Ancient Maya Society Research Articles

The stuff of currency: Changing styles and uses of ear ornaments at Tikal

Abstract This article revisits ear ornament data from Tikal—both material and visual—to better understand the varied roles of ear ornamentation in ancient Maya society over time. The author discusses relevant terms and terminology, then emphasizes the social aspects of ear piercing and stretching as well as the place of ear ornaments in economic exchange. Ear ornamentation was a critical aspect of socialization for ancestral Mayas, but the extent of this practice was classed. Whereas the styles of nonelite ear ornaments were more resistant to change over time, the jade earflares of elites became more standardized in form while growing in complexity. With this standardization, jade earflares achieved a status close to currency, not just to be coveted or collected but also to be displayed on the body to the fullest extent possible. However, like many currencies, jade earflares were more complex than simple tokens of exchange. The symbolic dimensions that gave these objects meaning and economic value were integral to their power.

Mayan Fire: Calibration curve for the determination of heating temperatures of limestone, lime and related materials by FTIR measurements

A controlled heating experiment has been carried out on selected geological limestone samples obtained from the Yucatan peninsula to establish a heating temperature calibration curve for the determination of heating temperatures through Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR-ATR) ratios of υ2/υ4 peak intensities. This curve – the first produced in the Mayan area – will greatly benefit the study of the lime calcination technology employed by the ancient Maya society. This model was then applied to the study of an archaeological pit-kiln located on the northern Maya lowlands, allowing us to describe the temperature distribution at which the limestones were exposed within the structure, and consequently providing insights on the lime manufacturing process and the control of fire achieved by this culture.

Drought and water management in ancient Maya society

Paleoclimate research in the Maya region of Mesoamerica provides compelling evidence of drought during key periods of cultural transition in Maya society. These include the transition from the Preclassic to the Classic, and from Classic to the Postclassic. Previous research emphasized a causal relationship between drought and cultural change, or so-called “collapse” in the Maya region. Recent advances in the range and precision of climate-sensitive proxies and the development of new archives have enabled quantitative reconstructions of past hydroclimate, as well as providing evidence of high impact, short-duration events, such as tropical cyclones. Simultaneously, archaeological research has unearthed widespread evidence of technologies used by the Maya to exert control over water resources in urban, rural, and agricultural settings. Evidence suggests that many of these water features were in use for multiple generations, possibly centuries, and many were constructed during the Terminal Preclassic and Terminal Classic periods. We suggest that, given the availability of new archaeological and paleoclimate records, these data can be combined to identify the full complexity of Maya adaptation to hydroclimate variability to emphasize adaptation and resilience to both water scarcity and over-abundance (e.g., flooding). Such syntheses, which can offer lessons for present-day efforts to grapple with regional climate change, will benefit from additional studies in data-poor zones of the Maya region, as well as public archiving of paleoclimate and archaeological data.

LITHIC AND FAUNAL EVIDENCE FOR CRAFT PRODUCTION AMONG THE MIDDLE PRECLASSIC MAYA AT CEIBAL, GUATEMALA

AbstractThis study examines artifact production using lithic, animal bone, and shell materials at the lowland Maya site of Ceibal, Guatemala, to explore the emergence and societal role of early crafting specialists. During the Middle Preclassic period (1000–350 b.c.), ancient Maya society went through a critical transition to sedentary settlements, including the development of large-scale monumental construction endeavors for ceremonial activities, increasingly nucleated settlement patterns, and the differential control of prestigious objects. Excavations across Ceibal recovered one of the largest Middle Preclassic assemblages of lithic and faunal material to date. We examine these materials in order to understand the nature of their manufacturing processes, the association between lithic production and bone/shell processing for meat and artifact production, and compare these activities with evidence from other Middle Preclassic sites and from the later Classic period. We find that Middle Preclassic middens are often disturbed or incorporated into later construction episodes over many generations, making the identification of such activities difficult, although not impossible, to identify archaeologically. Evidence for crafting is often found near ceremonial structures where Ceibal's early elite would have been present, suggesting that they were closely involved in the production process.

