Revealing Ancestral Central America, By Rosemary a. Joyce

7/27/2019 Revealing Ancestral Central America, By Rosemary a. Joyce

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RevealingAncestralCentralAmerica

Edited by

Rosemary A. Joyce


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3 CHAPTER TITLE GOES HERE


Edited by

Rosemary A. Joyce

The Smithsonian Latino Center

and the

National Msem o the American Indian

Smithsonian Instittion


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4 REVEALING ANCESTRAL CENTRAL AMERICA

2013 Smithsonian Instittion. All rights reserved.

No part o this book may be reprodced in any man-

ner whatsoever withot written permission o the

Smithsonian Instittion except in the case o brie

qotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

The Smithsonian Latino Center ensres that Latino

contribtions to the arts, sciences, and hmanities

are highlighted, nderstood, and advanced throgh

the development and spport o pblic programs,

research, msem collections, and edcational

opportnities at the Smithsonian Instittion.

For more inormation abot the Smithsonian Latino

Center, visit the SLC website at www.latino.si.ed.

The National Msem o the American Indian

(NMAI) is committed to advancing knowledge andnderstanding o the Native cltres o the Western

Hemispherepast, present, and trethrogh

partnership with Native people and others. The

msem works to spport the continance o cltre,

traditional vales, and transitions in contemporary

Native lie.

For more inormation abot the Smithsonians

National Msem o the American Indian, visit the

NMAI website at www.AmericanIndian.si.ed.

FIRST EDITION

The name o the Smithsonian, Smithsonian

Instittion, and the snbrst logo are registered

trademarks o the Smithsonian Instittion.

SMITHSONIAN LATINO CENTER andNATIONAL MuSEuM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN

Director, Smithsonian Latino Center: Edardo Daz

Director, National Msem o the American Indian:

Kevin Gover (Pawnee)

Associate Director or Scholarship, NMAI:

David Penney

Associate Director or Msem Programs, NMAI:

Tim Johnson (Mohawk)

Associate Director or Msem Assets and

Operations, NMAI: Jane Sledge

Exhibitions and Pblic Programs Director, SLC:

Ranald Woodaman

Lead Crator: Ann McMllen, NMAI

Gest Crator: Alexander Bentez

General Editor: Rosemary A. Joyce

Copy Editor: Joan MentzerEditorial Assistance: Ann McMllen and

the NMAI Pblications Oce

Design: Stdio A

Alexandria, Virginia

Typeset in Seria and Locator

Printed in the uSA by For Color Print Grop

This pblication received ederal spport rom

the Latino Initiatives Pool, administered by the

Smithsonian Latino Center, and additional spport

rom the National Concil o the National Msem o

the American Indian.

Cover: Fig. 86. Greater Nicoya emale gre on a

eline-egy bench. See page 61. Photo by Ernest

Amoroso.Back cover: Fig. 56. Classic period Maya male gre.

See page 41.

Title page: Fig. 10. Greater Cocl animal gre.

See page 16.

Page 10: Fig. 60. Classic period Maya vessel depict-

ing a nobleman carried on a palanqin (detail).

See page 44.

Page 68: Fig. 112. Greater Cocl (Cont style) ooted

plate with crocodile design. See page 75.

Printed in conjnction with the exhibition

Cermca de ls Acesrs: Ceral Amercas Pas Revealed,

on view at the National Msem o the American Indian

in Washington, DC, March 29, 2013Febrary 1, 2015.

Smithsonian


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6 Foreword

Kev Gver ad Edard Daz

8 Acknowledgments

Ancestral Central America

13 Srronded by Beaty:

Central America beore 1500

Rsemary A. Jyce

23 Dwelling in the Ancestral

Joya de Cern Village

Pays Shees

33 Artisanry in Motion

Chrsa Lke ad Rsemary A. Jyce

45 Athority in Ancestral Central America

Jh W. Hpes

59 Between Belies and Ritals:

Material Cltre o Ancestral Costa Rica

Parca Ferdez

Collectors and Collecting

70 A New Dream Msem

A McMlle

72 Minor Keith and the united Frit Company

Alexader Beez

74 Adventrers, Dilettantes, and Looters

A McMlle

76 Accidental Interests

A McMlle

78 Promoting Heritage

Alexader Beez

80 List o Figres

88 Reerences Cited

Contents


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Ceramercasthey are thebackbone o the Latino commni-

ties srronding Washington, D.C.,

the Smithsonians own backyard. They hail

rom El Salvador, Gatemala, Hondras,

Nicaraga, Belize, Panama, and Costa Rica.

They have a growing presence throghot

the united States, yet representation o

their cltral and social legacies in Latin

American scholarship has remained largely

marginalized by earlier ocs on the politi-

cal dominance, riches, and the epic drama o

Mesoamerican and Andean empires. Throgha partnership between the Smithsonian Latino

Center (SLC) and the National Msem o the

American Indian (NMAI), we have seized this

opportnity to connect with or local Latino

commnities, many o which remain rooted

in their indigenos heritage and history.

Herein we honor the endring, economically

and politically stable cltral traditions o

pre-Hispanic Central America throgh their

exceptional material cltre. Sharing this cl-

tral patrimony and acknowledging its vale

is both or challenge and or responsibility,and we gladly take p the charge.

The generation o this project occrred

by accident, with a discovery at the NMAI o a

vast collection o Central American archaeo-

logical objects by visiting sta researchers

rom the Smithsonian Latino Center. They

realized that the NMAI was qietly caring orone o the largest and most signicant col-

lections o Central American archaeology in

existence, with approximately 17,000 objects

rom the region. Astondingly, this incldes

more than 10,000 intact vessels, embodying

contless ntold stories.

The Central American Ceramics Research

Project, or CACRP, is the Latino Centers

initiative to learn more abot these works.

Lanched in 2009, the CACRP spported

the two-year stdy, docmentation, and

identication o items in the NMAIs CentralAmerican ceramics collections. This initiative

has been the catalyst or other research and

projects, sch as an exhibition, based on a

nmber o the objects that examine cltral

diversity, complexity, and change across

space and time; a series o pblic programs

exploring cltral and scientic dimensions

o the project; training opportnities or

Central American msem sta; an interac-

tive website; and this pblication.

All o this work springs rom nprec-

edented new scholarship related to these

objects, ew o which had been previosly

stdied or pblicly exhibited. The objects

highlighted in this book, largely drawn rom

the NMAIs Central American archaeologi-

cal collection, have mch to say to s today.

They testiy to the complexity o long-lived

Foreword

Kevin Gover (Pawnee)Director, National Msem o the American Indian

Edardo DazExective Director, Smithsonian Latino Center


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7 FOREWORD

governments and social systems, and to theimportance and sophistication o the art and

science in the commnities where they were

made. They speak o the patience, sensitivity,

and innovation o their makers.

The essays that ollow reveal the lives o

the ancestors o the indigenos, mestizo, and

aromestizo peoples o Central America. Their

histories have oten been lost or obscred,

bt throgh archaeology, the available

records, and nderstandings rom contem-

porary indigenos peoples, we can partially

reconstrct and begin to glimpse the organi-zation o their daily lives and their ideas abot

natre, power, and the spernatral. From the

grines depicting powerl women in the

Greater Nicoya region to the nely decorated

vessels o the wealthy arming hamlets o

the ula Valley and the antastical designs

on Cocl pottery, we can see that the peoples

o pre-Hispanic Central America developed

niqely local identities and cltral tradi-

tions while also engaging in vital exchanges

o ideas, goods, and technologies with their

neighbors in all directions. By emphasizingnotions o heritage and connection to or

pre-Hispanic collections, this project has

the potential to engage srronding Central

American commnities and introdce them to

the Smithsonians broader panoply o cltral

resorces. For the newly initiated or the most

devoted acionado amiliar with the historyand cltres o the region, the experience o

seeing or exhibition or reading this book is

meant to engender new paradigms or nder-

standing the pre-Hispanic past.

The eort to ncover this ancestral inheri-

tance has been a mlti-year labor o love. We

wold like to thank the brilliant and dedicated

team o scholars, crators, editors, project

managers, conservators, exhibition designers,

web designers, edcators, ndraisers, pb-

licists, and other msem proessionals who

made all o this possible. We are particlarlyindebted to general editor Rosemary Joyce,

whose exemplary eorts, copled with the

leading-edge scholarship o the contribting

athors, shaped this pblication. Joyce not

only contribted her expertise and dedication

to this project, bt was an advocate or creat-

ing access to this new knowledge. We hope

that yo are moved by these grondbreaking

explorations o the Central American past.

Ula River emale gure,

AD 250900. Ro Ulavalley, Honduras. Pottery.

Formerly in the collection

o Marco Aurelio Soto;

MAI purchase rom an

unknown source, 1917.


