http://SaturnianCosmology.Org/ mirrored file
For complete access to all the files of this collection
see http://SaturnianCosmology.org/search.php
==========================================================
Frederick J. Bove
Archaeology of the Guatemala Pacific Coast
Plain Stelae of the Guatemala Pacific Coast: An Interpretation
Frederick J. Bove
To appear in New Perspectives on the Mesoamerican Stela Cult, edited by
Elisabeth A. Newsome & F. Kent Reilly III. Manuscripts are currently
under review.
Abstract
"An interesting and lesser known aspect of Middle to Late Preclassic
times is the association of mounds with uncarved, usually plain
columnar basalt stelae. Of the 35 Preclassic Central Highland sites
listed by Shook (1952b), at least 13 have yielded such stelae?They
range from slender shafts of columnar basalt to large, roughly
shaped stelae. They stand in front of low platform mounds, erected
in parallel north south rows" (Borhegyi, 1965).
"By Middle Pre-classic times, a trait had become established in the
Highlands and South Coast of Guatemala?that of erecting plain stelae
in towns and cities. These stelae may be exceedingly rough unmarked
shafts of stone, unworked sections of columnar basalt, or partly
well shaped and dressed stones in the typical stela form. They were
erected in formal positions in courts or plazas, at the base, on the
frontal slope, or on top of the earthen substructures" (Shook, 1971).
The Guatemala Pacific Coast is known for its rich sculptural tradition
ranging from boulder sculptures including potbellies, heads, long count
dated monuments, elaborate altars, the beautifully carved headless
sculptures from Sin Cabezas, monuments with representations of
personages, and the extraordinary collection of Cotzumalguapa style Late
Classic monuments (Chinchilla, 1996a; 1996b; Coe, 1957; Graham, 1989;
Grove, 1993; Kappelman, 1997; Lowe, Thomas A. Lee and Espinosa, 1982;
Miles, 1965; Orrego Corzo, 1988; 1997; Orrego Corzo and Schieber de
Lavarreda, 2000; Parsons, 1969; 1981; 1986; Popenoe de Hatch, 1989a;
1989b; Rodas, 1993). But one class of monuments has been seriously
neglected until now the plain stelae (and altars) of the Guatemala
Pacific Coast (and adjacent highlands) of which Borhegyi and Shook
spoke. And while Borhegyi (1965) stated that Late Preclassic plain
stelae are known only sporadically outside the Central Highlands, the
newer data now available will show that they are also amply distributed
on the Guatemala Pacific Coast.
Their function(s) is speculative. They could have served as
commemorative markers of specific events, dedicated to political rulers,
calendrical-astronomical markers, ritual but non-calendrical memorials,
or some combination. Functions could also have been associated
principally or only with specific ethnic/linguistic groups and not with
others. Complicating these interpretations further is that their
function(s) could have evolved into different usage through time.
The preliminary findings are presented in the published version as an
interim report, which although incomplete, is part of a larger study in
progress. The printed version includes an inventory of all sites with
plain stelae (and altars) of Formative and Classic period sites on the
Southern Coast of Guatemala. The site list is presented alphabetically
instead of chronologically, as temporal placement in several cases is
uncertain. The data includes site maps (or references), UTM coordinates,
and monument locations when known. These data include the number,
dimensions, and illustrative references of plain stelae when possible.
Sources of data, other than my own regional project, rely heavily on
Edwin Shook?s site records and field notes accumulated during his many
years of fieldwork on the Pacific Coast and adjacent highlands. These
are accessible through the Shook archive at the Universidad del Valle de
Guatemala directed by Dr. Marion Popenoe de Hatch. The descriptions are
also supplemented by recent research on the South Coast, Estrada Belli
(1999) on the southeastern coast and for the western coastal area (Love,
1989; Love, Castillo and Balcárcel, 1996).
The site inventory in the published version is presented in two sections
with the proviso that it is not exhaustive. The first section includes
all sites with reported monuments whether or not they are still present
(exist). In the past several decades there has been widespread looting,
continual destruction through intensive agricultural operations, and
modern encroachment of coastal sites. All too often sites with
previously known monuments (or at least reported by informants) are
virtually destroyed and monuments can no longer be located. Presumably
many were sold to collectors and reside in someone?s patio. The second
list is comprised of large Formative centers that represent primary and
secondary integral elements of complex regional hierarchies but lack
plain stelae. Reasons for their absence are complex and may possibly be
due to the fact that existing monuments that had not been reported
earlier are now gone or perhaps there are regional cultural, ethnic, or
temporal differences that condition their use. A distributional map
indicates that the later suggestion has considerable merit (Figure 1
).
