John W. Hoopes

A View from the South

Lower Central America comprises the geographic region situated between the southeastern periphery of the Maya area in Honduras and El Salvador and the region of Darien in eastern Panama (Figure 1). It forms a natural bridge between Mesoamerica and the Andes, each of which saw the emergence of complex, state-level societies before the arrival of the Spaniards (cf. Santley and Pool, this volume; McAnany, this volume). However, in spite of the fact that Lower Central America was home to some of the earliest sedentary villages in the Americas, its indigenous societies never attained levels of sociopolitical integration enjoyed by their neighbors to the north and south. The region was instead characterized by an enormous number and variety of societies representing a number of different levels of sociopolitical complexity at any given time in prehistory. Prehistoric exchange systems were equally complex, forming networks of interaction between diverse groups within the region as well as contacts with societies to the north and south.

Prehistory and Volcanism in the Arenal Area, Costa Rica

AbstractMultidisciplinary research conducted in the tropical rainforest of NW Costa Rica uncovered evidence of human occupation from Paleoindian and Archaic times through four sedentary phases to the Spanish Conquest. The village lifestyle, established by 2000 B.C., was remarkably stable and resilient in spite of the effects of at least nine prehistoric explosive eruptions of Arenal Volcano. Settlements maintained greater economic and political independence than Mesoamerican villages. Maize was cultivated by 2000 B.C., but it did not become a staple, as nondomesticated flora and fauna provided the bulk of the diet. A trend toward more elaborate funerary ritual, and toward greater distances between villages and cemeteries, occurred from 2000 B.C. to A.C. 1200. Optical (photographic) and digital remote sensing detected numerous linear anomalies, many of which have been confirmed as prehistoric footpaths that represent a system of human transportation and communication across the prehistoric landscape.

Ford revisited: A critical review of the chronology and relationships of the earliest ceramic complexes in the New World, 6000-1500 B.C.

In 1969, Ford offered a comprehensive model for the diffusion of ceramic production and Formative lifeways in the New World. Although criticized as simplistic, it was echoed by other “unitary” models, such as Lathraps spread of Tropical Forest culture outward from a lowland South American hearth. Radiocarbon dates suggest that the earliest American pottery appears in the Amazon basin as early as 6000 B.C. However, there is little support for an “ex Amazonas lux” spread of pottery technology. Diffusionary models predict early complexes will resemble one another at first and then diverge over time, but comparative analysis reveals substantial variability even at the earliest time level. Heterogeneity among the earliest complexes indicates several likely hearths for the independent evolution of ceramic production, including (1) lowland Brazil, (2) northern Colombia, (3) coastal Ecuador, (4) coastal Peru, (5) central Panama, (6) southern Mesoamerica, (7) the southeastern United States, and (8) the central United States.

A critical history of 2012 mythology

The notion that December 21, 2012 will bring physical catastrophes, a transformation of consciousness, or even a New Age is an unanticipated and unintentional consequence of early speculation by credentialed academic experts. It has grown as a result of its subsequent interpretation through the lens of speculative, counterculture metaphysics by individuals with both academic and non-academic backgrounds. This article provides a historical review of the most significant contributions to the emergence of the 2012 phenomenon.

Sorcery and the Taking of Trophy Heads in Ancient Costa Rica

Disembodied human heads are ubiquitous in the Pre-Columbian iconography of Costa Rica and neighboring areas of Panama, where both ethnohistoric and ethnographic accounts make it clear that indigenous peoples practiced the taking of human heads as trophies during and after the Spanish Conquest. Human heads are represented as head-shaped ceramic vessels, sculpted stone heads, trophies in the hands of individuals represented in both pottery and stone, and as decorative motifs on fancy metates that were undoubtedly used for the preparation of something other than food. The existing literature on trophy heads in Costa Rica identifies them as the result of warfare undertaken by warriors. As such, they have been associated with conflicts presumed to have occurred over territory or material resources that generated the necessity of leadership and, by implication, the emergence of complex societies in the form of chiefdoms (Redmond 1994). However, there was another significant dimension to warfare—the magical and the supernatural. Redmond’s detailed analysis of warfare in Central and South America makes little mention of the metaphysical dimensions of violent assaults. Trophy-head taking is often described as incidental, rather than central, to the warfare itself. However there is substantial support for the idea that ancient groups in Costa Rica were actively engaged in headhunting, defined by Hoskins (1996:2) as “an organized, coherent form of violence in which the severed head is given specific meaning and the act of head taking is consecrated and commemorated in some form.” In Amazonia, Shuar (Jivaro) and Achuar warfare was not about seizing territory, but about avenging sorcery (Harner 1972) and increasing personal power