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Several samples of fossilized wood (charcoal) were collected in the Papayita archaeological site, in coastal Ecuador. This carbonized material was encountered inside a layer of volcanic ash that sealed the site. The ash-sized tephra was produced by a sub-Plinian eruption from the Guagua Pichincha volcano contemporaneous with the late Valdivia phases during the Formative Period. Each of the samples was sectioned into 10 to 15 subsamples and examined under a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), producing high-resolution images with a large depth of field where the anatomical structures and their geochemical composition were vividly discernible. Each sample corresponds to organic matter of vegetable origin, that is, carbonized wood in the form of small rocks, whose appearance is that of carbonized woody tree trunks and or branches. We were able to observe vascular structures, specifically bundles of xylem. It was possible to conclude that these tracheids underwent a physicochemical transformation typical of petrification processes, leaving the molds intact. This allowed us to determine structural elements that support the identification of the group of plants to which these samples belong, through the methodology of comparison of the anatomical components of current species. The fossilized wood structures are three-dimensional and present characteristics that correspond to the group of higher plants, Gymnosperms, of the Podocarpaceae group. Among them, quadrangular tracheids, circular hole-shaped pits in the vascular system, and absent resin canals stand out. Central to the analysis is the presence of transverse parenchyma, which can be ascertained to correspond to vegetation from climates that are temperate or cold.

Abstract For many years, the rise of stratified societies along the Central Andean coast, known as the birthplace of Andean civilization, has been closely linked to a marine-oriented economy. This hypothesis has recently been challenged by increasing evidence of plant management and cultivation among Andean populations long before the emergence of complex societies and monumental architecture. The extent to which marine and plant-based economies were integrated and their contributions to early sedentism, population growth, and intra-community stratification, however, remain subjects of ongoing and contentious debate. Using Bayesian Mixing Models we reanalyze the previously published stable isotopes (δ15Ncollagen, δ13Ccollagen, δ13Capatite) values of 572 human individuals from 39 archaeological sites in the Central Andes dated between ca. 7000 BCE and 200 CE to reconstruct dietary regimes in probabilistic terms. Our results reveal that fish, terrestrial fauna, and cultivated plants variably contributed to the diet of prehistoric Andean populations; in coastal and middle valley settlements plant cultivation, not fishing, fueled the development of the earliest complex societies during the Formative Period (from 3000 BCE). Similarly, in the highlands the societies that built ceremonial centers show a plant-based economy. Our findings also show that maize only became a staple food (> 25% dietary contribution) in more recent phases of Andean prehistory, around 500 BCE.

