Quarrying, Cutting, and Shaping: A Look into the Lives of Ancient Maya Limestone Producers

Summary

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

The organization of labor in Classic Maya society has long been studied from a top-down approach. The construction of public works is seen as a facet of state economy, while the physical evidence of human effort—monumental constructions—are understood as visible manifestations of labor or service-based taxes. The argument for collective or rotational labor organization—well supported in the cases of public architecture, especially road systems— overlooks the people responsible for quarrying, cutting, shaping, and transporting limestone for monumental art and architecture. Recent excavations into residential groups within and on the edges of quarries at the site of Xultun, Guatemala, however, provide evidence of the social and economic role of the individuals who worked, and potentially managed, local limestone quarries. Xultun offers new possibilities for reevaluating existing models of labor organization focused on energetic analyses and ethnographic analogies by contributing direct archaeological evidence of the raw materials, tools and techniques, and residences of laborers engaged in monumental construction projects.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

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

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Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 24633