Maya (Other Keyword)
376-400 (495 Records)
The site of Conil is located in the modern community of Chiquilá on the north coast of Quintana Roo, Mexico. In 1528 Francisco de Montejo, a Spanish conquistador, reported that Conil was a large town consisting of 5,000 houses. Conil was abandoned in the middle of the 17th century and was not reoccupied again until the 19th century, when it was named Chiquilá. William Sanders was the first archaeologist to work at the site in 1954, but the site core was not mapped until 2005 by Glover. Further...
Reconsidering Sacred Landscape in a Small Depression at Dos Hombres, Belize (2016)
Dos Hombres, a Maya site in the Programme for Belize (PfB) conservation area of northern Belize, consists of three large architectural groups aligned in a north-south direction along a series of knolls. Where the southern end of Group C meets the surrounding bajo, a depression in small knoll protruding from the bajo yielded evidence of Maya utilization from the Late Preclassic through the Late Classic. The underlying bedrock was modified to create an amphitheater shape focused on a small cave at...
Records of Holocene Biomass Burning, Environmental Change, and Human Occupation in the Southern Maya Lowlands (2015)
Fire was arguably the primary tool used by the Maya to alter the landscape and extract resources. Opening of forest for agriculture, building, and extraction/production of construction material necessitated burning. While we understand the fundamental role of fire in Maya land use, there are very few records of prehispanic biomass burning from the Maya lowlands. Consequently, a limited understanding exists of natural fire regimes and patterns of anthropogenic burning in the tropical seasonally...
Recovery and Conservation of a Classic Maya Shell Mosaic Human Trophy Skull from Xuenkal, Yucatan (2016)
Human trophy skulls have a long history in Mesoamerica. Excavation of Structure 9M-136, an elite household in the center of the ancient Maya center of Xuenkal revealed a trophy skull in situ from funerary context, where it was found placed on the chest of an elite individual within a complex burial deposit. The primary individual was interred with a bifacial flint lance, a carved bone pendant, and the trophy skull resting on his chest. The skull had been extensively modified in preparation for...
Reexamining the Identity of Reverential Termination Rituals in the Maya Lowlands (2017)
In the pursuit to understand ancient Maya ritual, researchers have commonly relied upon the analysis of termination rituals and caches. In the early 2000’s, Jonathan B. Pagliaro, James F. Garber, and Travis W. Stanton introduced a clarification of the terminology, differentiating between reverential and desecratory termination rituals. Following this publication, a surge of studies conceptualizing desecratory termination rituals emerged, while the literature on reverential termination rituals...
Regional Diversity and Population Migration of the Classic Maya: Stable Isotope Analysis of Individuals from the Holmul Region, Guatemala (2017)
Stable isotope analysis is a productive tool for understanding the migratory histories of past populations in various regions of the world, including the ancient Maya. This paper presents the strontium and oxygen isotopic ratio values of dental enamel samples as compared to the geographical location of burial to address questions of regional identity, population migration, and social complexity of the Maya at the archaeological site of Holmul and the nearby centers of La Suficaya, K’o, Cival,...
Regional Maya Politics in the Late and Terminal Classic Northern Lowlands (2015)
Linda Schele and David Freidel devoted a chapter of Forest of Kings to understanding the political relationships among Chichen Itza, Coba, and the Puuc cities during the Late and Terminal Classic periods. Much of their discussion was based on the iconography of Chichen Itza, although some was focused on the preliminary research that Freidel had initiated at Yaxuna by the time the book was published. In this paper I discuss more recent archaeological data from all three sites with a focus on...
Remembrances of Things Past: Peter D. Harrison and Maya Archaeology (2015)
After Peter Harrison’s forays at Tikal, Guatemala and in Quintana Roo, Mexico he turned his attentions to archaeological research in Belize in the late 1970’s. Thus began his multi-year project at Pulltrouser Swamp, with his colleague Billie Lee Turner, which resulted in a series of foundational publications on Prehispanic Maya agriculture. In this paper we reflect on Peter’s contributions to Belize archaeology and to the discipline as a whole, as we celebrate his many interests in Maya...