An example of the type of data appearing in the printed version is
included here:
Monte Alto (UTM 722341E, 1573508N)
A large predominately Late Formative regional center thoroughly
investigated by Shook and Parsons over two lengthy field seasons in
1969-70 or 68-69 (Parsons, 1976; 1981; Popenoe de Hatch, 1989a; Shook
and Hatch, 1981). There is a light Early to Middle Formative presence
but significantly less than either El Bálsamo or Los Cerritos-Sur
located about 10 km west and east of Monte Alto respectively. There is
also a substantial Early Classic occupation but it is largely localized
at Structure 6, a large platform located well to the northeast. Although
Monte Alto is noted for its corpus of boulder sculptures (heads and
potbellies), Parsons (1976) states that more than a dozen tabular shaped
stone stelae were found as well as two stone altars. Shook (1971)
reports that 15 plain stelae were recorded at Monte Alto and that one
alignment of three large plain stelae erected in a north south line
could have served astronomical purposes as a means for recording days
and the position of the sun for agricultural purposes. Shook noted that
the azimuth from the principal pyramid to the south stela marked the
winter solstice on December 21. The sun rose over the central stela on
February 19 which at the time meant little to him. Popenoe de Hatch
became interested in the problem recently and stated that February 19 at
midnight marks the eastern elongation of Eta Draconis during the Late
Preclassic period (Popenoe de Hatch, personal communication, 2000).
According to Hatch, Eta Draconis shows unusual stability and that from
1800 B.C. to A.D. 500 the annual date of its meridian midnight transit
varied less than one day (Popenoe de Hatch, 1975). She has shown that
alignments of certain monuments at Abaj Takalik also mark the eastern
elongation of Eta Draconis at various periods during Abaj Takalik?s
existence. This work builds on research that produced startling results
when using alignments at La Venta in the Early Formative. The La Venta
site was found to be oriented toward the setting azimuth of CP Ursae
Major apparently because its meridian transit and point of contact with
the horizon occurred at midnight of the summer solstice so that the
solar year was keyed to the sidereal year (Popenoe de Hatch, 1971).
In attempting to temporally place the plain stelae, Parsons was of the
opinion that "However it is more probable that the plain stone stelae
and altars do represent the Terminal Preclassic ("Izapa") period"
(Parsons, 1976). He later reiterated this belief in a detailed and
perceptive review of the origins of Maya art.
Another common class of sculpture at Monte Alto is the group of
plain stone stelae (fifteen) and plain round altars (three).
Considering the abundance of both plain and carved stelae and altars
at Terminal Preclassic Izapa, it could be conjectured that these
represent the true sculptural effort contemporary with the major
occupation phase at Monte Alto?with the boulder sculptures having
been reset from the Post-Olmec phase when the site was first
established. Even the basic central site layout follows the terminal
Middle Preclassic pattern, with parallel north-south plazas flanked
by platforms and mounds (cf. The Providencia phase mound grouping at
KJ). (Parsons, 1986).
The astronomical data and research of Popenoe de Hatch independently and
fully support the Late Formative dating of the monuments.
Chronology
There is no unequivocal evidence that plain stelae were being used in
the early Middle Formative period although several sites with
significant evidence for occupation during this period have stelae.
These are Los Cerritos-Sur, El Bálsamo, and Reynosa and to a lesser
extent Monte Alto and El Pilar. The evidence seems to favor a slightly
later placement, most likely in the late aspect of the Middle Formative
and certainly throughout the Late Formative. Shook, however, believed that:
The erection of stelae, sometimes in position for astronomical
observations, was a well established practice?during Middle
Preclassic times, long before this trait became so prominent in the
Lowland Maya area during the Classic period (Shook, 1971).
Borhegyi (1965) was of the opinion that the ceremonial use of plain
stelae was most probable in their Middle Preclassic Providencia phase
(ca. 600-300 B.C.). The Late Formative period (ca. 400-100 B.C.)
currently in favor for the Pacific Coast ceramic chronology overlaps to
some extent the Kaminaljuyú Providencia phase. Parsons found a Late to
Terminal Formative period as the most likely period of maximum
distribution, a period that correlates highly with our current data.