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This pblication accompanies the exhi-bition, Cermca de ls Acesrs: Ceral

Amercas Pas Revealed. The exhibitions

cratorial team and network o scholars

in the united States and Central America

played an essential role in its develop-

ment. I am especially gratel to lead

crator Ann McMllen (NMAI) and gest

crator Alexander Bentez (George Mason

university), who have been involved in

Acknowledgments

Ranald WoodamanExhibitions and Pblic Programs Director, Smithsonian Latino Center

Revealg Acesral Ceral Amercais a collaboration between the

Smithsonian Latino Center and the

National Msem o the American Indian.

It was made possible throgh ederal sp-

port rom the Latino Initiatives Pool, adminis-

tered by the Smithsonian Latino Center,

with additional spport rom the National

Concil o the National Msem o the

American Indian.

Classic period Maya

metate in the orm o

an animal and mano,

AD 250900. Chiltiupn,

La Libertad Department,

El Salvador. Stone.

Collected or excavated

by Samuel K. Lothrop,

1926.


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this project since it began in 2009 as theCentral American Ceramics Research

Project. Special thanks are de to general

editor Rosemary A. Joyce and contribt-

ing athors Payson Sheets, Christina Lke,

John Hoopes, and Patricia Fernndez,

as well as the NMAIs associate director

or msem scholarship, David Penney.

Revealg Acesral Ceral Amerca cold

not have been possible withot the spport

o the NMAI Pblications Oce, as well as

the NMAIs team o talented photographers,

conservators, and collections managers.The National Msem o Natral History

also deserves thanks or generosly sharing

images rom its anthropological collections.

My sincerest thanks to all those inside and

otside the Smithsonian Instittion who

have shared their time and vision with s in

order to tell the story o Central Americas

ancestral peoples.

9 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS


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11 ANCESTRAL CENTRAL AMERICA

AncestralCentralAmerica


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GreaterChiriqu

GreaterCocl

CentralCaribbean

GreaterNicoya

UlaRiver

Gulf of Mexico

Caribbean Sea

M e s o a m e r i c a Maya

Teotihuacan

Atlantic Ocean

Pacific Ocean

Fig. 1

N


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13 SURROUNDED BY BEAUTY

to more than 250 kilometers. While mosto the painted and mold-made pottery was

locally crated (Figre 5), some dishes came

rom Belize or Gatemala, some jars rom the

Slaco river valley to the east. And all o this

rom a rral village, whose modest hoses

were made o poles, covered with clay, topped

with thatched roos. The materials were indi-

cated by brned clay with pole impressions

collected dring excavations I co-directed in

the early 1990s at the same site, now called

Campo Dos (Hendon, Joyce, and Lopiparo,

in press).At scales ranging rom larger-than-lie

stone sclptres depicting hmans and

spernatral beings to the intimacy o

jewelry made to be worn in pierced ears,

sspended rom the neck, clasping the

head, arms, or legs, or stitched to cloth-

ing, it is evident that people o pre-16th-

centry Central American societies lived in

a visally rich, materially lxrios world.

Nor was this visal and material richness

limited to a small, privileged grop. Even

in the most stratied and neqal societiesin the region, sch as those o the Classic

Maya (ca. AD 250850), research in rral

locations like the well-preserved village

o Joya del Cern, El Salvador, shows that

armers owned dozens o pottery vessels,

many o them brightly painted or modeled

The rst impression or anyone condct-ing archaeological research in Central

America (Figre 1), or seeing msem

collections rom previos work there, is o an

astonishing and pervasive richness in even

the everyday objects crated by the regions

ancestral peoples. Take as an example an

assemblage recovered rom a site in the

ula river valley in Hondras, called Farm

Two by Gregory Mason, who collected the

materials or the Heye Fondation. Among

some 400 objects, the groping incldes

jade and shell beads and an obsidian mirror,parts o distinctive costmes; spindle whorls

or making thread and grondstone tools or

making bark cloth; other stone tools or work-

ing wood and grinding plants, and obsidian

blades and tools o the kind sed to process

plants and animals to prepare meals; locally

made bowls with mlticolored images o h-

man gres in ceremonial costme wielding

rital implements (Figre 2), and jars with

red geometric designs; ceramic vessels or

brning resins dring ritals; and a plethora

o molded, red-clay images o hmans andanimals, and many msical instrments,

some small enogh to hold in a hand (Figre

3), others large egies hal-lie size (Figre

4), also sed in ceremonies.

Obsidian, jade, and marine shell were

imported rom distances ranging rom thirty

Surrounded by Beauty:

Central America before 1500Rosemary A. Joyce

Fig. 1. Map o Central

America showing its

principal archeological

regions.


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Fig. 2 Fig. 3

Fig. 4 Fig. 5

Fig. 6 Fig. 7

Fig. 2. Ula River tripod

vessel with design o

masked gures, AD

850950. Ro Ula valley,

Corts Department,

Honduras. Pottery, clay

slip, paint. MAI purchase

rom N. Hasbun, 1969.

Fig. 3. Ula River whistle

representing a man andwoman, AD 750850

Campo Dos (United Fruit

Company Farm 2), Corts

Department, Honduras

Pottery. Collected or exca-

vated by Gregory Mason,

acquired by MAI, 1932.

Fig. 4. Ula River gure

rom an incensario lid

representing a man hold-

ing an axe, AD 650850.

Naranjo Chino, Yoro

Department, Honduras.

Pottery. Collected or exca-vated by Gregory Mason,


Fig. 5. Ula River Vessel

depicting dancers, AD

750850. Yuscarn, El

Paraso Department,


slip, paint. Formerly in the

collection o Marco Aurelio

Soto; MAI purchase rom

an unknown source, 1917.

Fig. 6. Ula River Vessel

with handles in the ormo monkeys heads, AD

650750. Ro Ula valley,

Honduras. Marble

Formerly in the collection

o Marco Aurelio Soto;

MAI purchase rom an


Fig. 7. Selin Tradition ves-

sel, AD 8001000

Isla de Guanaja (Bonacca),

Islas de la Baha


Pottery. Collected or

excavated by FrederickA. Mitchell-Hedges,

19301931.



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talking abot the area embody an assmp-

tion that centralized, highly neqal state

societies are normal or inevitable develop-

ments in hman history. When we se these

ways o talking, we pt Central America in a

ramework that Payson Sheets (1992) called

the pervasive pejorative. We ask why towns

in Panama and Costa Rica were organized

only as what we call chiedomstownsin which wealthy amilies claimed the right

to pass down athority throgh lines o

kinshipas i they shld have bee more

highly stratied states, with greater economic

ineqality. We talk abot societies in which

stability in the maximm size o towns was

maintained or hndreds o years as i they

ailed becase they did not grow to the size

o nsstainable cities.

The narrative o political hierarchy classi-

es all Central American societies except the

Maya as chiedoms or tribes, seen as stepson a never-completed trajectory to becoming

states. This implies that political organiza-

tion is always the main coordinating principle

in hman society. In Central America we need

to examine how towns and villages were

bond together by ties o kinship, shiting

alliances, material exchanges, and participa-

tion in common practices mediating relations

with the sacred and the spernatral throgh

divination, rital, and ceremony (Figre 8).

To avoid narratives that privilege the

development o political stratication andeconomic ineqality as normal and inevitable,

we shold think o pre-Hispanic Central

Americainclding Gatemalaas a chain

o societies connected throgh intentional

hman action leading to travel, exchange,

and participation by visitors in social events

into the shapes o antastic animals (Sheets,

this volme).

In societies characterized by less ineqal-

ity, the prodcts o skilled artisans were widely

distribted. In the ula Valley o Hondras,

the wealthy amilies at Travesa who patron-

ized mltigenerational workshops o crats-

men prodcing marble vases (Figre 6),

prized rom Gatemala to Costa Rica, did notassert the kind o absolte athority claimed

by Classic Maya rlers in their historical

monments (Lke, this volme). The wealthi-

est amily at Travesa oriented its hose

compond to the sacred montains and

passes that established a rital landscape,

shared with the residents o all the villages

in the valley. Here, we can speak o a society

composed o wealthy armers (Joyce, 2011),

who cltivated cacao groves, hosted visitors

at seasonal easts (likely inclding some rom

distant lands who broght with them exoticobjects; Figre 7), and spported the work o

artisansin shell, jade, textiles, red clay, and

marblewho rnished the objects o every-

day lie in the pole, clay, and thatch hoses

o even the hmblest hamlets in the sr-

ronding area. While the residents o Travesa

may have had infence, prestige, and orms

o athority in that area, we need to explore

how that infence and athority was created

rom the grond p, withot being blinded by

preconceptions abot what a society withot

a visible rling class and marked ineqities inwealth is like.

