An Unexplored Realm in the Heartland of the Southern Gulf ... - Famsi

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Feudalistic Model Although this model has not been specified as a Formative period representation, I feel its criteria could be representative of Southern Gulf Lowland organizational structure and should be considered. According to Taschek and Bell (2003), Nohoch Ek, a Classic period site in the upper Belize Valley, constitutes an archetypal example of the "minor center" type within a hierarchically structured settlement system. Its role within the social landscape mirrors the appearance and function very much like a medieval European agricultural manor. Nohoch Ek was sociopolitically autonomous but, the authors believe, “that its inhabitants recognized or owed allegiance, fealty, tribute, or some other form of subordinate association to the royal court based at nearby Buenavista- Cahal Pech” (Taschek and Ball 2003:388). This association entailed “kinship obligations as socioeconomic, political, civic, or coerced debt-the functioning corporate social unit occupying the Late Classic Belize Valley hilltop looked and worked very much like a medieval manor” (Taschek and Ball 2003:385). Determining criteria includes: 1) Artifact types, only domestic objects with no ceremonial or ritual association; 2) Spatial layout, clearly determined by the topography rather than by any cosmological or ideological considerations of directionality; 3) Residents, self-sufficient rural corporate group consisting of multiple nuclear units of a single extended family, lineage, or house; 4) Locality, contiguous integration with intensive agricultural system suggesting ownership, supervision, and utilization; 5) Architecture, significant elite residence but no ceremonial or public constructions and not on a monumental scale. 40
Limitations and Cautions in the Use of Locational Models The effective application of the Central Place Theory was designed to operate in what can be considered a Utopian condition, and Christaller (1966 [1933]) acknowledged that it was developed in an idealistic situation. His conceptualized hexagons were placed on an isotropic plane that contained constant universalities in transport, distance, and effort, and the market demands were equivalent. There was no apparent consideration of geophysical obstacles or human agency. Smith (2004) warns against both “mechanical absolutism” and “organic absolutism” in the analysis of space. He states that proponents of the mechanical ontological approach infer that space (landscape) has little effect on the socio-historical process, that spatial analysis is only a search for “the fundamental geometry that structures the world” (Smith 2004:36-53). He also cautions against a strictly organic approach, which attempts to determine the organizational processes of spatial relationships based entirely on the influence of the environment. Although both categorical positions have provided insight into spatial patterning and socio-historical change, they do not take into account the impact of the human agent, society, and ideology. In other words, “spatial patterns are produced within and between acting sociopolitical bodies, not in correspondence to an evolutionary narrative” (Smith 2004:75). This note of caution is echoed by Silverman (2002) who states that, “the principle of settlement pattern hierarchy cannot mechanistically [be applied] to ancient societies because ancient people ‘constructed’ social space under premises not necessarily amenable to western rational organization.” 41
Page 1 and 2:
An Unexplored Realm in the Heartlan
Page 3 and 4:
“Note to Reader” The original o
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Confederacy Model 39 Feudalistic Mo
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Elemental Analysis of the Soils fro
Page 9 and 10:
The Initial Occupation of El Marque
Page 11 and 12: List of Tables Table 5.1. Ceramic C
Page 13 and 14: Figure 3.14. Plan view of the Olmec
Page 15 and 16: Figure 5.7. Site map illustrating l
Page 17 and 18: Figure 5.53. El Marquesillo throne
Page 19 and 20: the resulting data do not fit many
Page 21 and 22: Furtherance of my academic career w
Page 23 and 24: Introduction Chapter 1. Archaeology
Page 25 and 26: esearch being conducted along the S
Page 27 and 28: its introduction to Mesoamerican ar
Page 29 and 30: participants. It is especially crit
Page 31 and 32: interpretations. Finally, I compare
Page 33 and 34: analogy (Diehl 1989:25; VanDerwarke
Page 35 and 36: change, fluctuates according to “
Page 37 and 38: embedded misconceptions about these
Page 39 and 40: The “Heartland” has been deline
Page 41 and 42: than a century after their occurren
Page 43 and 44: inference as opposed to evidence. T
Page 45 and 46: Sanders and Webster (1988:544) argu
Page 47 and 48: Park (1992:90) presents the Olmec a
Page 49 and 50: lowland subsistence economy until a
Page 51 and 52: Maya are lineal descendents of the
Page 53 and 54: continued to inhibit scientific inq
Page 55 and 56: describes this attempted conformanc
Page 57 and 58: The models used for evaluation of t
Page 59 and 60: number of archaeological correlates
Page 61: Confederacy Model Pool (2000:150;20
Page 65 and 66: Lorenzo is considered the earliest
Page 67 and 68: Several lines of evidence suggest a
Page 69 and 70: turn, gave budding Olmec leaders co
Page 71 and 72: apid growth of settlements and thei
Page 73 and 74: techniques (Berger et al. 1967; Hei
Page 75 and 76: appear to characterize it as a “c
Page 77 and 78: iconographic detail, and appear to
Page 79 and 80: Formative period Southern Gulf Lowl
Page 81 and 82: Medellín-Zeníl (1960) found large
Page 83 and 84: de Agua, and the famous, iconograph
Page 85 and 86: egarding subsistence, settlement, p
Page 87 and 88: Introduction Chapter 3. El Marquesi
Page 89 and 90: 300-900). Historical documentation
Page 91 and 92: The features of the San Juan are ch
Page 93 and 94: Figure 3.4. Aerial photograph of El
Page 95 and 96: At each of these three points of co
Page 97 and 98: El Marquesillo’s geographic locat
Page 99 and 100: of the location for more than 3,500
Page 101 and 102: The extensive Villa Alta architectu
Page 103 and 104: of constructions. This formal archi
Page 105 and 106: To achieve and maintain this elevat
Page 107 and 108: Figure 3.11. Map of the Southern Gu
Page 109 and 110: Teotihuacán and Aztec trade routes
Page 111 and 112: land was not in the form of gold an
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Huaspaltepec (Playa Vicente), betwe
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as listed in these records, include
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community members had to work the l
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The 1944 flood was a momentous even
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of ancient structures, including Ce
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to recover as much information as p
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Figure 3.17. Photograph of El Seño
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collection along the cut bank was a
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its termination line (Borstein 2001
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Figure 3.18. Illustration of San Lo
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is seated transitionally between th
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Introduction Chapter 4. El Marquesi
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Grove 1997; Tolstoy 1989). Landscap
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Determination of the Survey Area Th
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Surface Mapping and Terrain Modelin
