User:Robinlb/Greater Nicoya Archaeological Subarea

Greater Nicoya Archaeological Subarea

Geography:

The Greater Nicoya Archaeological Subarea (usually referred to as simply "Greater Nicoya") is a theoretical unit for culture history analysis located in southwestern Nicaragua and northwestern Costa Rica. It is situated on the Pacific side of Central America between the Gulf of Fonseca in the north and the Gulf of Nicoya and Nicoya Peninsula in the south. In Nicaragua, it includes the Pacific coastline from the southern margin of the Gulf of Fonseca southward, encompassing Lake Managua, Lake Nicaragua and their respective islands. In Costa Rica it includes the Nicoya Peninsula, the western slopes of the cordillera of Guanacaste-Tilaran, and the Tempisque River Valley.

The subarea was defined by Albert Norweb in 1964^[1] on the basis of ethnohistoric accounts of indigenous cultures at the time of the Spanish Conquest and widespread patterns in archaeological remains. Greater Nicoya is divided into a northern sector, which focuses on the inland area around the Nicaraguan lakes, and a southern sector, which is concentrated on the plains and coastal bays in Costa Rica and northwest Guanacaste Province. Greater Nicoya was initially identified as the southernmost extension of Mesoamerica, but this remains a topic of debate.

Environment:

The western part of the Greater Nicoya Archaeological Subarea is drier than the eastern zone of habitat. Using the Köppen climate classification system, the climate can be classified as partly Aw’ and partly Amw’ with the mean average temperature being 25°C or higher ^[2].

Society and Social Structure:

There are no known settlements that were on a similar scale or as large as sites such as Quelepa or Teotihuacan. The paucity of architectural remains limits the study of site hierarchies and, due to the inadequacy of the data, it is difficult to define status or hierarchy patterns. Frederick W. Lange notes that chiefdom-level development was restricted ^[3]. Most of the objects that can provide information about status have been found in domestic or mortuary contexts but many mortuary contexts have been looted ^[4].

Preserved human remains are more uncommon than mortuary contexts, making it difficult to interpret status or rank based on age or sex; both are contributing factors in interpretation. However, Lange also states that it was clear community members were ranked, if only casually, based on differences in mortuary goods ^[5].

Data providing information about Paleo-Indian occupation is nearly non-existent.

Cultural Environment:

Mesoamerican peoples were unlikely to have arrived in Greater Nicoya prior to 1200 B.C. ^[6]. These groups of people rapidly acculturated to the local population ^[7]. It is thought to be unlikely that pre-contact groups became more complex than chiefdoms ^[8]. The communities were kin-based. They did not live in cities nor did they have a writing system.

Periods and Chronology:

As detailed by Frederick W. Lange ^[9], the Greater Nicoya Archaeological Subarea can be divided into a chronology defining the following periods: Middle Formative (questionable), Zoned Bichrome, Early Polychrome, Middle Polychrome, and Late Polychrome.

Middle Formative Period:

Unknown in Greater Nicoya. ^[10].

Zoned Bichrome Period:

(1000 B.C. – A.D. 500) ^[11]

Maize agriculture is suggested the the presence of manos and metates as well as botanical remains. Villages relied on gathering and collection strategies as well as fishing. Villages were small and had spatially distinct cemeteries ^[12].

Mace heads were found within mortuary contexts; carved stone is found particularly in the northern sector. The overlap in symbolism amongst ceramics, stone and jade suggest that there were well-established relationships between individuals and their villages. Small amounts of jadeite from the Montagua Valley emerge during the latter part of this period ^[13].

Early Polychrome Period:

(A.D. 500 – 800) ^[14]

Purported mortuary contexts have supplied many of the artifact finds from this period including: effigy heads, female figurines, and jade plaques.

Other artifact classes from this period include: Galo Polychrome ceramics, possibly imported from Honduras or made by Honduran-trained craftsmen, and Potosi Appliqué ceramics that were typically considered to be incense burners used for ceremonial purposes ^[15].

