Prof. Anthony P. Andrews
Office: College Hall 212
Office Hours: Wednesday, 1-3
andrews@ncf.edu
Spring 2006
Anthropology Lab
Tues & Fri: 3:30-4:50
http://faculty.ncf.edu/andrews
The goal of this course will be to give students a broad knowledge and an understanding of the archaeology of eastern Mesoamerica, the best-known inhabitants of which are the Olmec and the Maya. The Olmec of the southern Gulf Coast (ca. 1400-500 B.C.) are considered by many archaeologists to have been the most precocious and artistically productive of the Early Formative societies of Mesoamerica. The Maya can be identified archaeologically as early as 1600 B.C., reached their greatest extent and development during the Classic period (ca. A.D. 250-1100), and were conquered by Spaniards beginning early in the sixteenth century. They number about five million today. At the end of the course we will examine the development of historical archaeology in the Maya area through a study of several case studies from the Colonial period and 19th century.
The two texts will be supplemented by a large body of additional assigned readings, most of which will be placed on reserve. Evaluation of student work will be based on class participation, class presentations, and three research projects. As this is a seminar, it is essential that students read the assignments before class, and be prepared to discuss the materials. The research papers will be discussed ahead of time, and will focus on the Preclassic, the Classic, and the Postclassic and Post-Conquest periods. Papers will be cleared with the instructor, should be about 1500 words long, and will be accompanied by a class presentation.
This is an advanced seminar, and students are expected to research their papers in depth. An excellent source of recent research materials, with 700 items published since 1993, is
2003 Recent Advances in Maya Archaeology. Journal of Archaeological Research, 11 (2): 71B148. This is available online at: http://www.kluweronline.com/issn/1059-0161/contents
2000 Chronicle of the Maya Kings and Queens. Deciphering the Dynasties of the Ancient Maya. Thames and Hudson, New York.
2005 The Ancient Maya. 6th edition. Stanford University Press, Stanford.
Most materials are available on reserve, either in volumes, or as copies of individual articles. Many journal articles are available in the journal stacks, or online. Science, Current Anthropology, and International Journal of Historical Archaeology are available online, and in the stacks; articles in these journals will not be placed on reserve. Copies of articles from all other journals will be placed on reserve; some of these journals are also available in the stacks (Nature, Scientific American, Archaeology, Journal of World Prehistory); Ancient Mesoamerica is available online (Vol. 10 onwards), and in the stacks (Vol. 11 onwards); Latin American Antiquity is available in the stacks beginning with Vol. 12 (2001).
Sharer: Introduction, Chapters 1 and 2.
Martin and Grube: pages 6-13
1993 Eighth-Century Physical Geography, Environment, and Natural Resources in the Maya Lowlands. In Lowland Maya Civilization in the Eighth Century A.D. (Jeremy A. Sabloff and John S. Henderson, eds): 11-63.
Sharer: Chapter 4.
2005 The Earliest Inhabitants of the Maya Area. Ms.
1996 Early Agriculture in the Maya Lowlands. Latin American Antiquity, 7 (4) : 355-72.
2001 Origin and Environmental Setting of Ancient Agriculture in the Lowlands of Mesoamerica. Science, 292 (5520; May 18): 1370-73.
2001 Beginnings of Village Life in Eastern Mesoamerica. Latin American Antiquity, 12 (1): 5-23.
1991 An Emerging Early Formative Chiefdom at Paso de la Amada, Chiapas, Mexico. In The Formation of Complex Society in Southeastern Mesoamerica (William J. Fowler, Jr., ed.): 27B46.
1997 Olmec Archaeology: A Half Century of Research and Its Accomplishments. Journal of World Prehistory, 11 (1): 51-101.
2000 Olmec Archaeology after Regional Perspectives: An Assessment of Recent Research. In Olmec Art and Archaeology in Mesoamerica (John E. Clark and Mary E. Pye, eds.): 19-29.
1996 La Venta: An Olmec Capital. In Olmec Art of Ancient Mexico (Elizabeth P. Benson and Beatriz de la Fuente, eds.): 73-81.
1996 Reconstructing Olmec Life at San Lorenzo. In Olmec Art and Archaeology in Mesoamerica (John E. Clark and Mary E. Pye, eds.): 61-71.
1997 Olmec Architecture at San Lorenzo. In Olmec to Aztec: Settlement Patterns in the Ancient Gulf Lowlands (Barbara L. Stark and Philip J. Arnold III, eds.): 96-114.
