Assignment 1
1. Classifactory-Historical period: The field of archaeology had very crude beginnings with antiquarians - rich people cavorting around the world searching for artifacts they deemed as valuable, while usually destroying other important artifacts. There was no interest in the context or history of the people, the only concern was finding objects of value. In the mid-nineteenth century the approach to archaeology began to shift towards the development and study of chronologies, igniting what is known as the Classifactory-Historical period of archaeology - an archaeological paradigm that would last until the 1960s.This shift in focus was largely due in part to the acceptance of the antiquity of humankind, the concept of evolution, …show more content…
a) If an archaeologist had excavated Tazumal in the early 1930s, they would have used the Classifactory-Historical paradigm. Going into the site, an archaeologist’s goals would not to just collect objects, but take context into account. The whole site has historical importance and can teach us about the people who inhabited the land. All aspects of the site have to be studied and, following the lead of Alfred Kidder, many different disciplines of study need to come together to gather as much data as possible. Ethnographers, geographers, botanists, meteorologists, and physical anthropologists should be present at the site to collect the whole scope of information that can be gathered. Examining the ceramics at the site would be a great place to start the chronology, and based off the sequence they would probably determine roughly three distinct time frames, which are now the Preclassic, Classic, and Postclassic periods of Mesoamerica. The older pottery, grouped around late Preclassic to early Classic, suggests connections with South America and the coastal areas of Mexico, like the Olmec people and other Mayans from Kalminajuju. Later sculpture, ceramics, and architecture show links with Copán in Honduras around late Classic to early Postclassic, which is when Tazumal was abandoned and population shifted westwards towards Chalchuapa. Metal artifacts found showed the advancement of technology over time at Tazumal and the architecture and tools used illustrate the …show more content…
The new technology and thinking allows me to collect more data and to ask more complex questions, ultimately helping to reconstruct the culture of the people and how they lived. First though, I would reexamine all the previously collected data and artifacts. Utilizing radiocarbon dating I add more specific dates to the chronology that was developed earlier. I’m careful in my work as to not cause any harm, which would destroy the history and render our knowledge incomplete. I definitely would not attempt to recreate the architecture of the place by adding floors, walls, and stairs as Stanley H. Boggs did (he seriously added modern cement thinking it looked sufficiently authentic). After studying the main pyramid and the artifacts around it, like bone fragments and jade tools, I conclude that the pyramid was most likely used as a ceremonial temple. This tells me more about the people who lived there as a culture and that the inhabitants performed sacrifices and other techniques. The presence of the sculpture of an Olmec deity also shows that they interacted with people in Mexico as well as traded with nearby peoples as suggested by different architectural styles and understanding the context of the region. The gold artifacts found also bear significant importance. After dating them to around the 8th century I see how the technology increased over time and learn that the people at Tazumal were