The challenge is to avoid raming history

comparatively, with the societies o Hondras,

El Salvador, Nicaraga, Costa Rica, and

Panama seen as alling short o a standard

set by the Maya o Gatemala. Many ways o

Fig. 8. Central Caribbean/

Costa Rican Atlantic

Watershed incense burnewith crocodile-egy

handle, AD 800AD 1500.

Eastern highlands, Costa

Rica. Pottery, clay slip.

Purchased or George

Heye by Theodoor de Boo

in Kingston, Jamaica,

1913.

Fig. 8



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those practices throgh which the living tookcare o the dead. These practices are respon-

sible or a large part o the materiality o the

past in Central America. understanding dwell-

ing depends on teasing ot rom artiacts the

stories they can tell abot how people got on

day to day: how they prodced the tools they

sed to work the land, to hnt and sh, and

to create the objects sed in ceremonies as

well as in daily existence. In Central America,

prodcts and tools o dwelling oten orm a

spectrm rom skilled bt plain (Figre 11) to

the extraordinary intricacies o high capabil-ity. Dwelling allows s to see these things

not throgh the art/artiact dichotomy, bt

beyond that: to nderstand that the lives o

many people in Central America took place

srronded by objects o beaty.

Cecg is a way o thinking o net-

works as actively created by hman action.

Everywhere in the region there are things that

originated elsewhere. We can talk o trade or

exchange, as well as other scales o con-

necting, sch as amilial alliances, traveling

artisans, religios pilgrims, and the like, whereexotic objects are signs o the ways people

moved across a very wide space, and gath-

ered knowledge that was valed when they

retrned home. Connecting makes Central

America active in its relations to societies

in Mexico and northern Soth America, so

(Figre 9). When Maya nobles living atuaxactn and San Jos sed ula marble

vessels in their hoseholds, they treated

them as prized lxries, prodcts o exclsive

and competitive networks o relations with

amilies in the towns in the ula Valley where

they were prodced. They did not observe

either a bondary that wold have led them

to reject sch oreign goods, or an absolte

distinction in stats that wold have made

these prodcts o less-centralized societies

less prized. Indeed, there is evidence that in

Central America, prodcts o skilled artisanslocated at a distance metaphorically stood or

claims o knowledge rom the most distant

realmsthose o the ancestors and sper-

natral beings (Helms, 1998).

How can we talk abot sch a diverse

network in a nied way, in terms that might

be maniest in material remains? This

book explores or crossctting themes to

nderstand Central America as a network o

villages, towns, and cities: dwelling, connect-

ing, athority, and spiritality.

Dwellg reers to the practices o every-

day lie, inclding the way people related to

plants, animals, and landscape in their locality

(Figre 10). Hoses and towns, where archae-

ologists have recognized and explored the

grain o everyday lie, are the natral places

or exploring dwelling. Dwelling also incldes

Fig. 9 Fig. 10

Fig. 9. Ula River jar

with design o men

seated on benches, AD

850950. Copn, Copn


Pottery, clay slip, paint.

MAI purchase rom an


Fig. 10. Greater Cocl ani-

mal gure, AD 3001000.Ro de Jess, Veraguas

Province, Panama. Pottery,

paint. Excavated by

Neville A. Harte and Eva

M. Harte; git o Dr. and

Mrs. Arthur M. Sackler,

1967.


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based on kinship, not jst athority based oncoercive or persasive power. It is a way to ask

the qestion whether, where, and when we

see violence as a basis or claims o athority.

It makes it possible to talk abot the athority

o women and men (Figres 14, 15), and the

relative athority o elders and jniors. An

ula marble vase is an object o athority; so

are the carved stone benches o Nicaraga

and Costa Rica; so also are the polychrome

cylinders o Maya noble hoses. In each case,

the natre o athority and the degree to

which it is concentrated in a ew hands needsto be established.

Spralycaptres the domain we

normally talk abot as rital. Spiritality

allows s to talk abot the broader principles

that in many parts o Central America prob-

ably organized dwelling, connecting, and

athority: the role o landscape, distance, and

certain materials as charged with n-ordinary

power, the place in existence o ancestors

and spernatral beings (Figre 16). It makes

sense o the abndance o prodcts o skilled

crat prodction, sch as ceramic grinesand msical instrments, that were primarily

o se in ceremonies, inclding ceremonies

o dwelling.

that when we look at plmbate pots romEl Salvador and Hondras (Figre 12), we

emphasize the niqe orms and designs

that show that makers (believed to be located

in Soconsco) were catering to the taste o

Central Americans, who were not passive

consmers orced to take whatever came

down the road (Joyce, 1986). Connecting also

means we attend to the presence in distant

places o items rom Central America, like a

cache o Hondran Las Vegas polychrome

(Figre 13) pots (originally identied as

Nicoya polychrome) ond in a hose at Tla,Hidalgo (Diehl, Lomas, and Wynn, 1974), or

Panamanian gold objects recovered rom

the cenote at Chichn Itz (Coggins, 1984).

Connecting takes small Central American

towns and makes them part o a large and

extensive chain.

Ahrygives s a way o talking abot

Central American social lie that introdces

dierences recognizable in material ways

withot sbsming them nder political hier-

archies. It allows s to notice that in most o

the region, some people have greater wealth,

and may have objects o distinctive materi-

als, qality, and even orm. Bt it makes s

ask what kds o athority people had, which

opens the door to inclding people whose

athority was based on connections with the

sacred, as well as those whose athority was

Fig. 11 Fig. 12

Fig. 11. Central Caribbean


Watershed bowl, AD 800

AD 1500. Las Mercedes,

Limn Province, Costa

Rica. Pottery. Collected or

excavated by Alanson B.

Skinner, 19161917.

Fig. 12. Plumbate jaguar-

egy tripod vessel, AD9001200. Suchitoto,

Cuscatln Department, El

Salvador. Pottery, clay slip

Collected or excavated by

Samuel K. Lothrop, 1924.


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Fig. 13 Fig. 14

Fig. 15 Fig. 16

Fig. 17 Fig. 18

Fig. 13. Post-Classic

period Maya tripod bowl,

AD 9001200. Hospicio

excavation near church o

San Jacinto, San Salvador,

San Salvador Department,

El Salvador. Pottery, clay


by Marshall H. Saville,

1920.

Fig. 14. Classic period

Maya whistle representing

a seated woman, AD 600

900. Quich Department,

Guatemala. Pottery, paint.

MAI purchase rom Julia

M. Rodezno, 1923.

Fig. 15. Ula River emale

gure, AD 250900. Ro

Ula valley, Honduras.

Pottery. Formerly in the

collection o Marco Aurelio

Soto; MAI purchase rom

an unknown source, 1917.

Fig. 16. Greater Cocl

(Macaracas style) ooted

plate with crocodile

design, AD 9501100.

Ro de Jess, Veraguas

Province, Panama. Pottery,

clay slip, paint. MAI pur-

chase rom Eva M. Harte,

1966.

Fig. 17. Chiriqu vessel,

1000500 BC. Guacamayo,

Chiriqu Province,

Panama. Pottery, clay slip.Git o Neville A. Harte and

Eva M. Harte, 1963.

Fig. 18. Greater Chiriqu

tripod bowl, AD

8001500. Valle del Diqus,

Puntarenas Province,

Costa Rica. Pottery, clay


rom William R. Hawker,

1961.



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rst villages we can detect. Beore 1500 BC,rom Gatemala to Panama, at least some

villages invested time, energy, and skill in

making red-clay containers, greatly increas-

ing the visibility o sites or archaeologists.

Nonetheless, sch early sites remain nder-

represented. Some are deeply bried by

active tropical rivers. Others lie beneath later

settlements, evidence o the ability o Central

American peoples to maintain themselves

in place over long periods o time. Many

have probably been lost to alterations o the

landscape, as rivers changed their corses, assettlements located on ridges and terraces

erode downslope, and as modern occpants

plow, blldoze, and pave over the evidence o

the lives o earlier residents.

The greater visibility o more recent

periods also owes itsel, at least in part, to

the aesthetic preerences o Eropeans who

began collecting antiqities rom Central

America at least as early as the 18th centry.

Mlticolored painted pottery, stone sclptre

recognizably representing hman and animal

sbjects, and hman egies in molded andpainted clay attracted the attention o col-

lectors and eled site destrction in many

Central American contries.

While the ancestral peoples o Central

America prized many dierent materi-

als, inclding jade, marble, and a variety o

When and Where Do We See Dwelling,Connecting, Authority, and Spirituality?

