Grounding the past : the praxis of participatory archaeology in the Mixteca Alta, Oaxaca, Mexico

"Grounding the Past" addresses archaeological field praxis and its role in the political present of Santiago Tilantongo and Santiago Apoala, two communities in the Mixteca Alta region of Oaxaca, Mexico. Efforts to involve local stakeholder communities in archaeology have become an important issue worldwide. In this study, Alexander Geurds argues that projects of participatory archaeology, many of which go under the heading of ‘community archaeology’, cannot dispense with reflexive analysis of field praxis, if they are to avoid idealized and thus untenable narratives of harmonious local collaboration. Past and present archaeological praxis often carries negative connotations in the Mixteca Alta, because archaeological projects have failed to recognize conflicting interests and issues of representation of local and non-local parties. Geurds reviews the constitutive elements of their partnerships, such as official meetings, public presentations and conferences, where the involved local and non-local parties produce conflicting agendas by creating and transforming power relations. He identifies and analyzes the attendant influences on participatory elements through the application of qualitative techniques derived from ethnography and social geography. The first part of the book follows an approach consistent with consistent with the regional archaeological tradition focused on materialist analysis of surface artefacts. Information derived from surface surveying and mapping receives special emphasis. The second part explores alternative means for embedding the production of historical knowledge into local perceptions of landscape and monuments. For this purpose, oral history and in particular knowledge of local placenames is focused on.LEI Universiteit LeidenResearch School CNWS for Asian, African and Amerindian StudiesLanguage Use in Past and Presen

Heuvels bergen.

Archaeology of indigenous Americ

Review of Anderson, B.; Rojas, F. (2017) Antiquarianisms: contact, conflict, comparison

Archaeology of the America

The Valley of Juigalpa, Mayales River Subbasin micro region (Chontales, Nicaragua) Date List II

Archaeology of the America

Circular Reasoning in Mound Building? Large-scale Planned Construction Patterns at the Aguas Buenas Site (A.D. 400–1525).

Archaeology of the America

The similarity trap: Engineering the Greater-Caribbean, A perspective from the Isthmo-Colombian Area

Mesoamerican and Andean Archaeolog

Caracterización inicial de los sitios arqueológicos en la subcuenca del río Mayales, Departamento de Chontales, Nicaragua.

In 2015 and 2016, the Proyecto Arqueológico Centro de Nicaragua ( Pacen) conducted several fieldwork seasons which focused on surface survey and mound recording. The main goal of this research was to systematically document the synchronic and diachronic variability in pre-Hispanic material culture found throughout the Mayales River subbasin, particularly in the valley north of Juigalpa, in the department of Chontales. The study started as a full-coverage, high intensity surface survey in a 52 sq km area, as well as the recording of all sites featuring architecture within a 42 sq km subarea. Surface ceramics were mainly found on the riverbanks, while chipped stone presented lower densities distributed uniformly throughout the area, similar to groundstone, which occurred in even lesser quantities. Ceramic and chipped stone distribution and frequency seem to be related to raw material procurement practices rather than the chronological depth of sites with architectural features. In the process, 1,300 mounds were documented during 2015 and 2016. Including the previously registered site of Aguas Buenas, the total of 1,679 mounds was divided in 47 clusters, following specific environmental and material culture patterning. Preliminary results of this study suggest that pre-Hispanic communities in the research area formed a historically complex social landscapeNWOArchaeology of the America

The original is (still) the winner: Replicas and fakes as bound by authenticity

Authenticating relations are defined by artisanship, temporality, value-making and ethnographic authority. These relations are visible in contemporary museum settings as well as in the art world as such, and may be particularly poignant in the case of the Caribbean and Central America with its diverse manifestations of emotive styles and materials such as wood and stone. Historically deep and widespread, 19th and 20th century Central American trafficking of pre-Columbian things was tied to foreign-owned plantations and centred on San Jose, Costa Rica, leading to a scarcity of a ‘Nicaragua’ provenance indicator in current-day museum signage. Eventually, archaeology emerged from such uncontrolled collecting and now works to counter looting, yet market demand for objects remains stable. This paper explores the ongoing resilience of authenticity and its persistence in the global art market. I argue that this is in part due to the ascribed inspirational value Amerindian objects hold in modern art, as argued in the notion of primitivism. Primitivist art is seen in opposition to modernity, ascribing it legitimacy through temporal or cultural distance. With some exceptions, programs focussed on revitalizing artisanship and producing high-quality copies or working on stylistic and technical innovations are countered by rendering this primitive authenticity.</p

The Social in the Circum-Caribbean: Toward a Transcontextual Order

Archaeology of the Caribbean and Amazoni