Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-cfpbc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T14:23:57.764Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Smokescreens in the Provenance Investigation of Early Formative Mesoamerican Ceramics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Hector Neff ,
Jeffrey Blomster ,
Michael D. Glascock ,
Ronald L. Bishop ,
M. James Blackman ,
Michael D. Coe ,
George L. Cowgill ,
Ann Cyphers ,
Richard A. Diehl  and
Stephen Houston
...Show all authors
Hector Neff
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology and Institute for Integrated Research in Materials, Environments, and Societies, California State University Long Beach, 1250 Bellflower Blvd, Long Beach, CA 90840-1003 USA
Jeffrey Blomster
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, George Washington University, Washington, D.C. 20052 USA
Michael D. Glascock
Affiliation:
Research Reactor Center, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211 USA
Ronald L. Bishop
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 20013 USA
M. James Blackman
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 20013 USA
Michael D. Coe
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology/Peabody Museum, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520-8277 USA
George L. Cowgill
Affiliation:
School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287 USA
Ann Cyphers
Affiliation:
Instituto de Investigaciones Antropológicas, UNAM, Mexico 04510
Richard A. Diehl
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0210 USA
Stephen Houston
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology,Box 1921, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912 USA
Arthur A. Joyce
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Colorado at Boulder, 233 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309-0233 USA
Carl P. Lipo
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, California State University Long Beach, 1250 Bellflower Blvd, Long Beach, CA 90840-1003 USA
Marcus Winter
Affiliation:
Centra INAH Oaxaca, Pino Suarez 715, 68000 Oaxaca, Oaxaca, Mexico
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

We are glad that Sharer et al. (this issue) have dropped their original claim that the INAA data demonstrate multidirectional movement of Early Formative pottery. Beyond this, however, they offer nothing that might enhance understanding of Early Formative ceramic circulation or inspire new insights into Early Formative cultural evolution in Mesoamerica. Instead, their response contains fresh distortions, replications of mistakes made in their PNAS articles, and lengthy passages that are irrelevant to the issues raised by Neff et al. (this issue). We correct and recorrect their latest distortions and misunderstandings here. Besides showing why their discussion of ceramic sourcing repeatedly misses the mark, we also correct a number of erroneous assertions about the archaeology of Olmec San Lorenzo. New evidence deepens understanding of Early Formative Mesoamerica but requires that some researchers discard cherished beliefs.

Nos agrada que Sharer et al. (this issue) hayan abandonado su afirmación inicial de que los resultados del INAA demuestran un patrón de circulación en múltiples direcciones para la cerámica del Formativo Temprano. No obstante, no ofrecen nada nuevo que pudiera mejorar el entendimiento de la circulación de la cerámica para este momento y tampoco proponen nuevas perspectivas sobre la evolución cultural en Mesoamérica. En cambio, usan una retórica de poca relevancia o patentemente falsa para desviar la atención y negar los resultados que no son de su agrado. En el presente texto corregimos sus últimas distorsiones y malentendidos. Además de mostrar las razones por las cuales su discurso sobre la determinación de las fuentes de cerámica fracasa en muchos puntos, también corregimos las numerosas declaraciones erróneas sobre la arqueología del centro olmeca de San Lorenzo. Las nuevas evidencias proporcionan un entendimiento más profundo del Formativo Temprano de Mesoamérica aunque requiere que ciertos investigadores abandonen algunas de las ideas más cercanas a su corazón.

