Hostname: page-component-74656f9884-g96k6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-09T15:02:13.511Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Multiethnicity or Multiple Enigma

Archaeological survey and cave exploration in the Río Talgua drainage, Honduras

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 October 2008

Boyd Dixon ,
George Hasemann ,
Pastor Gomez ,
James Brady  and
Marilyn Beaudry-Corbett
Boyd Dixon
Affiliation:
International Archaeological Research Institute, Inc., 949 McCully Street, Suite 5, Honolulu, HI 96826, USA
George Hasemann
Affiliation:
Instituto Hondureño de Antropología e Historia, Villa Roy, Bo. Buenos Aires, Apartado 1518, Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Central America
Pastor Gomez
Affiliation:
Instituto Hondureño de Antropología e Historia, Villa Roy, Bo. Buenos Aires, Apartado 1518, Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Central America
James Brady
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, California State University, Los Angeles, CA 90032, USA
Marilyn Beaudry-Corbett
Affiliation:
Institute of Archaeology, University of California at Los Angeles, Box 951510, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1510, USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

During the summer of 1995, an intensive archaeological survey of the Río Talgua drainage in eastern Honduras was conducted after the discovery of the Talgua Cave in the Department of Olancho. One important goal of this survey was the identification of the indigenous population responsible for depositing the ninth-century b.c. human burials found upstream in Talgua Cave. In addition to this survey, four other caves were found and/or explored during this season, and limited excavations were also conducted at the mounded site of Talgua downstream and at the ceramic-production site of Chichicaste in the mountains to the west. Preliminary analysis of the architecture and ceramics from 39 newly identified archaeological sites in the Talgua Valley suggests that all appear to date to the Late Classic period (a.d. 600–900), leaving the location of the Middle Formative period population unresolved. A review of the survey, cave, and ceramic data, however, does reveal possible information about the multiethnic nature of the regional political system and local social structure that existed in this previously unstudied area of Central America.

Information

Type
Articles
Information
Ancient Mesoamerica , Volume 9 , Issue 2 , Fall 1998 , pp. 327 - 340
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1998

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.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

