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.

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.

Snail Shells and Maize Preparation: A Lacandon Maya Analogy

1979 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 568-571 ◽  
Author(s):  
James D. Nations
Keyword(s):  
Wide Distribution ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Freshwater Snails ◽  
Ancient Maya ◽  
Maya Lowlands ◽  
Lacandon Maya

A recent report by Moholy-Nagy (1978) notes the frequency and wide distribution of the freshwater snails Pomacea flagellata and Pachychilus spp. in archaeological sites of the southern Maya Lowlands. The report suggests that these snails served as supplementary sources of protein. In this comment, the author describes the modern Lacandon Maya use of Pachychilus shells as lime for processing maize into tortillas and corn gruels and proposes that snail shells may also have served the ancient Maya as a source of lime.

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.

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.

Underwater Archaeology, Salt Production, and Coastal Maya Trade at Stingray Lagoon, Belize

1995 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 214-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heather McKillop
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level ◽  
Organic Material ◽  
Classic Period ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Underwater Archaeology ◽  
Ancient Maya ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Salt Production ◽  
Animal Bones ◽  
Modern Landscape

Ancient sources of salt have been revealed by underwater archaeology along the south coast of Belize. A relative rise in sea level of about 1 m at the end of the Classic period (ca. A. D. 900) submerged ancient Maya settlements and transformed the modern landscape by reducing the amount of available land and by changing the vegetation. The discovery of submerged archaeological sites and their dating by associated ceramics and radiocarbon date determination documents the sea level rise. Salt production by the sal cocida or boiling method at the underwater site of Stingray Lagoon and at other specialized salt production sites provided salt for coastal use and inland transport and diminished the need for long-distance import of this basic human requirement. This paper describes salt-making artifacts as well as salt production. The lack of animal bones at the Stingray Lagoon site where other organic material was preserved indicates that salt was not produced for salt-drying fish. Evidence that salt was obtained from the Belizean coast instead of from the northern Yucatán coast is in line with the view of ancient Maya economy in which basic subsistence resources were produced locally whereas long-distance trade was concentrated on elite or ceremonial resources and goods.

The Chronology of Yaxuna

1998 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 167-182 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles Suhler ◽  
Traci Ardren ◽  
David Johnstone
Keyword(s):  
Cultural History ◽  
Cultural Development ◽  
The Political ◽  
Ancient Maya ◽  
Urban Center ◽  
Maya Lowlands ◽  
Terminal Classic ◽  
History Of ◽  
Late Formative ◽  
Middle Formative

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.

scholarly journals Drought, agricultural adaptation, and sociopolitical collapse in the Maya Lowlands

2015 ◽  
Vol 112 (18) ◽  
pp. 5607-5612 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter M. J. Douglas ◽  
Mark Pagani ◽  
Marcello A. Canuto ◽  
Mark Brenner ◽  
David A. Hodell ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Isotope ◽  
Sediment Cores ◽  
Classic Period ◽  
Maya Lowlands ◽  
Agricultural Adaptation ◽  
Terminal Classic ◽  
Paleoclimate Records ◽  
Early Classic Period ◽  
Plant Wax ◽  
Terminal Classic Period

Paleoclimate records indicate a series of severe droughts was associated with societal collapse of the Classic Maya during the Terminal Classic period (∼800–950 C.E.). Evidence for drought largely derives from the drier, less populated northern Maya Lowlands but does not explain more pronounced and earlier societal disruption in the relatively humid southern Maya Lowlands. Here we apply hydrogen and carbon isotope compositions of plant wax lipids in two lake sediment cores to assess changes in water availability and land use in both the northern and southern Maya lowlands. We show that relatively more intense drying occurred in the southern lowlands than in the northern lowlands during the Terminal Classic period, consistent with earlier and more persistent societal decline in the south. Our results also indicate a period of substantial drying in the southern Maya Lowlands from ∼200 C.E. to 500 C.E., during the Terminal Preclassic and Early Classic periods. Plant wax carbon isotope records indicate a decline in C4 plants in both lake catchments during the Early Classic period, interpreted to reflect a shift from extensive agriculture to intensive, water-conservative maize cultivation that was motivated by a drying climate. Our results imply that agricultural adaptations developed in response to earlier droughts were initially successful, but failed under the more severe droughts of the Terminal Classic period.

scholarly journals Climate impact on the development of Pre-Classic Maya civilisation

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (8) ◽  
pp. 1253-1273 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kees Nooren ◽  
Wim Z. Hoek ◽  
Brian J. Dermody ◽  
Didier Galop ◽  
Sarah Metcalfe ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
North Atlantic ◽  
Agricultural Intensification ◽  
Climatic Variability ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Climate Impact ◽  
Classic Period ◽  
Beach Ridge ◽  
Maya Lowlands ◽  
The North ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. The impact of climate change on the development and disintegration of Maya civilisation has long been debated. The lack of agreement among existing palaeoclimatic records from the region has prevented a detailed understanding of regional-scale climatic variability, its climatic forcing mechanisms and its impact on the ancient Maya. We present two new palaeo-precipitation records for the central Maya lowlands, spanning the Pre-Classic period (1800 BCE–250 CE), a key epoch in the development of Maya civilisation. A beach ridge elevation record from world's largest late Holocene beach ridge plain provides a regional picture, while Lake Tuspan's diatom record is indicative of precipitation changes at a local scale. We identify centennial-scale variability in palaeo-precipitation that significantly correlates with the North Atlantic δ14C atmospheric record, with a comparable periodicity of approximately 500 years, indicating an important role of North Atlantic atmospheric–oceanic forcing on precipitation in the central Maya lowlands. Our results show that the Early Pre-Classic period was characterised by relatively dry conditions, shifting to wetter conditions during the Middle Pre-Classic period, around the well-known 850 BCE (2.8 ka) event. We propose that this wet period may have been unfavourable for agricultural intensification in the central Maya lowlands, explaining the relatively delayed development of Maya civilisation in this area. A return to relatively drier conditions during the Late Pre-Classic period coincides with rapid agricultural intensification in the region and the establishment of major cities.

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