Architecture as an Expression of Maya Political Organization in the Cochuah Region, Quintana Roo during the Early Terminal Classic: The Perspective from Non-primary Sites

Author(s): Tatiana Zelenetskaya Young

Year: 2018

Summary

Political leaders among the ancient Maya were actors performing for an audience with the intent to receive the people’s support to govern. These actors often used specific architecture as stages for their performances; therefore, this architecture serves as a source of information on various aspects of political organization. Architecture embodies political symbolism and has the potential to communicate type of political institution. This paper examines the distribution of architecture that embodies the apparatus of rulership in twenty sites in the Cochuah Region occupied during the Early Terminal Classic or Florescence Phase (A.D.750-900). The data are compared to the different expectations derived from three political models that vary in the degree of centralization of rulership present. I argue that some types of political organizations would be only visible through the examination of secondary sites and their satellites.

Cite this Record

Architecture as an Expression of Maya Political Organization in the Cochuah Region, Quintana Roo during the Early Terminal Classic: The Perspective from Non-primary Sites. Tatiana Zelenetskaya Young. Presented at The 82nd Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Washington, DC. 2018 ( tDAR id: 442980)

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Keywords

Spatial Coverage

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

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 18786