonymously if you wish, or by name. You can vote on questions other people have submitted if you like the question and would like it discussed in the tutorial. Submit your questions before midnight on the Sunday before the respective Tutorial class. This way we will have time to review and plan prior to the tutorial. Discussion questions: For some weeks we may post discussion questions. Check under the appropriate week on the Moodle page.
KEY web resources for this course—IMPORTANT for essays: www.famsi.org On-line publications on a range of Mesoamerican topics. FAMSI stands for the Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies, Inc. It was originally independently funded (trivia fact: by the guy who invented subprime mortgages and is implicated in the subprime mortgage crisis of 2007-2009!!). It almost died during the mortgage crisis but was rescued—to the joy of Mesoamericanists—by LACMA, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. You will see links to LACMA on the FAMSI site. This is a key source to check for your essays. You can also find the Maya calendar date corresponding to your birthday. Ask me in class and I’ll show you! www.mesoweb.com The Mesoweb site has reports by Mesoamerican scholars as well as a range of other resources, such as maps and drawings. Languages: English and Spanish. www.wayeb.org Web site for the European Association of Mayanists/Asociación Europea de Mayistas, but the ‘Wayeb Resources’ cover Mesoamerica and lower Central America broadly. Also the place to look to find out about the annual Wayeb conferences and 4-day workshops, where anyone can learn Maya hieroglyphs. The workshops can count as fieldwork. For 20-21 we are not sure how the workshops will be held, or if they will be held at all (live? Online?) but I will let you know. https://brucelove.com/ Contributions to Mesoamerican Studies. Bruce Love posts a range of information, much of it currant. He is best known for the work he did on the Paris Codex, one of the four remaining Maya books His website is relatively new and he tries to report on research and fieldwork as well as epigraphy & iconography. https://dloc.com This is the Digital Library of the Caribbean which, as the name implies, covers all of the Caribbean. Belize and Yucatan border the Caribbean and there are aspects of culture that are shared between Mesoamerica and Caribbean peoples. A vomit spatula, common in the Caribbean but not in Mesoamerica, was found at the site of Altun Ha in Belize. Unfortunately, not much is known about Meosamerica-Caribbean connections because these are considered different disciplinary areas. Might make a good essay topic! 2020-21, ARCL0031, Page 6 https://mayadecipherment.comhttps://dloc.com This web site is used by Maya epigraphers to exchange information, so the articles are full of linguistic and glyphic terminology and can be hard to understand if you are not an epigrapher. But, there is always something that is comprehensible to non-epigraphers, so it is worth a look. Drawings are excellent! And I believe you can copy and use them for essays as long as you credit the source. https://classicmayan.kor.de.dariah.eu The Maya Image Archive (royalty-free download). This site is relatively new to me. It was established at the Department for the Anthropology of the Americas at the University of Bonn, and is part of a major project directed by Nikolai Grube, a Maya epigrapher. I find it a little hard to navigate. It mostly hosts materials and records provided by various Maya scholars. Some images are excellent; some are not so good. The is interesting because there are original field photos of Maya monuments, such as the Yaxchilan hieroglyphic stair.
Journals: Latin American Antiquity; Ancient Mesomerica; Antiquity; Cambridge Archaeological Journal; Arqueología Mexicana; Mexicon; Estudios de Cultura Nahuatl; Estudios de Cultura Maya. These are the most common but there are also online sources—in addition to the web sites I listed above—such as Plos ONE and PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the U.S.). All of these journals are accessible online through our library.
4. CLASS SCHEDULE AND SYLLABUS The following is an outline for the course and identifies required ('') and recommended or other () readings for each week. Where copyright is not violated, I include information indicating the online location of the publication, but your primary access should be the Reading list under Library Resources on Moodle. Sometimes I include the catalogue number for the physical location in our library. You have all the publication information provided below, so even without the Library Resources links, there is enough information for you to find the paper via the library catalogue. I’ll put time aside in a class before your first essay is due to go over finding the sources, how to reference them, etc., as it has got quite complicated over the last few years with so much online. In fact, I’ll note under the relevant Week that you should put queries in Hot Questions.
= Required readings are marked with the ‘ = Other readings on, or related to, the weekly topic follow bullet points; these readings are meant to help you to get started on your essay, if you choose to write on something related to the weekly topic.
General multi-volume works: (these three are online, and several of your required readings are drawn from them) Cambridge World Prehistory, eds. Colin Renfrew, Paul Bahn. (2014) Has a section on the Americas. I refer to some of the chapters below under the various topics, but other chapters may interest you. Accessing this particular work is easiest through the UCL Library Services. I found that sometimes the link works; other times it asks me to sign in through my institution, which is possible—just a bit more complicated. https://doi.org/10.1017/CHO9781139017831 Oxford Handbook of Mesoamerican Archaeology, ed. Deborah L. Nichols (2012) Accessible online via the library. https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195390933.001.0001/oxfordhb- 9780195390933 Encyclopedia of Archaeology, ed. Deborah M. Pearsall. (2008) Elsevier https://www.sciencedirect.com/referencework/9780123739629/encyclopedia-of-archaeology
Best reference book on Mesoamerica and Central America (Not online but an excellent reference; I refer to this below simply as ‘Evans’): Susan Toby Evans. Ancient Mexico and Central America: Archaeology and Culture History (any edition; there are three as far as I know: 2013, 2008, 2004). Unfortunately this is not online, but the earlier volumes are quite cheap on Amazon. There are several volumes also available in the IoA library. o The library availability of this book is as follows: Institute library: 2004 edition, 1 copy on 1-week loan; 2008 edition, 2 copies on 1-week loan; 2013 edition, 2 copies, 1 in the Institute library and one in the SLC Archaeology library. There seem also to be 2 copies available for 2-day loans (INST ARCH DF 100 EVA); 1 copy available for 3-hour loan at the issue desk (ISSUE DESK IOA EVA 5) o Purchasing the text (any edition) is recommended if you maintain an interest in the region. The text is comprehensive, extensively illustrated, and will be helpful to you in writing your essays. Chapter names and numbers are identical in the 2004 and 2008 editions. The chapters I refer to, below, are 2020-21, ARCL0031, Page 7
the 2013 edition but the chapter titles make it easy to find the equivalent in the earlier editions.