REFERENCES

Wyllys, Andrews E. V 1976 The Archaeology of Quelepa. Publication No. 42. Middle American Research Institute, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA.Google Scholar
Ashmore, Wendy 1986 Peten Cosmology in the Maya Southeast: An Analysis of Architecture and Settlement Patterns at Classic Quirigua. In The Southeast Maya Periphery, edited by Urban, Patricia and Schortman, Edward, pp. 35–49. University of Texas Press, Austin.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beaudry-Corbett, Marilyn 1995 Hunting Ancient Ruins in Northeast Honduras. Backdirt Fall: 1–2, University of California, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Beaudry-Corbett, Marilyn 1996 Final Report, Ceramic Analysis, Talgua Archaeological Project 1995. Institute of Archaeology, University of California, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Beaudry-Corbett, Marilyn, Hasemann, James Brady George, Gomez, Pastor, and Dixon, Boyd 1995 Current Research in the Talgua Cave Area, Catacamas, Honduras. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America, San Diego.Google Scholar
Beaudry-Corbett, Marilyn, and Reentz-Budet, Dorie 1996 Shamans, Saurians, and Bats: Symbols from Central Honduras. Paper presented at the 61st Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, New Orleans, LA.Google Scholar
Blackiston, A. Hooton 1910 Recent Discoveries in Honduras. American Anthropologist 12:536–541.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brady, James 1995 A Reassessment of the Chronology and Function of Gordon's Cave #3, Copan, Honduras. Ancient Mesoamerica 6:29–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brady, James, Hasemann, George, and Fogarty, John 1995a Harvest of Bones: Ritual Cave Burial in Honduras. Archaeology 48(3):36–40.Google Scholar
Brady, James, Hasemann, George, and Fogarty, John 1995b Buried Secrets, Luminous Finds/Secretos escondidos, luminosos hallazgos. Americas 47(4):6–15.Google Scholar
Brady, James, Stone, George Veni Andrea, and Cobb, Allan 1992 Explorations in the New Branch of Naj Tunich: Implications for Interpretation. Mexican 14:74–81.Google Scholar
Bray, Warwick 1977 Maya Metalwork and Its External Connections. In Social Process in Maya Prehistory, edited by Hammond, Norman, pp. 365–403. Academic Press, London.Google Scholar
Carsten, Janet, and Hugh-Jones, Steven 1995 Introduction. In About the House: Levi-Strauss and Beyond, edited by Carsten, Janet and Hughes-Jones, Steven, pp. 1–46. Cambridge University Press, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Creamer, Winifred 1987 Evidence for Prehistoric Ethnic Groups in the Sula Valley, Honduras. In Interaction on the Southeast Mesoamerican Frontier, edited by Robinson, Eugenia, pp. 357–384. BAR International Series 327. British Archaeological Reports, Oxford.Google Scholar
DeCorse, C.R. 1989 Material Aspects of Limba, Yalunka, and Kuranko Ethnicity: Archaeological Research in Northeastern Sierra Leone. In Archaeological Approaches to Cultural Identity, edited by Shennan, S.J., pp. 125–140. Unwin Hyman, London.Google Scholar
Dixon, Boyd 1989 A Preliminary Settlement Study of a Cultural Corridor: The Comayagua Valley, Honduras. Journal of Field Archaeology 16:257–272.Google Scholar
Dixon, Boyd 1992 Prehistoric Political Variability on the Southeast Mesoamerican Periphery. Ancient Mesoamerica 3:11–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dixon, Boyd, Joesink-Mandeville, LeRoy V., Hasebe, Nobukatsu, Mucio, Michael, Vincent, William, and James, David 1994 Formative-Period Architecture at the Site of Yarumela, Central Honduras. Latin American Antiquity 5:70–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robert, Ehrenreich, Crumley, Carole, and Levy, Janet (editors) 1996 Heterarchy and the Analysis of Complex Societies. Archaeological Papers of the American Anthropological Association No. 6. American Anthropological Association, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Fash, William Jr. 1991 Scribes, Warriors and Kings. Thames and Hudson, London.Google Scholar
Gerstle, Andrea 1987 Ethnic Diversity and Interaction at Copan, Honduras. In Interaction on the Southeast Mesoamerican Frontier, edited by Robinson, Eugenia, pp. 328–356. BAR International Series 327. British Archaeological Reports, Oxford.Google Scholar
Gomez, Pastor 1996 Reflexiones sobre la iconografía de una colección cerámica del centro de Olancho. Yaxkin XIII(1):71–91.Google Scholar
Gómez Robelo, Roberto 1953 Arqueología de Honduras y Pueblos Civilizados de America. Talleres Tipográficos Nacionales, Tegucigalpa.Google Scholar
Mark, Graham (editor) 1993 Reinterpreting Prehistory of Central America. University Press of Colorado, Niwot.Google Scholar
Hasemann, George 1987 Late Classic Settlement on the Sulaco River, Central Honduras. In Chiefdoms in the Americas, edited by Drennan, Robert and Uribe, Carlos, pp. 85–104. University Press of America, Lanham, MD.Google Scholar
Hasemann, George 1995 Proyecto Arqueologico Talgua 1995. Instituto Hondureño de Antropología e Historia, Tegucigalpa.Google Scholar
Hasemann, George, and Pinto, Gloria Lara 1993 La zona central: Regionalismo e interacción. In Historia General de Centro America, tomo I, edited by Carmack, Robert, pp. 135–216. Ediciones Sirvela, Madrid.Google Scholar
