Preclassic Complexity in the Central Karstic Uplands: Yaxnohcah and its Neighbors

Summary

The Preclassic (900 BCE – 150 CE) was the period during which the earliest sedentary communities in the Maya lowlands were founded. Acts that initiated these early civic charters, such as the construction of E-groups and communal platforms, were followed quickly by rapid expansion of communities throughout the landscape, involving population growth, monumental architecture, massive waterworks, and a high degree of sociopolitical complexity. It was also during this period when ideologies and practices in religion, statecraft, and commerce were firmly established. In this context archaeological research has been shifting its attention to the Preclassic in order to address the still impervious questions on how this growing complexity led to the advent of Maya culture.

Recent archaeological excavations at Yaxnohcah and other Preclassic sites have centered on those topics that endeavor to shed some light on this complex process. In this paper we will present a review of such efforts at Yaxnohcah and situate them in relationship to the development of complexity in the Central Karstic Uplands. We focus on the adaptation of the earliest settlers to the wetland landscape during the Middle Preclassic and the subsequent early appearance of low density polycentric cities in the region.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)   •
• The Dynamics of the Preclassic in the Heart of the Maya Lowlands

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 15533