Space precldes providing an in-depth

discssion o the historical development o

pre-Hispanic Central America. The articles

that ollow instead look at specic locales

where we are especially well-sitated to see

evidence o Central American social net-

works in the vivid and engaging objects let

behind. Most o the examples date to what in

Gatemala, Belize, El Salvador, and Hondras

are called the Classic (AD 250850/950) andPost-Classic (AD 850/9501521) periods, and

in Nicaraga, Costa Rica, and Panama either

Periods V (AD 5001000) and VI (AD 1000

1500), or the Early (AD 500800), Middle

(AD 8001350), and Late (AD 1350ca. 1530)

Polychrome periods (Figre 17).

The actal evidence or hman occpa-

tion o the landscape in Central America is

mch earlier (Ne et al., 2006). There are

traces o some early mobile peoples in dier-

ent sites dating by 9000 BC, and throghot

the region, mobile oragers let their mark

between 9000 and 2000 BC, altering the

landscape by selectively encoraging plants

they preerred, and altering the plants by

their selection o variants or cltivation.

These early people laid the grondwork

or their descendants to congregate in the

Fig. 19

Fig. 19. Central Caribbean


Watershed emale gure,

300 BCAD 300. Bolsn,

Guanacaste Province,

Costa Rica. Pottery, clay

slip. MAI purchase rom

Wanda B. Scheiele, 1964


21/94

points seasonally marked by snrise and sn-set. While written texts are known only rom

sites in the Maya zone, the visal arts o other

areas employ rich symbolic langages that

link together hmans, non-hman animals,

landscape eatres, and spernatral orces,

inclding ancestors (Figre 19).

As research contines in each contry,

what becomes increasingly clear is how

extensive Central American networks act-

ally were. Otstanding works o art orce s

to acknowledge that links existed rom the

Nicoya peninsla o Costa Rica to the ulaValley in Hondras, and rom there to Belize

and Gatemala (Figre 20). The dazzling

objects in collections established by archaeol-

ogists and msems are making visible what

we shold have known all along: between the

apparently small, apparently isolated villages

o Central America there existed endring

ties composed o social relations, respect

or belies abot the place o hmans in the

cosmos, and shared appreciation or items

o beaty and the materials rom which they

cold be made (Figre 21).

metal alloys, or their rarest drable goods,recovery o gold-alloy objects, primarily rom

graves in Panama and Costa Rica, inspired

particlar enthsiasm among collectors. In

early archaeological acconts, many sites

are described simply as cemeteries, becase

graves were the contexts recognized by the

collectors as sorces or complete objects

(Figre 18).

Except in the Maya zone extending rom

Gatemala to western Hondras and El

Salvador, residential bildings were sally

mch less visible and more slowly recognizedby early antiqarians and later archaeolo-

gists. When archaeologists trned to the new

approach o settlement srvey in the 1950s,

they realized that the discarded trash o

Central America settlements was oten very

visible, both arond traditional sites o collect-

ing rom brials, and in other places on the

landscape. Oten the architectre o Central

American villages employed clay and poles as

the main constrction materials. When stone

was sed, it might be carelly selected river

cobbles with little or no modication.

The eatres created in the Central

American architectral tradition cold be

impressive: massive pavements, roads and

paths that extend or miles, and high plat-

orms with ramps or stairs, at times clearly

oriented to eatres on the landscape or



vessel and cover, AD 800

1500. Chiriqu Province,

Panama. Pottery, clay slip,

paint. MAI purchase rom

Philip L. Dade, 1961.

Fig. 21. Selin Tradition

emale gure, AD 600

800. Isla Santa Elena

(Helene), Islas de la BahaDepartment, Honduras.


excavated by Frederick

A. Mitchell-Hedges,

19301931.

Fig. 20


22/94


Fig. 21


23/94


Fig. 22

PLAZA

HOUSEHOLD 1

HOUSEHOLD 2

HOUSEHOLD 3

HOUSEHOLD 4

Joya de Cern, El Salvador

Str. 1

Str. 5

Str. 6Str. 10

Str. 12

Str. 11

Str. 17

Str. 2

Str. 13

Str. 14

Cacao

Guayaba

Maguey

Basurero

Milpa

Milpa

Probable

Milpa

Basurero

Fallow

Milpa

Milpa

Milpa

Milpa

Stone Seats

Temascal

Kitchen Garden

Str. 15

Str. 16

Str. 3

Str. 4

Str. 8

Str. 9

Str. 18

Str. 7

1976BuLLDozERCut

SLo

PE

DoW

nto

Rio

SuCio

N

0 5 10

METERS


24/94

23 ANCESTRAL JOYA DE CEREN VILLAGE

steam explosion. There was some warning, asa horrible shrieking noise was cased by the

magma rst contacting the water. Evidently

the villagers headed soth, away rom that

danger. A clod o hot steam, ne-grained

volcanic ash, and gases blasted into the

village and coated the bildings, trees, and

plants growing in their elds. That deposit

was ollowed by many other layers ntil the

village was entombed by or to seven meters

o volcanic ash.

Althogh we regret the villagers crisis,

the remarkable preservation the volcanicash prodced allows s to nderstand the

srprisingly high qality o lie that they expe-

rienced beore the erption. Archaeologists

knew that ancient nobles lived well in their

palaces, bt we did not know that common-

ers also lived as well as they did at Joya de

Cern. There, each hosehold constrcted

and maintained three strctres: a domicile

or sleeping and living, a storehose, and a

kitchen. They had ample space inside the

wattle-and-dab walls o these bildings,

and abndant space otside the walls yet stillnder the roo, or comortable work areas.

These walls and thatch roos were one o the

most earthqake-resistant orms o architec-

tre ever invented, as they were fexible, and

i they ailed in a sper-earthqake only small

pieces o dab wold all, casing minimal

Abot 1,400 years ago a village o some200 commoners lived along the

banks o a large river in what is now

El Salvador (Sheets, 2002). They were mch

like hndreds o other small villages dotting

the landscape in El Salvador, Gatemala, and

Hondras. When a village ndergoes the s-

al orm o abandonment, people remove all

their sable artiacts and take them to their

new location. Then the elements o rain, sn,

vegetation growth, and other distrbances

redce the abandoned village to a aint echo

o its ormer sel. Archaeologists normallytry to reconstrct ancient behavior and belie

based on very ragmentary remains.

Only rarely do archaeologists discover a

settlement that is nsally well-preserved,

providing abndant evidence o dwelling that

was not degraded by the passage o time.

The Roman city o Pompeii is the best-known

example. It was bried by volcanic ash rom

Vesvis, ths preserving bildings and arti-

acts extraordinarily well. The Joya de Cern

village (Figre 22) was also bried by volcanic

ash, and that is where or story begins.unknown to the villagers living there

arond AD 630, rom deep ndergrond a hot

magma was gradally orcing its way pward

only 600 meters north o the village (Sheets,

2002). When that magma nally broke loose

right nder the large river, it cased a violent

Dwelling in the Ancestral Joya de Cern Village

Payson Sheets

Fig. 22. Plan o Joya de

Cern. Courtesy o Payso

Sheets.


25/94

Fig. 23 Fig. 24

Fig. 25 Fig. 26

Fig. 27 Fig. 28


Maya metate in the orm

o an animal and mano,

AD 250900. Chiltiupn,

La Libertad Department,

El Salvador. Stone.



Fig. 24. Maya digging

stick weight, 900 BCAD1500. El Salvador. Basalt.

MAI purchase by Marshall

H. Saville, 1920.

Fig. 25. Maya spindle

whorls, 900 BCAD 1500.

Estanzuelas, El Salvador.


excavated by Samuel K.

Lothrop, 1924.

Fig. 26. Sala bowl

with human design, AD

700900. Hospicio exca-

vation near church o SanJacinto, San Salvador, San

Salvador Department, El

Salvador. Pottery, clay slip,

paint. MAI purchase by

Marshall H. Saville, 1920.

Fig. 27. Sala bowl, AD


vation near church o San

Jacinto, San Salvador, San





Fig. 28. Sala vessel with

bird design, AD 400900.

Izalco, Sonsonate

Department, El Salvador.






26/94


and mercric oxide), and seashells (Figres30, 31). Jade and obsidian also came rom

the north, and likely were transported by the

same traders who broght the ancy pottery.

Becase villagers cold choose which market

to visit among many in the valley, nobles did

not control everything and to some degree

wold have to compete or the labor or pro-

dction o commoners.

Clear evidence o a well-developed

religios lie was ond in the village. First we

look at religios activity within each hose-

hold. Then we explore the activities andbelies that involved mltiple hoseholds and

those that involved the entire village. Not only

each hosehold, bt each hosehold bilding

problems. Each hosehold prodced moreo some commodity than it needed or its

own consmption and sed the srpls to

exchange or other hoseholds prodction.

For instance, Hosehold 1 overprodced

grondstone items sch as metates (Figre

23) and doghnt stones, which may have

been sed as digging stick weights (Figre

24), as well as cotton thread, evidenced by

abndant spindle whorls (Figre 25).