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Global Positioning System (GPS) Map
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Figure 4.4. Map of El Marquesillo g
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have the potential to record points
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The topographic images and terrain
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Figure 4.8. Digital Terrain Model o
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Figure 4.11. View to the east of lo
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The western third of the platform h
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Figure 4.15. Elevated view of Field
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Figure 4.17. Topographic map of El
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Figure 4.19. Northwest view of spri
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Information Systems (GIS) approach
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Figure 4.21. Illustration of docume
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Magnetic Properties of Basalt The m
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Magnetic Data Collection, Condition
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The magnetometer was set to the bas
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Figure 4.23. Topographical base map
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of basalt, but instead, a body of s
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Figure 4.25. Topographic contour ma
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mercuric sulfide in the soil. There
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Coyote, Honduras (Terry et al. 2000
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intersection on the numbered rows a
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The results were reported in parts
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Figure 4.28b. Box plot summaries of
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Elemental Analysis of the Soils fro
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Summary of the Soil Analyses When t
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Figure 4.31a. Potassium distributio
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estriction prohibiting further exca
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The average depth of any observed a
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Figure 5.7. Site map illustrating l
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Figure 5.8. River cut profile 1A Le
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Figure 5.9. River cut profile 1B in
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Figure 5.10. River cut profile 2A L
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Figure 5.11. River cut profile 6B o
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Formative to Protoclassic ceramics
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fabrication methods, technologies,
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some of the Formative period wares
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The San Lorenzo Olmec Period (c. 11
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Figure 5.19. Examples of Middle For
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The Late Classic Period (c. AD 550-
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English annular ware (c. AD 1785-18
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Ceramic Collection Areas The identi
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Figure 5.26. Distribution of cerami
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Formative period accounted for 785
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The survey was conducted along the
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Figure 5.29. Diagram of Olmec thron
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Figure 5.30. Map illustrating the l
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Late Formative (263), Protoclassic
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demonstrates an analogous situation
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Offering I Figure 5.32. Locations o
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Figure 5.34. Offering I is at the c
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Figure 5.36. Two reconstructed plat
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crescent with its concave and conve
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The two figurine types are common t
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vessels that were deposited into a
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Figure 5.45. Two of three similar s
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Obsidian and Lithic Analyses The Ob
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Throne Units Test Units Offerings I
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inhabitants from other sites, or in
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Figure 5.50. Examples of stones tho
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Figure 5.51. El Marquesillo throne
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accomplished through violent blows
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Figure 5.56. Close-up of the figure
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Figure 5.58. Illustration of magnet
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Modifications to this pattern occur
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class occurred only in the presence
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appearance of ceramics occurred dur
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series of interrelated residential,
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The Early Formative period appearan
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Evidence of these constructions is
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and the excavated pit is not known,
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For the Gulf Olmec, monumental exhi
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precisely. This method would also m
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An earlier discussion suggested sty
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approximately 100 cm to 120 cm belo
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Nevertheless, the structural design
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discussion about the antiquity of t
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6.3). At La Venta equivalent basalt
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shamanistic ritual and rulership (F
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elevation provides an excellent ove
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further support to the idea that El
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Also contributing to the ceramic pr
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Another possible basalt deposition
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off is dramatic to say the least. T
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direction, a series of hills approx
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Finally, the selection and investig
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a metaphor for the movements of the
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plaza complex is also oriented to p
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the traditional communal ideology.
