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    Leonardo Santoyo Alonso
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    Relación entre vulcanismo y desarrollo de las sociedades prehispánicas de México y Centroamérica

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    Relación entre vulcanismo y desarrollo de las sociedades prehispánicas de México y Centroamérica

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    12 views12 pages

    The Effects of Explosive Volcanism in Middle America Sheets

    Uploaded by

    Leonardo Santoyo Alonso
    Relación entre vulcanismo y desarrollo de las sociedades prehispánicas de México y Centroamérica

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
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    1994 Te Angry Cael iver Sune € tethran Cody) Gina C THE EFFECTS OF EXPLOSIVE VOLCANISM ON ANCIENT EGALITARIAN, RANKED, AND STRATIFIED SOCIETIES IN MIDDLE AMERICA PAYSON D. SHEETS University of Colorado Just as the progres of a disease shows a doctor the secret life of 44. | ads to the bitoni the progress of a grea calamity iis vale able information bout tbe nate of the socket 0 sicker Mate Bloch (Gives THE THOUSANDS OF YEARS OF HUSLAN OCCUPATION DY MIDDLE AMERICA and Mexico, the numberof times that pe-Columbian societies were affected by woken mus ave ben eclacively prest. The objective of his chapter i roscompare the elect that explosive volcanic erupuons had on the ancient Societies of Mexico and Central America, to see if any patterns can be deected, The particular focus to ty C0 answer the queston: Did societal Complexity play a role in the vulnerability or the resilience of societies feted by thot sudden musive siete? Some societies were resent to an “explosive euption,resablishing their socal organization, adaptation, and Iateril cultures the devastated ated after natural proceses of recovery Slowed human revetment. ln ther case, socetin were moe vlerable 9 Imassve environmental change fom aa explosive eruption, a8 they were Unable o cope withthe changed cicamstances. a broad terms, volcanic activity can be both beneficial and detrimental so human adaption tan environment. The icé tha olan oi can be iq ch sacurate, bat only afer the volcanic etius has weathered to foren that soil. A volcanic ahfall that forms afte si ina few decades, an havea Lava flow asociated with tha requites centuries to form a qual fertile soil. Voleanically active areas often prove obidin chat ca be fashioned into sharp cutting and scraping tools, basalt and andesite for srinding implements, and hematite and other pigments fr painting pscery tnd other items that are of value ta human ecanation, On the oer hand, Volcanicaly active areas ae setmcally active aswell and indigenous sot tes often developed well-einfored vernacul architecture for protection, Of the various sorts of phenomen, ranging from benign to devatcing, this chapter focuses on the extreme of siden explosive eruptions and how ‘cient societies coped orale to cope with them, There ate other highly destructive voleani events that ae beyond the spe f this chapter, nc Ing mudtlows and hor debris flows, They are no included here largely because they have rarely been researched from bah natural and soil since perspectives. Te is important in this study ro determine the approximate place each ancient society under consideration occupies along the continuum fom the lest complex egalitarian society the highly complex state and empite. The evidence of societal complexity that archaeologist seek inthe record of ncent societies sentation of wealth or ati in the hands of Fe Differeacial wealth genecally manifests self n trials, with rc atocked tombs ofthe elite contrasting wit the mare plat commonest’ busily eis slko recorded in architecture and artifacts, Diflerenial resource abundance within a society can be seen in the archasologeal revord in storhowses aruached co palaces, and in the palaces themselves as conrated to the hous ing ofthe majority ofthe population, Ceneaiation of authority can be deeced in conta of labo, power n military oe police Functions, oF even in religous authority and controls f which are revealed in quality and use of architects, dtrbution of pace, and kinds of arcs In some cases the record sclear, bat im other cares the nature or degree of centralization is ambiguous, and statements mus be carefully quale, The aumber of cases of pre-Columbian societies that endured volcanic eruptions tha hve ben searched and adequstey documented xl, but it isa lease sulcent to begin eablshing a comparative framework. Kelly, fone would wish to have a sample size sfficent explore a single variable sch 2 societal complexity, to se the degree to which the internal organiza tion of societies was a factor in tei eaction to sudden explosive voleamie sees. Bu the range of significant variable sn volanolgialhuman societal interactions is very great and itis often dificult determine the relative importance of factors such asthe nature and magsite of che eruption, vu erably of flora and fauna to tephra (volcanic as) ses, daation and dat ing of eruptions, chemical and grain size variation of the eruption, climatic sariation, weathering rates and recovery process, in addition to politcal, ‘conumic, demographic, and socal factors of flected sociees. Thu, any thing appvoaching a statisial analysis not possible withthe present stat of Irnowiedge. Although no many cases whete explosive eruptions affected pre Columbian societies have been extensively researched, there ae sufficient, ‘isso at east ben fo compare and contrast them i his stad. “The ideal ese fortis achacolgical-volcanoogial study are those in which investigator have dated the eruption well, have done eegional analysis tthe exten ofthe tephra blanket, ad ave conducted regional survey and “xcavations to document pre plex societies considered inthe rex ofthis chapter One isthe high degree of Tillage sel fficency, as mow food, building materials lay, and stone for "hipped and ground stone implements were available oly. Only the mater lal for cle chselso a heads was obtained from a dace, and that Was fom nor a reat distance, only «day's walk away Ie probably ls greatly sided hovtchols and villages in coping with hick ahfls hat domesticated foods were smal portion of the diet. People cold increase dei exploit tion of wil ra and fauna co make up fr low clivated foods areas heyond te devastated zones, suspect another major reason Arenal sities were so resilient ro voleanic eruption that even during the mllania of edencsm following 2000 8. they stil maigained a easonably igh degree of residential mobility and th echnology to suppor it The archaeological fecord for the Silencio phase, for instance, demonseates that households ‘would “camp out” at cemeteries at considerable distances fom thei esc ences, use stone boiling instead of heavy ceramic cooking vessels and pre- Sumably rely Realy on wild flora and fauna as food sources. Finding some maine piles a cemeteries indicates that people culeated crops a those dis ‘nt lealiies to provide a source of fod for iabitants lied in the elas cate feastings and ancestor worship, Archaeological researc in western Panama (Linates, hee and Rosenthal 1975; Linares 1977; Linares and Ranere 1980} encountered a case of olen ‘sm afeting 3 mote complex soit than in Costa Ria but less complex than in Mesoamerica, The case involves the Barrie chiefdom tht developed i he pper reaches ofthe Ro Chirigas Vij rom about 200 Cun the seventh ‘century AD Actual the Barres ste const of a seis of chiefdoms along ‘watercourses in western Panama and eater Conta Rica shaving the se cal ture and, presumably, language but cach fercey defending own individual polis. Among them here devloped an isonogzaphy representing akgression, {aptureand human sire by decapitation asthe society became mate com plex and compete. The eruption of Vokan Bar daring the seventh cenary ‘deposited a lyer of tephra comparable in thickness to those deposited by Arenal on ites mentioned in the previous section. That explosieeroption ev

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