Ambivalence and Apostasy at the Sixteenth century Visita Town of Hunacti, Yucatan

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Archaeological investigations of three Maya elite houses and a visita church at Hunacti reveal the mixed material signatures expected of a community deeply ambivalent to Spanish rule, strongly attracted to and at the same time repulsed by Spaniard house styles, Christian doctrine, and European goods. In a rural location at a distance from Franciscan centers of power in the mid-1500s, and near to the frontier (montaña) inhabited by free Maya people, Hunacti is renowned for acts of apostasy in historical accounts. Yet Colonial Hunacti was grandly built, attesting to a wealth of masons and ambitious intentions of Maya lords and Franciscan parties. This paper examines the emulation and transformation of selected aspects of Spanish material culture by visita residents. Other institutions were rejected in favor of reproducing Pre-Hispanic institutions of everyday life and belief.

Cite this Record

Ambivalence and Apostasy at the Sixteenth century Visita Town of Hunacti, Yucatan. Marilyn Masson, Carlos Peraza Lope, Bradley Russell, Timothy Hare. Presented at The 89th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. 2024 ( tDAR id: 499279)

Spatial Coverage

min long: -94.197; min lat: 16.004 ; max long: -86.682; max lat: 21.984 ;

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 38053.0