Maya: Postclassic (Other Keyword)
51-75 (132 Records)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Research on the Postclassic period at Lake Miramar in the southern Lacandon Jungle of Chiapas permits identifying the fortified island of Lakam-Tun. The site was destroyed in 1586 by Juan de Morales Villavicencio in his attempt to conquer the Cholti'-Lacandon, who then sheltered deeper in the jungle until 1695. Earlier research failed to locate important...
In the Path of the Snake: Connecting Myth and Material Culture in the Late Prehistory of Champotón, Campeche (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Tales of the Feathered Serpent: Refining Our Understanding of an Enigmatic Mesoamerican Being" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The personage and deity of Kukulkan/Quetzalcoatl plays a central role in indigenous historical accounts regarding the prehispanic city of Chakanputun (Champotón). However, extensive disturbances resulting from continuous occupation of Champotón from the Preclassic period into modern times has...
In the Wake of Collapse: Eastern Mesoamerican Body Modifications and Identities during the Ninth and Tenth Centuries CE (2023)
This is an abstract from the "The Movement of People and Ideas in Eastern Mesoamerica during the Ninth and Tenth Centuries CE: A Multidisciplinary Approach Part II" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Most Eastern Mesoamerican populations are known for their remarkable diversity and sophistication in dental works and head shaping procedures during the Classic period. Here, these permanently inscribed body modifications have come to light in thousands...
Initial Experimental Analysis of Soft Hammer Techniques in the Maya Lowlands (2018)
Lowland Maya lithic studies have traditionally focused on the rise of specialization at large urban centers. While many of these studies have focused on form and function of the tools produced, few focused on the technological means of tool production. Maya lithic studies have been assumed a priori to have been created using traditional means of hard-hammer and billet reduction. This paper reviews current evidence for the use of hardwoods in the production of stone tools, as well as provide an...
The Inside/Outside Connection: A Spatial Analysis of Faunal Remains from Contact Period Maya Elite Structures at Lamanai, Belize (2021)
This is an abstract from the "Celebrating 20 Years of Support: Current Work by Recipients of the Dienje Kenyon Memorial Fellowship for Zooarchaeologists" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. During the colonial period, the Maya living in frontier zones retained much of their community-level sociocultural and hierarchical systems. At Lamanai, Belize, recent excavations of three elite residences provide an opportunity to examine the relationship between...
An Integrated Heavy-Lift Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) and Remote Sensing Platform (2018)
We describe an integrated heavy-lift unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and remote sensing platform used to map archaeological features under the forest canopy in the northern Yucatán. We collaborated with Mobile Recon Systems Inc. to construct a UAV-based aerial mapping system that can be used to create high-resolution maps and 3D models of archaeological ruins, excavations, caves, and cenotes for small to medium-sized areas of the forested environment. The system integrates Light Detection and...
An Introduction to Chan Xaan Cave, Cuzamá, Yucatan, Mexico (2021)
This is an abstract from the "The Subterranean in Mesoamerican Indigenous Culture and Beyond" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The "ejidatarios" of Cuzama in Yucatán have developed a community tourist complex on the lands of the ancient hacienda of the same name, where they opened three cenotes. This work presents the first results of a survey carried out in a recently discovered cave and cenote known as Xaan Chan, where there are notable paintings...
The K’ab’awil, or Protective Deities, of the Maya Highlands: Symbols of Identity and Political Integration (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Regimes of the Ancient Maya" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In the Late Postclassic period (AD 1250–1524), the deities called k’ab’awil had an important role in the formation of collective identities in the Maya highlands, together with the language and the territory. In the political field, the k’ab’awil were vital in integrating the peoples that fell under K’iche’ rule and with whom they maintained dependency...
