Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T09:11:54.192Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Refining Kaminaljuyu Chronology: New Radiocarbon Dates, Bayesian Analysis, and Ceramics Studies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 August 2020

Bárbara Arroyo ,
Takeshi Inomata Open the ORCID record for Takeshi Inomata [Opens in a new window] ,
Gloria Ajú ,
Javier Estrada ,
Hiroo Nasu  and
Kazuo Aoyama
Bárbara Arroyo
Affiliation:
Proyecto Zona Arqueológica Kaminaljuyu, Guatemala City, Guatemala
Takeshi Inomata*
Affiliation:
School of Anthropology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
Gloria Ajú
Affiliation:
Proyecto Zona Arqueológica Kaminaljuyu, Guatemala City, Guatemala
Javier Estrada
Affiliation:
Proyecto Zona Arqueológica Kaminaljuyu, Guatemala City, Guatemala
Hiroo Nasu
Affiliation:
Faculty of Biosphere-Geosphere Science, Okayama University of Science, Okayama 700-0005, Japan
Kazuo Aoyama
Affiliation:
Faculty of Humanities, Ibaraki University, Mito 310-8512, Japan
*
([email protected], corresponding author)
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Since Kaminaljuyu was first systematically excavated in the 1930s, the chronology of the site has been fraught with confusion and scholarly disagreement. In recent years, scholars generally adopted the chronology presented by Shook and Popenoe de Hatch (1999) as the most authoritative account. In 2014, however, Inomata and colleagues proposed a revision of this chronology by shifting its Preclassic portion (including the Las Charcas and Providencia phases) roughly 300 years later in time. In this article, we analyze a total of 108 radiocarbon dates with Bayesian statistics, tying them to detailed ceramic analysis. These dates include previously reported dates, measured after the year 2000, as well as 68 new radiocarbon dates obtained from Kaminaljuyu and nearby sites. The results largely support Inomata and coauthors’ (2014) revised Preclassic chronology, placing the Las Charcas–Providencia transition around 350 BC and the Providencia–Verbena transition around 75 BC. In addition, we present new dates on the Early Classic period, although some ambiguity remains for the Esperanza phase, when Teotihuacan-related elements were introduced to Kaminaljuyu. The revised chronology, combined with environmental data, suggests an explosive increase in population and construction activity during the Verbena and Arenal phases.

Desde las primeras investigaciones sistemáticas de la década de 1930, la cronología de Kaminaljuyu ha estado llena de confusiones y desacuerdos entre colegas. En años recientes, los investigadores generalmente adoptaron la cronología presentada por Shook y Popenoe de Hatch (1999) como el reporte más confiable. Sin embargo, en 2014, Inomata y colaboradores propusieron una revisión a esta cronología al mover su porción del Preclásico (incluyendo las fases Las Charcas y Providencia) unos 300 años más tarde en el tiempo. En este artículo, analizamos con estadística Bayesiana un total de 108 fechas de radiocarbono, amarradas a un detallado análisis cerámico. Aquí se incluyen fechas previamente reportadas, que fueron analizadas después del año 2000, así como 68 nuevas fechas de radiocarbono recuperadas en Kaminaljuyu y sitios cercanos. Los resultados apoyan la cronología revisada de Inomata y colaboradores (2014), colocando a la transición Las Charcas-Providencia alrededor de 350 aC y la de Providencia-Verbena cerca de 75 aC. Además, presentamos nuevas fechas del periodo Clásico Temprano, aunque persiste la ambigüedad para la fase Esperanza, cuando los elementos relacionados a Teotihuacan fueron introducidos en Kaminaljuyu. La cronología revisada, combinada con datos ambientales, sugiere un incremento explosivo en población y actividad constructiva durante las fases Verbena y Arenal.

Keywords

MayaKaminaljuyuchronologyceramicsradiocarbon datesBayesian analysisMayaKaminaljuyucronologíacerámicafechas radiocarbonoanálisis bayesiano
Type
Article
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 31 , Issue 3 , September 2020 , pp. 477 - 497
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

