Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-18T02:22:56.088Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

SITES OF MEMORY IN THE MAKING: POLITICAL STRATEGIZING IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND DECONSTRUCTION OF PLACE IN LATE TO TERMINAL CLASSIC SOUTHEASTERN MESOAMERICA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 July 2011

Miranda Stockett
Miranda Stockett*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Queen's College, City University of New York, Powdermaker Hall 314, 65-30 Kissena Blvd, Flushing, New York 11367
*
Email correspondence to: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Archaeological spaces can be viewed as material manifestations of human drama—sites for the production, expression, and manipulation of social life, power, and history. By viewing such spaces as stages for the enactment of processes of social memory, we may further enrich considerations of the interplay of materiality and history. Here I address the insights archaeologists may gain from engaging with theories of social memory by exploring their application to the analysis of settlements occupied during the Late to Terminal Classic period transition (a.d. 650–900) in pre-Columbian southeastern Mesoamerica. I also consider their relevance to community initiatives engaged by archaeologists today. Ultimately, I argue that processes of making, altering, and remaking place are one among many ways that memory may have served as a tool for political strategies and discourses about power.

Type
Special Section: Current Perspectives on Social Memory
Information
Ancient Mesoamerica , Volume 21 , Issue 2 , Fall 2010 , pp. 315 - 330
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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

Ardren, Traci 2002 Conversations about the Production of Archaeological Knowledge and Community Museums at Chunchucmil and Kochol, Yucatan, Mexico. World Archaeology 34:379–400.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ashmore, Wendy 1987 Cobble Crossroads: Gualjoquito Architecture and External Elite Ties. In Interaction on the Southeast Mesoamerican Frontier: Prehistoric and Historic Honduras and El Salvador, edited by Robinson, Eugenia, pp. 28–48. BAR International Series 327. British Archaeological Reports, Oxford.Google Scholar
Ashmore, Wendy 1996 Reply to A Dual-Processual Theory for the Evolution of Mesoamerican Civilization. Current Anthropology 37:47–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ashmore, Wendy 2008 Foreword. In Ruins of the Past: The Use and Perception of Abandoned Structures in the Maya Lowlands, edited by Stanton, Travis and Magnoni, Aline, pp. xii–xvi. University of Colorado Press, Boulder.Google Scholar
Ashmore, Wendy, and Knapp, Bernard (editors) 1999 Archaeology of Landscapes: Contemporary Perspectives. Blackwell, Oxford.Google Scholar
Barrett, John 1993 Chronologies of Remembrance: The Interpretation of Some Roman Inscriptions. World Archaeology 25:236–247.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bell, Ellen, Canuto, Marcello, Geller, Pamela, Sullivan, Mike, and Lemus, Manuel Arolodo 2007 Community Responsive Archaeology in the El Paraíso Valley, Honduras. Paper presented at the 72nd Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Austin, TX.Google Scholar
Bourdieu, Pierre 1977 Outline of a Theory of Practice. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Britain, Lara 2006 Analysis of Three Structures and their Function at the Site of Las Canoas, Honduras. Unpublished BA thesis on file, Department of Anthropology, College of Wooster, Wooster, OH.Google Scholar
Campbell, Lyle 1979 Middle American Languages. In Languages of Native America: Historical and Comparative Assessment, edited by Campbell, Lyle and Mithun, Mark, pp. 902–1000. University of Texas Press, Austin.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campbell, Lyle, and Kaufman, Terrence S. 1976 A Linguistic Look at the Olmec. American Antiquity 41:80–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Canuto, Marcello, and Andrews, Anthony 2008 Memories, Meanings, and Historical Awareness: Post-Abandonment Behaviors among the Lowland Maya. In Ruins of the Past: The Use and Perception of Abandoned Structures in the Maya Lowlands, edited by Stanton, Travis and Magnoni, Aline, pp. 257–274. University of Colorado Press, Boulder.Google Scholar
Canuto, Marcello, and Bell, Ellen 2008 The Ties that Bind: Administrative Strategies in the El Paraíso Valley, Department of Copan, Honduras. Mexicon 30:10–20.Google Scholar
