scholarly journals Classic Maya Dental Interventions

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua Schnell ◽  
Andrew Scherer
Keyword(s):  
Urban Space ◽  
Classic Period ◽  
Late Classic ◽  
Posterior Teeth ◽  
The Past ◽  
Piedras Negras ◽  
Ancient Health ◽  
Dental Procedures ◽  
Maya Site ◽  
Tooth Extractions

Tooth extractions are among the most common dental procedures performed globally today; however, archaeological evidence for such procedures in the past is relatively scant and largely limited to the Classical world. We present a case of therapeutic dental extractions of pathological teeth at the ancient Maya site of Piedras Negras, Guatemala, during the Late Classic period (A.D. 600–800). The evidence comes from an assemblage of fractured, pathological teeth (n = 127) recovered from the marketplace at Piedras Negras during excavations in 2016 and 2017. We compare the Piedras Negras marketplace teeth to the broader Late Classic period mortuary population at the site along three lines of analysis: (1) distribution of teeth by type (incisors, canines, premolars, and molars), (2) pathologies, including dental caries and calculus, and (3) dental wear. We also explore in detail the fracture patterns apparent in the marketplace assemblage. Our results indicate that the marketplace teeth display a significantly greater caries rate than the broader mortuary population and that posterior teeth (premolars and molars) are overrepresented in the marketplace sample. These findings point toward therapeutic extractions intended to ameliorate pain associated with oral pathologies. This article presents one of the fewcase studies of ancient health care in the Americas and situates these practices within the market, an important, urban space across much of precolonial Mesoamerica. Las extracciones dentales se encuentran entre los procedimientos dentales más comunes realizados a nivel mundial en la actualidad. Sin embargo, la evidencia arqueológica para tales procedimientos es relativamente escasa en el pasado y se limita en gran medida al mundo Clásico. En este artículo, se presenta un caso de extracciones dentales terapéuticas de dientes patológicos en el antiguo sitio maya de Piedras Negras, Guatemala, durante el periodo Clásico Tardío (600-800 d.C.). La evidencia de este caso proviene de una colección de dientes patológicos y fracturados (n = 127) recolectados en el mercado de Piedras Negras durante las excavaciones realizadas en los años de 2016 y 2017. Estos dientes fueron comparados con otros dientes recolectados alrededor del sitio en contextos mortuorios del periodo Clásico Tardío a lo largo de tres líneas de análisis: (1) la distribución de los dientes por tipo (incisivos, caninos, premolares y molares), (2) las patologías, incluyendo caries dentales y cálculo y (3) el desgaste dental. Asimismo, se exploró en detalle los patrones de fractura aparentes en la colección del mercado. Los resultados de este análisis indican que los dientes del mercado muestran una tasa de caries significativamente mayor que los dientes recolectados en contextos mortuorios y que los dientes posteriores (premolares y molares) se encuentran sobrerrepresentados en la muestra proveniente del mercado. Estos hallazgos demuestran el uso de extracciones terapéuticas designadas a aliviar el dolor asociado a las patologías bucales. Este artículo presenta uno de los pocos estudios de caso de atención médica en el pasado en las Américas y sitúa estas prácticas dentro del mercado, un importante espacio urbano que se encuentra a través de la Mesoamérica precolombina.

Guardian of the Acropolis: The Sacred Space of a Royal Burial at Piedras Negras, Guatemala

2003 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 449-468 ◽  
Author(s):  
James L. Fitzsimmons ◽  
Andrew Scherer ◽  
Stephen D. Houston ◽  
Héctor L. Escobedo
Keyword(s):  
Sacred Space ◽  
Classic Period ◽  
Royal Family ◽  
Late Classic ◽  
Night Time ◽  
Sacred Landscape ◽  
Ceramic Phase ◽  
Piedras Negras ◽  
Young Member

Excavation of a small Maya ceremonial structure at the site of Piedras Negras, Guatemala, has revealed a Late Classic period (ca. A.D. 600–900) vaulted tomb containing the remains of a young member of the royal family whom we identify as “Night-time Turtle.” The artifact assemblage from the burial included a modest quantity of carved jade jewelry (38 pieces), an incised vessel dating to the early Yaxché (ca. A.D. 630–680) ceramic phase, and a ceremonial “bundle” of bloodletting implements. Although the sex of this adolescent was not determined during osteological examination, hieroglyphic evidence from a recovered stingray spine suggests that this was a prince, probably the son of Ruler 2 or 3. Placed at an entrance to the royal precinct atop its monumental staircase, his funerary structure was an integral part of the sacred landscape, accessed by visitors to the precinct or to the palace beyond. Following a description of the site, tomb, osteology, and artifacts, we discuss the nature of this landscape and the role in it played by this “guardian” of the Acropolis.