Spatial Distribution
There are striking differences in the spatial distribution of sites
with, and sites without, plain stelae during the same chronological span
as shown on Figure 1 .
My regional research combined with colleagues over the past several
decades suggests that there were marked cultural differences across the
Pacific Coast from the earliest times. In the Early Formative period
differential ceramic styles emerge and while I am always uncomfortable
with attempting to link too facilely ceramic styles with specific ethnic
or linguistic groups, in this instance it seems to have merit. It had
been fashionable, for example, to show that the Mixe-Zoque were present
across the entire lower coast in the Early-Middle Formative periods.
This view is no longer accepted by most archaeologists, at least east of
the San Marcos and possibly Retalhuleu departments. While the specific
linguistic relationships are open to question there is no doubt that
considerable differences existed along the Guatemala littoral.
Over the past 15 years Popenoe de Hatch, aided by students, developed a
model that attempts to show how a series of ceramic traditions emerged
not only on the Pacific Coast but also along the piedmont and adjacent
highlands (e.g. Herrick de Herrera, 1995; Popenoe de Hatch and Shook,
1999). The most interesting for this discussion are the Achiguate,
Naranjo, and Ocosito ceramic traditions. Acceptance of the model has not
been complete and for some time I have been somewhat uncomfortable with
the broad generalizations that such a model require. There is little
question, however, that the Ocosito and Achiguate ceramic traditions
which have broad similarities correlate closely with the spatial
distribution of sites with plain stelae. And the Naranjo ceramic
tradition also tends to correlate with sites without plain stelae at
least on the western Guatemala coast. There seems to be, therefore, a
broad relationship of some type between the spatial distribution of
sites with and without plain stelae and the ceramic tradition model
proposed by Popenoe de Hatch. A relationship I hasten to add that is
independently derived (i.e., non-ceramic) and one that has given me
pause to rethink the entire problem of how best to distinguish ethnic or
linguistic groups.
Sources Cited
Borhegyi, Stephan F. de
1965 Archaeological Synthesis of the Guatemalan Highlands. In Handbook
of Middle American Indians, Volume 2, Archaeology of Southern
Mesoamerica Part One, edited by G.R. Willey, pp. 3-58, R. Wauchope,
general editor. University of Texas Press, Austin.
Chinchilla, Oswaldo F.
1996a Settlement Patterns and Monumental Art at a Major Pre-Columbian
polity: Cotzumalguapa, Guatemala. Ph.D. Dissertation, Dept. of
Anthropology, Vanderbilt University.
1996b "Peor-es-Nada": El Origen de las Esculturas de Cotzumalguapa en
El Museum für Völkerkunde, Berlin. Baesller-Archiv Band XLIV:295-357.
Coe, Michael D.
1957 Cycle 7 Monuments in Middle America: A Reconsideration. American
Anthropologist 59:597-611.
Estrada Belli, Francisco
1999 The Archaeology of Complex Societies in Southeastern Pacific
Guatemala: a Regional GIS Approach. BAR International Series 820, Oxford.
Graham, John
1989 Olmec Diffusion: A Sculptural View from Pacific Guatemala. In
Regional Perspectives on the Olmec, edited by R.J. Sharer and D.C.
Grove, pp. 227-46. School of American Research. Cambridge University
Press, Cambridge.
Grove, David C.
1993 "Olmec" Horizons in Formative Period Mesoamerica: Diffusion or
Social Evolution? In Latin American Horizons, edited by D.S. Rice, pp.
83-111. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library, Washington, D.C.
Herrick de Herrera, Carol
1995 Reconocimiento Arqueológico en el Área Suroeste de la Costa Sur de
Guatemala. Tesis de Licenciatura, Departamento de Arqueología,
Universidad del Valle de Guatemala.
Kappelman, Julia Guernsey
1997 Of Macaws and Men: Late Preclassic Cosmology and Political
Ideology in Izapan-Style Monuments. Ph.D., University of Texas.
Love, Michael W.
1989 Early Settlements and Chronology of the Río Naranjo, Guatemala.
Ph.D. Dissertation, Graduate Division, University of California, Berkeley.
