Interpreting the Collapse of Classic Maya Civilization: A Case Study of Changing Archaeological Perspectives

1992 ◽  
pp. 99-119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy A. Sabloff
Keyword(s):  
Classic Maya ◽  
Maya Civilization

Swamps, canals, and the locations of ancient Maya cities

Antiquity ◽  
1980 ◽  
Vol 54 (212) ◽  
pp. 206-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. E. W. Adams
Keyword(s):  
Radar Data ◽  
Classic Maya ◽  
Classic Period ◽  
Intensive Agriculture ◽  
Ancient Maya ◽  
Maya Lowlands ◽  
Rank Ordering ◽  
Topographic Information ◽  
Maya Civilization ◽  
Mapping Discovery

The recent radar mapping discovery of widely distributed patterns of intensive agriculture in the southern Maya lowlands provides new perspectives on classic Maya civilization. Swamps seem to have been drained, modified, and intensively cultivated in a large number of zones. The largest sites of Maya civilization are located on the edges of swamps. By combining radar data with topographic information, it is possible to suggest the reasons for the choice of urban locations. With the addition of patterns elicited from rank-ordering of Maya cities, it is also possible to suggest more accurate means of defining Classic period Maya polities.

CLASSIC MAYA WARFARE AND WEAPONS: Spear, dart, and arrow points of Aguateca and Copan

2005 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 291-304 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kazuo Aoyama
Keyword(s):  
Distribution Patterns ◽  
Classic Maya ◽  
Late Classic ◽  
Temporal And Spatial Distribution ◽  
Maya Civilization ◽  
Temporal And Spatial ◽  
High Concentrations ◽  
Human Conflict ◽  
Copan Valley

To provide some insights into the nature and role of warfare in the rise, development, and decline of Classic Maya civilization, this article discusses spear, dart, and arrow points used by the Classic Maya elites at the rapidly abandoned fortified city of Aguateca, Guatemala, and their temporal and spatial distribution patterns in and around Copan, Honduras. Both the royal family and elite scribes/artists at Aguateca used spear and dart points for intergroup human conflict as well as for artistic and craft production under enemy threat. An important implication is that the ruler and elite scribes/artists were also warriors. The unusually high concentrations of identifiable weaponry at the Early Classic hilltop center of Cerro de las Mesas as well as the Acropolis and other Late Classic locations in the Copan Valley, along with other lines of evidence, indicate that warfare was critical in the development and downfall of Classic Maya civilization at Copan.

The Vanderbilt Petexbatun Regional Archaeological Project 1989–1994: Overview, History, and Major Results of a Multidisciplinary Study of the Classic Maya collapse

1997 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 209-227 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arthur A. Demarest
Keyword(s):  
Social Organization ◽  
Classic Maya ◽  
Classic Period ◽  
Multidisciplinary Study ◽  
Design Structure ◽  
Maya Civilization ◽  
History Of ◽  
Archaeological Project ◽  
Maya Collapse ◽  
New Evidence

AbstractThe background, research design, structure, personnel, and history of investigations of the Vanderbilt Petexbatun Archaeological Project are summarized and critiqued. The major findings of each of the dozen subprojects of this multidisciplinary investigation of Maya civilization in the southwestern Peten region of Guatemala are reviewed. Subproject results include important new evidence on Classic Maya history, warfare, ecology, nutrition, cave ritual, social organization, and trade. These are summarized with particular emphasis on the implications of the Petexbatun findings for theories of the decline of southern lowland Maya civilization at the end of the Classic period.

Sak Tz’i’, a Classic Maya Center: A Locational Model Based on GIS and Epigraphy

2003 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 179-191 ◽  
Author(s):  
Armando Anaya Hernández ◽  
Stanley P. Guenter ◽  
Marc U. Zender
Keyword(s):  
Geographic Information Systems ◽  
Analytical Tool ◽  
Classic Maya ◽  
Classic Period ◽  
Political Organization ◽  
The Political ◽  
Ancient Maya ◽  
Late Classic ◽  
Maya Lowlands

AbstractThe ancient Maya hieroglyphic inscriptions of the upper Usumacinta region record an intensive interaction that took place among its regional capitals. The precise geographic locations of some of these sites are presently unknown. Through the application of the Gravity Model within the framework of Geographic Information Systems (GIS), we present the probable locations and possible territorial extents of a few of these: Sak Tz’i’, Hix-Witz, and the “Knot-Site.” On this occasion, however, we concentrate our discussion on the role that the kingdom of Sak Tz’i’ played in the geopolitical scenario of the region. It is our belief that this case study constitutes a good example of how, through a conjunctive approach that integrates the archaeological with the epigraphic data, GIS can represent an excellent analytical tool to approach archaeological issues such as the political organization of the Maya Lowlands during the Late Classic period.

Social Integration and the Classic Maya

1966 ◽  
Vol 31 (5Part1) ◽  
pp. 625-631 ◽  
Author(s):  
William A. Haviland
Keyword(s):  
Social Integration ◽  
Population Size ◽  
Classic Maya ◽  
Classic Period ◽  
Effective Force ◽  
Maya Civilization ◽  
Ethnographic Data

AbstractIn recent years, there has been much interest in the use of ethnographic data derived from modern Maya groups for the interpretation of Classic Maya civilization. It has been suggested by some that civil and religious positions in Classic Maya society were filled by a system of rotation such as exists today among some Maya groups. Such a system would have served as a powerful force for the integration of both priest and peasant in Classic Maya society. This proposition is examined here in the light of recent data which show a relation between such existing "cargo" systems and population size. On the basis of settlement data from Tikal, Guatemala, it is concluded that such a system of rotation would not have been an effective force for social integration at large sites of the Classic period, and that other possible factors must be considered in this respect.

Classic Maya civilization in detail

Science ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 361 (6409) ◽  
pp. 1350.10-1352
Author(s):  
Andrew M. Sugden
Keyword(s):  
Classic Maya ◽  
Maya Civilization

Classic Maya Defensive Systems and Warfare in the Petexbatun Region: Archaeological Evidence and Interpretations

1997 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 229-253 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arthur A. Demarest ◽  
Matt O'Mansky ◽  
Claudia Wolley ◽  
Dirk Van Tuerenhout ◽  
Takeshi Inomata ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ninth Century ◽  
Classic Maya ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Maya Civilization ◽  
Archaeological Project ◽  
Scattered Population

AbstractFrom 1989 to 1996, excavation and surveys were carried out at dozens of sites and intersite areas in the southwestern Peten by the Defensive Systems Subproject of the Vanderbilt Petexbatun Regional Archaeological Project and by subsequent related Vanderbilt investigations. The excavations and analyses explored fortification systems, related settlement, and artifactual evidence. Beginning at about a.d. 760, the major centers of the Classic Maya civilization in the Petexbatun region were fortified by a massive expenditure of labor on defensive walls of masonry, usually surmounted by wooden palisades. As warfare accelerated, major centers and later even small hilltop villages were located in highly defensible positions and were fortified by walls, palisades, moats, and baffled gateways. Despite these efforts, all major centers were virtually abandoned by the early ninth century. By a.d. 830, only the island fortress of Punta de Chimino and a very reduced and scattered population remained in the Petexbatun region.

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