Classic Maya (Other Keyword)
1-25 (28 Records)
In the course of 13 field seasons, archaeologists have carried out 23 operations across the ruined city of El Perú-Waka’. During these investigations, excavators recovered upwards of a million ceramic sherds from a wide variety of contexts; palaces, pyramids, residences, sheet middens, construction fill, ritual deposits, spoil piles, termination deposits, votive deposits, surface collections, burials, caches, and tombs. The excavation contexts are good enough, the quality of preservation...
Classic Maya Politics and the Spirit of Place: Controlling Architectural Discourse at Uxul, Campeche, Mexico (2017)
Settlements are both product and site of innumerable, multi-layered, and constantly changing interactions between humans and the material world. At any given moment, the quintessence of a place reflects the prevailing meanings that are associated with it. In this sense, quintessence is inextricably linked to power—over discourse, material, and space. This talk explores the role played by political power in defining the character of the Classic Maya settlement of Uxul, Campeche, Mexico. After...
Climate Change, Dissonance and Urban Diaspora in the Southern Maya Lowlands (2015)
In response to growing needs for dry-season water, the southern lowland Maya constructed increasingly larger and more complex reservoirs at major centers throughout the Late Classic period (550-850 C.E.). Annual rainfall replenished reservoirs and nourished rainfall-dependent crops. In exchange for access to reservoirs during the annual dry season, farmers contributed goods, services and labor to kings and their administrators. When several multiyear droughts struck between 800 and 900 C.E., the...
"Commodification", Exchange, and Changes in Maya Political Economy on the Eve of the Classic Maya Collapse (2016)
Initial hypotheses on the port gateway city of Cancuen envisioned it functioning within a “normal” Classic Maya economy, albeit with a particular emphasis on import/export of sacred goods, (e.g. jade, pyrite, probably quetzal feathers). After 15 years of excavation and intensive lithic and ceramic studies, however, it appears that after 760 A.D. Cancuen shifted to a different form of economy almost entirely based on commodities production and long-distance exchange. Evidence demonstrates massive...
Controlling the Flow: Interregional Interaction, Community Prosperity, and Politics at the Highland/Pacific Frontier of Lake Atitlan, Guatemala (2017)
Lake Atitlan sits within the Sierra Madre mountain chain which represents the physical divide between the Guatemalan highlands and the Pacific lowlands. It was thus ideally situated to act as a hub for cultural and economic exchanges between these two contrasting ecological zones. The three imposing volcanoes that line its southern shore, however, severely limited options for travel between these areas and commerce and settlement thus concentrated around obvious natural corridors such as those...
Defining the Red Background Style: The Production of Object and Identity in an Ancient Maya Court (2015)
While many collections today exhibit Red Background vessels for their vibrant colors, supernatural content, and elegant hieroglyphic texts, recent scholarship has embedded these works in the greater social culture of the Late Classic Period. As highly mobile art objects, the vases appeared alongside works with other distinct painting styles in feasts throughout the Guatemalan Lowlands, where the vases would display the prestigious affiliations of the owners. The diverse narrative content on...
Detecting the functions of patios in a Classic Maya regal palace at La Corona, Guatemala. (2017)
Classic Maya regal palaces were political institutions with many functions, ranging from domestic and ceremonial to administrative. This paper presents the results of the multi-facetted study of three adjoining patios of the palace at the Classic Maya Center of La Corona, Guatemala. Research suggests that these patios, dating to final phases of occupation in the Late Classic (8th and 9th centuries AD), were open spaces dedicated to activities relating to the preparation of food, the manufacture...
Digging Ceren: Rounding up the Unusual Methods in Mesoamerican Household Archaeology (2015)
The site of Cerén, El Salvador holds a unique place for Mesoamericanists conducting household archaeology. Its extraordinary preservation fuels the imagination like few other sites can. The fragile nature of this archaeological site requires hyper-alertness, combined with methods for properly extracting and preserving information. The material remains of this deep under-earth site come to light with only the most intensive of excavation methods, many of which are unlike those commonly used at...