Her Cup for Sweet Cacao: Food in Ancient Maya Society

This compelling collection of essays reveals the key role that food played in all dimensions of Maya society, including economics, politics, and religion. Through analysis of the kitchen, feasts, banquets, rituals, and “memory work,” the collection emphasizes food's importance as a social fact and its role in cultural reproduction and identity construction. From a wide range of disciplines, the contributors skillfully connect historical, archaeological, chemical, biological, anthropological, ethnohistoric, epigraphic, and iconographic evidence.Though the volume focuses on the Classic period, Traci Ardren wisely includes a chapter by M. Kathryn Brown and Carolyn Freiwald that analyzes the potluck festival during Middle and Late Preclassic periods as a key element in the following period's social complexity. The book's core—chapters 3 to 9—submerges the reader in an in-depth exploration of the role of food and foodways in the social construction of identities in Classic Maya society.In chapter 3, Jon Spenard, Adam King, Terry Powis, and Nilesh Gaikwad adopt an ethnographic approach to emphasize the social importance of caves as spaces of communication between gods and men, especially between Maya royalty and divine essence. Their analysis shows both cacao's great value in the caves of Pacbitun and women's importance in these rituals. Furthermore, the chapter suggests that the caves may have also been used by specialists for other purposes, such as healing. The following chapter, by Nicholas Carter and Mallory Matsumoto, explores the epigraphy of food and beverages in the Maya courts. The chapter analyzes all dimensions of maize, cacao, and pulque: the way that they were prepared, their mythical meaning, and the social and religious norms that governed their consumption, including preparation processes and table settings.Shanti Morell-Hart next argues that food plants should also be recognized as “dynamic actors, mediators, and messengers” (p. 149). Morell-Hart explains how ancient Maya's plant-based diet was complemented by the intake of animal protein. Petra Cunningham-Smith, Ashley Sharpe, Arianne Boileau, Erin Kennedy Thornton, and Kitty Emery build on the importance of animals in their chapter, which analyzes the role of dogs in Maya culture, whether as food, funeral offerings, or symbols.Chapters 7 and 8 move on to examine culinary and food service equipment as a form of social distinction and a sign of identity. Lilia Fernández Souza, Mario Zimmermann, and Socorro del Pilar Jiménez Álvarez demonstrate how the distribution of culinary and food service equipment in Sihó evinces the existence of social divisions, including the selective use of certain culinary tools in relation to those in privileged power positions. Similarly, Julia Hendon's spatial analysis of the Copán and lower Ulúa valleys shows how food (especially cacao), ceramics, and other goods increased stratification within cities with a central power, such as Copán, and decentralized areas with greater ethnic diversity, such as the lower Ulúa valley.Maxime Lamoureux-St-Hilaire's contribution, the last to address the Classic period, illustrates the role of festivities as channels of communication and as processes of social differentiation. Lamoureux-St-Hilaire explores how the great sophistication of La Corona's feast meant to perpetuate the power and identity of increasingly unstable elites. Lamoureux-St-Hilaire demonstrates how this festival's great economic cost placed a huge stress on the environment and the population. The festival, the author argues, thus played an important role in the deterioration of social and political relations and in triggering the collapse of Classic Maya society.Following this comprehensive analysis of the Classic Maya, the collection's last three contributions focus on the transformations resulting from the collapse of Maya society and the Maya cultural reformulation, due to the arrival of new human groups in the area during the Postclassic period. Ardren's chapter shows how the arrival of new foods and technology organized regional elites and newcomers as new identities emerged, despite the cultural exchanges between both parties. Moreover, in a study of the food consumed in Mayapán, Marilyn Masson, Timothy Hare, Bradley Russell, Carlos Peraza Lope, and Jessica Campbell reveal the unusual growth in the consumption of meat, probably due to several factors including the existence of markets, tribute demands, and sumptuary laws. This contrasted with the countryside, where the intake of animal protein was scarce. Gabrielle Vail and Maia Dedrick analyze the relationships between men, gods, and animals through balche’ rituals from the Postclassic era to the present day, exposing the drink's great relevance to the study of social transformations. Closing out this coherent yet diverse collection, Jeffrey Pilcher contextualizes the book within Maya historiography, recalling the contributors' key arguments and suggesting future lines of research.Ardren and the collection's contributors painstakingly advance a unique, compelling, and thorough analysis of the social uses of food and foodways in Classic Maya culture, grounded in rich evidence analyzed from a diverse range of approaches. This volume sets the groundwork for further studies to explore other periods and regions in order to gain a broader understanding of this phenomenon in Maya culture.