Love, Michael W., Donaldo Castillo and Beatriz Balcárcel
1996 Investigaciones Arqueológicas en El Ujuxte, Retalhuleu 1995-96.
Informe Preliminar. Submitted to the Instituto de Antropología e
Historia, Guatemala City, Guatemala.
Lowe, Jr., Gareth W., Thomas A. Lee and Eduardo Martinez Espinosa
1982 Izapa: An Introduction to the Ruins and Monuments. Papers of the
New World Archaeological Foundation 31. Brigham Young University, Provo.
Miles, Suzanna W.
1965 Sculpture of the Guatemala-Chiapas, Highlands and Pacific Slopes,
and Associated Hieroglyphs. In Handbook of Middle American Indians,
edited by R. Wauchope and G.R. Willey, pp. 237-275. vol. 2. University
of Texas Press, Austin.
Orrego Corzo, Miguel
1988 Investigaciones Arqueológicas en Abaj Takalik, El Asintal,
Retalhuleu, año 1988. Reporte no. 1. Proyecto Abaj Takalik. Instituto de
Antropología e Historia de Guatemala, Guatemala.
1997 Reporte No. 2. Proyecto Nacional Abaj Takalik. Investigaciones
Arqueológicas 1989-1990. IDEAH, Guatemala City, Guatemala.
Orrego Corzo, Miguel and Christa Schieber de Lavarreda
2000 Compendio de Monumentos Expuestos en Abaj Takalik. Proyecto
Nacional Abaj Takalik, IDEAH, Guatemala City.
Parsons, Lee A.
1969 Bilbao, Guatemala: An Archaeological Study of the Pacific Coast
Cotzumalhuapa Region. Publications in Anthropology No 12, Vol 2.
Milwaukee Public Museum, Milwaukee.
1976 Excavation of Monte Alto, Escuintla, Guatemala. National
Geographic Society Research Reports: 1968 Projects :325-32.
1981 Post-Olmec Stone Sculpture: The Olmec-Izapan Transition on the
Southern Pacific Coast and Highlands. In The Olmec and their Neighbors:
Essays in Honor of Matthew W. Stirling, edited by E.P. Benson, pp.
257-88. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C.
1986 The Origins of Maya Art: Monumental Sculpture of Kaminaljuyú,
Guatemala, and the Southern Pacific Coast. Studies in Pre-Columbian Art
and Archaeology 28. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection,
Washington, D.C.
Popenoe de Hatch, Marion
1971 An Hypothesis on Olmec Astronomy with Special Reference to the La
Venta Site. Contributions of the University of California Archaeological
Research Facility 13:1-64.
1975 An Astronomical Calendar in a Portion of the Madrid Codex. In
Archaeoastronomy in Pre-Columbian America, edited by A.F. Aveni, pp.
283-340. University of Texas Press, Austin.
1989a A Seriation of Monte Alto Sculptures. In New Frontiers in the
Archaeology of the Pacific Coast of Southern Mesoamerica, edited by F.J.
Bove and L. Heller, pp 25-41. Anthropological Research Papers No 39,
Arizona State University, Tempe.
1989b An Analysis of the Santa Lucía Cotzumalguapa Sculptures. In New
Frontiers in the Archaeology of the Pacific Coast of Southern
Mesoamerica, edited by F.J. Bove and L. Heller, pp. 167-94.
Anthropological Research Papers No 39, Arizona State University, Tempe.
Popenoe de Hatch, Marion and Edwin M. Shook
1999 La Arqueología de la Costa Sur. In Historia General de Guatemala.
Tomo 1, edited by M.P. de Hatch, pp. 171-90. Fundación para la Cultura y
el Desarrollo, Guatemala City.
Rodas, Sergio
1993 Catálogo de Barrigones de Guatemala. U Tz?ib 1(5).
Shook, Edwin M.
1971 Inventory of some Pre-classic Traits in the Highlands and Pacific
Guatemala and Adjacent Areas. In Observations on the Emergence of
Civilization in Mesoamerica, edited by R.F. Heizer and J.A. Graham, pp.
70-7. Contributions of the University of California Archaeological
Research Facility, No 11, Berkeley.
Shook, Edwin. M. and Marion P. de Hatch
1981 Archaeological Study of Monte Alto, Guatemala, and Preclassic
Cultures on the Pacific Coast, 1972-77. National Geographic Society
Research Reports 13:575-81.
Frederick J. Bove