Friday, September 2, 2011

The missing femur at the Mitla Fortress and its implications.

The missing femur at the Mitla Fortress and its implications. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Introduction When Alfonso Caso Alfonso Caso y Andrade (February 1, 1896 - November 30, 1970) was an archaeologist who made important contributions to pre-Columbian studies in his native Mexico. He was born and died in Mexico City. excavated Tomb 7 at Monte Alban Mon��te Al��b��n?A ruined Zapotec city of southern Mexico near Oaxaca. Excavations (begun in 1931) have revealed that an advanced culture flourished here c. 200 b.c., in the Valley ofOaxaca The Valley of Oaxaca is a geographic region located within the modern day State of Oaxaca in southern Mexico. The valley, which is located within the Sierra Madre Mountains, is shaped like a distorted and almost upside-down “Y,” with each of its arms bearing specific , Mexico, he discovered one of the most richly furnished tombsever found in the Americas (Caso 1932). Although most of the tomb'selaborate contents, including metal objects, pertained to thePostclassic period, just prior to the Spanish conquest (AD 1520), thesubterranean chamber itself was constructed and first used much earlier,during the Late Classic period (c. AD 600-900). The remains of at leastnine individuals were found, yet femora fem��o��ra?n.A plural of femur. were over-represented (Rubin dela Borbolla 1969). Three of the human femora, which seemingly did notbelong to any of the nine individuals, were cut and painted (Caso1969:60-61). Drawing on Sahagun's accounts of Aztec practices(Sahagun 2.22; Anderson & Dibble 1950-82), Caso interpreted theextra painted femora as war trophies that belonged to the principal tomboccupant. Decades later in the eastern (Tlacolula) arm of the Valley ofOaxaca, another Late Classic period tomb (Tomb 6) was excavated atLambityeco (Rabin 1970; Lind 2003; Lind & Urcid 2010). The boneassemblage inside the tomb was scattered and incomplete, with only threeof 12 femora present for the six individuals who were interred (Lind& Urcid 1983, 2010: 174-6). The subterranean tomb, which wasassociated with a palatial pa��la��tial?adj.1. Of or suitable for a palace: palatial furnishings.2. Of the nature of a palace, as in spaciousness or ornateness: a palatial yacht. residence, was adorned by modelled friezesthat displayed the faces of marital pairs, who have been viewed as asequence of local rulers, probably buried in the tomb. Two male figuresin the friezes carry femora that have been interpreted as symbols ofoffice legitimising noble descent from their immediate forebears (Rabin1970; Lind & Urcid 1983, 2010: 153-62; Miller 1995; Marcus 2006:225-6). These two interpretations outline distinct practices for obtainingfemora, one through the sacrifice of war captives, whose bones were thenused as trophies, and the other involving the removal and curation ofbones taken from the interments of honoured or venerated ancestors. Bothcustoms illustrate the symbolic significance associated with human bonein pre-Hispanic Mesoamerica. Yet does the evidence associated with theseelaborate burials sustain two different explanations? Given the clearimportance of the principal individual interred in Tomb 7 (Marcus 1983),is it possible that data accrued since Caso's discovery now makethe interpretation advanced for Lambityeco a better fit for Tomb 7 thanCaso's reliance on an Aztec analogy, especially since the mostcommon war trophies were defleshed heads and not femora (e.g. Berryman2007: 380)? In this paper we present findings from a recent excavation at theMitla Fortress, in the Tlacolula arm of the Valley of Oaxaca (nearLambityeco), which yielded new evidence relevant to the two alternativeinterpretations of curated human femora (Figure 1). At the fortress, weexcavated an extended burial that was complete except for one missingfemur femur(fē`mər): see leg. . The bone was clearly retrieved well after initial interment,probably by a descendant. The context of the burial at the fortress inconjunction with the depictions of femora at Lambityeco lead us toquestion Caso's interpretation for the presence of the paintedfemora in Tomb 7 and to propose that those were also symbols oflegitimacy associated with venerated ancestors of the interred ratherthan war trophies. The importance of femora A common belief across pre-Hispanic Mesoamerica was that anindividual's power--good or bad--was concentrated in the femur orthighbone thigh��bonen.See femur. (Klein 2002; Marcus 2006). The earliest example ofcuratedfemora accompanying an elaborate burial context dates to c. AD 100 atChiapa de Corzo Chiapa de Corzo may refer to: Chiapa de Corzo (Mesoamerican site) - a Mesomerican archaeological site located in the Chiapas highlands, Mexico Chiapa de Corzo, Chiapas - the modern township and municipality, central Chiapas, Mexico , where two sets of worked human femora were recoveredwith an individual in Tomb 1 (Agrinier 1960). In a much