M.A.R.I. Lunch Talks

Strings of the Past: Revisiting the Lapidary Industry of Poverty Point

Shannon Torrens
Department of Anthropology, Tulane University
April 26, 2024
12:00 P.M.
305 Dinwiddie Hall, Middle American Research Institute

Abstract: The Poverty Point culture has long been recognized for the abundance and variety of stone beads that can be found at both large mound centers, like Poverty Point and Jaketown, and smaller sites, like Slate. Tubular, barrel, disc, and effigy beads that depict owls and other birds are found at Poverty Point affiliated sites throughout Louisiana and Mississippi, and even as far away as Florida. Beyond simple admiration for the artistry evidenced by the beads, a close examination of the manufacturing wear suggests makers utilized different toolkits and processes to achieve their results. By documenting variation in bead production and mapping the distribution of bead styles across the landscape, we can begin to gain insight into cultural identity, exchange, and interaction among communities of the Lower Mississippi Valley and Gulf Coast.

Social Inequality and Cohesion through Rural-Urban Feasts at the Lowland Maya Site of La Corona

Jocelyne Ponce
Department of Anthropology, Tulane University
April 26, 2024
12:00 P.M.
305 Dinwiddie Hall, Middle American Research Institute

Abstract: Lowland Maya feasts were critical for communal cohesion but also marked social distinctions among participants through differential display of status symbols and contributions. For these reasons they provide important insight on patterns of socioeconomic inequality and integration. In this paper I present material analyses data from Late Classic period (AD 250-900) feasting deposits to discern patterns of socioeconomic inequality across the settlement density continuum. I specifically discuss data from settlement clusters that likely represented neighborhoods in rural, peri-urban, and urban settlement density zones in the La Corona region in northwest Peten, Guatemala. While commensal events were critical in community formation and identity building, they also played a pivotal role in marking internal distinctions in neighborhoods.

Compositional Analysis of Obsidian Artifacts from the Great Temple of Tenochtitlan using pXRF

Diego Matadamas-Gomora, Jason S. Nesbitt, Rodolfo Aguilar Tapia, Leonardo López Luján, Julia Sjödahl & Tatsuya Murakami
Department of Anthropology, Tulane University & Proyecto Templo Mayor, INAH
April 26, 2024
12:00 P.M.
305 Dinwiddie Hall, Middle American Research Institute

Abstract: Compositional analyses are fundamental in modern archaeological research. Recently, the introduction of portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) equipment has motivated an even greater interest in integrating chemical composition and provenance studies of raw materials as one of the primary objectives in archaeological projects. Obsidian is one of the most intriguing raw materials for provenance studies; its homogeneous composition and ubiquity in the archaeological context make it perfect for studying procurement processes and technological innovation in complex societies. In the case of the sacred precinct of Tenochtitlan (the capital of the Aztec Empire), there was no quantitative data about the different types of obsidian procured by this urban center. This study involves the analysis of 814 obsidian artifacts in two levels: a diachronic one, based on a sample that encompasses a long period of Aztec history (ca. AD 1375–1502), and a contextual one, based on the type of context where the artifacts were found (offerings and constructive fill). The data collected shows the frequencies and variations for specific kinds of obsidian through time and the preference for particular colors and qualities for the production of ritual and non-ritual objects.

Reading between the Signs: A Multimodal Approach to Maya Full-Figure Inscriptions

Catherine Nuckols
Latin AMerican Studies & Art History, Tulane University
April 12, 2024
12:00 P.M.
305 Dinwiddie Hall, Middle American Research Institute

Abstract: One of the great innovations of the 8th century Maya world, full-figure inscriptions appeared at four Maya sites over the span of 100 years: Palenque, Copán, Yaxchilán, and Quiriguá. These inscriptions, while linguistically sound and conforming to the genre of monumental dedication texts, present a complex visual landscape for analysis. In this presentation, I summarize the key takeaways of my analysis of this corpus, which formed my dissertation at Tulane.

