Maya (Other Keyword)
451-475 (495 Records)
The dichotomies of hot and cold, light and darkness were essential to Classic Maya cosmology. The celestial and underworld journey of solar deities offered a fundamental mythic charter, and fire was the ultimate transformative force, providing a bridge between earthly and otherworldly realms. Such ideology is especially patent in rites of death, sacrifice, and veneration. Monuments from western kingdoms describe censing rituals performed months, years, and even decades after the death of...
To the Mountain: Heritage preservation through archaeological literacy in San Jose Succotz, Belize. (2017)
Maya archaeology has seen a steady shift to the integration of community heritage interest and ownership in the design, execution and outcomes of research and preservation efforts. This poster describes a heritage outreach project focused on archaeology literacy development among grade school children in the community of San Jose Succotz, Belize, adjacent to the Xunantunich archaeological reserve. We authored a fully illustrated book entitled To the Mountain (2016) for the Succotz community,...
A Toast to the Gods and Ancestors: The Role of Beverages in Classic Maya Elite Cave Ritual in West Central Belize (2017)
For the past two decades, considerable archaeological attention in the Maya area has been paid to ritual cave practices and absorbed residue analysis of pottery, yet these two areas of research have not intersected. In this paper, we discuss the results of the kinds of liquid residues identified in monochrome and unslipped pottery vessels from caves around the site of Pacbitun in west central Belize, where extensive research in Classic Maya elite behavior has taken place. While we know the elite...
Tracing Pathways of Power, Identity, and Landscape at Río Amarillo, Copan Valley, Honduras (2017)
During the Late Classic period, the ancient community of Río Amarillo was actively engaged in the politics of the city of Copan, whether willingly or not. Some have suggested that the fertile bajos of the Río Amarillo East Pocket may have produced food for the city to its west, ameliorating shortages that could have arisen due to its rising population. Archaeological research conducted by the Proyecto Arqueológico Río Amarillo, Copan (PARAC) since 2011 has recovered information regarding both...
Tracing the Emergence of Maya Lordship at Secondary Centers of the Copan Polity: An Examination of Residential Differentiation and Access at Centers in the Cucuyagua and El Paraiso Valleys (2017)
In this paper we contend that Copan fundamentally transformed the political structures and social institutions of centers in outlying areas as it expanded and integrated these regions. Evidence from our areas of study, the Cucuyagua and El Paraiso valleys, suggest that these regions had long lived autocthonous populations prior to Copan’s expansion into these regions in the Late Classic period. Using evidence from other non-Maya sites in Western and Central Honduras we contend that while varied...
Tracking Luxury Craft Production across Mayapán's Physical and Social Landscapes (2015)
Considering luxury production activities in Mayapán's urban landscape reveals new data regarding a complex and diverse economic system. We explore the evidence for luxury production activities at households attached to elite palaces at this Postclassic Maya capital city. Surplus crafting at Mayapán varied according to scale, intensity, and the value of surplus items. Crafting of valuables such as effigy censers, figurines, copper objects, and stucco sculptures, was more closely supervised (or...
Transformations within an Ancestor Shrine: New Discoveries from Group D - Xunantunich, Belize (2017)
The concept of transformation is expressed by innumerable cultures and has been explored by archaeologists across the globe. The ritual act is often represented in Maya iconography as rulers and religious practitioners exhibiting their power through the ability to change into their animal uays. However, like individuals, spaces can undergo a process of ritual transformation. This paper examines the subject of transformation and how it is demonstrated through imagery and space within a Classic...
Two Newly Discovered Maya Chert Tool Workshops in the Belize Valley: Results of the 2014 Surface Reconnaissance (2015)
Few lithic workshops have been found in the Belize Valley of Western Belize. This paper presents the results of surface reconnaissance and debitage collection at two newly discovered chert tool workshops near the villages of Esperanza and Teakettle in the Cayo District of Western Belize. Each of these workshops consists of a single large mound of debitage and includes tools aborted or broken at various stages of manufacture. At both locations, the main tool types produced were oval bifaces and...
