A new look at Maya statecraft from Copan, Honduras

Antiquity ◽  
1988 ◽  
Vol 62 (234) ◽  
pp. 157-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
William L. Fash
Keyword(s):  
Settlement Patterns ◽  
Environmental Studies ◽  
Classic Period ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Ancient Maya ◽  
The Past ◽  
Religious Symbolism ◽  
New Look ◽  
The Revolution

The revelations in the study of the Ancient Maya made possible by the revolution in hieroglyphic decipherment have not occurred in isolation. Archaeological investigations within the last three decades have produced a much broader vision of Maya society during the Classic Period than previously possible. Particularly, the study of settlement patterns in conjunction with environmental studies has opened new vistas onto the size and organization of the populations which supported the rulers in their civic-ceremonial centres (Ashmore 1981; Culbert & Rice n.d.). The challenge for the present, and future, is to combine the archaeological record with the studies of inscriptions and politico-religious symbolism, to build a more complete and incisive reconstruction of the past. Where the two records are particularly clear and abundant, we may also aspire to explaining the past.

scholarly journals MODELS OF COSMIC ORDER: Physical expression of sacred space among the ancient Maya

2004 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer P. Mathews ◽  
James F. Garber
Keyword(s):  
Sacred Space ◽  
World Order ◽  
Oral Traditions ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Ancient Maya ◽  
Spatial Order ◽  
Sacred Landscape ◽  
The Past ◽  
Written Texts ◽  
Cosmic Order

The archaeological record, as well as written texts, oral traditions, and iconographic representations, express the Maya perception of cosmic order, including the concepts of quadripartite division and layered cosmos. The ritual act of portioning and layering created spatial order and was used to organize everything from the heavens to the layout of altars. These acts were also metaphors for world creation, world order, and establishing the center as a position of power and authority. This article examines the articulations of these concepts from the level of caches to the level of regions from the past and present in an attempt to understand these ancient perceptions. We emphasize that basic organizational notions of the cosmos permeate all societal levels and argue that scholars should expand their focus to include how the sacred landscape and its related ideology were reproduced in the lives of everyday people.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON CLASSIC MAYA SOCIAL ORGANIZATION FROM CARACOL, BELIZE

2004 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 139-147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diane Z. Chase ◽  
Arlen F. Chase
Keyword(s):  
Social Structure ◽  
Social Organization ◽  
Classic Maya ◽  
Classic Period ◽  
Political Organization ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Middle Ground ◽  
Sociopolitical Organization ◽  
The Past ◽  
Segmentation Models

Inferring ancient social and political organization from the archaeological record is a difficult task. Generally, the models used to interpret the Classic-period Maya (a.d.250–900) have been borrowed from other societies and other times and thus also reflect etic conceptions of the past. Maya social and political organization has been interpreted as varying in complexity. Those who would model a less complex Classic Maya social structure have tended to employ lineage models and segmentation. Models of a more complex Classic Maya civilization focus on different social levels and on a breakdown of some kinship systems. Other models, such as that of the “noble house,” represent attempts to find a middle ground. Yet archaeological and epigraphic data that have been gathered for the Classic Maya place parameters on any interpretation that is generated. Data collected from Caracol, Belize, over the past 19 years can be used to illustrate the problems that arise in the strict application of “ideal” social models to the Classic Maya situation. These same data also provide parameters for the reconstruction of ancient sociopolitical organization.

AN APPRAISAL OF REGIONAL SURVEYS IN THE BASIN OF MEXICO, 1960–1975

2015 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 183-196 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey R. Parsons
Keyword(s):  
Survey Data ◽  
Future Study ◽  
Settlement Patterns ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Subsequent Research ◽  
The Past ◽  
Basin Of Mexico ◽  
Modern Development ◽  
Site Survey

AbstractIn this paper I focus on the regional surveys undertaken in 1960–1975—their development, implementation, key accomplishments, and major shortcomings. I also point to how resulting survey data and surface collections have provided the foundations for subsequent research on a variety of specific problems, sites, and locales, and how complementary historical and ethnographical studies have contributed to interpretations of pre-Columbian settlement patterns. I consider how off-site survey can, and should, complement the more extensive regional surveys that have been carried out in the past. While lamenting the archaeological record lost to modern development, in a more positive vein I suggest lines of productive future investigation that might still be undertaken to extend the significance of past results, evaluate a series of questions and hypotheses defined by the surveys, and help conserve archaeological sites and collections for future study.

Linking the Past and Present of the Ancient Maya

2015 ◽  
pp. 155-183 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anabel Ford ◽  
Keith C. Clarke
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Model ◽  
Settlement Patterns ◽  
Classic Maya ◽  
Population Estimates ◽  
Ancient Maya ◽  
Late Classic ◽  
The Past ◽  
Residential Units ◽  
Maize Yields ◽  
Potential Use

Understanding traditional Maya land use is key to interpreting ancient Maya settlement. The authors link the traditional Maya milpa cycle in use today with a predictive model of ancient settlement patterns through a spatial model for the El Pilar area. The model provides the number of residential units, and therefore population, projected based on the geographic variables of soil fertility, drainage, and slope, while the ethnographic records of maize yields from traditional Maya forest gardening provide the basis for subsistence. By classifying residential units and assuming average family sizes, the authors derive population estimates and ranges for the Late Classic Maya and demonstrate the potential of the milpa cycle to support significant populations at the height of the Maya civilization. Their work shows the value of indigenous strategies to produce food and household needs while conserving the forest, a strategy of potential use today and in the future.

