Monumentality by Communities. Mapping the Spatial Logic of the Pre-Hispanic Site Aguas Buenas (AD 400-1600) in Central Nicaragua

Persistent URL of this record https://hdl.handle.net/1887/60957

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Archaeology (research) (MA/MSc)

Dita, Auziņa (2018)

Monumentality by Communities. Mapping the Spatial Logic of the Pre-Hispanic Site Aguas Buenas (AD 400-1600) in Central Nicaragua

Research master thesis | Archaeology (research) (MA/MSc)

Aguas Buenas is a site containing mounds and rock carvings in central Nicaragua. There are 371 mounds situated over a 28-hectare area with a complicated topography in a semi-geometrical pattern. Thus far, the use, precise dating and the means of the site’s construction are known. However, in this thesis it is argued that it is a monumental site. This thesis presents the result of six months of fieldwork in Aguas Buenas, methodology, and results of the site survey and advanced mapping process, leading to the development of a Digital Elevation Model of the site and site feature databases. By applying a GIS-based methodology and the principles of phenomenology, and analysing the results in the context of the contemporary discussion on monumentality, several questions related to the building processes at Aguas Buenas and the experiences at the site are addressed. Areas that present a different spatial logic are offered, suggesting the site’s development and use in phases.

Lower Central America

pre-Hispanic