Monte Alto culture

Last updated April 25, 2019

Monte Alto is an archaeological site on the Pacific Coast in what is now Guatemala.

Archaeological site Place in which evidence of past activity is preserved

An archaeological site is a place in which evidence of past activity is preserved, and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology and represents a part of the archaeological record. Sites may range from those with few or no remains visible above ground, to buildings and other structures still in use.

Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, Belize and the Caribbean to the northeast, Honduras to the east, El Salvador to the southeast and the Pacific Ocean to the south. With an estimated population of around 16.6 million, it is the most populated country in Central America. Guatemala is a representative democracy; its capital and largest city is Nueva Guatemala de la Asunción, also known as Guatemala City.

History

Located 20 km southeast from Santa Lucía Cotzumalguapa in Escuintla, Monte Alto was occupied as early as 1800 BC, but has a fairly light presence – less than either El Bálsamo or Los Cerritos Sur located about 10 km west and east of Monte Alto respectively. During the Late Preclassic (400 BC to AD 200), Monte Alto became a regional center.

Santa Lucía Cotzumalguapa is a municipality in the Escuintla department of Guatemala.

Escuintla is a city in south central Guatemala. It is the capital of the Escuintla Department and the administrative seat of Escuintla Municipality.

Mesoamerican chronology divides the history of prehispanic Mesoamerica into several periods: the Paleo-Indian, the Archaic, the Preclassic or Formative, the Classic (250–900CE), and the Postclassic, Colonial (1521–1821), and Postcolonial (1821–present). The periodization of Mesoamerica is based on archaeological, ethnohistorical, and modern cultural anthropology research. The endeavor to create cultural histories of Mesoamerica dates to the early twentieth century, with ongoing work by archeologists, ethnohistorians, historians, and cultural anthropologists.

The site has 45 major structures, the tallest being a 20 m high pyramid. The Monte Alto Culture is one of the oldest in Mesoamerica and perhaps predating the Olmec.

There is also a substantial Early Classic occupation but it is largely localized at Structure 6, a large platform located well to the northeast.^[1]

Art

Although Monte Alto is noted for its sculptures (heads and potbellies), more than a dozen tabular shaped stone stelae were found as well as three stone altars.

An altar is a structure upon which offerings such as sacrifices are made for religious purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, churches and other places of worship. They are used particularly in Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism and Judaism used such a structure until the destruction of the Second Temple. Many historical faiths also made use of them, including Roman, Greek and Norse religion.

Two general styles of sculpture are found at the Monte Alto site, one representing a human head, and the other, a human body. Since both the heads and the bodies are rather crudely shaped from large, rounded basaltic boulders, the subjects have a decidedly corpulent appearance. Because they seem to be male figures, they have been termed "potbellies" in the archaeological literature.

Potbelly sculptures,, are in-the-round sculptures of obese human figures carved from boulders. They are a distinctive element of the sculptural tradition in the southern Maya area of Mesoamerica. The precise purpose of potbelly sculptures is unknown, although they appear to have been the focus of public veneration and ritual directed by the ruling elite. Although this sculptural tradition is found within the southern Maya area, it has been recognized that the sculptures themselves are non-Maya.

Alignments

Fifteen plain stelas were recorded at Monte Alto and one alignment of three large plain stelae erected in a north–south line could have served astronomical purposes as a means for recording days and the position of the sun for agricultural purposes. In fact, the azimuth from the principal pyramid to the south stela marked the winter solstice on December 21. The sun rose over the central stela on February 19: February 19 at midnight marked the eastern elongation of the Eta Draconis star in the Pleiades during the Late Preclassic period.

According to Marion Popenoe de Hatch, Eta Draconis shows unusual stability, and, that from 1800 B.C. to A.D. 500, the annual date of its meridian midnight transit varied less than one day.^[2] She has shown that alignments of certain monuments at Takalik Abaj, also mark the eastern elongation of Eta Draconis at various periods during Tak'alik Abaj existence.^[3]

Magnetism

Many of the Monte Alto sculptures are magnetic as well. Since certain distinctive patterns of magnetism recur with some frequency, it would appear that the sculptures were executed by artisans who were aware of these properties. If this is true, the Monte Alto sculptures no doubt deserve recognition as the oldest known magnetic artifacts in the world.^[4]

Of the collection of "potbellies" sculptures from Monte Alto on display in the town park of La Democracia, Guatemala and in front of its local museum, Museo Regional de Arqueología de la Democracia, four of the heads and three of the bodies were found to have magnetic properties. All four of the heads have a north magnetic pole located in their right temples, while three of them have south magnetic poles below the right ear and the fourth (that in front of the museum) has a south magnetic pole in its left temple. Such a pattern of occurrence is unlikely to be a matter of chance, even in a sample size as small as four.

