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Ceramics are more than merely the most common artifact type in the archaeological record of most parts of the world. While they have long served as chronological markers, they also provide insights into the daily lives of the people who made, used, and exchanged them. In this dissertation I present a study of three ceramic assemblages from the Tlajinga district of Classic period (AD 100 – 650) Teotihuacan, Mexico. I focus on consumption practices and temporal changes by evaluating the ceramics recovered through excavations at two multifamily apartment compounds and a neighborhood center. I first compare the assemblages from each area, then assess how they changed over time. Given that the composition of ceramic assemblages results from different use and depositional practices, one of the main issues addressed is the importance of contextual information for their analysis. Thus, I analyzed primary deposits in relation to stratigraphic data; this way, I provide a basis for the relative dating of the three sites and the refinement of the existing ceramic chronology. Absolute dates came from the largest number of radiocarbon dates analyzed thus far for a residential sector at Teotihuacan. I also employed three analytical techniques: chemical residue analysis to identify vessel contents, and petrographic and neutron activation analysis to identify clay sources. Even though Tlajinga’s inhabitants used most of their utilitarian wares for cooking, storing, and serving purposes, the chemical residue analysis suggests other uses and possible reuses that challenge what we believed was the sole function of certain ceramic vessels. Petrographic and compositional studies group locally manufactured ceramics and distinguish imports into clear provenance clusters, allowing us to better understand interregional exchange and ceramic consumption in Tlajinga. Results illustrate that there is a uniformity in the ceramic assemblages of the two domestic areas but they differ significantly from those recovered from the neighborhood center, of a presumed more public function. This study uses a multidisciplinary approach to demonstrate a clear difference between the private and the public spheres at Tlajinga. This has important implications for understanding urban lifeways and the organization of domestic and neighborhood space at Teotihuacan. / 2025-07-01T00:00:00Z

This dissertation examines settlement patterns and political and economic organization at the archaeological site of El Mesón, located in the Eastern Lower Papaloapan Basin, in the Mexican state of Veracruz. Monumental art from the site indicated that the primary occupation dated to the Late Formative (400 B.C.-A.D. 1) or Protoclassic period (A.D. 1-300), however aside from a small surface collection of ceramic sherds, the area remained uninvestigated archaeologically. The Recorrido Arqueológico was initiated in 2003 to provide data about the development of settlement in the area around El Mesón, and to examine how the area was organized politically and economically. The settlement data indicate that over the course of the Formative period El Mesón expanded from a medium sized village to become a secondary center to Tres Zapotes during the Late Formative period. The replication of Tres Zapotes’s civicceremonial architecture in the core of El Mesón indicates its subordinate status to the larger center. Over the course of the Protoclassic period, El Mesón was abandoned and a series of new architectural complexes proliferated in the area until the Late Classic period (A.D. 600-900), settlements in the El Mesón area declined. In assessing the political organization I focus on how exclusionary strategies that focus of the personal prestige of the leader were combined with corporate strategies that promote group solidarity. I argue that based on the architectural layouts and internal organization of the civic-ceremonial complexes that exclusionary strategies predominated in the area, but corporate strategies were also promoted to reinforce group solidarity among factions. This work complements ongoing work at Tres Zapotes by providing a perspective on the use of exclusionary and corporate strategies within secondary centers. This work contributes to the study of political systems more broadly by focusing on how different political strategies were integrated within political systems at the regional and local scale.