Settlement patterns and shifts in complexity in the Tequila Region of Jalisco, Mexico

Verenice Y. Heredia Espinoza
Centro de Estudios Arqueológicos, El Colegio de Michoacán
March 22, 2024
12:00 P.M.
305 Dinwiddie Hall, Middle American Research Institute

Abstract: The Tequila region of Jalisco, Mexico followed a unique trajectory of cultural development that challenges traditional models of social complexity. For many decades, it was forced into unsuitable categories, inadequate for explaining the richness and diverse material culture manifested in the archaeological record. Advances in anthropological theory and fieldwork research in the area have enhanced our understanding of the nature of political organization through time. In this presentation, I offer a general overview of the primary shifts in politics as seen through settlement patterns and architecture. Diachronic change shows dynamic and dramatic transformations where natural and cultural factors affected cycles of greater integration, centralization, and decentralization.

The Beautiful Sea: French Navigation and Maritime Description of the South Pacific (1698-1717)

Raúl Alencar
Department of History, Tulane University
February 23, 2024
12:00 P.M.
305 Dinwiddie Hall, Middle American Research Institute

Abstract: Maps and maritime journals are essential instruments while navigating uncharted waters. However, these sources can also provide other forms to understand landscapes and communities. When French direct trade took the coasts of Peru by storm during the first decades of the eighteenth century, the King of France commissioned sailors to survey the coasts and provide detailed maps and descriptions that could help the French understand the territory better. Nonetheless, these journals were even further than providing navigational information. French mariners also became ethnographers, portraying the societies they engaged in throughout the coast while giving their perspectives and biases of what they encountered. This presentation discusses how French navigational journals are vital documentation, providing geographical illustrations and depicting coastal communities of eighteenth-century Peru.

Reinventing Mortuary Practices: Women, Immigrants, and Community Identity in Early Medieval China

Fan Zhang
Newcomb Art Department, Tulane University
February 9, 2024
12:00 P.M.
305 Dinwiddie Hall, Middle American Research Institute

Abstract: Traditionally, Chinese people bury their dead using a nested set of caskets, typically consisted of an outer coffin and one or multiple inner coffins. The inner-and-outer coffin set, which can be traced back to the Neolithic period, has been the predominant form for burials throughout the Chinese history. However, toward the mid-fifth century, an unprecedent way of burying the deceased emerged in women’s and immigrants’ tombs at Pingcheng, the capital of the Northern Wei dynasty (386-543). The corpse was no longer encased in sealed coffins. Instead, the deceased body was exposed on a funerary bed and framed by architectonic structures. This talk first articulates the components of the novel funerary equipment. Then, I explore the social and ritual significance of this innovative mortuary practice. Lastly, I examine the tomb occupants, arguing that the innovative burial practice later became widely adopted among Pingcheng residents of different ethnicities and social classes, thus contributing to the formation of a shared community identity at the capital.

The More Things Change: Grammatical Conservatism in Historical Narrative Texts

Emily Davis-Hale
Department of Anthropology, Tulane University
January 26, 2024
12:00 P.M.
305 Dinwiddie Hall, Middle American Research Institute

Abstract: Language has a natural tendency to change over time – except when it doesn’t. During a 300-year period at Tikal, the demands of genre dictate an astounding adherence to grammatical form in monumental texts of the historical narrative genre. This presentation provides the audience with foundational knowledge on literacy as a social practice before discussing specific findings on the apparent conservatism of grammar in selected Late Classic texts.

Agriculture and Arboriculture in Maya Art and Writing

Marc Zender
Department of Anthropology, Tulane University
December 8, 2023
12:00 P.M.
305 Dinwiddie Hall, Middle American Research Institute

Abstract: The result of decades of work—including the arduous mapping of Maya cities and landscapes, the meticulous cataloging of plant and tree species around settlements, and the truly transformative imagery of ancient fields and towns recently revealed by lidar—it is now increasingly clear that Maya agriculture and arboriculture comprised a complex, sustainable set of practices often taking place directly within and beside ancient settlements. Old debates arguing for ancient sites as either vacant ceremonial centers or dense urban landscapes have given way to more nuanced views of ‘garden cities’ surrounded by a ‘managed mosaic’ of forest preserves, milpas, and orchards. Perhaps surprisingly, Maya art and writing have hitherto contributed little to these new insights. In part, this is due to their relatively restricted genres, only rarely featuring overtly agricultural themes. There are no painted ceramics or sculptured reliefs depicting cornfields, for instance, and no ancient maps of settlements representing the interspersed fields, forests, and orchards which are now thought to have characterized the ancient landscape. However, a close look at the Maya script reveals numerous signs explicitly derived from the ‘forest gardens,’ as well as some key agricultural tropes upon which royal inscriptions often relied. Further, ancient imagery does reveal numerous points of contact with developing views of Maya agriculture and arboriculture, including orchards adjacent to palaces, and forest preserves and game alongside settlements. Some orchards may even have been targeted in warfare. As will be seen, our appreciation of agricultural and arboricultural references in Maya art and writing is immeasurably deepened by considering them in the light of recent archaeological discoveries.