Contemporary sites

During the Mayan Preclassic period, the sites in the area that are contemporary to Monte Alto are Chiapa de Corzo (Mesoamerican site), Izapa, Abaj Takalik, and El Baul, along with such highland communities as Kaminaljuyu and Chalchuapa.^[5]

Related Research Articles

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The Preclassic period in Maya history stretches from the beginning of permanent village life c. 1000 BC. until the advent of the Classic Period c. 250 AD, and is subdivided into Early, Middle, and Late. Major archaeological sites of this period include Nakbe, Uaxactun, Seibal, San Bartolo, Cival, and El Mirador in Guatemala; Cahal Pech, Blackman Eddy, and Cerros in Belize; and Calakmul, Yaxnohcah, Ichkabal, Komchen, and Xocnaceh in Mexico.

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The Museo Regional de Arqueología de la Democracia is an archaeological museum in the municipality of La Democracia in the department of Escuintla in Guatemala. The museum displays pre-Columbian Mesoamerican artefacts from the Pacific lowlands datingfrom the Preclassic Period through to the Postclassic Period, with a particular emphasis upon the local Monte Alto culture. The museum is open from Tuesday through to Saturday from 8am to 4pm.

Regional communications in ancient Mesoamerica are believed to have been extensive. There were various trade routes attested since prehistoric times. In this article, especially the routes starting in the Mexico Central Plateau, and going down to the Pacific coast will be considered. These contacts then went on as far as Central America.

The history of Maya civilization is divided into three principal periods: the Preclassic, Classic and Postclassic periods; these were preceded by the Archaic Period, which saw the first settled villages and early developments in agriculture. Modern scholars regard these periods as arbitrary divisions of chronology of the Maya civilization, rather than indicative of cultural evolution or decadence. Definitions of the start and end dates of period spans can vary by as much as a century, depending on the author. The Preclassic lasted from approximately 2000 BC to approximately 250 AD; this was followed by the Classic, from 250 AD to roughly 950 AD, then by the Postclassic, from 950 AD to the middle of the 16th century. Each period is further subdivided:

References

↑ FAMSI 2002: Frederick J. Bove "Archaeology of the Guatemala Pacific Coast" Archived 2006-03-13 at the Wayback Machine .
↑ Popenoe de Hatch, 1975
↑ David C. Grove and Rosemary A. Joyce, Editors, Social Patterns in Pre-Classic Mesoamerica. 1999 Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection - at wayback machine
↑ Pre-Columbian Magnetic Sculptures in Western Guatemala
↑ John S. Henderson, The World of the Ancient Maya. 1997 p42

Famsi: Monte Alto (UTM 722341E, 1573508N)

Parsons, Lee A. 1976 Excavation of Monte Alto, Escuintla, Guatemala In Research Reports: Abstracts and Reviews of Research during the Year 1968. pp. 325–332 National Geographic Society, Washington, DC

Popenoe De Hatch, Marion 1989 A seriation of Monte Alto sculptures In New Frontiers in the Archaeology of the Pacific Coast of Southern Mesoamerica. Frederick Bove and Lynette Heller, eds. pp. 25–42 Anthropological Research Papers, 39 Arizona State University, Tempe

External links

Monte Alto Culture

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[1] FAMSI 2002: Frederick J. Bove "Archaeology of the Guatemala Pacific Coast" Archived 2006-03-13 at the Wayback Machine .

[2] Popenoe de Hatch, 1975

[3] David C. Grove and Rosemary A. Joyce, Editors, Social Patterns in Pre-Classic Mesoamerica. 1999 Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection - at wayback machine

[4] Pre-Columbian Magnetic Sculptures in Western Guatemala

[5] John S. Henderson, The World of the Ancient Maya. 1997 p42