Archaeology of the Americas

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Zapotec civilization, Palace of Columns, Mitla, Oaxaca
Burnt Hill Stone Circle, Heath, Massachusetts, USA

The archaeology of the Americas is the study of the archaeology of North America (Mesoamerica included), Central America, South America and the Caribbean. This includes the study of pre-historic/Pre-Columbian and historic indigenous American peoples, as well as historical archaeology of more recent eras.

Periodization[edit]

The Pre-Columbian era is the term generally used to encompass all period subdivisions in the history of the Americas spanning the time from the original settlement of the Americas in the Upper Paleolithic up until the European colonization of the Americas during the early modern period. While technically referring to the era before the voyages of Christopher Columbus from 1492 to 1504, in practice the term usually includes the history of American indigenous cultures until they were conquered or significantly influenced by Europeans, even if this happened decades or even centuries after Columbus' initial landing.

The pre-Columbian archaeological record in the Americas is conventionally divided into five large phases according to an enduring system established in Gordon Willey and Philip Phillips's 1958 book Method and Theory in American Archaeology.[1] This differs from old world prehistory where the three-age system, with the Stone Age divided into Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, and, Chalcolithic, followed by the Bronze Age and Iron Age, remain in general use.

Folsom projectile point.
National Park Service, c.1961

Numerous regional and sub-regional divisions have since been defined to distinguish various cultures through time and space, as later archaeologists recognized that these generalised stages did not adequately correspond to the cultural variation that existed in different locations in the Americas.[1]

Defined by the ostensible prevalence of big-game hunting. In most places, this can be dated to before 8000 BCE, starting most probably around 16,500 BCE (see Paleo-Indians). Examples include the Clovis culture and Folsom tradition groups.
Defined by the increasingly intensive gathering of wild resources with the decline of the big-game hunting lifestyle. Typically, Archaic cultures can be dated from 8000 to 1000 BCE. Examples include the Archaic Southwest, the Arctic small tool tradition, the Poverty Point culture, and the Chan-Chan culture in southern Chile.
Defined as "village agriculture" based. Most of these can be dated from 1000 BCE to 500 CE. Examples include the Dorset culture, Zapotec civilization, Mimbres culture, Olmec, Woodland, and Mississippian cultures.
Defined as "early civilizations", and typically dating from 500 to 1200 CE. Willey and Phillips considered only cultures from Mesoamerica and Peru to have achieved this level of complexity. Examples include the early Maya and the Toltec.
Defined as "later prehispanic civilizations" and typically dated from 1200 CE until the advent of European colonisation. The late Maya, the Incan civilization, and the Aztec cultures were Post-Classic.

Today, for Meso- and Andean South America, the later periods are more often classified using the "Horizon" terminology, with "Early Horizon" typically broadly equating to the Late Formative stage. "Horizons" are periods of cultural stability and political unity, with "Intermediate periods" covering the politically fragmented transition between them. In the Andes, there are three Horizon periods, with two Intermediate periods between them. The Horizons, and their dominant cultures are: Early Horizon, Chavin; Middle Horizon, Tiwanaku and Wari culture; Late Horizon, Inca.[2]

Major regions[edit]

North America[edit]

Further information: List of archaeological periods (North America)

Since 1990, in the United States, physical anthropology and archaeological investigations based on the study of human remains are complicated by the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, (NAGPRA), which provides for the bodies of Native Americans and associated grave goods to be turned over to the recognized tribal body most legally affiliated with the remains; the law applies only to remains and artefacts found on federally owned public land. In some cases, notably, that of Kennewick Man, these laws have been subject to close judicial scrutiny and great intellectual conflict.[3]

We can see that Mesoamerica its between Zacatecas and Aguascalientes, Mexico, & Nicaragua and El Salvador
Exact location of Mesoamerica

Mesoamerica[edit]

Further information: List of archaeological periods (Mesoamerica)

Mesoamerica is a region and cultural area in the Americas, extending approximately from central Mexico to Honduras and Nicaragua, within which a number of pre-Columbian societies flourished before the Spanish colonization of the Americas in the 15th and 16th centuries.[4][5] Prehistoric groups in this area are characterized by agricultural villages and large ceremonial and politico-religious capitals[6] This culture area included some of the most complex and advanced cultures of the Americas, including the Olmec, Teotihuacan, the Maya, and the Aztec, the most powerful tribe of Mesoamerica in their time.

South America[edit]

Further information: Cultural periods of Peru
Further information: List of archeological sites in Colombia

Archaeogenetics[edit]

A map with five colored squares, depicting the genetic split between 18 different human groups of the world.
A genetic tree of 18 world human groups by a neighbour-joining autosomal relationships.
Main article: Genetic history of indigenous peoples of the Americas
See also: Y-DNA haplogroups in Indigenous peoples of the Americas

Molecular genetics study suggests that surviving Amerindian populations derived from a theoretical single founding population, possibly from only 50 to 70 genetic contributors[7] Preliminary research, restricted to only 9 genomic regions (or loci) have shown a genetic link between original Americas and Asia populations. The study does not address the question of separate migrations for these groups, and excludes other DNA data-sets.[8]

The American Journal of Human Genetics released an article in 2007 stating "Here we show, by using 86 complete mitochondrial genomes, that all Indigenous American haplogroups, including Haplogroup X (mtDNA), were part of a single founding population."[9] Amerindian groups in the Bering Strait region exhibit perhaps the strongest DNA or mitochondrial DNA relations to Siberian peoples. The genetic diversity of Amerindian indigenous groups increase with distance from the assumed entry point into the Americas.[10][11] Certain genetic diversity patterns from West to East suggest at least some coastal migration events.[12] Geneticists have variously estimated that peoples of Asia and the Americas were part of the same population from 42,000 to 21,000 years ago.[13]