Beyond the Beautiful Map: Toward Large-scale Modeling and Community-engaged Settlement Pattern Research

Marcello A. Canuto
Department of Anthropology, Tulane University
November 3, 2023
12:00 P.M.
305 Dinwiddie Hall, Middle American Research Institute

Abstract: Despite the long-standing interest in Maya settlement patterns in Maya archaeology, the tropical forest has imposed practical and methodological constraints that have led academics toward local-scale analysis. Ambitious efforts to scale up local models using remote sensing have been continually thwarted by the regionalism and heterogeneity of the Maya Forest. The use of airborne laser scanning (lidar) as a direct-discovery technique capable of mapping enormous areas in minute detail has given the discipline's macro-scale objectives new life. Lidar provides new approaches to reconstruct Maya settlement patterns at previously unreachable scales by simultaneously recording topography, archaeological settlement, anthropogenic landscape modification, and vegetation. Here, we use lidar-derived settlement and topographic data to develop a settlement suitability model that identifies constraints on settlement patterning and historical contingencies in the growth of individual cities. We also demonstrate how this approach might give significant information for local modern communities to better manage and steward the natural and cultural resources of locations where the Maya Forest still exists.

Making sense of Codex Mendoza, new disputes over an old book

Federico Navarrete
Instituto de Investigaciones Históricas, UNAM
October 20, 2023
12:00 P.M.
305 Dinwiddie Hall, Middle American Research Institute

Abstract: In the past five years, two new major editions of Codex Mendoza have presented very different interpretations of its origins and meaning. The debate about this document shows the complexities involved in the production of colonial codices and the challenges of reconstructing their histories in the dispute between the archives of Spanish domination and Mesoamerican resistance.

"G-LiHT" and other lidar data: a closer look at Classic Lowland Maya settlement.

Marcello A. Canuto
Department of Anthropology, Tulane University
September 29, 2023
12:00 P.M.
305 Dinwiddie Hall, Middle American Research Institute

Abstract: Since 2020, the MARI-GISLAB team has been focusing on the so-called G-LiHT lidar dataset, published by NASA in 2013. Despite the caveat that these data had not been collected with archaeological research in mind, some studies based on them provided a picture of the Maya settlement in southern Campeche and Southern Quintana Roo, that was in many ways divergent from what we had projected on the basis of the Peten Pacunam lidar data in 2018. Particularly surprising to us was the lack of dense urban zones and the high frequency of agricultural terraces, according to those studies. Since then, we have teamed up with our colleagues Juan Fernandez Diaz at NCALM and Ivan Šprajc of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, re-analyzed the GLiHT and other data to revisit current views on this region’s Classic-period settlement, agriculture and social organization.

Archaeological Investigations of Canchas Uckro: New Perspectives on the Origins of Chavín in the Second Millennium BCE.

Jason S. Nesbitt
Department of Anthropology, Tulane University
September 22, 2023
12:00 P.M.
305 Dinwiddie Hall, Middle American Research Institute

Abstract: This presentation outlines recent archaeological investigations at Canchas Uckro, a site located in the Conchucos region of highland Peru. A suite of radiocarbon dates is presented to show how the site changed between c. 1100 and 800 BCE. Material culture and transformations in architecture demonstrate different interregional and regional connections that have implications for understanding how Chavín de Huantar formed in the late second millennium BCE. The talk concludes with a short epilogue that considers future directions for research in the Chavín heartland.

The Role of Women in the Conquest of Mexico

Pilar Regueiro Suárez
Department of Anthropology, Tulane University
September 8, 2023
12:00 P.M.
305 Dinwiddie Hall, Middle American Research Institute

Abstract: In this talk, I will review, through Indigenous and Hispanic sources, the women's participation roles in the Conquest of Mexico-Tenochtitlan in areas such as mediation, war, and the supply of army. The purpose is to understand their intervention's implications and insertion in the new colonial order.