Maya Civilization Research Articles

Political Regimes and Climate Change: Learning from Past Civilisations

As the world is threatened by new and powerful climate-driven hazards, how are states and societies likely to react? In this paper, I explore the role of regime type in determining the likelihood of state survival under extreme environmental conditions. I begin with a theoretical and empirical analysis of public goods provision under different regime types, finding no evidence for the contention that any one particular regime is superior to others. Following from this, I argue that the survival of the state under increased hazard conditions will at least partly be a function of political flexibility, with more democratic regimes better able to weather crisis than non-democratic ones. I explore this argument by analysing two historical cases of climate change: the non-democratic Maya civilisation in the first millennium and the quasi-democratic Icelandic state at the start of the second millennium. These historical cases highlight potential advantages to the democratic system in allowing states to survive a world with increased hazards but also underscore how rising competition and political instability can negatively impact those same democratic institutions. This article was published open access under a CC BY licence: https://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0 .

The Role of the Mayan Calendar in Shaping the Religious and Spiritual Practices of Mayan Civilization

This paper explores the profound influence of the Mayan calendar on the religious and spiritual practices of the Mayan civilization. It delves into the intricacies of the three main Mayan calendars: the long count, The Tzolkin, and the Haab, and how they dictated the daily lives of the Mayan people, influencing their agricultural practices, rituals, and personal introspective activities. The study also highlights the impact of these calendars on the broader society, contributing to the development of one of the most advanced civilizations in the Americas.

The anti-corrosion performance of chaya leaf extracts on pure Mg substrates in Ringer´s solution

The chaya (Cnidoscolus aconitifolius) is a green, leafy vegetable domesticated since ancient Mayan culture, offering an abundance of valuable metabolites. This study investigated how three different extracts from Chaya leaves inhibit the corrosion of pure magnesium in Ringer's solution. Various techniques, such as scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction were employed to analyze the chemical, morphological, and structural aspects of the products formed on the magnesium surface after a 14-day exposure. The in vitro corrosion behavior was studied through open-circuit potential measurements and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy during immersion tests in physiological Ringer's solution with each extract. Polarization curves were also obtained to determine jcorr and Ecorr. Different morphologies were observed on the surfaces of the substrates due to each extract’s polarity. However, the results showed that the three chaya extracts retard, to some extent, the corrosion process, reducing the pH (from 9 to 6) and jcorr (from 18.2 to 1.12 µAcm−2) in comparison to untreated samples. The ethyl acetate-derived extract exhibited the highest percentage of inhibition (92.9%) according to the impedance results. These extracts could be a promising alternative for developing potential temporary implants for the human body and diverse industrial applications.

Psycholinguistic and psychological foundations of the decoding of the Maya writing (to the 100th anniversary of the birth of Yuri Knorozov)

The article is devoted to the psycholinguistic and psychological grounds for the interest in the language and culture of the Maya people by Yuri Knorozov, a genius native of Kharkiv. It was Knorozov who deciphered the Mayan script, which made it possible to read Mayan books, inscriptions on monuments, and continue to replenish the treasury of knowledge about this people. The figure of the scientist and his research methods have been largely distorted in a number of scientific works and in the media. This article refutes these insinuations and explains the prerequisites for Yurii Knorozov's interest in Maya writing. Such a study is being conducted for the first time. The origins of Knorozov's interest in Mayan culture lie in his childhood. Yurii's parents used a deeply thought-out system of child-rearing, developing a love of literature and art in their children. Yurii Knorozov's children's drawings have been preserved, some of which are illustrations to Konstantin Balmont's works about Mexico, primarily about the history, mythology, and archaeological sites of the Maya. The family used to write coded notes to each other. In the future, this helped Yurii Knorozov to find a system for deciphering Mayan hieroglyphics. During his student years, Knorozov began researching Mayan books. He developed a method of positional statistics and cross-reading, identifying 355 hieroglyphs; he also discovered the sign-phonetic syllable relationship in Mayan writing. Yurii Knorozov's scientific heritage, research methods, and biographical facts require further analysis. The figure of the scientist and his works should be popularized in Ukraine.

