Close to the Edge; 19th Century Maya refugees at Tikal, Guatemala.

Summary

In the second half of the nineteenth century, the ancient Maya city of Tikal, Guatemala, was briefly re occupied by Yucatec refugees fleeing the Caste War of Yucatan. The Tikal village was poised on the confluence of the frontiers of Mexico, Guatemala and British Honduras, as well as the belligerent Santa Cruz Maya from Yucatan. Despite the limited presence of settled European diasporas in the northern Petén, colonial institutions were still able to reach indigenous communities seeking refuge within the frontier zone. However, due to the positioning of these remote communities, they were well equipped to interact and attempt a renegotiation to outside pressures and markets on their own terms. Communities in the frontier zone had forest products desired in the informal regional exchange spheres, such as game animals, incense, bee's wax, and tobacco. In the case of the Tikal village, the inhabitants exploited the differing conceptual uses of the same space to obtain a wide array of exotic and foreign manufactured goods, including metal tools, guns, and decorated pottery, while seeking a new life and autonomy within the" Last Maya Frontier".

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)   •
• Capital, Craft, and Consumption in Mesoamerica after the Spanish Invasion

Keywords

Spatial Coverage