Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T22:45:40.609Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Refinement of the Chronology of La Quemada, Zacatecas, Mexico, Using Ceramic Seriation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 February 2020

Andrea Torvinen Open the ORCID record for Andrea Torvinen [Opens in a new window]  and
Ben A. Nelson
Andrea Torvinen*
Affiliation:
School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, 900 S. Cady Mall, Tempe, AZ85287-2402, USA
Ben A. Nelson
Affiliation:
School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, 900 S. Cady Mall, Tempe, AZ85287-2402, USA
*
([email protected], corresponding author)
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

During the Epiclassic period (AD 600–900), the northern frontier of Mesoamerica consisted of a regional network of polities focused on large, hilltop centers, including the site of La Quemada in the Malpaso Valley of Zacatecas, Mexico. Although extensive archaeological research has been conducted at the site, the refinement of its chronology is essential for two reasons: (1) to establish the chronological control necessary to characterize social processes diachronically and (2) to ensure that the occupational history of La Quemada is accurately integrated into the regional chronology of the northern frontier. A combination of frequency seriation, correspondence analysis, and discriminant function analysis results in the recognition of three occupational phases across the areas excavated by the La Quemada-Malpaso Valley Archaeological Project (LQ-MVAP). Our three-phase chronology independently confirms both the intra-context ordering of analytic units and the previously proposed growth trajectory of the site: beginning in the monumental core, expanding into the western flank, and later retracting back into the core. The separation of the LQ-MVAP material record into chronological phases means it is now possible to track changes in the social processes that may have contributed to the formation, maintenance, and decline of La Quemada and other northern frontier polities.

Durante el Epiclásico (600–900 dC), la frontera septentrional de Mesoamérica consistió en una red regional de grupos concentrados en sus respectivos centros ceremoniales, incluido el sitio de La Quemada, Zacatecas. Aunque se han llevado a cabo varios proyectos en este sitio, es esencial un refinamiento de su cronología por dos motivos: (1) establecer el control cronológico necesario para caracterizar los procesos sociales locales diacrónicamente y (2) asegurar que se integre con precisión la historia ocupacional de La Quemada a la cronología regional de la frontera septentrional. La combinación de seriación cerámica, análisis de correspondencia y análisis de funciones discriminantes permite identificar tres fases ocupacionales a través de las áreas excavadas por el Proyecto La Quemada-Valle de Malpaso (LQ-MVAP). Dicha cronología de tres fases confirma tanto el orden de unidades analíticas adentro de ciertos contextos, como la trayectoria de crecimiento del sitio propuesta previamente, empezando en el núcleo monumental, expandiéndose para abarcar la falda occidental del cerro y luego replegándose una vez más hacia el núcleo. El hecho de poder separar el registro arqueológico observado por el LQ-MVAP en fases cronológicas permite rastrear los procesos sociales que pudieron haber contribuido a la formación, el mantenimiento y la caída de La Quemada y otros centros de la región.

Keywords

Mesoamericanorthern frontierchronologyceramic seriationMesoaméricaFrontera Septentrionalcronologíaseriación cerámica
Type
Article
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 31 , Issue 1 , March 2020 , pp. 61 - 80
Copyright
Copyright © 2020 by the Society for American Archaeology

