Captive Representations and Social Discourse at Izapa and in Late Formative Southeastern Mesoamerica

Guernsey, Julia

doi:10.1017/s0956536118000093

Cited by 20 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…Monuments at the site may also make reference to hydrometeorological events related to the chronic volatility of Tacaná. Guernsey (2018) noted that a number of stelae at Izapa make reference to the site's watery environment, while others express a deep concern with water control. Guernsey argued that rulers at Izapa couched these concerns with water management through mythological references to rain and agricultural deities, and in recognition of the fact that the high annual precipitation of this region was both a boon to agricultural activity and a threat in the form of seasonal inundations.…”

Section: Interpretation Of the Simulations And Related Hazardsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…(Lowe et al 1982, 2013). Several of these Late Formative monuments feature scenes with canoes, maize deities, and rain gods (Guernsey 2006), and reflect environmental and socioeconomic concerns related to rain, water control, and transportation by canoe (Guernsey 2018). This fertile zone of Mesoamerica is also subject to a number of natural phenomena including earthquakes, floods, landslides, and volcanic eruptions, which continue to pose a serious risk to modern cities and small villages (Macías et al 2010, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Late Formative Flooding of Izapa After an Eruption of Tacaná Volcano

et al. 2018

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Between the years of 30 b.c. to a.d. 80, during the Late Formative period, the site of Izapa was flooded by lahars associated with an explosive eruption of the San Antonio volcano (part of the Tacaná Volcanic Complex). Computer simulations suggest that hot pyroclastic flows did not impact Izapa directly, but did impact the region considerably, filling and clogging the Cahuacan and Mixcun rivers with hot debris. The material was quickly saturated by heavy rains and, as the water from the rivers overtopped the obstruction, remobilized in the form of a hot mixture of mud and water known as a lahar (or flood of volcanic origin), which flowed down through the piedmont zone along the Cahuacan, Mixcun-Suchiate, and Izapa rivers. At Izapa, the flood took the form of a 6-m catastrophic wave of mud and water that likely destroyed crops and caused many causalities, surrounding the architectural mounds at Izapa with a muddy landscape. The floods also dramatically affected the rivers downstream, undoubtedly wreaking serious damage to the transport and trade of goods along the coast.

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Section: Interpretation Of the Simulations And Related Hazardsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Late Formative Flooding of Izapa After an Eruption of Tacaná Volcano

et al. 2018

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“…As Clark and Lowe (2013:69) recently put it, “no contemporaneous city had as many stone monuments which displayed such a variety of mythic and narrative scenes” (see also Clark and Pye 2000; Love 2007, 2011). The corpus of carved monuments at Izapa is extensive (Clark and Moreno 2007; Guernsey 2006) and their meaning is discussed in papers of this Special Section written by Guernsey (2018) and Strauss (2018). Izapa was first tested by Drucker (1948) and then excavations by the New World Archaeological Foundation (NWAF) in the 1960s focused primarily on documenting the site's sculptures (Lowe et al 1982).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Early Izapa Kingdom: Recent Excavations, New Dating and Middle Formative Ceramic Analyses

Rosenswig

Culleton²,

Kennett

et al. 2018

Ancient Mesoam

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Izapa is famous for its monumental architecture and extensive corpus of carved stelae dated to the Late Formative Guillén phase (300–100 calb.c.). The site was first established, however, as the capital of a kingdom during the second half of the Middle Formative period (750–300 calb.c.). Little is known of the first centuries of the site's occupation or how this early kingdom coalesced with Izapa as its capital. In 2012, the Izapa Regional Settlement Project (IRSP) excavated 21 test units and ran 10 radiocarbon accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dates in order to begin correcting this lacuna. These excavations were the first at the site to screen soil matrices and recover artifact samples that can be quantitatively analyzed.We undertook excavations in areas north and south of Group B, the original center of Izapa. This work dates the northern expansion of the site's main platform (under Mound 30a) to the Terminal Formative Itstapa phase (cala.d.100–300) that resulted in a doubling of the platform's size. Further, we documented that there were three distinct construction episodes in the Terminal Formative expansion and that a central staircase and ramp were built of stone during the second episode. Buried below the Terminal Formative platform expansion was a white clay surface built during the Escalón phase (750–500 calb.c.) and used through to Guillén times. At the long, linear Mound 62 that defines the eastern edge of Izapa's site core, we documented two episodes of Guillén-phase monumental construction. Buried below this construction fill at Mound 62, a hearth feature and stone alignment are dated to the late Middle Formative based on radiocarbon assays and the results of ceramic analysis. Excavations at Mound 72 and 73 documented that Izapa's E-Group (newly recognized with lidar [light detection and ranging] data) was established in the late Middle Formative period and then significantly augmented during the Guillén phase. The architectural program at Izapa saw its apogee during the Late Formative period, but was first established during the preceding centuries of the Middle Formative. Ten new AMS dates confirm the dating of the Escalón, Frontera, and Guillén phases to 750–100 calb.c.Ceramic analysis allowed us to differentiate quantitatively between midden deposits and construction fill through the site's occupation and to recognize domestic versus public spaces during the first centuries of the Izapa kingdom's coalescence. We identify late Middle Formative period middens based on the high density of ceramics in addition to good surface preservation of sherds and a lack of temporal mixing of types. The designation of high-artifact density middens contrasts with the contents of Late and Terminal Formative construction fill with lower ceramic sherd densities and mixing of temporally diagnostic types. Off-mound contexts (where construction fill was mined) had even lower ceramic densities than construction fill and the sherds were very eroded. Analysis of ceramic remains from late Middle Formative period midden deposits also allowed us to infer differences in public and domestic areas of the site during the first centuries of its occupation. Formal and metric variables from these ceramic assemblages identify dish-to-jar ratios that differentiate domestic contexts (with an assortment of vessel forms) from more publically oriented areas of the site (with more serving dishes). The differential distribution of rim diameters of fancy and plain dishes allows us to identify areas of Izapa where domestic activities predominate and indicate that more publically oriented feasting practices occurred at the site center near the main pyramid (Mound 30a) during the late Middle Formative period.

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“…By that time, Izapans had built 12 plazas through the construction of temple and platform mounds lined with hundreds of stone monuments (Lowe et al 1982). Izapa's carved stelae contain complex narrative scenes, many of which carry assertions of political, economic, and ritual authority (Clark and Moreno 2007; Duvalier 1956; Guernsey 2006, 2011, 2012, 2016, 2018). The site's impressive architectural and sculptural achievements led scholars to speculate about the political power of the site's elite.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Introducing Izapa

Rosenswig

Guernsey²

2018

Ancient Mesoam

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This paper introduces the articles that comprise this Special Issue on Izapa. First, we review early reporting and assessments of Izapa's monuments as well as archaeological investigations undertaken at the site during the twentieth century. Next, we describe more recent developments in interpretation and new archeological excavations and survey data collected during the past two decades. The papers in this Special Issue present new information that contribute to our evolving understanding of Izapa during the millennium that stretches from the Middle Formative period through the Middle Classic period (700 b.c.-a.d. 600). They serve as a status report on our understanding of the still largely enigmatic ancient kingdom, its regional structure, and connections to contemporaneous Isthmian sites. 255

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Captive Representations and Social Discourse at Izapa and in Late Formative Southeastern Mesoamerica

Cited by 20 publications

References 36 publications

Late Formative Flooding of Izapa After an Eruption of Tacaná Volcano

Late Formative Flooding of Izapa After an Eruption of Tacaná Volcano

The Early Izapa Kingdom: Recent Excavations, New Dating and Middle Formative Ceramic Analyses

Introducing Izapa

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