For many years, the rise of stratified societies along the Central Andean coast, known as the birthplace of Andean civilization, has been closely linked to a marine-oriented economy. This hypothesis has recently been challenged by increasing evidence of plant management and cultivation among Andean populations long before the emergence of complex societies and monumental architecture. The extent to which marine and plant-based economies were integrated and their contributions to early sedentism, population growth, and intra-community stratification, however, remain subjects of ongoing and contentious debate. Using Bayesian Mixing Models we reanalyze the previously published stable isotopes (δ15Ncollagen, δ13Ccollagen, δ13Capatite) values of 572 human individuals from 39 archaeological sites in the Central Andes dated between ca. 7000 BCE and 200 CE to reconstruct dietary regimes in probabilistic terms. Our results reveal that fish, terrestrial fauna, and cultivated plants variably contributed to the diet of prehistoric Andean populations; in coastal and middle valley settlements plant cultivation, not fishing, fueled the development of the earliest complex societies during the Formative Period (from 3000 BCE). Similarly, in the highlands the societies that built ceremonial centers show a plant-based economy. Our findings also show that maize only became a staple food (> 25% dietary contribution) in more recent phases of Andean prehistory, around 500 BCE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A detailed magnetic mineralogy and archaeomagnetic study was carried out on recently discovered domestic hearths and burned floors at the Chak Pet archaeological settlement (Tamaulipas, Mexico). The study aimed to obtain reliable absolute chronological constraints on the early development of Huastecs during the Formative period. Oriented hand samples corresponded to four domestic hearths and one burned floor. Continuous thermomagnetic curves revealed mostly irreversible behavior, while titanomagnetites, titanomaghemites, and goethites are assumed to carry the remanent magnetization. In total, 87 specimens were subjected to stepwise demagnetization of natural remanent magnetization using an alternating field procedure. Characteristic remanent magnetization directions were obtained for 29 samples of two hearths and one burned floor. No single, technically acceptable paleointensity determination was obtained. The new archaeomagnetic age intervals for Chak Pet allow locating the origin of this settlement at the Gulf of Mexico within the Middle Formative (900–600 BCE) continuing until the Late Formative period (350–100 BCE). New archaeomagnetic ages are in accordance with the diagnostic pottery analysis. Dated archaeological elements are associated with both ceramic types and different sets of burials, providing a reliable tool to calibrate their chronological and stratigraphic positions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Portable X‐ray fluorescence (pXRF) geochemical analysis on obsidian from five Formative period (1200 BCE to AC 100) sites from Tlaxcala, Mexico, has revealed that most of the material had similar values to those found in the closest obsidian source, named El Paredón, Puebla. Nevertheless, initial analyses did not resolve whether these materials came from the same caldera or from a specific obsidian deposit. Here we present a methodology that allows the identification of obsidian subsources. The results reveal that Tlaxcalan populations took advantage of a specific obsidian deposit called Tres Cabezas, Puebla, providing valuable new data to identify associated regional exchange networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Archaeologists commonly interpret the Early Formative period through the lens of ceramic technology and as a significant break from Late Archaic or Early Agricultural period lifeways; however, the local changes underlying this pattern often remain obscure. In this paper, we evaluate the existing literature for the Early Formative period the San Carlos Safford Area of southeastern Arizona and discern the accuracy of the current understanding of the local chronology, material culture, and regional patterning. Through a systematic examination of chronological, ceramic, and architectural data, we advocate for several interpretive shifts in the Early Formative period and characterize regional patterning during this temporal interval. We relate the emergence of larger villages as an adaptive strategy against a significant climatic event in the early to mid-sixth century yet also demonstrate the incongruities present between the San Carlos Safford Area and far better studied areas within central and southern Arizona. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to tackle the circulation of goods, resources and ideas during the Formative Period (700 BC-500 AD) in Quebrada del Toro, this work presents the results of the study of the production and circulation of potteries, and of the provenance of obsidian from the Muro Ancho site, along with the analysis of the rock art located in its surroundings. The results indicate the presence of technical modes and styles that respond to local ceramic traditions, as well as others from the yungas and Quebrada de Humahuaca. In addition, the use of the Caldera Vilama source and Zapaleri was determined by X-ray fluorescence. The location and the motifs and themes of rock art link it to the management of camelids. It is concluded that at the time there was a regular exchange that involved the circulation of various materials and knowledge, in spheres of different spatial scope. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the results of the archaeological work carried out in the localities of Chiñucán, Agua Amarilla, Volcán and El Alto (Dept. of Santa María, Catamarca), in the southern end of the Cajón Valley. These are the first systematic investigations in the area, which included surveys, site planimetry and the partial excavation of a structure at Corral de Goyo site, located in Volcán. A radiocarbon dating of 1766 ± 23 BP indicates that it belongs to the first centuries AD, which is coincident with the ceramic styles recovered during the excavation and present on the surface of the site. The information obtained shows similarities and differences with the neighboring formative villages of Cardonal, Bordo Marcial and Yutopian already extensively studied. As a result, there is now a more complete regional picture of occupations in the southern Cajon Valley during the Formative Period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economic directness is a new model of socioeconomic organization for the Paracas culture (800–200 BC) in southern Peru, with wider implications for economic theory of the prehispanic Andean past. Using an archaeoeconomic approach to analyze settlement patterns, obsidian artifacts, malacological material, and camelid skeletal remains, this study reconstructs the Paracas economy by using primary archaeological data from the northern Nasca Drainage. Its results force reconsideration of existing socioeconomic models for the ancient Andes such as verticality, circuit mobility, llama caravan mobility, transhumance, and market concepts. Whereas components typical of these models are often absent in the case of the Paracas economy, our new proposal of economic directness integrates their relevant aspects. Economic directness is defined essentially by direct access to important resources from diverse ecological tiers, direct and down-the-line exchanges, reduced transaction costs, llama caravan transport, unbalanced commodity flows across the western Andes, and forces of supply and demand with major consumption on the coast. These features formed under conditions of population growth, generating a continuous and dense settlement pattern from the Pacific coast to the highland puna zone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ObjectivesTo characterize the paleodiet of individuals from Formative Period (1500 B.C.-A.D. 400) Atacama Desert sites of Ancachi and Quillagua as a means of understanding the dietary and cultural impacts of regional systems of exchange.Materials and methodsThirty-one bone samples recovered from the cemetery of Ancachi (02QU175) and in/around the nearby town of Quillagua were the subject of carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis of bone collagen and hydroxyapatite and multisource mixture modeling (FRUITS, food reconstruction using isotopic transferred signals) of paleodiet. These individuals were compared with nearly 200 other Formative Period individuals from throughout the region to identify differences in dietary behaviors.Results80.6% (25/31) of the samples yielded sufficient well-preserved collagen and were included in the multisource mixture model. The FRUITS model, which compared individuals with a robust database of available foods from the region, identified a wide diversity of diets in the Ancachi/Quillagua area (including both coastal and interior individuals), and, most notably, thirteen individuals who consumed an average of 11.2 ± 1.9% terrestrial animals, 19.8 ± 1.9% legumes, and 22.5 ± 3.1% marine fauna, a balanced pattern of protein consumption distinct from both the coastal and inland individuals in our larger regional sample.ConclusionsThe combination of stable isotope analysis and multisource mixture modeling permitted the characterization of dietary behavior of 25 individuals from nodal sites in the Atacama Desert, thus enhancing our understanding of the economic and social relationships that bound together Formative Period sites, populations, and individuals in this hyperarid region.