Landscape Modification Seen from Above: Remote Sensing Analysis at Postclassic Mayapan (2018)
This paper examines shifting environmental paradigms in the Maya realm. Using Mayapán as a case study, a site long-considered to be located in a "marginal" environment for agricultural productivity, I will evaluate site resilience, sustainability, and self-sufficiency and use these concepts to create a more nuanced perspective of human-environment interactions. Data from Mayapán will be cross-referenced to other similar sites across the Maya region. I will show that assumptions about the...
Landscapes of Inequality in Ebtun, Yucatán, 1800–1890 (2021)
This is an abstract from the "Place-Making in Indigenous Mesoamerican Communities Past and Present" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In this paper, I examine the postcolonial social transformations of Yucatec-speaking communities located southwest of Valladolid, Yucatán, occasioned by the Caste War (1847–1901), a violent rebellion and revitalization movement intricately related to processes of decolonization following Independence. How did Native...
The Late Terminal Classic in the Cochuah Region: Neither Classic, Nor Postclassic (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Over the course of three field seasons, eight round foundation braces supporting perishable pole-and-thatch buildings were excavated in the Cochuah region of west-central Quintana Roo, Mexico. Dating to the period immediately after the region was largely abandoned during what is known as the “Maya collapse,” the structures reveal small populations living...
Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) of San Gervasio, Isla Cozumel, Quintana Roo, Mexico (2018)
The use of Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) in Mesoamerican archaeological research been steadily increasing. Building on this knowledge, LiDAR was conducted during the summer of 2017 over a 6km2 area of the prehispanic site of San Gervasio, Isla Cozumel, Quintana Roo, Yucatan, Mexico. This was part of a larger survey and mapping project conducted by the Proyecto de Interacción Política del Centro de Yucatán (PIPCY) spearheaded by Dr. Travis Stanton. The proposed poster will discuss LiDAR...
Links between Maya Green and Maya Blue at Mayapán, Yucatan, Mexico (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Elaborately decorated and painted objects, most typically murals and incense burners, were a central part of the religious and cultural life at the Postclassic period Maya capital of Mayapán. These objects required great skill to produce and requisite control over a variety of materials, including plaster, pottery, and the pigments used as colorants. One...
The Local Effect of Changing Intra-valley Exchange Networks (2019)
This is an abstract from the "I Love Sherds and Parasites: A Festschrift in Honor of Pat Urban and Ed Schortman" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. During the Terminal Classic phase in the southwest Naco Valley, Honduras, a small plaza group, plaza 426, emerged as a regional actor in intra-valley exchange of pottery. The current interpretation of the structure’s reuse is that, as previously documented, a more centralized hub of political and economic...
Los montículos de Conil: Excavaciones recientes en la costa norte de Quintana Roo, México. (2018)
El Proyecto Costa Escondida, quien a través de un equipo interdisciplinario dirigido por los doctores Jeffrey Glover y Dominique Rissolo ha explorado la costa norte de Quintana Roo desde el año 2005, excavó en su temporada 2017, dos montículos del sitio llamado Conil; este es uno de los dos asentamientos más grandes registrados en la costa norte involucrados en cierta medida, en el comercio costero de la época prehispánica. Las estructuras presentan distintas formas, tamaños y técnicas...
The Map Results of an Integrated UAV-Based Remote Sensing Platform in the Northern Yucatán (2018)
We report the results of testing a UAV-borne LiDAR and multispectral mapping system for archaeological mapping and modeling at the city of Mayapán, Mexico, located 40km south of modern Mérida. Mayapán was the largest Postclassic political capital and was one of the most densely nucleated of all Maya cities. The initial test is in an area adjacent to the south side of Mayapán’s monumental center. Previous research indicates the existence of a dense and complex system of residential and public...
Material Signatures for Idolatry in Sixteenth- to Eighteenth-Century Viceregal Yucatan (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Rampant idolatry and Mayan resistance to the religious conquest, narrated in Early Viceregal Yucatan documents, bespeaks an underlying visual component for continuing traditional religious practices. Franciscan rural chapels, churches, and convents interior mural paintings and architectural facade sculptural details provide the material signatures to...
