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(1 - 8 of 8)
- Title
- SWINE FLU, DRUG WARS, AND RIOTS: MEDIA AND TOURISM IN OAXACA, MEXICO.
- Creator
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Crosby, Joshua, Matejowsky, Ty, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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This thesis examines how travelers evaluate and process mass media news stories about local events. Thanks to its colonial architecture, white sand beaches, and indigenous history, the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca receives millions of foreign and domestic visitors each year. Between 2006 and through 2009 Oaxaca has received a great deal of negative international media coverage, including stories of street riots, drug violence, and the fall out of the H1N1 flu virus. The overall impact of...
Show moreThis thesis examines how travelers evaluate and process mass media news stories about local events. Thanks to its colonial architecture, white sand beaches, and indigenous history, the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca receives millions of foreign and domestic visitors each year. Between 2006 and through 2009 Oaxaca has received a great deal of negative international media coverage, including stories of street riots, drug violence, and the fall out of the H1N1 flu virus. The overall impact of these unfavorable reports, and the resulting decline in the local tourism industry, has been predictable and severe. This thesis is based on anthropological research that I conducted in Oaxaca during June and July, 2009. I interviewed 26 American tourists about issues related to mass-media, personal travel experiences, and the interplay between international news coverage of local events and trip destination selection and planning. My research suggests that interviewees generally approach these media stories unfavorably and with a hefty sense of skepticism. Their reactions may reflect a wider trend in American society whereby mainstream and commercial mass media sources are viewed as increasingly untrustworthy or inaccurate
Show less - Date Issued
- 2010
- Identifier
- CFE0003226, ucf:48533
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0003226
- Title
- WORLDVIEW, IDEOLOGY, AND CERAMIC ICONOGRAPHY: A STUDY OF LATE TERMINAL FORMATIVE GRAYWARES FROM THE LOWER RIO VERDE VALLEY OF OAXACA, MEXICO.
- Creator
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Brzezinski, Jeffrey, Barber, Sarah, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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This study investigates worldview and ideology during the late Terminal Formative period (A.D. 100 250) in the lower Rio Verde Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico, through an analysis of iconography found on grayware ceramic serving vessels. The sample includes 457 vessels and sherds from 17 lower Verde sites obtained through excavations and surface collections between 1988 and 2009. Drawing upon theories of semiotics and style, this thesis identifies a suite of icons suggesting that ceramics were a...
Show moreThis study investigates worldview and ideology during the late Terminal Formative period (A.D. 100 250) in the lower Rio Verde Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico, through an analysis of iconography found on grayware ceramic serving vessels. The sample includes 457 vessels and sherds from 17 lower Verde sites obtained through excavations and surface collections between 1988 and 2009. Drawing upon theories of semiotics and style, this thesis identifies a suite of icons suggesting that ceramics were a medium for expressing regionally shared beliefs. Chatino potters carved common Formative period Mesoamerican themes into the walls of graywares, such as depictions of maize and climatic phenomena, which may have been part of a religious worldview rooted in the belief that humans and non-human deities shared a reciprocal relationship. People at Rio Viejo, including elites, may have attempted to exploit this relationship, thought of as a "sacred covenant" or agreement between humans and deities, to create a more centralized political entity during the late Terminal Formative Chacahua phase. By using iconographic graywares in socially and politically significant ritual activities such as feasting and caching events, elites imbued graywares with a powerful essence that would have facilitated the spread of the coded messages they carried. Based on statistical analyses of the diversity of iconographic assemblages from various sites, I argue that the assemblage of icons at Rio Viejo, a late Terminal Formative political center in the lower Verde, indicates ideas likely originated at or flowed through this site.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2011
- Identifier
- CFE0003728, ucf:48786
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0003728
- Title
- Urban Agriculture within the Valley of Oaxaca: Investigations and Implications of Agricultural Terracing at Monte Alban, Oaxaca.
