REVISITING MAYAPAN: Mexico's last Maya capital

2003 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Milbrath ◽  
Carlos Peraza Lope
Keyword(s):  
Eleventh Century ◽  
Architectural History ◽  
Colonial Period ◽  
Eastern Coast ◽  
Central Mexico ◽  
Terminal Classic ◽  
Political Events ◽  
Trade Route ◽  
Chichen Itza ◽  
Archaeological Excavations

Archaeological excavations begun at Mayapan in 1996 require re-evaluation of this site, sometimes disparaged as representing “decadent” Postclassic Maya culture. New discoveries show that the site was an international center that incorporated specific symbols in its art from areas as far away as Central Mexico and Oaxaca. Indeed, there is evidence of trade with both areas. Another important Postclassic trade route connected Mayapan to Yucatan's eastern coast and Peten, Guatemala. These connections are reflected in similar ceramics and architecture in the three areas. Revival of Terminal Classic traditions at Mayapan inspired certain architectural constructions and a stela cult marking Katun endings. The Katun-cycle chronologies of the Colonial period provide intriguing evidence that political events at Mayapan may be linked with the site's architectural history. The “founding” of Mayapan may have occurred earlier than the conventionally accepted date ofa.d.1263 (end of Katun 13 Ahau). TheChilam Balam of Chumayelchronicles use of a 24-year Katun instead of a Katun of 20 Tuns, suggesting that the earliest founding event at Mayapan (Katun 8 Ahau) may date back to the eleventh centurya.d.and overlap with the demise of Chichen Itza. Some of Mayapan's earliest architecture is contemporary with Chichen Itza's latest constructions. Several hundred years after Mayapan was founded, there was a renaissance of the Cocom heritage evident in specific architectural forms modeled on those from Chichen Itza.

A MAYA CARVED SHELL PLAQUE FROM TULA, HIDALGO, MEXICO

2001 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 175-197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald McVicker ◽  
Joel W. Palka
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Classic Period ◽  
Central Mexico ◽  
Late Classic ◽  
Field Museum ◽  
Terminal Classic ◽  
Non Local ◽  
Chichen Itza ◽  
Terminal Classic Period

In the early 1880s, a finely carved Maya shell picture plaque was found at the Toltec capital of Tula, central Mexico, and was subsequently acquired by The Field Museum in Chicago. The shell was probably re-carved in the Terminal Classic period and depicts a seated lord with associated Maya hieroglyphs on the front and back. Here the iconography and glyphic text of this unique artifact are examined, the species and habitat of the shell are described, and its archaeological and social context are interpreted. The Tula plaque is then compared with Maya carved jade picture plaques of similar size and design that were widely distributed throughout Mesoamerica, but were later concentrated in the sacred cenote at Chichen Itza. It is concluded that during the Late Classic period, these plaques played an important role in establishing contact between Maya lords and their counterparts representing peripheral and non-Maya domains. The picture plaques may have been elite Maya gifts establishing royal alliances with non-local polities and may have become prestige objects used in caches and termination rituals.

THE NORTHERN MAYA COLLAPSE AND ITS AFTERMATH

2003 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 151-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony P. Andrews ◽  
E. Wyllys Andrews ◽  
Fernando Robles Castellanos
Keyword(s):  
Eleventh Century ◽  
Classic Period ◽  
The South ◽  
Maya Lowlands ◽  
Postclassic Period ◽  
Terminal Classic ◽  
Early Postclassic ◽  
Societal Structure ◽  
Maya Collapse ◽  
Chichen Itza

Recent adjustments to the chronology of the northern Maya Lowlands have brought about a closer alignment of the decline of Terminal Classic/Early Postclassic Yucatecan polities with the collapse of the southern Maya states. The collapse of the entire Classic-period societal structure throughout the lowlands can now be compressed into a 200- or 250-year period and seen as a progressive chain of events that began in the south and culminated with the fall of Chichen Itza in the eleventh century. This new reconstruction has led us to propose eliminating the Early Postclassic period, the existence of which was based largely on a purportedly late occupation of Chichen Itza. We assign this final occupation of the Itza capital to the Terminal Classic period, which ended sometime in the eleventh century in the northern Maya Lowlands.

TERMINAL CLASSIC CIRCULAR ARCHITECTURE IN THE SIBUN VALLEY, BELIZE

2013 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 295-306 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eleanor Harrison-Buck ◽  
Patricia A. McAnany
Keyword(s):  
Ninth Century ◽  
Capital City ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Caribbean Coast ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Terminal Classic ◽  
Trade Route ◽  
Chichen Itza ◽  
Sibun Valley

AbstractTerminal Classic circular architecture has been characterized as a “non-Classic” trait stemming from Chontal-Itza groups from the Gulf lowlands who developed a long-distance, circum-peninsular trade route and established their capital city at Chichen Itza in northern Yucatan. Recent investigations of a series of circular shrines proximate to the Caribbean coast in Belize have yielded ceramics and radiocarbon dates that link these buildings to the ninth century, coeval with the early Sotuta phase at Chichen Itza (a.d.830–900). We present an architectural comparison of circular shrines and map out a network of sites that cluster along the rivers and coast of Belize. We consider two possibilities that may not be mutually exclusive: (1) local elite emulation of northern styles following pilgrimage to Chichen Itza for political accession ceremonies, and, (2) trading diasporas involving small-scale migration of Chontal-Itza merchants along the eastern Caribbean coast.

