An Influx in the Thousands: Late Classic Migration to Perry Mesa

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.

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Analysis of the Context and Contents of an Ulua-Style Marble Vase from the Palmarejo Valley, Honduras

Latin American Antiquity ◽

10.7183/1045-6635.25.1.82 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 25 (1) ◽

pp. 82-100 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

E. Christian Wells ◽

Karla L. Davis-Salazar ◽

José E. Moreno-Cortes ◽

Glenn S. L. Stuart ◽

Anna C. Novotny

Keyword(s):

Stable Isotope ◽

Stable Isotope Analysis ◽

Radiocarbon Dating ◽

Isotope Analysis ◽

Human Remains ◽

Classic Period ◽

Late Classic ◽

Residential Group ◽

Holistic Understanding ◽

Political Economic

Ulúa-style marble vases played important social, political, economic, and religious roles in southern Mesoamerica during the seventh through eleventh centuries A.D. However, most such vessels known to archaeologists are part of looted collections or else were unearthed before the advent of modern archaeological practices. As a result, little is known about the context, use, and chronology of these objects. Recent investigations at the site of Palos Blancos in northwest Honduras discovered an Ulúa-style marble vase in an undisturbed mortuary context. Excavation of the burial context, along with bioarchaeological and stable isotope analysis of the human remains, suggests that the vase was placed as an offering, possibly to an ancestor of the residential group. Phosphate and pollen studies indicate that the vase once held a corn-based beverage . Radiocarbon dating of four charcoal samples from immediately below and adjacent to the vase yielded a range of dates from the beginning of the Late Classic period, ca.A.D. 600-800. Through analyses of the context and contents of the vase, this research contributes to a more holistic understanding of the use and meaning of Ulúa-style marble vases in southern Mesoamerica.

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Stature at Tikal, Guatemala: Implications for Ancient Maya Demography and Social Organization

American Antiquity ◽

10.2307/2694660 ◽

1967 ◽

Vol 32 (3) ◽

pp. 316-325 ◽

Cited By ~ 75

Author(s):

William A. Haviland

Keyword(s):

Social Organization ◽

Classic Maya ◽

Ancient Maya ◽

Ruling Class ◽

Late Classic ◽

Class Division ◽

Lower Status ◽

Simple Class ◽

Males And Females ◽

Maya Site

AbstractThis paper presents an analysis of stature of the prehistoric population from the Maya site of Tikal, Guatemala. From this analysis, based on 55 skeletons from the Tikal burial series, three important conclusions emerge with respect to ancient Maya demography and social organization. (1) Tikal was settled by people of moderate stature, and this remained relatively stable over several centuries. A marked reduction in male stature in Late Classic times may be indicative of a situation of nutritional stress, which may have had something to do with the collapse of Classic Maya civilization. (2) Stature differences between those buried in tombs and others at Tikal suggest that, in the last century B.C., a distinct ruling class developed at Tikal. This simple class division of rulers and commoners may have become more complex in Late Classic times. (3) There was a marked sexual dimorphism in stature between males and females at Tikal. This is probably partially genetic and partially a reflection of relatively lower status for women as opposed to men in Maya society.

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Ritual among the Masses: Deconstructing Identity and Class in an Ancient Maya Neighborhood

Latin American Antiquity ◽

10.7183/1045-6635.22.2.159 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 22 (2) ◽

pp. 159-177 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Chelsea Blackmore

Keyword(s):

Cultural Identity ◽

Social Dynamics ◽

Direct Evidence ◽

Ancient Maya ◽

Late Classic ◽

Class System ◽

Maya Site ◽

The Masses ◽

Tacit Assumptions ◽

Group Part

AbstractEquating a single cultural group to a classificatory scheme has implications for not only how archaeologists develop the concept of cultural identity but how we investigate and theorize about internal social dynamics within that same society. For the ancient Maya, social organization remains largely understood as a two-class system—that of commoner and elite. While these categories reflect the extreme ends of known social strata, they inadequately characterize the reality of day-to-day interactions. This has led to tacit assumptions that commoners did not participate in or comprehend the political and social complexity of the world around them. This paper examines how occupants of a Late Classic Maya neighborhood employed ritual and public practices as a means of social differentiation. Excavations at the Northeast Group, part of the ancient Maya site of Chan, Belize, identified considerable diversity between households, suggesting that occupants shaped status and identity through the control and centralization of ritual. Understanding how people distinguished themselves within the context of a neighborhood provides direct evidence of class complexity, challenging traditional models of commoner behavior and more importantly the role they played in ancient Maya society as a whole.

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Climatic variability and human impact during the last 2000 years in western Mesoamerica: evidence of late Classic (AD 600–900) and Little Ice Age drought events

Climate of the Past ◽

10.5194/cp-11-1239-2015 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 11 (9) ◽