- Creator
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Tricarico, Anthony, Barber, Sarah, Chase, Arlen, Walker, John, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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The implementation of geographic information systems for the analysis of Late Classic (500-800 C.E.) terraces at Monte Alb(&)#225;n, reveals a spatial pattern not visible through prior pedestrian site surveys. The Valley of Oaxaca Settlement Pattern Project concluded that nearly all of the 1,464 Late Classic terraces at Monte Alb(&)#225;n were used for residential purposes. Spatial analysis tools reveal a greater human-ecological complexity. The goal of this study was to use ArcGIS to map the...
Show moreThe implementation of geographic information systems for the analysis of Late Classic (500-800 C.E.) terraces at Monte Alb(&)#225;n, reveals a spatial pattern not visible through prior pedestrian site surveys. The Valley of Oaxaca Settlement Pattern Project concluded that nearly all of the 1,464 Late Classic terraces at Monte Alb(&)#225;n were used for residential purposes. Spatial analysis tools reveal a greater human-ecological complexity. The goal of this study was to use ArcGIS to map the 1,273 terraces near Monte Alb(&)#225;n's ceremonial center and combine them with individually identifiable data sets. Analysis of each terrace, particularly based upon water availability, ceramic distribution, structural remains, and number of metates, reveals that 55.7% of these 1,273 terraces could have supported agricultural practices. The integration of agricultural space into a dense urban center reveals new spatial relationships between population density and urban agricultural practices, to which measures of resiliency and efficacy within similar modern systems can be applied.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2015
- Identifier
- CFE0005728, ucf:50138
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005728
- Title
- RECONSTRUCTING ANCIENT BURIALS AT LOMA DON GENARO.
- Creator
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Kulenguski, Alexandra M, Barber, Sarah B., University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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This thesis reconstructs and analyzes a Classic period (AD 250-800) burial collection from the archaeological site of Loma Don Genaro in Oaxaca, Mexico. This research aims to address two main questions: 1.) What information about the burial collection is available through the archaeological archives? 2.) What does this information tell us about social organization during the Classic period at Loma Don Genaro? In order to address these questions, the following objectives were explored: to...
Show moreThis thesis reconstructs and analyzes a Classic period (AD 250-800) burial collection from the archaeological site of Loma Don Genaro in Oaxaca, Mexico. This research aims to address two main questions: 1.) What information about the burial collection is available through the archaeological archives? 2.) What does this information tell us about social organization during the Classic period at Loma Don Genaro? In order to address these questions, the following objectives were explored: to reconstruct ancient burials using archival material; to describe the burial demography across the site; to describe variation in grave goods; to relatively date and order the burials chronologically; to draw conclusions about social organization through patterns visible in the burial record. This project included bringing together existing archival records such as field drawings, burial record forms, lot forms, field maps, photographs, and field notes in order to reconstruct detailed burial records for 25 individuals. This recontextualization of the burial collection has made the data concerning each burial easily accessible, enabling further data to be gleaned from the remains. After creating a usable data management system for the burial collection and its associated records, the burials were analyzed. Analysis included: providing relative dates for the burials and chronologically ordering the burials using stratigraphic information; demographic analysis in order to identify the number adults, juveniles, males, and females in the collection, as well as the ages of each individual; analysis of burial position and orientation; analysis of the diversity of both the amount and type of grave goods (such as ceramic vessels, jade beads, figurines, and lithics) present in each burial. Several patterns relating to sex, age, and social status across the site were identified: there is an emphasis on adult burials with minimal children in the burial collection; the more elaborate burials reflecting a higher social status for the buried individuals were those with greater than ten ceramic vessels, had slab-lined burials, or were slab-lined and contained greater than ten vessels, and contained both male and female individuals. The data from this thesis provide an important snapshot of life during a key period of social change in ancient Mexico.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2018
- Identifier
- CFH2000335, ucf:45795
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFH2000335
- Title
- MOBILITY AND COLLAPSE: STABLE ISOTOPE ANALYSIS OF OXYGEN-18 ISOTOPES FROM ANCIENT MEXICO.
