Sacred Places as Battlefields: The Role of the Ritual Landscape in Struggles for Conquest and Resistance in the Northern Transversal

Summary

The Northern Transversal Region in central Guatemala is one of the most fertile regions of the Maya world in addition to being a key strategic point in the past and present. The rivers flowing out of the highlands provide fertile, volcanic soil in addition to natural communication routes. As a result, it has been subject to multiple waves of colonization over the past two millennia, from Classic period Tikal and Calakmul to contemporary narcotraffickers and transnational corporations. In this paper, I will summarize the ebb and flow of foreign powers and local autonomy in the region as seen through the caves, mountains, and archaeological sites that are a fundamental source of local identity and play an active role in the lives of the Maya who live around them in the past and present. As a result, they serve as microcosms of the entire region, and by understanding the history of conquest and independence of the sacred landscape one can understand the history of the region itself.

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): 20540