Assessing the Role of Preclassic Traditions in the Formation of Early Classic Yucatec Cultures,México

Abstract

In the northern Maya lowlands the transition from the Late Preclassic to the Early Classic is poorly understood. Despite the knowledge that ceramic traditions underwent drastic changes, the timing of these changes is difficult to place in absolute terms. Many of the chronological problems stem from an over-reliance on the dates ascribed to this transition by earlier scholars. We evaluate the cultural historical frameworks of the Preclassic and Early Classic periods in the northern lowlands, which have remained surprisingly static since their creation over 50 years ago. Using data from excavations and regional settlement surveys, we explore the possibility of how changes in settlement patterns, monumental architecture, and ceramics contribute to debates about concepts such as the Terminal Preclassic and Protoclassic and our broader understanding of the social and political transformations that occurred at this transition. We propose that five ceramic spheres emerged in the northern lowlands during the Terminal Preclassic (75 B.C.–A.D. 400). The increased ceramic heterogeneity correlates with the emergence of more hierarchical political structures. We use two research areas, Yaxuná and the Yalahau region, to explore the implications of a Preclassic Maya collapse, as well as architectural data combined with ceramic data to shed light on the variability of sociopolitical organization at the end of the Preclassic.     

Sociopolitical network interactions: A case study of the Classic Maya

The organization of Classic Maya society emerged from diverse and overlapping social interactions which shaped a dynamic political landscape. Vying for power, elites legitimized their status by claiming ancestry from various supernaturals and engaged in conspicuous displays of competition, warfare, and ritual practice which were often recorded on stone monuments. By examining the inscribed relationships between Maya centers, we chart organizational changes in sociopolitical networks throughout the Classic period. Methods derived from social network analysis are used to examine temporal changes in the distribution and centralization of political power through different network interactions. We examine the intersection of antagonistic, diplomatic, subordinate, and kinship relationships and discuss how these overlapping networks contributed to dynamic changes in the Classic period. This case study demonstrates how current network analysis techniques can contribute to archaeological studies of the scalar dynamics and organizational changes of past social and political systems.     

Emergent Complexity,Changing Landscapes,and Spheres of Interaction in Southeastern South America During the Middle and Late Holocene

Newly created academic programs at Brazilian universities have provided the impetus for new archaeological projects in southeastern South America during the last two decades. The new data are changing our views on emergent social complexity, natural and human-induced transformation of the landscape, and transcontinental expansions and cultural interactions across the Río de la Plata basin during the Middle and Late Holocene. We concentrate on six major archaeological traditions/regions: the Sambaquis, the Pantanal, the Constructores de Cerritos, the Tupiguarani, the Southern Proto-Jê, and the middle and lower Paraná River. Diverse and autonomous complex developments exhibit distinct built landscapes in a region previously thought of as marginal compared with cultural developments in the Andes or Mesoamerica. The trajectories toward increased sociopolitical complexity flourished in very different and changing environmental conditions. While some groups were pushed to wetland areas during a drier mid-Holocene, others took advantage of the more humid Late Holocene climate to intensively manage Araucaria forests. The start of the second millennium AD was a critical period marked by an increased number of archaeological sites, the construction of ceremonial architecture, and the intensification of landscape transformation; it also was marked by the rapid expansion of influences from outside the La Plata basin. The Amazonian Tupiguarani and Arawak newcomers brought with them significant changes in technologies and social and political structures, as well as novel landscape management practices.     

