Ceremonial Center Research Articles

Magnetic signature of deep pit ovens from Paquimé, ceremonial center of the Casas Grandes culture (Northern Mexico)

The Casas Grandes culture in Northern Mexico and Southwest United States has been characterized by its impressive architecture - unique to desert cultures, with houses and constructions of up to four floors built by adobe. In this study, we report an integrated rock-magnetic and archaeomagnetic study from Paquimé archaeological site, considered as an outstanding testimony of the relationship between the cultures of North America and Mesoamerica. The In Situ structures of Paquimé archaeological zone were magnetically analyzed for the first time. Four up to 2.6 m deep Pit Ovens, commonly used for agave cooking, were sampled. 78 specimens were subjected to stepwise alternating field demagnetizations to retrieve characteristic remanence archaeodirections. The great majority of samples yielded evidence of essentially stable, single component remanent magnetization carried by the end members of titanomagnetite solid solutions (almost magnetite phase). Hematite grains apparently also co-exist, but their contribution in total thermoremanence is minor. The archaeomagnetic dating, based on mean declination and inclination, was performed using the global geomagnetic models and the available regional Paleosecular Variation Curves available for Mesoamerica. Additionally, SW United State paleosecular variation patterns from Four Corner region was also considered. The most probable age interval for one of the studied ovens (around 940 AD) is out of Paquimé’s main occupation phase between 1200 and 1450 AD. The age estimation for the PH1 pit oven, around 1150 AD, could be located near the limit of the beginning of the Medio Period. Remained two analyzed ovens yielded up to three possible ages distributed around 1100, 1320 and 1480 AD. Pit Ovens studied here, were long time considered to correspond to same time interval, while these new results attest that these combustion structures encompassed almost six centuries in agreement with the historical fact that the city of Paquimé was abandoned before the arrival of the Spaniards.

Ancient genomes reveal insights into ritual life at Chichén Itzá

The ancient city of Chichén Itzá in Yucatán, Mexico, was one of the largest and most influential Maya settlements during the Late and Terminal Classic periods (ad 600–1000) and it remains one of the most intensively studied archaeological sites in Mesoamerica1–4. However, many questions about the social and cultural use of its ceremonial spaces, as well as its population’s genetic ties to other Mesoamerican groups, remain unanswered2. Here we present genome-wide data obtained from 64 subadult individuals dating to around ad 500–900 that were found in a subterranean mass burial near the Sacred Cenote (sinkhole) in the ceremonial centre of Chichén Itzá. Genetic analyses showed that all analysed individuals were male and several individuals were closely related, including two pairs of monozygotic twins. Twins feature prominently in Mayan and broader Mesoamerican mythology, where they embody qualities of duality among deities and heroes5, but until now they had not been identified in ancient Mayan mortuary contexts. Genetic comparison to present-day people in the region shows genetic continuity with the ancient inhabitants of Chichén Itzá, except at certain genetic loci related to human immunity, including the human leukocyte antigen complex, suggesting signals of adaptation due to infectious diseases introduced to the region during the colonial period.

The role of farming and fishing in the rise of social complexity in the Central Andes: a stable isotope perspective

For many years, the rise of stratified societies along the Central Andean coast, known as the birthplace of Andean civilization, has been closely linked to a marine-oriented economy. This hypothesis has recently been challenged by increasing evidence of plant management and cultivation among Andean populations long before the emergence of complex societies and monumental architecture. The extent to which marine and plant-based economies were integrated and their contributions to early sedentism, population growth, and intra-community stratification, however, remain subjects of ongoing and contentious debate. Using Bayesian Mixing Models we reanalyze the previously published stable isotopes (δ15Ncollagen, δ13Ccollagen, δ13Capatite) values of 572 human individuals from 39 archaeological sites in the Central Andes dated between ca. 7000 BCE and 200 CE to reconstruct dietary regimes in probabilistic terms. Our results reveal that fish, terrestrial fauna, and cultivated plants variably contributed to the diet of prehistoric Andean populations; in coastal and middle valley settlements plant cultivation, not fishing, fueled the development of the earliest complex societies during the Formative Period (from 3000 BCE). Similarly, in the highlands the societies that built ceremonial centers show a plant-based economy. Our findings also show that maize only became a staple food (> 25% dietary contribution) in more recent phases of Andean prehistory, around 500 BCE.