Type
Comments
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 17 , Issue 1 , March 2006 , pp. 104 - 118
Copyright
Copyright © 2006 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

Adan-Bayewitz, David, and Wieder, Moshe 1992 Ceramics from Roman Galilee: A Comparison of Several Techniques for Fabric Characterization. Journal of Field Archaeology 19:189–205.Google Scholar
Balkansky, Andrew K. 1998 Origin and Collapse of Complex Societies in Oaxaca (Mexico): Evaluating the Era from 1965 to the Present. Journal of World Prehistory 2:4511–493.Google Scholar
Bishop, Ronald L., Beaudry, Marilyn P., Leventhal, Richard M., and Sharer, Robert J. 1986 Compositional Analysis of Copador and Related Pottery in the Southeast Maya Area. In The Southeast Maya Periphery, edited by Patricia A. Urban and Edward M. Schortman, pp. 143–175. University of Texas Press, Austin.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blomster, Jeffrey P. 1998 At the Bean Hill in the Land of the Mixtec: Early Formative Social Complexity and Interregional Interaction at Etlatongo, Oaxaca, Mexico. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut.Google Scholar
Blomster, Jeffrey P. 2004 Etlatongo: Social Complexity, Interaction, and Village Life in the Mixteca Alta of Oaxaca, Mexico. Wadsworth, Belmont, California.Google Scholar
Blomster, Jeffrey P., Neff, Hector, and Glascock, Michael D. 2005 Olmec Pottery Production and Export in Ancient Mexico Determined through Elemental Analysis. Science 307:1068–1072.Google Scholar
Burton, James H., and Simon, Arleyn W. 1993 Acid Extraction as a Simple and Inexpensive Method for Compositional Characterization. American Antiquity 58:45–59.Google Scholar
Clark, John E., and Pye, Mary E. 2000 The Pacific Coast and the Olmec Question. In Olmec Art and Archaeology in Mesoamerica, edited by John E. Clark and Mary E. Pye, pp. 217–251. National Gallery of Art, Washington.Google Scholar
Coe, Michael D. 1993 Rewriting History. Nature 362:705–706.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coe, Michael D., and Diehl, Richard A. 1980 In the Land of the Olmec, Vol. 1: The Archaeology of San Lorenzo Tenoehtitlan. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Cowgill, George L. 1992 Review of Debating Oaxaca Archaeology , edited by Joyce Marcus. American Anthropologist 94:458–459.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cyphers, Ann 1996 Reconstructing Olmec Life at San Lorenzo. In Olmec Art of Ancient Mexico, edited by Elizabeth P. Benson and Beatriz de la Fuente, pp. 61–71. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Cyphers, Ann 1997 Olmec Architecture at San Lorenzo. In Olmec to Aztec: Settlement Patterns in the Ancient Gulf Lowlands, edited by Barbara L. Stark and Phillip J. Arnold, III, pp. 98–114. University of Arizona Press, Tucson, Arizona.Google Scholar
Cyphers, Ann 1999 From Stone to Symbols: Olmec Art in Social Context at San Lorenzo Tenoehtitlán. In Social Patterns in Pre-Classic Mesoamerica, edited by David C. Grove and Rosemary A. Joyce, pp. 155–181. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Cyphers, Ann 2004 Escultura Olmeca de San Lorenzo Tenoehtitlán. Instituto de Investigaciones Antropólogicas y La Coordinatión de Humanidades, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico, México, D.F. Google Scholar
Cyphers, Ann 2005a Architecture and Imagery at San Lorenzo. Paper presented at the Dumbarton Oaks Symposium on Pre-Columbian Art and Architecture, “The Art of Urbanism: How Mesoamerican Cities Represented Themselves in Architecture and Imagery,” organized by William L. Fash and Leonardo López Luján. Mexico City, D.F. Google Scholar
Cyphers, Ann (editor) 2005b Las excavaciones en San Lorenzo Tenoehtitlán. Manuscript on file, Instituto de Investigaciones Antropológicas, UNAM, Mexico, D.F. Google Scholar
