Southern Mesoamerica Research Articles

At the Crossroads: Introducing New Work in Early America and Colonial Latin America

At the Crossroads: Introducing New Work in Early America and Colonial Latin America

Two Bigamists in Tehuantepec: Global(ized) Itineraries in Southern Mesoamerica, circa 1600

Abstract This article compares the itineraries of two men—one European, one Mesoamerican—accused of bigamy at the turn of the seventeenth century. While the European repeatedly remade his life in new locales, the Mesoamerican returned to the same places time and again, revealing a pattern of circular migration by multilingual Oaxacans along the southern Pacific coast. The European's travels enabled his manipulation of the Spanish Inquisition, while the Mesoamerican's expanding social geography became his undoing. Reading these two cases in tandem pushes us beyond their apparent similarities, a product of their framing by the Spanish Catholic legal system, and toward their profound incommensurability despite overlaps of time, place, and circumstance.

Editor's Note

Editor's Note Joshua Piker This issue of the William and Mary Quarterly is entitled "Colonial Roots/Routes in North America and Latin America" and is jointly published with the Hispanic American Historical Review. The joint issue consists of an introductory essay by Camilla Townsend and eight articles, three of which are published in HAHR and five in WMQ. The introduction appears in both journals. More specifically, in this issue, you will find articles by Jack Bouchard, Joaquín Rivaya-Martínez, Margaret Ellen Newell, Matt D. Childs, and Nancy E. van Deusen, along with Townsend's introductory essay. The other articles will appear in May 2023's issue of HAHR (volume 103, number 2): The Echo of Voices after the Fall of the Aztec Empire Alex Hidalgo Two Bigamists in Tehuantepec: Global(ized) Itineraries in Southern Mesoamerica, circa 1600 Laura Matthew "Betwixt Ye Two Rivers": Trafficking and Colonization in Early Seventeenth-Century Saint Christopher Casey Schmitt I am grateful to the participants in the joint issue for their commitment to this project, which began before COVID-19, was powerfully shaped by the pandemic, and is being published two years later than anyone involved initially envisioned. I thank the authors for their patience and hard work in difficult circumstances, and I thank the peer reviewers for taking on assignments at a moment when no one needed another thing to worry about. I am particularly grateful to Martha Few and her colleagues at HAHR, for being such exemplary partners in this project; to Ryan Kashanipour, for insisting that Martha and I would have a lot to talk about and setting up a meeting for us at the 2017 Southwest Seminar; and to the organizers of the 2019 American Society for Ethnohistory Annual Meeting at Pennsylvania State University, for allowing us to devote three linked panels to the conversation that became this joint issue. [End Page 205] Joshua Piker William and Mary Quarterly Copyright © 2023 Omohundro Institute of Early American History & Culture

An 1800-year oxygen-isotope record of short- and long-term hydroclimate variability in the northern neotropics from a Jamaican marl lake

Hydroclimate variability on multi-decadal timescales has been a prominent feature of the circum-Caribbean region over the common era, with marked dry intervals noted in particular for the period 800–950 CE coinciding with the Terminal Classic Period (the so-called Terminal Classic Drought: TCD) in Mesoamerica, and with the Little Ice Age from about 1500 to 1800 CE, linked to complex ocean-atmosphere interactions. Previous compilations of palaeoclimate reconstructions have revealed a clear precipitation dipole between northern and southern Mesoamerica over the common era, which is consistent with meteorological data and modelling experiments. However, patterns of variability elsewhere within the region are less well understood, although palaeoclimate records do point to spatial complexity. Here, we present a ∼sub-decadal-scale lake-sediment hydroclimate reconstruction based on ostracod-shell stable isotopes from Wallywash Great Pond, Jamaica, covering the past ∼1800 years, which fills a spatial gap in records for the region. Variations in δ18O values at this site are a proxy for changes in effective moisture and they reveal a marked wet phase over the Terminal Classic Period (TCP), suggesting that the precipitation dipole over northern and southern Mesoamerica may have an east to west component. This is supported by some previous studies, although additional sites are required from strategic localities within the region to confirm this. The Little Ice Age interval at Wallywash is drier than the TCP, although the signal is less clear than at some sites within the wider region, suggesting that regional complexity in hydroclimate has characterised this interval as well.

