scholarly journals Competing discourses of the “Maya Past”

2010 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Denise Fay Brown
Keyword(s):  
Classic Maya ◽  
Ancient Maya ◽  
Tourism Marketing ◽  
Maya Civilization ◽  
Dominant Discourses ◽  
Maya People ◽  
International Visitors

The use of the "Maya past" for tourism marketing purposes has been a successful tool for attracting international visitors to Mexico for decades. Images of the Maya zone emerge, in part, from an academic focus on the "Maya past" that includes curiosity about the so-called "collapse" of the Classic Maya civilization. The Ancient Maya are seen as “mysterious" and their society as "enigmatic". But the voices of the almost thirty million Maya people who live in Mexico and Guatemala are only vaguely heard in the discourses of tourism and of academia. This paper examines three competing discourses of the Maya and proposes that these discourses represent epistemologies that are nested in relationships of power, such that the Maya discourse is silenced. As such, the dominant discourses of the Maya past can undermine the Maya understanding of their own past, and become a self-fulfilling prophecy regarding the “collapse” of the contemporary Maya.

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.

Contemporary Tzotzil Cosmological Concepts as a Basis for Interpreting Prehistoric Maya Civilization

1964 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 301-306 ◽  
Author(s):  
William R. Holland
Keyword(s):  
Companion Animals ◽  
Classic Maya ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Ancient Maya ◽  
Ancestor Worship ◽  
Maya Civilization ◽  
Spirit World ◽  
Sacred Mountain

AbstractA heretofore little-known aspect of Tzotzil religion centers around belief in sacred mountains, the mythological origin places of patrilineal groups. The companion animals of the corresponding kin groups are distributed throughout the 13 levels of the sacred mountain according to age and status. Ceremonial relations are maintained with the “spirit world” by means of periodic pilgrimages to the tops of these mountains. There are many suggestive analogies between these contemporary Tzotzil practices and those of the ancient Maya as recorded in the Popul Vuh and The Book of Chilam Balam of Chumayel and as inferred from archaeological studies. The sacred mountains of the Tzotzil are suggested as functional counterparts of some of the smaller pyramids in Classic Maya archaeological sites. These ancient pyramids may have been the centers of rule of patrilineal groups which, as progressive layers were added with lineage successions, may have become centers for ancestor worship where priest-rulers were buried.

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

1967 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 316-325 ◽  
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.

Chert Resource Availability, Production, and Economic Logic

2020 ◽  
pp. 117-131
Author(s):  
Rachel A. Horowitz ◽  
Marcello Canuto ◽  
Chloé Andrieu
Keyword(s):  
Economic System ◽  
Resource Availability ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Social Hierarchy ◽  
Classic Maya ◽  
Local Market ◽  
Ancient Maya ◽  
Production And Distribution ◽  
Basic Level ◽  
Different Levels

At a basic level, the lowland Classic Maya economy was a complex web of prestige exchange, centralized distribution, and local market economies. While it is important not to consider the lowland Classic Maya economic system as monolithic, it is also as critical to understand how it articulated with the different levels of social hierarchy. In this chapter, we address the distribution of utilitarian goods in the ancient Maya economy through comparisons of lithic resources, particularly chert, in northwestern Petén and western Belize. We find that access to locally available raw materials affects the involvement of actors of differing sociopolitical status in lithic production and distribution.

scholarly journals FACING OBJECTS: AN INVESTIGATION OF NON-HUMAN PERSONHOOD IN CLASSIC MAYA CONTEXTS

2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah E. Jackson
Keyword(s):  
Classic Maya ◽  
Ancient Maya ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
The Impact

AbstractResearch on Classic Maya personhood confirms that personhood was extended to non-human entities; however, questions about its operation and impact remain. What is the nature of the linkage between human beings and object persons, and how does personhood pass between them? What is the impact on an object of becoming personed? I approach these questions through depictions in Classic Maya iconography of faces shown on non-human objects, indicating potential to act in person-like ways. Close examination of “faced” objects reveals that Classic Maya personhood represents a substance that does not require humans as a source, and acts, instead, as an untethered resource accessed by entities able to act in social, relational ways. Furthermore, object personhood represents a state of identity in which essences of persons and objects co-exist, opening possibilities for complicating categories of being in the ancient Maya world.

scholarly journals How Maya Archaeologists Discovered the 99% Through the Study of Settlement Patterns

2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy A. Sabloff
Keyword(s):  
Settlement Patterns ◽  
Settlement Pattern ◽  
Ancient Maya ◽  
Single Group ◽  
Ruling Elite ◽  
Maya Archaeology ◽  
Maya Civilization ◽  
The Many

This article presents an autobiographical perspective on the changing nature of Maya archaeology, focusing on the role of settlement pattern studies in illuminating the lives of commoners as well as on the traditional emphasis on the ruling elite. Advances in understanding the nature of nonelite peoples in ancient Maya society are discussed, as are the many current gaps in scholarly understandings of pre-Columbian Maya civilization, especially with regard to the diversity of ancient “commoners” and the difficulty in analyzing them as a single group.

CLASSIC MAYA WARFARE AND WEAPONS: Spear, dart, and arrow points of Aguateca and Copan

2005 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 291-304 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kazuo Aoyama
Keyword(s):  
Distribution Patterns ◽  
Classic Maya ◽  
Late Classic ◽  
Temporal And Spatial Distribution ◽  
Maya Civilization ◽  
Temporal And Spatial ◽  
High Concentrations ◽  
Human Conflict ◽  
Copan Valley

To provide some insights into the nature and role of warfare in the rise, development, and decline of Classic Maya civilization, this article discusses spear, dart, and arrow points used by the Classic Maya elites at the rapidly abandoned fortified city of Aguateca, Guatemala, and their temporal and spatial distribution patterns in and around Copan, Honduras. Both the royal family and elite scribes/artists at Aguateca used spear and dart points for intergroup human conflict as well as for artistic and craft production under enemy threat. An important implication is that the ruler and elite scribes/artists were also warriors. The unusually high concentrations of identifiable weaponry at the Early Classic hilltop center of Cerro de las Mesas as well as the Acropolis and other Late Classic locations in the Copan Valley, along with other lines of evidence, indicate that warfare was critical in the development and downfall of Classic Maya civilization at Copan.

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