MORTUARY RITUALS AND CRANIAL MODIFICATIONS AT CEIBAL: FROM THE EARLY MIDDLE PRECLASSIC TO THE TERMINAL CLASSIC PERIOD

2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 305-327 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan Manuel Palomo ◽  
Takeshi Inomata ◽  
Daniela Triadan
Keyword(s):  
Public Spaces ◽  
Skeletal Remains ◽  
Classic Period ◽  
Late Classic ◽  
Terminal Classic ◽  
Ceramic Vessels ◽  
Local Residents ◽  
Middle Preclassic ◽  
Maya Site ◽  
Terminal Classic Period

AbstractSkeletal remains excavated from the lowland Maya site of Ceibal, representing approximately 117 individuals, provide significant data for the study of changes in bodily treatments and mortuary practices from 1000b.c.toa.d.900. The early Middle Preclassic residents of Ceibal apparently did not bury their dead inside residential structures, which represents a burial practice different from those found at contemporaneous Belizean sites. During this time, tabular erect cranial deformations were found among possible local residents. Sacrificial burials were present by the end of this period, but skeletal remains of violent rituals deposited in public spaces increased from the Middle Preclassic to the Late Preclassic. During the Late Preclassic, tabular erect cranial deformations coexisted with tabular oblique shapes. The Classic period witnessed a prevalence of tabular oblique forms, which were probably tied to local residents. The common placement of the dead under house floors and the preference of ceramic vessels as burial goods also indicate Ceibal's strong affinities with other parts of the Maya lowlands during the Late Classic period. During the Terminal Classic period, there was a resurgence in the placement of sacrificial burials in public spaces and tabular erect cranial deformations were found in possible non-local individuals.

Ancient Agriculture and Population at Tikal, Guatemala: An Application of Linear Programming to the Simulation of an Archaeological Problem

1980 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 697-712 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Bruce Dickson
Keyword(s):  
Linear Programming ◽  
Agricultural Production ◽  
Classic Period ◽  
Late Classic ◽  
Archaeological Data ◽  
Ancient Agriculture ◽  
Intensive Farming ◽  
Root Crops ◽  
Potential Population ◽  
Maya Site

Population estimated for the Late Classic period at the Lowland Maya site of Tikal, Guatemala, is reviewed. Linear programming is described and suggested as a method for simulating the agricultural carrying capacity of the sustaining area of the site, thereby inferring its potential population. Archaeological data on the estimated size of the Tikal sustaining area is presented along with modern agricultural production and caloric output figures for maize, root crops, and ramon seeds. These data are used in the computation of a linear program. The results of the computer runs calculating the maximum population supportable by different combinations of milpa, intensive farming, and aboriculture are discussed. These results suggest that a mixed subsistence strategy in which ramon seed aboriculture and intensive root cropping were combined and were supplemented by kitchen gardening, hunting, gathering, and trade might have supported a population as high as 69,705 to 76,699 people within the boundaries of the site of Tikal during the Late Classic period.

FRAYED AT THE EDGES: COLLECTIVE MEMORY AND HISTORY ON THE BORDERS OF CLASSIC MAYA POLITIES

2010 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 373-384 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles Golden
Keyword(s):  
Collective Memory ◽  
Social Memory ◽  
Classic Maya ◽  
Political Community ◽  
Classic Period ◽  
Late Classic ◽  
History And Memory ◽  
Piedras Negras ◽  
Political Act ◽  
And Control

AbstractThis article explores social memory and history as they pertain particularly to secondary political centers on the edges of the Classic Maya kingdoms of Piedras Negras and Yaxchilan. Over the course of the Late Classic period (a.d. 600–900) the rulers of Maya polities in the Usumacinta River basin increasingly relied on the subordinate lords who governed these secondary centers to patrol and control the boundaries of their territories. For the rulers of any state, formulating an appropriate and coherent history to guide social memory is a critical political act for maintaining the cohesion of the political community. But as the Classic period progressed, client lords were increasingly permitted a formerly royal prerogative; they were accorded their own inscribed monuments. The monuments, together with associated ritual performances, were an integral part of the construction of history and collective memory in local communities and allowed secondary nobles to restructure social memory for their own interests. This trend, in turn, increased the potential for royal history and authority to be contested throughout the kingdom. Through several case studies this paper examines the ways that subordinate nobles could contest social memory and history sanctioned by primary rulers and the ways in which kings acted to maintain the reins of history and memory.