WEEK 1, 6th October: INTRODUCTION – MESOAMERICAN TRAITS, REGIONS, CHRONOLOGY Required: Lecturecast pre-recorded lectures, on Moodle (Wk1a, b, c, d). As this is the first week, you are not expected to view these before the live class, although I would like you to do so. If you can’t manage it, catch up later and either post a question in the live tutorial class, or e-mail me, or post it in Hot Questions even if it’s the wrong week. As noted above, I’ve uploaded the same slide presentations without the voiceover for easy review. Hot Questions: Again, as this is the first week, questions are not required, but if you explore Moodle before the first Tuesday class, please feel free to use the Hot Questions link under the Wk1 section and post questions. These can be any questions you have about the subject and need not be linked to the pre-record lectures. Hot Questions can be submitted under your name or anonymously. ______Other readings: For general introduction to Mesoamerica (Evans is not online; but older editions are inexpensive on Amazon. There are also a number of copies in the library if you are on campus. Evans would be good for the essays.) Evans Chapter 1: 'Ancient Mesoamerica, the Civilization and its Antecedents'. Evans Chapter 2: 'Ecology and Culture: Mesoamerican Beginnings', pp. 45-61. Paul Heggarty and Colin Renfrew (2014). The Americas: Languages ( see the Mesoamerica discussion on pp. 1338-1341). The Cambridge World Prehistory, Volume 2: East Asia and the Americas, pp. 1326-1353. https://doi.org/10.1017/CHO9781139017831.084
WEEK 2, 13th October: CULTURAL REGIONS & ENVIRONMENTS/ PALAEOINDIAN & ARCHAIC PERIODS Required: Lecturecast pre-recorded lectures for Wk2(a-d) Hot Questions QUIZ on Wk2 readings. Check Moodle for possible Discussion Questions Readings Palaeoindian period (the peopling of the New World): Guillermo Acosta Ochoa (2012) Ice Age Hunter-Gatherers and the Colonization of Mesoamerica. The Oxford Handbook of Mesoamerican Archaeology, ed. Deborah L. Nichols. Stinnesbeck, Wolfgang, Julia Becker, Fabio Hering, Eberhard Frey, Jens Fohlmeister, Sarah Stinnesbeck, Norbert Frank, Martha Benavente, Patrick Zell and Michael Deininger (2017). The earliest settlers of Mesoamerica date back to the late Pleistocene. PLoS ONE Vol.12(8). BUT SEE ALSO ‘HOT OFF THE PRESS from Belize, under Other readings for recent discoveries!!! Archaic period: Douglas J. Kennett (2012) Archaic-Period Foragers and Farmers in Mesoamerica. The Oxford Handbook of Mesoamerican Archaeology, ed. Deborah L. Nichols.
Other readings: HOT OFF THE PRESS from Belize! Prufer, Keith M., Asia V. Alsgaard, Mark Robinson, Clayton R. Meredith, Brendan J. Culleton, Timothy Dennehy, Shelby Magee, Bruce B. Huckell, W. James Stemp, Jaime J. Awe, Jose M. Capriles, Douglas J. Kennett. 2019. Linking late Paleoindian stone tool technologies and populations in North, Central and South America. PloS ONE 14(7): e0219812. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0219812 ‘Peopling the New World’ and the Palaeoindian period Collins, Michael B. 2014. Initial Peopling of the Americas: Context, Findings, and Issues. In Renfrew, C. & P. Bahn (eds.) The Cambridge World Prehistory, Volume 2: East Asia and the Americas, pp. 1043-1057. INST ARCH AF REN vol 2. Gonzalez, Silvia, David Huddart, Isabel Israde-Alcántara, Gabriela Domínguez-Vázquez, James Bischoff and Nicholas Felstead (2015). Paleoindian sites from the Basin of Mexico: Evidence from stratigraphy, tephrochronology and dating. Quaternary International 363: 4-19. Evans, Chapter 2: pp. 61-70, Mesoamerica’s first inhabitants.
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Archaic period Rosenswig, R.M. (2014) A Mosaic of Adaptation: The archaeological record for Mesoamerica’s Archaic Period. Jour. Archaeological Research 23:115-162. [Best to read Introduction then go to the Conclusion and Discussion to get an idea of what we know about the Mesoamerican Archaic.] Voorhies, B, Kennett, D J. Jones, J G, Wake, TA. (2014) Archaic sites in coastal Chiapas, Mexico. Latin American Antiquity 13(2): 179-200. Evans, Chapter 3: Archaic Foragers, Collectors, and Farmers (8000-2000 BC)/ Palaeoindian and Archaic to the beginnings of sedentary life Zeitlin, Robert N. (2008) Americas, Central: Early Cultures of Middle America. Encyclopedia of Archaeology, ed. Deborah Pearsall. Elsevier. John C. Lohse, Jaime Awe, Cameron Griffith, Robert M. Rosenswig, Fred Valdez, Jr. (2006). Preceramic occupations in Belize: Updating the Paleoindian and Archaic record. Latin American Antiquity 17(2): 209-226. HOT OFF THE PRESS from Belize! Prufer, Keith M., Asia V. Alsgaard, Mark Robinson, Clayton R. Meredith, Brendan J. Culleton, Timothy Dennehy, Shelby Magee, Bruce B. Huckell, W. James Stemp, Jaime J. Awe, Jose M. Capriles, Douglas J. Kennett. 2019. Linking late Paleoindian stone tool technologies and populations in North, Central and South America. PloS ONE 14(7): e0219812. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0219812
WEEK 3, 20th October: MESOAMERICAN DOMESTICATES/INITIAL & EARLY FORMATIVE PERIODS
Required: Lecturecast pre-recorded lectures for Wk3 (a-f) Hot Questions QUIZ on Wk3 readings Check Moodle for possible Discussion Questions Readings: On origins of food production in Mesoamerica Dolores R. Piperno and Bruce D. Smith (2012) The Origins of Food Production in Mesoamerica. In The Oxford Handbook of Mesoamerican Archaeology, ed. Deborah L. Nichols. [Summarises the transition from hunting and gathering to the emergence of fool production & domestication.] Summaries of the Archaic and Formative periods, up to the Middle Formative. Love, M. 2014. The Archaic and Formative Periods of Mesoamerica. In: Renfrew, C & Bahn, P (eds.) The Cambridge World Prehistory, Volume 2: East Asia and the Americas, pp. 955-969. Read only pp. 955 to 961, which goes up to but doesn’t include the Middle Formative. Balkansky, Andrew K. (2014) Oaxaca. In Renfrew, C. & P. Bahn (eds.) The Cambridge World Prehistory, Volume 2: East Asia and the Americas, pp. 1026-1042. INST ARCH AF REN vol 2 or online, pp. 1028 to 1031 review these early periods and domestication in Oaxaca Katz, S.H., M.C. Hediger, and L.A. Valleroy, (1974). Traditional Maize Processing Techniques in the New World. Science 184:765-773. [This is the definitive research that showed how advantageous dietarily it was to soak corn in lime. Not required but I’d like you to take a look, as it was a seminal step in our understanding of the Mesoamerican diet.] On the origins of inequality Timothy A. Kohler, Michael E. Smith, Amy Bogaard et al. (2017) Greater post-Neolithic wealth disparities in Eurasia than in North America and Mesoamerica. Nature 551: 619-622.