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Armillas, Pedro 1964 Condiciones ambientales y movimientos de pueblos en la frontera septentrional de Mesoamérica. In Homenaje a Fernando Marquez-Miranda, edited by Universidad Complutense de Madrid, pp. 62–82. Universidades de Madrid y Sevilla, Madrid.Google Scholar
Armillas, Pedro 1969 The Arid Frontier of Mexican Civilization. Transactions of the New York Academy of Sciences 31:694–704.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aveni, Anthony F, Hartung, Horst, and Charles Kelley, J. 1982 Alta Vista (Chalchihuites), Astronomical Implications of a Mesoamerican Ceremonial Outpost at the Tropic of Cancer. American Antiquity 47:316–335.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beck, Margaret E. and Hill, Matthew E. Jr. 2004 Rubbish, Relatives, and Residence: The Family Use of Middens. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 11:297–333.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beekman, Christopher S. 2010 Recent Research in Western Mexican Archaeology. Journal of Archaeological Research 18:41–109.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Braniff, Beatriz 1989 Oscilación de la frontera mesoamericana: Un nuevo ensayo. Arqueología 1:99–114.Google Scholar
Braniff, Beatriz, and Hers, Marie-Areti 1998 Herencias chichimecas. Arqueología 19:55–80.Google Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, Christopher, van der Plicht, Johannes, and Weninger, Bernhard 2001 “Wiggle Matching” Radiocarbon Dates. Radiocarbon 43:381–389.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buck, Caitlin E., Andrés Christen, J., and James, Gary N. 1999 BCal: An On-line Bayesian Radiocarbon Calibration Tool. Internet Archaeology 7. DOI:10.11141/ia.7.1.Google Scholar
Cabrero García, María Teresa 1995 La muerte en el occidente del México prehispánico. Universidad Autónoma de México, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Cowgill, George L. 1972 Models, Methods and Techniques for Seriation. In Models in Archaeology, edited by Clarke, David L., pp. 381–424. Metheun, London.Google Scholar
Cowgill, George L. 1997 State and Society at Teotihuacan, Mexico. Annual Review of Anthropology 26:129–161.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Darling, J. Andrew 1993 Notes on Obsidian Sources of the Southern Sierra Madre Occidental. Ancient Mesoamerica 4:245–253.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Darling, J. Andrew 1998 Obsidian Distribution and Exchange in the North-Central Frontier of Mesoamerica. PhD dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Dunnell, Robert C. 1970 Seriation Method and Its Evaluation. American Antiquity 35:305–319.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Forest, Marion, and Jadot, Elsa 2018 Transformaciones y evolución del sitio El Palacio en el Posclásico: Nuevos datos sobre el Çacapo prehispánico. Paper presented at the Coloquio Internacional, Mexico City. Mexico.Google Scholar
Foster, Michael S., and Gorenstein, Shirley (editors) 2000 Greater Mesoamerica: The Archeology of West and Northwest Mexico. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Hare, Timothy S., and Smith, Michael E. 1996 A New Postclassic Chronology for Yautepec, Morelos. Ancient Mesoamerica 7:281–297.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harris, Edward 1989 Principles of Archaeological Stratigraphy. 2nd ed. Academic Press, London.Google Scholar
Hers, Marie-Areti 1989 Los toltecas en tierras chichimecas. Instituto de Investigaciones Estéticas, Universidad Autónoma de México, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Jimenez, Peter 1989 Perspectivas sobre la arqueología de Zacatecas. Arqueología 5:7–50.Google Scholar
Jimenez, Peter 1992 Una red de interración del noroeste de Mesoamerica: Una interpretación. In Origen y desarrollo de la civilización en el Occidente de Mexico: Homenaje a Pedro Armillas y Angel Palerm, edited by de Lameiras, Brigitte B. and Weigand, Phil C., pp. 177–204. El Colegio de Michoacán A.C., Zamora, Mexico.Google Scholar
Jimenez, Peter 1995 Algunas observaciones sobre la dinamica cultural de la arqueología de Zactecas. In Arqueología del Norte y del Occidente de Mexico, edited by Dahlgren, Barbara and Soto de Archaveleta, Maria A., pp. 35–66. Universidad Autónoma de México, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Jimenez, Peter 2018 Orienting West Mexico: The Mesoamerican World System 200–1200 CE. PhD dissertation, Faculty of Arts, University of Gothenburg, Sweden.Google Scholar
