Formative-Period Architecture at the Site of Yarumela, Central Honduras

Abstract

During the Formative period (ca. 1000 B.C.-A.D. 250) at the site of Yarumela in central Honduras, an indigenous society developed that was constructing monumental architecture well before 400 B.C. Experimentation with new building materials and techniques reached a peak ca. A.D. 200 just prior to the site's abandonment, by which time religious temples and elite residences had undergone a transition from simple pole-and-thatch structures to more complex adobe and stone constructions. Overall labor investment in monumental architecture may, on the other hand, actually have declined during this same period.

Formative-Period Subsistence and Forest-Product Extraction at the Yarumela Site, Honduras

“…During Middle and Late Formative times, exotic artifacts such as Pacific coast mollusk shells, obsidian, and Guatemalan jade were commonplace at the site (Dixon et al 1994) indicating Yarumela's connection in an interregional exchange network. The presence of the cashew wood helps to define the extensive nature of this network, suggesting that organic materials from as far away as northern South America, where cashews are indigenous, would eventually enter centers such as Yarumela.…”

“…The farmers of Formative-period Yarumela undoubtedly faced similar environmental fluctuations, but turned to additional means to improve their chances of economic survival. The local mediation of intraregional exchange in agricultural commodities may have been one creative solution, with the formalization of such relationships being encouraged by elite exchange of exotic prestige goods-e.g., obsidian, ceramic wares, jade, marble, and sea shells-found in Middle and Late Formative contexts (Dixon et al 1994). …”

“…The yearly average temperature in the Comayagua Valley is 25°C, and the average annual precipitation is 1.016 mm (Dixon 1989). The area immediately surrounding the site of Yarumela is subject to the effects of a partial rain shadow caused by the Comayagua Mountains, which exceed elevations of 1,000 m (Dixon et al 1994). Moisture in air passing over these mountain ranges condenses at the higher, cooler elevations, robbing Yarumela and its environs of much of the regional precipitation.…”

“…and A.D. 250, with a subsequent, but less intensive, occupation during Late Classic times (Dixon et al 1994;Joesink-Mandeville 1986, 1987, 1993. The first settlement at the site, probably a small Early Formative farming hamlet, was superseded by Middle Formative components that revealed unmistakable indications of ranked society with large, cobblefaced mounds (Str.…”

Let no space go to waste: comparing the uses of space between two Late Classic centers in the El Paraíso valley, Copan, Honduras

“…By 1000 BC (at the latest), proto-Lenca populations had settled the region. Prior to the Late Preclassic, large centers in central Hondurasdsuch as Quelepa, Yarumela, and Los Naranjosdexhibited architectural techniques, material culture, and artistic styles distinct from those of contemporary highland Maya centers to the west (Andrews and Wyllys, 1976;Baudez and Becquelin, 1973;Dixon et al, 1994). Importantly, the populations of these centers engaged in a regional interaction network that also included the inhabitants of the Copan area (Canuto, 2002;Cummins, 2007).…”