Dynastic traditions and patterns of ritual variation in Classic Maya writing (2015)
Inscriptions found on Classic Maya monuments largely document important historical events and record the political achievements of named royal individuals. Previous onomastic studies of these king lists identify striking patterns in naming conventions which may mark ethnic boundaries as well as signal important attributes or transitions in the life history of Classic Maya rulers. This study investigates the hypothesis that divergent dynastic traditions existed during the Classic period based...
The Flow of Knowledge: Ancient Water Systems and Mentorscapes (2016)
From his initial doctoral work at Cerros in the late 1970s to his most recent investigations in Tikal, Vernon Scarborough’s research goals have consistently used water control as an instrument to better understand social complexity. His research has spanned a period of our own history when more sustainable approaches to growth are desperately needed as access to water is of an ever increasing concern. As his student, now colleague, this paper will highlight how Vernon Scarborough and his work...
A Forest of Queens: The Legacy of Royal Calakmul Women at El Perú-Waka’s Central Civic-Ceremonial Temple (2015)
In 2012 archaeologists discovered Waka’s main civic-ceremonial temple was enshrined by numerous offerings as well as the construction of a monumental hearth and the placement of various fragments of carved stelae adorning the final platform phase. These fragments included previously unknown Stela 43 mentioning an ancestress and royal woman of Calakmul origin, Lady Ikoom. Excavations in the interior of the fronting platform revealed the tomb of Waka’s renowned Late Classic queen, Lady K’abel,...
A Good, Old-Fashioned Patio-Group Raising: Domestic Architecture as Ritual among the Classic-Period Maya (2015)
As anthropological and archaeological scholarship attests, household ritual has a potent role in forging and maintaining sociopolitical relationships both within the household as well as with the communities, cities, and states of which it forms a part. Archaeological research in the Classic Maya area has revealed evidence of feasts, ancestor veneration, dedication and termination caches, and other ritual practices taking part within the limits of the house. The most substantial remnant of...
Human-object relationships in Classic Maya contexts: Object technologies, political participants, and cultural infrastructures (2015)
This paper examines the foundational cultural infrastructure provided by seemingly quotidian objects in Classic Maya (ca. AD 250-900) contexts. These materials (things like ceramic vessels, stone benches, and mirrors) carry out prosaic tasks (e.g., containing, supporting, reflecting), but also higher-order relational work, taking on roles as non-human "persons," and as partners in social relationships. In this paper, I focus on these human-object relationships in order to recast our view of...
La Florida/Namaan: Investigating a Loci of Politico-Economic Influence in the Classic Maya World (2016)
Located on one of the central embankments of El Rio San Pedro Martir, the Classic Maya polity of La Florida (Namaan) is situated between prominent polities of this period (250-909 A.D.). These polities include Piedras Negras, Pomona, and El Peru (Waka), all of which La Florida seems to have had positive trade relations with. During the 2015 field season as part of El Proyecto Arqueologíco La Florida, directed by Dr. Joanne Baron, I preliminarily investigated the view sheds between structures...
Low-Density Urbanism in the Classic Maya Lowlands: A View from El Perú-Waka’, Guatemala (2016)
As a key example of indigenous New World urbanism, the development, organization, and abandonment Classic Maya cities are subjects of great anthropological importance. Despite their comparative significance, for much of the twentieth century Classic Maya centers (ca. 250-950 C.E.) have been viewed by the public and many scholars as "non-cities," the capitals of complex polities, but lacking the residential density characteristic of fully urban places. Roland Fletcher has recently proposed that...
Maya Economic Organization and Power: Elite Households at Aguateca (2016)
The rich data from elite households at the Classic site of Aguateca indicate that each household was a relatively autonomous economic unit of production and consumption of staples and utilitarian goods. While individual households were also specializing in the production of a variety of prestige items, there is little evidence for central control of any sphere of the economy by the royal court or elites. Individual households also seem to have maintained their own long-distance relationships...
Music in the Court: An Analysis of the Status of Musicians in the Maya Court (2015)
Just as there was a formal class of scribes in Maya courts, there was also a class of formal musicians. This paper will focus primarily on analyzing the position and social status held by musicians in the Classic Maya area. To begin, the paper will discuss musicians as a formal class within the Maya courts. Musicians are frequently depicted in iconographic portrayals of political events, and based on the garb they are shown wearing, it appears they formed cohesive groups. By analyzing the role...