Juan Sepulveda and the Understanding of the Syncretic Characteristics of Latin American Pentecostalism: The Case of Classical Pentecostalism in Guatemala

This article presents the case of Guatemalan Pentecostalism as a highly relevant expression of Latin American Pentecostalism that helps to clarify the debate about the syncretic nature of Pentecostalism. We use the Guatemalan case to test the thesis of Juan Sepúlveda, a Chilean Pentecostal historian and theologian, who explains the success of Latin American Pentecostalism in light of its syncretic character. His argument about the syncretic character of Pentecostalism is based on the Chilean case. Paying attention to its historical development, we present Guatemalan Pentecostal theology in relation to traditional Mayan culture and religion and in relation to popular Catholicism and traditional Latin American Protestantism. Specific attention is paid to the espoused theology of Pentecostal pastors as they provide an account of indigenous Pentecostals’ lived faith. Finally, we answer the question: Does Juan Sepulveda’s approach (still) provide an adequate framework for the theological assessment of possible syncretic characteristics of (Latin American) Pentecostalism? The Guatemalan case indicates ways to improve certain limitations of Sepúlveda’s approach, such as its static understanding of culture and its exclusion of the theological understanding of syncretism.

Traditional knowledge about medicinal plants by maya-chontal inhabitants of the town of Tucta, municipality of Nacajuca, Tabasco, Mexico

In Tabasco the use of medicinal plants is extensive by a large group of the population, both rural and urban, largely because they do not have the economic resources. Therefore both, researchers and governmental institutions have been conducting research to rescue the knowledge about medicinal plants. One of these places is the town of Tucta in Nacajuca, Tabasco, where the largest number of Mayan-Chontal indigenous groups live. Para ello, se aplicó un modelo de metodología Etnobotánica, se comenzó a seleccionar a los informantes con los que se trabajó mediante la técnica de bola de nieve. In this small community, only three people had the knowledge according to the technique used, of which two are women and one is a man. The average age of these people is 55 years old. There are 87 species and 78 genera grouped in 44 families, being the Asteraceae the ones that presented the highest number of species with 9. Regarding the biological form that predominates, herbs occupy 60%, with species such as coriander (Parthenium hysterophorus L.) and incense (Artemisia mexicana Muller) among others. Forty-eight conditions were recorded, however, 11 are the most common, the most frequently reported was cough 13 times. The parts of the plants most used for the preparation of remedies are the leaves with 56% of cases. Finally, 46% of the plants are cultivated in their gardens. This shows that in most of the communities there is still knowledge and medicinal species from the Chontal Mayan culture.

In Search of the Ancient Maya Foods. A Paleoethnobotany Study From a Non-elite Context in Sihó, Yucatán

Food consumption is one of the primary activities of all cultural groups around the globe. The procurement of plants, their transformation, and consumption are some steps in which we can identify social repercussions such as identity, gender roles, labor division, worldview, and status differentiation, among many other archaeological approaches. In the Northern Maya Lowlands, paleoethnobotany research has included information regarding the consumption of plants by the ancient Mayas, which has helped us to broaden our knowledge about past feeding habits; nonetheless, we recognize some of the dishes and plants consumed by the elites due to the epigraphy and iconography records. It is least known what the commoners consumed during their day-to-day meals. In this vein, this research is immersed in identifying plants exploited by two low-strata domestic groups in the archaeological site of Siho, Yucatan, Mexico, during the Late-Terminal Classic. Through the recognition of starches recovered from soil samples, some staple crops like maize (Zea mays) and beans (Phaseolus spp.) were identified. More importantly, other plants least representative in the archaeobotanical record, like arrowroot (Maranta arundinacea), and Mexican yam (Pachirhyzus erosus), were also recognized. This research contributes to the identification and study of starches that generates information for the broad discussion of food-related activities in non-elite household contexts.