Esta dissertação é um estudo etnográfico sobre a arte mural zapatista. Os murais com os quais trabalhamos se encontram pintados nas paredes dos edifícios públicos que abrigam as atividades organizativas do movimento. À pesquisa interessa perseguir uma filosofia do aparecimento entre os índios tzotziles de San Pedro Polhó. Nela, nos questionamos pelo estatuto da arte mural difundida pelos territórios autônomos buscando nos encontrar com a sua eficácia estética a partir de uma criatividade nativa, sob o olhar dos sanpedrinos. A pergunta central que a organiza é o que faz um mural zapatista?. Atentaremos, para isso, para o modo em que os tzotziles de San Pedro o entendem. Argumentamos que a arte mural é vista como uma técnica de variação ontológica e de produção da unidade virtual do movimento zapatista, indicando um acoplamento entre pessoas e a possibilidade da conjunção, o que permite que o zapatismo seja entendido como uma comunidade estendida. Neste contexto, o mural faz aparecer a condição zapatista, resultando e ativando relações ao torná-las visíveis. O território autônomo se configura, então, como uma rede de lugares, pontos em que os zapatistas emergem e podem encontra-se com outros zapatistas a partir de uma filosofia da assemelhação. / This research is an ethnographic study of Zapatista mural art. The murals we work with are painted on the walls of public buildings that house the movement\'s organizational activities. The research is interested in pursuing a philosophy of appearance among the Tzotzil Indians of San Pedro Polho. We question the status of mural art spreaded by the autonomous territories seeking to meet with its aesthetic effectiveness from a native point of view of creativity, conceived by the eyes of the sanpedrinos. The central question that organizes it is \"what does a Zapatista mural do?\", considering how the Tzotziles of San Pedro understand it. We argue that mural art is seen as a technique of ontological variation and production of the virtual unity of the Zapatista movement, indicating a coupling between people and the possibility of conjunction, which allows Zapatismo to be understood as an extended community. In this context, the mural makes the Zapatista condition evident and appearing, resulting in and activating relationships by making them visible. The autonomous territory then becomes a network of places, points where the Zapatistas emerge and can meet with other Zapatistas.

Les divinités vénérées par les Aztèques dans le Mexique central étaient nombreuses et complexes. Afin de mieux comprendre ces entités, les chercheurs ont adopté différentes approches dans leurs études au cours des dernières décennies, mais la matérialité des parures divines est restée un sujet peu exploré. Malgré l’importance que l’on reconnaît aux attributs, aucune étude ne s’est intéressée de manière globale et systématique aux matériaux qui constituaient les dieux et à leurs significations. Pourtant, ces derniers étaient au fondement des divinités qui incarnaient notamment des manifestations naturelles et se matérialisaient dans le monde des hommes au moyen de formes physiques constituées de matériaux prélevés dans la nature. Elles pouvaient alors être représentées ou bien personnifiées par des statues ou des hommes revêtant les parures de ces entités. L’objectif de cette thèse est de proposer une méthode d’analyse des divinités d’un point de vue emic, fondée sur le déchiffrement de leurs parures et donc sur l’étude systématique des éléments naturels utilisés ou symbolisés dans celles-ci. En décomposant les parures de Tlaloc et de Huitzilopochtli, ce travail met en évidence les significations des matériaux en rapport avec les formes qu’ils prenaient (c’est-à-dire les attributs portés) et les supports corporels des dieux, ceci afin de restituer ce que représentaient ces deux entités pour les Aztèques et comprendre les variations qui affectaient leurs parures d’un contexte à un autre. Apparaît une conception de ces dieux parfois différente de celle que l’on pouvait en avoir, héritée des religieux et des conquérants espagnols. / The deities honored by the Aztecs of Central Mexico were numerous and complex. In order to better understand these entities, Mesoamericanists have addressed this topic from different approaches over the past decades, but the materiality of the gods’ costumes has remained a little-explored subject. Despite the fact that the importance of the attributes is acknowledged by scholars, no study to this date has ever proposed a global and systematic analysis of the materials that composed the deities and of their meanings. However, they were a central part of the deities, given that most of them embodied natural phenomena and showed themselves in the world of men by means of physical forms made of materials taken from nature. In that case, they could be represented or personified by men who wore the costumes of these entities. The contribution of my dissertation is based on the development of a methodology to study the deities from an emic perspective and decipher the meaning of their costumes, which implies a systematic analysis of the natural elements they used or symbolized. By decomposing the costumes of Tlaloc and Huitzilopochtli, this work emphasizes the meanings of the natural elements in relation to the forms they took (i.e. the attributes worn) and the gods’ bodies, in order to understand what these two entities represented for the Aztecs and why their costumes could vary depending on the context. What comes to light is a conception of Tlaloc and Huitzilopochtli that can be different from the one we had, inherited from the Spanish missionaries and conquerors.