later TerminalClassic burial at Ek Balam in the northern Maya lowlands, the interredruler held a human femur on which a carved glyph A displayed or printed image. In typography, a glyph may be a single letter, an accent mark or a ligature. See grapheme. (character) glyph - An image used in the visual representation of characters; roughly speaking, how a character looks. A font is a set of glyphs. identifies the physicalbone as belonging to a specific individual, thought to be theruler's father (Grube et al. 2003; Fitzsimmons 2009: 169). In art, human femora are also placed in the hands of powerfullords. For example, Stela 1 at Aguas Calientes illustrates anelaborately adorned ruler with a carved human femur in his left hand(Morley 1937: pl. 50, 99). Beyond the Maya region at Terminal ClassicCacaxtla, in Puebla, a famous polychrome pol��y��chrome?adj.1. Having many or various colors; polychromatic.2. Made or decorated in many or various colors: polychrome tiles.n. mural features an ornatelyattired elite figure carrying a femur splashed with red dots (Foncerrada1993: pl. XII). [FIGURE 1 OMITTED] Several contexts from which femora may have been extracted havebeen excavated in the Maya region. During the Late Preclassic, thecentre of Tikal underwent a major expansion a few decades before thedeath of an important ruler (c. AD 75) (Jones 1991: 107). Thisindividual was interred in a tomb (Burial 85) that was missing femora atthe time of excavation (Welsh 1988: 84). Haviland (1967) has argued thatthe male found in Burial 85 may represent the beginning of a distinctruling lineage at Tikal. The femora removed from this burial may laterhave been wielded as symbols of legitimacy by the descendants of theinterred. Likewise, at El Peru-Waka, the richly accompanied Late Classictomb of a royal woman was missing its cranium cranium:see skull. and both femora (Lee etal. 2004). In contrast, for the Aztec, the context of the retrieval processfor human femora relates more directly to war, human sacrifice human sacrificeOffering of the life of a human being to a god. In some ancient cultures, the killing of a human being, or the substitution of an animal for a person, was an attempt to commune with the god and to participate in the divine life. , andrituals associated with the well being and commemoration of warriors(not exclusively of high rank or status). Victorious Aztec warriorsremoved the femora of sacrificed captives and kept them as war trophies(Sahagun 222; Anderson & Dibble 1950-82). The possession of thefemur from a vanquished foe was a sign of military valour. The beliefwas that femora provided protection for their new owners, kept at homewhere the warriors' wives prayed for the safety of their spouseswhile they were away at war (Klein 2002). In central and west Mexico during the Late Postclassic period (AD1300-1520), human femora were worked into musical instruments (Pereira2005). Rattles and drumsticks were fashioned from the bones of recentlydispatched sacrificial victims or enemies killed during battle (Pereira2005) and were decorated with a series of notched grooves or elaboratecarvings (von Winning 1959; Klein 2002; McVicker 2005). A key use ofthese instruments was to provide musical accompaniment for the funeralsof fallen warriors (von Winning 1959; Klein 2002). These examples provide two distinct customary pathways for theprocurement and use of pre-Hispanic Mesoamerican femora. In the latter,war trophies were obtained following the butchering of fresh cadaversand were used in rituals, including later funerary fu��ner��ar��y?adj.Of or suitable for a funeral or burial.[Latin fner practices, associatedwith victorious warriors. In the former, femora were retrieved (after aninterval) from the burials of key genealogical figures and wielded asrevered symbols of dynastic continuity. Clearly, both means to secure(postmortem postmortem/post��mor��tem/ (post-mort��im) performed or occurring after death. post��mor��temadj.Relating to or occurring during the period after death.n.See autopsy. ) and symbolically employ femora were practised inpre-Hispanic Mesoamerica. Our evidential ev��i��den��tial?adj. LawOf, providing, or constituting evidence: evidential material.ev challenge is to decide whichset of customs best aligns with each archaeological case. For example,regarding the Cacaxtla murals, the femur has been interpreted as comingfrom a slain captive (Miller 2007: 180), in part because the muralsillustrate a military battle. Yet we have no independent information toestablish that the femur was actually procured in that manner,especially as it is part of the adornment for a victorious lord whoseaccomplishments are displayed in the mural to promote his legitimacy andpower. We now turn to a discussion of Lambityeco, where we can interweavedual streams of data--from carved tomb facades and missingthighbones--to support the use of human femora as curated heirlooms andsymbols of authority. Lambityeco By the Middle Classic period (c. AD 500), Monte