Scrutinizing the paleoecological record of the Maya forest

Human expansion into and occupation of the New World coincided with the great transition from the Pleistocene to the Holocene epoch, yet questions remain about how we detect human presence in the paleoecological record. In the Maya area of southern Mesoamerica, archeological evidence of the human imprint is largely invisible until ∼4,000 years ago. How do environmental changes after that time correspond and relate to human impacts? Are the archeological signatures of initial settlements in the Early Preclassic detected? Later, by ∼2,000 years ago when the Maya had fully settled the landscape, how does the evidence of forest compositional changes relate to human intervention? This paper evaluates published paleoecological data in light of the rise of the Maya civilization and reflects on interpretations of how swidden agriculture and the milpa cycle impacted the environment. Evaluating the contrast between the long archeological sequence of successful Maya development and paleoecological interpretations of destructive human-induced environmental impacts requires a concordance among pollen data, archeological evidence, ethnohistoric observations, ethnological studies of traditional Maya land use, and the historical ecology of the Maya forest today.

Cultural Landscapes of Resilience and Vulnerability: The Selin Farm Site, Northeastern Honduras

ABSTRACT Research at the Selin Farm site in northeastern Honduras examined changing cultural landscapes in a region whose prehistory is poorly understood. Low-impact field methods and radiocarbon dates reveal how this cultural landscape changed in response to shifting priorities among its inhabitants from a.d. 300–1000. We found evidence for rapid accumulation of deposits beginning around a.d. 600, when the site nearly doubled in size over the span of just decades, before retracting again within a few centuries. Although it was caught up in some of the broader social and political changes that began around a.d. 600 throughout northern Honduras and southern Mesoamerica, the longevity of this site suggests stability of the cultural and ecological systems in which it was embedded until the final centuries of occupation. Well-preserved, long-term deposits make Selin Farm an ideal location in which to explore entangled processes of environmental and social change in the little-known small-scale societies of Central America.

Pictorial remanent magnetization retrieved from the Santo Domingo Convent (Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Oaxaca, Mexico): An attempt to directly date mural paintings based on geomagnetic field variation

A detailed magnetic mineralogy and archaeomagnetic investigation was performed on thirty-two red mural painting samples belonging to the colonial Santo Domingo Convent in Oaxaca (Southern Mesoamerica). Systematic magnetic experiments included continuous thermomagnetic curves, hysteresis cycles, acquisition of isothermal remanence and step-wise alternating field demagnetization of the pictorial remanent magnetization (PiRM). Titanium-poor titanomagnetite seems to act as responsible for major part of pictorial remanent magnetization while heating and cooling curves show marked irreversibility and high thermal instability. Although all samples were demagnetized by means of alternating fields up to 90 mT, only seven of them provided reasonably well-grouped paleodirections yielding following mean values: Inclination = 35.2°, Declination = 2.3°, α 95 = 4.8° and k = 161. According to the probability density function obtained by means of the global geomagnetic model SHA.DIF.14 K, the possible elaboration date of the painting layer under study is estimated between 1684 CE and 1744 in accordance with historical documents. Despite low success rate, the described methodology deserves to be considered for dating of wide range of red mural paintings worldwide. • A detailed magnetic mineralogy and archaeomagnetic investigation was performed on thirty-two red mural painting samples. • Titanium-poor titanomagnetite seems to act as responsible for major part of pictorial remanent magnetization. • The possible elaboration date of the painting layer under study is estimated between AD 1684 and 1744. • Despite low success rate, the described methodology deserves to be considered for dating of wide range of wall paintings.

Movement building responses to COVID-19: lessons from the JASS mobilisation fund

This article draws on the work of Just Associates (JASS), a feminist movement support organisation that strengthens the leadership and organising capacity of community-based women networks in Southern Africa, Southeast Asia, and Mesoamerica, to transform the structures that perpetuate inequality and violence. We analyse qualitative interviews and surveys drawn from recipients of the JASS mobilisation fund (JMF), an innovative financial crisis support mechanism for feminist movements. We argue that localisation strategies deployed by women’s networks supported by the JMF in response to COVID-19, challenge dominant humanitarian responses that de-centre feminist movements, local knowledge, and expertise. By accounting for local knowledge generated from long histories of movement building, building collective power, and challenging racialised and gendered responses to humanitarian crises, women’s collectives and networks supported through the JMF developed contextually relevant responses that challenge patriarchal structural barriers heightened by COVID-19.

