Preclassic Maya Social Transformations along the Usumacinta: Views from Ceibal and Aguada Fénix

Part of: Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Preclassic Maya Social Transformations along the Usumacinta: Views from Ceibal and Aguada Fénix," at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The Preclassic period (ca. 1000 BC-AD 200) was a time of major social transformations and cultural innovation in southern Mesoamerica. Scholars have long debated the influence of societies, like the Olmec, on the origins of Maya civilization. Excavations at Ceibal, Guatemala, revealed that an early ceremonial center with a formalized site plan was established around 1000 BC, and suggest multidirectional interactions among the early lowland Maya and their neighbors. The Middle Usumacinta Archaeological Project, initiated in 2017, builds on the findings at Ceibal to investigate a series of ceremonial centers in Tabasco, Mexico, located between the Olmec heartland and the Maya lowlands. The largest of these centers, Aguada Fénix, includes a 1.4 km long earthen platform attached to several causeways. Recent excavations suggest that this monumental center was built by Maya people during the early Middle Preclassic period (ca. 1000-700 BC). Comparisons between Ceibal and the Middle Usumacinta sites demonstrate surprising similarities in construction techniques and ceramics, but also some differences in public architecture and ritual. The papers in this session explore local processes and interregional patterns along the Usumacinta in the development of lowland Maya society.

Other Keywords
Maya: Preclassic • Survey • Ceramic Analysis • Social and Political Organization • Lithic Analysis • Geoarchaeology • Maya • Architecture • Ritual • Zooarchaeology

Geographic Keywords
United Mexican States (Country) • Peten (State / Territory) • Yucatan (State / Territory) • Belize (Country) • Orange Walk (State / Territory) • Cayo (State / Territory) • Corozal (State / Territory) • Belize (State / Territory) • Stann Creek (State / Territory) • Quintana Roo (State / Territory)

Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-12 of 12)

  • Documents (12)
Documents
  • Aguada Fénix: An Early Middle Preclassic Monumental Site in the Middle Usumacinta Region (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Verónica Vázquez López. Daniela Triadan.

    This is an abstract from the "Preclassic Maya Social Transformations along the Usumacinta: Views from Ceibal and Aguada Fénix" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The site of Aguada Fénix, located on the San Pedro River in northeastern Tabasco, Mexico, was recently discovered by the Middle Usumacinta Archaeological Project through LiDAR mapping. The site layout corresponds to what the project has defined as the Middle Formative Usumacinta Pattern...

  • Diet, Migration and Social Changes: The Preclassic Burials of Ceibal (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Juan Manuel Palomo Mijangos.

    This is an abstract from the "Preclassic Maya Social Transformations along the Usumacinta: Views from Ceibal and Aguada Fénix" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Ceibal-Petexbatun Archaeological Project uncovered 43 burials with a minimum number of 58 individuals that date from the Middle Preclassic to the Protoclassic period (ca. 700 BC-AD 200). These remains have the potential to provide valuable insight into the processes of political...

  • Excavations at Tiradero (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Victoria Poston. Maria Belen Mendez Bauer.

    This is an abstract from the "Preclassic Maya Social Transformations along the Usumacinta: Views from Ceibal and Aguada Fénix" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The site of Tiradero is located next to the San Pedro River, a distributary of the Usumacinta River, in Tabasco, Mexico and contains evidence of occupation during the Late Preclassic and Terminal Classic periods. At the site, a Middle Formative Chiapas E-Group pattern is consistent with those...

  • The Origins of Maya Civilization: New Evidence from Ceibal and Sites in the Middle Usumacinta Basin (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Daniela Triadan.

    This is an abstract from the "Preclassic Maya Social Transformations along the Usumacinta: Views from Ceibal and Aguada Fénix" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The analysis of new LiDAR data has revealed many previously unknown early Middle Preclassic sites in the Middle Usumacinta drainage. The sites are monumental in their extensions and consist of a large rectangular feature or platform oriented slightly east of north, delineated by low mounds...

  • Overview of Archaeological Investigations in the Middle Usumacinta Region (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Takeshi Inomata.