Settling down at Ceibal and Cuello: variation in the transition to sedentism across the Maya lowlands

During the Middle Preclassic period (c. 1000–350 BCE), the people of the Maya lowlands transitioned from a mobile horticulturalist to sedentary farming lifestyle, exemplified by permanent houses arranged around patios and rebuilt over generations. Early evidence of this change has been found in northern Belize, in the Belize Valley, and at Ceibal, Guatemala. At Cuello and other sites in northern Belize, mortuary rituals tied to ancestor veneration created inequality from the beginning of sedentary life. There, relatively dense populations facilitated the emergence of competitive sociopolitical strategies. However, Maya communities in different regions adopted different aspects of sedentism at different times and employed different power strategies. Unlike Cuello, Ceibal was founded as a ceremonial center by semi-mobile people. Middle Preclassic ritual practices at Ceibal and in the Belize Valley were associated with more collective leadership. At the end of this period, increased population densities contributed to a shift to more exclusionary rituals and political strategies throughout the lowlands.

The Hopewell Cosmic Airburst Event: A review of the empirical evidence

Abundance peaks in microscopic materials, including meltglass, microspherules, Ni, Ir, and Pt have been found in Native American Hopewell-age cultural strata. This discovery includes micrometeorites (possibly pallasites) recovered from heavily burned strata in two Hopewell villages. This evidence suggests that a prehistoric cosmic airburst/impact event occurred in the Ohio River valley. The peaks in these exotic materials only occur within a dark, charcoal-rich burn layer containing a wide range of Hopewell artifacts, and they are not found above or below the layer. Transgenerational oral histories and possibly two unique airburst-shaped Hopewell earthworks at or near the epicenter suggest that Native Americans living in the Ohio River valley may have been eyewitnesses to the impact event. AMS radiocarbon ages (n = 15) obtained directly from cultural and geological contexts indicate that the airburst/impact event occurred within a 70-year window from 1640-1570 cal BP. The Hopewell culture existed from ~2100-1500 cal BP and suffered a severe decline beginning ~1650 cal BP, suggesting that the proposed impact event occurred near the end of that span. After the proposed event, the hallmarks of the Hopewell culture, such as monumental landscape architecture, the largest geometric earthen enclosures in the world, intricate hilltop water management systems, massive burial mounds, and extensive ceremonial centers, were no longer constructed in the area impacted by the airburst. We propose that this cosmic airburst/impact event catalyzed the economic and sociopolitical decline and reorganization of the Hopewell cultural complex in the Ohio River valley for villages directly affected by the proposed airburst.

Did archery technology precipitate complexity in the Titicaca Basin? A metric analysis of projectile points, 11–1 ka

The extent to which archery technology affected social organization in the Andes region of South America remains understudied. To identify the timing and consequences of archery technology in the Lake Titicaca Basin, this analysis examines metric data from 1179 projectile points from the region, 11–1.0 cal. ka. We find that the greatest decrease in projectile point size occurred across the Late/Terminal Archaic and Formative/Tiwanaku period boundaries, 5.0 and 1.5 cal. ka, respectively. We do not find a statistically significant decrease in size during any other transition, including the Terminal Archaic/Formative boundary, which was previously hypothesized to have been the time when archery technology first appeared in the region. These results instead favor the hypothesis that archery technology first entered the region during the Terminal Archaic Period, 5.0–3.5 cal ka. We furthermore observe that this technological transition coincided with the growth of settlements, a surge in the use of exotic goods such as obsidian, a low level of inter-group violence, and incipient agropastoralism—a pattern that intensified during the subsequent Formative period when monumental ceremonial centers emerged. These findings lead us to propose a model for South American archery technology in which its appearance after 5000 years ago contributed to the emergence of new cooperative dynamics that expanded regional exchange networks and community aggregation.

The Neolithic ceremonial centre at Nowe Objezierze (NW Poland) and its biography from the perspective of the palynological record

Rondels are the oldest monumental ceremonial objects in Europe. They appeared some 200 years after the demise of the Linear Pottery culture (c. 4800BCE). They have given a new shape to the resurgent 'Danubian Neolithic World'. However, despite intensive research, it is still unclear (1) how the transition process took place after the fall of the LBK; (2) how long rondels were function; and (3) under what circumstances they were abandoned. In this paper, we present a new approach to this problem based on an analysis of the biography of a single object based on the integration of archaeological and palaeoenvironmental data. We assume that the high-resolution pollen analysis of lake sediments provides critical data on the dynamics of population change (hiatuses, sharp declines and increases in population size) and how the environment is affected (felling of specific tree species, fires, cultivation of particular crops, grazing intensity). They provide a better understanding of the sequence of settlement and construction changes as well as alterations in material culture available in the archaeological record. The subject of the analysis is a site in the Lower Oder Valley (north-west Poland), at the furthest northern periphery of the 'Danubian World'.