The high qality o lie is clear inside the

bildings. Each hosehold had abot seventy

complete pottery vessels. Some were sedor ood storage, processing, and cooking,

while bowls and cylinder vases were sed or

serving oods and drinks (Figres 2628).

utilitarian vessels were made in the village or

nearby. Food and drink serving vessels that

made p almost a qarter o their collection,

beatilly painted in many colors, evidently

were made in the Copn Valley, 120 km to

the north (Figre 29). Villagers wold take

srpls oods or other items to the market-

places in centers near the village to obtain

these ancy vessels. Their abndance in

the hoseholds is a clear indication that the

people o Joya de Cern were wealthy villag-

ers. Other items obtained in the marketplace

inclded knives and scrapers made o obsid-

ian (a volcanic glass), jade axes and beads,

mineral pigments (reds made rom iron ore Fig. 31Fig. 30

Fig. 29. Classic periodMaya bowl with design

o a shaman in fight, AD

700800. Chalchuapa,

Santa Ana Department, E

Salvador. Pottery, clay slip

paint. Git o Dr. Benjami

Levine, 1974.

Fig. 30. Maya blade core,

900 BCAD. 1500. El

Salvador. Obsidian. Git o

Dr. Joseph S. Somer and

Judith Somer, 1965.

Fig. 31. Maya celts, 900BCAD 1500. Estanzuela

El Salvador. Stone.



Fig. 29


27/94


The sana had solid earthen walls and adome o wattle and dab. Books on the

history o architectre that claim domed

architectre was introdced into the Americas

by Eropeans in the 16th centry need to

acknowledge that Maya commoners bilt

domes centries beore.

A consistent Maya tradition, rom the

greatest cities to the smallest settlements

sch as Joya de Cern, has been to locate

the most spiritally powerl bildings at the

highest elevation. The principal pyramids with

temples on the top were in the highest loca-tion in cities, to better commnicate with the

spernatral domain. At Joya de Cern two

special religios bildings were at the highest

point, the eastern end o the village, overlook-

ing the river. Both shared the Maya character-

istic o many dierent levels o foors, rom

the seclar otside throgh sccessively

higher foors to the innermost, highest room.

Both had walls painted white with pigment

made rom ne-grained, white ash rom the

immense Ilopango volcanic erption that

occrred a ew decades beore the village wasonded, with some red decorations.

One o these bildings, Strctre 12, is a

complex and delicate edice where a rital

diviner practiced, bt did not live (Figre

35). The evidence or divination is in three

collections o items that cold be cast onto

had an incense brner (Figre 32). These evi-dently were made within the hosehold, and

were sed to brn copal incense, the qintes-

sential method the ancient Maya sed (and

contemporary Maya se today) to connect

with the spernatral world o spirits, deities,

and ancestors. Figrines also probably played

a role in hosehold religios lie (Figre 33).

Hosehold 2 maintained a sana (emas-

cal) or mltiple-hosehold se (Figre

34). The contemporary Maya se sanas or

physical as well as spirital and occasionally

medicinal cleansing, and it is probable thatthe ancient one in Joya de Cern was sed

or those nctions as well. The ample bench

inside the walls, arond the rebox, wold

seat ten to twelve people. It is likely that the

composition o the sana sers changed as

the principal objective changed rom physical

to spirital cleansing, or medicinal se, help-

ing resolve respiratory problems as the Maya

do today. The Maya rinse o ater leaving

the sana, and we ond an nsal nmber

o large llas (ceramic pots) or water in the

nearby storehose that probably were sed

or that prpose. We also ond evidence

that water was pored over the dome-shaped

rebox in the center o the space, so it was

a steam rather than a dry sana. Hosehold

2 stored considerable rewood, inclding

pine, presmably or the re in the rebox.

Fig. 32 Fig. 33


Maya incense burner

with ceiba-tree spikes,

AD 250900. Quelepa,

San Miguel Department,

El Salvador. Pottery.




Maya emale gure,AD 6001000. Nekepia,

Usulutn Department, El

Salvador. Pottery. Git o

Francis E. Ross, 1962.


28/94


Fig. 34

Fig. 35

Fig. 34. Sauna maintaine

by Household 2 at Joya d

Cern. Photo by Payson

Sheets.

Fig. 35. Structure 12, a

special religious building

where a emale diviner/

shaman practiced (touris

in the oreground). Photo

by Payson Sheets.


29/94


kept clear o artiacts, trash, and vegetation,

and was very hard-packed by se.The Maya have a deep belie in cyclic-

ity, linking the rising and setting o the sn,

planets, and stars with the cycle o maize.

Maize or planting is stored dormant/dry

dring the hal-year dry season, and then

springs to lie as it is planted and grows dring

the rainy season. It is a powerl metaphor

or hman reprodction. Matre maize dry-

ing in the eld, matre gayaba rits, and

other seasonal indicators excavated at Joya

de Cern point toward Agst as the time o

the volcanic erption. Today the Maya villageceremony or ertility and harvest, called cch,

is celebrated in Agst.

The two ppermost and innermost rooms

stored special artiacts, inclding a large pot-

tery vessel, decorated with a caiman head and

legs and loaded with achiote seeds. These

seeds provided a bright red pigment that

probably symbolized hman blood, as it still

does today. A typical obsidian knie (Figre

36) stored on the shel above the seeds had

hman hemoglobin on it, and was srely sed

in bloodletting. The Maya still believe thathman blood is the most religiosly charged

sbstance in the body, and when it is shed

in ceremony it is the most eective way to

commnicate with the spernatral domain.

Beside the knie was a deer skll headdress

that retained white, red, and ble paint, and

the foor in the innermost (highest) back

room and read, then interpreted, or aperson standing otside listening throgh

a lattice window. Another lattice window is

in the ront o the bilding, where a villager

cold approach and discss with the diviner

what he or she needed. I an agreement was

reached, the client wold oten leave an arti-

act or payment. While many o the artiacts

let cold be sed by both genders, there

were no predominantly male-se artiacts,

and there were reqent emale-se artiacts

sch as spindle whorls or making cotton

thread or weaving, and grinding stones orood processing. Thereore it appears the

diviner was a woman.

Strctre 10, adjacent to the diviners

bilding, was also clearly religios, with sc-

cessively higher rooms, white-painted walls,

and red decorations, bt it nctioned in a very

dierent ashion. It hosted ceremonies or the

village, with a ocs on deer as symbolic o

the ertility o natre and a sccessl harvest.

The ront and lowermost room is large and

held more ood than any other bilding in the

site excavated so ar. That room also pro-

cessed ood, with grinding stones and hand

stones called metates and manos, like those

ond at other sites in El Salvador. A hearth

here was sed or cooking. The oods were

dispensed to participants over a hal-height

wall. Otside the bilding the grond was

Fig. 36


Maya blades, AD

250900. San Miguel de

Mercedes, Chalatenango


Obsidian. Collected or


Lothrop, 1926.


30/94


Fig. 37

Fig. 37. Sala bowl with

monkey design, AD

400900. La Asuncin

(Hacienda Asuncin),

Cuscatln Department,


slip, paint. Collected or


Lothrop, 1924.

even some string that was sed to tie it onto

the head o a perormer or religios specialist.Traditional Maya still se sch headdresses

in ritals as symbols o the ertility o natre

when giving thanks or a sccessl harvest.

Athority within the village was dispensed

rom Strctre 3, the largest and most

imposing bilding o the settlement, acing

the town plaza. It had two large benches in

its ront room, in contrast with the hose-

hold domiciles, which had a bench in the

innermost private room, or sleeping. When

the Maya bild a bench in a ront room it is

a symbol o athority. Town elders cold siton the bench and listen to disptes between

amilies or individals. In place on one bench

was the largest pottery vessel ever ond in

the village. It likely contained a beverage,

perhaps a beer now called chcha made rom

ermented maize or manioc (Sheets et al.,

2012). Above the bench, on top o the wall,

was a polychrome vessel that wold serve

very well to scoop a serving o drink to seal

the deal and end the controversy. Betting a

pblic bilding, artiacts were scarce beyond

the two ceramic vessels.Hosehold 1 spported the harvest ritals

o Strctre 10 by loaning special implements

sch as maize hskers made o deer antlers.

Beyond the maize-grinding stone (metate) on

the kitchen foor that the hosehold sed reg-

larly, it maintained another or metates or

grinding dring the harvest ceremony. Tracy

Sweeley (1999) arges that dierent levelso athority within the hosehold and village

among the women sing these metates can

be detected based on the implements place-

ment and visibility.

