Ancient Mesoamerican Population History

Adrian S. Z. Chase is a Mesoamerican archaeologist who is currently at the University of Chicago as a Mansueto Institute postdoctoral fellow and Department of Anthropology postdoctoral scholar. Arlen F. Chase is a Mesoamerican archaeologist who is currently a professor in the Department of Comparative Cultural Studies at the University of Houston and is a co-editor of The Materialization of Time in the Ancient Maya World.Diane Z. Chase is a Mesoamerican archaeologist who is currently provost at the University of Houston and a co-editor (with Arlen F. Chase) of Mesoamerican Elites: An Archaeological Assessment.

• DedicationForewordList of FiguresList of TablesI. The Present1. Arlen F. Chase, Diane Z. Chase, and Adrian S.Z. Chase – Archaeological Population Studiesin MesoamericaII. Urban Considerations2. Barbara Arroyo and Javier Estrada – The Population of Kaminaljuyu, Guatemala during the Preclassic Period: New Perspectives and Considerations3. Adrian S.Z. Chase, Elyse D.Z. Chase, Diane Z. Chase, and Arlen F. Chase – Population History for Caracol, Belize: Numbers, Complexity, and Urbanism4. Travis W. Stanton, Scott R. Hutson, and Traci Ardren – People, Pixels, and Points per Square Meter: Using Lidar to Estimate Populations at Coba, Quintana RooIII. Maya Regional Considerations5. Scott R. Hutson – Population Estimates and Population Movement in Northwest Yucatan, Mexico6. M. Charlotte Arnauld, Eva Lemonnier, and Julien Hiquet – Classic Maya Population History as Seen from Rio Bec, Campeche, Mexico7. Rodrigo Liendo Stuardo, Javier López Mejía, and Gerardo Jiménez Delgado – Ancient Population History in the Palenque Region: The Problem of the Selection of Population Proxies8. Marcello A. Canuto and Luke Auld-Thomas – Greater than the Sum of Its Surveyed Parts: Reconstructing the Population of Late Classic Peten with Updated Methods and New DataIV. Central Mexican Regional Considerations9. Larry J. Gorenflo, Ian G. Robertson, and Deborah Nichols – The Basin of Mexico: Revisiting Prehispanic Population10. Gary M. Feinman – Prehispanic Population Estimates for the Valley of Oaxaca11. Christopher A. Pool and Michael L. Loughlin – Reconstructing Population Histories in the Gulf Lowlands: Review and ProspectV. The Future12. Jeremy A. Sabloff – Some Comments on Major issues in the Study of Ancient Mesoamerican Population Estimates13. Adrian S.Z. Chase and José Lobo – The Future of Mesoamerican Settlement Archaeology and Urban Science

“Chase et al. have brought together archaeologists working in the arid highlands and the rainforest lowland of Mesoamerica, where the landscape has traditionally meant radically different field methods were used for survey. The papers include insightful discussions of how population estimates are made from surface scatters of artifacts in highland Mesoamerica (and some areas of the northern YucatÁn) and from transect survey and test excavations in the lowlands. The papers will challenge current and future researchers to refine chronologies by including radiocarbon dating, to refine interpretations of mounds in population estimates, and to reevaluate sampling strategies now that LiDAR allows complete coverage of sites and regions. The detailed descriptions of settlement pattern research underscore the varied approaches to common problems of identifying housemounds, houses, family size, and ultimately demographic changes over time.”—Heather McKillop, author of Maya Salt Works