Copyright of Ciencia y Sociedad is the property of Ciencia y Sociedad and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In a recent article it has been argued that all varieties of Chabacano may be traced back to a single source variety used before 1640 as an instrument of interethnic communication. This hypothesis explicitly rejects the ex silentio argument used by other authors to propose a later date, on the grounds that in none of the creole-speaking-areas in general there is any early evidence of new emerging languages. An ex silentio argument may only be admitted, these authors add, if there were plenty of 17th-century attestations of language use in areas where Chabacano was later spoken, and none of these could be interpreted as referring to the emerging creole. This article presents such early attestations of language use in Manila Bay prior to 1640, thus demonstrating the validity and potential utility of an ex silentio argument in this context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'Abd al‐Rahman Ibn Khaldun (1332‐1406), the founder of the science of society, became known to modern sociologists during the formative period of sociology, that is, the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. There was something of a reception of Ibn Khaldun in Europe at that time by sociologists and other scholars who were not necessarily involved with Islamic or West Asian studies. In fact, the reception of Ibn Khaldun by modern scholars in the West can be differentiated into Eurocentric or Orientalist as opposed to more disciplinary attitudes. While much has been said about the Eurocentric reception of Ibn Khaldun, less is discussed about the disciplinary approach to Ibn Khaldun among thinkers who wrote when the modern science of sociology was emerging in Europe. This special issue on Ibn Khaldun in the Formative Period of Sociology provides English translations of six articles originally written in Italian, French, German, Polish, Spanish and Turkish between 1896 and 1934. Not all of these articles were written by sociologists. Together, they provide some background as to how Ibn Khaldun was conceived of in non‐area studies circles, in the social sciences and humanities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2019, while conducting a survey of the Carabamba River valley (ca. 150–3,325 m asl) in northern Peru, we identified and surveyed a group of five unreported geoglyphs. Their location and iconography suggest that they date from the Formative period (1800–200 BC) and that they were possibly associated with a form of fertility ritual. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The archaeological excavations carried out on the site called Huando B, a U-shaped architectural structure located in the Chancay valley on the central coast of Peru, allowed us to elucidate the constructive nature of an important section of the right arm of the monument. Indeed, the excavations have managed to determine that the «arms» generally perceived as «unitary structures», are in fact the result of a set of aligned buildings, where each one of them would be independent with a proper trajectory both constructively and functionally. This information allowed us to evaluate the construction of spaces and social dynamics in different levels of analysis. In this sense, we propose a «spatial-dual» model of organization, which seeks to integrate «the public and the private» in the «U» shaped architectonic pattern.

In one of the most arid places on Earth, the Atacama Desert in northern Chile (18–21° S), pre‐Hispanic cultures developed different types of tillage and irrigation systems in the Guatacondo Ravine. Their agrarian production, based on a summer precipitation regime, enabled the formative villages of Ramaditas (2300–2600 years BP) and Guatacondo (2400–2800 years BP) to emerge, along with seasonal agriculture. Despite the insight gained into their agricultural technology, we know very little about how this type of soil management affected the soils' plant nutrient status. Thus, our main objective was to determine if the different tillage systems affected the soils' properties. We analyzed the soils and the pollen composition of different tillage systems and carried out direct radiocarbon dating (14C) of sediments. The soils' chemical properties (total nitrogen, phosphorus, and organic carbon contents) indicate greater nutrient retention in the square bed system, associated with a higher silt content and the use of organic fertilizers. Pollen analyses show the presence of crop, weed, and riparian species. In conclusion, the analysis of ancient soils gives us valuable information about the innovations and changes implemented in ancient times in the Guatacondo Ravine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of the Faculty of Divinity of Ankara University / Ankara Üniversitesi İlahiyat Fakültesi Dergisi is the property of Ankara Universitesi Ilahiyat Fakultesi Dergisi and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this paper, we examine the development of a Middle Formative (800-200. BC) village and a Late Formative (200 BC-AD 475) political center at the site of Kala Uyuni on the Taraco Peninsula, Bolivia. Traditional political economy models rely on the spatial distribution of archaeological sites documented through site survey to define and explain the appearance of political centers. Recent scholarship on 'depositional histories' offers a framework for interpreting the dynamic and contingent political histories of such places using rich, stratigraphically excavated data. Our approach sheds new light on the diversity of practices and internally complex political processes that contributed to the transformation of Kala Uyuni from village to political center. We argue that serious attention to such 'depositional histories' has the potential to transform larger archaeological narratives in the region, and contribute to a more subtle understanding of the development of political landscapes.

