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Monumental Architecture Arising from an Early Astronomical-Religious Complex in Perú, 2200–1750 bc

Robert A. Benfer Jr

in Early New World Monumentality

Recent findings of a calendric temple complex dating to 2,100 bc, at the middle Chillón valley site of Buena Vista, Chillón, raise the question as to the importance of astronomical orientations in ... More

Recent findings of a calendric temple complex dating to 2,100 bc, at the middle Chillón valley site of Buena Vista, Chillón, raise the question as to the importance of astronomical orientations in construction of early platform mounds. Buena Vista alignments from a Mito-style offering chamber and also from the gaze of a personified disk each mark critical dates by solar and Andean constellation events. When corrections are made for latitude and declination, other sites such as El Paráiso, Aspero, Las Aldas, and Chupacigarro/Caral show a similar summer solsticial orientation.Less

Monumental Public Complexes and Agricultural Expansion On Peru's Central Coast During the Second Millennium Bc

Richard L. Burger and Lucy C Salazar

in Early New World Monumentality

During the second millennium bc monumental architecture proliferated along the Peru's central coast on a scale rarely if ever equaled in the area's prehistory. Drawing upon investigations in the ... More

During the second millennium bc monumental architecture proliferated along the Peru's central coast on a scale rarely if ever equaled in the area's prehistory. Drawing upon investigations in the Lurín Valley, this chapter explores the emergence of multiple public centers with distinctive U-shaped pyramid complexes and their relationship to the expansion of irrigation agriculture and concomitant demographic growth. By the end of this period there were least ten public centers with monumental architecture in the lower and middle Lurín Valley. It is argued that monumental architecture developed in tandem with agricultural production on Peru's central coast and that the distinctive settlement pattern documented during the Initial Period in the Lurín Valley reflects factors other than the emergence of the archaic state. On the basis of this case, we explore the importance of chronological control for interpreting settlement patterns.Less

Monumental Architecture and Social Complexity in the Intermediate Area

R. Jeffrey Frost and Jeffrey Quilter

in Early New World Monumentality

The region from eastern El Salvador and Honduras through Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, and Colombia is well known for its goldwork and as a center of highly developed chiefdom societies. But it ... More

The region from eastern El Salvador and Honduras through Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, and Colombia is well known for its goldwork and as a center of highly developed chiefdom societies. But it should be equally renowned for its extensive and impressive large-scale constructions. For those not familiar with the region this may come as surprise. But throughout the Intermediate Area, pre-Hispanic peoples erected impressive structures and extensively modified landscapes, creating extensive built environments of monumental proportions. Considerable variability is present in these constructions, but there are many similarities, an internal consistency in patterns, and commonalities with other New World architectural traditions. In this chapter we offer a review of the salient features of monumental architecture and social complexity in the Intermediate Area. We will begin by briefly reviewing the natural and cultural landscape of the region and the pre-Hispanic chronology. This will be followed by some general remarks on the issue of monumental architecture.Less

Considering Early New World Monumentality

Robert M. Rosenswig and Richard L. Burger

in Early New World Monumentality

The introductory chapter provides a theoretical overview to the volume. This theoretical perspective includes a brief historical account of the study of monumentality, the idea of approaching ... More

The introductory chapter provides a theoretical overview to the volume. This theoretical perspective includes a brief historical account of the study of monumentality, the idea of approaching monumentality from two temporal scales (initial labor organization and long-term built environment), as well as the rationale for examining these issues comparatively across the three American continents. A review of the contents of each paper is not provided in this introductory chapter but instead themes that run through multiple papers is discussed and their implication explored.Less

Preceramic and Initial Period Monumentality within the Casma Valley of Peru

Thomas Pozorski and Shelia Pozorski

in Early New World Monumentality

In the Casma Valley area of Peru, truly monumental construction suddenly appears in the Initial Period associated with the advent of inland intensive agriculture along with a continued dependence on ... More

