Yucatan (Other Keyword)
1-18 (18 Records)
In Yucatan at the turn of the twentieth century, industrialization of henequen production and the export of binder twine heightened socioeconomic inequality and encouraged consumption of non-local manufactured items within native communities. Yet, the official history of capitalist expansion and globalization in Latin America has been written by and for the dominant class. Often, the material record shows that new and traditional technologies were appropriated in particular ways by poor people...
Comparing Labor Regimes: Debt Peons in the Northeastern Yucatan versus Free Laborers in British Honduras (2017)
In this paper I compare the working conditions and cultural material found at a cluster of three sites in the northeast corner of the Mexican Yucatán Peninsula, to those at San Pedro Siris in the Cayo District of then British Honduras. The people in both areas contended with more militant Maya groups that were unhappy with improved relations with Mexican and British Honduran authorities respectively. Similar workplace dangers confronted both the lumber workers at San Pedro Siris and the...
Considering Form and Meaning in Maya Mural Painting (2016)
The French sociolinguist Roger Chartier argues that “form produces meaning”: the physical arrangement and presentation of a text will influence a reader’s reception of it (2004). In other words, the process by which a reader assigns a text meaning, consciously or not, depends as much on the material or physical form through which the text was published, distributed and received as on its semantic content (Chartier 2004: 147). Elements such as format, layout, scale, and color give a text status,...
Ethnoarchaeology, Domesticity, and Place Making among the Maya (2017)
Using an ethnoarchaeological approach, this paper explores the nature of the domestic built environment of rural Yucatan. Data from four Maya communities is used to assess the various mechanisms involved in the design and use of household architecture and test the assumption of cultural continuity in Maya housing from the ancient past to modern times. Geographic Information system-based analysis revealed spatial variations in number, shape, and construction materials of structures. Assessment of...
Food and Foodways at Sihó, Yucatán: Understanding Socioeconomic Diversity (2017)
In the past as in the present, foodways and cuisine have been expressions of identity and status. Different social strata had different access to natural resources and offer a variety of material expressions related to food, preparation and service, from grinding stones to exquisite art works. In Classic Maya society, some foodstuffs such as cacao, were mentioned and painted in beautiful elite wares, as well as in murals and carvings. At Sihó, Yucatán, archaeological projects developed by the...
Has anyone heard from Scott Fedick? (2015)
Scott Fedick co-founded the Yalahau Regional Human Ecology Project in 1993, and his cross disciplinary approach continues to influence both his colleagues and students. This paper provides an overview of how Fedick’s mentorship and scholarship shaped and guided the research of two former students at various sites in the Yalahau region, and how this research has led to a deeper understanding of the settlement patterns during the Preclassic/Classic transition and into the recent historic...
Household Ecology and the Legacy of the Secondary Products Revolution in Yucatán (2016)
In this paper, we examine the changes in household ecology that resulted from the introduction of European domesticates to Yucatán after the Spanish invasion. New animals and plants were not adopted wholesale as a Euroagrarian suite in the sixteenth century. Instead, heterogeneous practices took root in highly altered demographic and environmental settings. Ecosystems were re-engineered as animals moved into new anthropogenic niches. We compare archaeological and ethnoarchaeological evidence of...
Identifying Farming Strategies within Changing Regional Contexts at Tahcabo, Yucatán (2017)
Colonial- and national-period studies of agricultural practices in Yucatán can provide useful case studies to address current theoretical concerns in political ecology. Perspectives on livelihood strategies today are broadly comparable to household-level studies of economic activities accessible through archaeology, especially given historical archaeology’s attention to market integration and technological innovations. The time depth available through archaeological study complements...
LA FOTOGRAFÍA AÉREA CON DRON COMO UNA HERRAMIENTA PARA EL REGISTRO DEL PATRIMONIO HISTÓRICO DE YUCATÁN (2017)
Desde hace muchos años, la fotografía aérea ha sido de vital importancia para el desarrollo de la arqueología. Hoy en día, su uso es tan común que podríamos considerarla una herramienta elemental dentro del trabajo arqueológico, ya sea en la etapa de registro, excavación o análisis. El surgimiento de los Vehículos Aéreos No Tripulados (UAVs o drones), trajo consigo la capacidad de obtener fotografías aéreas de espacios o elementos específicos en poco tiempo y a bajo costo, generando mayores...
