Navigating the past in the aftermath of dramatic social transformations: Postclassic engagement with the Classic period past in the northeast Yucatan peninsula

Abstract

Dramatic social transformations are common events in world history and raise several questions. How, for example, do individuals navigate the past during these critical times? Do they emphasize their ties to the past, distance themselves from the past, alter the past, or eschew the past? An analysis of modifications to existing built environments – and particularly whether existing features are venerated, destroyed, re-contextualized, or ignored – offers one means to answer this question. Using Henri Lefebvre’s notion of relational space and Walter Benjamin’s notion of temporal constellations, this article examines Postclassic period (1100–1500 CE) engagement with the Classic period (250–1100 CE), and in some instances Late Preclassic period (400 BCE – 250 CE), past in the northeast Yucatan Peninsula. Specifically, it uses data from a variety of sources to compare Postclassic modifications to existing features at eight sites: El Meco, Xcaret, Xelha, Muyil, T’isil, El Naranjal, Punta Laguna, and Cobá. Data from these sites suggest, among other insights, that the past was indeed a critical resource at each of these communities, but that Postclassic peoples navigated the past in heterogeneous ways: They engaged in a variety of practices, each with a multiplicity of meanings. This article concludes by suggesting that the Postclassic, like other time periods, is usefully understood as a temporal constellation.