Other readings: For those interested in ‘landscape’ domestication but not required: Carolina Levis, et al. (2018) How people domesticated Amazonian forests. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 5(171). https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2017.00171/full [In the library search, go to electronic journals, enter name of journal, then search by ‘Levis’] (cont’d on next page)
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Archaic and Early Formative periods Cooke, R. 2005. Prehistory of Native Americans on the Central American Land Bridge: Colonization, Dispersal and Divergence. Journal of Archaeological Research 13(2):129-187. [Focuses mostly on Lower Central America, Archaic and domestication but runs through a range of topics that might relate to an essay: migrations; beginnings of plant cultivation; climate change; forager-farmer interface (7,000 to 2,500 BP); pottery development; territories and trade; cultural geography; chiefdoms; prestige goods, exchange and elites] Evans, Chapter 4: The Initial Formative (ca. 2000-1200 B.C.) Kennett, Douglas J., Mark Lipson, Keith M. Prufer, Richard J. George, Nadin Rohland, Mark Robinson, Willa R. Trask, Heather H.J. Edgar, Ethan C. Hill, Erin E. Ray, Paige Lynch, Emily Moes, Lexi O’Donnell, Thomas K. Harper, Emily J. Kate, Josue Ramos, John Morris, Said Gutierrez, Timothy M. Ryan, Brendan J. Culleton, Jaime J. Awe, David Reich.( In press). [Amazing because shows individuals migrated from South America into the Maya region by 5,600 cal. BP! Submitted to Cell. If you wish to read it, e-mail me and I’ll send it via e-mail.] Theories on the oirgins of agriculture more generally Fuller, Dorian Q. 2010. An Emerging Paradigm Shift in the Origins of Agriculture. Bulletin of the General Anthropology Division 17(2). Fall 2010. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1939-3466.2010.00010.x Zeder, Melinda A. 2016. Domestication as a model system for niche construction theory. Evolutionary Ecology 30: 325-348. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10682-015-9801-8 Domestication foundations: Katz, S.H., M.C. Hediger, and L.A. Valleroy, 1974. Traditional Maize Processing Techniques in the New World. Science 184:765-773. [This is the definitive research that showed how advantageous dietarily it was to soak corn in lime, so take a look at the Concluding section.] Pearsall, Deborah, 1995. Domestication and Agriculture in the New World Tropics. In Last Hunters -- First Farmers, ed. by T. Douglas Price & Anne Birgitte Gebauer, pp. 157-192. Teaching Collection INST ARCH 1407 (2 copies). Book at Issue Desk IOA PRI 5. Book INST ARCH HA PRI. McLung de Tapia, Emily, 1992. The Origins of Agriculture in Mesoamerica and Central America. In Wesley Cowan, C. & Patty Jo Watson, The Origins of Agriculture: An International Perspective, pp. 143-171. INST ARCH Teaching Collection INST ARCH 1419. Book INST ARCH HA COW at Issue Desk and standard. Domesticates, domestication later works Kennett, Douglas J., Keith M. Prufer, Brendan J. Culleton, Richard J. George, Mark Robinson, Willa R. Trask, Gina M. Buckley, Emily Moes, Emily J. Kate, Thomas K. Harper, Lexi O’Donnell, Erin E. Ray, Ethan C. Hill, Asia Alsgaard, Christopher Merriman, Clayton Meredith, Heather J.H. Edgar, Jaime J. Awe, Said M. Gutierrez. (2020). Early isotopic evidence for maize as a staple grain in the Americas. Science Advances 6: eaba3245. http://advances.sciencemag.org/ An Asian origin for a 10,000-year-old domesticated plant in the Americas. Erickson, D.L. Smith, B.D., Clarke, A.D., Sandweiss, D.H., & N. Tuross. 2005. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) 102(51): 18315-18320. www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.0509279102 [Really interesting information on the gourd being brought over from Asia with the dog. Rafael Lira, Alejandro Casas, José Blancas, eds. (2016) Ethnobotany of Mexico: Interactions of People and Plants in Mesoamerica. Springer. Check the Table of Contents if you are doing an essay on domestication. Two chapters that may be of interest: o Pickersgill B. (2016) Domestication of Plants in Mesoamerica: An Archaeological Review with Some Ethnobotanical Interpretations. In: Lira R., Casas A., Blancas J. (eds) Ethnobotany of Mexico. Ethnobiology. Springer, New York, NY. o Casas A. et al. (2016) Evolutionary Ethnobotanical Studies of Incipient Domestication of Plants in Mesoamerica. In: Lira R., Casas A., Blancas J. (eds) Ethnobotany of Mexico. Ethnobiology. Springer, New York, NY. Anthony J. Ranere, Dolores R. Piperno, Irene Holst, Ruth Dickau, José Iriarte. (2009) The cultural and chronological context of early Holocene maize and squash domestication in the Central Balsas River Valley, Mexico. PNAS 106(13): 5014-5018. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0812590106. Dolores R. Piperno, Anthony J. Ranere, Irene Hoist, Jose Irarte, Ruth Dickau. (2009) Strach grain and phytolith evidence for early ninth millennium B.P. maize from the Central Balsas River Valley, Mexico. PNAS 106(13): 5019-5024. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0812525106 Douglas J. Kennett, Heather B. Thakar, et al. (2017) High-precision chronology for Central American maize 2020-21, ARCL0031, Page 10
diversification from El gigante rockshelter, Honduras. PNAS 114(34): 9026-9031. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1705052114 Impacts of agriculture Patricia M. Lambert (2008) Biological impact on populations. Encyclopedia of Archaeology, Agriculture, ed. D. Pearsall, pp. 115-123. Elsevier Brian D. Hayden (2008) Social Consequences. Encyclopedia of Archaeology, Agriculture, ed. D. Pearsall, pp. 123-131.