Tz’utujil Maya Ritual Practitioners, Embodied Objects and the Night (2017)
For contemporary Tz’utujil Maya ritual practitioners living in the highlands of Guatemala, the night is a particularly potent time and one to which they are inherently linked. Individuals often learn of their destiny to become ritual practitioners when they are first contacted by ancestral beings, known collectively as nawales, at night during dreams. Thereafter ancestral nawales and ritual practitioners enter into mutually beneficial social relationships that are mediated through sacred objects...
"Under the Volcano": Assemblages, Causality and Volcanic Matter at San Pedro Aguacatepeque, Guatemala. (2015)
The colonial Maya community of San Pedro Aguacatepeque, located in Pacific piedmont Guatemala, sits on the eastern flank of the Volcan de Fuego, a long-active stratovolcano. The interventions of new materialist approaches, in particular Bennett’s notion of the "vibrancy" and influence of nonhumans in the unfolding of history, are brought into relief when considering the abundant historical entanglements between the Volcan de Fuego and Aguacatepeque. The regular flows and bursts emanating from...
Understanding Environmental Thresholds through Geoarchaeology: Case Studies from the Maya Lowlands (2016)
All depositional environments can leave complex records of environmental change over time. We consider floodplains, alluvial fans, and wetlands of the Maya lowlands at present day Neundorf, Belize. We have documented a rich history of sedimentation, water chemistry, and archaeological data that show a measurable environmental and archaeological signature that date back over 4,000 years in this region. This research uses soil geomorphology to study the chronology and processes of wetland...
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...
Understanding variability in distribution and consumption in low-wealth households from the Classic period (2016)
This paper explores data on consumption of durable goods in Classic period domestic contexts both in cities (Chunchucmil, Tikal) and rural areas (Ceren, hinterlands of Izamal and Copan). The goal is to document variation in distribution systems across the lowlands. Though some of this variation may be due to the intensity of market systems, other variation may be due to the wealth and resourcefulness of individual households and some due to long-term trends in economic prosperity throughout the...
Underwater Transect Excavations, Sediment Coring, Remoting Sensing at the Paynes Creek Salt Works (2017)
Following the discovery and mapping of over 100 salt works in a shallow, salt-water lagoon system, a collaborative, interdisciplinary research project was initiated with funding from NSF to examine the ancient landscape, sea-level rise, use of the wooden buildings for salt production and as residences, and reconstruct the underwater sites using 3D GIS. Sediment coring across the lagoon system identified red mangrove peat, an indicator of actual sea-level rise, as well as a plethora of pollen...
Unit-Stamped Red Jars in the Southern Lowlands: New Insights into Ceramic Production and Exchange (2015)
Monochrome red jars and bowls featuring unique unit-stamped designs have been excavated from Late Classic contexts throughout the southern Petén and the areas surrounding the Maya Mountains. Adorning apparently utilitarian vessels, these unit-stamps show both a consistency in size and application across their spatial range, as well as a great diversity in the preferred motifs depicted. Combining a new ceramic chronology developed at Lubaantun and data from across southern Belize and the southern...
Using 3D Geographic Information Systems to Understand Settlement Decisions at Calakmul (2015)
In 1982, fifty years after the Carnegie Institution of Washington surveyed and mapped sections of Calakmul, a project under the direction of William J. Folan began mapping the site. The completed map published in 2001 covers 30 square kilometers of the ancient site. Many printed maps or datasets like those from Calakmul created with laser total stations or conventional surveying equipment can provide the essential geospatial information to produce accurate topographic maps and 3D map objects...
Using GIS to Explore the Strategic Location of Ancient Maya Centers Within the Vaca Plateau of Western Belize (2015)
Settlement patterns studies in archaeology have shown that a myriad of environmental, political, social, and ideological factors influenced where ancient people chose to settle on the landscape. In efforts to better understand these complex behaviors, archaeologists have increasingly turned to GIS-based modeling approaches including viewshed and least cost path analyses. This study draws upon these techniques to explore visibility and movement across the north Vaca Plateau of west-central...