Evolutionary clustering in Neotropical biocultural heritage: the Huastec Mayan useful plants

Abstract Biodiversity in the Neotropics includes an extraordinary diversity of plant variation produced by evolution that is useful for human well-being. Traditional knowledge of the Tenek, a Huastec Mayan culture, represents an important biocultural heritage for this realm. Here, we used the information about their useful plants to explore evolutionary biocultural patterns occurring in Neotropics. Our goal was to analyse the phylogenetic distribution of usage guilds, their degree of evolutionary clustering, significant associations, and phylogenetic overlap between guilds to test the hypothesis that Tenek selection of plants is not random but phylogenetically clustered. We found significant phylogenetic clustering in all usage guilds except ceremonial and medicine. Tenek people use a variety of relatively deep plant lineages providing specific services that biocultural processes have promoted in the ecosystems they inhabit. The lineages Asterales, Caryophyllales, Fabales, Lamiales, Malpighiales, and Malvales in eudicots and Poales and Asparagales in monocots concentrated most of the Huastec Mayan useful plants. Multi-functional hot nodes, including Asterales, Fabales, Lamiales, Malvales, Poaceae Sapindales, and Solanales, with phylogenetic overlap between usage guilds, should be major priority targets in conservation planning.

Training university teachers in an urban context to educate future teachers in rural Mayan environments: an international cooperation project

Training university teachers in an urban context to educate future teachers in rural Mayan environments: an international cooperation project

The Role of the Mayan Calendar in Shaping the Religious and Spiritual Practices of the Mayan Civilization

The Role of the Mayan Calendar in Shaping the Religious and Spiritual Practices of the Mayan Civilization

To Make Known in Order to Recognize: Schools as Vehicles for Constructing Identity for the Maya Peoples

Although the Guatemalan population is made up of 53% Indigenous peoples, there is a certain belief according to which Indigenous peoples are still currently associated with underdevelopment, inferiority, submission, and exploitation, causing the belief that, for many, being Mayan is not synonymous with identity, but with poverty, neglect, and inferiority. Through a biographical–naturalist study, we delve into how Guatemalan teachers experienced not only their Mayan being, but also how the construction of their identity was gestated in schools. After carrying out the data analysis process, we underline and describe how the Mayan culture, worldview, and language still constitutes a difficulty and an obstacle to the construction of the personal identity of Indigenous peoples in Guatemala. We describe the experience lived in monolingual and monoethnic schools in which not only is the Mayan culture not recognized, but the use of the language and its expression are prohibited. We review the repercussions that the actions of the political agendas have on the key of recognition, highlighting how, beyond the legislative indications, it is the involvement and personal actions of teachers that is making it possible to make known and recognize the Mayan culture.

Ash aggregate-rich pyroclastic density currents of the 431 CE Tierra Blanca Joven eruption, Ilopango caldera, El Salvador

The VEI 6, Tierra Blanca Joven pyroclastic sequence (30–90 km3 DRE volume), erupted from Ilopango caldera, El Salvador, in 431 CE, is the product of one of the largest eruptions of the last two millennia. The eruption devastated Central America's Mayan civilization. The eruption began with a short-lived phase of ash and pumice fall deposition and transitioned to a ‘wet’ explosive phase during which pyroclastic density currents flowed >40 km from the caldera. Detailed field and sedimentological analyses are provided for the deposits of ash-aggregate-rich pyroclastic density currents generated during early phases of the eruption. The first phase of pyroclastic density current inundation incinerated forests and deposited up to 30 m of, non-welded, ash-rich ignimbrite in proximal regions, along with ash fall layers of co-ignimbrite origin. Following fallout of a thin layer of pumice and lithic lapilli, a second phase of pyroclastic density current inundation and co-ignimbrite ash fall commenced. A range of ash aggregate types is present in the pyroclastic density current deposits and interbedded co-ignimbrite ash fall layers. Whole and broken concentrically layered ash aggregates (accretionary lapilli) reach >50 vol% in some horizons within some beds in the pyroclastic density current deposits. The evidence indicates that the ash aggregates grew within overriding co-ignimbrite ash plumes and subsequently fell into ground-hugging currents. Our findings suggest that the aggregate-rich nature of the pyroclastic density current deposits originated through incorporation of lake water into eruptive plumes, which in turn triggered rapid, pervasive aggregation within ash clouds and co-ignimbrite plumes.