WEEK 4, 27th October: TERMINOLOGY/THE OLMECS/THE EARLY & MIDDLE FORMATIVE PERIODS Required: Lecturecast pre-recorded lectures for Wk4(a-c) Hot Questions QUIZ on Wk4 readings. Check Moodle for possible Discussion Questions. Readings: On the Olmec Cyphers, A. 2014. The Olmec, 1800-400 BCE. In Renfrew, C. & P. Bahn (eds.) The Cambridge World Prehistory, Volume 2: East Asia and the Americas, pp. 1005-1018. Mary DeLand Pohl and Christopher von Nagy (2008). The Olmec and Their Contemporaries. Encyclopedia of Archaeology, Americas, North, ed. Deborah M. Pearsall. (2008) Elsevier. Mesoamericain general Love, M. 2014. The Archaic and Formative Periods of Mesoamerica. In: Renfrew, C & Bahn, P (eds.) The Cambridge World Prehistory, Volume 2: East Asia and the Americas, pp. 955-969. Read pp. 961-965, the section that covers the Middle Formative. On Oaxaca Balkansky, Andrew K. (2014) Oaxaca. In Renfrew, C. & P. Bahn (eds.) The Cambridge World Prehistory, Volume 2: East Asia and the Americas, pp. 1026-1042. INST ARCH AF REN vol 2 or online Read pp. 1031- 1032 on the Early & Middle Formative Chiefdoms.
Other readings: Read if you have time as it’s a good overview: For an overview of the Early and Middle Formative period. Pool, Christopher A. (2012) The Formation of Complex societies in Mesoamerica. The Oxford Handbook of Mesoamerican Archaeology, ed. Deborah L. Nichols, pp. 1-21 but pp. 3-21 concentrate on the Early and Middle Formative. Recommended book chapters for Olmec-related essays: Evans, Chapter 5: The Olmecs: Early Formative (c. 1200-900/800 BC Evans, Chapter 6: The Olmecs: Middle Formative (c. 900 – 600 BC). The Preface and Introduction (pp. 7-28) in The Olmecs, America’s First Civilization by Richard A. Diehl (2006). INST ARCH DFA 100 DIE. [Very good overview by an Olmec scholar.] Olmec Beginnings, pp. 92-144 (Ch 4) in Olmec Archaeology & Early Mesoamerica by Christopher A. Pool (2007). INST ARCH DFA 100 POO [Also a very good overview by an Olmec scholar.] The Olmec World, Ritual & Rulership by R. Diehl, D. Freidel, et al. (1996) INST ARCH DFA 300 Qto CLA. [From an exhibition in Princeton, so good for illustrations] Journal articles on the Olmec: VanDerwarker, A.M., R.P. Kruger. 2012. Regional Variation in the Importance and uses of Maize in the Early and Middle Formative Olmec Heartland: New Archaeobotanical Data from the San Carlos Homestead, Southern Veracruz. Latin American Antiquity 23(4): 509-532. Arnold, Philip J. 2003. Early Formative Pottery from the Tuxtla Mountains and implications for Gulf Olmec Origins. Latin American Antiquity 14(1): 29-46. Mora-Marin, David F. 2009. Early Olmec Writing. Latin American Antiquity 20(3): 395-412. Tiesler, V. 2010. “Olmec” head shapes mong the Preclassic period Maya and cultural meanings. Latin American Antiquity 21(3): 290-311. Lesure, R.G. 1997. Early Formative platforms at Paso de la Amada, Chiapas, Mexico. Latin American Antiqutiy 8(3): 217-235. Olmec interaction in the Early Formative 2020-21, ARCL0031, Page 11
Blomster, J.P. 2010. Complexity, interaction, and epistemology: Mixtecs, Zapotecs, and Olmecs in Early Formative Mesoamerica. Ancient Mesoamerica 21(1): 135-149. Pool, C.A., P. Ortiz Ceballos, M. del Carmen Rodriguez Martinez, M.L. Loughlin. 2010. The early horizon at Tres Zapotes: Implications for Olmec interaction. Ancient Mesoamerica 21(1): 95-105. Jaime-Riveron, Olaf. 2010. Olmec greenstone in Early Formative Mesoamerica: Exchange and process of production. Ancient Mesoamerica 21(1): 123-133. Olmec stone carving & sculpture Mollenhauer, J. 2014. Sculpting in the past in Preclassic Mesoamerica: Olmec stone monuments and the production of social memory. Grove, D.C. 1968. Chalcatzingo, Morelos, Mexico: A Reappraisal of the Olmec Rock Carvings. Latin American Antiquity 33(4): 486-491. Grove, D.C., L. I. Paradis. 1971. An Olmec stela from San Miguel Amuco, Guerrero. Latin American Antiquity 36(1): 95-102. Gillespie, S.D. 1994. Llano del Jicaro: An Olmec monument workshop. Ancient Mesoamerica 5(2): 231-242.
WEEK 5, 3rd November: THE LATE AND TERMINAL FORMATIVE PERIODS (Gulf Coast Olmec – Oaxaca – Basin of Mexico – Maya area)
Required: Lecturecast pre-recorded lectures for Wk5 (a-e) Hot Questions QUIZ on Wk 5 readings Check Moodle for possible Discussion Questions Readings Cyphers, A. (2014) The Olmec, 1800-400 BCE. In Renfrew, C. & P. Bahn (eds.) The Cambridge World Prehistory, Volume 2: East Asia and the Americas, pp. 1018-1025. Online but also INST ARCH AF REN vol 2. [Reviews the later part of Olmec florescence] Love, M. 2014. The Archaic and Formative Periods of Mesoamerica. In: Renfrew, C & Bahn, P (eds.) The Cambridge World Prehistory, Volume 2: East Asia and the Americas, pp. 955-969 but read pp. 965-968, the section that covers the Late Formative in general in Mesoamerica Balkansky, Andrew K. (2014) Oaxaca. In Renfrew, C. & P. Bahn (eds.) The Cambridge World Prehistory, Volume 2: East Asia and the Americas, pp. 1026-1042. INST ARCH AF REN vol 2 [or] https://doi.org/10.1017/CHO9781139017831.069 Read pp. 1032-1035 on the Late & Terminal Formative states in Oaxaca. Manzanilla, Linda R. (2014) The Basin of Mexico. In Renfrew, C. & P. Bahn (eds.) The Cambridge World Prehistory, Volume 2: East Asia and the Americas, pp. 986-1004. Read pp. 986 TO 991 ONLY, which goes back to the beginnings of settlement in the Basin (Valley) of Mexico up to about A.D. 100 (100 CE). https://doi.org/10.1017/CHO9781139017831.067 Freidel, David. (2014) The origins and development of lowland Maya civilisation. The Cambridge World Prehistory, Vol.2: East Asia and the Americas, pp. 1043-1057. https://doi.org/10.1017/CHO9781139017831.070 Read pp. 1043-1049 on Preclassic (Formative) beginnings through the transition to the Early Classic.