Cyphers, Ann, Hernández, Alejandro, Varela, Marisol, and Grégor, Lilia 2006 Cosmological and Sociopolitical Synergy in Preclassic Architectural Precincts. In Precolumbian Water Management: Ideology, Ritual and Power, edited by Lisa Lucero and William Fash. University of Arizona Press, in press.Google Scholar
Day, Peter M., Kiriatzi, Evangelia, Tsolakidou, Alexandra, and Kilikoglou, Vassilis 1999 Group Therapy in Crete: A Comparison between Analyses by NAA and Thin Section Petrography of Early Minoan Pottery. Journal of Archaeological Science 26:1025–1036.Google Scholar
Diehl, Richard A. 2005 Patterns of cultural primacy. Science 307:1055–1056.Google Scholar
Dunnell, Robert C. 1992 Review of Debating Oaxaca Archaeology edited by Joyce Marcus. American Antiquity 57:557–559.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flannery, Kent V. 1997 In defense of the Tehuacan Project. Current Anthropology 38:660–661.Google Scholar
Flannery, Kent V., Balkansky, Andrew K., Feinman, Gary M., Grove, David C., Marcus, Joyce, Redmond, Elsa M., Reynolds, Robert G., Sharer, Robert J., Spencer, Charles S., and Yaeger, Jason 2005 Implications of New Petrographic Analysis for the Olmec “Mother Culture” Model. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 102:11219–11223.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Flannery, Kent V., and Marcus, Joyce 1990 Borrón y Cuenta Nueva: Setting Oaxaca’s Archaeological Record Straight. In Debating Oaxaca Archaeology, edited by J. Marcus, pp. 17–69. Anthropological. Papers No. 84. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Flannery, Kent V., and Marcus, Joyce 1994 Early Formative Pottery of the Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico. Memoirs of the Museum of Anthropology No. 27. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Flannery, Kent V., and Marcus, Joyce 2000 Formative Mexican Chiefdoms and the Myth of the “Mother Culture.” Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 19:1–37.Google Scholar
Grove, David C. 1989 Olmec: What’s in a Name? In Regional Perspectives on the Olmec, edited by Robert J. Sharer and David C. Grove, pp. 8–14. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Guevara, María Eugenia 2004 La cerámica de San Lorenzo Tenoehtitlán, Veracruz: Origen y naturaleza. Master’s thesis. Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, UNAM, Mexico, D.F. Google Scholar
Hardy, Karen 1999 On the Tehuacán Project: Reply to Flannery and Mac-Neish. Current Anthropology 40:63–69.Google Scholar
Joyce, Arthur A., Zeitlin, Robert N., Zeitlin, Judith F., and Urcid, Javier 2000 On Oaxaca Coast Archaeology: Setting the Record Straight. Current Anthropology 41:623–625.Google Scholar
Love, Charles 1990 How to Make and Move an Easter Island Statue. In State and Perspectives of Scientific Research in Easter Island Culture, edited by Heide-Margaret. Esen-Bauer, pp. 139–140. Courier Forschungsinstitut Senckenburg, Frankfurt.Google Scholar
Lunagómez, Roberto 1995 Patrón de asentamiento en el hinterland interior de San Lorenzo Tenoehtitlán, Veracruz. Undergraduate thesis, Facultad de Antropología, Universidad Veracruzana, Xalapa.Google Scholar
Mainfort, Robert C. Jr., Cogswell, James W., O’Brien, Michael J., Neff, Hector, and Glascock, Michael D. 1997 Neutron Activation Analysis of Pottery from Pinson Mounds and Nearby Sites in Western Tennessee: Local Production vs. Long-Distance Exchange. Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology 22:43–68.Google Scholar
Marcus, Joyce, and Flannery, Kent V. 1990 Science and Science Fiction in Postclassic Oaxca: Or, “Yes Virginia, There is a Monte Albén IV.” In Debating Oaxaca Archaeology, edited by Joyce Marcus, pp. 191–205. Anthropological Papers No. 84. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Marcus, Joyce, and Flannery, Kent V. 1996 Zapotec Civilization. Thames & Hudson, New York.Google Scholar
