Non-standard and Shifting Sociopolitical Organizations at Xcalumkín (Western Puuc Region), AD 650–950

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Regimes of the Ancient Maya" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

With the publication of the influential “Chronicle of the Maya Kings and Queens” (Martin and Grube 2000) along with the convincing analysis of the Classic Maya political universe in terms of city-states (Grube 2000), a Classic Maya political regime model seemed to have been set up, relying on divine kingship based more on the domination of people than of territories (see also the recent volume edited by Okoshi, Chase, Nondédéo, and Arnauld 2021). Nonetheless, political structures in the Classic Maya world were much more variable than that which has been recognized to date. Research carried out at Xcalumkín between 1992 and 2007 proved that between the end of the seventh century and the middle of the tenth century, this important local center has experienced three successive and distinct forms of governance. However, all of these present a same organization, comparable to that of moiety communities, a well-known and documented system among cultural anthropologists working in America but seldom explored by archaeologists in the Classic Maya Lowlands, even though there are important data suggesting its existence.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Regimes of the Ancient Maya   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 36053.0