Archaeological finds[edit]

In February 2021, archaeologists from the University of Buenos Aires–National Scientific and Technical Research Council announced the discovery of 12 graves dated to 6,000-1,300 years ago in Argentine Northwest. Researchers also revealed necklaces and pendants next to some of the bodies. According to archaeologist Leticia Cortés, there were many kinds of burial methods, in individual or collective graves, and also in the posture of the bodies. Some were hyperflexed, like squatting, with the shoulders touching the knees.[14][15]

In 2018, 9000-year-old remains of a female hunter along with a toolkit of projectile points and animal processing implements were discovered at the Andean site of Wilamaya Patjxa, Puno District in Peru.[16]

In September 2021, archaeologists announced the remains of eight 800-year-old bodies nearby ancient town of Chilca. Bodies included adults and children who were covered in plant material before being buried. Some dishes and musical instruments were uncovered as well. Researchers think remains belong to the Chilca culture, which was apart from other pre-Hispanic cultures in the area.[17][18][19]

See also[edit]

Further reading[edit]

  1. ^ a b "Method and Theory in American Archaeology". Gordon Willey and Philip Phillips. University of Chicago. 1958.[dead link]
  2. ^ Essential Humanities. "History of Precolonial Meso/South America." Accessed 9 May, 2017. [1].
  3. ^ Bones, Discovering the First Americans Elllaine Dewar, Carroll & Graf Publishers, New York, 2002, ISBN 0-7867-0979-0
  4. ^ "Meso-America." Oxford English Reference Dictionary, 2nd ed. (rev.) 2002. (ISBN 0-19-860652-4) Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press; p. 906.
  5. ^ (2000): Atlas del México Prehispánico. Revista Arqueología mexicana. Número especial 5. Julio de 2000. Raíces/ Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia. México.
  6. ^ http://www.uapress.arizona.edu/onlinebks/hohokam/Glossary.htm The University of Arizona
  7. ^ Hey, J (2005). "On the Number of New World Founders: A Population Genetic Portrait of the Peopling of the Americas". PLOS Biology. PubMed Central (PMC) is the U.S. National Institutes of Health. 3 (6): e193. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0030193. PMC 1131883. PMID 15898833.
  8. ^ "Nomenclature for Incompletely Specified Bases in Nucleic Acid Sequences". NC-IUB. 1984. Retrieved 2009-11-19.
  9. ^ "First Americans". Southern Methodist University-David J. Meltzer, B.A., M.A., Ph.D. Retrieved 2009-11-17.
  10. ^ "The peopling of the Americas: Genetic ancestry influences health". Scientific American. Retrieved 2009-11-22.
  11. ^ "First Americans Endured 20,000-Year Layover - Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News". Archived from the original on 2012-03-13. Retrieved 2009-11-18.
  12. ^ Wang, Sijia; Lewis, Cecil M.; Jakobsson, Mattias; Ramachandran, Sohini; Ray, Nicolas; Bedoya, Gabriel; Rojas, Winston; Parra, Maria V.; Molina, Julio A.; Gallo, Carla; Mazzotti, Guido; Poletti, Giovanni; Hill, Kim; Hurtado, Ana M.; Labuda, Damian; Klitz, William; Barrantes, Ramiro; Bortolini, Maria Cátira; Salzano, Francisco M.; Petzl-Erler, Maria Luiza; Tsuneto, Luiza T.; Llop, Elena; Rothhammer, Francisco; Excoffier, Laurent; Feldman, Marcus W.; Rosenberg, Noah A.; Ruiz-Linares, Andrés (2007). "Genetic Variation and Population Structure in Native Americans". PLOS Genetics. 3 (11): 3(11). doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.0030185. PMC 2082466. PMID 18039031.
  13. ^ Fagundes, Nelson J.R.; Ricardo Kanitz; Roberta Eckert; Ana C.S. Valls; Mauricio R. Bogo; Francisco M. Salzano; David Glenn Smith; Wilson A. Silva; Marco A. Zago; Andrea K. Ribeiro-dos-Santos; Sidney E.B. Santos; Maria Luiza Petzl-Erler; Sandro L.Bonatto (2008). "Mitochondrial Population Genomics Supports a Single Pre-Clovis Origin with a Coastal Route for the Peopling of the Americas" (PDF). American Journal of Human Genetics. 82 (3): 583–592. doi:10.1016/j.ajhg.2007.11.013. PMC 2427228. PMID 18313026. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-03-25. Retrieved 2009-11-19.
  14. ^ "Prehistoric Burials Excavated in Argentina - Archaeology Magazine". www.archaeology.org. Retrieved 2021-03-02.
  15. ^ "Six thousand-year-old tombs found in northwest Argentina". Radio Cadena Agramonte. Retrieved 2021-03-02.
  16. ^ Wei-Haas, Maya (2020-11-04). "Prehistoric female hunter discovery upends gender role assumptions". National Geographic. Retrieved 2021-06-13.
  17. ^ Paul, Jacob (2021-09-24). "Gas pipe workers uncover remains of eight people buried inside 800-year-old tomb". Express.co.uk. Retrieved 2021-09-27.
  18. ^ "Gas pipe workers find 800-year-old bodies in Peru". France 24. 2021-09-22. Retrieved 2021-09-27.
  19. ^ "800-Year-Old Tomb Discovered in Peru - Archaeology Magazine". www.archaeology.org. Retrieved 2021-09-27.
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