Ancient Recycling: Considerations of the Wasteful, Meaningful, and Practical from the Maya Site of Ucanal, Peten, Guatemala

AbstractThis paper presents an analysis of stature of the prehistoric population from the Maya site of Tikal, Guatemala. From this analysis, based on 55 skeletons from the Tikal burial series, three important conclusions emerge with respect to ancient Maya demography and social organization. (1) Tikal was settled by people of moderate stature, and this remained relatively stable over several centuries. A marked reduction in male stature in Late Classic times may be indicative of a situation of nutritional stress, which may have had something to do with the collapse of Classic Maya civilization. (2) Stature differences between those buried in tombs and others at Tikal suggest that, in the last century B.C., a distinct ruling class developed at Tikal. This simple class division of rulers and commoners may have become more complex in Late Classic times. (3) There was a marked sexual dimorphism in stature between males and females at Tikal. This is probably partially genetic and partially a reflection of relatively lower status for women as opposed to men in Maya society.

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First Archaeological Identification of Nixtamalized Maize, from Two Pit Latrines at the Ancient Maya Site of San Bartolo, Guatemala

SSRN Electronic Journal ◽

10.2139/ssrn.3948399 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Lauren M. Santini ◽

Sadie L. Weber ◽

John M. Marston ◽

Astrid Runggaldier

Keyword(s):

Ancient Maya ◽

San Bartolo ◽

Maya Site

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Ritual among the Masses: Deconstructing Identity and Class in an Ancient Maya Neighborhood

Latin American Antiquity ◽

10.7183/1045-6635.22.2.159 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 22 (2) ◽

pp. 159-177 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Chelsea Blackmore

Keyword(s):

Cultural Identity ◽

Social Dynamics ◽

Direct Evidence ◽

Ancient Maya ◽

Late Classic ◽

Class System ◽

Maya Site ◽

The Masses ◽

Tacit Assumptions ◽

Group Part

AbstractEquating a single cultural group to a classificatory scheme has implications for not only how archaeologists develop the concept of cultural identity but how we investigate and theorize about internal social dynamics within that same society. For the ancient Maya, social organization remains largely understood as a two-class system—that of commoner and elite. While these categories reflect the extreme ends of known social strata, they inadequately characterize the reality of day-to-day interactions. This has led to tacit assumptions that commoners did not participate in or comprehend the political and social complexity of the world around them. This paper examines how occupants of a Late Classic Maya neighborhood employed ritual and public practices as a means of social differentiation. Excavations at the Northeast Group, part of the ancient Maya site of Chan, Belize, identified considerable diversity between households, suggesting that occupants shaped status and identity through the control and centralization of ritual. Understanding how people distinguished themselves within the context of a neighborhood provides direct evidence of class complexity, challenging traditional models of commoner behavior and more importantly the role they played in ancient Maya society as a whole.

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A Stratification of Remains at an Early Maya Site

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ◽

10.1073/pnas.14.7.505 ◽

1928 ◽

Vol 14 (7) ◽

pp. 505-508 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

O. G. Ricketson

Keyword(s):

Maya Site

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Entombment, Authority, and Descent at Altar de Sacrificios, Guatemala

American Antiquity ◽

10.2307/278027 ◽

1971 ◽

Vol 36 (1) ◽

pp. 102-105 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

William A. Haviland

Keyword(s):

Social Organization ◽

Classic Maya ◽

Kinship Theory ◽

Maya Site ◽

Political Units ◽

Lowland Maya

AbstractAt the lowland Maya site of Altar de Sacrificios, two burials have been interpreted in such a way as to suggest: (1) that matrilineal principles of social organization may have been operative in some segments of Classic Maya society; and (2) that Maya political units may have been tied together by marriage alliances. These two hypotheses are examined here in the light of anthropological kinship theory. It is concluded that such marriage alliances are in the realm of possibility, but that matrilineality is unlikely.

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Incipient Maya Burnt-Lime Technology: Characterization and Chronological Variations in Preclassic Plaster, Stucco and Mortar at Nakbe, Guatemala

MRS Proceedings ◽

10.1557/proc-462-207 ◽

1996 ◽

Vol 462 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Eric F. Hansen ◽

Carlos Rodriguez-Navarro ◽

Richard D. Hansen

Keyword(s):

Critical Time ◽

Cultural Development ◽

Power Structures ◽

X Ray Diffraction ◽

Thin Sections ◽

Burnt Lime ◽

Construction Methods ◽

Random Aggregate ◽

Middle Preclassic ◽

Maya Site

ABSTRACTPatterned technological behaviors in the production and use of burnt-lime products can be characterized using optical microscopy and image analysis of pétrographie thin-sections to determine the texture (supplemented by X-ray diffraction analysis). Variations in technological styles have been identified in 21 samples from the ancient Maya site of Nakbe, Petén, Guatemala dating to the Middle Preclassic (1,000 B. C. - 300 B. C.) and Late Preclassic (300 B. C. - 150 A. D.) periods. Middle Preclassic floors exhibit a chaotic texture with a highly random aggregate particle size. Late Preclassic modeled stucco or painted fragments have a well-sorted texture with a low acid-insoluble content (<2%). Load -bearing mortar dating from the early Late Preclassic has a matrix with a high acid insoluble content (>15%), the major phases being quartz (-10%) and clays (∼5%). The variations correlate both with the time of occurrence and the function of the end-product. These issues of construction methods and levels of technology contribute data to aid our understanding of cultural development in this area at a critical time when the Maya were formulating power structures.

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