In the Casma Valley area of Peru, truly monumental construction suddenly appears in the Initial Period associated with the advent of inland intensive agriculture along with a continued dependence on marine resources for animal protein. Sociopolitical complexity approaching early state-level society is reflected in numerous sites that exhibit precise modular site planning, huge mounds erected in large labor-intensive building phases, and special function constructions that contain both “practical” and “non-practical” features. Sporadic architectural features, subsistence remains, and artifacts indicate some limited contact with coastal cultures to the north and highland cultures to the east.Less

The Origins of Monumentality in Ancient Guerrero, Mexico

Louise I. Paradis

in Early New World Monumentality

In Guerrero, monumentality first appears at Teopantecuanitlan, probably around 1200 B.C., and in several other sites from 1000 B.C on. It is closely associated in its shape and content with the Olmec ... More

In Guerrero, monumentality first appears at Teopantecuanitlan, probably around 1200 B.C., and in several other sites from 1000 B.C on. It is closely associated in its shape and content with the Olmec art style and civilization. An analysis of monumentality in this region of Mesoamerica, both from a historical (i.e., the original construction) and a long-term developmental perspective, contributes to the understanding of its origin and relation to the emergence of social complexity.Less

Agricultural Terraces as Monumental Architecture in the Titicaca Basin: Their Origins in the Yaya-Mama Religious Tradition

Sergio J. Chávez

in Early New World Monumentality

The monumentality of ancient agricultural terraces in the Titicaca Basin can be observed especially on the Copacabana Peninsula, where most hills facing the lake are covered by stone-faced terraces. ... More

The monumentality of ancient agricultural terraces in the Titicaca Basin can be observed especially on the Copacabana Peninsula, where most hills facing the lake are covered by stone-faced terraces. Terrace construction has been attributed to the expansionist Tiahuanaco and Inca polities. However, this chapter proposes several lines of evidence pointing to a much earlier date for the beginnings of their construction, and expansion by later polities. The associated early material remains belong to the Yaya-Mama Religious Tradition, an endogenous tradition related to the first unification of diverse groups of people and the earliest public architecture in the region. Diagnostic lines of evidence include studies of remains derived from extensive surface surveys on terraced hills and some excavations on terraces, demonstrating abundant presence of Yaya-Mama materials. Further analyses were conducted on excavated botanical remains and human skeletons, the latter demonstrating widespread physical stresses. Experiments and ethnographic interviews of local informants show the extent of labor used in stone cutting, terrace building, and their continued use into the present. Consequently, the presence of utilitarian terraces seen today on a monumental scale is the result of accretion, and can certainly be placed among the largest monuments in the Americas.Less

Monumentality beyond Scale: The Elaboration of Mounded Architecture at Crystal River

Thomas J. Pluckhahn and Victor D. Thompson

in New Histories of Pre-Columbian Florida

Archaeologists commonly employ Bruce Trigger’s definition of monumental architecture as that exhibiting scale or elaboration exceeding the practical requirements of intended purpose. In practice, ... More

Archaeologists commonly employ Bruce Trigger’s definition of monumental architecture as that exhibiting scale or elaboration exceeding the practical requirements of intended purpose. In practice, however, archaeologists have tended to emphasize scale alone, perhaps because size is more easily observed and quantified. This chapter argues for the need to grant greater consideration to elaboration, using the famous Crystal River site in west-central Florida as a case study. The greater elaboration of monumental construction helped distinguish the community at Crystal River from its peers, and may account for its disproportionate representation of prestige goods.Less

Early Mounds in the Lower Mississippi Valley

Joe Saunders

in Early New World Monumentality

It is not possible to determine exactly when or where monumental architecture started in the Lower Mississippi Valley. Sometime after 5000 B.C., earthen mound building began and continued into the ... More

It is not possible to determine exactly when or where monumental architecture started in the Lower Mississippi Valley. Sometime after 5000 B.C., earthen mound building began and continued into the third millennium B.C. primarily west of the Mississippi River and in the eastern half of Louisiana. It is known that before 5000 B.C., a fishing-hunting-foraging economy had been established in north Louisiana and was continued through the Middle Archaic period. Current evidence suggests that the builders restricted their residential base to river valleys, with only a marginal occupation of upland areas adjacent to the mound sites. Despite sharing a similar economic base, each of the 13 known mound sites exhibit attributes unique unto themselves--with one exception, none of the mounds appear to have served as a mortuary site. As mysteriously as they began, Middle Archaic mound building ended ca. 3000 B.C.Less

