The Ancient Maya of Mexico: reinterpreting the past of the Northern Maya lowlands

2012 ◽  
Vol 50 (02) ◽  
pp. 50-0952-50-0952
Keyword(s):  
Ancient Maya ◽  
Maya Lowlands ◽  
The Past

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.

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.

Caves and Ancient Maya Ritual Use ofJute

2003 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 207-219 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina T. Halperin ◽  
Sergio Garza ◽  
Keith M. Prufer ◽  
James E. Bradya
Keyword(s):  
Religious Beliefs ◽  
Ancient Maya ◽  
Limited Data ◽  
Maya Lowlands ◽  
Freshwater Gastropods ◽  
Faunal Assemblages ◽  
Surface Sites ◽  
Ethnographic Data ◽  
Mother Earth ◽  
Ceremonial Architecture

AbstractA number of previous authors have suggested, based on limited data, thatPachychilusspp., freshwater gastropods often calledjute, may have played a role in ancient Maya ritual. Data collected by the authors demonstrate thatjuteshells consistently appear as part of faunal assemblages in ceremonial caves across the southern Maya Lowlands. At surface sites, jute are often associated with ceremonial architecture, particularly ballcourts. Previous ethnographic accounts are reviewed for clues to ancient Maya jute use. New ethnographic data suggest a role not previously considered by archaeologists. A Q‘eqchi’ Maya informant states that shells are gathered up after meals and deposited in caves as an offering in thanks to “Mother Earth” (Madre Tierra) who provided the mollusks. This practice suggests that the ancient shells may represent a secondary deposition rather than reflecting consumption occurring in the cave. The presence of jute shells may document ancient religious beliefs and ritual activities surrounding an important subsistence resource.

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

PLoS ONE ◽  
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).

CLIMATE-CHANGE STUDIES IN THE MAYA AREA

2002 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joel D. Gunn ◽  
Ray T. Matheny ◽  
William J. Folan
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Environmental Change ◽  
Annual Meeting ◽  
Maya Lowlands ◽  
Change Models ◽  
Modern Times ◽  
The Past ◽  
Cultural Paradigms ◽  
Physical Forces ◽  
Maya Area

The series of papers on climate change published in this issue are the result of the symposium “Environmental Change in Mesoamerica: Physical Forces and Cultural Paradigms in the Preclassic to Postclassic,” held at the 63rd Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology in March 2000 in Philadelphia. The authors bring their expertise in paleoclimatological studies to bear on the Maya Lowlands and Highlands from the beginning of the Holocene to the Postclassic and modern times. The studies reveal that climate has changed during the past 4,000 years to a considerable degree that correlates in a reasonable way with archaeological periodizations. Several climate-change models are presented as an effort to understand better past cultural and natural events.

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