Jeffrey Blomster - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Jeffrey Blomster
Anales de Antropología, 2020
Este estudio busca comprender el comportamiento y las prácticas culturales que rodean el tratamie... more Este estudio busca comprender el comportamiento y las prácticas culturales que rodean el tratamiento funerario en la Mixteca Alta durante el Formativo. El tratamiento funerario implica todo el proceso que el cuerpo de un individuo tuvo durante y después de su entierro. Actualmente, los datos de los sitios de Etlatongo y Cerro Jazmín, localizados en ésta región, nos permiten entender las interacciones sociales a través de la muerte. Desde la bioarqueología, observamos como el estudio detallado del tratamiento funerario brinda información sobre la organización social, incluyendo las creencias religiosas, relaciones sociales, y la memoria social. Por lo tanto, analizamos los datos disponibles del Formativo medio (850–400 a.C.), el Formativo tardío (400 a.C.–50 d.C.), Formativo terminal (50–200/300 d.C.) y Transición (200–300 d.C.), enfocándonos en tres aspectos: a) la ubicación del entierro; b) el espacio funerario utilizado; y c) la posición del cuerpo. De esta forma, con una muestra ...
Cambridge University Press eBooks, 2017
Mesoamerican Figurines: Small-Scale Indices of Large …, 2009
Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, 2017
2005 Please do not cite in any context without explicit permission from one of the authors. 2 A r... more 2005 Please do not cite in any context without explicit permission from one of the authors. 2 A recent study of Early Formative Mesoamerican pottery by instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) yielded surprising results that prompted two critiques in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The INAA study indicated that the Olmec center of San Lorenzo was a major exporter of carved-incised and white pottery and that little if any pottery made elsewhere was consumed at San Lorenzo. The critiques purport to “overturn ” the INAA study and demonstrate a more balanced exchange of pottery among Early Formative centers. However, the critiques rely on a series of mistaken claims and misunderstandings that are addressed here. New petrographic data
In Mesoamerica, public space first appears during the Early Formative period (1500-900 BCE), a ti... more In Mesoamerica, public space first appears during the Early Formative period (1500-900 BCE), a time of emerging socio-political complexity at sites such as San Lorenzo, San Jose Mogote, and Paso de la Amada. Public space often reflects emerging communal identity and/or socio-political complexity; its construction, and subsequent maintenance and renovations, reflect the collective effort of different social actors and corporate entities. The arrangement and orientations between platforms and plazas or open space lay the foundations for later innovations in public and ceremonial space throughout Mesoamerica. Recent excavations at the site of Etlatongo, in the Mixteca Alta of Oaxaca, Mexico, document the presence of public space during the later portion of the Early Formative. We compare and contrast examples of early public space at Etlatongo with contemporaneous examples across Mesoamerica, recognizing variations in layout, style, contextual and construction history of these spaces.
This paper explores the ontological relationality between humans and the creation of space during... more This paper explores the ontological relationality between humans and the creation of space during the Cruz B phase (1150-850 uncal BCE) in the late Early Formative Etlatongo, in the Mixteca Alta of Oaxaca. In particular, we focus on how the use of bedrock afforded the construction of a ‘lived’ place. By looking at the materiality of its intrinsic properties, we argue that the Mixtecs of Etlatongo intentionally used bedrock as part of construction episodes in the formation of a public space so that its symbolic properties were able to emerge with the building’s form and history. Considering that ethnographic accounts mention that Mixtecs understood reality as an indivisible whole animated with sacred life forces, we examine the ways in which this existential unity manifested during construction events and through the life histories of buildings; we link our Cruz B example with ethnographic practice through subsequent construction episodes at Etlatongo that illustrate the abiding interest in certain attributes of bedrock. Furthermore, we contemplate how the relational co-constitution of sediments, structures, and humans afforded the articulation of new relationships during the formation of Early Formative Etlatongo.
Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 2017
We explore burials from the first of a series of Mixtec households at Etlatongo, Oaxaca, Mexico, ... more We explore burials from the first of a series of Mixtec households at Etlatongo, Oaxaca, Mexico, that appear to have been located in the same space for several generations, shifting both horizontally and vertically through time. These burials, dating from between 500 and 300 BCE (the later part of the Middle Formative period) represent a variety of positions, including extended and seated, as well as placements, from features dug below the house to features placed directly on the house floor. The health of these individuals was generally robust, with the exception of dental attrition and caries. The presence of corporeal modification, in the form of cranial manipulation, is also evinced from the Etlatongo sample. Exploring the placements of these burials, it is possible to reconstruct the sequence in which they were interred. We argue that parallel burials placed on the house floor belonged to the founders of this household. Upon their death and interment, the house was terminated and occupation shifted. Prior to this space being filled in, however, a shaft was built that provided access, both physical and spiritual, to one of the burials. Successive generations lived on their ancestors, who played an important foundational role in establishing this lineage or House.
Science, 2005
The first Mesoamerican civilization, the Gulf Coast Olmec, is associated with hierarchical societ... more The first Mesoamerican civilization, the Gulf Coast Olmec, is associated with hierarchical society, monumental art, and an internally consistent ideology, expressed in a distinct style and salient iconography. Whether the Olmec style arose in just one area or emerged from interactions among scattered contemporaneous societies remains controversial. Using elemental analysis, we determined the regional clay sources of 725 archaeological ceramic samples from across Mesoamerica. Exported Olmec-style ceramics originated from the San Lorenzo region of the Gulf Coast, supporting Olmec priority in the creation and spread of the first unified style and iconographic system in Mesoamerica.
Latin American Antiquity, 2006
We are glad that Sharer et al. (this issue) have dropped their original claim that the INAA data ... more We are glad that Sharer et al. (this issue) have dropped their original claim that the INAA data demonstrate multidirectional movement of Early Formative pottery. Beyond this, however, they offer nothing that might enhance understanding of Early Formative ceramic circulation or inspire new insights into Early Formative cultural evolution in Mesoamerica. Instead, their response contains fresh distortions, replications of mistakes made in their PNAS articles, and lengthy passages that are irrelevant to the issues raised by Neff et al. (this issue). We correct and recorrect their latest distortions and misunderstandings here. Besides showing why their discussion of ceramic sourcing repeatedly misses the mark, we also correct a number of erroneous assertions about the archaeology of Olmec San Lorenzo. New evidence deepens understanding of Early Formative Mesoamerica but requires that some researchers discard cherished beliefs.
Latin American Antiquity, 2006
A recent study of Early Formative Mesoamerican pottery by instrumental neutron activation analysi... more A recent study of Early Formative Mesoamerican pottery by instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) yielded surprising results that prompted two critiques in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The INAA study indicated that the Olmec center of San Lorenzo was a major exporter of carved-incised and white pottery and that little if any pottery made elsewhere was consumed at San Lorenzo. The critiques purport to "overturn" the INAA study and demonstrate a more balanced exchange of pottery among Early Formative centers. However, the critiques rely on a series of mistaken claims and misunderstandings that are addressed here. New petrographic data on a small sample of Early Formative pottery (Stoltman et al. 2005) are potentially useful, but they do not overturn INAA of nearly 1000 pottery samples and hundreds of raw material samples.
This paper on Structure One of Liberty Hall was written by a student taking an archaeology class ... more This paper on Structure One of Liberty Hall was written by a student taking an archaeology class at Washington and Lee Univrsity.
Part I: The Late Classics / Post-classic in Oaxaca - An Introduction Part II: Chronology, Continu... more Part I: The Late Classics / Post-classic in Oaxaca - An Introduction Part II: Chronology, Continuity and Disjunction - Etic and Emic Perspectives Part III: Continuity and Abandonment of Houses in the Valley of Oaxaca - Lambityeco and Macuilxochitl Part IV: Changing Power Relations and Interaction in the Lower Rio Verde Valley Part V: Sacred History and Legitimisation in the Mixteca Alta Part VI: New Research Frontiers in Oaxaca and Eastern Guerreo Index.