scholarly journals POLITICAL ALLIANCES AND TRADE CONNECTIONS OBSERVED IN THE CERAMIC RECORD OF THE CLASSIC PERIOD: THE PERSPECTIVE FROM THE MAYA SITE OF NAKUM, GUATEMALA

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 461-475
Author(s):  
Jarosław Źrałka ◽  
Christophe Helmke ◽  
Bernard Hermes ◽  
Wiesław Koszkul ◽  
Carmen Ting ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Eighth Century ◽  
Classic Period ◽  
Political Connections ◽  
Large Collection ◽  
Late Classic ◽  
Political Independence ◽  
Ceramic Samples ◽  
Political Alliances ◽  
Maya Civilization ◽  
Maya Site

AbstractRecent research carried out at the Maya site of Nakum, located in northeastern Guatemala, has brought about the discovery of a large collection of ceramic artefacts. This substantial assemblage, apart from monochrome ceramics, includes fragments of polychrome vessels that are decorated with elaborate iconographic scenes and painted hieroglyphic texts. Most of them date to the Late Classic period (ca. a.d. 600–800), which represents the peak of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization. The style of these ceramics, their iconography and accompanying glyphic texts, supplemented in many cases by mineralogical and physicochemical analyses of the ceramic samples, indicate that Nakum was part of a broad and complex network of political and economic interactions between various sites and polities of the southern Maya lowlands in the Classic period. During the first part of the Late Classic period, Nakum seems to maintain close relations with Naranjo, probably serving as its vassal at least from the reign of its renowned king Aj Wosal. After the victory of Tikal over Naranjo in the first part of the eighth century, Nakum shows closer cultural and political connections with Tikal. Nevertheless, towards the end of the Classic era, when we observe the profound collapse of lowland Maya civilization, Nakum elites gain political independence from their former overlords.

DATING THE RISE AND FALL OF XUNANTUNICH, BELIZE

2002 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa J. LeCount ◽  
Jason Yaeger ◽  
Richard M. Leventhal ◽  
Wendy Ashmore
Keyword(s):  
Tenth Century ◽  
Classic Period ◽  
Late Classic ◽  
Political Autonomy ◽  
Terminal Classic ◽  
Regional Center ◽  
Belize River Valley ◽  
Ceramic Chronology ◽  
History Of ◽  
Maya Site

This article presents the chronological framework used to reconstruct the political history of the ancient Lowland Maya site of Xunantunich in the upper Belize River valley. Extensive excavations from 1991 to 1997 by the Xunantunich Archaeological Project produced the ceramic, architectural, and epigraphic data needed to place the site within a temporal context. Refinement of the Barton Ramie ceramic chronology was the first step toward clarifying the Xunantunich chronology. Seriation of well-known Spanish Lookout types and modes from stratified deposits established a framework for understanding Late and Terminal Classic assemblages. Twenty-two radiocarbon samples place these ceramic complexes in absolute time. Obsidian hydration and masonry techniques were found to be less reliable chronological markers. The results indicate that Xunantunich emerged as a regional center during the Samal (A.D. 600–670) and Hats' Chaak (A.D. 670–780) phases of the Late Classic period. Arguably, this rapid growth and florescence was initiated under the auspices of nearby Naranjo. Although the polity achieved political autonomy in the following Tsak' phase (A.D. 780–890) of the Terminal Classic period, civic construction diminished and rural populations declined until the site collapsed sometime during the late ninth or early tenth century.