Some people reer to Joya de Cern as

niqe, bt that can isolate it rom being

sel or comparison with other archaeologi-

cal sites that are not as well preserved. When

a village like Joya de Cern is abandoned,

the people sally leave carrying all their

valables, even making mltiple trips. Once

abandoned, others may take away artiacts,constrction materials, or other items they

nd sel. Thatch roos need to be replaced

at least every two decades in the tropics, and

once the thatch starts to ail, the rains melt

the clay dabed onto the poles and vines that

provide the walls internal reinorcements.

The elements, along with decay o organics,

redce the bildings to sad remnants o their

ormer condition. Trees recolonize the envi-

ronment, and their roots distrb sbsrace

remains, especially when wind blows them

over and the root-ball rotates and scrambles

large amonts o artiacts and ragmentary

bilding materials. People and animals can

dig below the srace or a variety o reasons.

The net reslt is a greatly impoverished

record o what people did when the comm-

nity was thriving.


31/94

Fig. 41Fig. 40

Fig. 42 Fig. 43

Fig. 38 Fig. 39


Maya bowl with glyph

design, AD 700800.

Tazumal, Santa Ana



Git o Francis E. Ross,

1962.

Fig. 39. Sala bowl, AD

450850. Hospicio exca-vation near church o San

Jacinto, San Salvador, San





Fig. 40. Sala tripod ves-

sel, AD 450850. Hospicio






by Marshall H. Saville,1920.

Fig. 41. Sala bowl with

Huehuetotl (Old God/

God o Fire) design, AD

450850. Atiquizaya,

Ahuachapn Department,

El Salvador. Pottery,

clay slip, paint. Git o

Theodore T. Foley, 1971.

Fig. 42. Sala jar, AD


vation near church o San

Jacinto, San Salvador, SanSalvador Department, El




Fig. 43. Sala tripod bowl,

AD 450850. Hospicio






by Marshall H. Saville,

1920.



32/94


monds o eroded architectre at the sal

site can be reconstrcted sing the known

and well-preserved architectre at Joya de

Cern as the model.

Ths a dierent pictre o lie is emerging.

Commoners shold not be assmed to be

passive recipients o orders rom the nobility,

living in a hardscrabble world and barely get-

ting by. The abndance and variety o oodsond was impressive and the architectre

sophisticated. Like other small villages across

Central America, the spirital lie within the

hosehold and the commnity were highly

developed, refected in the images seen on

serving vessels recovered at other places in

El Salvador (Figres 3943). Commoners

exercised athority in the hosehold, the

village, and even in choosing the nobles or

whom they wold work and with whom they

wold trade. Looking throgh the rst clear

windowprovided by Joya de CernintoMaya commoner lie edcates s to the act

that the qality o lie was strikingly high.

unortnately, that impoverished record

has nwittingly maniested itsel in the minds

o scholars as indicating that commoners lived

impoverished lives. Joya de Cern provides a

compelling corrective to this mistaken vision

o village lie. Hoseholds had mltiple bild-

ings or particlar ses, ample spaces inside

the walls and nder the eaves or a wide range

o activities, and their architectre was highlyearthqake-resistant. Each hosehold had a

wide range o vessels, inclding many gords

(most plain, some highly decorated) and abot

seventy pottery vessels typical o western El

Salvador (Figre 37). O those, almost a qar-

ter were manactred at a distance, imported

into the area (Figre 38), and obtained by

Cerenians at marketplaces by means o nego-

tiated exchanges or goods they prodced.

Hoseholds also owned baskets. Every

hosehold had nmeros ctting and scraping

tools made o obsidian, and at least one jadeax. Those likewise were obtained by market

exchanges, and commoners had choices in

which market they wold visit.

So how can Joya de Cern be sed to

better nderstand the more commonly ond

ancient dwelling site? At the sal site the

remnants o individal hoses can be discov-

ered and mapped as hosemonds and

some broken artiacts collected. The ratio o

complete metates to whole vessels at Joya de

Cern cold be sed as a rogh way to esti-

mate the original nmber o vessels at less-well-preserved sites, since broken metates

are not normally removed when villages are

abandoned. The ratio o broken and discarded

metates to pieces o broken pottery is known

at Joya de Cern, as well as the ratio o whole

metates and complete ceramic vessels, and

those ratios can be sed as rogh indicators

at sites where only broken artiacts are ond.

The ragments o wattle-and-dab walls and


33/94


Fig. 44


34/94

33 ARTISANRY IN MOTION

grop o things in a particlar place, at a par-ticlar time. Assemblages in place show s

people connecting with other places as part o

condcting their lives. Throgh sing things

in everyday lie, people impart qalities to the

places where they become entangled with

things. These qalities trail along with things

as they circlate rom one place to another, or

as they are kept and sed over time. They may

be seen as lodged in the material rom which

items were madeclay, stone, or boneor

in specic attribtes, sch as color, textre,

or even the sonds things make. People ptthings in place, things link places and people,

and places assemble people, things, and their

associations.

Beore 1100 BC, residents o the earliest

villages known in the ula Valley sed obsid-

ian that came rom regions ar soth, near

the present-day town o La Esperanza, or

most everyday tools, preerring it even when

other local stone wold work. We do not know

all the reasons or their preerence. A orm

o glass, obsidian makes very sharp tools. It

can be banded in white, gray, or brown, or begreen in color, bt most obsidian in Hondras

is black. Its shiny black color and textre, and

its ability to refect a shadowy image, made

obsidian a valed material or mirrors, sed

or divination in later Central American societ-

ies. Its black color was important: people in

The people o ancestral Central Americawere connected to each other throgh

travel, trade, and indirect knowledge

o distant peoples and lands. Hondras pro-

vides examples o a long history o material

connections reaching as ar north as central

Mexico and soth to Panama and Costa Rica.

The ula river valley on the Caribbean coast

was a particlar center o connections with

distant places (Figre 1). Between AD 600

and 1000, people living here prodced a

grop o objects that traveled long distances

north, west, and soth: ula marble vases(Figre 6). Becase these were entangled

with other fows o objects and ideas, n-

derstanding the movement o ula marble

vases helps s gain a better sense o the

many ways pre-Hispanic Central Americans

were connected across the bondaries o

the independent cities, towns, and villages in

which they lived.

Things Assembled in Place

Becase what srvives rom past societies are

things, it is easy to ocs on them in isola-

tion: What are they made o? How were they

made? How were they sed, and by whom?

What meanings did they carry? Yet each thing,

each item, ormed part o an assemblage, a

Artisanry in Motion

Christina Lke and Rosemary A. Joyce

Fig. 44. Pre-Classic

period Maya jar in the

orm o an animal, 300

BCAD 600. Ciudad Vieja

Sacatepquez Departmen

Guatemala. Pottery, clay

slip. MAI purchase rom

Julia M. Rodezno, 1923.


35/94

Gulf of Mexico

Caribbean Sea

cacao

cacaocacao

Obsidian sourceArchaeological site

Pacific Ocean

San Lorenzo

Paso de la Amada

Cahal Pech

Puerto Escondido

Copan

movement north of

jade and obsidian

Fig. 45


N


36/94


Fig. 45. Map, circulation o

materials and knowledge

to and rom Honduras,

1100400 BC. Courtesy o

Rosemary A. Joyce.

Fig. 46. Ula River emale

gure, 900200 BC.

Campo Dos (United Fruit

Company Farm 2), Corts


Pottery. Collected or exca

vated by Gregory Mason,


early villages o the ula Valley paired it withwhite marine shell in bried oerings below

hose foors, deposited in ritals to give lie to

the bildings (Joyce, 2011).

Ater 1100 BC, at ula Valley villages like

Perto Escondido and Playa de los Mertos,

obsidian rom highland Gatemala replaced

some material rom closer sorces (Joyce and

Henderson, 2010). Along the same rotes,

by 900 BC, people in these villages obtained

jade, the hard green stone prized or millen-

nia thereater throghot Central America.

Emerging rom the montains bordering theMotaga River in eastern Gatemala (Bishop,

Sayre, and Mishara, 1993), jade oered a color

that refected the green o vegetation, the

ble o water. Valed or its color, sheen, and

hardness throghot Central America into

the 16th centry AD, jade did not dominate

Hondran material cltre as mch as it did

elsewhere.

At Perto Escondido, beore the rst

trace o jade was seen, villagers were already

carving white stone: marble, rom the nearby

montains (Lke et al., 2003). They workedstone into vessels sharing the shape o pot-

tery bowls sed to serve ood both everyday

and when easts were held to mark particlar

events in the lives o people, bildings, and

commnities. At easts they served drinks

made rom cacao pods, beverages whose

distinctive red-brown color and oamy sraceappear, mch later, in manscripts painted

in Mexico ater AD 1000 showing men and

women marking marital alliances (Figre 44).