Alban had long beenthe political and demographic centre of the Valley of Oaxaca. Althoughthe city monopolised the display of writing in civic-ceremonial settingsuntil that time (Marcus 1989, 1992, 2006), there are relatively fewdepictions of leaders to accompany the written media. By the LateClassic, as Monte Alban began to lose power, the city no longermaintained a monopoly on written texts, and art depicting powerfulindividuals began to appear at second-tier sites across the region,including Lambityeco. Emphasis was placed on personal biography and thebilateral ancestry of high-status individuals as exemplified bygenealogical registers (Marcus 1992, 2006; Urcid 1992, 2003; Urcid etal. 1994; Masson & Orr 1998). The scenes have been recorded at MonteAlban, but also possibly at as many as a dozen other valley sites.Through time, local rulers and settlements began to assert greaterautonomy. By the end of the Classic period, the reins of political powerhad partly diffused from Monte Alban (Winter 2001: 297). With the shift of political influence away from Monte Alban and thevesting of some of that power in local nobles, there was a rise ofruling lineages in Tlacolula. One of those lineages is portrayed in aseries of friezes associated with Tomb 6 at Lambityeco (Figure 2). Aruling couple is portrayed as two faces, modelled in lime plaster, whichwere placed in the facade above the tomb's entrance (Rabin 1970:fig. 18). Other generations of marital pairs are shown in two modelledfriezes that flank the tomb, one to the south and one to the north(Marcus 2006: 225-6; Lind & Urcid 2010:157-62). The male in eachfrieze frieze,in architecture, the member of an entablature between the architrave and the cornice or any horizontal band used for decorative purposes. In the first type the Doric frieze alternates the metope and the triglyph; that of the other orders is plain or brandishes a human femur, probably from his father, his mostimmediate male ancestor, in a display that asserts hereditary rights anddynastic continuity (Marcus 2006: 226; Lind & Urcid 2010: 157-62). The remains of six individuals were recovered from the two chambersof the Lambityeco tomb, yet nine of 12 femora were missing (Lind &Urcid 1983: 81). Only the last interred individual, a female, wascomplete, with both thighbones. The remains of the other five skeletons,thought to be her husband and his parents and grandparents, werefragmentary and disturbed by subsequent re-entering of the tomb as eachindividual was interred (Lind & Urcid 1983, 2010: 175-7). Based ontheir size and robustness, the missing femora were almost certainlyextracted intentionally. Many bones in addition to the femora were notaccounted for, especially small hand and foot bones, which are not asdurable (Lind & Urcid 2010: 175-77). The drawing of the burials(Lind 2003: fig. 7) shows only one extended, complete individual; theremains of the other individuals were scattered and partial, making itless clear exactly when and how the femora were removed. The humanremains in two other elaborate tombs at Lambityeco (Tombs 2 & 3)were more complete, yet among the missing elements in those multipleinterments are two femora from each tomb (Lind & Urcid 1983: tab.1). For Tomb 2 (Paddock et al. 1968: fig. 16), the map reveals piledbones and no extended, articulated individuals. [FIGURE 2 OMITTED] The most straightforward explanation for the Lambityeco tombs isthat the femora were extracted post-interment (Lind & Urcid 2010:171-82), yet this cannot be established definitively. Because of thelarge number of individuals interred in the Lambityeco tombs, theyappear to have been opened and reused numerous times, increasing theopportunity for bones to be crushed or lost (e.g. Middleton et al.1998). The state of preservation of the human remains in the tombs doesnot provide clear evidence of a donor context in which a specificindividual's femur was removed for subsequent use as a curatedheirloom. But during excavations on a residential terrace at the MitlaFortress, 12km east of Lambityeco, we uncovered and documented such adonor context. Burial 13 at the Mitla Fortress The Mitla Fortress is situated on a steep rocky hill Rocky Hill,town (1990 pop. 16,554), Hartford co., central Conn., a suburb of Hartford, on the Connecticut River; settled c.1650, inc. 1843. Chemical coatings and synthetic textiles are made there. Rocky Hill was an important river port from 1700 to 1820. approximately2km west of Mitla, in the extreme eastern end of the Valley of Oaxaca.Although the fortress is best known for huge stone walls that ring thesummit of the hill, the site was more than just a defensible location ormilitary garrison. The stone walls were added late in the occupationalhistory of the site, and for most of the Classic and Postclassic periodsthe Mitla Fortress was a residential community, with hundreds of housesspread across artificially flattened terraces on the slopes andridgetops of the hill (Figure 3) (Feinman & Nicholas 