    This is an abstract from the "Preclassic Maya Social Transformations along the Usumacinta: Views from Ceibal and Aguada Fénix" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Middle Usumacinta Archaeological Project started investigations in the Department of Tabasco, Mexico, in 2017. Its main objectives are to examine the relationship between the residents of the Maya lowlands and those of the Olmec region and to trace social change during the Preclassic...

  • Preclassic and Classic Maya Exchange, Craft Production and Ritual Practices: A Diachronic Analysis of Lithic Artifacts around Ceibal, Guatemala (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Kazuo Aoyama.

    This is an abstract from the "Preclassic Maya Social Transformations along the Usumacinta: Views from Ceibal and Aguada Fénix" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. I discuss the results of a diachronic analysis of lithic artifacts collected from Ceibal, Guatemala, in order to elucidate long-term patterns and changes in the Preclassic and Classic Maya exchange, craft production and ritual practices. The interregional exchange of large polyhedral cores of...

  • Preclassic Maya Plant Use along the Usumacinta River: A Microbotanical Approach (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Clarissa Cagnato.

    This is an abstract from the "Preclassic Maya Social Transformations along the Usumacinta: Views from Ceibal and Aguada Fénix" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Paleoethnobotanical evidence, in conjunction with other archaeological data, provides key information regarding ancient practices. This paper presents the results of microbotanical analyses —specifically the study of starch grains—carried out on diverse Preclassic Maya archaeological...

  • Regional Variation in Preclassic Maya Household Ritual and Social Organization: Investigations at the Karinel Group, Ceibal (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Jessica MacLellan.

    This is an abstract from the "Preclassic Maya Social Transformations along the Usumacinta: Views from Ceibal and Aguada Fénix" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Recent investigations at the Karinel Group, an early residential area at Ceibal, Guatemala, show that the roles household rituals played in the development of complex societies varied across the Maya lowlands during the Middle Preclassic period (c. 1000-350 BC). In northern Belize, rituals...

  • Ritual Cave Utilization Near Tenosique in Tabasco, Mexico (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Laura Angelica Romero Padilla.

    This is an abstract from the "Preclassic Maya Social Transformations along the Usumacinta: Views from Ceibal and Aguada Fénix" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. As part of the Middle Usumacinta Archaeological Project, I conducted reconnaissance in three caves with archaeological remains, named Santo Tomás, San Marcos, and Corregidora. The three caves are located in the Tenosique municipality in Tabasco, Mexico near the border with Guatemala. A...

  • Shifting Course: Change as the Norm in the Preclassic Usumacinta Faunal Record (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Ashley Sharpe.

    This is an abstract from the "Preclassic Maya Social Transformations along the Usumacinta: Views from Ceibal and Aguada Fénix" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Usumacinta River and its tributaries played an integral role in the survival and growth of Maya communities in the southern lowlands of Mexico and Guatemala. Early human settlements relied on the river as a source of food and transportation. Examining the animal bones and shell remains...

  • Soil and Water Chemistry: Aguada Fenix, Tabasco and Northern Belize (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Sara Eshleman. Timothy Beach. Sheryl Luzzadder-Beach. Colin Doyle. Fernando Casal.

    This is an abstract from the "Preclassic Maya Social Transformations along the Usumacinta: Views from Ceibal and Aguada Fénix" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Most of the Yucatan has no vestige of rivers; humans and ecosystems rely on rainwater catchment and soil and ground water. Along the southern margins of the Peninsula, however, lie rivers in Belize and Quintana Roo to the southeast and Tabasco and Campeche to the southwest. This paper...

  • Urbanization, Minor Temple Construction, and Local Community Formation at Ceibal, Guatemala (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Melissa Burham.

    This is an abstract from the "Preclassic Maya Social Transformations along the Usumacinta: Views from Ceibal and Aguada Fénix" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Excavations and geospatial analyses of outlying residential settlement at Ceibal, Guatemala, shed light on the relationships between ritual and urbanization during the Preclassic period. The site epicenter, which consists of an E-Group assemblage carved out of bedrock, was established around...