Arroyo, Bárbara 2018 Naranjo, Guatemala, a Middle Preclassic Site in the Central Highlands. In Pathways to Complexity: A View from the Maya Lowlands, edited by Brown, M. Kathryn and Bey, George J. III, pp. 336–362. University Press of Florida, Gainesville.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arroyo, Bárbara (editor) 2010 Entre cerros, cafetales y urbanismo en el Valle de Guatemala: Proyecto de Rescate Naranjo. Academia de Geografía e Historia de Guatemala, Guatemala City.Google Scholar
Arroyo, Bárbara, Ajú, Gloria, Estrada, Javier, and Rojas, Andrea 2016 Kaminaljuyu y las investigaciones cinco años después: síntesis e interpretaciones. In XXIX Simposio de Investigaciones Arqueológicas en Guatemala, 2015, edited by Arroyo, Bárbara, Méndez Salinas, Luis A., and Ajú, Gloria, pp. 507–516. Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología, Guatemala City.Google Scholar
Bayliss, Alex 2009 Rolling out Revolution: Using Radiocarbon Dating in Archaeology. Radiocarbon 51:123–147.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berlin, Heinrich 1952 Excavaciones en Kaminal Juyu: Montículo D-III-13. Antropologia e Historia de Guatemala 4(1):3–18.Google Scholar
Braswell, Geoffrey E. 2003 Dating Early Classic Interaction between Kaminaljuyu and Central Mexico. In The Maya and Teotihuacan: Reinterpreting Early Classic Interaction, edited by Braswell, Geoffrey E., pp. 81–104. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, Christopher 2009 Bayesian Analysis of Radiocarbon Dates. Radiocarbon 51:337–360.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, Christopher 2017 OxCal v.4.3.2. Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, University of Oxford, Oxford.Google Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, Christopher 2019 OxCal 4.3. https://c14.arch.ox.ac.uk/oxcal.html, accessed July 20, 2020.Google Scholar
Buck, Caitlin E., Cavanagh, William G., and Litton, Clifford D. 1996 Bayesian Approach to Interpreting Archaeological Data. Wiley, Chichester, UK.Google Scholar
Cheek, Charles 1977 Excavations at the Palangana and the Acropolis, Kaminaljuyu. In Teotihuacan and Kaminaljuyu: A Study in Prehistoric Culture Contact, edited by Sanders, William T. and Michels, Joseph W., pp. 1–204. Pennsylvania State University Press, University Park.Google Scholar
Clark, John E., and Moreno, Ajax 2018 Stone Monuments of Group B. In Izapa Group B: Excavations, Offerings, Burials, and Monuments, edited by Clark, John E., Lowe, Gareth W., Lieske, Rosemary, and Moreno, Ajax, pp. 203–305. Papers of the New World Archaeological Foundation No. 83. Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah.Google Scholar
Coggins, Clemency 1979 A New Order and the Role of the Calendar: Some Characteristics of the Middle Classic Period at Tikal. In Maya Archaeology and Ethnohistory, edited by Hammond, Norman and Willey, Gordon R., pp. 38–50. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Culbert, T. Patrick 1993 Tikal Report No. 25, Part A: The Ceramics of Tikal: Vessels from the Burials, Caches and Problematical Deposits, Vol. 81. University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Demarest, Arthur A. 1986 The Archaeology of Santa Leticia and the Rise of Maya Civilization. Middle American Research Institute Publications 52. Tulane University, New Orleans.Google Scholar
Demarest, Arthur A., and Sharer, Robert J. 1982 The Origins and Evolution of Usulutan Ceramics. American Antiquity 47:810–822.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Estrada, Javier 2017 Caminos ancestrales: Las rutas de Kaminaljuyu durante el Preclásico Tardío. Licenciatura thesis, Archaeology Department, Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala, Guatemala City.Google Scholar
Haug, Gerald H., Günther, Detlef, Peterson, Larry C., Sigman, Daniel M., Hughen, Konrad A., and Aeschlimann, Beat 2003 Climate and the Collapse of Maya Civilization. Science 299:1731–1735.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Houston, Stephen D., Nelson, Zachary X., Chiriboga, Carlos, Alvarado, Carlos, Escobedo, Héctor, and Taube, Karl 2005 Nuevas perspectivas sobre la Acrópolis de Kaminaljuyu, Guatemala. In XVIII Simposio de Investigaciones Arqueológicas en Guatemala, 2004, edited by Laporte, Juan P., Arroyo, Bárbara, and Mejía, Héctor, pp. 491–497. Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología, Guatemala City.Google Scholar
