Ecology and Ritual: Water Management and the Maya

1998 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-159 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vernon L. Scarborough
Keyword(s):  
High Performance ◽  
Urban Landscape ◽  
Water Source ◽  
Classic Period ◽  
Town Planning ◽  
Total Power ◽  
Ancient Maya ◽  
Land Resources ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
Centralize Control

How the ancient Maya of the central Yucatecan Lowlands managed their water and land resources remains poorly known, although crucial to an understanding of ancient political economy. Recent archival research and field data suggest the widespread use of artificially altered, natural depressions for the collection and containment of water, both for potable consumption and agricultural ends. During the Classic period (A. D. 250-900) several of the principal cities in the Maya area constructed their largest architecture and monuments at the summit of hills and ridges. Associated with these elevated centers—”water mountains”—were sizable, life-sustaining reservoirs quarried into their summits. The effect of this town-planning design was the centralization of a primary and fundamental resource. Although elite managers controlled the water source, other decentralizing forces prevented anything similar to Wittfogel's “total power.” However, by ritually appropriating the everyday and mundane activities associated with water by the sustaining population, elites used high-performance water ritual as manifest in the iconography to further centralize control. The significance of modifying the urban landscape in the partial image of the ordinary water hole defines the extraordinary in Maya ritual.

Application of a fractionation technique for better understanding of the removal of natural organic matter by alum coagulation

2002 ◽  
Vol 2 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 427-433 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. van Leeuwen ◽  
C. Chow ◽  
R. Fabris ◽  
N. Withers ◽  
D. Page ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Organic Matter ◽  
Natural Organic Matter ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Relative Proportion ◽  
Water Source ◽  
Size Exclusion ◽  
Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry ◽  
Pyrolysis Gas ◽  
Alum Treatment ◽  
Hydrophobic Acids

To gain an improved understanding of the types of organic compounds that are recalcitrant to water treatment, natural organic matter (NOM) isolates from two drinking water sources (Mt. Zero and Moorabool reservoirs, Victoria, Australia) were separated into fractions of distinct chemical behaviour using resins. Four fractions were obtained from each water source and were organics absorbed to: (1) XAD-8 (very hydrophobic acids, VHA); (2) DAX-4 (slightly hydrophobic acids, SHA); (3) bound to an anion exchange resin (charged organics, CHAR); and (4) not absorbed or bound to resins (neutrals, NEUT). These fractions were then tested to determine the capacity of alum to remove them from water and to correlate this with the character of each isolate. The fractions were characterised by the application of high performance size exclusion chromatography (HPSEC), bacterial regrowth potential (BRP), trihalomethane formation potential (THMFP), pyrolysis gas-chromatography mass spectrometry (Py-GC-MS) and thermochemolysis. The highest removals of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) by alum treatment were in waters spiked with the CHAR fractions while the NEUT fractions were the most recalcitrant. The number average molecular weights (Mn) of DOC of the CHAR fractions before treatment were the highest, whilst those of the NEUT fractions were the lowest. After alum treatment, the Mn of the NEUT fractions were only slightly reduced. Results from Py-GC-MS and thermochemolysis indicate that the NEUT fractions had the highest relative proportion of saccharide derived organic material. Nonetheless, the BRP of waters spiked with the NEUT fractions differed markedly, indicating that organics recalcitrant to alum treatment can vary substantially in their chemical composition and capacity to support microbial growth.