Connerton, Paul 1989 How Societies Remember. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Delle, James 2008 A Tale of Two Tunnels: Memory, Archaeology, and the Underground Railroad. Journal of Social Archaeology 8:63–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dixon, Boyd 1992 Prehistoric Political Change in the Southeast Mesoamerican Periphery. Ancient Mesoamerica 3:11–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Healy, Paul 1984 The Archaeology of Honduras. In The Archaeology of Lower Central America, edited by Lange, Frederick W. and Stone, Doris Z., pp. 113–161. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Henderson, John 1977 The Valley de Naco: Ethnohistory and Archaeology in Northwestern Honduras. Ethnohistory 24:363–377.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hodder, Ian 2003 Archaeological Reflexivity and the “Local” Voice. Anthropological Quarterly 76:55–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hodder, Ian, and Cessford, Craig 2004 Daily Practice and Social Memory at Çatalhöyük. American Antiquity 69:17–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Inomata, Takeshi, and Aoyama, Kazuo 1996 Central Plaza Analysis in the La Entrada Region, Honduras: Implications for Understanding the Classic Maya Political and Economy Systems. Latin American Antiquity 7:291–312.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Joyce, Rosemary 1991 Cerro Palenque: Power and Identity on the Maya Periphery. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Joyce, Rosemary 2003 Concrete Memories: Fragments of the Past in the Classic Maya Present. In Archaeologies of Memory, edited by Dyke, Ruth Van and Alcock, Susan, pp. 104–126. Blackwell, Oxford.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Joyce, Rosemary 2005 Solid Histories for Fragile Nations: Archaeology as Cultural Patrimony. In Embedding Ethics, edited by Meskell, Lynn and Pels, Peter, pp. 253–274. Berg, Oxford.Google Scholar
Joyce, Rosemary, and Henderson, John 2001 Beginnings of Village Life in Eastern Mesoamerica. Latin American Antiquity 12:5–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lara Pinto, Gloria 1991 Sociopolitical Organization in Central and Southwestern Honduras at the Time of Conquest: A Model for the Formation of Complex Society. In The Formation of Complex Society in Southeastern Mesoamerica, edited by Fowler, William Jr., pp. 215–235. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL.Google Scholar
Lopiparo, Jeanne 2003 Household Ceramic Production and the Crafting of Society in the Terminal Classic Ulua Valley, Honduras. Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley. University Microfilms, Ann Arbor, MI.Google Scholar
Lucero, Lisa 2003 The Politics of Ritual: The Emergence of Classic Maya Rulers. Current Anthropology 44:523–558.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lucero, Lisa 2006 Water and Ritual: The Rise and Fall of Classic Maya Rulers. University of Texas Press, Austin.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McAnany, Patricia 1995 Living with the Ancestors: Kinship and Kingship in Ancient Maya Society. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
McFarlane, William 2005 Power Strategies in a Changing World: Archaeological Investigations of Early Postclassic Remains at El Coyote, Santa Barbara, Honduras. Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, State University of New York, Buffalo. University Microfilms, Ann Arbor, MI.Google Scholar
McFarlane, William, and Stockett, Miranda 2007 Arqueología y Desarrollo Comunitario en el Valle de Jesus de Otoro. Paper presented at the symposium, “Arqueología, Participación Comunitaria y Patrimonio en Honduras,” at the Instituto Hondureño de Antropología e Historia, Comayagua, Honduras.Google Scholar
Meskell, Lynn 1999 Archaeologies of Social Life. Blackwell, Oxford.Google Scholar
Meskell, Lynn 2004 Object Worlds in Ancient Egypt: Material Biographies Past and Present. Berg, Oxford.Google Scholar
Mortensen, Lena 2007 Working Borders: Contextualizing Copán Archaeology. Archaeologies: Journal of the World Archaeological Congress. 3(2):132–152.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Navarro Farr, Olivia, Freidel, David, and Prera, Ana Lucia Arroyave 2008 Manipulating Memory in the Wake of Dynastic Decline at El Peru-Waka': Termination Deposits at Abandoned Structure M13-1. In Ruins of the Past: The Use and Perception of Abandoned Structures in the Maya Lowlands, edited by Stanton, Travis and Magnoni, Aline, pp. 113–146. University of Colorado Press, Boulder.Google Scholar
Nora, Pierre 1989 Between Memory and History: Les Lieux de Memoire. Representations 26:7–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'Sullivan, Aidan 2003 Place, Memory, and Identity among Estuarine Fishing Communities: Interpreting the Archaeology of Early Medieval Fish Weirs. World Archaeology 35:449–468.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reckner, Paul 2002 Remembering Gotham: Urban Legends, Public History, and Representations of Poverty, Crime, and Race in New York City. International Journal of Historical Archaeology 6(2):95–112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Salazar, Karla, Wells, E. Christian, and Cortes, Jose-Moreno 2007 Balancing Archaeological Responsibilities and Community Commitments: A Case from Honduras. Journal of Field Archaeology 32:196–205.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schortman, Edward, and Urban, Patricia 1994 Living on the Edge: Core/Periphery Relations in Ancient Southeastern Mesoamerica. Current Anthropology 35:401–413.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schortman, Edward, and Urban, Patricia 2006 You Say Peripheral and I Say Provincial: Peripheral, Provincial; Provincial, Peripheral; Lets Call the Whole Thing Agrestic. Paper presented at the 71st Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, San Juan, Puerto Rico.Google Scholar