Houston, Stephen D., Nelson, Zachary, Chiriboga, Carlos, and Spensley, Ellen 2003 The Acropolis of Kaminaljuyu, Guatemala: Recovering a Lost Excavation. Mayab 16:49–64.Google Scholar
Ichon, Alain, and Arnauld, Marie-Charlotte 1985 Le Protoclassique à La Lagunita, El Quiché, Guatemala. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris.Google Scholar
Ichon, Alain, and Viel, René 1984 La période Formative à La Lagunita et dans Le Quiché Méridional, Guatemala. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris.Google Scholar
Inomata, Takeshi, Arroyo, Bárbara, and Robinson, Eugenia J. 2019 Chronology Building in Southern Mesoamerica: Comment on Love. Latin American Antiquity 30:224–226.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Inomata, Takeshi, and Henderson, Lucia 2016 Time Tested: Re-Thinking Chronology and Sculptural Traditions in Preclassic Southern Mesoamerica. Antiquity 90:456–471.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Inomata, Takeshi, and Henderson, Lucia 2019 Dating Izapa Monuments: Comments on Rosenswig. Latin American Antiquity 30:857–858.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Inomata, Takeshi, Ortiz, Raúl, Arroyo, Bárbara, and Robinson, Eugenia J. 2014 Chronological Revisions of Preclassic Kaminaljuyu, Guatemala: Implications for Social Processes in the Southern Maya Area. Latin American Antiquity 25:377–408.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Inomata, Takeshi, Triadan, Daniela, MacLellan, Jessica, Burham, Melissa, Aoyama, Kazuo, Palomo, Juan Manuel, Yonenobu, Hitoshi, Pinzón, Flory, and Nasu, Hiroo 2017 High-Precision Radiocarbon Dating of Political Collapse and Dynastic Origins at the Maya Site of Ceibal, Guatemala. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 114:1293–1298.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kidder, Alfred V. 1961 Archaeological Investigaciones at Kaminaljuyu, Guatemala. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 105:559–570.Google Scholar
Kidder, Alfred V., Jennings, Jesse D., and Shook, Edwin M. 1946 Excavations at Kaminaljuyu, Guatemala. Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Lohse, Jon C., Hamilton, W. Derek, Brenner, Mark, Curtis, Jason, Inomata, Takeshi, Morgan, Molly, Cardona, Karla, Aoyama, Kazuo, and Yonenobu, Hitoshi 2018 Late Holocene Volcanic Activity and Environmental Change in Highland Guatemala. Quaternary Science Reviews 191:378–392.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Love, Michael 2011 Critical Issues in the Southern Maya Region and the Late Preclassic Period. In The Southern Maya in the Late Preclassic: The Rise and Fall of an Early Mesoamerican Civilization, edited by Love, Michael and Kaplan, Jonathan, pp. 3–24. University Press of Colorado, Boulder.Google Scholar
Love, Michael 2018 Kaminaljuyu Chronology and Ceramic Analysis: An Alternative View. Latin American Antiquity 29:260–278.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Michels, Joseph W. 1973 Radiocarbon and Obsidian Dating: A Chronometric Framework for Kaminaljuyu. Occasional Papers in Anthropology 9:21–65.Google Scholar
Miles, Suzanne 1958 Letter to Heath-Jones, April 5. Joya Hairs Papers, CIRMA Archive. Antigua, Guatemala.Google Scholar
Ohi, Kuniaki (editor) 1994 Kaminaljuyu. Tobacco and Salt Museum, Tokyo.Google Scholar
Paiz, Lorena 2014 Rescuing our Cultural Past: Santa Isabel and the Archaeological Rescue Projects in Guatemala City. Master's thesis, Department of Latin American Studies, University of Texas, Austin.Google Scholar
Pendergast, David M. 2000 The Problems Raised by Small Charcoal Samples for Radiocarbon Analysis. Journal of Field Archaeology 27:237–239.Google Scholar
Popenoe de Hatch, Marion 1997 Kaminaljuyu/San Jorge: Evidencia arqueológica de la actividad económica en el Valle de Guatemala, 300 a.C. a 300 D.C. Universidad del Valle de Guatemala, Guatemala City.Google Scholar
Reents-Budet, Dorie, Bishop, Ronald L., Valdés, Juan Antonio, and Blackman, James 2006 La cerámica de Kaminaljuyu: Nuevos datos químicos. In XIX Simposio de Investigaciones Arqueológicas en Guatemala, edited by Laporte, Juan P., Arroyo, Bárbara, and Mejía, Héctor, pp. 183–188. Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología, Guatemala City.Google Scholar