Realizing potentiality. Donut stones in ancient Maya society

Archaeologists often encounter tools whose primary functions are difficult to pinpoint. The expectation of a function separates tool uses from ancient users and their practices. The phenomenological critique of the Cartesian subject-object binary has led to new conceptualizations of the ways in which people interact with and are entangled by the objects around them. Instead of Heidegger’s deterministic thingness, we discuss the enabling potential of things. Our case study are ancient Maya donut stones. These ring-shaped and relatively heavy artifacts were commonly made of limestone. Interpretations cover subsistence, food preparation, crafting, architectural applications, weapons, and other uses. We gathered published data on 125 donut stones from ten Maya sites, dating from 300 B.C.E. to 900C.E. After omitting entries with insufficient data, multivariate data analyses of fifty-five Classic donut stones allow distinguishing two groups of donut stones. These groups differentiate some functions, notably cordholders. Our discussion of in situ donut stones from rapidly abandoned buildings at Aguateca, Copan, and Ceren challenge the interlinked binaries of private vs public, subsistence vs craft specialization, and male vs female division of labor in ancient Maya society. We outline a culture-specific tasksphere in which people employed versatile tools for subsistence- as well as craft-related activities.

Her Cup for Sweet Cacao: Food in Ancient Maya Society edited by TraciArdren, Austin: The University of Texas Press, 2020. 400 pp.

Her Cup for Sweet <b>Cacao</b>: Food in Ancient Maya Society edited by TraciArdren, Austin: The University of Texas Press, 2020. 400 pp.

Collapse of the Ancient Maya Civilisation: Aligning History with Geological Analysis

Between 800 and 1000 CE, one of the world’s most advanced ancient civilisations underwent a devastating decline. The collapse of ancient Maya society has widely been attributed to a century-long drought; but so far, there have been few efforts to quantify this event, or to equate scientific findings with historical sources. Through new geological and paleoclimatological analyses, Dr Martín Medina-Elizalde at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst has revealed that the climate changes experienced during the drought followed more complex patterns than previously thought. His team’s discoveries could have important implications for predicting our own society’s future.

Relational Economies of Reciprocal Gifting

I outline a relational economy model that is broadly applicable to a range of economies both past and present. A relational economy begins from the basic premise that all economic transactions are social and interpersonal relations. I apply this model to reciprocal gift economies, specifically the Classic Maya of Mesoamerica (ca. AD 250–850). For my case study, I present evidence from archaeological contexts including the Bonampak murals and hieroglyphic texts to show how marriage and war were in many instances paired acts, simultaneously dissolving former alliances and cementing new social relations. Prestige goods including cacao (chocolate), jade, feathers, and cotton mantles were exchanged in both marriages and warfare. I show how marriage partners, captives, and prestige goods were not objectified in these reciprocal exchanges but were gendered and personified (human and nonhuman) beings. I present a posthumanist approach to a relational economy and suggest that prestige goods are perhaps best understood as relational beings or persons that were mutually constituted and generative. From a relational perspective, these transactions did not embed the social into the economic but were inherently emotional and interpersonal transactions and, therefore, simultaneously social and economic relations in ancient Maya society.

КОНЦЕПЦИЯ ТРИБУТАРНОГО СПОСОБА ПРОИЗВОДСТВА В МЕЗОАМЕРИКЕ В МЕКСИКАНСКОЙ ИСТОРИОГРАФИИ ВТОРОЙ ПОЛОВИНЫ ХХ В.

The article considers the history of the concept of the tributary mode of production in the Mexican historiography between the 1960s and the 1980s. This concept was elaborated by Ion Banu and Samir Amin as an al- ternative to the traditional “Asiatic mode of production”. It entered Mexican historiography in the late 1960s as a result of the spread of Neomarxist ideas. In the mid-1970s various scholars, including Alberto Ruz in the Maya studies and Roger Bartra and Pedro Carrasco in the Aztec studies, became interested in the concept of tributary mode of production to explain the socio-economic nature of Mesoamerican state. Analysis of the ideas of Alberto Ruz (1906– 1979) shows that his interest in tributary mode of production was the result of a search for new theoretical and methodological base and interpretation of the new materials. The problematics of the socio-economic characteristics of the Ancient Maya society became essential for Ruz in the last years of his life. His ideas could develop into an original theoretical model, which would become the basis for the consolidation of Mesoamerican studies in Mexico into a unified school. However, his death and the absence of a comparable figure among the next generation resulted in a denouement of the concept of tributary mode of production during the next decade.