2005 Cultural Heritage Legal Summary

Abstract

Archaeologists studying ancient state societies often divide political economic models into separate prestige goods and subsistence goods systems. For the Maya during the Late Classic period (ca. A.D. 600–900), scholars have suggested that the elite centrally controlled the production and circulation of prestige goods while local communities and households were responsible for subsistence goods manufacture and exchange, which operated in a largely decentralized fashion. We examine an alternative to this dichotomous system through a festival market model that postulates a wide array of social groups engaged in material goods exchange during ceremonial events and public festive gatherings. This model is investigated using modal, petrographic, and Instrumental Neutron Activation analyses (INAA) of Late Classic ceramic figurines from the Motul de San José region, Petén, Guatemala. Ceramic figurines are frequently associated with household affairs because of their presence in household middens. We find that paste types crosscut different household status groups and communities within the region and argue that figurines were exchanged within the context of festival markets. This exchange pattern has important implications for linking households to larger political and regional spheres of social and economic life.     

Adaptive strategies or ideological innovations? Interpreting sociopolitical developments in the Jequetepeque Valley of Peru during the Late Moche Period

Environmental perturbations and social unrest are thought to have led to the reconstitution of traditional belief systems and hierarchical political relations on Peru’s North Coast during the Late Moche Period (550–800 AD). Ideological transformations are thus commonly interpreted as adaptive or reactive responses to social, political, and ecological disruptions. Nevertheless, religious practices directly shaped the formation of alternative power structures and ecological systems on the North Coast during the Late Moche Period. This is especially evident in Late Moche Jequetepeque, which witnessed the proliferation of non-elite ceremonial sites and small-scale agricultural facilities throughout the rural hinterland of the valley. Moche-inspired ritual performances orchestrated in the countryside created distinctive new forms of political order which structured economic activities and ecological behavior. In this article, the Jequetepeque case study is mobilized to reassess normative interpretations of the role of religious ideology in cultural adaptation and sociopolitical realignment.     

The Transition to History in Southeast Asia: An Introduction

Studies of the transition from prehistory to history in Southeast Asia have traditionally relied primarily on documentary sources, which tend to emphasize foreign influences, rather than on the archaeological record, which suggests a series of indigenous developments. The papers in this journal issue and the next discuss strategies for using both documentary and archaeological evidence to study the transition to history and the emergence of early states in the region. These papers investigate how political units were structured and integrated in Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, and South China, and illustrate how historical and archaeological data can cross-check each other to inform on Southeast Asian sociopolitical and economic developments during the early historic period.     

Archaeological trends in the Southern Cone of South America

Current major research directions and findings in three areas of Southern Cone archaeology are discussed: (1) the entry of humans in Late Pleistocene times and early hunter-gatherer society, (2) the emergence of chiefdom societies, and (3) the Inca state. These themes are considered broadly in terms of local and interregional models of economic mobility and sociopolitical organization. Although emphasis is given primarily to the Andean regions of Argentina, Chile, and Bolivia, new studies and developments in the Argentinian Pampa and Patagonia are discussed.     

Civic and Residential Settlement at a Late Preclassic Maya Center

Abstract

The Late Preclassic period in the Maya Lowlands (300 B.C.–150 A.C.) documents the transition toward increased social and economic complexity culminating in the Classic Maya civilization (250–900 A.C.). The Late Preclassic Maya community of Cerros in northern Belize has revealed a settlement pattern of dispersed household clusters and scattered public architecture. Moreover, the site manifests a clear, three-part concentric zonation, similar to later Classic period communities. The authors' analysis provides a definition through time of civic and residential architecture and of the division between elite and non-elite domiciles. The study draws heavily on a functional analysis of the excavated ceramic assemblage. The unique settlement pattern of the semitropical Maya is suggested to be an environmental adaptation with rural elites coordinating the dispersed sustaining population through public monuments and associated ritual.     

Competition and conflict in the Upper Belize River Valley: Insights from the ancient Maya minor center of Callar Creek,Belize

Political relationships typically entail competition and conflict. Within the ancient Maya world, the Upper Belize River Valley (UBRV) offers one example of an arena of intense political contestation, and recent investigations at the minor center of Callar Creek offer insights into this complex and occasionally antagonistic political landscape. During the Late and Terminal Classic periods (a.d. 600–900), for example, those living at the Callar Creek center appear to have affiliated themselves with the larger center of Buenavista, but not to have developed political ties with those in surrounding hinterland communities. Indeed, Callar Creek provides an example in which the political fortunes of a minor center and its surrounding hinterlands followed divergent paths. Furthermore, a termination event suggests that part of the Callar Creek center was purposefully destroyed by adversaries in the Terminal Classic period, and that discordant relationships in the UBRV at times turned violent.     