Healy, Paul 1974 The Cuyamel Caves: Preclassic Sites in Northeast Honduras. American Antiquity 39:433–437.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Healy, Paul 1993 Northeastern Honduras. In Pottery of Prehistoric Honduras: Regional Classification and Analysis, edited by Henderson, John and Beaudry-Corbett, Marilyn, pp. 192–213. Monograph No. 35. Institute of Archaeology. University of California, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Henderson, John 1992 Variations on a Theme: A Frontier View of Maya Civilization. In New Theories on the Ancient Maya, edited by Danien, Elin and Sharer, Robert, pp. 161–172. The University Museum, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Hirth, Kenneth 1988 Beyond the Maya Frontier: Cultural Interaction and Symbiosis along the Central Honduran Corridor. In The Southeast Classic Maya Zone, edited by Boone, Elizabeth and Willey, Gordon R., pp. 297–334. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Hirth, Kenneth 1989 Observations about Ecological Relationships and Cultural Evolution in a Prehistoric Tropical Subsistence System. In Archaeological Research in the El Cajón Region, vol. 1, edited by Hirth, Kenneth, Pinto, Gloria Lara, and Hasemann, George, pp. 233–252. Instituto Hondureño de Antropología e Historia, Tegucigalpa.Google Scholar
Instituto Geográfico Nacional 1991 Mapa geológico de Honduras, compiled by Michael Kozuch. 2nd ed. Instituto Geográfico Nacional, Tegucigalpa.Google Scholar
Joyce, Rosemary 1993 The Construction of the Mesoamerican Frontier and the Mayoid Image of Honduran Polychromes. In Reinterpreting Prehistory of Central America, edited by Graham, Mark, pp. 51–102. University Press of Colorado, Niwot.Google Scholar
Lange, Frederick 1984 The Greater Nicoya Subarea. In The Archaeology of Lower Central America, edited by Lange, Fred and Stone, Doris, pp. 165–194. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Lanza, Rigoberto de Jesus, Escobar, Marcio Tulio, Moncada, Mauren Denise Carias, and Castellanos, Rosa Carminda 1992 Los pech (payas): Una cultura olvidada. Editorial Guaymuras, Tegucigalpa, Honduras.Google Scholar
Loker, William 1989 Contemporary Land Use and Prehistoric Settlement: An Ethnoarchaeological Approach. In Archaeological Research in the El Cajón Region, vol. 1, edited by Hirth, Kenneth, Pinto, Gloria Lara, and Hasemann, George, pp. 135–186. Instituto Hondureño de Antropología e Historia, Tegucigalpa.Google Scholar
McAnany, Patricia 1995 Living With the Ancestors: Kinship and Kingship in Ancient Maya Society. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Martinez, Marin Carlos 1972 Santuarios y pereginaciones en el Mexico prehispánico. In Religion en Mesoamerica, edited by King, Jaime Litvak and Tejeros, Neomi Castillo, pp. 161–176. XX Mesa Redonda de la Sociedad Mexicana de Antropología, Mexico.Google Scholar
Nash, June 1970 In the Eyes of the Ancestors: Belief and Behavior in a Maya Community. Yale University Press, New Haven, CT.Google Scholar
Gary, Pahl (editor) 1987 The Periphery of the Southeastern Classic Maya Realm. Latin American Center Publications, University of California, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Reyes, Mazzoni Roberto 1976 Introducción a la arqueología de Honduras. Editorial Nuevo Continente, Tegucigalpa.Google Scholar
Eugenia, Robinson (editor) 1987 Interaction on the Southeast Mesoamerican Frontier: Prehistoric and Historic Honduras and El Salvador. BAR International Series 327. British Archaeological Reports, Oxford.Google Scholar
Rogers, Rhea 1996 Tribes as Heterarchy: A Case Study from the Prehistoric South eastern United States. In Heterarchy and the Analysis of Complex Societies, edited by Ehrenreich, Robert, Crumley, Carole, and Levy, Janet, pp. 7–16. Archaeological Papers of the American Anthropological Association No. 6. American Anthropological Association, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Salinas, Iris Milady 1991 Arquitectura de los grupos étnicos de Honduras. Editorial Guaymuras, Tegucigalpa.Google Scholar
Saramiento, Jose A. 1993 Historia de Olancho. Editorial Guaymuras, Tegucigalpa.Google Scholar
Spencer, Charles 1987 Rethinking the Chiefdom. In Chiefdoms in the Americas, edited by Drennan, Robert and Uribe, Carlos, pp. 369–390. University Press of America, Lanham, MD.Google Scholar
Stone, Doris 1941 The Archaeology of the North Coast of Honduras. Memoirs of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology Vol. IX, No. 1. Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.Google Scholar
Stone, Doris 1957 The Archaeology of Central and Southern Honduras. Papers of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology Vol. 49, No. 3. Harvard University. Cambridge, MA.Google Scholar
Strong, William Duncan 1933 Hunting Ancient Ruins in Northeast Honduras. In Explorations and Fieldwork of the Smithsonian Institution in 1933, pp. 44–47. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Strong, William Duncan 1935 Archaeological Investigation in the Bay Islands, Spanish Honduras. Smithsonian Institution Publications 3290, Vol. 92, No. 14, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Strong, William Duncan 1948 Archaeology of Honduras. In The Circum-Caribbean Tribes, pp. 71–120. Handbook of South American Indians, edited by Steward, Julian H.. Bulletin No. 143. Bureau of American Ethnology, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Urban, Patricia, and Schortman, Edward 1987 The Southeast Maya Periphery. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Villa Rojas, Alfonso 1946 Notas sobre la Etnografia de los Indios Tzeltales de Oxchuc, Chiapas, Mexico. Middle American Cultural Anthropology No. 7. University of Chicago Microfilms, Chicago, IL.Google Scholar
Villa Rojas, Alfonso 1969 The Tzeltal. In Ethnology, edited by Vogt, Evon, pp. 195–225. Handbook of Middle American Indians, vol. 7. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Weissner, Polly 1983 Style and Ethnicity in the Kalahari San Projectile Point. American Antiquity 48:253–276.CrossRefGoogle Scholar