Pyramid Schemes: Resurrecting Tikal through the Military-Industrial-Academic Complex

ABSTRACT Carved out of the jungle by American big business, Penn Museum’s project at Tikal to restore massive pyramids and showcase Maya civilization was a direct outgrowth of government, military, and corporate connections. The story of Pennsylvania in the Petén is about American involvement in developing tourism, infrastructure, research stations, training, and the making of Guatemalan heritage citizens. It is also about increasing US government vigilance south of the border after the 1954 CIA-backed coup, whether in forging anti-communist alliances or commercial concessions. Philanthropists supporting Tikal were themselves representatives from US banking, oil, agriculture, aviation, and tourism sectors, making it impossible to disentangle archaeology from industrial and political adventurism. Extractive economies involving archaeology, oil, chicle, and bananas all ferried equipment and products back and forth to the Petén via American boats and planes, along dirt roads and airstrips built by American firms. Sold as the first great city of the Americas and costing almost a million dollars, the resurrection of Tikal underlines the ineluctable dependencies between security, espionage, international politics, corporations, conservation, and donor economies.

Iconography of the Pre-Columbian Maya rattes

The article provides a thorough analysis of the rattles depicted in Maya art, including their construction, decoration, and playing techniques. The gourd vessel rattle is the most frequently depicted musical instrument in Maya art, appearing in 108 iconographic sources. The rattles vary in shape, size, and adornment, with some being elaborately decorated and others unadorned. The author uses insights mostly from iconographic evidence to classify rattles into different types and subtypes based on their shape, adornment, and context of use. The article concludes that the round rattle with slits and adornments was the iconic representation of the rattle in Maya culture. The rattle appears in scenes representing courtly life, ceremonies, and battles. The text highlights the association of rattles with dancing, masking, and impersonation rituals, where they were often used as prestigious and powerful objects, manipulated by the most important characters. Adorned rattles generally indicate a musician of a higher status and correspond to the richness of their attire. It is also the only musical instrument with which rulers were depicted.

Analysis of Airborne LiDAR Data for Archaeology Study Case : Sriwijaya Muaro Jambi Site

Many archaeological sites have not been revealed because most of them are covered by trees in dense tropical forest areas. One technology that can overcome is LiDAR. LiDAR technology has been used by several countries to find archaeological sites in locations where direct surveys are not possible, such as at Maya civilization in America and Ankor Watt site in Cambodia. Case study of this research is the Sriwijaya Muaro Jambi site using the results of the LiDAR data survey and aerial photography. LiDAR Point Cloud data is processed into DTM (Digital Terrain Model) and DSM (Digital Surface Model) with classification Ground & Building Point. The aerial photo data is processed into Orthomosaic using the EO (external orientation) parameter from the IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit) optical type with very high accuracy. Then the data is interpreted visually to analyze archeology. The 3D reconstruction was made on an object that was suspected to be a temple and covered in vegetation.

TRANSITIONS AND TRANSFORMATIONS IN ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS: INTERPRETING CHANGE AND REALIGNMENT BETWEEN TEMPORAL PERIODS IN THE MAYA ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECORD

Archaeological interpretation of ancient civilizations is characterized by periods of stasis and times of rapid change. While archaeologists can easily segment phases of material culture into sequent units, the points of transformation between these units are difficult to define archaeologically. The combined rapidity and lack of uniformity that can be associated with transitions makes it more difficult to model and to interpret cause and effect. Yet, these material shifts are precisely the most interesting part of the archaeological quest for knowledge. In the Maya area, times of transition fall at the beginning and end of each of the major recognized units of time. Thus, while the Preclassic, Classic, Postclassic, and Historic Periods can all be readily documented and explicated, what happened in the interstices between these periods foments differences of opinion. Recognizing the theoretical issues associated with the frameworks that are imposed onto our archaeological databases helps with making interpretations about the sequence of transformations that define Maya civilization. This paper looks first at transitions within the archaeological record of the Maya and then attempts to contextualize these pivotal timeframes.

