Gordon R. Willey and American Archeology: Contemporary Perspectives

265 Pages·2007·1.94 MB·English

by  Jeremy A. Sabloff

Gordon R. Willey and American Archaeology

Gordon R. Willey
and American Archaeology
Contemporary Perspectives
Edited by Jeremy A. Sabloff
and William L. Fash
University of Oklahoma Press : Norman
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Gordon R. Willey and American archaeology : contemporary perspectives /
edited by Jeremy A. Sabloff and William L. Fash.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-8061-3805-3 (hardcover : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-8061-3805-X (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Archaeology—America. 2. Indians—Antiquities. 3. Willey, Gordon
Randolph, 1913– 4. Indianists—Biography. 5. Archaeologists—America—
Biography. 6. America—Antiquities. I. Sabloff, Jeremy A. II. Fash, William
Leonard.
E61.G76 2007
973.072'02—dc22
2006027684
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the
Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on
Library Resources, Inc. ∞
Copyright © 2007 by the University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, Publishing
Division of the University. All rights reserved. Manufactured in the U.S.A.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Contents
List of Illustrations vii
List of Tables x
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction, William L. Fash 3
1 Gordon R. Willey and the Archaeology
of the Florida Gulf Coast, Jerald T. Milanich 15
2 Peru: Willey’s Formative Years, Michael E. Moseley 26
3 Legacies of Gordon Willey’s
Belize Valley Research, Wendy Ashmore 41
4 Willey and Phillips, Richard M. Leventhal
and Deborah Erdman Cornavaca 61
5 Great Art Styles and the Rise of Complex Societies,
Joyce Marcus 72
vi\ Contents
6 The Intermediate Area and Gordon Willey,
Jeffrey Quilter 105
7 Serendipity at Seibal, Gair Tourtellot
and Norman Hammond 126
8 The Classic Maya “Collapse” and Its Causes,
Prudence M. Rice 141
9 A Crossroads of Conquerors, David A. Freidel,
Hector L. Escobedo,and Stanley P. Guenter 187
10 Culture Heroes and Feathered Serpents,
Patricia A. McAnany 209
Conclusion, Jeremy A. Sabloff 233
List of Contributors 237
Index 241
Illustrations
Figures
I.1. Gordon Willey at the Smithsonian Institution, 1946 5
I.2. Willey, second from left, with mentor Byron
Cummings, circa 1934 7
I.3. Studio portrait of Willey, 1972 13
1.1. Willey, fourth from left, at the Ocmulgee site, 1936 17
1.2. Wood-paneled station wagon that Willey
and Richard Woodbury used in the field, 1940 19
1.3. Chart from Willey and Woodbury’s 1942 article
on northwest Florida 20
3.1. Willey in an excavation at Barton Ramie 42
3.2. Reconnaissance map of prehistoric Maya settlements
in the Belize Valley 44
viii\ Illustrations
3.3. Map of Barton Ramie site 45
3.4. Willey, Richard Leventhal, and Wendy Ashmore
at Copán, 1976 52
5.1. Mexican motifs representing Earth and
the four world directions 77
5.2. Mexican art depicting man’s relationship with fierce
animals and supernatural forces 78
5.3. Gulf Coast Mexican art depicting men wearing
headdresses and helmets 79
5.4. Pre-Chavín art featuring warriors, trophy heads,
and butchered remains of victims 82
5.5. Raptorial birds in Chavín art 87
5.6. Chavín art featuring fierce animals and warriors 88
5.7. Chavín art featuring caymans 89
5.8. Tenoned heads, facade of the New Temple,
Chavín de Huántar, Peru 90
5.9. The crocodile in chiefly art 92
5.10. Fierce animals and warriors from Panama and Colombia 94
5.11. Ancestors and warriors featured in Maori art 95
5.12. Maori pendants 97
7.1. Seibal Stela 1 129
7.2. Willey, second from left, at Seibal, 1968 130
7.3. Seibal Structure A-3 after restoration in 1968 131
7.4. Jadeite celts and blue jade “stiletto” bloodletter
from Seibal 132
7.5. Willey at Seibal, 1965 137
9.1. Map of western Petén and the Usumacinta region
showing location of Waka’ 188
Illustrations / ix
9.2. Reassembled fragments of Stela 15 194
9.3. Stela 16 198
9.4. Detail of Stela 16 201
9.5. Detail of Stela 15 202
9.6. Examples of Teotihuacan-style fire darts from Copán 202
10.1. Highland culture hero Ce Acatl Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl 219
10.2. Excavated portion of a circular shrine at
the Samuel Oshon site, lower Sibun Valley, Belize 221
10.3. Conch shells found at the Augustine Obispo site,
lower Sibun Valley, Belize 222
10.4. Bird and coyote/jaguar cartouches from Pakal Na,
Sibun Valley, Belize 224