Household Resilience, Political Collapse, and Community Transformation: Late-Terminal Classic Transition of the Ancient Maya Center of Xuenkal

Summary

Across the Maya Lowlands, the Terminal Classic Period (AD 800-1000) represented a time of dramatic sociopolitical transformation. Investigation of the Northern Maya lowland site of Xuenkal, shows an abrupt break in the pattern of steady demographic growth during the Terminal Classic, associated with the center of Chichen Itza 45 km away. Xuenkal presents a unique case to evaluate this transition as it contains discrete households associated with the Late Classic zenith of local political centralization as well as Terminal Classic constructions associated with Chichen Itza Sotuta materials. Comparisons between the two groups show differing strategies of household socioeconomic integration. This presentation explores the local transformation from the perspective of both polity and household as outside pressures disrupted longstanding trends. Finally, the patterns of household and political transformation are compared and contrasted with the case of Copan, Honduras.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 22648