CHICHEN ITZA AND ITS ECONOMY AT THE END OF THE CLASSIC PERIOD: TRIBUTE, CENTRALIZED REDISTRIBUTION, AND MARITIME STATIONS

AbstractStudies of the ancient economy associated with the Classic and Postclassic periods of Maya civilization show that, in order to explain it, the market economy model has been widely used, where economic transactions were carried out in marketplaces. In this type of economy, goods are exchanged based on an agreed value that takes into account supply and demand. However, other types of exchange, such as tribute and centralized redistribution, could have been used in those transactions instead of a market economy. This article analyzes the role that tribute and centralized redistribution may have played during the heyday of Chichen Itza between the tenth and eleventh centuries. This site seems to have used its powerful military supremacy to extract tribute from sites and regions it conquered militarily and politically as they experienced their collapse. In addition, the archaeological evidence suggests that Chichen Itza made political as well as economic alliances in different regions of the Maya Lowlands in order to obtain sumptuous goods. These commodities were used by members of the elite to reinforce the power structure and consolidate social relations among the different individuals who inhabited that community located in northern Yucatan.

Maize and ancient Maya droughts

The ancient Maya culture of Mesoamerica shaped landscapes for centuries, in an area where maize (Zeamays) cultivation is considered a fundamental crop in the diet of present and ancient Mesoamerican cultures. Pollen records from sites with different environmental and climatic conditions of the Yucatán Peninsula (Mexico) and Peten (Guatemala) evidence a clear relationship between increased maize pollen and periods of reduced precipitation caused by El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) while moist periods are characterized by low maize pollen presence. ENSO conditions were not evenly distributed across the Yucatán Peninsula, and regional droughts vary according to regional climate and geographical conditions. Our results indicate a strong relationship of increased maize and tropical forest decrease with dry periods, while the Late Preclassic Humid Period (ca. 500–200 BCE) is characterized by the absence of maize pollen. The dry Late Preclassic (300 BCE-250 CE) was a key period for increased maize production, suggesting a new conceptualization of maize. Maize changed from a basic diet crop to a pragmatic product to face adverse environmental conditions.

The tapir in the room: Ancient Maya storage architecture

• Despite its crucial economic importance, storage remains a surprisingly rare topic in Maya archaeology. • Evidence for storage architecture among the modern, colonial era, and ancient Mayas can help build a middle-range theory for studying this topic. • Architectural, artifactual, and geoarchaeological data can help archaeologist recognize distinct types of above-ground storage architecture, such as kitchens, storerooms, storehouses, and warehouses. • Classic Maya royal courts relied on ancillary, centralized, and administrative storage facilities. • Storage is a necessary and productive angle for studying ancient Maya household and political economies. The storage of abundant foodstuffs or items is a central element of all economies, but strangely remains a rare topic in the field of ancient Maya anthropological archaeology. This paper aims to fill this lacuna by proposing a middle-range theory of ancient Maya storage architecture. This theoretical framework is built on extensive empirical data derived from ethnographical, ethnohistorical, and archaeological literatures. This middle-range model is then applied to the Later Classic (700–900 CE) regal palace of La Corona, Guatemala where five distinct, yet complementary storage contexts are identified on archaeological and geoarchaeological grounds. The storerooms, storehouses, and warehouse found in this royal household were used to store distinct foodstuffs, commodities, administrative tools, taxes and tribute, ceremonial paraphernalia, and prestige items. These complementary architectural contexts are arranged along a pragmatic operational chain, where they occupy ineluctable positions. In this paper, I show that placing storage at the center of ancient Maya economic inquiry – be it for household or political economies – is not only possible, but necessary and productive.

Обращаясь к богам и предкам: горны из морских раковин как ритуальные инструменты у древних майя

The use of trumpets made from the conch shells of large marine mollusks was one of the peculiar traits of Mesoamerican culture. The earliest evidence of this practice can be placed in the Middle Formative (I mil. BC), but this tradition persisted among the native population of Mexico until the 20 th century. Conch shell trumpets were excavated in many Maya sites (Uaxactun, Kaminaljuyu, Mayapan, Tikal, Dzibilchaltun etc.). Since the 1960s it was believed that their main function was that of alarm, and sometimes they were considered as a type of musical instruments. The analysis of previously unpublished hieroglyphic inscription on the conch shell from Asunción Mita (Department of Jutiapa, Guatemala) preserved in the National Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology of Guatemala shows that it was used in the ceremony of appeal to the deities. New interpretation of the hieroglyphic texts on the Early Classic conch shells leads to the conclusion that, in the Classic Maya culture, their main function was ritual. They served as one of the main instruments of the ritual communication with the deities and ancestors, whose names and images were inscribed on the conch shells.