2004). Publicarchitecture was constructed on the hill's summit, in the arealater enclosed by the huge defensive walls. [FIGURE 3 OMITTED] In the spring of 2009, we excavated one residential terrace at thefortress (Terrace 56; T56 on Figure 3) that is situated below thedefensive walls at the top of the hill (Feinman & Nicholas 2009). Weexposed a sequence of four superimposed house floors that were occupiedfrom the middle/late part of the Classic period to the Early Postclassic(c. AD 500-1200). In association with the domestic remains on theterrace we uncovered 16 burial contexts that included 22 individuals.The placement of burials in domestic contexts, especially under housefloors and in patios, was a common practice in pre-Hispanic Oaxaca (e.g.Winter 1974). [FIGURE 4 OMITTED] The earliest male burial on the terrace was number 13, an adult of44-50 years of age, who was interred at the start or during theoccupation of the lowest (earliest) house (Figure 4). This individualwas buried under the floor of the north-east corner room in arectangular burial cist constructed of adobe bricks, the most formalmortuary context associated with the earliest occupation. As we excavated the burial, it became clear that it had beenreopened and disturbed during the subsequent remodelling of the house.The top of the burial was covered with a layer of broken adobe bricksthat appear to have formed the original cover of the grave. The brickslining the sides of the cist had not been disturbed and were still ingood condition. Right above the broken bricks we found part of theindividual's maxilla maxilla/max��il��la/ (mak-sil��ah) pl. maxil��las, maxil��lae ? [L.] the irregularly shaped bone that with its fellow forms the upper jaw. max��illary max��il��lan. pl. and other skull fragments as well as a fewother small bones, all clearly out of place (Figure 5). Once we removedthis upper layer and all the broken bricks, we found the rest of theskeleton. The body was mostly articulated and complete, although theupper body and skull had been disturbed when the burial was initiallyreopened in the past (Figure 6). The mandible mandible/man��di��ble/ (man��di-b'l) the horseshoe-shaped bone forming the lower jaw, articulating with the skull at the temporomandibular joint.mandib��ular man��di��blen. was still near itsexpected position, directly above several articulated cervicalvertebrae In vertebrates, cervical vertebrae (singular: vertebra) are those vertebrae immediately behind (caudal to) the skull. Variation among speciesIn some species, some parts of the skull may be composed of vertebra-like elements, e.g. . Except for a few hand and foot bones, however, the only largebone missing was the right femur. The entire left leg and foot and the lower part of the right legwere well preserved and still articulated in the correct anatomicalposition anatomical positionn.The erect position of the body with the face directed forward, the arms at the side, and the palms of the hands facing forward, used as a reference in describing the relation of body parts to one another. , indicating that the femur was removed after some postmorteminterval, after decomposition was complete (Figure 7). The upper bodywas more disturbed than the lower body. Consequently, the people whoopened the grave probably knew the general location of the subfloorburial but not how the body was laid out or precisely where the femurwas; this implies a degree of generational lag between the initialinterment and the reopening of the grave. At the same time, thecompleteness of the rest of the burial indicates that the effort torevisit the grave was directed explicitly at the extraction of thefemur. [FIGURE 5 OMITTED] [FIGURE 6 OMITTED] [FIGURE 7 OMITTED] Some care was taken to close up the burial after the femur wasremoved. Included in the initial grave offerings were two large ceramicvessels, a jar and a bowl. The jar was made of coarse paste and wasburnt, so it may have already broken prior to the reopening; it was leftin its original position. The bowl had been placed next to the lefttibia tibia:see leg. (Figure 8). It appears to have broken in half during the reopeningof the cist, and the broken piece was carefully placed above theindividual's lower legs before the cist was resealed under therebuilt house floor. The broken adobe bricks that once covered theburial were placed back in the cist, and the maxilla and other skullfragments were left in the fill above where the femur was removed. Asmall ceramic plate Ceramic plates (also known as trauma plates) are commonly used as inserts in soft body armour. Most ceramic plates used in the body armour industry can protect against a NIJ level III and IV with a IIIA vest supporting. Ceramic plates are a form of composite armour. was then added to this fill above the body. Allthese actions indicate a reverence for the interred individual,consistent with the view that those opening the cist were hisdescendants. The rebuilding of the house in the exact same location,with