Other readings: Middle to Late Formative, Late Formative, Terminal formative Evans, Chapter 7: Middle to Late Formative cultures (ca. 600/500 – 300 B.C.) Evans, Chapter 8: The Emergence of States in the Late Formative (300 B.C. – A.D. 1) Evans, Chapter 9: The Terminal Formative (A.D. 1-300), pp. 235-253. Olmecs, general Coe, Michael D. and Richard Diehl, 1980. In the Land of the Olmec. INST ARCH DFA 10 Qto COE [Classic work on archaeology in the Olmec area. Very well written.] Pool, C.A. 2009. Asking more and better questions: Olmec archaeology for the next katun. 2009. Ancient Mesoamerica 20(2): 241-252. Mollenhauer, J. 2014. Sculpting the past in Preclassic Mesoamerica: Olmec stone monuments and the production of social memory. Ancient Mesoamerica 25(1): 11-27. 2020-21, ARCL0031, Page 12
Olmecs and their neighbours: Sullivan, Timothy D. 2015. Shifting Strategies of Political Authority in the Middle through Terminal Formative Polity of Chiapa de Corzo, Chiapas, Mexico. Latin American Antiquity 26(4): 452-472. [Just outside the Olmec area proper on the Isthmus; a Zoque polity; interesting changes at the end of the Formative] Knight, C.L.F., M.D. Glascock. 2009. The Terminal formative to Classic period Obsidian Assemblage at Palo Errado, Veracruz, Mexico. Latin American Antiquity 20(4): 507-524. Pool, C.A., Georgia Mudd Britt. 2000. A ceramic perspective on the Formative to Classic transition in southern Veracruz, Mexico. Latin American Antiquity 11(2): 139-161. Tate, Carolyn E. 1999. Patrons of shamanic power: La Venta’s supernatural entities in light of Mixe beliefs. Ancient Mesoamerica 10(2): 169-188. Oaxaca, Zapotecs Marcus, J., K.V. Flannery 1996. Zapotec Civilization: How Urban Society Evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. Thames and Hudson. Balkansky, A.K., V. Perez Rodriguez, S.A. Kowalewski. 2004. Monte Negro and the urban revolution in Oaxaca, Mexico. Latin American Antiquity 15(1): 33-60. Spencer, C.S. E.M. Redmond. 2004. A late Monte Alban I Phase (300-100 B.C.) palace in the Valley of Oaxaca. Latin American Antiquity 15(4): 441-455. Blanton, Richard E., Stephen E Kowalewski, Gary M Feinman, and Laura Finsten. 1993 Ancient Mesoamerica. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. INST ARCH DF 100 BLA; ISSUE DESK IOA BLA 3 and 4. Ch.3, The Valley of Oaxaca. [Reflects emphases in the 70s through early 90s on evolutionary theories, but could make the subject of an essay comparing past & present theories of the rise of civilisation.] Flannery, K.V., M.J. Kirkby, A.V.T. Kirkby, & A.W. Williams, Jr. 1967. Farming systems and political growth in ancient Oaxaca. Science 158:445-54. Teaching Collection INST ARCH 2095. Older publication but well reasoned. Hayden, Brian and Rob Gargett, 1990. Big Man, Big Heart? A Mesoamerican view of the emergence of complex society. Ancient Mesoamerica 1:3-20. Teaching Collection INST ARCH 2561. [Another perspective on the growth of the state and civilization.] Zeitlin, Robert N. 2000 Two Perspectives on the Rise of Civilization in Mesoamerica’s Oaxaca Valley. Latin American Antiquity 11(1):87-89Teaching Collection INST ARCH 2560. Zeitlin reviews two books on Oaxaca, each of which takes a different approach to the rise of civilization in Oaxaca. Winter, Marcus. 2011. Social memory and the origins of Monte Alban. Ancient Mesoamerica 22(2): 393-409. Zapotec and Mixtec writing or literary traditions Serrano Javier, Urcid. 2004. Zapotec Hieroglyphic Writing. Dumbarton Oaks Research and Library Collection, MStudies in Art & Archaeology 34. Washington, D.C. Joyce, A.A. 1991. Formative period social change in the Lower Rio Verde Valley, Oaxaca, Mexico. Latin American Antiquity 2(2): 126-150. [Introduction to Zapotec writing] Urcid, Javier. 1993. The Pacific Coast of Oaxaca and Guerrero: The westernmost extent of Zapotec script. Ancient Mesoamerica 4(1): 141-165. Maarten E.R.G.N. Jansen, & Gabina Aurora Pérez Jiménez (2011) The Mixtec Pictorial Manuscripts. Time, Agency and Memory in Ancient Mexico. EAHC 1. Brill, Leiden / Boston. https://brill.com/view/title/15090 Elsewhere in Mesoamerica Awe, J. P.F. Healy. 1994. Flakes to Blades? Middle Formative development of obsidian artifacts in the Upper Belize River Valley. Latin American Antiquity 5(3): 193-205. Hammond, N., A. Clarke, C. Robin. 1991. Middle Preclassic buildings and burials at Cuello, Belize: 1990 Investigations. Latin American Antiquity 2(4): 352-363. Beekman, C.S. 2008. Corporate power strategies in the Late Formative to Early Classic Tequila Valleys of Central Jalisco. Latin American Antiquity 19(4): 414-434.
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WEEK 6: 9th to 13th November – R E A D I N G W E E K
One of the mural designs at Teotihuacan 2020-21, ARCL0031, Page 14
WEEKS 7,8 – 17th and 24th November: THE GREAT CITY OF TEOTIHUACAN For Week 7, I’ll summarise the character and organisation of the great city in a pre-recorded presentation. Guest lecturer Elizabeth Baquedano will pre-record a lecture on the city’s art. Elizabeth will join me, and Panos, for the live tutorial on Tuesday for your questions and discussion. In Week 8, we are scheduled to have a guest lecturer from the University of Copenhagen, Christophe Helmke, who has worked on the writing and language systems of Teotihuacan. He will provide a live talk with slides on the writing of Teotihuacan and the Teotihuacan barrios. The readings aren’t extensive so plan to do them for Week 7. I have included one VERY short reading for Week 8, on writing. This will be good background for Dr. Helmke’s talk. Your essay is due in Week 8 so this will leave you relatively free of reading in the week before your essay is due.
