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.

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.

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.

Paleoecological Evidence of an Early Postclassic Occupation in the Southwestern Maya Lowlands: Laguna Las Pozas, Guatemala

2001 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 149-166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin J. Johnston ◽  
Andrew J. Breckenridge ◽  
Barbara C. Hansen
Keyword(s):  
Classic Maya ◽  
Classic Period ◽  
Maya Lowlands ◽  
Postclassic Period ◽  
Refugee Population ◽  
Terminal Classic ◽  
Early Postclassic ◽  
Maya Collapse ◽  
Terminal Classic Period

Magnetic, palynological, and paleoecological data indicate that in the Río de la Pasión drainage, one of the most thoroughly investigated areas of the southern Maya lowlands, a refugee population remained in the Laguna Las Pozas basin long after the Classic Maya collapse and the Terminal Classic period, previously identified by archaeologists as eras of near-total regional abandonment. During the Early Postclassic period, ca. A. D. 900 to 1200, agriculturalists colonized and deforested the Laguna Las Pozas basin for agriculture while adjacent, abandoned terrain was undergoing reforestation. After discussing the archaeological utility of magnetic analyses, we conclude that following the Maya collapse, some refugee populations migrated to geographically marginal non-degraded landscapes within the southern lowlands not previously occupied by the Classic Maya.

NEW EVIDENCE FOR POLITICAL HIERARCHY AND POWER IN THE NORTHERN MAYA LOWLANDS (a.d.600–1000)

2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 171-195 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Graña-Behrens
Keyword(s):  
Northern Region ◽  
Classic Maya ◽  
Political Organization ◽  
Ancient Maya ◽  
Maya Lowlands ◽  
Personal Names ◽  
Political Hierarchy ◽  
And Function ◽  
Meaning And Function ◽  
New Evidence

AbstractThis paper presents new evidence for hierarchy and power among the Classic Maya (a.d.300–1000) from the northern lowlands. It expands the list of identified emblem glyphs, and, more particularly, focuses on emblems with numerals by questioning their meaning and function in terms of political organization. Furthermore, the paper centers on syntax, especially on the practice of structuring personal names and titles in order to isolate titles and emblem glyphs, as well as to rank individuals and further advance our understanding of ancient Maya political organization. Finally, a dynastic sequence of rulers and noblemen from the Chan or Kan kingdom (most probably Jaina) is proposed, as well as divergent monumental traditions within the northern region and a re-evaluation of interpolity relationships.

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.

UNDERGROUND PITS (CHULTUNES) IN THE SOUTHERN MAYA LOWLANDS: EXCAVATION RESULTS FROM CLASSIC PERIOD MAYA SITES IN NORTHWESTERN PETÉN

2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clarissa Cagnato
Keyword(s):  
Strong Evidence ◽  
Classic Period ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Ancient Maya ◽  
Maya Lowlands ◽  
Macrobotanical Remains ◽  
Local Patterns

AbstractChultunes— underground pits carved into bedrock — have been reported by the hundreds in the Maya region, yet debate on their principal use continues to this day. Sincechultuneshave not yielded solid data to answer the questions posed by Maya archeologists, they are sometimes not completely excavated or reported in detail. This article presents a review of previous work onchultunesin the Maya lowlands, followed by the presentation of new data from sixchultunesexcavated at archaeological sites in northwestern Petén, Guatemala. I argue that, although these underground features were primarily used for utilitarian purposes, there is strong evidence thatchultunesalso had ritual importance to the ancient Maya. The variability in the shape, size, and associated cultural materials, including macrobotanical remains, justifies further in-depth investigations ofchultunes. Archaeologists should consider investigating these features more systematically, as a larger comparative sample ofchultunescould aid in assessing whether there are local patterns of construction, use, and reuse. Thus, excavations of these features should be encouraged.