Design and Layout of a High-Performance PWM Control Class D Amplifiers IC Systems

2012 ◽  
Vol 203 ◽  
pp. 469-473
Author(s):  
Ruei Chang Chen ◽  
Shih Fong Lee
Keyword(s):  
Low Power ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Low Voltage ◽  
Design Flow ◽  
Total Power ◽  
Cmos Process ◽  
Low Power Circuits ◽  
Class D ◽  
Total Power Consumption ◽  
Power Circuits

This paper presents the design and implementation of a novel pulse width modulation control class D amplifiers chip. With high-performance, low-voltage, low-power and small area, these circuits are employed in portable electronic systems, such as the low-power circuits, wireless communication and high-frequency circuit systems. This class D chip followed the chip implementation center advanced design flow, and then was fabricated using Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacture Company 0.35-μm 2P4M mixed-signal CMOS process. The chip supply voltage is 3.3 V which can operate at a maximum frequency of 100 MHz. The total power consumption is 2.8307 mW, and the chip area size is 1.1497×1.1497 mm2. Finally, the class D chip was tested and the experimental results are discussed. From the excellent performance of the chip verified that it can be applied to audio amplifiers, low-power circuits, etc.

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.

scholarly journals The discovery of an ancient Maya causeway system in the southern Maya Mountains of Belize

Antiquity ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 91 (357) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc A. Abramiuk
Keyword(s):  
Archaeological Site ◽  
Classic Period ◽  
Ancient Maya ◽  
Remote Location ◽  
Maya Mountains

The archaeological site of Quebrada de Oro, southern Belize, is one of four ancient Maya settlement sites, mainly dating to the Classic period (AD 250–900), that are situated in the Bladen Branch drainage of the southern Maya Mountains proper. This remote location has long been taken to imply that the region was a political backwater, but the recent discovery of an ancient Maya causeway system associated with Quebrada de Oro—the first significant example to be documented in this area—sheds new light on this group of Maya sites (Figure 1).

scholarly journals Design of high performance, low power sub thresholds ram using source coupled logic for implantable applications.

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (2.12) ◽  
pp. 205
Author(s):  
T Vasudeva Reddy ◽  
Dr B.K. Madhavi
Keyword(s):  
Low Power ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Supply Voltage ◽  
Process Variations ◽  
Primary Objective ◽  
Total Power ◽  
Threshold Region ◽  
Major Power ◽  
Low Power Circuits ◽  
Power Circuits

Low power circuits functioning in sub threshold were proposed in earlier seventies. Recently, growing with the need of low power consumption, the low power circuits have became more attractive. However, the act of sub threshold design logics has become sensitive to the supply voltage & process variations like temperature and so on. In sub threshold region of operations the supply voltage (Vgs) is less than the threshold (Vth).This leads to less power dissipation in over all circuit, but drastically increment in propagation delay. The major intention of the paper is to offer new low power & less delay digital circuits. SRAM is the major power drawing element and dissipation is about 40% in total power. The primary objective is to design of sub threshold SRAM design, Functionality and performance is estimated from the power and delay.The second objective is to offer novel Source coupled logic based SRAM (ST-SC SRA) M & Operating these design under sub threshold operating region. Performance is analyzed through power and delay. Finally comparing the traditional sub threshold SRAM with source coupled based SRAM in power and delay on par with the performance. Discussing some of the applications, where there is a requirement of less power and delay. 

3. The divine king

2020 ◽  
pp. 23-42
Author(s):  
Matthew Restall ◽  
Amara Solari
Keyword(s):  
Classic Period ◽  
Ancient Maya ◽  
Regional Variations ◽  
Short Biography ◽  
Maya Area

“The divine king” begins with a short biography of the Maya k’uhul ajaw (supreme lord or king) known as 18-Rabbit. During the Classic period, rulers were viewed as divine kings or queens, like 18-Rabbit and Lady K’abel (“Waterlily-Hand”). The ancient Maya used a combination of a cyclical calendar and a linear calendar called the “Long Count.” The Maya area experienced regular intrusions from imperial Teotihuacan, often leading to economic and diplomatic partnerships. Most Mayas experienced war in their lifetimes. The “Collapse” at the end of the Classic period could more accurately be called a transition, with major regional variations. Some well-known Maya sites flourished after the Collapse.