Studying Maya Cities

Brett A. Houk, Marilyn A. Masson, Michael E. Smith, and John W. Janusek

in Ancient Maya Cities of the Eastern Lowlands

This chapter begins by describing the analytical approach applied to the cities in the book–the built environment and site planning–and then considers what Maya cities are in the grand scheme of ... More

This chapter begins by describing the analytical approach applied to the cities in the book–the built environment and site planning–and then considers what Maya cities are in the grand scheme of urban studies. The built environment encompasses many elements of the landscape, but this study is particularly concerned with monumental architecture, including formal plazas, palaces, causeways, reservoirs, ball courts, temples, and tombs. Ancient urban planning or site planning analysis attempts to understand the degree to which cities were planned and to interpret the meaning behind city plans. Meaning, in this case, includes all the factors–symbolic, historical, functional, etc.–that contributed to the final plan of the city, not just high-level meaning such as worldview and cosmology. Maya cities, for the purposes of this study, are regal-ritual centers that affected their hinterlands and were homes to royal courts. The geopolitical landscape of the Classic period and Maya emblem glyphs are discussed. This chapter also looks at multiple aspects of Maya cities including how the Maya built their cities, how those cities fall apart, the architectural inventories common to Maya sites, the engineering concerns Maya architects and builders had to overcome, and how archaeologists collect and portray mapping data.Less

Tracking the Transformations: Population, Intensification, and Monumentality

Patrick Vinton Kirch

in How Chiefs Became Kings: Divine Kingship and the Rise of Archaic States in Ancient Hawai'i

This chapter addresses the evidence for major trends in demography, settlement, economic intensification, specialization, monumental architecture, and other material correlates of sociopolitical ... More

This chapter addresses the evidence for major trends in demography, settlement, economic intensification, specialization, monumental architecture, and other material correlates of sociopolitical transformation. The material evidence of monumentality provides critical evidence regarding the ways in which the Hawaiian elites employed ritual and ideology to increase their control over the political economy, and to legitimate their claims to divine rule. The vast majority of Hawai'i Island's production had to come from intensive dryland field systems. The western half of the archipelago was doubly fortunate: where irrigation and aquaculture could be intensified the most, there were also the richest and largest stocks of marine resources. The emergence of archaic states in Hawai'i was a process rather than an event. Throughout the Protohistoric Period, Hawai'i Island cycled through unification and fission, frequently unable to maintain the overarching control first achieved by 'Umi.Less

A West Asian Perspective on Early Monuments

Frank Hole

in Early New World Monumentality

This chapter contrasts West Asian monumentality with early new world monumentality.

Monumental Landscapes, Changing Ideologies, and Political Histories in the Mopan Valley

M. Kathryn Brown and Jason Yaeger

in Approaches to Monumental Landscapes of the Ancient Maya

In Chapter 14, Brown and Yaeger discuss the sociopolitical organization of several key sites in the Mopan Valley from the early Middle Preclassic through the end of the Late Classic period. Through ... More

In Chapter 14, Brown and Yaeger discuss the sociopolitical organization of several key sites in the Mopan Valley from the early Middle Preclassic through the end of the Late Classic period. Through an examination of monumental architecture, public art, and ritual practices, the authors describe the political development over this 1,600-year period beginning with Early Xunantunich, the first major political center beginning in the early Middle Preclassic, to the latest, Classic Xunantunich, which was abandoned in the 9th century. The centers of Actuncan and Buenavista del Cayo filled a vacuum in the valley in the intervening centuries, playing major roles on the political landscape during the Late Preclassic and Early Classic periods, respectively. The authors trace how political authority and ideology became more centralized and the institutions of divine kingship developed as each center succeeded one another. It is clear from the data presented in this chapter that monumental constructions are at the forefront of our understanding of the development of the political landscape in the Mopan Valley, a landscape where ritual and religion played key roles in the rise of complexity.Less