The Real Business of Ancient Maya Economies

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Classic Period ◽  
Economic Systems ◽  
Ancient Maya ◽  
Postclassic Period ◽  
Trade Networks ◽  
Individual Agency ◽  
The Past ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Preclassic Period ◽  
The Subject

A timely synthesis of the latest research and perspectives on ancient Maya economics, this volume illuminates the sophistication and intricacy of economic systems in the Preclassic period, Classic period, and Postclassic period. Contributors from a wide range of disciplines move beyond paradigms of elite control and centralized exchange to focus on individual agency, highlighting production and exchange that took place at all levels of society. Case studies draw on new archaeological evidence from rural households and urban marketplaces to reconstruct the trade networks for tools, ceramics, obsidian, salt, and agricultural goods throughout the empire. They also describe the ways household production integrated with community, regional, and interregional markets. Redirecting the field of ancient Maya economic studies away from simplistic characterizations of the past by fully representing the range of current views on the subject, this volume delves deeply into multiple facets of a complex, interdependent material world.

The Application of Computers to Ship Operations

1972 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 192-192
Keyword(s):  
Operations Research ◽  
Digital Computer ◽  
Traffic Congestion ◽  
Research Unit ◽  
Recent Experience ◽  
Progressive Reduction ◽  
Cargo Handling ◽  
The Past ◽  
Navigational Systems ◽  
The Revolution

A symposium on The Application of Computers to Ship Operations was held at the Department of Navigation, Liverpool Polytechnic, on 1, 2 and 3 March 1971.The symposium was introduced by the Head of the Department, Captain F. L. Main, who briefly reviewed the revolution in world shipping over the past twenty years involving great increases in tonnage, speed of vessels and traffic congestion, accompanied by a progressive reduction in manning scales. This had been made possible by automation and one of its logical consequences was the use of computers both at sea and in port administration. The aim of the symposium was to explore the potential of the digital computer in these fields, to define its possible limitations and to emphasize the need of adequate training for the personnel involved.Of the nine papers presented, four more directly concerned with the application of computers to navigational systems are printed below. Other papers dealt with the application of computers to cargo handling, ships' accountancy and port administration with particular reference to the recent experience of the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board. Captain Holder and Captain Jones are both in the Marine Operations Research Unit at the Liverpool Polytechnic.

The Sociopolitical Economy of an Ancient Maya Village: Cerén and its Sacbe

2015 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 341-361 ◽  
Author(s):  
Payson Sheets ◽  
Christine Dixon ◽  
David Lentz ◽  
Rachel Egan ◽  
Alexandria Halmbacher ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Household Archaeology ◽  
Classic Period ◽  
Agricultural Products ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Significant Progress ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Research Focus ◽  
Sociopolitical Organization ◽  
Politics And Religion ◽  
The Village

The intellectual, artistic, and architectural accomplishments of Maya elites during the Classic period were extraordinary, and evidence of elite activities has preserved well in the archaeological record. A centuries-long research focus on elites has understandably fostered the view that they controlled the economy, politics, and religion of Maya civilization. While there has been significant progress in household archaeology, unfortunately the activities, decisions, and interactions of commoners generally preserve poorly in the archaeological record. Therefore, it has been challenging to understand the sociopolitical economy of commoners, and how it related—or did not relate—to elite authority. The exceptional volcanic preservation of the site of Cerén, El Salvador, provides a unique opportunity to explore the degree to which elites controlled or influenced commoner life. Was society organized in a top-down hierarchy in which elites controlled everything? Or did commoners have autonomy, and thus the authority to decide quotidian, seasonal, and annual issues within the village? Or was there a mixture of different loci of authority within the village and the region? Research at Cerén is beginning to shed some light on the sociopolitical economy within the community and in relation to elites in the Zapotitan valley. A domain in which there was considerable commoner-elite interaction in the Cerén area was the marketplace. Elites and their attached specialists provided products, and commoners decided which marketplace they would attend to exchange their items. Evidence from Cerén also suggests that there were numerous other domains of authority within the community that had no detectable control or influence from outside. For instance, people in the village decided what crafts or specialized agricultural products to produce as surplus to be exchanged within the community for different products from other households. Cerén community members acted independently as individuals, as households, or in other domains within the community. Understanding the multiple layers of authority at Cerén sheds light on the sociopolitical organization in one non-elite Classic period Maya community.

The Formulation of the Declaration of Rights

1974 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 265-279 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert J. Frankle
Keyword(s):  
Common People ◽  
English Revolution ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Revolution

After a period of comparative neglect, historians are re-examining the English Revolution of 1688 with revived interest and revised interpretation. In the past few decades numerous works have carefully re-investigated and often reinterpreted the roles played by such disparate groups as the Whigs, die nobility, the common people, and die urban mob, as well as by such leading individuals as die Earl of Sunderland, James II, and William of Orange. They have broadened our perspective of the Revolution by placing it in die wider context of European affairs and have persuasively demonstrated that die replacement of James II by William and Mary was justified most frequently and effectively not by John Locke's Two Treatises of Government, which was indeed composed prior to 1688, but by mat old relic from James I's reign, divine right of kings.

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.

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