Possible Use for Ulua Marble Vases?

Marble vases from the Ulua valley of Honduras are some of the most amazing objects from prehispanic Maya society. Laboriously carved by hand from the hard stone, they have been typically studied as looted art objects. But the discovery of one of these vases in the potential context of an ancestor rite in Honduras suggests that they may have contained a nasty concoction consumed as part of a religious ceremony. The soil around the vessel contained remains of corn, cacao, and a purgative. Once we start talking about shamans and trances, things get a little loose, but this does suggest that at least one of the marbles was not a simple gift or prestige good, but had a higher calling.

Marketplace Detected at Maya City of Chunchucmil

http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/535748/

Press release describing article in Latin American Antiquity on the methods and findings of soil chemistry exploration at Chunchucmil, Yucatan. In essence, high phosphorous readings, available in the field, allowed for the suggestion of a marketplace for selling food, surrounding a footpath in the Late Classic city. This is not the first phosphorous-based attempt to identify past activity areas, but it does sound significant.

At Ciudad Vieja, we combined several lines of evidence (remote sensing, excavation, ceramics, glass) to suggest a commercial food vendor, iron works, and possible market area also near a footpath in the early sixteenth-century town of San Salvador. Perhaps in the future this might be tested against chemical evidence.

Africans Brought Rice to the New World

Genetic markers suggest African slaves brought the best rice strains to America.

Origins of Chocolate Lie in Preclassic Mesoamerican Beer

Analysis of Early Preclassic pots from Puerto Escondido in the Ulua Valley of Honduras show that chocolate was a by-product of the fermentation of cacao pods for use in making beer. The exploitation of chocolate as a specific product may date to ca. 1100 BC. It is noteworthy that this evidence is not from the Olmec Gulf Coast, but from the southern edge of Mesoamerica. Previously, the Olmec had been credited with the invention of chocolate, in part on linguistic grounds.

Early 16th Century Beads in Georgia May be Evidence of Failed Spanish Settlement

A handful of beads and metal found in southern Georgia (US) date to the early sixteenth century, and may have something to do either with deSoto's entrada in 1540, or an earlier failed settlement in 1526.

Edit: Looks like they're leaning towards De Soto

The Destruction of Sumer

The Independent's Robert Fisk on the destruction of Sumer.

Battles of the New World: Andean Gunshot Victim and Jamestown Arms and Armor

Two unambiguous testaments to the military aspect of the invasions of the Americas.

In Peru, one of the burials in a sixteenth-century cemetery outside of Lima appears to be the oldest skeletal evidence of a gunshot victim in the Americas. Other burials in the group may also show gunshot evidence as well as injuries from maces (a traditionally Andean weapon). A lack of grave goods and other contextual evidence suggests a hasty burial, though not a mass grave pit.

The arquebus was an initial shock weapon in encounters between Spaniards and Native Americans, but it is generally considered less important than the more numerous crossbows, steel swords, and the all-important horses. In Mexico, arquebus or cannon would break-up infantry attacks, and could be used to impress locals. But time and again, Spanish battle chronicles follow a similar pattern. After initial contact (sometimes involving trickery or ambush), the Spaniards and their allies would fight the Aztecs or other Mexicans primarily on foot, inflicting damage but loosing fighters. Eventually the mounted horsemen would get into the fray, ride down the natives, and then get into the back area of the opposing army and wreak havoc with their lances. This decided many more battles than firearms did.

The following video from National Geographic (one of the sponsors of the research), shows some of the evidence



Some seventy years later, the English brought their arms to the coasts of Virginia, and recently armor and arms have been recovered from Jamestown. While iconic and impressive, as the article notes, these had been put away when famine, not natives, brought the English to their knees.

Update: More skeletal evidence of the Spanish conquest of Peru

Frog Legs Central European, Not French

Not all archaeological discoveries are either spectacular or terribly important to someone's hypothesis of ecological adaptation or dialectic of colonial (re)sistance.

Sometimes we find things that change the little trivia that make up our lives. Like the recent discovery that the French didn't invent the cooking of frog's legs. Or that the oldest tabasco sauce bottle was found in an African-American saloon in Nevada (though I guess that does point out the often forgotten role of African-Americans in the US expansion westward, or the attempts to find new and freer lands after the Civil War).

Antiquity of Modern Humans in China as old as Europe

Modern Human remains from China 40,000 BP.

The news articles covering this are pushing the elements of hybridization coming from Trinkaus. But regardless of whether that is accurate, this is a refreshing change from the typical focus on the modern migration to better-studied Europe.

Passover, Exodus, and Archaeology

A blog post introduction to the chronological issues between archaeology and the Hebrew story of Exodus, currently being celebrated in Passover. I know there is much more on this, but I found the post informative since this stuff isn't my bag.

More on "No Evidence of Moses in the Sinai"