The locally made bottles and bowls

employed in easts in early ula villages

incorporated signs o knowledge o distant

places (Joyce and Henderson, 2010). Incised

or deeply carved, and highlighted with red

pigment to glow against the black, gray, or

tan sraces o vessels, were prole heads o

sharks, crocodilians, or beings with hman

eatres, mixed with others showing theywere more than everyday people and animals.

Carved stamps were sed to paint related

signs on the body or clothing. The imagery

recalls pottery made in distant places at the

same time, rom Tlatilco in central Mexico to

San Lorenzo on the Mexican Gl Coast, Paso

de la Amada on the Pacic Coast, and Cahal

Pech in the Belize river valley (Figre 45).

Across a wide region, encompassing peoples

with many dierent histories and cltres, the

se o this imagery sggests common con-

ceptions o the spirital world and the place

o hmans in it. Locally made, vessels with

sch images testiy to knowledge gained by

participating in exchanges o materials (obsid-

ian, jade, cacao, and shell) and social relations

(marriages, trading partnerships, and religios

practices).

Fig. 46


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jade and or practices like the se o stamps.Some materials, sch as obsidian, were

widely sed in everyday lie. In other cases,

rare materials, great artisanry, and meaning-

l imagery broght together in exemplary

objects mark some places and social grops

as dierent rom others locally, and con-

nected to distant peers.

Geographies of Color

Jade objects provide one example o con-nections. Between 900 and 400 BC, a ew

jade objects rom Mexican workshops already

moved throgh networks that broght them

to Hondras and Costa Rica. Ater AD 250,

jade plaqes intended to hang rom belts

and carved with images and texts typical o

the early Classic Maya cltre, ended p in

Costa Rica, oten re-ct into new orms. In

both cases, the jades were objects sed by

an exclsive social grop. The trac in these

rare lxries may have occrred when they no

longer held their original importance or thesorce grops.

In contrast, the prodction and circla-

tion o ula marble vases is an example o a

lxry crat prodct exchanged with comm-

nities rom Gatemala to Costa Rica (Figre

48) while the workshops in the ula river

From this shared legacy, residents o ulaValley villages developed new orms o locally

rooted visal cltre ater 900 BC. Hand-

modeled grines highlighting stages in the

lie corse, rom birth to old age (Figre 46),

nderline the importance o amily connec-

tions in arming villages like these (Joyce,

2003). Stamps and cylindrical seals empha-

size novel imagery, like monkeys (Figre 47),

while contining the practice o stamping

clothing or the body.

The most striking indication o contined

connections linking the ula Valley to villagesand towns to the west comes in the orm

o monmental stone sclptre and jade

objects made ater 900 BC, likely available

to ewer members o these societies (Joyce

and Henderson, 2010). At Los Naranjos at the

sothern end o the ula Valley, the villag-

ers constrcted a twenty-meter-tall earthen

platorm fanked by stone sclptres showing

the shark, the caiman, and a hman being in a

rital transormation pose. One person wear-

ing a jade belt and headdress with wide jade

disk ornaments, a costme shared by a ew

people in villages rom Chiapas to the Gl

Coast o Mexico, received a privileged brial

in this platorm.

Connections orged across Central

America throgh social ties are visible in pre-

erences these ties promoted or materials like

Fig. 47. Maya stamp

with monkey design, 900

BCAD 400. Ro Ula

valley, Honduras. Pottery.MAI purchase rom an


Fig. 48. Map, circulation

o materials and objects

to and rom Honduras,

5001500 AD. Courtesy o

Rosemary A. Joyce.

Fig. 47


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Gulf of Mexico

Caribbean Sea

Ula style marble vase

found outside Ulua Valley

Archaeological site

Travesia

gold work

Pacific Ocean

jade source

Fig. 48

N


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Fig. 49. Ula River bowlwith animal-egy handles,

AD 600900. Ro Ula val-

ley, Honduras. Marble. Git

o the Viking Fund, Inc.

(Wenner-Gren Foundation

or Anthropological

Research), 1949.

Fig. 50. Ula River vessel,

AD 600900. Banks o

the Ula River, Honduras.

Marble. Formerly in the

collection o the Governor

o the Honduran Province

o Cortes, purchased orGeorge Heye by Marshall

H. Saville, 1915.

Fig. 51. Ula River ves-

sel with eline-egy

handles, AD 600900. Ro

Ula, Honduras. Marble.

Purchased or George

Heye by Marshall H.

Saville rom an unknown

source, 1915.

Fig. 52. Ula River tripod

bowl with jaguar-paw

design, AD 850950.Ro Ula valley, Corts



MAI purchase rom N.

Hasbun, 1969.


Fig. 50

Fig. 51 Fig. 52

Fig. 49


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the sacred montain, making it portable andsbject to maniplation (Lke, 2012).

Stepped designs incised or carved on the

base o ula marble vases (Figre 50) evoke

a montainos place that spports a sper-

natral realm, portrayed on the body o the

vase, covered in nely sclpted and incised

voltes. Symbols o mist rising rom water-

alls, rapids rshing, or the cool winds blowing

rom sbterranean chambers, voltes evoke

these places and the spirital spheres to

which they provide access. A ll rontal ace

emerging rom the voltes on many vases(Figre 6) may be a hman being participat-

ing in rital, an ancestor, or a spirit o place.

ula marble vases eatre lg handles

in the orm o monkeys, birds, igana-like or

crocodilian creatres, and large cats (Figre

51). These creatres also orm part o the

imagery o contemporary ula polychrome

pottery, where they may reerence stories o

spernatral beings, some specic to one

amily, others shared by commnities, and

still others widely known across the region

(Figre 52).Some ula polychrome vases made

starting arond AD 600650, early in the

history o ula marble vases, also have ring

bases with carved or painted motis that

recall montains and caves (Figre 53). Dal

lg handles in the orm o bird and monkey

valley were still in prodction (Lke, 2010).Classic ula marble vases convey connec-

tions to a geographic eatre o symbolic

importance throghot Central America: the

animate montain (Lke, 2012). ula marble

vases were made in a small nmber o orms,

most oten tall or short cylinders, with highly

consistent carved motis, inclding elds o

scrolls or voltes rom which rontal aces

emerge, and were sally provided with

pairs o modeled lg handles in the orm

o antastic animals (Figre 49). The volte

or scroll invokes breath and water in variosorms: mist, rain, rivers, lakes, symbolized by

the color white.

The standardization and limited nmber

o marble vases known (ewer than 200)

sggest prodction in a mltigenerational

workshop, each generation training a handl

o master artisans (Lke and Tykot, 2007).

Marble workshops existed at Travesa, in the

ula Valley, a place that was deliberately

related to sacred montains. The main bild-

ings at Travesaplastered all over in thick

white stccowere oriented on axes pointing

soth to the great montain o Santa Barbara,

and intersecting the points on the eastern

and western horizon where the sn rose and

set on the winter solstice (Lopiparo, 2006;

Joyce et al., 2009). The marble vases made

in workshops at Travesa literally embodied

Fig. 54

Fig. 53. Ula River vessel

with vulture-egy han-

dles, AD 550650. Ro Ul

valley, Honduras. Pottery,

clay slip, paint. Git o Joh

S. Williams, 1955.

Fig. 54. Ula River mon-

key-egy tripod vessel,

AD 650750. Comayagua

Comayagua Department,Honduras. Pottery, clay

slip, paint. Git o Edgar O

Smith, 1972.

Fig. 53


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Fig. 55. Greater Nicoyajar, AD 500800. Ro Ula

valley, Corts Department,



rom Enrique Vargas

Alaro, 1969.


Fig. 55


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Hondran jades associated with ula marble

vases were ond in Costa Rica (Stone, 1977),

and at Maya sites inclding Altn Ha and

Chichn Itz (Joyce, 1993; Hirth and Grant

Hirth, 1993).

By cltivating a taste or objects rom

exotic places, and signaling dierence

throgh distinctions in color, a network oinfential amilies propagated interest in yet

another color and the material that embod-

ied it: gold. A marble vase bried in the ula

Valley contained a Maya jade piece and a

Costa Rican or Panamanian gold gre. Gold-

alloy objects rom these areas were conveyed

as ar as the Maya cities o Copn, Altn Ha,

and Chichn Itz, oten in company with

prodcts o the Hondran white stonecrat in

marble and albitic jade. Among participants in

this 8th-to-9th-centry network, a cosmopoli-

tan set o aesthetic preerences was shapedthat can only be appreciated rom a regional

perspective. Once ormed, that cosmopolitan

regional network endred, even i its later

traces have been less recognized.

heads strengthen the parallel to marble vases

(Figre 54). Hman gres on pottery vases

are normally shown in prole. Drawn inside

rectanglar or rond panels, they may also

reer to crossing between the everyday and

spernatral realms.