Middle Polychrome Period:

(A.D. 800 – 1350)^[16]
In the northern sector, settlements are concentrated around lakeshores. In the southern sector, settlements move to the coast and focus on the use of marine resources ^[17]. Multiple burials were located at several sites including: Nacascolo, La Ceiba, La Guinea, Ometepe Island and at El Moral de San Blas ^[18].

White-slipped ceramics become more predominant over tan-slipped and orange-slipped ceramics during the early part of this period. Jade is not considered part of this period’s cultural assemblage and obsidian only appears in a limited amount ^[19].

Late Polychrome Period:

(A.D. 1350 – ca. 1530)^[20]
Subsistence strategies include the use of marine sources in the southern sector and a mix of farming, freshwater fishing and a small amount of maize agriculture in the northern sector. Maize agriculture contributed to less than 20 percent of the diet (1992 Lange 128). Formal cemeteries seem to be used with less frequency than in previous periods as demonstrated by the discovery of single and multiple interments found in household middens in Las Marias and around the Bay of Salinas.

Like in previous periods, part-time craftsmen produced ceramics and metalwork. White-slipped vessels during this period tended to be produced in the northern sector. Polychrome-type Luna Ware, more frequently found in the northern sector, was discovered in mortuary contexts. In the southern sector, Jicote Polychrome was produced in the Tempisque River Valley. A limited amount of copper artifacts, typically earspools, were found mostly in the southern sector. Although gold was available locally, very little was found in the archaeological record from this period. The Spanish arrived at the end of the Late Polychrome Period. Due to the difficulty associated with locating Contact Period sites, Leon Viejo, Nicaragua is the only Contact Period site that has been excavated ^[21].

Historic Era:

The arrival of the Spanish brings the prehistoric era of the Greater Nicoya Archaeological Subarea to an end in approximately A.D. 1522. The Spanish, ld by Gil González Davila, traveled through from one village or community to the next in search of gold and attempting to convert the indigenous populations to Christianity.

Seven languages were identified in the Colonial period: Chondales, Nicarao, Chorotega, Oroçi, Orotiña, Guetares and Maribios^[22] ^[23].

References

^ Norweb 1964
^ (2001 Peregrine and Ember pg 329)
^ (1992)
^ (Lange 1992)
^ (1992)
^ (2005 Cooke pg 150)
^ (2005 Cooke pg 150)
^ (2005 Cooke pg 150)
^ (1992 pg. 111)
^ (Lange 1992, pg 111)
^ (1992 Lange pg 114)
^ (1992 Lange pg 114)
^ (1992 Lange pg 115)
^ (Lange 1992: 119)
^ (Lange 1992: 122)
^ (1992 Lange 124)
^ (1991 Lange 124)
^ (1992 Lange 124)
^ (1992 Lange 125)
^ (1992 Lange pg 128)
^ (1992 Lange 130)
^ Lange cites a 1981 essay by S. Abel-Vidor titled “Ethnohistorical Approaches to the Archaeology of Greater Nicoya”.
^ (Lange 1984 pg 188)

Cooke, Richard (2005). Prehistory of Native Americans on the Central American Land Bridge: Colonization, Dispersal and Divergence., Journal of Archaeological Research 13.2.
Lange, Frederick W. (1984). The Greater Nicoya Archaeological Subarea. The Archaeology of Lower Central America. Frederick W. Lange and Doris Z. Stone, eds., Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.
Lange, Frederick W. (1992). The Search for Elite Personages and Site Hierarchies in Greater Nicoya. Wealth and Hierarchy in the Intermediate Area: a symposium at Dumbarton Oaks, 10th and 11th of October 1987. Frederick W. Lange, ed., Washington D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection.
Peregrine, Peter N. and Melvin Ember, eds. (2001). Encyclopedia of Prehistory – Volume 5: Middle America., New York: Human Relations Area Files.