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This Episode:
/u/Mictlantecuhtli gives an archaeological perspective on the burial practices and monumental architecture of West Mexico, focusing particularly on shaft tombs and later on guachimontones. The discussion also digs into the current archaeological knowledge of West Mexico and gives insight into the processes of performing archaeology, including the problem of looting. (54mins)
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Coming up next fortnight: /u/profrhodes gives us the first of two episodes examining the history of Zimbabwe, from pre-colonial to post-independence.
Because I am a very visual person and talking about some of these shaft tomb figures or the architecture isn't the same as actually seeing it, I've collected a bunch of links to different figure styles, photos of guachimontones and shaft tombs, as well as linking to what I think are important papers about the region and culture.
Beekman's AMA from last year - https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/2g82cl/i_am_dr_christopher_beekman_ama_about_formative/
Colima Dog vessel - http://art.thewalters.org/detail/80333/dog-effigy-vessel-4/
Colima dog vessel - http://collections.lacma.org/node/248091
Joined couple - http://collections.lacma.org/node/253664
Peter Furst's "shaman" - http://collections.lacma.org/node/253656
Standing Warrior with pointy hat - http://collections.lacma.org/node/253587
Ixtlan del Reio style - http://collections.lacma.org/node/253548
Figure showing scarification - http://collections.lacma.org/node/180770
Female figure with scarification - http://collections.lacma.org/node/253625
Warrior figure - http://collections.lacma.org/node/182630
Ballcourt model - http://collections.lacma.org/node/253572, http://www.worcesterart.org/collection/Precolumbian/1947.25.html
House model - http://collections.lacma.org/node/182499
Figure Seated in Palanquin - http://collections.lacma.org/node/253685
Possible blood letting ritual - http://collections.lacma.org/node/253524
Figure showing disease - http://collections.lacma.org/node/253566
Olmec hacha (axe) found in Etzatlan, Jalisco - http://i.imgur.com/Au8H8PU.jpg
Aerial view of Los Guachimontones - http://i.imgur.com/d69q8K8.jpg
Los Guachimontones before restoration - http://i.imgur.com/nBdWYgm.jpg
Pictures I've taken of the Los Guachimontones site - http://imgur.com/a/kt0HJ
Simplified guachimonton model - http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/citi/images/standard/WebLarge/WebImg_000270/205690_3221635.jpg
Unusual three house structure guachimonton model - http://www.famsi.org/research/williams/images/Fig30.jpg
Model in a museum showing Circle 1 at Los Guachimontones - http://andrewanddave.com/davesblog/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/GuachimontonesModel1.jpg
A ground view of the site Mesa Alta and what it looks like on Google Earth - http://imgur.com/SjLHHLK
El Arenal shaft tomb - http://imgur.com/a/mMrco
Bajareque/daub used to cover structures like how plaster was used in other parts of Mesoamerica - http://i.imgur.com/PMmMVPm.jpg, http://i.imgur.com/VhkaM7K.jpg, http://i.imgur.com/ySycFto.jpg
Capacha distillation paper - https://www.dropbox.com/s/l9zzmmdav574o3b/West%20Mexico%20distillation.pdf?dl=0
Mascota (Middle Formative) excavation report - http://www.famsi.org/reports/03009/03009Mountjoy01.pdf
Capacha stirrup vessel - https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/07/Vasija_capacha.jpg
Chichimec migration papers - https://www.academia.edu/1485416/Power_Agency_and_Identity_Migration_and_Aftermath_in_the_Mezquital_Area_of_North-Central_Mexico, https://www.academia.edu/400445/Controlling_for_Doubt_and_Uncertainty_Through_Multiple_Lines_of_Evidence_A_New_Look_at_the_Mesoamerican_Nahua_Migrations
Pole ceremony paper - https://www.academia.edu/400449/Agricultural_Pole_Rituals_and_Rulership_In_Late_Formative_Central_Jalisco
Corporate power system in Jalisco - https://www.academia.edu/400451/Corporate_Power_Strategies_In_the_Late_Formative_to_Early_Classic_Tequila_Valleys_of_Central_Jalisco
Rise of a statelike society chapter - https://www.academia.edu/400448/The_Teuchitlan_Tradition_Rise_of_a_Statelike_Society
Recent Research in Western Mexican Archaeology paper - https://www.academia.edu/400453/Recent_Research_In_Western_Mexican_Archaeology
Thanks for sharing your research :) Enjoyed the episode
/u/mictlantecuhtli, listening back, the voladores goal of 13 rotations made me think of the 13 level topan of Nahua cosmology. Any chance there could be some influence there? Do we have any notion about what the structure of the heavens might have been when we first start seeing archaeological evidence of the volador ceremony in W. Mexico?
Looking forward to listening to this for the very first time today. I previewed it a bit, and was wondering if you'd guys would take a more narrative approach sort of like Dan Carlin's hardcore history?
You briefly discuss issues of continuity and change in the local material culture. While obviously there are not extant text from this period, has anyone done ethnographic or folkloric fieldwork on the oral traditonal of the local people?
Also, you mention that the local farmers are sometimes hostile to goals and desires of archaeologists. Why is this?
Finally, has anyone attempted to use thin-section microscopy of the clay mineralogy of the ceramics to understand trade routes and material sourcing patterns, or to detect fakes?
FYI, some follow-up discussion in this thread
Has anyone try to make the argument that a Guachimonton might have been an Axis Mundi that connected the known universe, and because of this, the different corporate lineages (or groups) come together to pay respect to the socio-religious contract that dynamically maintains the universe as it is. Would it be a reason as to why they are entombing people in this shaft-tombs, to place their ancestors on the Axis Mundi that gives the world its shape? great Podcast!!!