Household Craft Production in the Prehispanic Urban Setting of Mayapán,Yucatan, Mexico

The complexity of the organization of craft production mirrors multiple aspects of the larger political economies of premodern states. At the late Maya urban center of Mayapán, variation in the social contexts of crafting within a single settlement defies simple classificatory models that once held sway in the literature of nonWestern state societies. Most surplus crafters were independent and affluent commoners; notable exceptions include artisans working under direct elite supervision or elites who were directly engaged in crafting. Although household workshops concentrated around the city’s epicenter, others were dispersed across the site in unassuming residential neighborhoods or near outlying monumental groups. We consider the significance of pronounced household and regional economic interdependencies founded on well-developed surplus crafting practices, imported raw materials, market exchange, and tribute obligations at Mayapán. As for other premodern states, craft production also gave rise to greater opportunities for wealth differentiation within the commoner class. Producers in this urban political capital contributed in significant ways to a stable political economy by supplying goods that were required at all levels of the social hierarchy.     

The Not So Peaceful Civilization: A Review of Maya War

The first Maya encountered by Europeans in the early sixteenth century were exceedingly warlike, but by the 1940s the earlier Classic Maya (AD 250–1000) were widely perceived as an inordinately peaceful civilization. Today, in sharp contrast, conflict is seen as integral to Maya society throughout its history. This paper defines war, reviews the evidence for it in the Maya archaeological record, and shows how and why our ideas have changed so profoundly. The main emphasis is on the Classic period, with patterns of ethnohistorically documented war serving as a baseline. Topics include the culture history of conflict, strategy and tactics, the scope and range of operations, war and the political economy, and the intense status rivalry war of the eighth and ninth centuries AD that contributed to the collapse of Classic civilization. Unresolved issues such as the motivations for war, its ritual vs. territorial aims, and sociopolitical effects are discussed at length.     

Ancient Maya wood selection and forest exploitation: a view from the Paynes Creek salt works,Belize

Ancient building construction wood preserved in a peat bog below the seafloor in a shallow mangrove lagoon in Paynes Creek National Park, Belize, provides an exceptional record of Classic Maya wood use. Identifications of construction wood at Early Classic Chan B'i, and Late Classic Atz'aam Na, are reported and discussed to assess forest exploitation and species selection over time. Black mangrove (Avicennia germinans) dominates the Early Classic assemblage. The Late Classic assemblage is characterized by greater variability and an absence of mangrove species. When considered in the environmental context, identified species conform to principles of optimal foraging. The change in the wood assemblage over time suggests overexploitation of forest resources, resulting in deforestation of the local landscape and subsequent adaptation of foraging behavior. Deforestation is linked to the wider social context in which growing inland populations created demand for salt, putting greater pressure on the forest resources exploited by the Paynes Creek salt works for fuel and timber.     