How Maya Archaeologists Discovered the 99% Through the Study of Settlement Patterns

This article presents an autobiographical perspective on the changing nature of Maya archaeology, focusing on the role of settlement pattern studies in illuminating the lives of commoners as well as on the traditional emphasis on the ruling elite. Advances in understanding the nature of nonelite peoples in ancient Maya society are discussed, as are the many current gaps in scholarly understandings of pre-Columbian Maya civilization, especially with regard to the diversity of ancient “commoners” and the difficulty in analyzing them as a single group.

Caracol, Belize, and Changing Perceptions of Ancient Maya Society

Archaeological research at Caracol, an ancient Maya site that was rediscovered in 1937, has become a major resource in the interpretation and understanding of the ancient Maya. Caracol, in west-central Belize, is situated in a subtropical region once characterized as being unsuitable for the development or maintenance of complex societies, yet it is one of the largest, if not the largest Classic period Maya site in the southern Maya Lowlands, home to over 100,000 people at its height between AD 600 and 700. The investigations at Caracol underscore the utility of long-term archaeological projects incorporating large-scale settlement study that combine excavation with varied research designs and the use of a contextual approach. By employing Maya epigraphic history, traditional archaeology, and modern technology like LiDAR, research at Caracol details the rise, maintenance, and fall of an ancient Maya city, affording a large window into ancient Maya lifeways. Archaeological work provides evidence of sustainable agriculture, a market economy, city planning that included a road system, the impact of warfare on the site’s inhabitants, the sociopolitical status of women, the role that archaeology can play in refining written history, and the significance of commemorating the cyclical passage of time to the ancient Maya. This article summarizes archaeological research efforts at the site by the Caracol Archaeological Project over the last three decades.

Imagining a Complex Maya Political Economy: Counting Tokens and Currencies in Image, Text and the Archaeological Record

Exploring the long-term use of accounting practices and currencies by literate and numerate authorities contributes new information regarding the complexity of the political economy of ancient Maya society. Two forms of indirect, yet compelling, lines of evidence for accounting practices and currencies are presented in this article. First, we identify potential accounting devices (counting sticks and tokens) found in the tombs of royal scribes and nobles, based on the contextual associations and depicted uses of similar objects in Maya art such as polychrome vases and murals. Second, we argue that the long-term use and significant standardization of specific shell objects suggests their role as all-purpose monies, in addition to their complementary status as counting devices or numerical symbols. This paper addresses the intricate relationships between symbolism, value and multiple modes of exchange that have long been of interest to cross-cultural studies in anthropology.

Ancient states and ordinary people: A feminist re-imagining of ancient Maya power and the everyday

Maya archaeology continues to be defined by a schism between ‘politic/s and state’ and ‘everyday life and ordinary people.’ Using feminist theory, this paper deconstructs this dichotomy by considering the intellectual history and theoretical perspectives that continue to reify these boundaries and its connections to modern neoliberal discourses. How we conceive of the state – of what it is, and how it interacts with the rest of society – is at the heart of neo-evolutionary models of state formation; these impact our understanding of how ancient Maya society operated and the ways in which power, politics and class function. Archaeological fascination with elites and rulers, both in scholarly and public circles, creates a narrative focused on individual achievement, and a quest for wealth and material access; values lauded by the neoliberal state. Alternative readings of complexity illustrate that everyday life of ordinary people is nuanced, intentional, and inherently political. Such work forces us to reconsider this dichotomy and recognize it as a dialectical and mutually constitutive process.

Providing Cultural Context for ‘Sacrifice of the Social Outcasts’

AbstractIn ‘Sacrifice of the Social Outcasts’, C.L. Kieffer proposes that the disabled formed a socially marginal group that might have been preferentially targeted for human sacrifice in ancient Maya society. Extensive ethnohistoric and iconographic evidence exists that the disabled and deformed held high status in pre‐contact Mesoamerica precisely because of their physical disabilities and played well‐defined social roles. Several incidences of the sacrifice of these individuals are produced, but they are associated with extraordinary events. The actual cultural context suggests that the sacrifice of a disabled individual may have larger social implications. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.