The most recent sourcebook on Teotihuacan (published as the result of an exhibition, ‘Teotihuacan – City of Water, City of Fire) is not online, although the exhibition artefacts and photos are on line. See, for example: https://deyoung.famsf.org/exhibitions/teotihuacan-city-water-city-fire ; https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/teotihuacan-city-of-water-city-of-fire-de- young-museum/EwJSkilCgvwQLg?hl= I’ll ask that the book be put on reserve in the library. If you can, take the time to look through it. It includes updated work, and fabulous illustrations: Teotihuacan – City of Water, City of Fire, ed. Matthew H. Robb (2017) INST ARCH DFA 10 Qto ROB. Published by the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and the University of California Press. The de Young Museum and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art were also involved and housed the exhibition. Required for Wk 7: Lecturecast pre-recorded lectures for Wks 7 and 8. Hot Questions QUIZ on Wk 7 readings (no quiz for Wk 8) Check Moodle for possible Discussion Questions Readings Mazanilla, Linda R. (2014) The Basin of Mexico. In Renfrew, C. & P. Bahn (eds.) The Cambridge World Prehistory, Volume 2: East Asia and the Americas, pp. 986-1004 but read pp. 992 to 1004. INST ARCH AF REN vol 2. Sugiyama, Saburo (2017) Teotihuacan: Planned City with Cosmic Pyramids. In Teotihuacan, City of Water, City of Fire, ed. Matthew H. Robb, pp. 28-37. Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and University of California Press. Nichols, Deborah L. (2016) Teotihuacan. Journal of Archaeological Research 24(1): 1-74. http://www.jstor.com/stable/43956797 Mandell, Elisa C. (2015) A new analysis of the gender attribution of the “Great Goddess” of Teotihuacan. Ancient Mesoamerica 26(1): 29-49. Required for Wk 8: No lecturecast recordings this week other than last week’s introduction to Teotihuacan. Hot Questions Reading IMPORTANT! Ancient Writing by Wayne Curtis. American Archaeology, fall, 2020. [ This is only 9 pages with lots of pictures! It’s a popular publication, but presents a good summary of the research people are doing on Mesoamerican writing, and Dr. Helmke features in the article. It’s open source so I’ve uploaded the pdf to Moodle.]
Other readings on Teotihuacan Evans Chapter 9: The Terminal Formative (AD 1-300) pp. 253-260. Evans Chapter 10: Teotihuacan and Its International Influence (AD 250/300-600)'. Cowgill, George L. 2015. Ancient Teotihuacan: Early urbanism in Central Mexico. Cambridge University Press. Cowgill, George L. 1997. State and Society at Teotihuacan, Mexico. Annual Review of Anthropology 26:129- 61, Teaching Collection INST ARCH 2563. Also as a periodical INST ARCH Pers. [Cowgill is a very good writer; excellent review of the work carried out at Teo prior to the recent excavations by Saburo Sugiyama. Clayton, Sarah C. 2013. Measuring the long arm of the state: Teotihuacan’s relations in the Basin of Mexico. Ancient Mesoamerica 24(1): 87-105.
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Storey, Rebecca. 2008. Residential compound organization and the evolution of the Teotihuacan state. Ancient Mesoamerica 2(1): 107-118. Uriarte, Maria Teresa. 2006. The Teotihuacan ballgame and the beginning of time. Ancient Mesoamerica 17(1): 17-38. Manzanilla, Linda 2002. Houses and ancestors, Altars and Relics: Mortuary Patterns at Teotihuacan, Central Mexico. In The Space and Place of Death, ed. by H. Silverman and D.B. Small, pp. 55-65. Archaeological Papers of the American Anthropological Association No. 100. Arlington, Virginia. Book INST ARCH AH SIL. Headrick, Annabeth. 1999. The Street of the Dead . . . It Really was: Mortuary bundles at Teothuacan. Ancient Mesoamerica 10(1): 69-85. Blanton, Richard E., Stephen E Kowalewski, Gary M Feinman, and Laura Finsten 1993 Ancient Mesoamerica. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. INST ARCH DF100 BLA; ISSUE DESK IOA BLA 3 and 4. Chapter 4 on the Valley of Mexico. [Figures 4.1-4.6, 4.8, 4.10, 4.12, 4.14 are a series of settlement maps that show the locations of the various sites in the Basin (or Valley) of Mexico, and you can get an idea of how settlement has changed through time.] White, Christine D., Rebecca Storey, Fred J. Longstaffe, Michael W. Spence. 2004. Immigration, assimilation and status in the ancient city of Teotihuacan: Stable isotopic evidence from Tlajinga 33. Latin American Antiquity 15(2): 176-198. The Teotihuacan mapping project Cowgill, George L. 2015. The Teotihuacan mapping project: Experiences with data files, big questions, and some research priorities for Teotihuacan. Millon, Rene, Jeffrey H. Altschul. 2015. The making of the map: The origin and lessons of the Teotihuacan mapping project. Ancient Mesoamerica 26(1): 135-151. Moon Pyramid Sugiyama, Saburo, Rubén Cabrera Castro. 2007. The Moon Pyramid project and the Teotihuacan state polity: A brief summary of the 1998-2004 excavations. Ancient Mesoamerica 18(1): 109-125. Sugiyama, Saburo, Leonardo López Luján. 2007. Dedicatory burial/offering complexes at the Moon Pyramid, Teotihuacan: A preliminary report of 1998-2004 explorations. Ancient Mesoamerica 18(1): 127-146. White, Christine D., T. Douglas Price, Fred J. Longstaffe. 2007. Residential histories of the human sacrifices at the Moon Pyramid, Teotihuacan: Evidence from oxygen and strontium isotopes. Ancient Mesoamerica 18(1): 159-172. Spence, Michael W., Gregory Pereira. 