A Bayesian AMS C chronology of the Classic Maya Center of Uxbenká, Belize

Archaeologists require precise chronologies of cultural change to understand the nature and timing, and causes and effects, of ecological and social transformations. The Uxbenká Archaeological Project (UAP) has made chronology building a main goal, employing epigraphic data, artifact seriation, and high-precision AMS ¹⁴C dating. With more than 60 ¹⁴C dates with measurement errors below ±25 ¹⁴C yr, primarily on single charcoal specimens, Uxbenká may be the most intensively dated Classic Period site in the tropical Maya Lowlands. Here we take the next step, combining this rich chronometric dataset with associated stratigraphic information in OxCal's Bayesian framework to generate a high-resolution chronology of Uxbenká's early development and expansion in southern Belize. We show how archaeologists may take advantage of complex architectural stratigraphy to constrain broad calibrated ranges during the Classic Period, and to estimate dates for observed construction events that can not be directly dated (e.g., clearing/leveling plazas, laying plaster floors, renovating/rebuilding structural elements). Our analysis confirms the antiquity of the ceremonial Stela Plaza (Group A), where first construction is estimated between 60 cal BC and cal AD 220 and is associated with a Pre-Classic structure obscured by later construction and reorientation of the group to a N-S alignment ca. AD 150–310. The analysis also indicates initial leveling and construction at plaza Group B from cal AD 60–310 and Group D from cal AD 20–240, both earlier than previously assumed. Though Late Classic contexts are not as well represented by direct dates, architectural modifications are documented at all three plaza groups after AD 550, including the extensive plastering, laying paving stones, and construction of facades on existing structures. The resulting chronology revises our previous thinking on the mode of settlement and development of Classic Maya society at Uxbenká and indicates specific areas of investigation to elucidate events in the Late and Terminal Classic at the site, including political and social fragmentation and the abandonment of the urban core late in the Classic Period.     

Perspectives on ancient Maya bone crafting from a Classic period bone-artifact manufacturing assemblage

This paper explores the nature of utilitarian bone-artifact crafting from the perspective of an unusual assemblage of manufacturing debitage dated to the Terminal Classic. This large assemblage contains unprecedented quantities of debris from the production of utilitarian artifacts, primarily bone perforators (needles, pins, awls). The collection was recovered from Group L4-3, a small, non-elite, Late and Terminal Classic residential complex located adjacent to the central palaces and residences of the ruling nobility of the ancient Maya site of Dos Pilas, Petexbatún, Guatemala. This study evaluates the standardization of raw materials, methods, and finished artifacts of the assemblage based on criteria used in discussions of scale of production and craft specialization. These evaluations are used to explore whether the L4-3 bone crafters were part- or full-time specialists, whether they produced their products on a large or a small scale and for domestic or external consumption, and for whom they crafted these products. The continuous occupation of the L4-3 complex through the transition from Late to Terminal Classic, a time of social change, offers a rich background for this evaluation of Maya utilitarian bone-artifact crafting.     

Modeling the Roles of Craft Production in Ancient Political Economies

Ongoing debates over the significance of specialized production in ancient political economies frequently hinge on questions of whether elites or commoners controlled craft manufactures and whether the material or ideological import of these production processes was more significant in deciding power contests. Though long recognized, such queries were traditionally answered in relatively straightforward economic terms. Recently, these time-honored approaches have been questioned. An ever increasing number of authors are promoting varied takes on the causal linkages between political forms and processes, on the one hand, and patterns of production, distribution, and use of craft goods, on the other. The literature generated by these discussions is extensive, vibrant, and often confusing. Rather than trying to synthesize all reports and essays dealing with specialized manufacture, this paper highlights general interpretive trends that underlie and structure current debates. The concluding section offers suggestions for how studies of relations among crafts, power, and social heterogeneity might be pursued profitably in the future.     

The Ballgame,Termination Ritual,and the Transformation of Classic Period Authority in the Mesoamerican Southern Gulf Lowlands

In the Gulf lowlands, Late Classic fluctuations were concomitant with the increasing importance of the Classic Veracruz style complex. A characteristic feature of the style was ballgame imagery on ballcourt panels, molded ceramics, and paraphernalia such as yokes, hachas, and palmas, as well as courts, markers, and stelae. Components of the Classic Veracruz style have been documented for the Gulf lowlands and adjoining regions of Mesoamerica. Few examples, however, derive from stratigraphic excavations of in situ deposits. We document the discovery, excavation, and initial interpretation of a monument-yoke-offering complex at Matacanela, located in the south-central Tuxtla Mountains. We present suggestive evidence for associated decapitation ritual. We conclude by assessing these data and generating hypotheses regarding the transitioning of authority. We situate the Matacanela complex within regional demographic, political, and economic transformations that occurred throughout the Classic period (ca. a.d. 300–800/1000), culminating in disruptions that may have been contentious.     