- Creator
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St. Pierre, Melanie L, Barber, Sarah B., University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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When a society experiences a collapse, political authority becomes decentralized, large settlements often become abandoned, economic specialization decreases; and monumental building projects, artistic, and literary achievements slow drastically. The Rio Verde Valley, a coastal floodplain located in the region of Oaxaca in Southwest Mexico, experienced such a collapse at the end of the Terminal Formative period (150 BC to 250 AD). A period of decentralization followed, with regional centers...
Show moreWhen a society experiences a collapse, political authority becomes decentralized, large settlements often become abandoned, economic specialization decreases; and monumental building projects, artistic, and literary achievements slow drastically. The Rio Verde Valley, a coastal floodplain located in the region of Oaxaca in Southwest Mexico, experienced such a collapse at the end of the Terminal Formative period (150 BC to 250 AD). A period of decentralization followed, with regional centers becoming the main seats of authority throughout the region. My aim is to understand how this collapse affected residential population mobility in the lower Rio Verde Valley between the pre-collapse Terminal Formative and post-collapse Early Classic periods. I seek to answer the question: could this political collapse have caused intra-regional migration amongst the people of Ancient Oaxaca? To answer this, I analyzed the stable 18O and 13O isotopes in a set of 21 samples of human long bone excavated from the Terminal Formative archaeological site of Yugue and the Early Classic site of Charco Redondo. Oxygen isotope analysis is based on the principle that bone apatite and tooth enamel hold traces of oxygen isotopes found in the water that people drink, and that varying values of those isotopes reflect that the water was obtained from different sources. Based on literature surrounding the process of political collapse in ancient Mesoamerica and beyond, I expected to find evidence that intra-regional population mobility increased after the Terminal Formative period collapse. Instead, I found evidence of little to no mobility in both the Terminal Formative period site and the Early Classic period site, showing that the political collapse likely did not affect intra-regional mobility. These findings provide valuable insight into how human migration patterns correspond with political changes, both in the archaeological record of past civilizations and in modern societies.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2018
- Identifier
- CFH2000379, ucf:45864
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFH2000379
- Title
- Regional Affiliation in the Lower Rio Verde: An Examination of R(&)#237;o Viejo Middens as Evidence for Scaled-up Practice at Surrounding Sites.
- Creator
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Lucido, Carlo, Barber, Sarah, Chase, Arlen, Walker, John, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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This research project analyzes 5 middens from the Lower Rio Verde valley sites of R(&)#237;o Viejo and Yug(&)#252;e, Oaxaca, Mexico, during the Terminal Formative period (150 BC to AD 250). The middens are analyzed to further our understanding of socio-political events in public spaces at both sites during this time. The study suggests a greater distinction in use of public spaces between the two sites than within R(&)#237;o Viejo. Frameworks established by Dietler and Hayden for the analysis...
Show moreThis research project analyzes 5 middens from the Lower Rio Verde valley sites of R(&)#237;o Viejo and Yug(&)#252;e, Oaxaca, Mexico, during the Terminal Formative period (150 BC to AD 250). The middens are analyzed to further our understanding of socio-political events in public spaces at both sites during this time. The study suggests a greater distinction in use of public spaces between the two sites than within R(&)#237;o Viejo. Frameworks established by Dietler and Hayden for the analysis of feasts do not seem to apply well to the middens analyzed here. Although I argue that evidence from Rio Viejo's middens does not dispute the viability of previous arguments regarding Terminal Formative R(&)#237;o Viejo ritual authorities', potentially elites, efforts to create regional-scale political affiliations, the level to which middens at R(&)#237;o Viejo are evidence of (")scaled-up(") versions of local practices at outlying sites is inconclusive. Though there is potential for larger feasts at R(&)#237;o Viejo, taken alone the Yug(&)#252;e midden appears larger. The R(&)#237;o Viejo middens demonstrate greater likelihood for the diminished conspicuousness of status differentiation during the associated events.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2015
- Identifier
- CFE0005653, ucf:50178
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005653
- Title
- Diet and Migration in Coastal Oaxaca: Identifying Effects of Political and Social Collapse through the Utilization of Stable Isotope Analysis.