Schortman, Edward, Urban, Patricia, and Ausec, Marne 2001 Politics with Style: Identity Formation in Prehispanic Southeastern Mesoamerica. American Anthropologist 103:312–330.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scwhartz, Lauren 2002 Structure 128, El Coyote Monumental Plaza. Proyecto Arqueológico Valle de Cacaulapa Field Notes and Summaries. Submitted to the Instituto Hondureño de Antropología e Historia. Copies available from the Department of Anthropology, Kenyon College, Gambier, OH.Google Scholar
Shackel, Paul 2001 Public Memory and the Search for Power in American Historical Archaeology. American Anthropologist 103:655–670.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stanton, Travis, and Magnoni, Aline 2008 Places of Remembrance: The Use and Perception of Abandoned Structures in the Maya Lowlands. In Ruins of the Past: The Use and Perception of Abandoned Structures in the Maya Lowlands, edited by Stanton, Travis and Magnoni, Aline, pp. 1–24. University of Colorado Press, Boulder.Google Scholar
Stockett, Miranda 2005a Practicing Identities: Modeling Affiliation on Multiple Social Scales at Late Classic (A.D. 650–960) Las Canoas, Southeastern Mesoamerica. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Stockett, Miranda 2005b Approaching Social Practice through Access Analysis at Las Canoas, Honduras. Latin American Antiquity 16:385–407.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stockett, Miranda 2007 Performing Power: Identity, Ritual, and Materiality in a Late Classic Southeast Mesoamerican Crafting Community. Ancient Mesoamerica 18:91–105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stone, Doris 1948 The Northern Highland Tribes: The Lenca. In The Circum-Caribbean Tribes, Vol. 4, edited by Steward, Julian, pp. 205–217. Handbook of South American Indians, Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 143, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Stonich, Nancy 2000 The Other Side of Paradise: Tourism, Conservation, and Development in the Bay Islands. Cognizant Communication Corp., New York.Google Scholar
Urban, Patricia 2006 A Community with Potters, or a Potters' Commune? Classic Period Pottery Making at the Agrestic Center of Las Canoas. Paper presented at the 71st Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, San Juan, Puerto Rico.Google Scholar
Urban, Patricia, and Schortman, Edward 1999 The Proyecto Valle de Cacaulapa, Northwestern Honduras: Archaeological Investigations Conducted during the 1999 Field Season. Informé submitted to the Instituto Hondureño de Antropología e Historia. Copy on file at Kenyon College, Gambier, OH.Google Scholar
Urban, Patricia, and Schortman, Edward 2004 Opportunities for Advancement: Intra-community Power Contests in the Midst of Political Decentralization in Terminal Classic Southeastern Mesoamerica. Latin American Antiquity 15:251–272.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Urban, Patricia, Schortman, Edward, and Ausec, Marne 2002 Power without Bounds? Middle Preclassic Political Developments in the Naco Valley, Honduras. Latin American Antiquity 13:131–152.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Dyke, Ruth 2004 Memory, Meaning, and Masonry: The Late Bonito Chacoan Landscape. American Antiquity 69:413–431.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Dyke, Ruth, and Alcock, Susan (editors) 2003 Archaeologies of Memory. Blackwell, Oxford.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wallis, Neill 2008 Networks of History and Memory: Creating a Nexus of Social Identities in Woodland Period Mounds on the Lower St. John's River, Florida. Journal of Social Archaeology 8:236–271.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Webber, Charles, and Stockett, Miranda 2003 The Whys and Wherefores of Monumental Architecture. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology Meetings, Milwaukee, WI.Google Scholar
Wells, E. Christian 2003 Artisans, Chiefs, and Feasts: Classic Period Social Dynamics at El Coyote, Honduras. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Arizona State University, Tempe.Google Scholar
Wells, E. Christian 2004 Investigating Activity Patterns in Prehispanic Plazas: Weak Acid Extraction ICP-AES Analysis of Anthrosols at Classic Period El Coyote, Northwestern Honduras. Archaeometry 46:67–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, Howard 2004 Potted Histories—Cremation, Ceramics and Social Memory in Early Roman Britain. Oxford Journal of Archaeology 23:417–427.CrossRefGoogle Scholar