Maya-Spanish Entanglement in Petén, Guatemala

Summary

Cultural contact and colonialism produce novel, hybrid material assemblages that embody and document situations rife with cultural entanglement and complex power relations. The Maya of Petén, Guatemala were free from Spanish control, but in distant contact with the Spaniards from 1525 until their conquest in 1697. After the conquest, the Spaniards resettled populations into congregaciones to govern and convert them. Contact and colonialism resulted in some replication of Spanish artifacts and practices, but in some cases, the Maya adopted Iberian objects and practices in novel ways. Three locations of entanglement discerned by recent archaeological research in Petén, Guatemala include syncretic church construction, hybrid ceramic forms, and innovative uses of Spanish goods. Of course hybridity can involve unintentional action such as the construction of a Maya-style house in a congregacion, but the three locations of entanglement suggest some intentionality in the blending of forms.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Las preguntas que cuentan: Ideas and interpretations in Latin American Historical Archaeology   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2014

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): SYM-33,16