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List Of Archaeological Periods (Mesoamerica)
The chronology of Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica is usually divided into the following eras: Five Stage Classification One of the most enduring classifications of archaeological periods & cultures was established in Gordon Willey and Philip Phillips' 1958 book ''Method and Theory in American Archaeology.'' They divided the archaeological record in the Americas into 5 phases. These are: * The Lithic stage * The Archaic stage * The Formative stage * The Classic stage * The Post-Classic stage Tabular list See also * Archaeogenetics * Archaeology of the Americas * History of the Americas * Genetic history of indigenous peoples of the Americas * List of archaeological periods – parent page * List of archaeological periods (North America) * List of pre-Columbian cultures * Mesoamerican chronology References * {{DEFAULTSORT:Archaeological periods (Mesoamerica) Mesoamerica Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area in southern North America and most of Centra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pre-Columbian
In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage of 1492. Usually, the era covers the history of Indigenous cultures until significant influence by Europeans. This may have occurred decades or even centuries after Columbus for certain cultures. Many pre-Columbian civilizations were marked by permanent settlements, cities, agriculture, civic and monumental architecture, major earthworks, and complex societal hierarchies. Some of these civilizations had long faded by the time of the first permanent European colonies (c. late 16th–early 17th centuries), and are known only through archaeological investigations and oral history. Other civilizations were contemporary with the colonial period and were described in European historical accounts of the time. A few, such as the Maya civilization, had their ow ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
San José Mogote
San José Mogote is a pre-Columbian archaeological site of the Zapotec, a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in the region of what is now the Mexican state of Oaxaca. A forerunner to the better-known Zapotec site of Monte Albán, San José Mogote was the largest and most important settlement in the Valley of Oaxaca during the Early and Middle Formative periods (ca. 1500-500 BCE) of Mesoamerican cultural development. Situated in the fertile bottomlands of the Etla arm of the Valley of Oaxaca, the site is surrounded by the present-day village of San José Mogote, about northwest of the city of Oaxaca (Evans 2004:122). San José Mogote is considered to be the oldest permanent agricultural village in the Oaxaca Valley and probably the first settlement in the area to use pottery. It has also "...produced Mexico's oldest known defensive palisades and ceremonial buildings (1300 B.C.), early use of adobe (850 B.C.), the first evidence of Zapotec hieroglyphic writing (600 B.C.), ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monte Albán
Monte Albán is a large pre-Columbian archaeological site in the Santa Cruz Xoxocotlán Municipality in the southern Mexico, Mexican state of Oaxaca (17.043° N, 96.767°W). The site is located on a low mountainous range rising above the plain in the central section of the Valley of Oaxaca, where the latter's northern Etla, eastern Tlacolula, and southern Zimatlán and Ocotlán (Oaxaca), Ocotlán (or Valle Grande (Oaxaca), Valle Grande) branches meet. The present-day state capital Oaxaca City is located approximately east of Monte Albán. The partially excavated civic ceremonial center of the Monte Albán site is situated atop an artificially leveled ridge. It has an elevation of about above mean sea level and rises some from the valley floor, in an easily defensible location. In addition to the monumental core, the site is characterized by several hundred artificial terraces, and a dozen clusters of mounded architecture covering the entire ridgeline and surrounding flanks. Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Uaxactun
Uaxactun (pronounced ) is an ancient sacred place of the Maya civilization, located in the Petén Basin region of the Maya lowlands, in the present-day department of Petén, Guatemala. The site lies some north of the major center of Tikal. The name is sometimes spelled as Waxaktun. History of discovery With recent achievements in the decipherment of the ancient Maya hieroglyphic writing system, it has been determined that the ancient name for this site translates roughly as ''Siaan K'aan'' or "Born in Heaven". The name ''Uaxactun'' was given to the site by its rediscoverer, archaeologist Sylvanus Morley, in May 1916. He coined the name from Maya words ''Waxac'' and ''Tun'', to mean "Eight Stones". The name has two meanings; Morley's stated reason for the name was to commemorate it as the first site where an inscription dating from the 8th Baktún of the Maya calendar was discovered (making it then the earliest known Maya date). The other meaning is a pun, since "Uaxactun" s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kaminaljuyú
Kaminaljuyu (pronounced ) is a Pre-Columbian site of the Maya civilization that was primarily occupied from 1500 BC to AD 1200. Kaminaljuyu has been described as one of the greatest of all archaeological sites in the New World by Michael Coe, although its remains today – a few mounds only – are far less impressive than other Maya sites more frequented by tourists. When first mapped scientifically (by E. M. Shook over a period of decades from the 1930s on), it comprised some 200 platforms and pyramidal mounds, at least half of which were created before the end of the Preclassic period (250 AD). Debate continues about the size, scale, and degree by which, as an economic and political entity, it integrated both the immediate Valley of Guatemala and the Southern Maya area. The known parts of Kaminaljuyu lie on a broad plain beneath roughly the western third of modern Guatemala City. The Valley of Guatemala is surrounded by hills that culminate in a string of lofty volcanoe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Takalik Abaj
