Latest Mesoamerica News and Developments
New Evidence of Early Maize Domestication in the Balsas River Valley
6/1/07 - Science Daily - New charcoal and plant microfossil evidence from Mexico's Central Balsas valley links a pivotal cultural shift, crop domestication in the New World, to local and regional environmental history. Agriculture in the Balsas valley originated and diversified during the warm, wet, postglacial period following the much cooler and drier climate in the final phases of the last ice age. A significant dry period appears to have occurred at the same time as the major dry episode associated with the collapse of Mayan civilization, Smithsonian researchers and colleagues report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences online.
Olmec Sculptures Discovered in Morelos
1/24/07 - Excavations at Zazacatla, just south of Cuernavaca, have revealed significant Olmec remains, including two major figural sculptures dating to about 800 B.C. INAH archaeologists Giselle Canto Aguilar and Eduardo López Calzada announced their discoveries today, after many months racing against rampant development in the area. Much of the archaeological site is now destroyed.
Huge Aztec Monolith Revealed
11/17/06 - A team led by INAH archaeologist Álvaro Barrera has now fully unearthed the large sculpture discovered several weeks ago under the site of the Casa de las Ajaracas, in central Mexico City near the intersection of Calles de Guatemala and Argentina. This is directly in front and to the west of the Templo Mayor. The slab shows a beautiful depiction of the female aspect of the Earth Lord (Tlalteuctli), and it has been hailed as one of the most important Aztec discoveries of the last generation. The massive stone, roughly 4 x 4 meters in size, is broken but well preserved. Archaeologists believe it may cover a substantial cache offering, or perhaps even the funerary chamber of the Mexica emperor Ahuitzotl who died in 1502. An excellent summary article by Eduardo Matos Moctezuma and Leonardo López Luján will appear in the upcoming issue of Arqueología Mexicana (no. 83, January-February 2007).
09/15/06 - The journal Science (Vol. 313. no. 5793, pp. 1610 - 1614) reports on recent analysis of an incised stone brought to light in 1999 by lead authors and archaeologists María del Carmen Rodríguez Martínez (INAH, Veracruz) and Ponciano Ortíz Ceballos (Universidad Veracruzana, Xalapa) near the site of Cascajal, Veracruz, Mexico. The researchers, who include distinguished Mesoamericanists Michael D. Coe (emeritus, Yale University), Richard A. Diehl (University of Alabama), Stephen D. Houston (Brown University), Karl A. Taube (University of California-Riverside), Alfredo Delgado Calderón (INAH, Veracruz), conclude from a wide range of evidence and examination that the 62 signs do conform "to all expectations of writing."
Other Olmec writing links:
Writing on Stone May Be Oldest in the Americas by John Noble Wilford, The New York Times , Science, September 14, 2006
ARCHAEOLOGY: Claim of Oldest New World Writing Excites Archaeologists by Andrew Lawler Science Vol. 313. no. 5793, p. 1551
... Archaeologists discover tablet in Mexico with Olmec text thought to be 3,000 years old, Austin American-Statesman (09/15/06), by Manasee Wagh, Tom Avril, The Philadelphia Inquirer,"This is centuries before anything we've had. People have debated whether the Olmecs had any writing. This clears it up," David Stuart, a University of Texas expert in Mesoamerican writing, said of the find. Stuart wasn't involved in the discovery but reviewed it for Science."
Oldest Writing in New World Discovered, Scientists Say, by Mason Inman, National Geographic News.
Upcoming Lectures, Conferences & Exhibitions
New and fun: June 20, 2008 The Aztec and Maya Revival Exhibition Opening and Reception. Mexic-Arte Museum, Austin. 7-9 p.m., 410 Congress Ave, Austin, TX 78701. tel. 512 480 9373 x25 FAX 512 480 8626. The exhibition runs through August 17, 2008.
NEW DATES: February 23 - March 1, 2009. The 2009 Maya Meetings: Workshops (Feb. 23-27; Feb 28-Mar. 1, 2009) Symposium on Calakmul,epigraphy, archaeology and new research. AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX.
New Books of Interest
Sacred Bundles: Ritual Acts of Wrapping and Binding in Mesoamerica Eds. Julia Guernsey and F. Kent Reilly, III. Perfect bound. Ancient America, Center for Ancient American Studies, Barnardsville, NC. 2007.
Ritual and Power in Stone: The Performance of Rulership in Mesoamerican Izapan Style Art. Julia Guernsey. 256 pp. Hardcover. University of Texas Press, Austin. Available December 2006.
Sex, Death, and Sacrifice in Moche Religion and Visual Culture. Steve Bourget. 272 pp. Hardcover. University of Texas Press, Austin. 2006.
