Las Ruinas De Arenal

Taschek, Jennifer T.; Ball, Joseph W.

doi:10.1017/s0956536199102074

Cited by 20 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 8 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…These expectations were borne out in the lidar data. The strong east-west orientation and presence of an E-Group at the site of Las Ruinas de Arenal suggests a substantial Preclassic occupation, as confirmed by previous excavations (Taschek and Ball 1999). Similarly, the site of Tunchilen, first documented by Samuel Connell (2000), is shown in the lidar data to have a layout consistent with a Preclassic E-Group.…”

Section: Dating Sites and Featuressupporting

confidence: 78%

Locating and Dating Sites Using Lidar Survey in a Mosaic Landscape in Western Belize

Yaeger

Brown

Cap

2016

Adv. archaeol. pract.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We use the results of a high-resolution lidar survey to assess the advantages and limitations of archaeological applications of lidar data and address some of its methodological challenges. Our data come from the Mopan and Macal River valleys in western Belize, a region that includes several ancient Maya political centers and their hinterlands. Visual inspection of the lidar data has revealed many new sites and new features at previously mapped sites, and these findings significantly enhance our understanding of the valley's cultural history and political dynamics. By comparing data from prior systematic pedestrian surveys, visual and TPI analysis of the lidar data, and analysis of other remotely sensed data, we assess the limits of mound visibility in the lidar data and examine how vegetation and topographic factors impact those limits. We also present slope analysis as a useful tool for predicting whether mounds were constructed in the Preclassic period (1000 B.C.–A.D. 250) or the Classic period (A.D. 250–900).

show abstract

Section: Dating Sites and Featuressupporting

confidence: 78%

Locating and Dating Sites Using Lidar Survey in a Mosaic Landscape in Western Belize

Yaeger

Brown

Cap

2016

Adv. archaeol. pract.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Aside from the sites shown in Fig 1, others in the same area exhibit the same peculiarity (e.g. Xunantunich, Baking Pot, Buenavista del Cayo, El Pilar, Pacbitun), obviously reflecting a regional tradition, which can be explained in terms of political relations starting in the Preclassic and continuing in later periods, as suggested by other types of archaeological evidence, including hieroglyphic texts [30,31].…”

Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 87%

Astronomical aspects of Group E-type complexes and implications for understanding ancient Maya architecture and urban planning

Šprajc

2021

PLoS ONE

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In the 1920s, during the first archaeological excavations at Uaxactún, Petén, Guatemala, an architectural complex named Group E was interpreted as an ancient Maya astronomical observatory, intended specifically for sighting the equinoctial and solstitial sunrises. In the following decades, a large number of architectural compounds with the same configuration have been found, most of them in the central lowlands of the Yucatan peninsula. The multiple hypotheses that have been proposed about the astronomical function of these complexes, commonly designated as E Groups, range from those attributing them a paramount role in astronomical observations to those that consider them merely allegorical or commemorative allusions to celestial cycles, without any observational use. This study, based on quantitative analyses of a reasonably large sample of alignment data, as well as on contextual evidence, shows that many of the previous hypotheses cannot be sustained. I argue that E Groups, although built primarily for ritual purposes, were astronomically functional, but also that they had no specific or particularly prominent role in astronomical observations. Their orientations belong to widespread alignment groups, mostly materialized in buildings of other types and explicable in terms of some fundamental concerns of the agriculturally-based Maya societies. I present the evidence demonstrating that the astronomical orientations initially embedded in E Groups, which represent the earliest standardized form of Maya monumental architecture and whose occurrence in practically all early cities in the central Yucatan peninsula attests to their socio-political significance, were later transferred to buildings and compounds of other types. Therefore, it is precisely the importance of the astronomically and cosmologically significant directions, first incorporated in E Groups, that allows us to understand some prominent aspects of ancient Maya architecture and urbanism.

show abstract

“…For the Mayans, a Costa Rican-style "Chaplin," which this Cenote example could constitute, would have fit quite nicely as a ready-made offering. Returning to the part-for-the-whole relationship, evidence of this principle is available elsewhere: just like the Cerros Cache 1 bib-helmet and central head pendants are arranged in a quincunx pattern, as in Figure 9c, two caches at the site of Arenal in Belize (Taschek and Ball, 1999) contain full-figure Charlie Chaplin silhouettes also arranged in quincunx patterns, as in Figure 9d. In other words, the head and full-figure pendants are equivalent.…”

Section: The Lowland Maya Versionsmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…Figure 6b, recovered from the Sacred Cenote of Chichen Itza, and argued by Coggins (1984) to be a Late Preclassic version of a Mayan Charlie Chaplin, could instead be an actual Costa Rican example, given the drilling of the eyes and incising of the nose, consistent with the Costa Rican versions, a suggestion first made to me by John Hoopes (personal communication, 2014) that I support and elaborate upon below. Taschek and Ball (1999) have discussed their presence at the site of Arenal in Belize. Whenever they are found in Late Classic contexts they are considered to be examples of heirlooms, as with several Copan-style jades described by Easby (1993).…”

Section: The Lowland Maya Versionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

El tema de figura en silueta “Charlie Chaplin”: Un tema de Ejecutante Ritual de la América Media

Mora‐Marín

2016

CAT

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract:The paper presents evidence for the definition and origin of a figural jade theme that is common in Costa Rica. It consists of a standing figure in a ritual pose, and it is argued that it originated in the context of the jade exchange network linking the ancient jade artisans of Pre-Columbian Costa Rica to their counterparts in the Maya region of Mesoamerica. In the Maya region, archaeologists have referred to this theme as "Charlie Chaplin" figurines because of the characteristic pose with knees bent and feet pointing to the sides. It is proposed that this theme was pan-Mesoamerican, that it may very well have originated in the Middle Preclassic Olmec tradition, and that it appears to be the template for the so-called Ruler-asWorld Axis theme defined for the Olmec and Maya traditions by various scholars. The paper suggests that this theme was adopted by the jade artisans from Pre-Columbian Costa Rica, who then adapted to the local artistic canons through the addition of stylistic traits typical of their tradition, and who may have used it to derive a new theme, made up of a blend of the older avian celtiform (avian axe-god) pendant theme and the diffused "Charlie Chaplin" theme, resulting in the anthropomorphic celtiform (anthropomorphic axe-god) pendant theme. The exchange network that led to the spread of this theme strongly points to the need for a more inclusive framework, a Middle American framework (distinct from Central America and Mesoamerica), to the study of ancient Pre-Columbian societies of Mexico and Central America, and possibly beyond, given the possible presence of this theme in Colombia.

show abstract

Las Ruinas De Arenal

Cited by 20 publications

References 8 publications

Locating and Dating Sites Using Lidar Survey in a Mosaic Landscape in Western Belize

Locating and Dating Sites Using Lidar Survey in a Mosaic Landscape in Western Belize

Astronomical aspects of Group E-type complexes and implications for understanding ancient Maya architecture and urban planning

El tema de figura en silueta “Charlie Chaplin”: Un tema de Ejecutante Ritual de la América Media

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About