Tak'alik Ab'aj (; ; ) is a pre-Columbian archaeological site in Guatemala. It was formerly known as Abaj Takalik; its ancient name may have been Kooja. It is one of several Mesoamerican sites with both Olmec and Maya features. The site flourished in the Preclassic and Classic periods, from the 9th century BC through to at least the 10th century AD, and was an important centre of commerce, trading with Kaminaljuyu and Chocolá. Investigations have revealed that it is one of the largest sites with sculptured monuments on the Pacific coastal plain. Olmec-style sculptures include a possible colossal head, petroglyphs and others.Love 2007, p. 288. The site has one of the greatest concentrations of Olmec-style sculpture outside of the Gulf of Mexico. Takalik Abaj is representative of the first blossoming of Maya culture that had occurred by about 400 BC. The site includes a Maya royal tomb and examples of Maya hieroglyphic inscriptions that are among the earliest from the Maya r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Naj Tunich
Naj Tunich (Mopan Maya: // "stone house, cave") is a series of pre-Columbian era natural caves outside the village of La Compuerta, roughly 35 km east of Poptún in Guatemala. The site was a Maya ritual pilgrimage site during the Classic period. Artifacts show that the cave was accessed primarily during the Early Classic period. Deposits become rarer during the Late Classic period. The fame of the cave, however, rests on its long Late Classic (c. AD 600–c. 900) hieroglyphic texts as well as on a considerable number painted scenes and figures. In 2012, the caves were added to the Tentative Lists as a potential UNESCO World Heritage Site. By that time, they were already a National Monument of Guatemala. Rediscovery According to the UNESCO summary, the caves were discovered by a Q'eqchi' Maya Native, a hunter named Bernabé Poin mid 1979 while hunting peccary with his dogs. Bernabe and his father Emilio explored the cave and revealed its existence to an American, Mike Dev ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Xunantunich
Xunantunich () is an Ancient Maya archaeological site in western Belize, about 70 miles (110 km) west of Belize City, in the Cayo District. Xunantunich is located atop a ridge above the Mopan River, well within sight of the Guatemala border – which is to the west.Yaeger, Jason. "Untangling the Ties That Bind: The City, the Countryside, and the Nature of Maya Urbanism at Xunantunich, Belize." The Social Construction of Ancient Cities. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 2003. 121-55. Print. It served as a Maya civic ceremonial centre to the Belize Valley region in the Late and Terminal Classic periods.LeCount, Lisa J. "Ka'kaw Pots and Common Containers: Creating Histories and Collective Memories Among the Classic Maya of Xunantunich, Belize." Ancient Mesoamerica21.2 (2010): 341–51. Print. At that time, when the region was at its peak, nearly 200,000 people lived in the Belize Valley.Fagan, Brian M. "Xunantunich: "The Maiden of the Rock"" from ''Black Land to Fift ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lamanai
Lamanai (from ''Lama'anayin'', "submerged crocodile" in Yucatec Maya) is a Mesoamerican archaeological site, and was once a major city of the Maya civilization, located in the north of Belize, in Orange Walk District. The site's name is pre-Columbian, recorded by early Spanish missionaries, and documented over a millennium earlier in Maya inscriptions as ''Lam'an'ain''. Lamanai is renowned for its exceptionally long occupation spanning three millennia, beginning in the Early Preclassic Maya period and continuing through the Spanish and British Colonial periods, into the 20th century. Unlike most Classic-period sites in the southern Maya lowlands, Lamanai was not abandoned at the end of the 10th century AD. History Lamanai was occupied as early as the 16th century BC. The site became a prominent centre in the Pre-Classic Period, from the 4th century BC through the 1st century CE. In 625 CE, "Stele 9" was erected there in the Yucatec language of the Maya.Michael P. ClosThe Hierogl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Izapa
Izapa is a very large pre-Columbian archaeological site located in the Mexican state of Chiapas; it is best known for its occupation during the Late Formative period. The site is situated on the Izapa River, a tributary of the Suchiate River, near the base of the volcano Tacaná, the sixth tallest mountain in Mexico. The settlement at Izapa extended over 1.4 miles, making it the largest site in Chiapas. The site reached its apogee between 850 BCE and 100 BCE; several archaeologists have theorized that Izapa may have been settled as early as 1500 BCE, making it as old as the Olmec sites of San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán and La Venta. Izapa remained occupied through the Early Postclassic period, until approximately 1200 CE. Due to the abundance of carved Maya stelae and monuments at Izapa, the term "Izapan style" is used to describe similarly executed works throughout the Pacific foothills and highlands beyond, including some found at Takalik Abaj and Kaminaljuyu. Izapa is l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
El Mirador
El Mirador (which translates as "the lookout", "the viewpoint", or "the belvedere") is a large pre-Columbian Middle and Late Preclassic (1000 BC - 250 AD) Mayan settlement, located in the north of the modern department of El Petén, Guatemala. It is part of the Mirador- Calakmul Karst Basin of northern Guatemala. ansen, R., Morales-Aguilar, C., Thompson, J., Ensley, R., Hernández, E., Schreiner, T., . . . Martínez, G. (2022). LiDAR analyses in the contiguous Mirador-Calakmul Karst Basin, Guatemala: An introduction to new perspectives on regional early Maya socioeconomic and political organization. Ancient Mesoamerica, 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tres Zapotes
Tres Zapotes is a Mesoamerican archaeological site located in the south-central Gulf Lowlands of Mexico in the Papaloapan River plain. Tres Zapotes is sometimes referred to as the third major Olmec capital (after San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán and La Venta), but the Olmec phase is only a portion of the site's history, which continued through the Epi-Olmec and Classic Veracruz cultural periods. The 2000-year existence of Tres Zapotes as a cultural center is unusual, if not unique, in Mesoamerica.Pool, p. 250. Location The site is located near the present-day village of Tres Zapotes, west of Santiago Tuxtla, Veracruz at the western edge of the Los Tuxtlas Mountains on the banks of the Rio Hueyapan (a small stream). The area is a transition point between the Los Tuxtlas Mountains and the Papaloapan River delta and allowed the inhabitants to take advantage of the forested uplands as well as the swamps and streams of the flatlands. Scarcely to the east stands Cerro el Vigía, an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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