the same basic floor plan, and the continuity in material culturewith later occupations, also suggests continuity in the familialassociations of the terrace's residents. We found no indicationsthat the femur was removed as an act of disrespect as the burial wasminimally disturbed during the femur's removal and a new offeringwas made in its place. Based on the small size and the nature of the domestic architectureand the associated material remains, the excavated house on Terrace 56was small, not a palace or the residence of a high-status family (e.g.palaces at El Palmillo El Palmillo is a Mesoamerican Classic Period archaeological site located in the Valley of Oaxaca, associated with the pre-Columbian Zapotec civilization which was centered in the valley and the surrounding highlands of the present-day state of Oaxaca, Mexico. [Feinman et al. 2008], Monte Alban [Flannery1983], or Lambityeco [Lind & Urcid 2010]). Architecturally theresidence is similar to commoner houses that have been excavated atMonte Alban (Winter 1974) and El Palmillo (Feinman et al. 2002). Thelack of a formal tomb provides further indication of lower status(Winter 1974). Yet it was situated in the middle of one of the longeststrings of residential terraces at the Mitla Fortress, with other(unexcavated) domestic terraces to both the east and west. At the frontedge of Terrace 56, a huge bedrock boulder provided a great lookout orvantage in three directions. We suspect that the sequences of houses onthis terrace may have been associated with the residence of the head ofa ward or neighbourhood. Burial 13 was the earliest adult male intermenton the terrace and the most formal mortuary context that was associatedwith its occupation. Although this individual was not a ruler or ofunequivocally high status, he may have been a founding member of ahousehold group that continued to occupy this rather central locationover time; as such his descendants retrieved his femur as a physicalmanifestation of ancestry. [FIGURE 8 OMITTED] Implications for Tomb 7 at Monte Alban How does this new information affect the interpretation of theextra femora that were recovered inside Tomb 7 at Monte Alban? We nowhave evidence that a femur was removed from an important burial in theabsence of any indications of conflict. The care with which the femurwas removed is more consistent with a curated heirloom than a militarytrophy. At Monte Alban, the principal individual buried in Tomb 7 wasclearly an important person (Caso 1969; Rubin de la Borbolla 1969;Marcus 1983; Hamann 1997), who was accompanied by more than 500 exoticitems, including: gold pectorals, beads and lip plugs; objects of jade,turquoise and obsidian; bowls of silver and rock crystal; a trophy skullcovered with turquoise mosaic and a series of intricately carved bones(Caso 1969). The scenes on the bones record details of genealogy andhistorical events, such as marriage, conquest and royal descent This article or section deals primarily with the United Kingdom and does not represent a worldwide view of the subject.Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page. (Marcus1983), principal trappings of rule in Postclassic Oaxaca. Thisindividual would appear to represent a 'femur recipient' whocarried the femora of revered ancestors as symbols of his right to rule,like the scenes represented in the Lambityeco friezes. These heirloomswere then interred with him at death (as described for Ek Balam). When Tomb 7 was discovered, Caso's (1969) interpretation ofthe cut and painted femora as war trophies, drawing on Sahagun'sAztec example, was a reasonable inference. Today, after more than 70years and with evidence from Classic period Oaxaca, his analogy-basedsuggestion requires reconsideration. The Lambityeco friezes and themissing femora at both the Mitla Fortress and Lambityeco point to analternative set of practices associated with the retrieval and curationof human thighbones postmortem. Given the exalted status of Tomb7's central figure and the way femora were used during the LateClassic period in the Valley of Oaxaca, continuity in this traditioninto the later Postclassic period seems far more likely today thanCaso's Aztec analogy. Conclusion Although femora have been recorded as missing in other burialcontexts, in Oaxaca and elsewhere in Mesoamerica, those burials werepoorly preserved. Individual skeletons were not complete and other boneswere missing as well, so it was impossible to know when or how thefemora were removed or if they were part of a primary burial context.Burial 13 at the Mitla Fortress provides documentation of a clear donorcontext in which the descendants of an important person carefullyreopened his burial cist well after death to extract theindividual's right femur. This finding provides material supportfor the process of femur removal that was earlier hypothesised forLambityeco. Such curation of human femora has largely been considered anactivity associated exclusively with rulers or those of high