Anales de Antropología
Este estudio busca comprender el comportamiento y las prácticas culturales que rodean el tratamie... more Este estudio busca comprender el comportamiento y las prácticas culturales que rodean el tratamiento funerario en la Mixteca Alta durante el Formativo. El tratamiento funerario implica todo el proceso que el cuerpo de un individuo tuvo durante y después de su entierro. Actualmente, los datos de los sitios de Etlatongo y Cerro Jazmín, localizados en ésta región, nos permiten entender las interacciones sociales a través de la muerte. Desde la bioarqueología, observamos como el estudio detallado del tratamiento funerario brinda información sobre la organización social, incluyendo las creencias religiosas, relaciones sociales, y la memoria social. Por lo tanto, analizamos los datos disponibles del Formativo medio (850–400 a.C.), el Formativo tardío (400 a.C.–50 d.C.), Formativo terminal (50–200/300 d.C.) y Transición (200–300 d.C.), enfocándonos en tres aspectos: a) la ubicación del entierro; b) el espacio funerario utilizado; y c) la posición del cuerpo. De esta forma, con una muestra ...
Sciences Advances, 2020
The ballgame represents one of the most enduring and iconic features of ancient Mesoamerican civi... more The ballgame represents one of the most enduring and iconic features of ancient Mesoamerican civilization, yet its origins and evolution remain poorly understood, primarily associated with the Gulf Coast and southern Pacific coastal lowlands. While one early ballcourt dates to 1650 BCE from the Chiapas lowlands, ballcourts have remained undocumented in the Mesoamerican highlands until a millennium later, suggesting less involvement by highland civilizations in the ballgame's evolution. We provide new data from the southern highlands of Mexico, from the Early Formative period (1500-1000 BCE), that necessitate revising previous paradigms. Along with ballplayer imagery, we recently excavated the earliest highland Mesoamerican ballcourt, dating to 1374 BCE, at the site of Etlatongo, in the Mixtec region of Oaxaca. We conclude that Early Formative highland villagers played an important role in the origins of the formal Mesoamerican ballgame, which later evolved into a crucial compone...
Journal of Archaeological Science
Anales de Antropología, 2020
Este estudio busca comprender el comportamiento y las prácticas culturales que rodean el tratamie... more Este estudio busca comprender el comportamiento y las prácticas culturales que rodean el tratamiento funerario en la Mixteca Alta durante el Formativo. El tratamiento funerario implica todo el proceso que el cuerpo de un individuo tuvo durante y después de su entierro. Actualmente, los datos de los sitios de Etlatongo y Cerro Jazmín, localizados en ésta región, nos permiten entender las interacciones sociales a través de la muerte. Desde la bioarqueología, observamos como el estudio detallado del tratamiento funerario brinda información sobre la organización social, incluyendo las creencias religiosas, relaciones sociales, y la memoria social. Por lo tanto, analizamos los datos disponibles del Formativo medio (850–400 a.C.), el Formativo tardío (400 a.C.–50 d.C.), Formativo terminal (50–200/300 d.C.) y Transición (200–300 d.C.), enfocándonos en tres aspectos: a) la ubicación del entierro; b) el espacio funerario utilizado; y c) la posición del cuerpo. De esta forma, con una muestra ...
Cambridge University Press eBooks, 2017
Mesoamerican Figurines: Small-Scale Indices of Large …, 2009
Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, 2017
2005 Please do not cite in any context without explicit permission from one of the authors. 2 A r... more 2005 Please do not cite in any context without explicit permission from one of the authors. 2 A recent study of Early Formative Mesoamerican pottery by instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) yielded surprising results that prompted two critiques in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The INAA study indicated that the Olmec center of San Lorenzo was a major exporter of carved-incised and white pottery and that little if any pottery made elsewhere was consumed at San Lorenzo. The critiques purport to “overturn ” the INAA study and demonstrate a more balanced exchange of pottery among Early Formative centers. However, the critiques rely on a series of mistaken claims and misunderstandings that are addressed here. New petrographic data
In Mesoamerica, public space first appears during the Early Formative period (1500-900 BCE), a ti... more In Mesoamerica, public space first appears during the Early Formative period (1500-900 BCE), a time of emerging socio-political complexity at sites such as San Lorenzo, San Jose Mogote, and Paso de la Amada. Public space often reflects emerging communal identity and/or socio-political complexity; its construction, and subsequent maintenance and renovations, reflect the collective effort of different social actors and corporate entities. The arrangement and orientations between platforms and plazas or open space lay the foundations for later innovations in public and ceremonial space throughout Mesoamerica. Recent excavations at the site of Etlatongo, in the Mixteca Alta of Oaxaca, Mexico, document the presence of public space during the later portion of the Early Formative. We compare and contrast examples of early public space at Etlatongo with contemporaneous examples across Mesoamerica, recognizing variations in layout, style, contextual and construction history of these spaces.
