Conversations about the production of archaeological knowledge and community museums at Chunchucmil and Kochol, Yucatán, México

Abstract

In the mid-1980s, the noted Mexican anthropologist Guillermo Bonfil Batalla wrote that, while every Mexican schoolchild knew something about pre-colonial periods, and was aware of the great archaeological monuments that serve as modern national symbols, the glorious prehistoric past was experienced as something dead, something apart from themselves, something connected by territory but little else. This chapter chronicles a shift in research priorities as a result of sustained interaction with members of the local communities in which a Maya archaeological site is located. Chunchucmil is a major, Classic Maya urban center near the Gulf of Mexico coast in north-western Yucatan. A real consideration of landscape must include people, and the actors who experienced the site over time, especially those who have cultural or experiential claims to the land.