THE STUCCOED AND PAINTED BENCHES OF XOCHICALCO, MORELOS, MEXICO

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Jesper Nielsen ◽  
Claudia Alvarado León ◽  
Christophe Helmke
Keyword(s):  
Classic Maya ◽  
Pivotal Role ◽  
Cultural Tradition ◽  
Central Mexico ◽  
Terminal Classic ◽  
Mexican State ◽  
Chichen Itza

Abstract The cultural tradition of stuccoed and polychromatic murals in central Mexico dates back to Early Classic Teotihuacan and continued into the subsequent Epiclassic period, with the stunning murals from Cacaxtla as the most famous and well-studied example. In this paper, we present three examples of stuccoed and richly painted benches or thrones from the mayor Epiclassic site of Xochicalco in the Mexican state of Morelos. A careful iconographic and epigraphic analysis of the imagery, as well as the associated hieroglyphic signs from one of the benches, leads us to suggest that these benches played a pivotal role in displaying the religious, mythological, and historical underpinnings of hierarchical power at Xochicalco. Based on comparisons with benches and seats from Classic Maya culture and, in particular, the contemporaneous Terminal Classic city of Chichen Itza, which was deeply involved in interregional relations with central Mexico, we also suggest that the Xochicalco benches may even have served as royal seats or thrones.

Changing Patterns of Ritual Activity in an Unlooted Cave in Central Guatemala

2012 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brent K.S. Woodfill ◽  
Stanley Guenter ◽  
Mirza Monterroso
Keyword(s):  
Classic Period ◽  
Late Classic ◽  
Interregional Trade ◽  
Terminal Classic ◽  
Changing Patterns ◽  
Ritual Activity ◽  
Trade Route ◽  
Northern Highlands

AbstractThe Cave of Hun Nal Ye, located in central Guatemala, was discovered unlooted by a local landowner in 2005 and was immediately subject to investigation by the authors. The cave contained ritual remains dating to between the Terminal Pre-classic and Terminal Classic. In addition to allowing a detailed reconstruction of ritual activity in the northern highlands, its presence along the Great Western Trade Route allows archaeologists to examine hypotheses about interregional trade during the Classic period. In particular, changes in the ritual assemblage between the Early and Late Classic indicate that the cave was an important trade shrine for merchants and travelers passing between the highlands and lowlands until ca. A.D. 550, at which point it became a local shrine used to reinforce elite power. These changes are then linked to larger patterns occurring in other parts of the trade route, especially to Tikal and the kingdoms along the Pasión and Usumacinta rivers.

Trace Element Analysis of Obsidian Artifacts from a Classic Maya Residential Group at Nohmul, Belize

1984 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 815-820 ◽  
Author(s):  
Norman Hammond ◽  
Mary D. Neivens ◽  
Garman Harbottle
Keyword(s):  
Neutron Activation Analysis ◽  
Trace Element Analysis ◽  
Colonial Period ◽  
Classic Maya ◽  
Classic Period ◽  
Late Classic ◽  
Element Analysis ◽  
Residential Group ◽  
Terminal Classic ◽  
Before And After

Forty-nine obsidian artifacts from a Classic period residential group at Nohmul, northern Belize, have been analyzed by neutron activation analysis. The majority of the samples originated from Ixtepeque, and the remainder from El Chayal. Increasing prominence of the Ixtepeque source from the Late Classic into the Terminal Classic (i.e., before and after ca. A.D. 800) suggests greater use of a coastal distribution route known to have originated in the Formative and to have remained in use through the colonial period.

Yucatec Influence in Terminal Classic Northern Belize

1982 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 596-614 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diane Z. Chase ◽  
Arlen F. Chase
Keyword(s):  
Single Unit ◽  
San Jose ◽  
The South ◽  
Late Classic ◽  
Terminal Classic ◽  
Early Postclassic ◽  
Maya Collapse ◽  
Chichen Itza

Excavations undertaken during 1978 and 1979 at Nohmul, Belize are believed to cast new light on the demise of the Maya. Investigations revealed Terminal Classic-San Jose V material intermixed with Late Classic to Early Postclassic Yucatec material in a single-unit refuse deposit. More importantly, striking architectural similarities exist between structures at Nohmul and Chichen-Itza; Structure 20 at Nohmul proved to be of the “patio-quad” type known previously only from Chichen-Itza, and Structure 9 of Nohmul may be put forth as a “Caracol” (Chichen-Itza Structure 3C15) counterpart. On the basis of excavations at Nohmul, it is implied that there is an association between Toltec Chichen-Itza (Sotuta) and the Terminal Classic periods to the south (San Jose V-Tepeu 3), in that the two are overlapping, if not coeval. Should this be the case, new alternatives relating to the Maya collapse must be considered.

