House of the Boxer, House of the Fire God: Sport and Religion in a Humble Hinterland Household of the Copan Classic Maya, Honduras

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Innovations and Transformations in Mesoamerican Research: Recent and Revised Insights of Ancestral Lifeways" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

A Classic Maya rural household, Site 34C-4-2, yielded two artifacts considered unusual for this nonurban context: a manopla (a 15-pound tuff ball with a handle used in a sport similar to boxing) and a miniature sculpture of a house or altar that resembles those found in Copan’s urban core. The house model might have been used for offerings to the Maya deity of fire and perhaps functioned as a k’ahk otoot (fire god house). The site, located just outside the Copan pocket in the Sesesmil drainage, was excavated in 1986. It sits on a prominence near the mouth of the Sesesmil drainage, a location that presents broad views of the valley. We made extensive lateral exposures of the courtyard and most of the four structures. Pottery analysis reveals patterns similar to those at the elite urban group, 8N-11 in Copan’s urban core. The two unusual artifacts provide novel insights about the rural inhabitants. The residents of this household prospered for several centuries and were involved in practices usually associated with elite Maya people. Such objects warrant reassessment of this outlying humble household and others like it.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Innovations and Transformations in Mesoamerican Research: Recent and Revised Insights of Ancestral Lifeways   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 35627.0