Marcus, Joyce, and Flannery, Kent V. 2004 The Coevolution of Ritual and Society: New l4C Dates from Ancient Mexico. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 101:18257–18261.Google Scholar
Neff, Hector, Bishop, Ronald L., and Arnold, Dean E. 1990 Reexamination of the Compositional Affiliations of Formative Period Whiteware from Highland Guatemala. Ancient Mesoamerica 1:171–180.Google Scholar
Neff, Hector, Bove, Frederick J., Robinson, Eugenia, and Arroyo, Bárbara 1994 A Ceramic Compositional Perspective on the Formative to Classic Transition in Southern Mesoamerica. Latin American Antiquity 5:333–358.Google Scholar
Neff, Hector, Cogswell, James W., Kosakowsky, Laura J., Belli, Francisco Estrada, and Bove, Frederick J. 1999 A New Perspective on the Relationships among Cream Paste Ceramic Traditions of Southeastern Mesoamerica. Latin American Antiquity 10:281–299.Google Scholar
Neff, Hector, and Glascock, Michael D. 2002 Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis of Olmec Pottery. Electronic document, http://www.missouri.edu/∼reahn/, Accessed December 7, 2005.Google Scholar
Neff, Hector, Glascock, Michael D., Bishop, Ronald L., and Blackman, M. James 1996 A Reassessment of the Acid-Extraction Approach to Compositional Characterization of Archaeological Ceramics. American Antiquity 61:389–404.Google Scholar
Reents-Budet, Dorie, Bell, Ellen E., Traxler, Loa P., and Bishop, Ronald L. 2004 Early Classic Ceramic Offerings at Copan: A Comparison of the Hunal, Margarita, and Sub-Jaguar Tombs. In Understanding Early Classic Copan, edited by Ellen E. Bell, Marcello A. Canuto, and Robert J. Sharer, pp. 159–190. University of Pennsylvania Museum, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Rice, Prudence M. 1977 Whiteware Pottery Production in the Valley of Guatemala: Specialization and Resource Utilization. Journal of Field Archaeology 4:221–233.Google Scholar
Rice, Prudence M. 1978 Ceramic Continuity and Change in the Valley of Guatemala. In The Ceramics of Kaminaljuyú, Guatemala, edited by Ronald K. Wetherington, pp. 511–542. Pennsylvania State University Monograph Series on Kaminaljuyú, University Park.Google Scholar
Rice, Prudence M. 1987 Pottery Analysis: A Sourcebook. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Stoltman, James B., and Mainfort, Robert C. Jr. 2002 Minerals and Elements: Using Petrography to Reconsider the findings of Neutron Activation in the Compositional Analysis of Ceramics from Pinson Mounds, Tennessee. Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology 27:1–33.Google Scholar
Stoltman, James B., Marcus, Joyce, Flannery, Kent V., Burton, James H., and Moyle, Robert G. 2005 Petrographic Evidence Shows that Pottery Exchange Between the Olmec and Their Neighbors Was Two Way. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 102:11213–11218.Google Scholar
Symonds, Stacey C., Cyphers, Ann, and Lunagómez, Roberto 2002 Asentamiento prehispánico en San Lorenzo Tenochlitlán. Serie San Lorenzo, Vol. 2. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México City, D.F. Google Scholar
Triadan, Daniela, Neff, Hector, and Glascock, Michael D. 1997 An Evaluation of the Archaeological Relevance of Weak-Acid Extraction ICP: White Mountain Redware as a Case Study. Journal of Archaeological Science 24:997–1002.Google Scholar
Van de Geer, John P. 1971 Introduction to Multivariate Analysis for the Social Sciences. W. H. Freeman and Company, San Francisco.Google Scholar
Van Tilburg, Jo Ann 1995 Easter Island: Archaeology, Ecology, and Culture. Smithsonian Books, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Van Tilburg, Jo Ann 1996 Mechanics, Logistics and Economics of Transporting Easter Island (Rapa Nui) Statues. Rapa Nui Journal 10(4):110–115.Google Scholar
Weber, Bodo, and Hecht, Lutz 2003 Petrology and Geochemistry of Metaigneous Rocks From a Grenvellian Basement Fragment in the Maya Block: the Guichicovi Complex, Oaxaca, Southern Mexico. Precambrian Research 124:41–67.Google Scholar