essay
The settlement and its architecture
ancient chalcatzingo • Austin • Published In 1987 • Pages: 63-81
By: Prindiville, Mary, Grove, David C..
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
Prindville and Grove document an innovative, distinctively highland tradition of Formative period public architecture, adorned with stelae and other carved stone monuments at the highland site of Chalcatzingo. Stimulus from the Gulf Coast Olmec is possible for this precocious development. Excavation of domestic architecture focuses on Cantera phase remains easily located by surface scatter. While probably not representative of domestic architecture throughout Olmec-influenced Mesoamerica, this greatly augments the tiny sample for the Middle Formative period. Construction materials and methods, interior layout, and household activity areas (especially obsidian knapping) are systematically discussed. Other topics covered are storage (including warehousing), refuse disposal, and subfloor burials. Evidence for periodic destruction of houses using fire and rebuilding on the same spot, sometimes with no change in layout and probable reuse of salvaged materials provides an interesting parallel to apparently periodic and equally purposeful destruction, defacing, burial and/or recycling of carved stone monuments, both at Chalcatzingo and at coastal Olmec centers; perhaps in reaction to the death of an associated prominent individual. Compass orientations of architecture in general exhibit consistency, but whether the alignments are with geographical or celestial phenomena is uncertain. The work concludes with a phase-by-phase assessment of the overall settlement pattern and its implications for social stratification and regional influence.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Public structures
- Dwellings
- Building interiors and arrangement
- Architecture
- Settlement patterns
- traditionCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Olmec
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2000
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- Middle America and the Caribbean
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Central Mexico
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- essay
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Archaeologist
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- Leon G. Doyon ; 2007
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1972-1976
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 3500 BP-2500 BP
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Chalcatzingo, Morelos State, Mexico
- NotesAdditional notes
- Mary Prindiville and David C. Grove
- house destruction, intentional - use 'FIRE (372)'
- For bibliographical references see Grove: 1987 (Document 3)
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 85022673
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Olmecs