Jade for Bones in Hongshan Craftsmanship: Human Anatomy as the Genesis of a Prehistoric Style

Jade artifacts produced in prehistoric China continue to generate extensive scholarly interest. In the absence of textual data, inferring how works functioned in Jade Age communities remains challenging. This paper focuses on Hongshan 红山 culture (4500–3000 BCE) jades, a distinctively styled corpus primarily recovered from late fourth millennium BCE graves in northeastern China. Recent finds within and beyond the Hongshan core zone have enriched the jade inventory and expanded the known scope of its stylistic variations. The analysis sheds light on enigmatic types, reveals the complex representational nature of this corpus, and clarifies the mimetic intentions that resulted in the soft rounded forms characteristic of the style. Most objects examined were unearthed at Hongshan ceremonial centers and have sound excavation pedigrees. Their study relies on contextual archaeological data and comparative visual analysis and draws on the broader Hongshan material world. Further considerations include environment, funerary practices, materiality, cognition, and human anatomy. Ultimately, the paper uncovers new paradigms of figural representation that should open fresh investigative avenues for specialists of early China. Preliminary evaluation of jades unearthed further south at Lingjiatan 凌家滩 and Liangzhu 良渚 sites suggests that some late Neolithic societies adopted Hongshan practices. Current evidence hints at members of prehistoric communities attempting, through jade works, to rationalize their physical circumstances and assert their social power by symbolically fusing with elements of their environments.

El Dorado Offerings in Lake Guatavita: A Muisca Ritual Archaeological Site

AbstractArchaeological and ethnohistorical investigations in the south of the Colombian Plateau, in the Eastern Highlands, suggest that before European contact Guatavita was an important Muisca chiefdom—largely because of the prestige conferred by the presence of ceremonial centers in their territories, especially around the lakes in the hills surrounding the Guatavita-Guasca Valley. The fame of Lake Guatavita as the most important Muisca shrine was fueled by Spanish chronicles during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, which described it as the core of mass offering ceremonies or of lavish rituals for the chief's investiture, which fed both the story and the myth of El Dorado. This article presents the results of the archaeological survey done around the lake. The type and distribution of the material culture suggest that there was a shrine where small-scale ritual offerings took place, rather than conspicuous celebrations.

A pre-Hispanic religious landscape on the arid Andean altiplano of Bolivia

Research carried out in the Carangas region of highland Bolivia has identified a surprising concentration of pre-Hispanic religious sites, which are linked both to ancient Andean cults of wak'a (sacred mountains, tutelary hills and mummified ancestors) and to the Incan settlement of the region. Of these sites, one ceremonial centre stands out for its unprecedented characteristics for the Andes.

LEVIATHAN WAKES: THE EMERGENCE OF EL PILAR AS A MAJOR CENTER AT THE ONSET OF THE LATE PRECLASSIC

The scale and extent of monumental construction at El Pilar – over 150 hectares spread across two kilometers – attest to its position as a dominant Classic-period center in the upper Belize River area. Like several nearby sites in the Belize Valley, El Pilar was founded in the early Middle Preclassic as the focus of a burgeoning agricultural community. Major architectural expansion at El Pilar accompanied population growth across the area during the transition from Middle to Late Preclassic times. This paper explores the transformation of El Pilar from village ceremonial center to political capital at the onset of the Late Preclassic. New radiocarbon dates, stratigraphic reconstructions, and ceramic analyses reveal the massive scale of architectural investment in the ceremonial core of El Pilar – Plaza Copal – during this important transitional phase. We discuss these new data and their implications for understanding the increasingly complex sociopolitical landscape of the Late Preclassic upper Belize River area. The scale of this construction boom at El Pilar demonstrates the deep roots of power its ruling elites continued to wield until the close of the Classic period.