The Maya Cranial Photogrammetry Project: A Look at Ethics and Best Practices (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Towards a Standardization of Photogrammetric Methods in Archaeology: A Conversation about 'Best Practices' in An Emerging Methodology" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Maya Cranial Photogrammetry Project consists of a database of digitized crania that can be used to investigate questions related to biological and cultural histories. The shape of human remains reflects a complex interplay between the environment and...
Maya Structures for Wet and Dry Seasons: Adaptive Strategies and Microenvironments at the Site of Chulub in the Crooked Tree Lagoon System (2021)
This is an abstract from the "Archaeology and the History of Human-Environment Interaction in the Lower Belize River Watershed" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This study evaluates a water feature and two associated structures within the Late Terminal/Early Postclassic Maya site of Chulub in the Western Lagoon Wetlands near the island of Crooked Tree, Belize. The term “pocket *bajo” is a term used to describe water features that are similar to...
The Maya, the Nahua, and Lower Central America (2021)
This is an abstract from the "Postclassic Mesoamerica: The View from the Southern Frontier" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In the Terminal Classic and Early Postclassic, Mesoamerican cultures underwent not only political turmoil but also a general renaissance in terms of material culture, including urban planning, architectural forms, ceramics (such as Tohil Plumbate), and the growth of truly international cults such as those of Tlaloc and Xipe...
The Mayan Style Lapidary Objects in Mesoamerica Outside the Maya Region: Provenance, Manufacture, Distribution, and Symbolism (2018)
Across Mesoamerica and outside the Maya Region, archaeologists have found different greenstone lapidary objects with glossy appearance and particular iconography and aesthetics that were considered as jadeite and crafted by the Maya. Unfortunately, their detailed analysis to confirm these assumptions is scarce. In this paper, we will show the study of Mayan style lapidary items from different sites, like Teotihuacan, Monte Albán, Teteles, Tula, Tamtoc, and Tenochtitlan. We employed Micro-Raman...
Michael D. Coe and the Códice Maya de México (Grolier) Controversy (2023)
This is an abstract from the "A Celebration and Critical Assessment of "The Maya Scribe and His World" on its Fiftieth Anniversary" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The controversial display of “Códice Maya de México” at the Grolier Club in 1971 and its subsequent publication by Coe in “The Maya Scribe and His World” opens debate regarding archaeologists’ involvement with unprovenienced objects. The sudden appearance of the previously unknown...
Mirador Mountain, Ritual Landscapes, and the Protohistoric Maya Community at Mensabak, Chiapas, Mexico (2021)
This is an abstract from the "Place-Making in Indigenous Mesoamerican Communities Past and Present" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Mirador Mountain, or Chak Aktun for contemporary Lacandon Maya, dominates the landscape at Lake Mensabak, Chiapas, Mexico. The mountain, which has a natural red stain on its east side, rises from an island. Late Preclassic Maya (ca. 200 BCE–200 CE) created temples, platforms, and plazas on the island Mountain for an...
Monkeys and the Maya: Zooarchaeological Analysis at Isla Civlituk, Campeche, Mexico (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Stability and Resilience in Zooarchaeology" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In my thesis, I examined the primate remains, Ateles geoffroyi and Allouata pigra, found at Isla Cilvituk, Campeche, Mexico, to understand the agricultural and sustainability practices of the Postclassic period (AD 1200–1525) in this area. I weigh evidence of contemporary human-primate relationships in the Maya region to understand continuity...
A Monumental Afterlife: Reconfiguration and Reuse at Aventura, Belize (2018)
Previous research suggests that the ancient Maya city of Aventura, Belize thrived during the Terminal Classic to Early Postclassic periods (800 – 1100 CE). During this period, occupants of the city constructed up to 27 buildings within the confines of the site’s A plaza. This paper presents the results of the 2017 test excavations of a sample of the A plaza buildings. Maya plazas are typically conceived of as large open places for ritual and political performance. However, these excavation...