Understanding Late Classic Maya Mortuary Ritual in Caves

2018 ◽  
pp. 133-158
Author(s):  
Amy R. Michael ◽  
Gabriel D. Wrobel ◽  
Jack Biggs
Keyword(s):  
Social Status ◽  
Dental Health ◽  
Health Data ◽  
Classic Maya ◽  
Classic Period ◽  
Ancient Maya ◽  
Late Classic ◽  
Mortuary Practice ◽  
Mortuary Ritual ◽  
Analytical Approaches

Bioarchaeology frequently investigates dental health in burial populations to make inferences about mortuary variability within and between ancient groups. In this chapter, micro- and macroscopic dental defects were examined in a series of ancient Maya mortuary cave and rockshelter burials in Central Belize. The nature of mortuary cave ritual use and funerary performance in the Late Classic is widely debated in the literature. This study utilizes two analytical approaches, mortuary practice and paleopathology, to better understand mortuary variability between two site types that may be distinguished by social status in life. Ethnohistoric accounts focused on mortuary activities in the Late Classic period have described sacrificial victims as individuals originating outside of the elite population. To test these accounts, this study compares the dental health data of individuals from non-elite (rockshelter) populations to elite (cave) burial contexts.

An Early Classic Center in the Puuc Region

1998 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 233-257 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael P. Smyth ◽  
José Ligorred Perramon ◽  
David Ortegón Zapata ◽  
Pat Farrell
Keyword(s):  
Surface Soil ◽  
Classic Period ◽  
Ancient Maya ◽  
Maya Lowlands ◽  
New Information ◽  
Site Survey ◽  
Important Center ◽  
Early Classic Period ◽  
Rare Opportunity ◽  
Activity Areas

AbstractA comprehensive site survey and excavation program took place in 1995 and 1996 at the Maya center of Chac II (Chac) located within the Puuc hills region of Yucatan, Mexico. This work presents a body of evidence in support of the idea that Chac was an important center beginning in the Early Classic period (a.d. 300–600) that experienced significant foreign contacts. In addition, multifaceted data from surface, soil, architectural, and excavated contexts are addressing major questions pertaining to architectural and ceramic chronologies, the founding of the Puuc stoneworking tradition, site activity areas, and patterns of land use. Furthermore, dating indicates that Chac predated Sayil and that the two sites have a close geographical relationship. Also, terrace agriculture appears to have been widespread at Chac, contrasting greatly with Sayil where intensive gardening was widely practiced. In light of the new information from Chac, we argue that the traditional models of Puuc origins are inadequate. Investigations at a major Early Classic site in the heart of the Puuc region suggests that the region's rise was indigenous coupled with external ties to foreign groups reaching to central Mexico. The site of Chac is thus taking on strategic importance for understanding the origins of Puuc civilization, providing a rare opportunity to study a Maya center that was on the brink of urbanism in one of the most urban ancient Maya areas. These new data are helping to elucidate the nature of Maya urbanism in the Puuc region and establish the kinds of cultural links that existed between the northern Maya Lowlands and the rest of Mesoamerica during the Classic period.

Preclassic to Postclassic in northern Belize

Antiquity ◽  
1974 ◽  
Vol 48 (191) ◽  
pp. 177-189 ◽  
Author(s):  
Norman Hammond
Keyword(s):  
Classic Maya ◽  
Maya Lowlands ◽  
Maya Civilization ◽  
Northern Zone ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Rainforest Zone

Northern Belize lies in the northeastern quadrant of the central rainforest zone of the area formerly occupied by Classic Maya civilization, adjacent to the ecological frontier with the northern zone, the arid karstic plain of northern Yucatan. It is bounded on the east by the Caribbean, and is traversed by two of the major rivers of the Maya lowlands, the Rio Hondo and Rio Nuevo, the upper tributaries of which drain the Maya heartland of south Campeche and northeastern Peten.

The Origin and Development of Lowland Classic Maya Civilization

1971 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 275-285 ◽  
Author(s):  
William L. Rathje
Keyword(s):  
Rain Forest ◽  
Classic Maya ◽  
Mineral Salt ◽  
Maya Lowlands ◽  
Subsistence Economy ◽  
The Core ◽  
Forest Region ◽  
Maya Civilization ◽  
Individual Household

AbstractThe southern Maya lowlands present a largely redundant environment which does not possess the potential for major internal symbiotic regions or for irrigation. In fact, the interior of this region is uniformly deficient in resources essential to the efficiency of every individual household engaged in the Mesoamerican agricultural subsistence economy: mineral salt, obsidian for blades, and hard stone for grinding. Yet, in the core of this rain forest region, the basic elements of Classic Maya civilization first coalesced. A model involving methods of procuring and distributing the resources necessary to the efficiency of an agricultural subsistence economy explains the loci of lowland Classic Maya development and the order in which these loci developed. This model can also be applied to the Olmec civilization.

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