Resilience and Regime Shift at the Ancient Maya City of Tikal (2017)
Over the time span of nearly a millennium, the ancient Maya polity of Tikal went through periods of growth, reorganization and adaptive cycles of various connected scales. Recent data show that following the reorganization of the Late Preclassic period, Tikal experienced an extended period of technological innovation and population growth that stretched the carrying capacity of the available landscape. A hydraulic system was constructed that provided water for the community during the dry...
Resisting Capitalocentrism: Heterogenous Assemblages of Market and Antimarket Practices in Colonial Guatemala (2017)
The consequences of Spanish colonial/capitalist intrusions into highland Guatemala is an emerging focus of archaeological investigation. While providing insight into the entanglements between colonialism and capitalism and their effects on Maya communities, it is critical to not fixate on finding capitalism and its effects to the exclusion of other patterns of practice and life central to the experience of people in the past. Overemphasizing capitalism in our analyses reifies the suffocating...
A revised Kaminaljuyu chronology and its implications for social processes (2015)
An evaluation of new and existing data indicates that the Middle and Late Preclassic portions of the Kaminaljuyu chronology need to be shifted 300 or 400 years later. This paper primarily examines relevant radiocarbon dates and then discusses the implications of this revision for our understanding of how centralized polities with rulership developed in the southern Maya area and in the Maya lowlands. SAA 2015 abstracts made available in tDAR courtesy of the Society for American Archaeology and...
Revisiting Bird Jaguar and the Sajal of the Yaxchilan Kingdom (2015)
In "A Forest of Kings," Linda Schele and David Freidel painted a vivid picture of the lives and relationships of kings, queens and courtiers expressed in images and texts from the Yaxchilan kingdom during the 7th and 8th centuries AD. In the 25 years since that volume’s publication, refinements in epigraphic readings and archaeological research in the rural hinterlands surrounding Yaxchilan and neighboring capitals have greatly enriched our understanding of the political world of the Western...
Revisiting the Preclassic Ceramic Sequence of the Greater Kaminaljuyu Zone (2015)
In a recent work, Inomata and colleagues present a revised chronology of Kaminaljuyu during the Preclassic period which cross-dates other cultural sequences in southeastern Mesoamerica. This paper provides further ceramic data including a re-evaluation of the various typological sequences already established in the literature and presenting a modal sequence of vessel shape, surface treatment, and decoration based on ceramic analysis of collections from the most important sites in the greater...
Rio Amarillo: A Community on the Edge of the Kingdom (2016)
Situated along the frontier between Maya and non-Maya lands, Rio Amarillo reflects mixed allegiances in its architecture and artifacts, although its Late Classic ceremonial core is most strongly associated with Copan. While politically autonomous during the Early Classic, an inscription on an altar at the site demonstrates that this pre-Columbian town came under Copan’s power during the time of Ruler 12. The construction of an elaborately sculpted building during the reign of Ruler 16 suggests...
The rise and fall of Maya kingdoms in the Holmul region (2015)
Research in the Holmul region of northeastern Peten has focused on Cival as its major political center during the Middle and Late Preclassic period since its rediscovery in 2001. The goals of this research continue to be inspired by several ideas expressed in Forest of Kings in 1990. Mainly, the rise of kingship in the Late Preclassic period, the interpretation of giant 'mask' sculptures on the facade of pyramids as backdrop for royal rituals as well as the interpretation of ritual caches. ...
Rising from the Ashes: Power and Autonomy at Ceren, El Salvador (2016)
On the side of a road in El Salvador in 1978, the life of Payson Sheets and the remains of the Classic Period Maya settlement of Cerén fatefully intersected. When Sheets first understood the actual antiquity of the site buried by volcanic ash to be 1,400 years old, what could not have been known was the decades of research that would ensue, nor the wide-ranging impacts that such findings would have for household archaeology, commoner studies, and archaeological method and theory. Sheets has...