11 Resilience and Vulnerability in the Maya Hinterlands

ABSTRACTGiven their grand architecture, intricately carved monuments, and colorful histories, the largest Maya centers have long drawn the attention of archaeologists and non‐specialists alike. Early interest in the infamous Maya collapse was, in fact, initially inspired by the discovery of these “lost cities in the jungle.” This research focus was further stimulated by advances in deciphering the Maya hieroglyphic script, and the recognition that monument erection—or in other words, the written histories of most of the southern Lowland centers—came to a rather abrupt end in the 9th century C.E. IHOPE scholars are attempting to elucidate the conditions that lead to the decline of these impressive centers. In doing so, the trajectories of smaller communities, and or those located in hinterlands between the more prominent centers, have emerged as interesting counterpoints that provide unique, and no less significant, examples of resilience and vulnerability. The emerging data suggest that these communities had specific strengths and weaknesses, which in turn provided them with a particular set of challenges, as well as a specific range of coping mechanisms they could marshal when dealing with their ever‐changing environment circumstances (i.e., climate change, resource availability, landscape modifications), and the highly dynamic geopolitical landscape within which they were embedded. This chapter will discuss some of the key insights derived from our examination of hinterland communities, with particular attention being paid to the broader implications of the contrasting trajectories exhibited by these segments of ancient Maya society.

El sacrificio humano por extracción de corazón. Una evaluación osteotafonómica de violencia ritual entre los mayas del Clásico

Este trabajo proporciona nuevos datos osteológicos y taxonómicos sobre el sacrificio humano por extracción del corazón, practicado entre los mayas del Clásico, así como sobre los tratamientos del cuerpo humano asociados con aquella ceremonia. El estudio está basado en una propuesta de evaluación de los pasos rituales integrados con la práctica. El modelo se aplica a la reconstrucción e interpretación de las marcas de violencia perimortem encontradas en cuatro osamentas de Palenque, Calakmul y Becán, México. Los presentes resultados, interpretados conjuntamente con fuentes etnohistóricas e iconográficas, nos permite plantear que la extracción cardiaca sólo formaba parte de un conjunto de pasos rituales concertados y dirigidos tanto a la occisión de la vida humana como a la ofrenda de sus esencias vitales. En un plano metodológico concluimos que la evidencia ósea directa sobre la operación siempre será escasa en el registro regional.

Some aspects of Zinacantan settlement patterns and ceremonial organization

Este artículo describe algunos aspectos de los patrones de asentamiento de Zinacantan, traza las relaciones de estos patrones de asentamiento de la organización ceremonial, sugiere las importantes funciones integradoras que tienen los movimientos ritmícos ceremoniales, y discute las posibles implicaciones de estos datos para la comprensión de la antigua sociedad maya.

THE YALAHAU REGION: A STUDY OF ANCIENT MAYA SOCIOPOLITICAL ORGANIZATION

AbstractThe Yalahau Regional Settlement Pattern Survey (YRSPS) addresses the complex negotiations that constituted ancient Maya society through an investigation of the distribution of settlement across the Yalahau region of northern Quintana Roo, Mexico. This paper begins with a brief culture-historical background of the Yalahau region where occupation ranges from the Middle Preclassic period (700–200b.c.) to the Postclassic period (a.d.1100–1521). The region had its peak occupation during the Terminal Preclassic period (75b.c./a.d.100–a.d.400), and this paper explores how monumental architecture, through its size and the rituals conducted in and around it, materialized an enduring sense of community identity during this time period. In so doing, this paper examines the tensions within and between communities as sociopolitical strategies are negotiated and contested in the continually messy process of constituting society.

Ritual among the Masses: Deconstructing Identity and Class in an Ancient Maya Neighborhood

AbstractEquating a single cultural group to a classificatory scheme has implications for not only how archaeologists develop the concept of cultural identity but how we investigate and theorize about internal social dynamics within that same society. For the ancient Maya, social organization remains largely understood as a two-class system—that of commoner and elite. While these categories reflect the extreme ends of known social strata, they inadequately characterize the reality of day-to-day interactions. This has led to tacit assumptions that commoners did not participate in or comprehend the political and social complexity of the world around them. This paper examines how occupants of a Late Classic Maya neighborhood employed ritual and public practices as a means of social differentiation. Excavations at the Northeast Group, part of the ancient Maya site of Chan, Belize, identified considerable diversity between households, suggesting that occupants shaped status and identity through the control and centralization of ritual. Understanding how people distinguished themselves within the context of a neighborhood provides direct evidence of class complexity, challenging traditional models of commoner behavior and more importantly the role they played in ancient Maya society as a whole.