This research evaluates the degree of political integration in Colima during the Late Classic/Epiclassic period (550-1000 CE) and the historical depth of three 16th-century regional polities through an examination of the political strategies embedded in pottery technology. Pottery samples covering three regional polities (Provincia del Colimotl, Valle de Tecomán, Provincia de Tepetitango) and corresponding to four geographical micro-regions (Colima Valley, Salado River basin, Tecomán coastal plain, western coast) were analysed. In this research, polities are conceptualised as webs of authoritative relationships, which are created and contested by political strategies. Pottery produced in the same polity should therefore be in the same network of authoritative relationships. Political strategies are uncovered by identifying the technological patterns, material and socio-technological constraints of production, sourcing-distribution patterns, organisation of production, and social contexts of the consumption of pottery. Compositional and fabric variability was assessed through the archaeometric characterisation of 215 pottery samples from 17 different sites distributed throughout the research area. The statistical analysis of the geochemical results revealed 10 compositional groups; an eleventh group was identified through petrographic analysis. Pottery and raw clay (14 samples) compositional data, together with the analysis of distribution patterns and the local geology, permitted the identification of the location (at the micro-regional level or less) of clay sources for seven of the compositional groups. The room left for technological choices/styles was determined through reconstruction of the pottery production sequence within its contextual factors. The results indicate that pottery production was not centralised, even at the micro-regional level. Potters from the four geographical micro-regions used different clay sources to produce both distinctive wares and some shared types. However, with the probable exception of the Colima Valley, at least a couple clay sources were simultaneously exploited in each micro-region. In some instances, this reflects product specialisation; in others, it indicates production of the same pottery types by competing workshops. Though the two geographical micro-regions in the Provincia del Colimotl did not escape the micro-regional pattern of the use of local resources and manufacture of distinctive wares, they do offer the only example of pottery-related, deliberate economic interdependence in this study. The pottery was produced by independent specialists who made use of distribution networks restricted to the limits of each polity. However, the red-on-cream jars made in the Salado River basin were widely distributed throughout all of the regional polities. It is argued that these jars were obtained at the Salado River basin during communal feasts that involved the consumption of pulque. The results indicate the historical depth of the known 16th-centruy regional polities. Despite providing evidence for close interregional interactions and shared ideological beliefs and social practices within the whole Colima region, pottery analysis offers no solid proof that Colima functioned as a single polity during the Late Classic/Epiclassic period.

abstract: Unlike traditional frontier studies that treat the frontier as monolithic and focus on core-periphery interactions involving colonialism and acculturation, this dissertation seeks to characterize the internal social dynamics of frontier regions using the collective social identification framework. Concentrating on the intraregional and intrasite scales makes it possible to directly evaluate the bottom-up processes involved in the formation of collective social identities within frontier zones (i.e., sociopolitical development divorced from core-centric actions). Derived from social science research aimed at understanding the development of modern nation-states and social movements, the theoretical framework implemented in this research centers on the idea that sustained collective action depends on the degree to which groups of individuals share networks of social interaction (i.e., relational identification) and recognize membership in the same social categories (i.e. categorical identification). Applying this model to the site of La Quemada, Zacatecas, Mexico, provides a methodology for assessing the potential for collective action through time and across spatial scales based on the degree of categorical commonality or the strength of relational connections among the site’s inhabitants. Dating to the Epiclassic period (600-900 CE), La Quemada was founded during the cultural florescence of the northern frontier of Mesoamerica, but the site was abandoned ca. 800-900 CE while other polities persisted. Therefore, it is hypothesized that a change in how the occupants of La Quemada identified with one another decreased the potential for collective action over time and contributed to site abandonment. Material proxies in the form of ceramic-style categories (i.e., shared styles expressing categorical affiliation) and fabric classes (i.e., shared pastes indicative of relational networks) are used to assess the temporal and spatial consistency of social identification at multiple socio-spatial scales within the site of La Quemada. The results of this research, however, find that despite fluctuations in the expression of categorical identification among La Quemada residents it was the strength of their relational ties that gave them the capacity to recover. Furthermore, the capacity for collective action was high preceding site abandonment, suggesting that a disruption in the social fabric of La Quemada did not contribute to its decline and abandonment. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Anthropology 2018

