Ceramic Analysis and Culture History in the Arenal Region
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Ceramic Analysis and Culture History 159 eliminate redundant categories (Abel-Vidor et a1. assemblages with dated volcanic stratigraphy has 1987); (2) documenting regional variation and uti- allowed the construction of a ceramic chronology lizing ethnohistoric documents [Abel-Vidor 1980, for the Northwestern Cordillera [Hoopes 1984a), 1981, 1988) to define cultural and geographical a culture area that includes the Arenal basin 10 subdivisions [e.g., northern and southern sectors) the Cordillera de Tilaran, and the Cordillera de of Greater Nicoya; 13)using compositional analy- Guanacaste. Ceramic Analysis and sis to investigate processes of pottery manufac- The Northwestern Cordillera ceramic sequence tureand distribution (Day 1984; Bishop et a1.1988; has important affinities with both the Greater Ni- Culture History in Healy 1988); and (4) strengthening chronological coya and the Atlantic Watershed sequences. It is correlations (Abel-Vidor et a1. 1987). also distinct in many ways. Its principal char- the Arenal Region Although the basic outline of the Greater Ni- acteristics are (1) an Early to Middle Formative JOHN W. HOOPES coya sequence was available in the early 1960s, Phase whose ceramics bear strong similarities to and an initial ceramic typology for the Atlantic Snarskis' (1978, 1984a) Chaparron and La Mon- Watershed was suggested in the latter part of that tana complexes as well as to other early Cen- decade (Kennedy 1968), the working ceramic se- tral American complexes; 12)an extensive Zoned quence for the Atlantic Watershed of Costa Rica Bichrome occupation sharing pottery types and did not appear in its current form until the late a number of stylistic parallels with Greater Ni- 1970s {Snarskis 1976, 1978). A great deal of re- coya; 13la late Zoned Bichrome/Early Polychrome search has focused on the Central Highlands and transition with ties to both Greater Nicoya and INTRODUCTION Atlantic Watershed regions of Costa Rica [see sum- the Atlantic Watershed regions; (4) Middle Poly- maries by Snarskis 1981a, 1984a; Fonseca 1981), chrome assemblages dominated by local types The first attempt to formulate an archaeological and many of the data are relevant to the Arenal and decorative modes, supplemented with im- chronology based on ceramics for the Greater Ni- area. Unfortunately, much less on ceramic classi- ported polychromes from Greater Nicoya; and 15)a late occupation characterized by an absence coya subarea was made by Coe and Baudez (1961, fication has been published for this region than is of Nicoya-style polychromes and an emphasis on Baudez and Coe 1962). They suggested a succes- available for Greater Nicoya. applique decoration, suggesting the existence of sion of four major periods: the Zoned Bichrome, The archaeology of the volcanic highlands and strong cultural ties with peoples to the east and the Early Polychrome, the Middle polychrome, the Guatuso and San Carlos plains in the north- south. and the Late Polychrome. Baudez (1967) presented central portion of Costa Rica is less well known. Research conducted by Snarskis in central San The sequence for the Northwestern Cordillera the first detailed description of Greater Nicoya region will benefit from future refinement and fur- ; i Carlos (1978), by Aguilar in the Arenal area (1984), ceramic types. Lange l1971) made use of Baudez ther correlations with chronometric dates; how- and Coe's periodization and Baudez' type descrip- and by Norr in the Naranjo River Valley (1982- 1983) suggests that these zones were occupied ever, the data presented here should provide a tions in his research in the Sapos River Valley. foundation for future research. While the present These also formed the basis for Healy's (1974, from as early as the Middle Formative Period up to the time of European contact. Evidence from study may be interpreted as primarily cultural- 1980) analysis of material from the Rivas region historical, the construction and refinement of a of Nicaragua, and Sweeney's (1975) analysis of ce- the latter part of the sequence indicates that there were important contacts between these north- working time-space framework is fundamental to ramics from the Santa Elena Peninsula. It should further understanding of Costa Rican prehistory. be noted that, of these researchers, Healy made central regions of Costa Rica and both Greater Ni- coya and the Atlantic Watershed; however, the the greatest attempt to adhere to a well-defined nature of these contacts remains poorly defined. type: variety methodology. He made explicit use Material collected during reconnaissance and CERAMIC CHRONOLOGY IN THE of a classification that included taxonomic di- excavation of sites in the Arenal region demon- ARENAL REGION visions by ware, group, and variety (as opposed strates that the Cordillera region was occupied to Baudez, whose categories often crosscut these While a number of formal and decorative modes as early as Paleo-Indian times (Chaps. 