Earliest evidence of primate captivity and translocation supports gift diplomacy between Teotihuacan and the Maya

A multimethod archaeometry study (zooarchaeological, isotopic, ancient DNA, paleobotanical, and radiocarbon dating) of a spider monkey sacrificed in the ceremonial center of Teotihuacan, Mexico (1 to 550 CE) is interpreted as a diplomatic gift exchange with neighboring Maya. Not only does this spider monkey provide the earliest known instance of primate translocation and captivity in Mesoamerica, it helps date incipient modes of interregional diplomacy between two major powers during Early Classic Mesoamerica: Teotihuacan and the Maya. Details of human-primate interaction include age at capture and transport (before ∼3 y of age), captive duration (over 2 y), anthropogenic diet (staple was maize, though secondary resources unique to anthropogenic diet including arrowroot and chili pepper were also found), context of sacrifice (tethered and associated with complete golden eagle and an array of other statecrafts), and general site context (including presence of Maya vessels and Maya-style murals). The timing of the spider monkey's sacrifice (250 to 300 CE) and its life history suggest a reconsideration of epigraphically attested militaristic involvement of Teotihuacan at certain Maya sites. We propose that a period of more multilateral and fluid ritual exchange with Maya dignitaries preceded the Teotihuacan state's eventual ascent to prominence.

Domestic donkey (Equus asinus asinus) at Gonur Depe and its distribution in the Ancient East

The domestic donkey (Equus asinus asinus) is a hardy, versatile working animal. This species still plays an important role in the traditional economy of the peoples of Central Asia and adjacent regions. At the same time, very little is known about the ways in which this domestic species appeared in the region and the nature of its use in the early historical epochs. The morphological features of ancient donkeys are also poorly studied. It is as-sumed that donkeys appear in the Middle East in the 4th millennium BC. Zooarchaeological data shows that the ancient population of Turkmenistan did not breed the donkey until the Late Bronze Age. Equid bones found at Chalcolithic, Early and Middle Bronze Age sites belong to the onager (Equus hemionus). Donkey bones first ap-peared in the materials from the excavations of the sites of the Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Culture (BMAC). One of the most famous site of BMAC is Gonur Depe, the administrative and ceremonial center of ancient Margi-ana. It is located in the ancient delta of the Murghab River. Gonur Depe dates from 2500 till 1500 BC. The protourban center includes two main sites — North and South Gonur. During the excavation at Gonur, 142 indi-vidual bones and 9 complete skeletons of the domestic donkey were found. Perhaps the isolated donkey bones fell into the trash layers during the destruction of the ritual objects. No traces of purposeful slaughter of these animals and consumption of their meat were found. The donkey skeletons were found inside the human burials or in associated structures, although there are independent burials of these animals as well. So, for example, at the area 8, the donkey, surrounded by ceramic vessels was placed in a tomb made of adobe bricks. In the burials 3200 and 3900, the skeletons of donkeys were found alongside the skeletons of double-humped camels and re-mains of four-wheeled wagons. In total, 4 burials with carts were found at Gonur, where the skeletons of camels are always present, whereas only in two of them — the skeletons of donkeys. It is possible that the bulls and camels were main draft animals of the Gonur people, while the donkeys mainly played the role of a pack and rid-ing animals. The height at the withers of the Gonur donkeys, reconstructed on the basis of measurements of the complete skeletons, was 115–120 cms. These were animals of average size for their species.

Exploring Maya population history of Central Belize from Late Preclassic to Late/Terminal Classic

This study expands upon previous bioarchaeological research in Central Belize, focusing on broadening the current understanding of the region’s population history through a comparative analysis of nonmetric dental traits. Estimates of biological distance were calculated using several statistical methods to identify consistent relationships between groups. In general, groups tended to cluster as expected based on geographic proximity, with Petén, Calakmul, and Late Classic Belize Valley forming one regional node and sites in the northern Yucatan forming another. The Early Central Belize group (Late Preclassic / Protoclassic, 300 BCE – AD 300) was most closely affiliated with sites to the west, including Barton Ramie in the neighboring Upper Belize River Valley, and Petén, which is consistent with archaeological indicators of early economic and political ties among sites in this broader region. However, the Late Central Belize group (Late – Terminal Classic, AD 590–880) is morphologically distinct from the earlier Central Belize group, and does not show clear and consistent affinities to any of the other samples. We interpret these results to mean that the rapid construction of large civic ceremonial centers in the Roaring Creek and Caves Branch River Valleys of Central Belize around the 7th century CE coincided with the arrival of a new group or groups, likely from a region not represented in our current comparative sample.