The Ballcourt Markers of Tenam Rosario, Chiapas, Mexico

1993 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Gerard Fox
Keyword(s):  
Gulf Coast ◽  
Classic Maya ◽  
Central Mexico ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Terminal Classic ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Blood Sacrifice ◽  
Late Postclassic ◽  
Maya Site ◽  
Coast Site

AbstractThis study is an iconographic analysis of ballcourt markers from the Late/Terminal Classic Maya site of Tenam Rosario, Chiapas, Mexico. The squatting posture of the two figures depicted on these markers, while rare in Lowland Maya art, is compared to Late Postclassic images of the earth deities Tlaltecuhtli and Tlaloc from Central Mexico. Contemporaneous examples of this posture are presented from the Gulf Coast site of El Tajin where squatting figures are associated with the rain god specifically and with the themes of ballgame sacrifice and regeneration in general. Tlaloc imagery in Classic Maya art is related to blood sacrifice as a complex, which includes both ritual warfare and autosacrifice. These forms of sacrifice are discussed as engendered categories in both Classic Maya and Aztec society. The Tenam Rosario markers are found to express themes that are consistent with ballgame symbolism throughout Mesoamerica, while conflating male and female aspects of blood sacrifice as regenerative ritual.

Teotihuacan Valley, Mexico, Postclassic Chronology

1996 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 267-280 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Toby Evans ◽  
AnnCorinne Freter
Keyword(s):  
Population Growth ◽  
Thirteenth Century ◽  
Colonial Period ◽  
Central Mexico ◽  
Postclassic Period ◽  
Rural Villages ◽  
Early Colonial ◽  
Late Postclassic ◽  
Absolute Dating

AbstractThe Postclassic period in central Mexico was characterized by enormous population growth and expansion of settlement, but the timing of the onset of these processes has been poorly understood. Obsidian tools from residential contexts at the Late Postclassic village of Cihuatecpan in the Teotihuacan Valley have been analyzed to determine the extent of hydration, and thus the amount of time elapsed since the tools were manufactured. Estimated dates of manufacture range betweena.d.1221 and 1568, consistent with ethnohistoric accounts of the timing of establishment of Cihuatecpan and other rural villages, and their abandonment in the Early Colonial period. Ceramics found in the same contexts as the obsidian tools include Black-on-orange types, such as III, which may have come into use in the thirteenth century. This experiment in relative and absolute dating accords with other current research, indicating a needed revision of traditional chronologies toward an earlier onset of major processes.

The Planets in Aztec Culture

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Milbrath
Keyword(s):  
Solar Eclipse ◽  
Total Solar Eclipse ◽  
Colonial Period ◽  
Central Mexico ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Creation Myths ◽  
Morning Star ◽  
Night Sky ◽  
Solar Rays

The Spanish chronicles do not mention planets other than Venus, although they compare certain Aztec gods with classical gods such as Jupiter and Mars. Creation myths recorded by the Spanish chroniclers frequently name Venus gods, most notably Ehecatl-Quetzalcoatl and Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli. The focus on Venus seen in these texts is also mirrored in colonial period Aztec codices, which feature several Venus gods as rulers of calendar periods associated with the 260-day calendar. The famous Aztec Calendar Stone represents Venus symbols prominently in an image showing the predicted demise of the Sun in an eternal solar eclipse, to be accompanied by earthquakes. Venus is apparently seen as the cause of a total solar eclipse in the Codex Borgia, a pre-conquest codex from Tlaxcala, a community neighboring the Aztecs in central Mexico. Although no pre-conquest Aztec codices survive, the painted screenfold books attributed to neighboring communities in central Mexico provide evidence of the kinds of almanacs that were probably also found in Preconquest Aztec screenfold books. The Codex Borgia has two Venus almanacs associated with heliacal rise events and another focusing on dates that coordinate with events involving Venus and possibly other planets. A unique narrative in the Codex Borgia traces Venus over the course of a year, representing different aspects of the synodical cycle. The transformation of Venus in the narrative is evidenced by subtle changes in the Venus god, Quetzalcoatl, who represents the planet Venus throughout the synodical cycle. Another god, Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli (“lord of dawn”), appears in the narrative associated with Venus as the morning star and also is represented in a death aspect during superior conjunction. This is in keeping with Aztec legends that tell how the Sun killed Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli with his solar rays. The Borgia narrative also helps identify Xolotl as the planet Mercury and provides hints about other planets that may be linked with different aspects of Tezcatlipoca, an Aztec god who ruled the night sky.

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