Jimenez, Peter, and Andrew Darling, J. 2000 Archaeology of Southern Zacatecas: The Malpaso, Juchipila, and the Valparaiso-Bolaños Valleys. In Greater Mesoamerica: The Archaeology of West and Northwest Mexico, edited by Foster, Michael S. and Gorenstein, Shirley, pp. 155–180. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Jiménez Moreno, Wigberto 1959 Síntesis de la historia pretolteca de Mesoamérica. In El esplendor del México antiguo, Vol. 2, pp. 1109–1196. Centro de Investigaciones Antropológicos, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Kelley, J. Charles 1956 Settlement Patterns in North-Central Mexico. In Prehistoric Settlement Patterns in the New World, edited by Willey, Gordon R., pp. 128–202. Viking Fund Publications in Anthropology No. 23. Wenner-Gren Foundation, New York.Google Scholar
Kelley, J. Charles 1971 Archaeology of the Northern Frontier: Zacatecas and Durango. In Archaeology of Northern Mesoamerica, edited by Ekholm, Gordon F. and Bernal, Ignacio, pp. 768–801. Handbook of Middle American Indians Vol. 11. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Kelley, J. Charles 1974 Speculations on the Culture History of Northwestern Mexico. In The Archaeology of West Mexico, edited by Bell, Betty, pp. 19–39. Sociedad de Estudios Avanzados del Occidente de México, Ajijic, Jalisco.Google Scholar
Kelley, J. Charles 1985 The Chronology of the Chalchihuites Culture. In The Archaeology of West and Northwest Mesoamerica, edited by Foster, Michael S. and Weigand, Phil C., pp. 269–287. Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado.Google Scholar
Kelley, J. Charles, and Kelley, Ellen A. 1971 An Introduction to the Ceramics of the Chalchihuites Culture of Zacatecas and Durango, Mexico: Part I: The Decorated Wares. University Museum, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale.Google Scholar
Kintigh, Keith W. 1990 Intrasite Spatial Analysis: A Commentary on Major Methods. In Mathematics and Information Science in Archaeology: A Flexible Framework, edited by Voorrips, Albertus, pp. 165–200. Studies in Modern Archaeology 3. HOLOS-Verlag, Bonn.Google Scholar
Kintigh, Keith W. 1994 Tools for Quantitative Archaeology. Electronic document, http://www.TFQA.com, accessed January 16, 2020.Google Scholar
Kintigh, Keith W., and Ammerman, Albert J. 1982 Heuristic Approaches to Spatial Analysis in Archaeology. American Antiquity 47:31–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lelgemann, Achim 1992 The Chronology of La Quemada, Zacatecas, and the Classic Occupation of the Northwestern Periphery of Mesoamerica. Free University of Berlin, Berlin.Google Scholar
Lelgemann, Achim 1997 Orientaciones astronómicas y el sistema de medida en La Quemada, Zacatecas, Mexico. Indiana 14:99–125.Google Scholar
Lelgemann, Achim 2000 Proyecto Ciudadela de La Quemada, Zacatecas. Manuscript on file, Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Instituto de Antropología Americana de la Universidad de Bonn, Bonn, Germany.Google Scholar
Lister, Robert H., and Howard, Agnes M. 1955 The Chalchihuites Culture of Northwest Mexico. American Antiquity 21:122–129.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mason, J. A. 1937 Late Archaeological Sites in Durango, Mexico, from Chalchihuites to Zape. Publications of the Philadelphia Anthropological Society 1:117–126.Google Scholar
Medina González, José Humberto 2000 El Paisaje Ritual del Valle de Malpaso. Master's thesis, Escuela Nacional de Antropología, Instituto Nacional de Antropología y Secretaría de Educación Pública.Google Scholar
Millhauser, John K. 1999 Economic, Social, and Ritual Dimensions of Obsidian Use in the Malpaso Valley, Zacatecas, Mexico. Master's thesis, Department of Anthropology, Arizona State University, Tempe.Google Scholar
Millon, René 1988 The Last Years of Teotihuacan Dominance. In The Collapse of Ancient States and Civilizations, edited by Yoffee, Norman and Cowgill, George L., pp. 102–164. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Nelson, Ben A. 1997 Chronology and Stratigraphy at La Quemada, Zacatecas, Mexico. Journal of Field Archaeology 24:85–109.Google Scholar
Nelson, Ben A. 2001 Aggregation, Warfare, and the Spread of the Mesoamerican Tradition. In The Archaeology of Regional Interaction: Religion, Warfare, and Exchange across the American Southwest, edited by Hegmon, Michelle, pp. 317–337. University Press of Colorado, Boulder.Google Scholar
Nelson, Ben A. 2015 Desplazamiento ritual en el Occidente de México: del pasado prehispánico al presente. Arqueología Mexicana 22:54–59.Google Scholar
Nelson, Ben A., and Martin, Debra L. 2015 Symbolic Bones and Interethnic Violence in a Frontier Zone, Northwest Mexico, ca. 500–900 C.E. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 112:9196–9201.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peeples, Matthew A. 2011 R Script for K-Means Cluster Analysis. Electronic document, http://www.mattpeeples.net/kmeans.html, accessed June 21, 2018.Google Scholar