The interplay o white marble and ml-

ticolored painted pottery prodced a visal

cltre in places like Travesa and CerroPalenqe that was distinctively rooted in the

ula landscape, emphasizing the mon-

tains and rivers, and selectively presenting

mythologically important animals: monkeys,

elines, and specic birds. Preerring colors

not typically sed by neighboring peoples,

ula artisans created works that cold be val-

ed in other areas or their dierence, even as

they served within the ula to commnicate

locally resonant symbolic vales sggested

by their white color (Lke, 2010). Green jade

was de-emphasized in Hondras in avor owhitish-colored albitic jade (Hirth and Grant

Hirth, 1993).

ula marble vases, the ltimate realiza-

tion o the Hondran emphasis on white

stone, moved rom the ula Valley to the

Nicoya region o Costa Rica as early as the 8th

centry AD (Lke, 2010). At the same time,

artisans in Costa Rica created local poly-

chrome vases emlating specic examples o

ula polychrome vases (Joyce, 1993), incld-

ing a cylinder with monkey-head lgs closely

related to ula marble vases and othersdepicting elines and cats (Figre 55). ula

marble vases appear in Belize and Gatemala

somewhat later, in the 9th centry AD. At

uaxactn, Altn Ha, and San Jos, Belize,

they were sed by residents o palaces, some-

times along with Classic Maya white stone

vases carved with Maya inscriptions.

These were exchanges almost certainly

taking place between specic amilies: nobles

in Belize and Gatemala and the wealthy in

the ula and Nicoya regions. The exchanges

that we see hint at others, o perishable

goods: cacao, eathers, cotton, and bark

paper. Objects o artisanry moved in all direc-

tions. ula marble vases bried in sites near

Travesa contained jades originating in Costa

Rica and the Maya area (Figre 56), as well

as others o Hondran style (Lke, 2010).

Fig. 56



Maya male gure,

AD 250900. Honduras.

Jadeite. Purchased by

George Heye rom an



43/94


amilies rom societies with dierent levels oineqality, among people o distinct cltral

traditions and histories and speaking mltiple

langages. The sonds o the bells these

people wore dring ceremonies echoed with

the long histories o conversations among

their ancestors, who created a network o

social ties that endred, while changing, over

thosands o years.

While not everyone cold physically travel

rom place to place, oreign places cold be

nderstood throgh the exchange o physical

objects, the transer o ideas, and adapta-tion in local traditions (Figre 59). Sharing o

imagery refects knowledge nderstood to

varying degrees throghot Central America.

The transer o objects traces more concrete

historical linkages o economic exchange,

kinship, and rital participation. Tight con-

nections were ormed by the circlation o

marbles, jades, gold and copper objects, the

prodcts o skilled artisans working at their

crat in societies both highly stratied, like the

Classic Maya, and others, as in Hondras and

Costa Rica, where dierences in wealth andstats may not have been as sharp.

Geographies of Sound

Metal objects introdced a rther sensory

dimension, one o sond (Hosler, 1994). As

with color, metalworking shows local preer-

ences amid patterns o regional exchange.

The people o Caribbean-coast Hondras did

not exploit locally abndant gold, bt sed

copper metallrgy ater AD 1000 to prodce a

wide range o bells (Figre 57), engaging crat

skill to prodce objects that traveled ar rom

their origin in the priver canyons o the ula

and Chamelecn rivers.Individal copper bells made o Hondran

ore (Figre 58) were broght to Chichn Itz

in Ycatn, where they were thrown into the

sacred well rom which the site gained its

name (Coggins, 1984). Traces o Hondran

ore have been detected in metal objects cast

rom melted pieces at Mayapn, Ycatn

(Paris, 2008). The coastal Caribbean trade in

Hondran bells broght to the Chamelecn

river valley an extraordinary trqoise mosaic

mask, the only example o this Mexican

crat known rom so ar soth. While ewer

sites rom this period have been identied

by archaeologists, we know that in the 16th

centry northern Hondras contined to

maintain coastal connections with the Maya

o Ycatn, throgh which metal objects,

cotton, eathers, and cacao fowed between

Fig. 57 Fig. 58

Fig. 57. Pipil bell,

AD 12001500. Quemistlan

Bell Cave, Ro Chamelecn

valley, Honduras. Copper.

Collected in 1910 by

Andrew H. Blackiston;

purchased by George

Heye, 1914.

Fig. 58. Pipil bell,

AD 12001500. QuemistlanBell Cave, Ro Chamelecn

valley, Honduras. Copper.

Collected in 1910 by

Andrew H. Blackiston;

purchased by George

Heye, 1914.


44/94


Fig. 59. Greater Nicoyabowl, AD 8001350.

Filadela, Guanacaste

Province, Costa Rica.


MAI purchase rom Jorge

Castillo, 1965.

Fig. 59


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Fig. 60


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45 AUTHORITY

carved grinding platorms (Figre 62). Wecan intit the natre o athority rom reports

made at the time o Spanish contact and rom

the stdy o living descendant grops (e.g.,

Skinner, 1920).

Throghot the region, we see evidence

that social and religios or spirital athor-

ity were intimately related. The prodcts

o skilled artisans, with imagery refecting

religios and spirital concepts, were sed by

people who established and exercised their

Athority in ancestral Central Americaranged rom the absolte politi-

cal power o Maya ajawb (kings) to

the athority exercised by respected elder

women or men in clans and other kinship

grops. Althogh political, religios, and

socioeconomic athority is the most appar-

ent, athority also resided in the heads o indi-

vidal hoseholds, local traditional keepers

and healers, and even in armers, shers, and

hnters who preserved specic lieways and

cstoms.

In highly stratied societies sch as theClassic Maya, each major settlement (sch

as Tikal, Copn, Palenqe) had a powerl,

centralized rler (Figre 60). However, they

were never sbject to a single emperor or ni-

ying ideology, so each rler had the ability to

articlate athority in niqe ways. Dominant

lineages competed with each other or access

to resorces, trade rotes, agricltral lands,

and hman labor, reslting in signicant lev-

els o warare and achievements recorded in

glyphs (Martin and Grbe, 2008; Figre 61).

Given the absence o written records, wehave mch less inormation abot indi-

vidal rlers and their lineages in non-Maya

parts o Central America. However, in the

archaeological record we can see evidence

o athority in residences, elaborate tombs,

and special objects, sch as the elaborately

Authority

John W. Hoopes


Maya vessel depict-

ing a nobleman carried

on a palanquin, AD

600900. Nebaj, Quich

Department, Guatemala.

Pottery, paint. MAI

exchange with Robert L.

Stolper, 1969.


Maya vessel with glyph

design, AD 600900. Pet

Department, Guatemala.

Pottery, paint. MAI

exchange with James

Economos, 1973.

Fig. 61


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knowledge and skills at healing. As Tassigwrites: The wonder o mimesis is in the copy

drawing on the character and power o the

original, to the point whereby the represen-

tation may even assme that character and

power (Figre 64).

Symbols o athority can oten be

interpreted as imitations o respected

ancestors or orebears. The coronation o

Napolon Bonaparte, or example, eatred

the emperor wearing elements o ancient

Greek dress, inclding a golden crown o

larel leaves. In so doing, he was imitatinghis hero, Alexander the Great. In a similar

ashion, athorities in ancient Central America

imitated their orebears, oten dressing in

archaic costmes or perorming ritals that

we can recognize as having been perormed

in mch earlier times. In so doing, athori-

ties become and behave like their ancestors,

establishing continities that jstiy and legiti-

mize their power. Mimesis can be maniest

in objects that are sed to imitate and, in so

doing, express and commnicate athority. In

Nicaraga, or example, a representation instone o a hated ax, which is not sable as a

tool, mimics the orm o an ax, and was prob-

ably made to be sed as a symbol o athority

(Figre 65).

Alterity is recognition o the other in

contrast to the sel. A person who ses objects

athority throgh the things they did withthese objects (Figre 63). Today, we can se

these things to help s nderstand the many

orms o athority that existed in pre-Hispanic

Central America.

Mimesis and Alterity in the

Representation of Authority

Althogh athority oten derived rom

kinship and reerences to ltimate ori-

gins, these reqired constant expression,explanation, and jstication. Athority was

thereore accompanied by the manipla-

tion o symbols sed to obtain, represent,

and exercise power. Michael Tassig (1993)

has sed the terms mmess and aleryto

highlight the isses involved. Althogh his

analysis ocsed on wooden sclptres sed

in contemporary religios ritals by the Kna

o northern Panama, and on decorations

applied to their textile mlas, the principles

he articlated are also helpl or interpreting

ancestral material cltre.

Mimesis is imitation: to become and

behave like something else (Benjamin, 1933).

A person who is not a doctor bt who dons

a white coat and a stethoscope is miming a

physician and might even be sccessl at

persading others that she or he actally has


Revealing Ancestral Central America, By Rosemary a. Joyce

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