Mayamiscitata- Wendy Ashmore. Settlement archaeology at Quiriguá, Guatemala. xvi+362 pages, 34 illustrations, 22 colour plates (on CD), 95 tables (further tables on CD). 2007. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology; 978-1-931707-91-6 hardback $100. - Thomas H. Guderjan. The nature of an ancient Maya city: resources, interaction, and power at Blue Creek, Belize. xii+170 pages, 40 illustrations, 5 tables. 2007. Tuscaloosa (AL): University of Alabama Press; 978-0-8173-5426-8 paperback. - Travis W. Stanton & Aline Magnoni (ed.). Ruins of the past: the use and perception of abandoned structures in the Maya Lowlands. xviii+364 pages, 101 illustrations. 2008. Boulder (CO): University Press of Colorado; 978-0-87081-888-2 hardback $60. - David M. Pendergast & Anthony P. Andrews. (ed.). Reconstructing the past: studies in Mesoamerican and Central American prehistory (British Archaeological Reports International Series 1529). viii+158 pages, 106 illustrations, 5 tables. 2006. Oxford: John & Erica Hedges; 1-84171-751-7 paperback £40.

AbstractResearch at the ancient Maya city of Yaxuna, located in the heart of the Yucatan Peninsula, has provided sufficient data to suggest a preliminary chronological framework for the cultural development of this large polity. Primary ceramic and stratigraphie data are presented to support a five-phase scheme of cultural history, encompassing the Middle Formative through Postclassic periods (500 b.c.–a.d. 1250). In addition to chronological significance, the political ramifications of a pan-lowland ceramic trade are addressed. Yaxuna experienced an early florescence in the Late Formative–Early Classic periods, when it was the largest urban center in the central peninsula. A second renaissance in the Terminal Classic period was the result of Yaxuna's role in an alliance between the Puuc and Coba, in opposition to growing Itza militancy. This paper proposes a chronological framework for the cultural development of one northern Maya region in order to facilitate an understanding of this area as part of the overall history of polity interaction and competition in the Maya lowlands.

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Kenneth Pearce: The View from the Top of the Temple, Ancient Maya Civilization and Modern Maya Culture (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1984, $24.95 cloth, $12.95 paper). Pp. xv + 273. - Sylvanus G. Morley/George W. Brainerd, revised by Robert J. Sharer: The Ancient Maya, fourth edition (Stanford University Press, 1983, $28.50). Pp. ix + 708. - B. L. TurnerII: Once Beneath the Forest, Prehistoric Terracing in the Río Bec Region of the Maya Lowlands (Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, Dellplain Latin American Studies No. 13, Distributed by Bowker Publishing Company, Epping, Essex, England, 1983, £14.75). Pp. xv + 209. - B. L. TurnerII and Peter D. Harrison (eds.): Pulltrouser Swamp, Ancient Maya Habitat, Agriculture and Settlement in Northern Belize (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1984, $22.50). Pp. xiii + 294.

Journal of Latin American Studies ◽

10.1017/s0022216x00007173 ◽

1984 ◽

Vol 16 (2) ◽

pp. 510-512

Author(s):

Warwick Bray

Keyword(s):

New Mexico ◽

Latin American ◽

American Studies ◽

Ancient Maya ◽

Latin American Studies ◽

Fourth Edition ◽

Maya Lowlands ◽

University Of Texas ◽

University Of New Mexico ◽

The Temple

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Frances E. Dolan. Digging the Past: How and Why to Imagine Seventeenth-Century Agriculture. (Haney Foundation Series.) 280 pp., figs., notes, index. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2020. $59.95 (cloth); ISBN 9780812252330. E-book available.

Isis ◽

10.1086/715690 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 112 (3) ◽

pp. 605-606

Author(s):

Barbara Hahn

Keyword(s):

Seventeenth Century ◽

University Of Pennsylvania ◽

The Past

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Swamps, canals, and the locations of ancient Maya cities

Antiquity ◽

10.1017/s0003598x00043386 ◽

1980 ◽

Vol 54 (212) ◽

pp. 206-214 ◽

Cited By ~ 41

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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Caves and Ancient Maya Ritual Use ofJute

Latin American Antiquity ◽

10.2307/3557596 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 14 (2) ◽

pp. 207-219 ◽

Cited By ~ 19

Author(s):

Christina T. Halperin ◽

Sergio Garza ◽

Keith M. Prufer ◽

James E. Bradya

Keyword(s):

Religious Beliefs ◽

Ancient Maya ◽

Limited Data ◽

Maya Lowlands ◽

Freshwater Gastropods ◽

Faunal Assemblages ◽

Surface Sites ◽

Ethnographic Data ◽

Mother Earth ◽

Ceremonial Architecture

AbstractA number of previous authors have suggested, based on limited data, thatPachychilusspp., freshwater gastropods often calledjute, may have played a role in ancient Maya ritual. Data collected by the authors demonstrate thatjuteshells consistently appear as part of faunal assemblages in ceremonial caves across the southern Maya Lowlands. At surface sites, jute are often associated with ceremonial architecture, particularly ballcourts. Previous ethnographic accounts are reviewed for clues to ancient Maya jute use. New ethnographic data suggest a role not previously considered by archaeologists. A Q‘eqchi’ Maya informant states that shells are gathered up after meals and deposited in caves as an offering in thanks to “Mother Earth” (Madre Tierra) who provided the mollusks. This practice suggests that the ancient shells may represent a secondary deposition rather than reflecting consumption occurring in the cave. The presence of jute shells may document ancient religious beliefs and ritual activities surrounding an important subsistence resource.

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