This paper explores the ontological relationality between humans and the creation of space during... more This paper explores the ontological relationality between humans and the creation of space during the Cruz B phase (1150-850 uncal BCE) in the late Early Formative Etlatongo, in the Mixteca Alta of Oaxaca. In particular, we focus on how the use of bedrock afforded the construction of a ‘lived’ place. By looking at the materiality of its intrinsic properties, we argue that the Mixtecs of Etlatongo intentionally used bedrock as part of construction episodes in the formation of a public space so that its symbolic properties were able to emerge with the building’s form and history. Considering that ethnographic accounts mention that Mixtecs understood reality as an indivisible whole animated with sacred life forces, we examine the ways in which this existential unity manifested during construction events and through the life histories of buildings; we link our Cruz B example with ethnographic practice through subsequent construction episodes at Etlatongo that illustrate the abiding interest in certain attributes of bedrock. Furthermore, we contemplate how the relational co-constitution of sediments, structures, and humans afforded the articulation of new relationships during the formation of Early Formative Etlatongo.
Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 2017
We explore burials from the first of a series of Mixtec households at Etlatongo, Oaxaca, Mexico, ... more We explore burials from the first of a series of Mixtec households at Etlatongo, Oaxaca, Mexico, that appear to have been located in the same space for several generations, shifting both horizontally and vertically through time. These burials, dating from between 500 and 300 BCE (the later part of the Middle Formative period) represent a variety of positions, including extended and seated, as well as placements, from features dug below the house to features placed directly on the house floor. The health of these individuals was generally robust, with the exception of dental attrition and caries. The presence of corporeal modification, in the form of cranial manipulation, is also evinced from the Etlatongo sample. Exploring the placements of these burials, it is possible to reconstruct the sequence in which they were interred. We argue that parallel burials placed on the house floor belonged to the founders of this household. Upon their death and interment, the house was terminated and occupation shifted. Prior to this space being filled in, however, a shaft was built that provided access, both physical and spiritual, to one of the burials. Successive generations lived on their ancestors, who played an important foundational role in establishing this lineage or House.
Science, 2005
The first Mesoamerican civilization, the Gulf Coast Olmec, is associated with hierarchical societ... more The first Mesoamerican civilization, the Gulf Coast Olmec, is associated with hierarchical society, monumental art, and an internally consistent ideology, expressed in a distinct style and salient iconography. Whether the Olmec style arose in just one area or emerged from interactions among scattered contemporaneous societies remains controversial. Using elemental analysis, we determined the regional clay sources of 725 archaeological ceramic samples from across Mesoamerica. Exported Olmec-style ceramics originated from the San Lorenzo region of the Gulf Coast, supporting Olmec priority in the creation and spread of the first unified style and iconographic system in Mesoamerica.
Latin American Antiquity, 2006
We are glad that Sharer et al. (this issue) have dropped their original claim that the INAA data ... more We are glad that Sharer et al. (this issue) have dropped their original claim that the INAA data demonstrate multidirectional movement of Early Formative pottery. Beyond this, however, they offer nothing that might enhance understanding of Early Formative ceramic circulation or inspire new insights into Early Formative cultural evolution in Mesoamerica. Instead, their response contains fresh distortions, replications of mistakes made in their PNAS articles, and lengthy passages that are irrelevant to the issues raised by Neff et al. (this issue). We correct and recorrect their latest distortions and misunderstandings here. Besides showing why their discussion of ceramic sourcing repeatedly misses the mark, we also correct a number of erroneous assertions about the archaeology of Olmec San Lorenzo. New evidence deepens understanding of Early Formative Mesoamerica but requires that some researchers discard cherished beliefs.