The poetic of Rojas Herazo is part of a historical, political, and cultural landscape defined by the emergence and difficult consolidation of Colombian society's modernizing processes, as well as the crisis and dissolution of the conservative tradition. It is a poetic trajectory whose formative stage covers the years 1940 and 1951 before the publication of Herzo's poetry books. After tracking his first poems published in the regional and capital press, in addition to their critical assessment, we will review the conditions of emergence and reception of the author's poetry, framed in the "piedracielistas" and "americanistas" debate in the 1940'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of this research is to understand pottery production in the Alamito sites (northwestern Argentina), inhabited during the first centuries AD. To know this craft production is to enter into the social dynamics of these human groups characterized by a particular way of building, distributing in the landscape and abandoning their dwellings. 55 sherds representative of the stylistic-morphological variability of the sample under study were selected and their fabrics were assessed using petrographic analysis. The methodology used includes the study of the clay matrix, classification of inclusions (type, size and shapes) and description of cavities. The regularities and singularities observed in this data allowed to detect six classes of fabric, which were compared with fabric recipes from nearby areas. Thus, this paper analyzed the relationships between the Alamito pottery and other ceramic productions of northwestern Argentina during the Formative Period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Ciencia y Sociedad is the property of Ciencia y Sociedad and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article discusses the composition of prehispanic diets based on the isotopic composition (δ13C, δ15N) of 10 human samples dated between 3600 and 1300 BP from the Cajón Valley in Northwest Argentina. The sample is the only one available for the time and region considered and covers a 2,300-year range. It shows long-term tendencies in the consumption of food resources during a time when people were experimenting with and eventually domesticating plants and animals in the high-altitude Southern Calchaquíes valleys. Results indicate that animals contributed more to the diet than was expected and plants correspondingly less than expected. This proportion was maintained even during the human occupations associated with the agropastoral villages of Cardonal and Bordo Marcial (ca. 2000 BP) when a greater contribution of plant resources—in particular maize—would be expected. This new evidence demonstrates the diversity of productive strategies used by the societies of Northwest Argentina at the beginning of the Formative period. A variety of resources contributed to daily food intake, minimizing the importance of maize in the diet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a high-resolution chronology of Wairajirca pottery in the Huánuco basin, which has been identified as a frontier region between the Andean highlands and the Amazonian rain forests: its pottery is known for having mixed features from both areas. However, the lack of fine-grained pottery and radiocarbon datasets has handicapped comparative studies' attempts to track in detail its early development process. Our new high-resolution chronology of Wairajirca pottery is based on stratigraphic excavation data, a detailed ceramic typology, and a Bayesian analysis of the radiocarbon date from the Jancao site. The five-staged ceramic sequence from the late eighteenth to late twelfth century cal BC displays specific features of this development, including radical changes in vessel type over several centuries and connections with other pottery traditions. The earliest phase shows close relation with highlands traditions, whereas the influence of tropical rain forest patterns intensified in later phases alongside the continuation of local pottery traditions. This indicates that frontier dynamics based on fluid interactions across different ecological zones and regional sociopolitical movements played a crucial role in this long-term social process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As more than a means of recalling, memory is an active cultural creation and landscape inscriptions construct memories by locating place-based historical narratives. To model memory in terms of engagement with a place through inscription, this study focuses on a complex palimpsest petroglyph panel at the site of Kiñan Tanka, which is situated in the highland north-central Andes. Photogrammetric modeling and vector renderings of Kiñan Tanka’s panel are analyzed to identify the microstratigraphy of its motifs. These data are paired with recently-acquired excavation data from three nearby rock art sites to reveal a tradition of incised petroglyphs that covered approximately 1300 years (1500 - 200 BC). The spatio-temporal relationships of Kiñan Tanka’s iconography are considered within its context as a venerated place and a threshold between distinct worlds during the Formative Period.