Peeples, Matthew A., and Schachner, Gregson 2012 Refining Correspondence Analysis-Based Ceramic Seriation of Regional Data Sets. Journal of Archaeological Science 39:2818–2827.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pijoan, Carmen M., and Mansilla, Josefina 1990 Evidencias rituales en restos humanos del norte de Mesoamérica. In Mesoamérica y norte de México siglos IX-XII, Vol. 2, edited by Sodi Miranda, F., pp. 467–478. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Pomedio, Chloé, Pereira, Grégory, and Fernández-Villanuea, Eugenia (editors) 2013 Tradiciones cerámicas del Epiclásico en el Bajío y regiones aledañas: Cronología e interacción. BAR International Series 2519. Archaeopress, Oxford.Google Scholar
Ramírez, Santos, Antonio, Marco 2014 Informe Final de las Temporadas 2012–2014 Proyecto Arqueológico La Quemada. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Rice, Prudence 1987 Pottery Analysis: A Sourcebook. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Schiavitti, Vincent M., Nelson, Ben A., Betts, Peter Jiménez, and Andrew Darling, J. 1996 Photographic Guide to Decorated Ceramics of the Malpaso Valley, Working Draft 1.0. Department of Anthropology, Arizona State University, Tempe.Google Scholar
Sinopoli, Carla 1991 Approaches to Archaeological Ceramics. Plenum Press, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, Karen Y., and Neiman, Fraser D. 2007 Frequency Seriation, Correspondence Analysis, and Woodland Period Ceramic Assemblage Variation in the Deep South. Southeastern Archaeology 26:47–72.Google Scholar
Strazicich, Nicola M. 1995 Prehispanic Pottery Production in the Chalchihuites and La Quemada Regions of Zacatecas, Mexico. PhD dissertation, Department of Anthropology, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo.Google Scholar
Taladoire, Eric, Sara Dzul, Philippe Nondédéo, and Forné, Mélanie 2013 Chronology of the Río Bec Settlement and Architecture. Ancient Mesoamerica 24:353–372.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Torvinen, Andrea L. 2018 Social Identification and the Capacity for Collective Action at La Quemada, Zacatecas, Mexico (600–800 CE). PhD dissertation, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe.Google Scholar
Trombold, Charles D. 1985 A Summary of the Archaeology in the La Quemada Region. In The Archaeology of West and Northwest Mesoamerica, edited by Foster, Michael S. and Weigand, Phil C., pp. 237–267. Westview Press, Boulder.Google Scholar
Trombold, Charles D. 1990 A Reconsideration of the Chronology for the La Quemada Portion of the Northern Mesoamerican Frontier. American Antiquity 55:308–323.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trombold, Charles D. 1991 Causeways in the Context of Strategic Planning in the La Quemada Region, Zacatecas, Mexico. In Ancient Road Networks and Settlement Hierarchies in the New World, edited by Trombold, Charles D., pp. 145–168. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Turkon, Paula, Elliott, Michelle, Manning, Sturt W., and Griggs, Carol 2011 Dendrochronology, Chronological Control, and Climate Reconstruction in Northwest Mesoamerica. Paper presented at the 76th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Sacramento, California.Google Scholar
Turkon, Paula, Manning, Sturt W., Griggs, Carol, and Jiggetts-O'Neill, Alexandra 2015 Season 2 Results: Dendro-14C-Wiggle-Matching in Northwestern Mesoamerica. Paper presented at the 80th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, San Francisco.Google Scholar
Turkon, Paula, Manning, Sturt W., Griggs, Carol, Santos Ramírez, Marco Antonio, Nelson, Ben A., Padilla, Carlos Torreblanca, and Wild, Eva Maria 2018 Applications of Dendrochronology in Northwestern Mexico. Latin American Antiquity 29:102–121.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vidal-Aldana, Cynthia Isabel 2017 De la lámina delgada al agente humano: Una revision de la interacción Aztatlán-Chalchihuites. Arqueología Iberoamericana 54:60–74.Google Scholar
Weigand, Phil C. 1978a The Prehistory of Zacatecas: An Interpretation. Part I. Anthropology 2:67–87.Google Scholar
Weigand, Phil C. 1978b The Prehistory of Zacatecas: An Interpretation. Part II. Anthropology 2:103–117.Google Scholar
Weigand, Phil C. 1982 Mining and Mineral Trade in Prehispanic Zacatecas. Anthropology 6:87–134.Google Scholar
Weigand, Phil C., Harbottle, Garman, and Sayre, Edward V. 1977 Turquoise Sources and Source Analysis: Mesoamerica and the Southwestern U.S.A. In Exchange Systems in Prehistory, edited by Earle, Timothy and Ericson, Jonathon, pp. 15–34. Academic Press, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whallon, Robert 1984 Unconstrained Clustering for the Analysis of Spatial Distributions in Archaeology. In Intrasite Spatial Analysis in Archaeology, edited by Hietala, Harold J., pp. 242–277. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Torvinen and Nelson supplementary material

Table S1

Download Torvinen and Nelson supplementary material(File)
File 15.7 KB
Supplementary material: PDF

Torvinen and Nelson supplementary material

Figure S1

Download Torvinen and Nelson supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 132.2 KB