2007. The human skeletal remains of the Moon Pyramid, Teotihuacan. Ancient Mesoamerica 18(1): 147-157. Carballo, David M. 2007. Implements of state power: weaponry and martially themed obsidian productio near the Moon Pyramid, Teotihuacan. Ancient Mesoamerica 18(1): 173-190. The Sun Pyramid Sload, Rebecca. 2015. When was the Sun Pyramid Built? Maintaining the status quo at Teotihuacan, Mexico. Latin American Antiquity 26(2): 221-241. Manzanilla, Linda, Claudia López, AnnCorinne Freter. 1996. Dating results from excavations in quarry tunnels behind the Pyramid of the Sun at Teotihuacan. Ancient Mesoamerica 7(2): 245-266. The Feathered Serpent Pyramid Cabrera Castro, Ruben, Saburo Sugiyama, George L. Cowgill. 1991. The Templo de Quetzalcoatl Project at Teotihuacan: A preliminary report. Ancient Mesoamerica 2(1): 77-92. White, Christine D., Michael W. Spence, Fred J. Longstaffe, Hilary Stuart-Williams, Kimberley R. Law (2002) Geographic Identities of the Sacrificial Victims from the Feathered Serpent Pyramid, Teotihuacan: Iimplications for the Nature of State Power. Latin American Antiquity 13(2): 217-236, 2002. [Ground- breaking example of oxygen isotope analysis of skeletal remains—in this case the ‘sacrifices’ from the Feathered Serpent Pyramid—which reveals information on whether individuals were local or foreign.] López Austin, Alfredo, Leonardo López Luján and Saburo Sugiyama. 1991. The Temple of Quetzalcoatl at Teotihuacan: Its Possible Ideological Significance. Ancient Mesoamerica 2(1): 93-105. Spence, Michael W., Christine D. White, Fred J. Longstaffe, Kimberley R. Law. 2004. Victims of the victims: human trophies worn by sacrificed soldiers from the Feathered Serpent Pyramid, Teotihuacan. Ancient Mesoamerica 15(1): 1-15. Irrigation at Teotihuacan Nichols, Deborah L., Michael W. Spence, Mark D. Borland. 1991. Watering the fields of Teotihuacan: Early irrigation at the ancient city. Ancient Mesoamerica 2(1): 119-129. 2020-21, ARCL0031, Page 16
Teotihuacan interaction Chávez, Raúl García, Lluis Manuel Gamboa Cabezas, Nadia Vélez Saldaña. 2015. Los sitios rurales y la estrategia expansionista del estado Teotihuacano para la captacion de recursos en la cuenca de México. Ancient Mesoamerica 26(2): 423-442. [Interaction with settlements in the Basin of Mexico] Clayton, Sarah C. (2005) Interregional relationships in Mesoamerica: Interpreting Maya ceramics at Teotihuacan. Ancient Mesoamerica 16(4): 427-448. [regional interaction] Price, T. Douglas, James H. Burton, Paul D. Fullagar, Lori E. Wright, Jane E. Buikstra, Vera Tiesler. 2008. Strontium isotopes and the study of human mobility in ancient Mesoamerica. Latin American Antiquity 19(2): 167-180. [ Several case studies, one of which is the Oaxaca Barrio at Teotihuacan; useful if you do an essay on what isotope analysis has contributed to our understanding of Teotihuacan and its people.] Teotihuacan art, iconography, religion, worldview Pasztory, Esther. 1991. Strategies of organization in Teotihuacan art. Ancient Mesoamerica 2(2): 247-248. Paulinyi, Zoltan. 2006. The “Great Goddess” of Teotihuacan: Fiction or reality? Ancient Mesoamerica 17(1): 1-15. Paulinyi, Zoltan. 2014. The butterfly bird god and his myth at Teotihuacan. Ancient Mesoamerica 25(1): 29- 48. Sarro, Patricia Joan. 1991. The role of architectural sculpture in ritual space at Teotihuacan, Mexico. Ancient Mesoamerica 2(2): 249-262. Spence, Michael W. 2015. Personal art in Teotihuacan: the Thin Orange graffiti. Ancient mesoamerica 26(2): 295-311. Mandell, Elisa C. 2015. A new analysis of the gender attribution of the “Great Goddess” of Teotihuacan. Ancient Mesoamerica 26(1): 29-49. Rattray, Evelyn C. 1990. New findings on the origins of Thin Orange Ceramics. Ancient Mesoamerica 1(2): 181-195. Carballo, David M. 2007. Effigy vessels, religious integration, and the origins of the central Mexican pantheon. Ancient Mesoamerica 18(1): 53-67. Paulinyi, Zoltán. 2001. Los señores con tocado de borlas: Un estudio sobre el Estado Teotihuacano. Ancient Mesoamerica 12(1): 1-30. Sugiyama, Saburo. 1993. Worldview materialized in Teotihuacan, Mexico. Latin American Antiquity 4(2): 103- 129. Teotihuacan writing and language Langley, James C. 1991. The Forms and Usage of Notation at Teotihuacan. Ancient Mesoamerica 2:285-298. Nielsen, Jesper, Christophe Helmke. 2011. Reinterpreting the Plaza de los Glifos, La Ventilla, Teotihuacan. Ancient Mesoamerica 22(2): 345-370. Colas, Pierre Robert. 2011. Writing in space: Glottographic and semasiographic notation at Teotihuacan. Ancient Mesoamerica 22(1): 13-25. Macri, Martha J., Matthew G. Looper. 2003. Nahua in ancient Mesoamerica: Evidence from Maya inscriptions. Ancient Mesoamerica 14(2): 285-297. [Evidence against the idea that the Nahuatl language reached the Maya from Teotihuacan.] Nielsen, Jesper, Christophe Helmke. 2008. Spearthrower Owl Hill: A toponym at Atetelco, Teotihuacan. Latin American Antiquity 19(4): 459-474. [Applicable to Maya archaeology as well, because Spearthrower Owl is mentioned in the Maya inscriptions at Tikal.] Michel, Guerrero Joanne. 2014. A Sign Catalog: Glyphs in Selected Text-Like Layouts at Teotihuacan. Paris Monographs in American Archaeology 38, BAR International Series 2670, Archaeopress. Oxford. Cultural heritage Chávez, Sergio Gómez. 2015. La investigación y la conservación del patrimonio arqueológico en Teotihuacan: Problemas, perspectivas y propuestas. Ancient Mesoamerica 26(2): 443-458.
