On The Frontier: Raxruha Viejo, a Late Classic Highland Exchange Center

Summary

In the Verapaz valleys, there were sites of the major exchange route used to transport jade and obsidian from the Maya highlands to the lowlands during the Classic period. The Late Classic site of Raxruha Viejo, located on the highland side of the boundary between the Classic Maya kingdoms and their Verapaz highland trading partners, has a unique architecture and material culture of highland Verapaz style but with significant lowland elements. Overall, its assemblage and architecture appear to be totally different from the nearby Classic lowland capital of Cancuen, or any other lowland site. Yet, large quantities of obsidian found at Raxruha suggest that it could have a critical role in highland/lowland trade and raises many questions about the nature of the interactions between this site and both the lowland and highland centers. Building on the Cancuen Project research, the 2016 field season is part of a new four-year regional program that aims to characterize this highland cultural tradition, establish its chronological framework and understand its relationship with the highland-lowland exchange system, as well as to investigate the causes of its abandonment around 800 A.D.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)   •
• Maya Highland and Pacific Coast Archaeology: New Data, Debates, and Directions, Part 2

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 15280