The Genesis of Maya Complexity in the Northwestern Region of the Yucatan Peninsula

Fernando Robles Castellanos and Teresa Ceballos Gallareta

in Pathways to Complexity: A View from the Maya Lowlands

In this chapter the evidence for the rise of social complexity in the Maya area is reviewed and re-considered in light of recent evidence provided by the authors and their colleagues in the northern ... More

In this chapter the evidence for the rise of social complexity in the Maya area is reviewed and re-considered in light of recent evidence provided by the authors and their colleagues in the northern Maya lowlands. A detailed analysis of Middle Preclassic ceramics is presented as well as analyses of the monumental architecture of Poxila and Xocnaceh. The ceramics indicate a rapid dispersion of Maya-Yucatecan groups in the northern lowlands during the Middle Preclassic. The authors also argue that Xocnaceh and Poxila provide evidence of emerging regional statehood during the latter part of this period.Less

The Creation of Ritual Space at the Jackson Landing Site in Coastal Mississippi

Edmond A. Boudreaux

in Early and Middle Woodland Landscapes of the Southeast

This chapter will consider how the construction of earthen monuments—a semi-circular earthwork and a platform mound—created a ritual space at the Jackson Landing site, an early Late Woodland (AD ... More

This chapter will consider how the construction of earthen monuments—a semi-circular earthwork and a platform mound—created a ritual space at the Jackson Landing site, an early Late Woodland (AD 400-700) site located in coastal Mississippi. Comparisons to other Woodland period sites with monumental architecture suggest a number of similarities regarding the organization of space and the construction of monuments relative to natural features of the landscape. Similarities with other sites suggest ideas about how ritual space was created and used at Jackson Landing. These similarities, along with Jackson Landing’s size and location along two major waterways, suggest that Jackson Landing was the location of ritual activities that integrated groups at a regional, and perhaps inter-regional, scale.Less

Space and Power in the Syro-Anatolian Culture Complex

James F. Osborne

in The Syro-Anatolian City-States: An Iron Age Culture

This chapter develops insights from recent social theory in space and place that emphasizes the socially contingent nature of the built environment and its perception by those who dwell within it. ... More

This chapter develops insights from recent social theory in space and place that emphasizes the socially contingent nature of the built environment and its perception by those who dwell within it. Spatial analysis of settlement patterns within the Syro-Anatolian Culture Complex illustrates that rather than being evenly distributed across the landscape, as per the vision of territoriality in the modern nation-state, power at the regional scale was highly variable and swift to change, a phenomenon referred to as malleable territoriality. Each kingdom’s capital city was a tightly coordinated nexus of symbols that celebrated royal authority to pedestrians in such a way that no matter where one turned, as one moved through the city, the legitimacy of the royal figure was constantly being reinforced. Yet as soon as one moved into a settlement lower on the settlement hierarchy, one sees that the political is far less evident, even absent. And even in the capital cities themselves, those indicators of royal power are frequently found smashed into pieces. Spatial analysis therefore indicates that not only was power expressed and experienced differently depending on one’s location in the built environment, it was also something that could be contested.Less

Changing Stages: Royal Legitimacy and the Architectural Development of the Pinturas Complex at San Bartolo, Guatemala

William Saturno, Franco D. Rossi, and Boris Beltrán

in Pathways to Complexity: A View from the Maya Lowlands

This chapter adds to the current debate evaluating the functions and meanings of Maya architectural layouts and contributes to our understanding of the diverse cultural and political values embedded ... More

This chapter adds to the current debate evaluating the functions and meanings of Maya architectural layouts and contributes to our understanding of the diverse cultural and political values embedded within these complexes. Excavations at San Bartolo of an architectural assemblage consisting of a ballcourt, E-group, and triadic complex defines a developmental sequence highlighting both significant changes and continuities in ceremonial expression during the last four centuries of the Preclassic period. The changes reflect an evolution of the role of ajaw from an intermediary with divine forces to a divine force to which nature was subject. The shift at San Bartolo, from E-group to Triadic complex, thus characterizes a monumental architecture expressing nascent institutions of kingship that would come to define the politics of the Classic period.Less