Legacies of Resistance in Postcolonial Yucatán (2018)
The Caste War of Yucatán (1847-1901) is widely regarded a "successful" revitalization movement in the Americas. Construction of historical memories that emerged from the golden age of peasant studies in anthropology highlight redress of colonialism’s socioeconomic disparities, the birth of a new religion, and return to traditional lifeways, which recall the glories of the prehispanic era. But what is the basis of these interpretations? Were the entangled social, economic, political, and...
Life is Bittersweet: The Rise and Fall of the Sugarcane and Rum Industry in the Nineteenth Century (2016)
The Nineteenth Century in the Yucatán Peninsula was a period of major transition. Amidst the backdrop of colonialism, slavery, indentured servitude, and an indigenous revolt during the Caste War (1847-1901), foreign and local residents of the remote region of northern Quintana Roo engaged in small-scale commodity industries such as sugarcane farming and rum making. While workers dealt with harsh and dangerous conditions, they also had access to an unusual array of cosmopolitan luxury goods...
Ours and Theirs: Chapels and Community Dynamics at Rancho Kiuic, Yucatán, México (2017)
Drawing on recent excavation and oral history data from the site of Rancho Kiuic, this paper will compare information related to two chapels located within the community. Formerly known as San Sebastián, the community functioned from the late Colonial to National periods as a ranching operation occupied by several generations of Maya-speaking landowners and laborers. Though the two chapels (Capillas I and II) share a number of structural and temporal characteristics, their respective locations,...
Patrones de desecho en los grupos domésticos de la Hacienda San Pedro Cholul. (2015)
A partir de 2009 la Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán ha realizado exploraciones arqueológicas al interior de la hacienda henequenera San Pedro Cholul, teniendo como principal enfoque el estudio de la vida cotidiana de los antiguos pobladores. Como parte del proyecto, hasta el momento se han intervenido 3 solares habitacionales y sus respectivas viviendas. Mediante la recolección de superficie y la excavación de dichos espacios se han recuperado diversos elementos materiales que nos han permitido...
(Re)integrating Cultures at Cacalchen: Recent Excavations at Two Rral Chapels in Central Yucatan (2017)
The arrival of Europeans to the Americas in the sixteenth century forever changed processes of cultural integration. This paper explores how small Maya communities in Central Yucatan navigated the process of integration of new religious practices and the use of pre-existing structures in the landscape. This examination stems from recent excavations of two different rural chapel structures at the site of Cacalchen, located in the greater Yaxuna region between the towns of Yaxcabá and...
Rights to Land and Labor in Yucatán during Pre-Conquest and Colonial Times (2016)
Land and labor are particularly integral to agrarian economies. The extent to which either is exchanged, sold, inherited, or privatized can shape the dynamics of hierarchy, habitation, and migration as well as exchange. The diverse perspectives on Yucatec possession of land—from assertions of private property to denial of property as a relevant concept—are reviewed for both pre-Conquest and Colonial times. Relevant data include land plot demarcations, historical documentation of land struggles,...
Satunsat Revisited: Comprehensive Digital Documentation of an Architectural Cave at Oxkintok, Yucatan (2017)
Satunsat, or the Labyrinth, at Oxkintok is one of the most unique structures in the Maya lowlands. Inside this otherwise unremarkable terraced building platform are interconnected vaulted passageways that span three levels. In addition to functioning as an observatory, Satunsat has also been interpreted as a symbolic cave, and was in fact referred to as a cave by the residents of Maxcanu during the 19th century. The phenomenon of architectural caves is well documented and lies along the...
Tula 2014: Reexamining Ball Court 2 through Cross-Cultural Comparisons with the Yucatan (2015)
The Proyecto de Investigación, Conservación y Mantenimiento para la Zona Arqueológica de Tula 2014, directed by Dr. Robert Cobean focused on the restoration of Ball Court 2. Today, the three major ceremonial centers exposed at Tula are the Palacio Quemado, Pyramid B and Pyramid C; these structures form an L-shape that faces the Adoratorio situated in the center of the plaza. The positioning and architectural dimensions of Ball Court 2 in Tula’s main precinct are almost exact with the largest...
Understanding Residential Space through Soil Chemistry in the Northern Maya Lowlands (2015)
Soil chemistry in the Northern Maya Lowlands has been an effective method at a variety of sites and in a range of contexts such as households, ballcourts, causeways, and ceremonial plazas. Recent chemical analyses of the Ucí-Cansahcab Regional integration Project (UCRIP) also revealed that the soils of the Yucatán, México, are testable using the in-field Olsen bicarbonate method to measure levels of extractable inorganic phosphate. When supplemented with distributional analyses of artifacts on...