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WEEK 9, 1st December: THE CLASSIC MAYA
Required: Lecturecast pre-recorded lectures for Wk9. Hot Questions QUIZ on Wk9 readings. Check Moodle for possible Discussion Questions. Readings: Freidel, David. 2014. The origins and development of Lowland Maya Civilisation. In Renfrew, C. & P. Bahn (eds.) The Cambridge World Prehistory, Volume 2: East Asia and the Americas, pp. 1043-1057. INST ARCH AF REN vol 2. Read pp. 1049 – 1057. [This carries through to the end of the Classic but is a good segue to next week.] Ford, Anabel. (2008) Classic period of Mesoamerica, the Maya. Encyclopedia of Archaeology, Americas, Central. Read full article from pp.153-161. Martin, Simon and Nikolai Grube 2008. Read the ‘Preface & Introduction’ in Chronicle of the Maya Kings and Queens, pp. 6-23. This chapter was digitised and is in the Reading list under Library Resources. Book INST ARCH DFB 200 MAR. Book at Issue Desk INST ARCH MAR 8.
Other readings: General summaries of the Maya Evans Chapter 11: The Maya in the Early Classic (AD 250- 600). Evans Chapter 12: The Lowland Maya: Apogee and Collapse. On Classic rulership Houston, Stephen D. & Takeshi Inomata. The Classic Maya. 2009. Taube, Karl A. 2005. The symbolism of jade in Classic Maya religion. Ancient Mesoamerica 16(1): 23-50. WEEK 10, 8th December: THE FALL OF TEOTIHUACAN; CHICHEN ITZA AND THE TERMINAL CLASSIC; THE RISE OF TULA AND THE POSTCLASSIC
Required: Lecturecast pre-recorded lectures for Wk10. Hot Questions QUIZ on Wk 10 readings Check Moodle for possible Discussion Questions. Readings: Evans, Susan Toby. Postclassic cultures of Mesoamerica. Encyclopedia of Archaeology, Americas, North. Elsevier. Read pp. 209-213. [This takes you up to the Middle Postclassic and the Aztecs (next week).] Freidel, David. 2014. The origins and development of Lowland Maya Civilisation. In Renfrew, C. & P. Bahn (eds.) The Cambridge World Prehistory, Volume 2: East Asia and the Americas. Re-read pp. 1055-56 on the Collapse. Balkansky, Andrew K. (2014) Oaxaca. In Renfrew, C. & P. Bahn (eds.) The Cambridge World Prehistory, Volume 2: East Asia and the Americas. Read pp. 1035-1040 on the Collapse and Postclassic. Manzanilla, Linda R. (2014) The Basin of Mexico. In Renfrew, C. & P. Bahn (eds.) The Cambridge World Prehistory, Volume 2: East Asia and the Americas. Read pp. 997-1001 on the Epiclassic (called the Terminal Classic in the Maya lowlands) through the Postclassic. Parsons, Jeffrey R. and Yoko Sugiura Y. (2012) Teotihuacan and the Epiclassic in Central Mexico. The Oxford Handbook of Mesoamerican Archaeology.
Other readings: Overviews of collapse and continuity into the Posclassic period Evans Chapter 13: The Late Classic and Epiclassic in the West (AD 600- 1000/1100). Evans Chapter 14: The Maya in the Terminal Classic and Early Postclassic . . . Evans Chapter 15: The Rise of Tula and Other Epiclassic Transformations. . . . Collapse Cowgill, George L. (2012) Concepts of collapse and regeneration in human history. The Oxford Handbook of Mesoamerican Archaeology. 2020-21, ARCL0031, Page 18
Mesoamerica after the Classic Millon, Rene, 1988. The last years of Teotihuacán dominance. In The Collapse of Ancient States and Civilizations, ed. N. Yoffee and G. Cowgill, pp. 102-164. Teaching Collection INST ARCH 2097. Book INST ARCH BD YOF (3 copies 1 week; 1 copy 3 hrs). [Problems in discovering how and why cities decline] Baudez, Claude-Francois, Nicolas Latsanopoulos. 2010. Political structure, military training, and ideology at Chichen Itza. Ancient Mesoamerica 21(1): 1-20. Pendergast, David M. 1985. Stability Through Change: Lamanai, Belize, from the Ninth to the Seventeenth Century. In Late Lowland Maya Civilization: Classic to Postclassic, ed. by Jeremy A. Sabloff and E. Wyllys Andrews V, pp. 223-249. [A site that persisted through British colonisation.] Aimers, James J. 2007. What Maya Collapse? Terminal Classic Variation in the Maya Lowlands. Jour. Archaeological Research 15: 329-377. [On collapse and the evidence for and against it] Smith, Michael E. & Frances Berdan, eds. 2003. The Postclassic Mesoamerican World. [Good source of papers on the period after the collapse of many city-states.] Papers from my work (and my students & colleagues) on the collapse; I have pdfs if you can’t get them. Ting, Carmen, Marcos Martinón-Torres, Elizabeth Graham, Christophe Helmke. 2015. The production and exchange of moulded-carved ceramics and the Maya Collapse. Jour. of Archaeological Science 62: 15-26. Aoyama, Kazuo and Elizabeth Graham. Ancient Maya warfare: Exploring the significance of lithic variation in Maya weaponry. Lithics: The Journal of the Lithic Studies Society 36: 5-17. Elizabeth Graham, Scott E. Simmons, Christine D. White. 2013. The Spanish Conquest and the Maya collapse: How ‘religious’ is change? World Archaeology 45(1): 1-25. WEEK 11, 15th December: THE AZTECS
Required: Lecturecast pre-recorded lectures for Wk 11. Hot Questions QUIZ on Wk11 readings. Check Moodle for possible Discussion Questions. Readings: Evans, Susan Toby. Postclassic cultures of Mesoamerica. Encyclopedia of Archaeology, Americas, North. Elsevier. Read pp. 213-216, which covers the Aztecs. Smith, Michael E. and Maëlle Sergheraert (2012) The Aztec Empire. The Oxford Handbook of Mesoamerican Archaeology, ed. Deborah L. Nichols. 9 pages.
Other readings: Chapters on the Aztecs in the Evans text: Evans Chapter 16: 'The Middle Postclassic (1200s-1430)', pp. 425-429; 437-446. Evans Chapter 17: 'The Aztecs: An Empire Is Born' (1325-1440)'. Evans Chapter 20: 'The Conquest of Mexico and Its Aftermath'. Other texts on the Aztecs: If you elect to do an essay on the Aztecs, go to the Oxford Handbook (below) and it will lead you to the sources. I also have a syllabus from my Aztec class that may help. Smith Michael E. (2012) The Aztecs. Berdan, Frances. (2014) Aztec Archaeology and Ethnohistory. The Oxford Handbook of the Aztecs. (2017) eds. Deborah L. Nichols and Enrique Rodríguez Alegría. Online https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199341962.001.0001/oxfordhb- 9780199341962