Latin American Antiquity, 2006
A recent study of Early Formative Mesoamerican pottery by instrumental neutron activation analysi... more A recent study of Early Formative Mesoamerican pottery by instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) yielded surprising results that prompted two critiques in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The INAA study indicated that the Olmec center of San Lorenzo was a major exporter of carved-incised and white pottery and that little if any pottery made elsewhere was consumed at San Lorenzo. The critiques purport to "overturn" the INAA study and demonstrate a more balanced exchange of pottery among Early Formative centers. However, the critiques rely on a series of mistaken claims and misunderstandings that are addressed here. New petrographic data on a small sample of Early Formative pottery (Stoltman et al. 2005) are potentially useful, but they do not overturn INAA of nearly 1000 pottery samples and hundreds of raw material samples.
This paper on Structure One of Liberty Hall was written by a student taking an archaeology class ... more This paper on Structure One of Liberty Hall was written by a student taking an archaeology class at Washington and Lee Univrsity.
Part I: The Late Classics / Post-classic in Oaxaca - An Introduction Part II: Chronology, Continu... more Part I: The Late Classics / Post-classic in Oaxaca - An Introduction Part II: Chronology, Continuity and Disjunction - Etic and Emic Perspectives Part III: Continuity and Abandonment of Houses in the Valley of Oaxaca - Lambityeco and Macuilxochitl Part IV: Changing Power Relations and Interaction in the Lower Rio Verde Valley Part V: Sacred History and Legitimisation in the Mixteca Alta Part VI: New Research Frontiers in Oaxaca and Eastern Guerreo Index.
Anales de Antropología
Este estudio busca comprender el comportamiento y las prácticas culturales que rodean el tratamie... more Este estudio busca comprender el comportamiento y las prácticas culturales que rodean el tratamiento funerario en la Mixteca Alta durante el Formativo. El tratamiento funerario implica todo el proceso que el cuerpo de un individuo tuvo durante y después de su entierro. Actualmente, los datos de los sitios de Etlatongo y Cerro Jazmín, localizados en ésta región, nos permiten entender las interacciones sociales a través de la muerte. Desde la bioarqueología, observamos como el estudio detallado del tratamiento funerario brinda información sobre la organización social, incluyendo las creencias religiosas, relaciones sociales, y la memoria social. Por lo tanto, analizamos los datos disponibles del Formativo medio (850–400 a.C.), el Formativo tardío (400 a.C.–50 d.C.), Formativo terminal (50–200/300 d.C.) y Transición (200–300 d.C.), enfocándonos en tres aspectos: a) la ubicación del entierro; b) el espacio funerario utilizado; y c) la posición del cuerpo. De esta forma, con una muestra ...
Sciences Advances, 2020
The ballgame represents one of the most enduring and iconic features of ancient Mesoamerican civi... more The ballgame represents one of the most enduring and iconic features of ancient Mesoamerican civilization, yet its origins and evolution remain poorly understood, primarily associated with the Gulf Coast and southern Pacific coastal lowlands. While one early ballcourt dates to 1650 BCE from the Chiapas lowlands, ballcourts have remained undocumented in the Mesoamerican highlands until a millennium later, suggesting less involvement by highland civilizations in the ballgame's evolution. We provide new data from the southern highlands of Mexico, from the Early Formative period (1500-1000 BCE), that necessitate revising previous paradigms. Along with ballplayer imagery, we recently excavated the earliest highland Mesoamerican ballcourt, dating to 1374 BCE, at the site of Etlatongo, in the Mixtec region of Oaxaca. We conclude that Early Formative highland villagers played an important role in the origins of the formal Mesoamerican ballgame, which later evolved into a crucial compone...
Journal of Archaeological Science