Using glyphic variation to infer the social and spatial scale of learning among Classic Maya scribes (2015)
This study uses Maya hieroglyphic inscriptions to trace the evolution of alternative writing conventions during the Classic period (ca. 250-900 CE). The third person ergative pronoun u- is represented by up to a dozen different graphemes in Classic Maya writing. These glyphs are also the most common set of signs found in the corpus of hieroglyphic inscriptions, regardless of media. The variation and frequency of these signs provide data to model cultural forces that shaped this writing system....
Using LiDAR and Ground Survey to Understand Regional Settlement Patterns in Terminal Classic Central Yucatan (2017)
The first research performed by the Proyecto de Interaccion Politica del Centro de Yucatan centered on understanding the impact of Chichen Itza in the region to the southwest of this Terminal Classic city. Working in an area of roughly 500 square kilometers around the site of Yaxuna we performed traditional ground reconnaissance and mapping at numerous centers in the region from 2007 to 2013 to better understand regional settlement patterns and how they changed with the establishment and growth...
Utilizing LED and Solar Power at a Remote Field Site in the Holmul Region (2016)
Providing adequate lighting for subterranean work at a remote site in the Peten of Guatemala usually involves flashlights or gasoline generators and CFL lights on homemade power cords. Because of the cost of generators and the difficulty and cost of transporting fuel to the field site most tunnel work uses head lamps and flashlights. In an effort to be environmentally sensitive and to be more efficient the Holmul Archaeological Project has started using 12 volt LED light strips powered by a...
The View from Above: The Semi-Autonomous Elite Maya Hilltop Complex of Escalera al Cielo (2017)
Escalera al Cielo (EaC) is a Terminal Classic Period Maya elite hilltop complex located 1.5 km to the west of the site of Kiuic in the Puuc Region of the Northern Lowlands. Previous research on the hilltop focused largely on investigating the organization and day-to-day activities associated with the northern residential architectural group. The southern group, located atop the highest spur of the hill and consisting of four vaulted masonry structures accessed by a grand staircase, was believed...
Virtual Copan - From 3D data collection to analysis inside a web visualization tool (2015)
The 3D modelling technology is getting more used for the research, preservation, reconstruction, documentation, communication of cultural assets. Heritage 3D models, accessible on the web, are the most powerful solution to disseminate culture and, at the same time, a great source for tourism, research and education. While the use of 3D technologies in CH have been around for many years there are still some blocking factors that slow down a wider approach. On the technological side we still miss...
Volcanic ash in the ceramics of the greater Palenque Region and Usumacinta Drainage, Chiapas and Tabasco, Mexico (2015)
Knowledge about the movement of pottery with volcanic constituents throughout the northwestern Maya Lowlands, from Preclassic through Postclassic times is closely tied to sub-regionally specific resources of the Usumacinta Drainage—from its origin in the highland to the Gulf delta. Following pioneering work in the region by Blom, Berlin, Ochoa, and Rands, we focus on sites in the greater Palenque subregion and their links to sites along the Usumacinta and in the Chiapas Sierras. Although Karl...
The Volcano That Went Boom: Payson Sheets’ Contributions to Understanding the Tierra Joven Blanca Eruption of the Ilopango Caldera, El Salvador (2016)
Payson Sheets’ seminal work on the Tierra Joven Blanca (TBJ) eruption of the Ilopango Caldera, El Salvador was one of the first projects to address the impact of large-scale disasters in Mesoamerica. The on-going research on this eruption has been important for understanding the event as well as developing method and theory for reconstructing the cultural impact(s) of sudden massive stresses. While originally dated to AD 290±110, the TBJ eruption has been re-dated to the mid 5-6th century and...
Walls, Ditches and Spoil: Methodological Issues in the Study of Pre-Columbian Fortifications (2017)
A critical facet of studying past warfare is the analysis of fortifications. Fortifications are often visible on the surface, making these archaeological features identifiable through surface reconnaissance. Moreover, test pits and trench excavations into gated areas or across various sections of fortifications can be used to establish the martial functions of these archaeological features. Yet, the study of past warfare and fortifications often stumbles in the interpretive stage. How do we know...