pp. 1239-1248 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

A. Rodríguez-Ramírez ◽

M. Caballero ◽

P. Roy ◽

B. Ortega ◽

G. Vázquez-Castro ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Human Impact ◽

Little Ice Age ◽

Climatic Variability ◽

Seasonal Migration ◽

Ice Age ◽

Cultural Tradition ◽

Late Classic ◽

High Pressure Cell ◽

Western Mexico ◽

The North

Abstract. We present results of analysis of biological (diatoms and ostracodes) and non-biological (Ti, Ca / Ti, total inorganic carbon, magnetic susceptibility) variables from an 8.8 m long, high-resolution (~ 20 yr sample−1) laminated sediment sequence from Lake Santa María del Oro (SMO), western Mexico. This lake lies at a sensitive location between the dry climates of northern Mexico, under the influence of the North Pacific subtropical high-pressure cell and the moister climates of central Mexico, under the influence of the seasonal migration of the intertropical convergence zone and the North American monsoon (NAM). The sequence covers the last 2000 years and provides evidence of two periods of human impact in the catchment, shown by increases in the diatom Achnanthidium minutissimum. The first from AD 100 to 400 (Early Classic) is related to the shaft and chamber tombs cultural tradition in western Mexico, and the second is related to Post-Classic occupation from AD 1100 to 1300. Both periods correspond to relatively wet conditions. Three dry intervals are identified from increased carbonate and the presence of ostracodes and aerophilous Eolimna minima. The first, from AD 500 to 1000 (most intense during the late Classic, from AD 600 to 800), correlates with the end of the shaft and chamber tradition in western Mexico after ca. AD 600. This late Classic dry period is the most important climatic signal in the Mesoamerican region during the last 2000 years, and has been recorded at several sites from Yucatan to the Pacific coast. In the Yucatan area, this dry interval has been related with the demise of the Maya culture at the end of the Classic (AD 850 to 950). The last two dry events (AD 1400 to 1550 and 1690 to 1770) correspond with the onset of, and the late, Little Ice Age, and follow largely the Spörer and Maunder minima in solar radiation. The first of these intervals (AD 1400 to 1550) shows the most intense signal over western Mexico; however this pattern is different at other sites. Dry/wet intervals in the SMO record are related with lower/higher intensity of the NAM over this region, respectively.

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Lidar survey of ancient Maya settlement in the Puuc region of Yucatan, Mexico

PLoS ONE ◽

10.1371/journal.pone.0249314 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 16 (4) ◽

pp. e0249314

Author(s):

William M. Ringle ◽

Tomás Gallareta Negrón ◽

Rossana May Ciau ◽

Kenneth E. Seligson ◽

Juan C. Fernandez-Diaz ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Landscape Archaeology ◽

Formative Period ◽

Ancient Maya ◽

Late Classic ◽

Maya Lowlands ◽

Civic Architecture ◽

Sensing Technology ◽

Cultivable Land ◽

Middle Formative ◽

Storage Technologies

The application of lidar remote-sensing technology has revolutionized the practice of settlement and landscape archaeology, perhaps nowhere more so than in the Maya lowlands. This contribution presents a substantial lidar dataset from the Puuc region of Yucatan, Mexico, a cultural subregion of the ancient Maya and a distinct physiographic zone within the Yucatan peninsula. Despite the high density of known sites, no large site has been fully surveyed, and little is known about intersite demography. Lidar technology allows determination of settlement distribution for the first time, showing that population was elevated but nucleated, although without any evidence of defensive features. Population estimates suggest a region among the most densely settled within the Maya lowlands, though hinterland levels are modest. Lacking natural bodies of surface water, the ancient Puuc inhabitants relied upon various storage technologies, primarily chultuns (cisterns) and aguadas (natural or modified reservoirs for potable water). Both are visible in the lidar imagery, allowing calculation of aguada capacities by means of GIS software. The imagery also demonstrates an intensive and widespread stone working industry. Ovens visible in the imagery were probably used for the production of lime, used for construction purposes and perhaps also as a softening agent for maize. Quarries can also be discerned, including in some cases substantial portions of entire hills. With respect to agriculture, terrain classification permits identification of patches of prime cultivable land and calculation of their extents. Lidar imagery also provides the first unequivocal evidence for terracing in the Puuc, indeed in all northern Yucatan. Finally, several types of civic architecture and architectural complexes are visible, including four large acropolises probably dating to the Middle Formative period (700–450 B.C.). Later instances of civic architecture include numerous Early Puuc Civic Complexes, suggesting a common form of civic organization at the beginning of the Late Classic demographic surge, (A.D. 600–750).

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A MAYA CARVED SHELL PLAQUE FROM TULA, HIDALGO, MEXICO

Ancient Mesoamerica ◽

10.1017/s0956536101122054 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 12 (2) ◽

pp. 175-197 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

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.

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Linguistic Divergence and the Collapse of Preclassic Civilization in Southern Mesoamerica

American Antiquity ◽

10.2307/281790 ◽

1987 ◽

Vol 52 (2) ◽

pp. 367-382 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Bruce H. Dahlin ◽

Robin Quizar ◽

Andrea Dahlin

Keyword(s):

Material Culture ◽

Communication Networks ◽

Classic Period ◽

Late Classic ◽

Postclassic Period ◽

Proximate Cause ◽

Terminal Classic ◽

Early Postclassic ◽

Ultimate Cause ◽

Early Classic Period

Based on published lexicostatistical dates, two intervals in the prehistory of southern Mesoamerica stand out as fertile periods in terms of the generation of new languages: the Terminal Preclassic/early Early Classic Periods, and the Early Postclassic Period. After comparing archaeological evidence with language distributions within the subregions of southern Mesoamerica during the first of these periods, we conclude that the cultural processes during both periods had the same potential for producing rapid rates of linguistic divergences. Just as rapid proliferation of linguistic divisions was symptomatic of the well-known collapse of Late Classic Maya civilization, so it can be taken as a sign of a collapse of Terminal Preclassic civilization. Both collapses were characterized by severe population reductions, site abandonments, an increasing balkanization in material culture, and disruption of interregional communication networks, conditions that were contributory to the kind of linguistic isolation that allows language divergences. Unlike in the Terminal Classic collapse episode, small refuge zones persisted in the Early Classic Period that served as sources of an evolving classicism; these refuge zones were exceptions, however, not the rule. Although the collapse of each site had its own proximate cause, we suggest that the enormous geographical range covered by these Early Classic Period site failures points to a single ultimate cause affecting the area as a whole, such as the onset of a prolonged and devastating climatic change.

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