Regimes of the Ancient Maya
Part of: Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)
This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Regimes of the Ancient Maya" at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.
In this symposium and its accompanying forum, we seek to open the black box of “the ancient Maya polity” by investigating diverse expressions of Maya political organization. In the study of ancient Maya political organization, the traditional and homogenizing concept of the Maya polity is largely ahistorical and ideological, reflecting primarily a bounded political unit recognized from within and without. We argue that the concept of regimes is better suited for studying how ancient Maya communities constructed, distributed, and legitimated political power. By investigating many variable yet coherent political practices, we seek to better understand the mosaic of “political communities” that characterized the ancient Maya world at distinct times in its long history. Our dual “Regimes” symposium and forum assemble scholars working across most of the Maya world and studying periods ranging from the Early Classic to the Late Postclassic.
Other Keywords
Maya: Classic •
Social and Political Organization: States and Empires •
Political economy •
Survey •
Iconography and epigraphy •
Power Relations and Inequality •
Architecture •
Social and Political Organization •
Geoarchaeology •
Historical Archaeology
Geographic Keywords
North America (Continent) •
United Mexican States (Country) •
Belize (Country) •
Peten (State / Territory) •
Cayo (State / Territory) •
Stann Creek (State / Territory) •
Toledo (State / Territory) •
Yucatan (State / Territory) •
Orange Walk (State / Territory) •
Corozal (State / Territory)
Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-15 of 15)
- Documents (15)
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The Creation and Transformation of Regimes in the El Palmar Dynasty, Mexico during the Classic Period (AD 250–900) (2023)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Regimes of the Ancient Maya" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Spatial and temporal heterogeneity of office titles and architectural styles in the Maya lowlands suggest that there existed diverse material, textual, and symbolic expressions that created, maintained, and modified regimes during the Classic period (ca. AD 250–900). The variation also signals that authority, power relations, legitimacy, and ideologies were...
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Frayed at the Edges: Insights into Classic Period (250–900 CE) Maya Political Organization from the Southeast Maya Kingdom of Copan, Honduras (2023)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Regimes of the Ancient Maya" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. While ongoing research has clarified much about the strategies Classic period (250–900 CE) Maya rulers used to establish, integrate, and administer their Lowland Maya kingdoms, studies of frontier zones, such as the southeast edge of the Maya area, both provide insights into Maya political organization and highlight local challenges not faced by rulers in the...
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From Polity to Regimes: Toward Recognizing Diversity in Ancient Maya Political Communities (2023)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Regimes of the Ancient Maya" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In this paper, we introduce the notion of “regime” to model and interpret ancient Maya political organization. We have long relied on “the polity” as a primary model to explain ancient Maya politics. However, this largely generalist core concept tends to homogenize—both temporally and geographically—the complex ancient political landscape as one populated by...
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A Functional Approach to Classic Maya Regal Palaces: Case Studies from La Corona and Cancuen (2023)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Regimes of the Ancient Maya" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Regal palaces, found in the epicenter of great many polities, were a defining element for most Classic Maya political regimes. While they varied in size and shape, all regal palaces seem to have anchored two essential dimensions of Classic Maya politics: the household of royal families and the administrative-ceremonial cores of regimes. In this paper, we take...
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The K’ab’awil, or Protective Deities, of the Maya Highlands: Symbols of Identity and Political Integration (2023)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
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...
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Non-standard and Shifting Sociopolitical Organizations at Xcalumkín (Western Puuc Region), AD 650–950 (2023)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Regimes of the Ancient Maya" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. With the publication of the influential “Chronicle of the Maya Kings and Queens” (Martin and Grube 2000) along with the convincing analysis of the Classic Maya political universe in terms of city-states (Grube 2000), a Classic Maya political regime model seemed to have been set up, relying on divine kingship based more on the domination of people than of...
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On the Place of Sa-ja-la Title Holders in the Classic Maya Regime (2023)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Regimes of the Ancient Maya" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Since they began to be discerned in the 1980s, much has been written about the political offices and roles of various secondary members of the Classic Maya court. In particular, the political office of sa-ja-la has come to be seen as that of a “governor” of smaller settlements within and between Classic Maya centers. However, the presumed role of sa-ja-la...
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Political Regimes at Calakmul (2023)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Regimes of the Ancient Maya" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The history of the Kanu’l dynasty and their Late Classic regime at Calakmul has been researched extensively since the 1990s. The most recent insights into the earlier episodes of Kanu’l politics have emphasized that their seat of power during the Early Classic was Dzibanche and that it was a powerful faction that took power in Calakmul in the early seventh...
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Regimes and the Classic Maya Market Economy “Writ Large” (2023)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Regimes of the Ancient Maya" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The concept of regimes can be critical to the ongoing transformation of understandings of the Classic Maya economy. Currently, many scholars continue to refer to anthropomorphized mythical agents, e.g., exchange between “Tikal” and “Holmul” or between “Cancuen” and “the highlands,” as simply black boxes inhibiting economic research. With populations in the...
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Scale and Political Integration of Ancient Maya Polities: Ideology, Frame Analysis, and Caracol, Belize (2023)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Regimes of the Ancient Maya" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Interpretations of ancient Maya society may be cast in different ways based on the bodies of data that are used and on the frame of analysis considered. New data and syntheses are changing what sometimes have been polarized perspectives. Excavation, survey, and particularly lidar data show both scalar relationships and regional variability on all levels,...
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Shifting Regimes at La Corona: Political Resilience of Classic Maya “Secondary” Center (2023)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Regimes of the Ancient Maya" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Data from investigations at the archaeological site of La Corona reflect the role that secondary sites had for political integration in the Maya lowlands. Comparing what the hieroglyphic texts suggest with what the material culture of the secondary sites indicates, it is possibly to assess the nature of La Corona political regime before, during, and after its...
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Something Different or More of the Same? Lowland Maya Polities and Regimes as Viewed from El Perú-Waka’, Guatemala (2023)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Regimes of the Ancient Maya" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Classic period (250–900 CE) politics of the Lowland Maya have been the subject of intense debate among scholars for decades. Having long ago moved beyond unsupported models of peaceful theocracies and vacant ceremonial centers, investigators nevertheless continue to wrestle with characterizing the nature of Classic political structure. This paper will...
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Statecraft, Politics, and Kingship in the Northern Maya Lowlands, with a Focus on the Puuc Region (2023)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Regimes of the Ancient Maya" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This paper examines the nature of northern Maya lowland statecraft, politics, and kingship and how they differ and parallel that of the southern lowlands. In keeping with the goal of the symposium this paper focuses on the concept of “regime” recognizing the Maya, especially when considering the northern and southern areas, created distinct political...
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Tangled Web: Political Pragmatics in the Mopan River Valley (2023)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Regimes of the Ancient Maya" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. We explore the pragmatics of Classic Maya politics in the Mopan River valley of western Belize during the Classic period. Drawing on Okoshi-Harada’s (2012) reconstruction of sixteenth-century Maya political dynamics and Inomata’s (2006) view of polities created through the interaction among social agents in specific historical and spatial contexts, we see...
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Tribute Lists and Bureaucrats: Understanding Classic Maya Politics (2023)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Regimes of the Ancient Maya" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In this paper, I will explore how much we know about Maya politics during the Classic period (AD 250–950), in view of new perspectives that leave behind the centralization vs. decentralization debate. Rather than viewing Maya states as unitary, unchanging, and centralized or decentralized, new perspectives have revealed variation, multiple sources of...