Historical biogeography of New World passalid beetles (Coleoptera, Passalidae) reveals Mesoamerican tropical forests as a centre of origin and taxonomic diversification

AbstractAimThe fauna of Mesoamerica is extraordinarily species rich and exhibits a high degree of local, regional and high‐elevation endemism. Traditionally, this area has been seen as a transition zone between the Nearctic and Neotropical regions; in contrast, new data suggest that Mesoamerica is a centre of origin and taxonomic diversification. For example, the diversity of species and genera of Passalidae in Mesoamerica is concentrated in montane environments and there are many locally endemic taxa; thus, Mesoamerica has been suggested as a centre of origin and taxonomic diversification for the group. However, this hypothesis has not been formally tested.LocationNew World tropics, with an emphasis on Mesoamerica.TaxonColeoptera, Passalidae (tribes Passalini and Proculini)MethodsWe studied timing and geographic patterns in the taxonomic diversification of Neotropical Passalidae. We used DNA sequence data from 3 genes (CAD, Wingless, 28S) for 93 species of Passalidae, along with information from the fossil record, to generate a time‐calibrated phylogeny for the group. Additionally, we performed Ancestral Area Estimation and Ancestral State Reconstruction of the altitudinal distribution niche.ResultsThe divergence time analyses recovered a much older estimated timing of origin and diversification events in Passalidae than previously proposed. We recovered the origins of the New World Passalidae in the late Jurassic and the split between Passalini and Proculini during the mid‐Cretaceous. Moreover, we observed congruence between timing and patterns of clade diversification and major paleogeographical events; for example, the origin and crown diversification of montane genera during the uplift and emergence of Mesoamerica from the sea.Main conclusionsOrogenic events throughout the Paleogene and Neogene played a major role in the diversification of New World Passalidae. Moreover, Nuclear and Southern Mesoamerica are centres of origin and taxonomic diversification for Proculini.

The Low-Density Urban Systems of the Classic Period Maya and Izapa: Insights from Settlement Scaling Theory

The peoples of southern Mesoamerica, including the Classic period Maya, are often claimed to exhibit a distinct type of spatial organization relative to contemporary urban systems. Here, we use the settlement scaling framework and properties of settlements recorded in systematic, full-coverage surveys to examine ways in which southern Mesoamerican settlement systems were both similar to and different from contemporary systems. We find that the population-area relationship in these settlements differs greatly from that reported for other agrarian settlement systems, but that more typical patterns emerge when one considers a site epicenter as the relevant social interaction area, and the population administered from a given center as the relevant interacting population. Our results imply that southern Mesoamerican populations mixed socially at a slower temporal rhythm than is typical of contemporary systems. Residential locations reflected the need to balance energetic and transport costs of farming with lower-frequency costs of commuting to central places. Nevertheless, increasing returns in activities such as civic construction were still realized through lower-frequency social mixing. These findings suggest that the primary difference between low-density urbanism and contemporary urban systems lies in the spatial and temporal rhythms of social mixing.

Atlantic‐Pacific Gradients Drive Last Millennium Hydroclimate Variability in Mesoamerica

AbstractThe paleoclimatic record from Mexico and Central America, or Mesoamerica, documents dramatic swings in hydroclimate over the past few millennia. However, the dynamics underlying these past changes remain obscure. We use proxy indicators of hydroclimate to show that last millennium hydroclimate variability was dominated by opposite‐signed moisture anomalies in northern and southern Mesoamerica. This pattern results from changes in moisture convergence driven by Atlantic‐Pacific interbasin temperature gradients. While this pattern is reproduced by several models and multiple experiments with a single model, models appear to disagree about the underlying dynamics of this interbasin gradient. Moreover, disagreement about the interbasin gradient, and associated hydroclimate pattern, dominates spread in 21st century regional hydroclimate projections. These results emphasize the role of interbasin asymmetries in governing past and future regional climate change. They also demonstrate that paleoclimate studies can elucidate mechanisms directly relevant to projecting future hydroclimate in climate change hot spots like Mesoamerica.

The memory of fire in El Coporo (Northern Mesoamerica): Apogee and abandonment

Most detailed archaeometric studies come from central and southern Mesoamerica while many important sites belonging to the western regions are not yet rigorously studied. Here we report a detailed rock-magnetic and archaeomagnetic study from the El Coporo archaeological site at the northern border of Mesoamerica. Our study of more than 100 oriented samples was performed on the six most important sites distributed along the archaeological zone. Continuous thermomagnetic curves revealed magnetite as responsible for magnetization accompanied by unstable (titano)maghemite. Most of the samples are characterized by a single component magnetization, which is almost completely removed applying 50 mT, suggesting the presence of relatively low coercivity magnetic minerals. Characteristic directions were precisely determined for four out of six studied sites, yielding statistically undistinguishable directions. Corresponding archaeomagnetic age intervals range from 820 to 950 A.D. in good agreement with previous archaeological studies that suggested a period of abandonment at about 900 A.D. as an attempt to reoccupy the place by the Toltecs. Numerous archaeological evidences argue in favor of an intentional fire. However, the possibility of ritual closure should be also considered since there is no evidence of violent or warlike actions.

