Household Activities, Status, and Social Organization at Uxul, Campeche, Mexico

Author(s): Beniamino Volta

Year: 2015

Summary

The physical remains of ancient buildings and activity areas provide an important archaeological window into the lives and practices of past households. In the Maya region, patio groups composed of multiple structures housing extended families have long been recognized as the fundamental units of settlement. At a very basic level, patio groups were both the primary locus and one of the most tangible material outcomes of household activities. Variations in their size and spatial configuration can therefore be analyzed as indices of inequality and differentiation within communities. This talk presents the results of recent research on status and social organization at Uxul, Campeche, Mexico. I analyze data from elite and non-elite architectural groups in the settlement in order to trace a broad outline of economic, political, and ritual activities carried out by the inhabitants of the site throughout its history. The incorporation of Uxul within the Calakmul regional state in the first half of the Late Classic (roughly A.D. 600–750) offers a convenient turning point for discussing possible strategies employed by different social actors in response to changing political circumstances.

SAA 2015 abstracts made available in tDAR courtesy of the Society for American Archaeology and Center for Digital Antiquity Collaborative Program to improve digital data in archaeology. If you are the author of this presentation you may upload your paper, poster, presentation, or associated data (up to 3 files/30MB) for free. Please visit http://www.tdar.org/SAA2015 for instructions and more information.

Cite this Record

Household Activities, Status, and Social Organization at Uxul, Campeche, Mexico. Beniamino Volta. Presented at The 80th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, San Francisco, California. 2015 ( tDAR id: 395815)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

min long: -107.271; min lat: 12.383 ; max long: -86.353; max lat: 23.08 ;