- Creator
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Rumberger, Jacklyn, Barber, Sarah, Dupras, Tosha, Williams, Lana, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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This study involves the investigation of diet and mobility among people living in the lower R(&)#237;o Verde Valley, Oaxaca, Mexico, during the Late Classic (AD 500-800) and Early Postclassic (AD 800-1200) periods. Specifically, this research focuses on how political and social collapse affected subsistence practices and diet, particularly maize agriculture and consumption, as well as human migration. Archaeological evidence suggests that R(&)#237;o Viejo, the region's largest urban center...
Show moreThis study involves the investigation of diet and mobility among people living in the lower R(&)#237;o Verde Valley, Oaxaca, Mexico, during the Late Classic (AD 500-800) and Early Postclassic (AD 800-1200) periods. Specifically, this research focuses on how political and social collapse affected subsistence practices and diet, particularly maize agriculture and consumption, as well as human migration. Archaeological evidence suggests that R(&)#237;o Viejo, the region's largest urban center before AD 800, experienced multiple periods of political fragmentation and instability during its long history, specifically during the Early Classic (AD 250 - 500) and Early Postclassic periods, making it an ideal place to test these relationships. Stable carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen isotopic analyses of human bone and tooth samples were used to reconstruct diet and create a life history for sampled individuals. Samples were extracted from the skeletal remains of individuals dating to the Late Classic (n=11) and Early Postclassic (n=11) periods. Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope values provide insight into maize consumption; in addition stable nitrogen isotope values also indicate the extent that aquatic resources were being exploited. Stable oxygen isotope values are used to determine if any of the individuals were foreigners and had migrated to the valley during their lifetime. Results demonstrate collapse following the Classic period led to a slight dietary shift that included a wider variety of resources, possibly aquatic. Human mobility also increased during this time as oxygen values display a wider range and indicate movement within the valley and along the coast.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2016
- Identifier
- CFE0006491, ucf:51399
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006491
- Title
- Settlement History and Interaction in the Manialtepec Basin of Oaxaca's Central Coast.
- Creator
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Menchaca, Victoria, Barber, Sarah, Walker, John, Chase, Arlen, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
As the focus of over 70 years' of archaeological research, Oaxaca, Mexico, is one of Mesoamerica's best understood regions. Yet, despite the volume of work in Oaxaca, information about one of its key resource areas, the central Pacific coast, remains limited. Specifically, the ambiguous role of Oaxaca's Central Coast in interregional relationships during pre-Hispanic times to the sites of Monte Alb(&)#225;n and Tututepec has been a chronic problem and major source of debate for decades. The...
Show moreAs the focus of over 70 years' of archaeological research, Oaxaca, Mexico, is one of Mesoamerica's best understood regions. Yet, despite the volume of work in Oaxaca, information about one of its key resource areas, the central Pacific coast, remains limited. Specifically, the ambiguous role of Oaxaca's Central Coast in interregional relationships during pre-Hispanic times to the sites of Monte Alb(&)#225;n and Tututepec has been a chronic problem and major source of debate for decades. The purpose of this thesis is to begin clarifying the role of Oaxaca's Central Coast in interregional networks and its pre-Hispanic history. Analysis utilized surface observations, surface collections, and information from limited excavations performed by the Proyecto Arqueol(&)#243;gico Laguna de Manialtepec (PALM) in the Manialtepec Basin, located on the Central Coast of Oaxaca. The data was then mapped using ArcGIS software to render settlement and artifact patterns. Based on the results of this project I suggest a history of settlement for this area. I also argue that the Basin contained three centers, maintained interregional interactions, and was invaded by the Mixtecs of highland Oaxaca during the Late Postclassic Period (A.D. 1200-1500).
Show less - Date Issued
- 2015
- Identifier
- CFE0005843, ucf:50920
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005843