Linking late Paleoindian stone tool technologies and populations in North, Central and South America.

From the perspective of Central and South America, the peopling of the New World was a complex process lasting thousands of years and involving multiple waves of Pleistocene and early Holocene period immigrants entering into the neotropics. These Paleoindian colonists initially brought with them technologies developed for adaptation to environments and resources found in North America. As the ice age ended across the New World people adapted more generalized stone tools to exploit changing environments and resources. In the neotropics these changes would have been pronounced as patchy forests and grasslands gave way to broadleaf tropical forests. We document a late Pleistocene/early Holocene stone tool tradition from Belize, located in southern Mesoamerica. This represents the first endogenous Paleoindian stone tool technocomplex recovered from well dated stratigraphic contexts for Mesoamerica. Previously designated Lowe, these artifacts share multiple features with contemporary North and South American Paleoindian tool types. Once hafted, these bifaces appear to have served multiple functions for cutting, hooking, thrusting, or throwing. The tools were developed at a time of technological regionalization reflecting the diverse demands of a period of pronounced environmental change and population movement. Combined stratigraphic, technological, and population paleogenetic data suggests that there were strong ties between lowland neotropic regions at the onset of the Holocene.

The Izapa Kingdom's Capital: Formative Period Settlement Patterns, Population, and Dating Low-Relief Stelae

This article presents new settlement survey data from the Izapa center of southern Mesoamerica, a site long known for its corpus of low-relief stelae. These data, which track the changing distribution of population from 1000 BC–AD 100, indicate that the city's population peaked at 5,725 inhabitants. Izapa was the capital of a regional kingdom with more than 40 lower-order monumental centers and a territory that covered at least 450 sq. km. Recent AMS dates confirm the apogee of the kingdom at 300–100 BC, and volcanological reconstruction suggests that a Tacaná volcano eruption corresponds with archaeological evidence of political and demographic disruptions to the kingdom. Patterns at Izapa are contextualized in terms of Inomata and colleagues’ (2014) call for redating Kaminaljuyu, placing the erection of stelae there to after 100 BC, as well as Love's (2018) and Mendelsohn's (2018) responses in this journal. Izapa was an integrated kingdom from 700–100 BC, and “Izapa-style” sculptures were a novel medium of political communication introduced after the polity had been functioning without them for centuries. If Inomata and colleagues' (2014) proposal is correct that low-relief stelae were erected only after 100 BC at other centers in southern Mesoamerica, this was centuries after the practice was established at Izapa.

Chronology Building in Southern Mesoamerica: Comment on Love

Love (2018) misunderstands some concepts of Bayesian analysis and the data from Naranjo and Urías. The cross-dating of El Ujuxte needs to be reevaluated with the publication of its ceramic data.

A Taxonomic and Biogeographic Reappraisal of the Genus Dicksonia (Dicksoniaceae) in the Neotropics

We evaluate morphological characters of South American Dicksonia (Dicksoniaceae) gathered from field observations and herbarium specimens. We here adopt the taxonomic concept of earlier authors and separate D. sellowiana of southeastern Brazil from D. navarrensis (=D. gigantea auct.) and D. karsteniana, which occurmainly in Mesoamerica and in the Andes, respectively. The latter species is especially variable in plant size and persistence of the hairy indument, which can be correlated with local ecological conditions. For plants with small, hairy fronds from shrubby paramo vegetation, we here propose to reinstate a varietal name, D. karsteniana var. arachnoidea, and for glabrescent plants regularly found at lower elevations in closed forest we suggest D. karsteniana var. spruceana. Dicksonia stuebelii is maintained as a separate species and is reported from northern Colombia for the first time. One species is recognized as new, D. lehnertiana; it is characterized by relatively small, long-stalked fronds with spreading bristly hairs. Results of an S-DIVA biogeographical analysis implemented on an updated phylogeny of Neotropical Dicksonia separate D. sellowiana in southeastern Brazil clearly from the rest of the taxa, whose ancestral area is reconstructed as northern Andes–southern Mesoamerica. However, the resolution and support in this group could be improved. Our results have significance for conservation efforts, as D. sellowiana is now virtually a Brazilian endemic.