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where new diagnostic ceramic types
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Understanding of the early Postclas
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ceramics probably arrived at the en
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investigation before the direction
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Marquesillo, past and present. Fitt
Page 329 and 330:
Through the integration of a sequen
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experienced an upward trend in popu
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prehispanic occupation would have b
Page 335 and 336:
Assmann (2006) argues that prehisto
Page 337 and 338:
1997:288). These changes in residen
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structures that could provide long-
Page 341 and 342:
Analysis of these three components
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Early architectural units, specific
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activities and that these activitie
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political structure. Was it an inde
Page 349 and 350:
subordinate to a nearby primary cen
Page 351 and 352:
Explanation of Spatial Organization
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conjunction with other forms of arc
Page 355 and 356:
Mesoamerican worldviews (Vogt 1981:
Page 357 and 358:
Expanding the Boundaries and a Look
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to illustrate their power and wealt
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emains is striking. This disproport
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the earliest detectable occupation
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and Uxpanapa River Basins, I wonder
Page 367 and 368:
Arnaiz-Villena, A., G. Vargas-Alarc
Page 369 and 370:
Bassie, K. 2006 The Fire and Water
Page 371 and 372:
Blake, M. and J. E. Clark 1999 The
Page 373 and 374:
Butler, R. F. 1992 Paleomagnetism:
Page 375 and 376:
2001 Gulf Lowlands: South Region. I
Page 377 and 378:
Coe, M. D., D. Snow and E. Benson 1
Page 379 and 380:
2003 Laguna de los Cerros: Una Capi
Page 381 and 382:
2003 Analysis of Formative Period O
Page 383 and 384:
Elachi, C. 1987 Introduction to the
Page 385 and 386:
Foster, G. M. 1940 Notes on the Pop
Page 387 and 388:
2001 La Venta, Tabasco, Mexico. In
Page 389 and 390:
Halbwachs, M. 1992 On Collective Me
Page 391 and 392:
Hester, T. R., H. J. Shafer and K.
Page 393 and 394:
Johnston, K. J. and N. Gonlin 1998
Page 395 and 396:
Kruger, R. P. 1996 An Archaeologica
Page 397 and 398:
Madry, S. L. H. 1987 A Multiscalar
Page 399 and 400:
Middleton, W. D. 2004 Identifying C
Page 401 and 402:
Ortíz, P. 1975 La Ceramica de los
Page 403 and 404:
Plog, S. 1990 Agriculture, Sedentis
Page 405 and 406:
Rapoport, A. 1990 History and Prece
Page 407 and 408:
Rueda, H. G. 1989 Nuevas Exploracio
Page 409 and 410:
Santley, R. S., S. A. Nelson, B. K.
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1989 Olmec Studies: A Status Report
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Stark, B. L. and P. J. Arnold 1997
Page 415 and 416:
Tarling, D. H. 1983 Geomagnetism. C
Page 417 and 418:
Tykot, R. H. 2004 Stable Isotopes a
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Wallerstein, I. 1974 The Modern Wor
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2003 The Role of Kinship and Demogr
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Appendix 1a. Ceramic Analysis: Type
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Appendix 1b. Ceramic Analysis: Type
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Appendix 2. Ceramic Types and Count
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Appendix 2 Ceramic Types and Counts
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Appendix 3a. Obsidian from Test Uni
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Appendix 3b. Obsidian from Throne E
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Appendix 4a. Lithics from Surface C
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Appendix 4b. Lithics from River Cut
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Appendix 5a. Soil Survey I Element
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Appendix 5a. Soil Survey I Element
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Appendix 5b. Soil Survey II Element
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Appendix 5b. Soil Survey II Element
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About the Author Travis F. Doering
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An Unexplored Realm in the Heartland of the Southern Gulf ... - Famsi

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