Naturalizing Authority: Sociopolitical Inequality and the Construction of Monumental Architecture at Early Xunantunich, Belize

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Over the last decade, the Mopan Valley Preclassic Project has extensively investigated the Preclassic ceremonial center of Early Xunantunich, Belize. These excavations have yielded significant information regarding the construction of monumental architecture during the Middle and Late Preclassic periods, as well as data regarding early ritual activities and sociopolitical organization at the site. Across the lowlands, the Preclassic was an extremely dynamic period of Maya prehistory, during which some of the grandest monumental architecture was erected and the institution of divine kinship began to take root. As early centers were carved out of the jungle, natural features were often incorporated into the built landscape. In this paper, we share insights from ongoing excavations of a monumental platform structure at Early Xunantunich in order to explore the ways in which the Maya merged their built and natural environments by modifying the natural landscape during these early construction events. We contextualize the architectural history of this important early platform within the broader ceremonial center, incorporating new data on the structure’s complex form. Finally, we examine the implications of monumental architectural forms in the processes of sociopolitical complexification and the legitimation of hierarchies.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 26256