From Toltecs to Franciscans: The history of El Cerrito pyramid (Middle Mesoamerica) revealed by the fire

In order to obtain the first absolute chronology data, a detailed rock-magnetic, archaeomagnetic and radiocarbon investigation was performed on some in situ features of the El Cerrito pyramid. Archaeomagnetic sampling was carried out on two rectangular fire pits and one burned soil located at the piedmont of the pyramid. Marked irreversibility between heating and cooling cycles and consequently thermal instability is observed on continuous thermomagnetic experiments which discouraged to perform paleointensity experiments. Alternating field demagnetization revealed essentially single component magnetization with negligible secondary overprint probably of viscous origin. Archaeomagnetic age intervals were obtained using available global models and local curves with rather concordant results. Calibrated radiocarbon age agrees well with archaeomagnetic date in one fire pit analyzed while slight differences are observed for the burned soil and the second fire pit. This may be interpreted as reuse and continuous use of these ceremonial areas involving fire as an essential element. The evidence of possible colonial occupation indicates that El Cerrito persisted as a ceremonial center over the centuries, as also attested by Franciscan historical documents.

Social complexity and core-periphery relationships in an Andean Formative ceremonial centre: domestic occupation at Chavín de Huántar

The site of Chavín de Huántar, Peru, lies at the heart of developing social complexity in the Andean Formative period. The archaeological contexts on the site's immediate periphery are assessed to investigate the nature of occupation, activities practised, and relationships between the area's inhabitants and Chavín's ceremonial centre. The peripheral Wacheqsa sector, which began as a modest, domestic occupation in the second millennium BC, was reconfigured c. 800 cal BC into a more substantial settlement, perhaps inhabited by craftspeople producing artefacts for the Chavín authorities. The implications of this study are relevant to wider questions regarding relationships between monumental ceremonial centres and their immediate peripheries, and the study of early socio-economic complexity.

Formative Exchange in the Andean Titicaca Basin: Isotopic Camelid Data and Lithic Sourcing: Evidence From the Taraco Peninsula, Bolivia

The Andean mountains have a mosaic distribution of resources, and no one place has everything a community requires for subsistence, social life and ritual. Therefore, from the very beginning of human habitation there is evidence for short-and long-distance movement and trade. Settled societies in the Andes most commonly used llama caravans that crisscrossed the mountains and highland valleys, although these are hard to identify. Here we present several data sets that inform about southern Lake Titicaca Formative movement of goods and caravans in the build-up to the caravan-driven polity of Middle Horizon Tiwanaku. Plant remains reveal the increasing tempo of goods movement. Olivine basalt results from XRF analyses clarify the extent of goods movement from their sources in the basin. Finally, strontium, carbon and oxygen isotope results from Formative camelid teeth inform us about the extent of long-and short-distance caravan movement emanating out of a shoreline ceremonial center.

Trade, production, and cultural integration at Cerro de Coamiles, Nayarit

During the Early/Middle Postclassic (AD 900-1350), the Aztatlan Tradition spread throughout Western Mexico and grew to be one of the most influential groups in the region. The cultural core of this tradition was centered on the coastal plain of Nayarit with numerous major population centers taking part in expansive trade networks. One such major Aztatlán site is Coamiles, excavated from 2005 to 2010 by the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historía (INAH). From these excavations, we here present the results of ceramic and obsidian analyses as well as discussions of site architecture. These results demonstrate the widespread importation of obsidian from the Jalisco highlands as well as simultaneous local production of lithic tools from more proximal sources. In contrast, ceramic analyses illustrate a ceramic industry that appears largely reliant upon local production with little, if any, ceramic trade. Finally, the architecture of the ceremonial center suggests an integration into broader cosmological belief systems that are still maintained today with modern indigenous populations. Overall, Coamiles was a paragon of Aztatlán culture. We can look to Coamiles and see similar attributes as we find throughout the entire coastal plain during the Postclassic. In this way, Coamiles is an ideal case study for understanding this prolific tradition.

Performance in the Zócalo: Constructing History, Race, and Identity in Mexico’s Central Square from the Colonial Era to the Present

Performance in the Zócalo: Constructing History, Race, and Identity in Mexico’s Central Square from the Colonial Era to the Present

Kenneth Brophy and Gordon Noble, Prehistoric Forteviot: Excavations of a Ceremonial Centre in Eastern Scotland Ewan Campbell and Stephen Driscoll, Royal Forteviot: Excavations of a Pictish Power Centre in Eastern Scotland

Kenneth Brophy and Gordon Noble, <i>Prehistoric Forteviot: Excavations of a Ceremonial Centre in Eastern Scotland</i> Ewan Campbell and Stephen Driscoll, <i>Royal Forteviot: Excavations of a Pictish Power Centre in Eastern Scotland</i>