2000 The Sacred Hill of El Manati: A Preliminary Discussion of the Site’s Ritual Paraphernalia. In Olmec Art and Archaeology in Mesoamerica (John E. Clark and Mary E. Pye, eds.): 75-93.
2002 Olmec Origins of Mesoamerican Writing. Science, 298 (5600; Dec 6): 1984-87.
2002 Oldest New World Writing Suggests Olmec Innovation. Science, 298 (5600; Dec 6): 1872-74.
1996 In Search of the Olmec Cosmos: Reconstructing the World View of Mexico’s First Civilization. In Olmec Art of Ancient Mexico (Elizabeth P. Benson and Beatriz de la Fuente, eds.): 51-59.
2000 The Pacific Coast and the Olmec Question. In Olmec Art and Archaeology in Mesoamerica (John E. Clark and Mary E. Pye, eds.): 217-51.
1989 Olmec: What's in a name? In Regional Perspectives on the Olmec (Robert J. Sharer and David C. Grove, eds.): 8-14.
1989 The Olmec and the Southeast Periphery of Mesoamerica. In Regional Perspectives on the Olmec (Robert J. Sharer and David C. Grove, eds.): 247-71.
2000 Faces of the Earth at Chalcatzingo, Mexico: Serpents, Cave, and Mountains in Middle Formative Period Iconography. In Olmec Art and Archaeology in Mesoamerica (John E. Clark and Mary E. Pye, eds.): 277-95.
1996 The Basin of Mexico: A Multimillennial Development Toward Cultural Complexity. In Olmec Art of Ancient Mexico (Elizabeth P. Benson and Beatriz de la Fuente, eds.): 83-93.
2000 Formative Mexican Chiefdoms and the Myth of the “Mother Culture.” Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 19 (1): 1-37. Available online: www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/02784165
Sharer: Chapters 5 and 6.
1990 The Demography of Komchen, an Early Maya Town in Northern Yucatan. In Precolumbian Population History in the Maya Lowlands (T. Patrick Culbert and Don S. Rice, eds.): 215-43.
2001 The First Cities - The Beginnings of Urbanization and State Formation in the Maya Lowlands. In Maya. Divine Kings of the Rainforest (Nikolai Grube, ed.): 50-65.
2006 The Dawn of Maya Kings and Queens. National Geographic, 209 (1; January): 68-77.
Sharer: Chapter 11.
Sharer: Chapter 3.
1998 Calendrical Cycles and Astronomy. In Maya (Peter Schmidt, Mercedes de la Garza, and Enrique Nalda, eds): 195-205.
1988 The Rio Azul Cacao Pot: Epigraphic observations on the function of a Maya ceramic vessel. Antiquity, 62 (3): 153-57.
Sharer: Chapter 13.
2000 Prehispanic Maya Religion. Conceptions of Divinity in Postclassic Maya Codices. Ancient Mesoamerica, 11 (1): 123-47.
1996 Kings of Stone: A Consideration of Ancient Stelae in Maya Ritual and Representation. RES, 29-30: 148-71.
1989 The way Glyph: Evidence for Co-essences among the Classic Maya. Research Reports on Ancient Maya Writing, 30.
2001 The Mathematical and Astronomical Content of the Mesoamerican Inscriptions. Chapter 4 in Skywatchers: A Revised and Updated Version of Skywatchers of Ancient Mexico.
2005 The Maya Hieroglyphic Codices [ http://www.mayacodices.org ]
Start reading Martin and Grube, Chronicle of the Maya Kings and Queens
Sharer: Chapters 12 and 7.
2002 Introduction: Reinterpreting Early Classic Interaction. In The Maya and Teotihuacan: Reinterpreting Early Classic Interaction (Geoffrey E. Braswell, ed.): 1-43.
Martin and Grube: pages 14-115 (through Calakmul)
Sharer: Chapter 8; read also pp. 357-68.
Martin and Grube: pp. 116-225
Sharer: Chapter 9: 499-531.
Martin and Grube: pp. 226-27.
1997 The Vanderbilt Petexbatun Regional Archeological Project 1989-1994: Overview, History, and Major Results of a Multidisciplinary Study of the Classic Maya Collapse. Ancient Mesoamerica, 8 (2):209-27.