SHIFTING SOCIAL RELATIONS DURING THE TERMINAL CLASSIC PERIOD (ca. a.d. 810–950/1000): CERAMICS FROM THE LOWLAND MAYA SITE OF UCANAL

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Jean-Baptiste LeMoine ◽  
Christina T. Halperin
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Archaeological Site ◽  
Classic Period ◽  
Late Classic ◽  
Maya Lowlands ◽  
Economic Networks ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Terminal Classic ◽  
Maya Site ◽  
Political Economic

Abstract The end of the Classic period was a tumultuous moment in Maya history, not only because the power of many dominant political centers waned, but because the ways in which elites and non-elites related to each other were increasingly called into question. To understand the nature of changing social relations in the southern Maya lowlands during this time, this study examines the distribution and provenance of decorated ceramics during the Late Classic (ca. a.d. 600–810) and Terminal Classic (ca. a.d. 810–950/1000) periods from the archaeological site of Ucanal, Peten, Guatemala. Comparisons of ceramics from different households across the site reveal that differences in access to decorated and imported ceramics decreased between these periods, suggesting that socioeconomic distinctions leveled out over time. In turn, chemical analysis of ceramics using a portable X-ray fluorescence instrument reveals that the site shifted its political-economic networks, with greater ties to the Petexbatun and Usumacinta regions and continued ties with the Upper Belize Valley.

An Ancient Maya Reservoir and Dam at Tamarindito, El Peten, Guatemala

1997 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy Beach ◽  
Nicholas Dunning
Keyword(s):  
Water Supply ◽  
Irrigation Water ◽  
Classic Period ◽  
Ancient Maya ◽  
Late Classic ◽  
Small Reservoir ◽  
Main Site ◽  
Maya Site ◽  
El Peten ◽  
Residential Water

We report a Prehispanic dam and remnants of a small reservoir at the ancient Maya site of Tamarindito in the Río de la Pasión region of Guatemala's Petén district. The remnants of the dam are on the Petexbatún escarpment, to the east of the main site in the midst of an area of residential groups and numerous and varied agricultural terracing. The dam was about 60 m long and would have held a reservoir of about 2,000 m3. This volume of water was sufficient to irrigate nearby terraced fields. The dam and reservoir probably date to the Late Classic period (A.D. 550-800), a period during which Tamarindito was involved in regional warfare. In addition to producing irrigation water, we hypothesize that the system was built to provide a supplemental, more defensible, residential water supply and to protect a spring located below the dam.

Economic Specialization and Construction Personnel in Classic Period Copan, Honduras

1987 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 485-499 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elliot M. Abrams
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Classic Maya ◽  
Classic Period ◽  
Scale Construction ◽  
Late Classic ◽  
Socioeconomic System ◽  
Human Labor ◽  
Maya Site ◽  
Economic Specialization ◽  
Main Center

The degree of development of specialist positions associated with large-scale construction at the Maya site of Copan, Honduras, is evaluated. The methodology used involves the quantification of energy, in human labor, which was expended in the construction of Str. 10L-22, a major palace in the Main Center of Copan. The results suggest that few specialists were required, and that the vast majority of construction personnel were unspecialized conscripts. Moreover, the absolute energetic investment was low, suggesting that energetic expenditures in largescale architecture could not have been a major source of stress on the Late Classic Maya socioeconomic system.

A MAYA CURIA REGIS: EVIDENCE FOR A HIERARCHICAL SPECIALIST ORDER AT XULTUN, GUATEMALA

2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 423-440 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Saturno ◽  
Franco D. Rossi ◽  
David Stuart ◽  
Heather Hurst
Keyword(s):  
Classic Maya ◽  
Classic Period ◽  
Mural Painting ◽  
Late Classic ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Ritual Performance ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
Maya Site ◽  
Courtly Life ◽  
Shed Light

AbstractThis article presents an in-depth analysis of an important mural painting discovered within Structure 10K2 of the Los Sabios Group at the Classic Maya site of Xultun, Guatemala. We first discuss the composition of the mural scene and its central protagonist, a Late Classic period (a.d. 550–900) ruler of Xultun named Yax We'nel Chan K'inich, suggesting that it presents a ritual performance associated with an ancient New Year ceremony. Several attendant figures in the mural are labeled as members of a specialist order or category called Taaj, “obsidian,” and are marked by an unusual shared appearance. This “obsidian order” exhibits internal hierarchical ranking and is attested at other Classic Maya centers. In addition to discussing the overall content of the Xultun mural scene, we conduct a focused inquiry into these various Taaj individuals by presenting associated archaeological evidence and considering related epigraphic data. Through this analysis of the Taaj, we shed light on a previously unknown aspect of Maya courtly life and organization that is relevant to models of sovereignty, governance, and ritual performance in the Classic Maya world.

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