status. Yetthe residence excavated at the Mitla Fortress was not such a context,and so the removal of femora (at least in the Late Classic period Valleyof Oaxaca) may not have been a practice limited to rulers. Theindividual missing his femur at the Fortress may have been aneighbourhood head and/or a lineage founder, who was revered by hisdescendants. They may have removed his femur in an effort to establishtheir status in at least the confines of their local community. Femora were symbolically important body parts in pre-HispanicMesoamerica that were procured and curated through at least two distinctprocesses. One path was associated with warfare; victors taking thethighbone of vanquished or sacrificed captives right after battle ordeath, displaying them at home, and appealing to the bones forprotection, as described for the Aztec. The other means retrieved thebones from burials, with the femora removed from long deceased ancestorsand wielded as symbols of lineal That which comes in a line, particularly a direct line, as from parent to child or grandparent to grandchild. LINEAL. That which comes in a line. Lineal consanguinity is that which subsists between persons, one of whom is descended in a direct line from the other. descent, as documented for the ClassicMaya and the Late Classic in the Valley of Oaxaca. It is perhapssignificant that these two contrasting practices regarding femora wereassociated with different organisational or politico-economic contexts.The symbolic role of femora in Late Classic Oaxaca associated withlineal descent and legitimacy occurred at a time when Monte Alban wasdeclining in power and local ruling families were starting to exertgreater autonomy. In the valley, organisational strategies were changingfrom the more corporate formations that were long practised at MonteAlban to more exclusionary practices, based on personal networks (e.g.Blanton et al. 1996; Feinman 1999). Personal and lineal networks werealso important for the Classic Maya. In contrast, the use of femora as war trophies, recorded for theAztec, is not related to lineal descent or the legitimacy of specificheirs; rather their activities employed human femora in more domesticand society-focused practices, such as musical performances at funeralsand domestic rituals enacted by wives to bring their warrior husbandshome safely. Such customs crosscut wide spheres of society and were notrestricted to those aiming to legitimate their individual status. Basedon these differences in broader societal context, the Tomb 7 femora toowould seem to be heirlooms associated with political legitimacy ratherthan military trophies. Acknowledgements Our research at the Mitla Fortress would not have been possiblewithout the help and support of the Instituto Nacional de Antropologia eHistoria, the Centro Regional de Oaxaca (INAH INAH Instituto Nacional de Antropolog��a e Historia (Spanish: National Institute of Anthropology and History, Mexico)INAH I Need A Hug ), the Field Museum and themunicipal and communal land-holding authorities of San Pablo Villa deMitla San Pablo Villa de Mitla is a municipality (municipio) and township in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico, located approximately 45 km (28mi) by road from the state's capital, the city of Oaxaca. . We also thank all the members of our field and laboratory crews,several anonymous reviewers, Jill Seagard and Dr Joyce Marcus Joyce Marcus is a well known American archaeologist, who has published extensively in the field of Latin American archaeological research. 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American Antiquity 25: 86-93. WELSH, W.B.M. 1988. An analysis of Classic lowland Maya burials(British Archaeological Reports International series 409). Oxford:British Archaeological Reports. WINTER, M. 1974. Residential patterns at Monte Alban, Oaxaca,Mexico. Science 186: 981-7. --2001. Palacios, templos, y 1300 anos de vida urbana en MonteAlban, in A. Ciudad Ruiz, M. Iglesias Ponce de Leon Ponce de Le����n? , Juan 1460-1521.Spanish explorer who sailed with Columbus on his second voyage (1493-1494) and discovered Florida (1513) while looking for the legendary Fountain of Youth.Noun 1. . & M. del C.Martinez Martinez (ed.) Reconstruyendo la ciudad Maya: el urbanismo enlas sociedades antiguas (Publicaciones de la Sociedad Espanola deEstudios Mayas 6): 277-301. Madrid: Sociedad Espanola de Estudios Mayas. Gary M. Feinman (1), Linda M. Nicholas (1) & Lindsey C. Baker(2) (1) Department of Anthropology, The Field Museum, 1400 S. LakeShore Drive Lake Shore Drive (colloquially referred to as LSD or simply Lake Shore) is a mostly freeway-standard expressway running parallel with and next to Lake Michigan through Chicago, Illinois, USA. , Chicago, IL 60605-2496, USA (Email:gfeinman@fieldmuseum.org; lnicholas@fieldmuseum.org) (2) Department ofAnthropology--4502, Southern Illinois University,Carbondale, IL 62901, USA (Email: lbaker@siu.edu)

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