POINT COUNTER POINT: INTERPRETING CHIPPED CHERT BIFACES IN TERMINAL CLASSIC “PROBLEMATIC” ON-FLOOR DEPOSITS FROM STRUCTURES A2 AND A3 AT CAHAL PECH, BELIZE

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 161-174 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. James Stemp ◽  
Jaime J. Awe
Keyword(s):  
Stone Tools ◽  
Skeletal Remains ◽  
Classic Period ◽  
Direct Result ◽  
Terminal Phase ◽  
Ancient Maya ◽  
Terminal Classic ◽  
Use Wear ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Symbolic Meanings

AbstractProblematic deposits, containing different types of artifacts and skeletal remains, are typically recovered on or near the surfaces of the terminal phase of elite civic-ceremonial architecture at ancient Maya sites. These contexts often date to the Terminal Classic period (~a.d. 750–900). They have been variously interpreted as evidence for site abandonment, squatting, warfare, or dedication or termination rituals. Sixteen chert bifaces were recovered from problematic deposits at the bases of Structures A2 and A3 in the elite Plaza A at Cahal Pech, Belize. Stone tools from problematic deposits are rarely examined in significant detail. Based on stylistic, metric, and use-wear analyses, the bifaces were likely produced locally, used during important hunting or warfare activities, and then ritually deposited in the Terminal Classic. These bifaces were likely hafted to spearthrower darts and represented “success” at hunting or fighting. The recovery of weaponry in problematic deposits that is not the direct result of warfare is an important observation because Mayanists have generally interpreted their presence in these contexts as evidence of warfare. The fact that the points were recovered in groups of seven and nine may indicate that they had important symbolic meanings that connected them to supernatural or mythological places or entities.

scholarly journals THE CONTROL OF OUTDOOR ADVERTISING, AMENITY, AND URBAN GOVERNANCE IN BRITAIN, 1893–1962

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-26
Author(s):  
JAMES GREENHALGH
Keyword(s):  
Urban Space ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Urban Governance ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Urban Landscape ◽  
Radical Change ◽  
Town Planning ◽  
Visual Environment ◽  
Outdoor Advertising ◽  
Spatial Governance

Abstract This article examines the control of outdoor advertising in Britain, tracking its development as a mirror of the practices of spatial governance. It evidences both a largely forgotten, yet radical change in the urban environment, whilst also functioning as a lens through which we might examine local government's role in driving change in the visual environment of cities and towns. The article argues that, despite important early work by preservationist organizations, local corporations and councils were the principal drivers of legislation, altering attitudes in central government that ultimately led to stringent control of outdoor advertising in urban space. Beginning in the nineteenth century, but coming to the fore during the interwar period, corporations and councils pushed for ever greater controls over the size and siting of billboards, hoardings, and posters. In doing so, they deployed a language of amenity, and conjured with seemingly social democratic notions of citizens’ rights to push their agenda. The study is thus revealing of the ways in which town planning, patterns of holistic control in the visual environment, and the philosophy of urban modernism shaped even the most mundane, extant urban areas and left a lasting impression on the urban landscape.

Cacao Residues in Ancient Maya Vessels from Rio Azul, Guatemala

1990 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 138-143 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grant D. Hall ◽  
Stanley M. Tarka ◽  
W. Jeffrey Hurst ◽  
David Stuart ◽  
Richard E. W. Adams
Keyword(s):  
Classic Period ◽  
New Method ◽  
Chemical Analyses ◽  
Ancient Maya ◽  
Clear Indication ◽  
Ceramic Vessels ◽  
Early Classic Period

Results of chemical analyses on residues collected from ceramic vessels found in an Early Classic period Maya tomb revealed that certain of the residues contained theobromine and caffeine, a clear indication that the corresponding vessels once contained cacao in some form. One of the vessels yielding cacao residues is decorated with hieroglyphs, two of which we believe have the phonetic values for the word “cacao” in the Mayan language. These findings are significant for three reasons: (1) a new method for recognizing ancient cacao use is demonstrated, (2) a novel way of verifying glyph interpretations is presented, and (3) data are generated that indicate what contents certain Maya vessels actually held, thus permitting useful functional interpretations.

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