This workshop will present recent data from ongoing archaeological investigations at the Middle Preclassic site of La Blanca, Guatemala, which is located on the Pacific Coast of Guatemala. La Blanca flourished between 900-600 BC, and was the major regional power along the coast and piedmont. Upon its decline, sites such as Izapa rose to power within the same region. A quatrefoil-shaped altar found at La Blanca that anticipates images seen at Izapa, San Bartolo, Takalik Abaj, and other Late Preclassic sites, will form the basis of discussion and illustrate Middle Preclassic antecedents for ritual patterns and imagery better known from later periods.

In the tradition of past meetings, the 11th Southwest Symposium will provide a forum for archaeologists and other scholars to discuss innovative ideas and to develop networks for anthropological research in the U.S. Southwest and Mexican Northwest. We have organized the symposium to explore key topics in substantial depth and to provide ample time for discussion among all who attend.

For most of the 20th century, a handful of US institutions, their professors and students dominated archaeology in the southwestern United States. The development of contract archaeology broadened the extent of and altered the practice of archaeology in the southwest U.S. but reinforced it as a nationalist practice. By the end of the 20 th century, however, a nationalist view of the region had become parochial. The Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia established regional centers, museums and expanded research in the northwest of México. Slightly later, an Indigenous archaeology developed as Indian Nations established their own archaeological programs, goals, and methods. Each of these "national" archaeologies focus on different regions, make different assumptions, asks different questions, seeks different answers, emphasize different methods and embraces different theories or worldviews. The 11th Southwest Symposium will further discussions of how to transform these national archaeologies into transnational archaeologies. Transnational archaeologies reach beyond or transcend national boundaries and they do so in numerous ways. They imply a broad vision of historical and cultural processes in the Southwest/Northwest that is not artificially limited by political, cultural, or linguistic borders. They necessarily entail a multi-sited archaeology where researchers work in different "nations". They stand strong when their foundations rest on collaborations across cultural groups. They require archaeologists to reexamine the contributions that archaeology can make to society. They expand the archaeology of the Southwest/Northwest linguistically, culturally and regionally.

1. West and North México
The international border between México and the United States and the culture area border that separates our region from Mesoamerica has long hampered our understanding of the archaeology of the Southwest/Northwest. The archaeology of West and North México does not fit easily into both culture areas and the degree of fit changes over time. Developments in these areas had direct impacts on the Southwest/Northwest. Indeed, "Mesoamerican influences" on the north most likely originated in these regions and not the core of Mesoamerica . The session will allow scholars working in West and North México to share information and interact with Southwest/Northwest archaeologists.
Email: José Luis Punzo, Michael Ohnersorgen.

2. AD 1450 to AD 1540: The Lost Century

In the century AD 1450 to AD 1540, most of the Southwest/Northwest suffered a significant demographic collapse and transformation of cultures. Scores of regional sequences ended and village based agriculture ceased in areas where it had been practiced for hundreds of years. Outside of the Pueblos , this is a lost century making it difficult to link archaeological traditions and modern Indian Nations and to understand the processes that created the ethnographically known Southwest/Northwest. The international border has hampered our understanding of this century because it structures research but has no meaning for the historical and cultural processes we wish to understand. Indian Nations hold very different perspectives on this century than either U.S. or Mexican scholars.
Email: John Carpenter, Anna Neuzil.

3. Collaborating Across Cultures

Collaborations that reach beyond or transcend national and cultural boundaries are key to transnational archaeologies. Collaboration implies the integration of goals, interests, and practices between the individuals and/or social groups that work together. It entails a dialogue that goes beyond an instrumentalist concern with resolving a conflict or respecting rights and responsibilities. It requires humility, patience, listening, careful consultation, equality, and respect. Collaboration should be transformative of the parties involved. Each party brings different resources, skills, knowledge, authority and/or interests to a collaborative labor. Collaboration involves the melding of these unique qualities into common goals and practices. This session will address collaboration both across the international frontier and between scholars and Indian Nations.
Email: Andrew Darling, Davina Two Bears.

4. Archaeology and Society

The relationship of archaeology to society varies among the nations of the Southwest/Northwest. This session will explore these relationships in the United States , in México, and in Indian Nations. Issues will include public programs, education, heritage, and identity. The papers will be aimed towards a discussion that compares and contrasts these issues in different nations with the goal of transcending and reaching beyond national interests.
Email: Elizabeth Bagwell, Cesar Villalobos.

The Mirador Group is one of El Perú-Waka’s principal architectural groups, comprised of a small temple and two of the site’s grandest pyramids. Excavations conducted from 2003-2006 demonstrate a lengthy tradition of ritual activity associated with these buildings, extending from the Late Preclassic through the Terminal Classic period. Moreover, one of the pyramids served a long-term mortuary function for high-status elites, housing the remains of an unknown ruler and three elite women. Archaeological discoveries at the Mirador Group will be highlighted in this presentation, and also examined relative to specific historical events documented in the Mayan epigraphic record. This comparative approach allows us to explore how El Perú may have been integrated into the larger Mesoamerican world system – namely with the central Mexican metropolis of Teotihuacan and the dominant Maya capitals of Tikal and Calakmul.