La arqueología del Bajo Magdalena ha sido importante para reconstruir procesos como el origen de la cerámica, la sedentarización, la domesticación de plantas y los procesos de complejidad social. Este trabajo presenta algunos de los resultados obtenidos en las exploraciones arqueológicas de la ampliación del par vial de la carrera 50 en el centro histórico de Barranquilla, en los que se precisa la cronología de ocupación del sitio y se ponen en discusión varios aspectos sobre la arqueología de las sociedades indígenas del Bajo Magdalena para el periodo Formativo Tardío. ENGLISH: Archaeology in the lower Magdalena has been important to reconstruct processes such as the origin of ceramics, sedentism, domestication of plants and social complexity. This paper presents some of the results obtained from the archaeological explorations carried out along the expansion of a road in the historic center of Barranquilla, in which the chronology of site occupation is specified. These results put into discussion several aspects about the archaeology of pre-Hispanic societies who lived in the lower Magdalena during the Late Formative period.

Alexander von Humboldt's early encounters with the Rhineland had a formative influence on the development of his scientific thinking. They contributed to finding his mode of travelling and framed Humboldt's understanding of politics in the revolutionary epoch between 1789 and 1848. With the exception of the Orinoco in South America, Humboldt studied no other river landscape as intensely as that of the Rhine. This interest allowed him to refine his geological interests, publish his first book, and reference the Rhine region as a point of comparison in his research and published work, from his American journey to the magnum opus 'Kosmos'. Humboldt's cultural and political experiences at the Rhine illustrate, too, the epoch's tensions between a conservative, anti-revolutionary attitude and the growing dynamics of the liberal-minded, civic society. The latter began to embrace Prussia's efforts to forge a new German patriotism in the 1840s, as evident in the celebrations devoted to the completion of the Cologne Cathedral in 1842 and 1848, which Humboldt observed first-hand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

War and Peace and War presents a model of cyclic human behavior that can be mapped onto data from historical periods to explain some of the reasons behind these events. This report describes a database for representing these maps between specific instances of the secular cycle model and high-level descriptions of many of the world’s historical empires. The initial use of this database provides a strategic look at one possible interpretation of well-known historical events. It is hoped that this initial mapping will act as a baseline to be enhanced by more detailed research. In addition, when viewed at this strategic level this mapping suggests a refinement of the Secular Cycle model based on a regular shortening of the periods of these cycles over the full imperial cycle and over the general course of human history.

New radiocarbon dates and excavations show that Buen Suceso (OSE-M-2M-4) in Santa Elena, Ecuador, was occupied between 3700 and 1425 BC. These dates demonstrate that Buen Suceso is a rare multicomponent Valdivia site and one of the longer-occupied Valdivia sites investigated to date. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista del Museo de Antropología is the property of Museo de Antropologia - IDACOR and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The archaeological record of funerary practices of the southern Calchaquí valleys, Northwest Argentina, offers fruitful ground to explore past significances embedded in the material forms of burial traditions. The recurrence of cemeteries and tombs located in sandy soils forwards plausible interpretations with regards to the notion of 'death' and the metaphors of 'heat' and 'dryness', a conceptual link that has been highlighted by ethnohistorical and ethnographic records of the Andes. Such accounts are used here with the purpose of generating interpretative hypotheses. This article argues that the sensorial qualities of particular landscapes and materials were one of the resources used to define the space of the dead during the Formative Period (ca. 1500 BC–1000 AD) in the southern Calchaquí valleys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The production and use of masks at multiple scales and in diverse contexts is a millennia-long tradition in Mesoamerica. In this paper, we explore some implications of Mesoamerican masking practices in light of materiality studies and the archaeology of the senses. We also discuss a collection of 22 masks, miniature masks and representations of masks from the lower Río Verde valley of coastal Oaxaca, Mexico. The iconography of these artefacts as well as their recovery from well-documented archaeological contexts inform our interpretations of masking practices during an approximately 2000-year span of the Formative period (2000 bc–ad 250). Specifically, we argue that these masking-related artefacts index sociocultural changes in the region, from the first villages and the advent of ceramic technology during the Early Formative period (2000–1000 bc) to a time of increasing consolidation of iconographic influence in the hands of the elite in the final centuries before the Classic period. As indicated by their continued use today, masks have long been intimates of communal activities in Oaxaca. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Estudios Atacameños is the property of Estudios Atacamenos and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)