Reimer, Paula J., Bard, Edouard, Bayliss, Alex, Beck, J. Warren, Blackwell, Paul G., Ramsey, Christopher Bronk, Buck, Caitlin E., Cheng, Hai, Edwards, R. Lawrence, and Friedrich, Michael 2013 IntCal13 and Marine13 Radiocarbon Age Calibration Curves 0–50,000 Years Cal BP. Radiocarbon 55:1869–1887.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosenswig, Robert M. 2019 The Izapa Kingdom's Capital: Formative Period Settlement Patterns, Population, and Dating Low-Relief Stelae. Latin American Antiquity 30:91–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sanders, William T., and Murdy, Carson 1982 Population and Adaptation in the Humid Highlands of Guatemala. In The Historical Demography of Highland Guatemala, edited by Carmack, Robert M., Early, John, and Lutz, Christopher, pp. 23–34. Institute for Mesoamerican Studies, State University of New York at Albany, Albany.Google Scholar
Saturno, William A., Taube, Karl A., and Stuart, David 2005 The Murals of San Bartolo, El Peten, Guatemala, Part 1: The North Wall. Ancient America 7:1–56.Google Scholar
Schieber de Lavarreda, Christa, Inomata, Takeshi, Claudio, Geremías, Medina, Juan Miguel, Orrego Corzo, Miguel, Aoyama, Kazuo, and Nasu, Hiroo 2019 Cronología nueva con estratigrafía vieja en Tak'alik Ab'aj. In XXXII Simposio de Investigaciones Arqueológicas en Guatemala, 2018, edited by Arroyo, Bárbara, Salinas, Luis Méndez, and Álvarez, Gloria Ajú, pp. 187–204. Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología, Guatemala City.Google Scholar
Sharer, Robert J. 1978 The Prehistory of Chalchuapa, El Salvador, Vol. Three: Pottery and Conclusions. University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Sharer, Robert J., and Sedat, David W. 1987 Archaeological Investigations in the Northern Maya Highlands, Guatemala: Interaction and the Development of Maya Civilization. University Museum Monograph Vol. 59. University Museum, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Shook, Edwin M., and de Hatch, Marion Popenoe 1999 Las tierras altas centrales: Períodos Preclásico y Clásico. In Historia general de Guatemala, Tomo 1: Época precolombina, edited by de Hatch, Marion Popenoe, pp. 289–318. Fondo para la Cultura y el Desarrollo, Guatemala City.Google Scholar
Shook, Edwin M., and Kidder, Alfred V. 1952 Mound E-III-3, Kaminaljuyu, Guatemala. In Contributions to American Anthropology and History, pp. 35–127. Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Stuart, David 2000 The Arrival of Strangers: Teotihuacan and Tollan in Classic Maya History. In Mesoamerica's Classic Heritage: From Teotihuacan to the Aztecs, edited by Carrasco, David, Jones, Lindsay, and Sessions, Scott, pp. 465–513. University Press of Colorado, Boulder.Google Scholar
Taube, Karl A., Saturno, William A., Stuart, David, Hurst, Heather, and Skidmore, Joel 2010 The Murals of San Bartolo, El Petén, Guatemala, Part 2: The West Wall. Ancient America Vol. 10. Boundary End Archaeology Research Center, Barnardsville, North Carolina.Google Scholar
Velez, Maria I., Curtis, Jason H., Brenner, Mark, Escobar, Jaime, Leyden, Barbara W., and de Hatch, Marion Popenoe 2011 Environmental and Cultural Changes in Highland Guatemala Inferred from Lake Amatitlán Sediments. Geoarchaeology 26:346–364.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wahl, David, Roger Byrne, ThomasSchreiner, and RichardHansen, 2007 Palaeolimnological Evidence of Late-Holocene Settlement and Abandonment in the Mirador Basin, Peten, Guatemala. Holocene 17:813–820.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wetherington, Ronald K. (editor) 1978 The Ceramics of Kaminaljuyu, Guatemala. Pennsylvania State University Press, University Park.Google Scholar
Wolfman, Daniel 1990 Mesoamerican Chronology and Archaeomagnetic Dating, A.D. 1–1200. In Archaeomagnetic Dating, edited by Eighmy, Jeffrey L. and Sternberg, Robert S., pp. 237–260. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Wright, Lori E., Valdés, Juan Antonio, Burton, James H., Price, T. Douglas, and Schwarcz, Henry P. 2010 The Children of Kaminaljuyu: Isotopic Insight into Diet and Long Distance Interaction in Mesoamerica. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 29:155–178.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Arroyo et al. supplementary material

Arroyo et al. supplementary material

Download Arroyo et al. supplementary material(File)
File 35.1 MB