Pollen analysis of the Oaxaca archaic and modern environments

Schoenwetter, James; Smith, Landon Douglas

essay

Pollen analysis of the Oaxaca archaic and modern environments

guilá naquitz : archaic foraging and early agriculture in oaxaca, mexico • Orlando • Published In 1986 • Pages: 179-237

By: Schoenwetter, James, Smith, Landon Douglas.

Abstract
Schoenwetter and Smiths task is to analyze modern pollen samples taken from throughout the Valley of Oaxaca to ascertain how closely they match patterns in the survey of modern flora, in order to better interpret the excavated samples from the El Fuerte cave group. Therefore, this chapter begins with a long technical discussion of the problems involved in pollen sampling and the comparison of modern pollen survey results to ancient pollen assemblages. (Overview of method and theory, and/or the organization and results of the modern survey are indexed for THEORETICAL ORIENTATION IN RESEARCH AND ITS RESULTS [121] and/or ORGANIZATION AND ANALYSIS OF RESULTS OF RESEARCH [128].) The authors then proceed to employ pollen spectra from the stratigraphic columns of the various sites as a means of cross-dating. Only stratigraphic zones C and B from Guilá Naquitz Cave and 20cm to 35cm depths from Martínez Rock Shelter (important for its ecofacts only) pertain to the Early Archaic (chronologically, Cueva Blanca and Gheo-Shih fall outside the scope of this file [Early Mesoamerican Archaic NY30]). From this data, the pattern of climate and vegetational change is reconstructed, with implications for human adaptation.

Theoretical orientation in research and its results

Recording and collecting in the field

Organization and analysis of results of research

Laboratory analysis of materials other than dating methods in archaeology

Climate

Flora

Chronologies and culture sequences

Cultural stratigraphy

Early Mesoamerican Archaic

HRAF PubDate

2000

Region