A History of Cacao in West Mexico: Implications for Mesoamerica and U.S. Southwest Connections

Cacao economies in far western Mexico developed between AD 850/900 and 1350+ along with the adoption of a political–religious complex centered on the solar deity Xochipilli as the Aztatlan culture became integrated into expanding political, economic, and information networks of highland and southern Mesoamerica. The Xochipilli complex significantly transformed societies in the Aztatlan core zone of coastal Nayarit and Sinaloa and parts of Jalisco, Durango, Zacatecas, and Michoacan. West Mexican cacao was acquired in the U.S. Southwest by Chaco Canyon elites in New Mexico through macroregional prestige goods economies as Ancestral Pueblo societies became integrated into the Postclassic Mesoamerican world.

Obsidian sourcing and dynamic trade patterns at Izapa, Chiapas, Mexico: 100 BCE–400 CE

Recent research on Mesoamerican economies has demonstrated that Prehispanic trade networks were not static, but constantly evolving. Relationships between peoples in different settlements and regions shift as social, political, and economic circumstances change. One question that results from these findings is how significant events such as sociopolitical decline or abandonment affect exchange networks. This study investigates changes in obsidian procurement during a period of widespread upheaval across southern Mesoamerica, ca. 100–250 CE, from the perspective of a surviving capital on the Pacific coast of Chiapas, Mexico. X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) analysis using a Bruker Tracer III–V was conducted for obsidian collected from Terminal Formative (100 BCE–250 CE) and initial Early Classic (250–400 CE) domestic contexts to evaluate how obsidian procurement patterns at the ancient city of Izapa were affected by events in neighboring regions. Obsidian results are compared to known shifts in sociopolitical relationships as observed through ceramics, burials, and art styles. Data indicate that residents of Izapa shifted trade from east to west over the Terminal Formative to Early Classic period transition. Patterns correspond with sociopolitical turmoil at the Guatemalan highland capital of Kaminaljuyú and the rise of the central Mexican city of Teotihuacan. Results also indicate, however, that economic relationships may continue even in places where political affiliations have been severed. Results suggest that datasets for different artifact classes, when viewed independently, introduce additional nuance into the questions of collapse and resilience of ancient societies.

THE FORMATIVE TO CLASSIC PERIOD TRANSITION AT IZAPA: UPDATES FROM THE IZAPA HOUSEHOLD ARCHAEOLOGY PROJECT

AbstractIn southern Mesoamerica, the period between 100b.c.anda.d.400 saw both the apogee and fall of several powerful Formative-period cities. Previous reports have suggested that conquest from the southeast may have prompted a unique decline at Izapa around 100b.c., when many neighboring cities were prospering. Over the last five years, new archaeological data has emerged for the Formative to Classic period transition at Izapa. The present work summarizes these updates and highlights recent deposits excavated during the Izapa Household Archaeology Project. These updates raise questions about the Hato-phase intrusion hypothesis proposed by Lowe and colleagues (1982). I close with an alternative proposal that, beginning around 100b.c., increased network participation and a change in the institution of kingship produced some of the dramatic changes in ceramics and burial patterns observed at the site.

The acacia ants revisited: convergent evolution and biogeographic context in an iconic ant/plant mutualism.

Phylogenetic and biogeographic analyses can enhance our understanding of multispecies interactions by placing the origin and evolution of such interactions in a temporal and geographical context. We use a phylogenomic approach-ultraconserved element sequence capture-to investigate the evolutionary history of an iconic multispecies mutualism: Neotropical acacia ants (Pseudomyrmex ferrugineus group) and their associated Vachellia hostplants. In this system, the ants receive shelter and food from the host plant, and they aggressively defend the plant against herbivores and competing plants. We confirm the existence of two separate lineages of obligate acacia ants that convergently occupied Vachellia and evolved plant-protecting behaviour, from timid ancestors inhabiting dead twigs in rainforest. The more diverse of the two clades is inferred to have arisen in the Late Miocene in northern Mesoamerica, and subsequently expanded its range throughout much of Central America. The other lineage is estimated to have originated in southern Mesoamerica about 3 Myr later, apparently piggy-backing on the pre-existing mutualism. Initiation of the Pseudomyrmex/Vachellia interaction involved a shift in the ants from closed to open habitats, into an environment with more intense plant herbivory. Comparative studies of the two lineages of mutualists should provide insight into the essential features binding this mutualism.