Current Research on Late Precontact Societies of the Midcontinental United States

Research during the past decade on Late Precontact societies (ca. A.D. 1000–1600/1700) in the Midcontinent, particularly Mississippian, Oneota, Fort Ancient, and Late Woodland, is strongly rooted in empirical approaches. While some of this work is pursued within a broadly evolutionary interpretive framework, other scholars emphasize agency and practice theory, symbolism, the historically contingent nature of human action, and cultural heterogeneity in sociopolitical organization, political economy, and subsistence. Dynamic models of the settlement systems and demography of complex societies have developed out of the recent growth in site inventories and refinements in ceramic chronologies and have come to be closely linked with theoretical treatments of sociopolitical organization. Various physical and chemical analytical techniques are commonly applied to the analysis of archaeological materials in this region, contributing to our understanding of direct and indirect exchange relationships and other forms of interaction, especially those between hierarchical and nonhierarchically organized societies, and enhancing our understanding of the kinds of foods prepared and eaten by people in the past.     

Paradoxes of Gender: Writing History in Post-Communist Russia 1987–1998

The paper analyses the main trends in Russian historiography concerning women's history and gender studies between 1987 and 1998. These developments are evaluated in the context of social, political and cultural changes in Russia in the period of transition from socialist to market economy. The paper argues that, despite the liberalisation of political and intellectual life in Russia following Gorbachev's reforms, the research on gender in the past years and present-day Russia is impeded, on the one hand, by the economic strains on Russia's academic community, which faces a Darwinian struggle for survival, and, on the other, by the persistence of dominant paradigms of history writing inherent in the Soviet ideology. However, the positive developments in the field of gender studies, which should be seen in the context of general regeneration of historical discipline from the ideological constraints, must not be neglected. The paper also draws attention to the field of gender studies and religion, focusing on the outcomes of recent research on Old Believer communities in nineteenth-century Russia.     

Immigration to Tikal,Guatemala: Evidence from stable strontium and oxygen isotopes

This paper presents strontium and oxygen isotopic measurements on archaeological human teeth from the ancient Maya city of Tikal, Guatemala, that illuminate the role that migration played in the history of the state. Stable strontium isotope ratios of human teeth parallel the bedrock geology of the location where foods were grown, while stable oxygen isotope ratios reflect the sources of water imbibed, and track geographic variation in the isotopic composition of rain water. Because tooth enamel forms during childhood and is not remodeled during life, we can identify foreign-born individuals at Tikal by their outlying strontium and oxygen isotope ratios. These data indicate that approximately 11–16% of the sampled Tikal skeletons spent their childhood at distant sites. Most of the migrant burials date from the Early Classic period and are high status contexts. Several royal burials demonstrate long distance movement of both males and females, and shed light on the identification of epigraphically-known individuals. Yet, both Early and Late Classic migrants are found in lower status domestic burials. Interaction with distant peers was important in the rise of the Tikal polity, however, immigration from all social tiers contributed to the city’s rapid population growth.     

Let no space go to waste: comparing the uses of space between two Late Classic centers in the El Paraíso valley,Copan, Honduras

Phosphorus analysis of earthen and plaster floors has been used in Mesoamerica to locate and identify activities at ancient sites. This study uses phosphorus analysis to discern if the inhabitants of two Late Classic coeval and proximal sites located in the El Paraíso Valley of Honduras were different culturally from each other. The buried earthen and plaster surfaces of both sites were systematically sampled and analyzed for phosphorus remains. The patterns of elevated phosphorus from these open spaces were subsequently compared to determine if differences in the habitual use and treatment of open spaces could be discerned. These differences are evaluated as a function of behavioral norms, functional responses, and cultural dispositions in order to evaluate the extent to which these two populations were indeed different from each other.