Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T00:55:52.656Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

An Inquiry into the Development of Complex Society at Chalcatzingo, Morelos, Mexico: Methods and Results

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Mark E. Harlan*
Affiliation:
Office of Contract Archaeology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131

Abstract

The development of social complexity at the Formative period site of Chalcatzingo, Morelos, Mexico, is traced through its effect on the distribution of variability in the anthropomorphic figurines found there. A new methodology for the analysis of stylistic data is applied. The implications of the character and timing of elite developments at Chalcatzingo are placed in the more general context of highland developments in central Mexico. It is suggested that complex society arose in the region primarily as a result of internal processes and that external stimulus from the Olmec area was relatively unimportant.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1979

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

Binford, Lewis R., and Binford, Sally R. 1966 A preliminary analysis of functional variability in the Mousterian of Lavellois facis. American Anthropologist 68:238295.Google Scholar
Blalock, Herbert 1972 Social statistics. McGraw-Hill, New York.Google Scholar
Calabrese, F. A. 1972 Cross Ranch: a study of variability in stable culture. Plains Anthropologist Memoir No. 9.Google Scholar
Clark, G. A. 1976 More on contingency table analysis, decision making criteria, and the use of log-linear models. American Antiquity 41:259273.Google Scholar
Coe, Michael 1960 Mexico. Praeger, New York.Google Scholar
Coe, Michael 1965 The jaguar's chi Jdren: Preclassic central Mexico. Museum of Primitive Art, New York.Google Scholar
Cowgill, George 1968 Archaeological implications of factor, cluster, and proximity analysis. American Antiquity 33:367380.Google Scholar
Cyphers, Ann 1975 Informe to Project Chalcatzingo: stratigraphic analysis and chronological placement of structuresand features excavated at Chalcatzingo, Morelos. Ms. on file, University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana.Google Scholar
Doran, J. E., and Hodson, F. R. 1966 A digital analysis of paleolithic flint assemblages. Nature 210:688.Google Scholar
Fried, Morton H. 1967 The evolution of political society. Random House, New York.Google Scholar
Grove, David C. 1968a Chalcatzingo, Morelos, Mexico: a reappraisal of the Olmec rock carvings. American Antiquity 33:486491.Google Scholar
Grove, David C. 1968b The preclassic Olmec in central Mexico: site distribution and inferences. In The Dumbarton Oaksconference on the Olmec, edited by Elizabeth, Benson, pp. 139145. The Trustees for Harvard University, Washington, D. C.Google Scholar
Grove, David C. Kenneth Hirth, Buge, David E., and Cyphers, Ann 1976 Settlement and cultural development at Chalcatzingo. Science 192:12031210.Google Scholar
Harlan, Mark E. 1975 Patterns of prehistoric exchange at Chalcatzingo, Morelos. Mexico. Ph. D. dissertation. University of Arizona. University Microfilms, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Harlan, Mark E. 1976 An analysis of the anthropomorphic figurines from Chalcatzingo, Morelos: data and interpretations. Ms. to be published in Chalcatzingo, edited by Grove, David C..Google Scholar
Hill, James N. 1966 A prehistoric community in central Arizona. Southwestern Journal of Anthropology 22:930.Google Scholar
Hill, James N. 1970 Prehistoric social organization in the American Southwest: theory and method. In reconstructingprehistoric Pueblo society, edited by Longacre, William A.. pp. 1158. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Hirth, Kenneth G. 1978 Interregional trade and the formation of prehistoric gateway communities. American Antiquity 43:3545.Google Scholar
Kurczynski, J. 1970 Generalized distance and discrete variables. Biometrics 26:525534.Google Scholar
Lalouel, J. M. 1973 Topology of population structure. In Genetic structure of populations Volume II, edited by Morgan, Newton E.. University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu.Google Scholar
Pifia Chan, Roman 1965 Chaicutzingo, Morelos, Mexico. Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia, Informe No. 4, Mexico, D. F. Google Scholar
Porter-Weaver, Muriel 1972 The Aztecs, the Maya and their predecessors: archaeology of Mesoamerica. Seminar Press, New York.Google Scholar
Sahlins, Marshall D. 1958 Social stratification in Polynesia. American Ethnological Society Monograph No. 29. University of Washington Press, Seattle.Google Scholar
Sanders, William T. 1976 The ecosystem of Classic Teotihuacan. Distinguished Harvey Lecture presented at the University of New Mexico, October 26, 1976.Google Scholar
Sanders, William T., and Price, Barbara J. 1968 Mesoamerica: the evolution of a civilization. Random House, New York.Google Scholar
Sanghvi, L. D. 1953 Comparison of genetical and morphological methods for a study of biological differences. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 11:385404.Google Scholar
Schiffer, Michael B. 1973 Cultural formation processes and the archaeological record: applications at the Joint site, east central Arizona. Ph. D. dissertation, University of Arizona. University Microfilms, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Spaulding, A. C. 1977 On growth and form in archaeology: multivariate analysis. Journal of Anthropological Research 33:115.Google Scholar
Thomas, David 1976 Figuring anthropology. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York.Google Scholar
Vaillant, George C. 1931 Excavations at Zacatenco. American Museum of Natural History, Anthropological Papers No. 32:1197. American Museum of Natural History, New York.Google Scholar
Workman, Peter 1970 Population studies on southwestern Indian tribes II: local genetic differences in the Papago. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 22:2449.Google Scholar