The Ritual Reuse of Maya Cave Shrines after Abandonment (2015)
Caves are among the most sacred geographic features in Mesoamerica and have been used throughout history as the setting for multiple ritual events. In this paper, the author looks at several shrines in central Guatemala that were rediscovered long after they were abandoned by the original ritual practitioners and regained importance. The renewed activity often reflects very different functions of the rituals performed there—in caves along a major trade route cutting through the region, for...
Riverine and Maritime trade routes on Caribbean side of the Yucatan Peninsula. (2015)
Riverine routes from the Caribbean coast from Belize River north to Laguna Bacalar are examined in the context of the major centers, intensive agricultural fields, and patterns of production, transport and centers of power. By contextualizing our understanding of major sites in terms of the opportunities and limitations offered by the riverine transport systems, we can better understand the economic basis of how and why various important centers rose to prominence. Further, these trade...
The Role of Lithic Artifacts in the Interpretation of RB-25-A5 (2016)
In 2014, the California State University, Los Angeles Sacred Landscape Archaeological Project (SLAP) began investigation of a deep pit with a small grotto at its northern end. In 2015, the pit was excavated to bedrock only to discover that the feature was a collapsed chultun. Noteworthy was a plastered platform that encircled the collapse pit. A dense concentration of artifacts was associated with the platform and pit but this dropped rapidly only a few meters from the platform indicating the...
The Role of Offerings in interpreting Architecture: Evaluating Human Remains at Xultun, Peten, Guatemala (2015)
During the 2014 field season at Xultun, Peten, Guatemala, two sets of human offerings and a tomb were identified in the center of "Los Arboles" (XUL12F19); however, the relationship between the different sets of remains and the structure remains unclear. While the Maya are known for placing offerings around tombs and in entryways as closing ceremonies, human offerings are a less-common subset. To date, their role in Maya society is not entirely understood although their presence has been claimed...
The Role of Offerings in Interpreting Maya Mortuary Ritual: Bioarchaeological Analysis at Xultún (2017)
Bioarchaeological analyses in the past have worked to investigate and contextualize human remains in the broader realm of ancient Maya mortuary practices. Offerings are a common component of Maya ritual; however, the role of human offerings is still not understood in its entirety. In the 2014 field season at Xultún, Petén, Guatemala, three sets of human remains were excavated within the Los Arboles structure, a pyramid complex to the north of the site. In this paper, I discuss the results of...
Round structures: Their function(s) (2015)
Round foundation braces for perishable walls are seldom the focus of excavation owing to their relatively unimpressive physical characteristics. However, these structures become common throughout the Northern Lowlands at the end of the Terminal Classic period, appearing in 50 percent of the surveyed sites. This paper will examine their possible function, and explain why they became so widespread. SAA 2015 abstracts made available in tDAR courtesy of the Society for American Archaeology and...
The ruin of the Maya heartland: successes, failures, and consequences of four decades of antiquities trafficking regulation (2015)
For 40 years the trafficking of Maya antiquities has been at the forefront of debate over the most effective way to discourage the illicit antiquities trade. Images of mutilated Maya stela and jungle-covered temples pitted by looters' trenches epitomize the effects of the global demand for looted artifacts. National and international measures have been introduced to protect Maya sites on the ground, prevent looted artefacts from crossing borders, or effect the repatriation of stolen cultural...
Sabios in Situ: Art-making and Representing Authority at Classic Period Xultun (2015)
The study of mural art has moved beyond analytical approaches that isolate these highly meaningful works from the anthropological contexts that produced them, toward approaches that underscore their inseparability from the complex circumstances surrounding their production. However, such contexts in the ancient world are not directly observable and therefore cannot be studied using ethnographic methods. Instead, sociological dimensions of ancient art must be reconstructed through careful...
Sacbe Construction, Agricultural Production, and Community Organization in the Classic Maya Community of Cerén, El Salvador (2015)
The exceptional preservation of the Classic Maya community of Cerén, El Salvador has afforded the opportunity to examine how one group of people constructed their built environment. The remarkably well- preserved site (public and domestic structures, earthen sacbe (road), agricultural fields, plant casts, and artifacts) greatly aids in our understanding of small-scale socio-political organization. This paper draws on data collected during the 2013 field season as well as earlier research. The...