Regional Variation in Preclassic Maya Household Ritual and Social Organization: Investigations at the Karinel Group, Ceibal

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Preclassic Maya Social Transformations along the Usumacinta: Views from Ceibal and Aguada Fénix" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Recent investigations at the Karinel Group, an early residential area at Ceibal, Guatemala, show that the roles household rituals played in the development of complex societies varied across the Maya lowlands during the Middle Preclassic period (c. 1000-350 BC). In northern Belize, rituals focused on ancestors increased social inequality among kin groups, beginning around the transition to sedentism. In other parts of the lowlands, including Ceibal, rituals on circular platforms constructed horizontal relationships within communities, counteracting public rituals carried out by a small number of specialists. At Ceibal, notable for its early ceremonial plaza and its connections to Chiapas and the Gulf Coast, household rituals had little in common with public ceremonies until the transition to the Late Preclassic period. At that point, across the lowlands, domestic ritual practices became more centralized and elite households became more involved in public ceremonies.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)   •
• Preclassic Maya Social Transformations along the Usumacinta: Views from Ceibal and Aguada Fénix

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 22817