Ancient Population History in the Palenque Region: The Problem of the Selection of Population Proxies

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Ancient Mesoamerican Population History: Demography, Social Complexity, and Change" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The Proyecto Regional Palenque (PREP) has recorded a total of 653 sites within an area of 650 km2. Regional population ranges from 28,000 to 32,000 inhabitants. Mapping efforts and household excavations undertaken as part of the Proyecto Especial Palenque during the seasons of 1992–1994 identified 1,480 structures at the site core with a probable population range of 6,000–8,000 residents. According to this estimate, population densities within city limits were quite high, 2,000–2,666 persons/km2, a number only comparable to Mayapan or Copan's estimates. What really strikes for Palenque is the difference in terms of the sheer number and density of structures present within the site core compared to its immediate surroundings. Definitely, Palenque urban core represents and environment qualitatively different from anything surrounding it. During the Balunte period (AD 750–820) the immediate city hinterland (approximately 37 km2) was a region with an extremely low population density (25 persons/km2). The space between main regional centers remained sparsely occupied. Using recently obtained lidar data, better chronological dating, and new excavation information, this presentation will focus on several issues relevant to the building of more robust Ancient Maya population estimates.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)   •
• Ancient Mesoamerican Population History: Demography, Social Complexity, and Change

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 32321