1 and 11). divisions]. are specifically characteristic of pottery from the Lithics and ceramics suggest a continuous oc- Parallels in cultural sequences and recognizable Northwestern Cordillera, the ceramics of the Are- cupation of the region from the Archaic Period continuities in ceramic horizons from Rivas to nal area are sufficiently similar to documented through the fifteenth century cal AD. I Ceramic the Gulf of Nicoya (Creamer 1983) have been im- assemblages from Greater Nicoya and the At· analysis and stratigraphic excavations have re- portant characteristics of the Greater Nicoya sub- [antic Watershed that cross-dating with published vealed the existence of an Early Formative (ca. area (Lange 1984b). Ceramic sequences have played sequences [e.g., Baudez 1967; Snarskis 1978; 2000 cal Be), pre-Zoned Bichrome complex asso- a key role in the interpretation of the region's pre- Lange et at. 1984; Abel-Vidor et al. 1987; Chap. I, ciated with the remains of a small village-the history, and their revision and fine-tuning have re- Fig. 1-8) is possible. Six phases have been defined: earliest known settlement in Costa Rica to date. ceived a great deal of attention in recent years Pottery from all subsequent periods was recov- (Lange et al. 1984; Abel-Vidor et a1. 1987). Princi- 'Tilaran (cal AD 1300-1S00)-Late Prehistoric ered in both surface-collected and excavated lots Period pal concerns have been (1J "streamlining" lists of from a variety of sites. The association of ceramic ceramic types and type descriptions in order to i I J Ceramic Analysis and Culture History 161 John W. Hoopes 160 [Hoopes 1984a, 1985). It is similar to other early searcher in Greater Nicoya to use "wares" and The 1985 season provided the most important Silencio (cal AD 600_1300j_Early/Middle Poly- Costa Rican ceramic complexes, particularly Cha- "groups" in a systematic fashion. In other refer- information on the Tronadora and Arenal phases. parron, from the north-central San Carlos plains, chrome Period ences, the principal unit of classification is the Tronadora Vieja jG-163) and Sitio Bolivar (G-I64) Late Arenallcal AD 0-600)-Late Zoned gtchrome each had primarily single-component surface as- and La Montana, from near Tumalba (Fig. 10-1) Period "type" rather than the "group." [Snarskis 1978, 1984a). Norr's (1982~1983l Na- In lieu of detailed compositional information, I semblages [Tronadora and Arenal phases, respec- Early Arenal (500 cal Be-cal AD D)-Early Zoned ranjo Phase ceramics from the Naranjo River and have been hesitant to postulate distinct "wares." tively). Excavations at the two sites were ex- Bichrome Period pottery from the site of La Pochora near Canas Late Tronadora (1000-500 cal Bel-Middle Forma- The level of "group" is useful in the classification tremely fruitful. Tronadora Vieja provided more than seven hundred diagnostic sherds, over 60% [Odio 1989) are the most closely related, followed tive Period of ceramics that have identifiable characteristics by Haberland's (1966) Dinarte ceramics from Ome- Early Tronadora 12000-1000 cal Bel-Early Forma- of them dating to the Tronadora Phase. Sitio Bo- of surface finish but do not carry sufficient in- tepe Island in Nicaragua. Important affinities are tive Period formation to allow identification at the level of livar yielded an assemblage of almost six thou- sand diagnostic sherds in deposits pertaining al- also evident between Tronadora ceramics and pot- "type." In general, most ceramics are well pre- most exclusively to the latter half of the Arenal tery from Curre (Corrales 1985, 19891, in the Te- METHODOLOGY served and can be classified at the level of type. In Phase. Domestic and mortuary features were iden- rraba-Coto Brus region. There are important sim- our assemblages, the most useful "group" desig- We have based the ceramic sequence on the analy- tified at both sites, and the ceramic classes pres- ilarities between Tronadora ceramics and those of nation is one that would subsume Los Hermanos sis of 12,629 sherds from 43 sites. Almost 75% of ent indicated a wide variety of activities. Greater Nicoya, especially types Schettel Incised Beige and the varieties of Mojica Impressed, all of these come from stratigraphic excavations, with The ceramic assemblages represent a variety of and Bocana Incised Bichrome of the Lorna B Phase which share modes of form and surface finish. Be- the remainder from surface collections. We ex- cultural and depositional contexts as well as time (Lange 1980a); however, direct comparisons show cause group designations have not been formu- amined ceramics from each of 431 excavation periods. Given the location of the study area-on that Tronadora and Lorna B are not identical. The lated as a taxonomic level in the classification of and survey lots individually and recorded infor- and near the Continental Divide and between the later dates for Lorna B assemblages and the pres- all of our ceramics, however, definitions at the mation on sherd size, vessel part (rim, body, Cordillera de Guanacaste and the Cordillera de ence of Bocana Incised Bicrome in Arenal Phase group level are not included in the ceramic de- handle, support, etc.], ceramic type, and modes Tilaran-c-we expected a blending of culture traits.