The excavation of ancient tombs has always captured the imagination of intrepid explorers, professional archaeologists and an interested public alike. In the Maya area, two factors have dovetailed to create an ongoing focus on burial contexts in archaeological fieldwork. First, Classic-period Maya interments are common in both ritual and residential structures, making it virtually impossible to excavate a building without encountering a burial; and second, the Maya have a rich artistic tradition, and as a result, many burials – particularly of the ancient elite – contain elaborate funerary objects. A tomb, however, is a complex interweaving of multiple categories of information: from the typically-showcased artifacts, to human and animal skeletal material, to fine-grained data such as pigments and minerals that tend to be understudied or overlooked relative to other tomb contents. Consequently, multiple scales of mortuary data are vital when coming to conclusions about burial practices among the ancient Maya. In this informal seminar we will focus on several royal and noble tombs from El Perú-Waka’ to explore what the full range of components of a mortuary assemblage can tell us about the interred individual(s), as well as the people who conducted associated burial rituals, and how ancient re-entry activities may affect archaeological interpretations.

CALL FOR PAPERS

2010 Cleveland Symposium – Submission deadline: December 11, 2009

The 2010 Cleveland Symposium invites graduate submissions exploring cross-cultural influences throughout the history of art. The exchange of ideas across local, regional, national, and continental borders has been one of the major vehicles by which art changes over time. We are seeking papers using all methodologies that explore these convergences. Examples include cases of artists influenced by other artists, places, time, culture, history, and any other relationships that are ultimately expressed in visual and material culture. We welcome submissions from graduate students in all stages of their studies and from all fields of art history including Ancient, Medieval, Early Modern, Contemporary and Non-Western. A monetary prize will be awarded to the speaker who presents the most innovative research in the most successfully delivered paper.

Please send abstracts of no more than 300 words, along with a curriculum vitae, to clevelandsymposium@gmail.com by December 11, 2009.

Selected presenters will be notified by January 1, 2010.

The ancient lowland Maya civilization of Mexico and Central America is often celebrated for its achievements in an environment unique for its lack of rivers, unlike that of the ancient Egyptian, Sumerian, Indus, and Chinese civilizations. Nevertheless many major lowland Maya cities were indeed located along important rivers such as the Usumacinta, Pasión, Belize, Motagua, among others. These "River Cities" provided the rest of the Maya lowlands access to the resource-rich highlands to the south, as well as contact with to both the Caribbean and Gulf coasts. Moreover, they facilitated the movement of peoples throughout the region, allowed for critical movement and trading of exotic goods, and gave rise to innovative artistic and architectural styles. For these reasons, this conference will focus on how and why the great river cities of the ancient lowland Maya represent some of the most intriguing, opulent, and important segments of this civilization. The Middle American Research Institute [MARI] is organizing this year’s Seventh Annual Maya Symposium & Workshop with the collaboration of the Stone Center for Latin American Studies.

We are very pleased and excited to announce that the 2010 Maya Meetings will take place in Antigua, Guatemala, at UT-Austin’s new academic and conference center for Mesoamerican studies, the Casa Herrera. Since 1977 international students and scholars have gathered in Austin each year to learn and discuss the latest findings in Maya research. We are now able to take the Maya Meetings to the land of the Maya, to expand this spirit of learning and exchange. We hope to make Antigua a routine location for future conferences, alternating each year with our traditional venue on the UT-Austin campus.
As always, the 2010 Maya Meetings will offer a combination of learning workshops and academic lectures. Three workshops focusing on hieroglyphs and iconography will run for four days from March 16 through 19, accompanied by two courtyard lectures during each evening. All events will take place at the Casa Herrera, a beautifully restored 17th-century mansion located near the center of Antigua, Guatemala’s colonial capital.
Our topic in 2010 will focus on new developments in the study of early Maya iconography and writing, focusing on the sites of Kaminaljuyu, Takalik Abaj, Izapa, San Bartolo and others. More details about the presenters, the schedule and details of registration will be posted early this coming fall.

CALL FOR PAPERS

SECOLAS 2010 Conference – Submission deadline: January 1, 2010

Sponsored by: Instituto Mora, Mexico City
Local arrangement: Carmen Collado

Proposals for paper presentations should be one page that includes author(s) name(s), affiliation(s), contact information, paper title and an abstract (200-300 words). Session proposals should come from
the organizer and include all names and affiliations of the session participants, contact information for each participant and especially the session chair, title of the proposed session, and individual presentation titles as well as a brief explanation of the purpose of the session by the organizer. Abstracts for each presentation in the session may also be included.

Deadline: January 1, 2010
Email submissions are preferred.
Send proposals to:

Literature & Humanities:
Ann Gonzalez, Ph.D., Associate Chair
Professor of Spanish and Latin American Studies
Department of Languages and Culture Studies
University of North Carolina Charlotte
(704) 687-8781
abgonzal@uncc.edu

History & Social Sciences:
Timothy Henderson
Distinguished Research Professor
Department of History
Auburn University Montgomery
(334) 264-6826
tjhenderson@charter.net

For the past quarter century, international scholars, Maya enthusiasts, artists, linguists, archaeologists and other have joined together for a lively weekend of engaging talks and programs centering around the Maya world. During the weekend, numerous other lectures and language workshops provide opportunities for attendees to learn about Maya culture and current archaeological work at Maya sites. Participants can expect a rich intellectual experience—and activity choices—as the weekend provides diverse opportunities for engagement.
Our 2010 Weekend theme, Maya Women ~ Figures of Enduring Strength and Power,focuses on the central role that women have always played in the social history of Maya peoples. Whether sustaining Classic era dynasties or advocating for justice in contemporary Latin America, Maya women are commanding figures. In many households, they anchor daily life and religious practice for their families and communities. Over centuries they have been pivotal figures resisting cultural annihilation, and today many have become successful political leaders and entrepreneurs.
As always, the weekend combines illustrated talks by more than a dozen world renowned scholars with engaging films, interactive hieroglyphic workshops for beginners and more advanced glyph readers-and an optional Maya banquet. $175; $140 members. Dinners, lunches extra.