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The Tronadora Complex: Early Formative Ceramics in Northwestern Costa Rica

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

John W. Hoopes*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045

Abstract

The correlation of archaeological features with tephra stratigraphy and radiocarbon dates in the volcanic cordillera of northwestern Costa Rica has provided evidence for an Early to Middle Formative ceramic complex dating to at least 2000 B.C. Tronadora ceramics have been found in association with evidence for early horticulture and sedentism. Stylistic comparisons with other early pottery from Central America have helped with the refinement of our chronology for the earliest sedentary societies in Costa Rica and Nicaragua. Differences between Tronadora pottery and the earliest complexes of Mesoamerica and southern Central America indicate a high degree of regionalization in ceramic styles during the Early Formative period. Similarities also indicate, however, the common participation of northwestern Costa Rica and southern Mesoamerica in broad interaction networks at this time. Tronadora pottery does not represent an incipient technology or the result of a diffusion of ceramic production from Mesoamerica or northwestern South America. Instead, it implies the existence of an earlier and still-undefined period of technological experimentation in the Central American isthmus.

La correlación de rasgos arqueológicos con secuencias estratigráficas de tefras y fechamientos radiocarbónicos en la cordillera volcánica del noroeste de Costa Rica ha proporcionado evidencia de un complejo cerámico Formativo Temprano a Medio con fechas de hasta 2000 A.C. Se ha hallado cerámica de la fase Tronadora en asociación con evidencias de patrones hortícolas y sedentarios tempranos. Se han llevado a cabo comparaciones estilísticas con otra cerámica temprana proveniente de Centroamérica, hecho que ha ayudado al mejoramiento de la cronología de las sociedades sedentarias en Costa Rica y Nicaragua. Las diferencias entre la cerámica Tronadora y los complejos más tempranos de Mesoamérica y del sur de Centroamérica indican un alto grado de regionalización en estilos cerámicos durante el período Formativo Temprano. Sin embargo, las semejanzas también indican la participación común del noroeste de Costa Rica y el sur de Mesoamérica en amplias redes de interacción durante esta época. La cerámica Tronadora no representa una tecnología incipiente ni las consecuencias de una difusión de producción cerámica desde Mesoamérica o el noroeste de Sudamérica. En cambio, implica la existencia de un período más temprano y aún no bien definido de experimentación tecnológica en el istmo centroamericano.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1994

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References

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