Queens and Statecraft: Royal Women as Agents of Kaanul at El Perú-Waka’ (2016)
Recent research has shed tremendous light on the impact of two generations of royal women of Kaanul on the classic Maya city of El Peru-Waka’. Lady Ikoom and Lady K’abel facilitated royal bonds through marriages to Waka’ rulers, and reigned there during the Early Late and Mid-Late Classic periods, respectively. In this paper, we address the wide ranging sources of evidence from Waka’ that speak to these linkages, including monuments with preserved texts, and royal burials from three of the...
Rainfall and conflict among the Lowland Classic Maya (2015)
Determining the causes of conflict in the Maya region during the Classic Period is an important undertaking. Conflict was a prominent feature of relationships among Classic Maya polities and has been implicated in the collapse of Classic Maya society. Recently, Kennett et al. (2012) have argued that reduced rainfall led to increased conflict in the Lowland Maya region between ca. 300 and 900 CE. They arrived at this conclusion after comparing epigraphic records of conflict and variation in δ18O,...
Reevaluation of the Placencia Salt Works in the Classic Maya Economy (2016)
The Placencia Salt Works in southern Belize are re-evaluated based on 2015 field work, building on previous research by J. Jefferson MacKinnon. Comparisons are made with the Paynes Creek Salt Works based on a similar salt-water lagoon environment, salt-production artifacts (briquetage), the presence of earthen mounds, and the absence of preserved wooden architecture at the Placencia Salt Works. Study of the briquetage indicates a similar process of evaporating brine in pots over fires to make...
Ritual Fires and Ancient Maya Termination Deposits at Naachtun (Guatemala): An Archaeobotanical Perspective (2017)
Termination rituals have been a well-documented practice among ancient Maya societies. Generally including the spread of broken artifacts on floors, the manipulation of ancestor bones, and the intentional destruction of architectural structures, termination deposits are believed to have served to symbolically "kill" a building at the time of its abandonment. Regardless of the nature or function of these different deposits, their frequent association with ashes, charcoal and burn marks clearly...
Ritual in the "Great Household": Termination Deposits in Classic Maya Royal Residences (2015)
In a certain sense, the Classic Maya royal court can be seen as an expanded, intensified household, a comparative model for which can be found in the "Great Households" of early medieval Europe and elsewhere. Closely linked to governing political structures and notable for their size, complexity, and levels of expenditure and waste, royal courts mimic the patterns of interaction that define the household as an archaeological unit, but on a grander scale. This paper examines ritual at the "Great...
Sharing Wares and Waging Wars: The Politics of Ceramic Exchange at the Classic Maya Site of El Zotz, Guatemala (2017)
The Classic Maya city of El Zotz, relatively small compared to its neighbors, is situated geographically, and at times politically, between El Perú-Waka’ to the west and Tikal to the east. The archaeological site occupies an elevated position within the Buenavista Valley, a southwest to northeast corridor running for some 32 km to the north of the Lake Petén Itza region. The valley connects the northeast and northwest Petén, from Chetumal Bay to the Bay of Campeche, placing the site in a...
A Simple Fiscal-Demographic Model of the Classic Maya Collapse (2016)
The Classic Maya civilization flourished from approximately 200 A.D. to 800 A.D. in the southern reaches of the Yucatan Peninsula. Population increased throughout the period, accelerating towards the end, finally falling to a small fraction of its former peak level (10% or less) in a relatively short span of time (50-100 years). Even though Maya civilization continued in the northern end of Yucatan Peninsula, the holy kings who had been the protagonists of Classic Maya civilization disappeared...
The Stromsvik Macroblade Cache from Copan, Honduras: A Symbolic Analysis (2017)
Among the myriad types of votive offerings created by the Classic Maya, many contain chipped-stone obsidian and flint materials. These caches often consist of debitage, cores, flakes, blades, and sometimes so-called "eccentrics", which are elaborately chipped ceremonial items that sometimes take the form of god effigies. The contexts of these deposits can include the stairways, centerlines, and corners of important structures, below stelae and other monuments, and in the center of royal or elite...