Interpreting Identities: An Ahegemonic Archaeological Approach

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Archaeology as an Engine or a Camera?" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Mulch’en Witz (glossed ‘Hill of Many Caves’) is located in northwestern Belize within the periphery of the ancient Maya site of La Milpa. Preliminary investigations have recorded a high concentration of chultuns associated to architectural features and groups and, thus far, all cultural material dates to the Late Classic period (CE 600-800). Human skeletal material was encountered in Chultun 3, a small boot-shaped chultun located northwest of a Plaza Plan 2 group. An individual appears to have been placed on the stairs that lead into the main chamber, although s/he was later disturbed when the capstone was dislodged prior to excavation. The burial within a chultun along with the artifacts associated with this individual present challenges for conventional interpretation. This paper discusses how an ahegemonic archaeological approach might be useful to better contextualize the study and present a more accurate representation of this ancient Maya individual.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Archaeology as an Engine or a Camera?   •
• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 26240