1997 Classic Maya Defensive Systems and Warfare in the Petexbatun Region: Archaeological Evidence and Interpretations. Ancient Mesoamerica, 8 (2): 229-53. SKIM
1997 The Last Day of a Fortified Classic Maya Center: Archaeological Investigations at Aguateca, Guatemala. Ancient Mesoamerica, 8 (2):337-51.
1993 Historical Inscriptions and the Maya Collapse. In Lowland Maya Civilization in the Eighth Century A.D. (Jeremy A. Sabloff and John S. Henderson, eds.): 321-54.
1995 Possible Role of Climate in the Collapse of Classic Maya Civilization. Nature ,375 (6530; June 1): 391-94 (see also comment by J.A. Sabloff, “Drought and Decline,” p. 357).
2003 Climate and the Collapse of Maya Civilization. Science, 299 (299; Mar. 14):1731-35.
Sharer: Chapter 9: 531-87.
2001 Long Twilight or New Dawn? Transformations of Maya Civilization in the Puuc Region. In Maya. Divine Kings of the Rainforest (Nikolai Grube, ed.): 322-37.
1990 The Fall of Chichen Itza: A Preliminary Hypothesis. Latin American Antiquity, 1 (3): 258-67.
1994 Chichen Itza and its Hinterland: A World-Systems Perspective. Ancient Mesoamerica, 5 (2): 141-58.
2000 The Barricade and Abandonment of Chunchucmil: Implications for Northern Maya Warfare. Latin American Antiquity, 11 (3 ): 283-98.
2003 The Northern Maya Collapse and its Aftermath. Ancient Mesoamerica, 14 (1):151-56.
Sharer: Chapter 10
1984 Collapse to Contact: Postclassic Archaeology of the Peten Maya. Archaeology, 37(2):46-51.
1975 The Rise of a Maya Merchant Class. Scientific American, 233 (4): 72-82.
1991 Late Postclassic Lowland Maya Archaeology. Journal of World Prehistory 7 (1): 35-69.
2003 Revisiting Mayapan: Mexico’s Last Maya Capital. Ancient Mesoamerica 14 (1): 1-46.
1996 Hydraulic engineering in central Petén, Guatemala: Ports and inter-lacustrine canals. In Arqueología Mesoamericana. Homenaje a William T. Sanders (A. Guadalupe Mastache, et al., eds.), II: 109-22.
2001 The Martial Dynasties - The Postclassic in the Maya Highlands. In Maya. Divine Kings of the Rainforest (Nikolai Grube, ed.): 356-69.
Sharer: Epilogue: The Conquest of the Maya (pp. 757-78)
2001 The Colonial Era (articles by Prager, Vayhinger-Sheer, and Gunsenheimer). In Maya. Divine Kings of the Rainforest (Nikolai Grube, ed.): 370-93.
1991 The Rural Chapels and Churches of Early Colonial Yucatán and Belize: An Archaeological Perspective. In Columbian Consequences, Vol. III: The Spanish Borderlands in Pan-American Perspective (David H. Thomas, ed.): 355-74.
1986 Tipu: A Maya Town on the Spanish Colonial Frontier. Archaeology, 39 (1): 40-47.
1977 The Coxoh Colonial Project and Coneta, Chiapas, Mexico: A Provincial Maya Village under the Spanish Conquest. Historical Archaeology, II: 56-66.
1992 Material Culture and Colonial Indian Society in Southern Mesoamerica: The View from Coastal Chiapas, Mexico. Historical Archaeology, 26 (1): 67-74.
1981 Historical Archaeology in Yucatan: A Preliminary Framework. Historical Archaeology, 15 (1): 1-18.
1998 Community Organization in the Parroquia de Yaxcaba, Yucatan, Mexico, 1750-1847: Implications for Household Adaptation within a Changing Colonial Economy. Ancient Mesoamerica, 9 (1): 39-54.
2002 Peonage, Power Relations, and the Built Environment at Hacienda Tabi, Yucatán Mexico. International Journal of Historical Archaeology, 6 (4): 225-52.
1998 Lacandon Maya Culture Change and Survival in the Lowland Frontier of the Expanding Guatemalan and Mexican Republics. In Studies in Culture Contact: Interaction, Culture Change, and Archaeology (James G. Cusick, ed.): 457-75.
1982 The 19th-Century Sugar Mill at Indian Church, Belize. Journal of the Society for Industrial Archaeology, 8 (1): 57-66.