acase@tulane.edu

Mesoamerica is considered a biodiversity hot spot with levels of endemism and species diversity likely underestimated. For mammals, the patterns of diversification of Mesoamerican taxa still are controversial. Reasons for this include the region's complex geologic history, and the relatively recent timing of such geological events. Previous studies, however, support the view that substantial migration between North (NA) and South America (SA) occurred prior or/and during the Great American Biotic Interchange (GABI) ~3.5 Ma. This was followed by repeated periods of isolation during Pleistocene climatic oscillations, which produced most of the diversification in the region. From a North American origin, the subfamily Sigmodontinae migrated to SA, where most of its present day diversity exists. The taxonomic history of this subfamily, and of Oryzomynii, its largest tribe, has been exceptionally complex. Recently, extensive studies have helped to clarify genealogical relationships among major clades, but have left the evolutionary histories of several groups unresolved. Such is the case for the genus Handleyomys that includes nine species; seven of which are endemic to Mesoamerica; and of its phylogenetic position among closely related genera Euryoryzomys, Hylaeamys, Oecomys, Nephelomys and Transandinomys. The results supported the monophyly of Handleyomys, and four clades with inter-generic levels of divergence within the genus, three of these clades restricted to Mesoamerica (the alfaroi, chapmani and melanotis species groups). Furthermore, the estimated time for the split of the Mesoamerican Handleyomys is on average, 2.0 Myr older than the proposed migrations to NA during the GABI. In addition, the position of Handleyomys as the sister clade to Euryoryzomys, Hylaeamys, Oecomys, Nephelomys and Transandinomys was well supported, as it was a biogeographic hypotheses that depicted a polyphyletic origin for these genera and Handleyomys 5.5-6.0 Ma. The integrative approach implemented in this dissertation allowed the development of more biologically realistic hypothesis than has previously been conducted in Mesoamerica, where half of the endemic mammals are listed under the IUCN Red list; and where mammals with small ranges, which are the most vulnerable to extinction, are found largely outside reserves. The continued decline of the ecosystems health in this region calls for a more precise account of its biodiversity for its proper conservation; and for rigorous biogeographic studies for its management, since the region also serves as a biological corridor for intercontinental connectivity.

Project Roatán was initiated in 2008 as a collaboration between the University of South Florida (USF) and the Honduran Institute of Anthropology and History (IHAH) to investigate the prehistory of the island of Roatán, Bay Islands, Honduras. Based on data from the 2009 field season of Project Roatán, this study examines the ways in which native islanders of the Postclassic period (A.D. 900-1500) expressed their social identity and cultural affiliations with contemporaneous groups on northeastern mainland Honduras through their ceramic traditions. These initial investigations serve to evaluate the relationship between islanders and mainland groups and any major differences in terms of their status or occupation, islanders' ties into regional trading systems, and the primary function of sites on the island. Although the materials presented demonstrate a strong tie to the indigenous groups of the mainland, which were most likely ancestors of present-day Pech populations, a significant difference is apparent in the types and quantities of exotic materials present on the island, as compared to those found on the mainland. Published accounts and reports from previous expeditions to the island are examined to support this trend. It is argued that models of political economy are best suited to address the heightened importance of social relationships within economic interactions of the indigenous Bay Islanders. The practice of creating an inclusive group identity, deemed the corporate strategy of power, was employed by elites in the region with the aim of maintaining the status-quo. Extreme exploitation and the accumulation of resources were not necessarily central goals in an environmentally self-sustaining region, and the practice appears to have contributed ultimately to long-term cultural stability in the region. Drawing from external connections, indigenous populations of this region appropriated symbols and designs in an emblemic manner to express a common identity and reinforce a cultural practice of inclusiveness. Within this setting, the data indicate that the island of Roatán likely either represented a special physical location for the northeastern region - in terms of access to outside trade networks and resources, or perhaps in terms of spiritual or ideological significance -or was inhabited by group of individuals that enjoyed privileges not shared by those on the mainland. A combination of emblemic style and corporate strategy is presented as a possible explanation for standardization within the ceramic assemblage of the island in the absence of mass production. Lastly, the results of the study are used to critique the ways in which archaeological data have been exploited within the heritage tourism industry to represent past inhabitants of the island and commoditize identity. The future of tourism and issues of representation on the island are also considered in light of recent political disruption.