The Classic-period pictographs at Juliq’ Cave,Alta Verapaz,Guatemala: an interdisciplinary approach to cave art as organizing principle

The Cave of Juliq’ in Alta Verapaz, Guatemala contains an impressive corpus of ancient Maya rock art. Unlike other examples of rock art in this area, the Juliq’ pictographs are simply rendered, generally consisting of lines, handprints, and other basic shapes. We thus focus on context rather than on iconographic content in order to access the meaning of these ancient pictographs. We argue that they were used to record human presence in and movement through the alien cave environment in specific ways, demarcating procession routes, points of transition, moments of physical prowess, and places charged with sacred power. These circuits within Juliq’ reflect attempts to order the Underworld landscape and link it to the surface world through ritual movement akin to aboveground ritual processions.     

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.     

Geochemical analysis of Late Classic and Post Classic Maya marketplace activities at the Plazas of Cobá, Mexico

Abstract

Lines of evidence for ancient exchange plazas may include trade routes and trade artifacts, urban open space near public structures, and rock alignments denoting market stalls, but regular patterns in soil chemical concentrations also point to marketplace use. We applied geochemical and geospatial analysis of the floors of the main Plaza of Group B and Plazas A, H, and J of Group D at Cobá, Mexico, to discover the chemical residues of phosphorus (P) and metals associated with the exchange of foodstuffs and mineral workshop items that may have been marketed there. The patterns of chemical residues in the floor of the Group B Plaza suggest ritual activities while the linear, parallel patterns of elevated Mehlich phosphorus and chelate extractable zinc concentrations in Plaza A support the hypothesis of market exchange at that location. Plaza H is associated with several Postclassic buildings, including the Pinturas Structure D-33. During the Postclassic period, Cobá had lost much of its population, though chemical residues from Plaza H are congruent with marketing. We argue that Plazas A and H were not permanent marketplaces but rather multi-purpose locations that also hosted large ceremonies.     

Feeding the Mountains: Sacred Landscapes,Mountain Worship,and Sacrifice in the Maya and Inca Worlds

Three texts reviewed here address the linkages between religion and mountainous landscapes in the Maya and Inca realms. Bassie-Sweet provides a thorough analysis of the Maya mythologies of creation and situates its players and concepts within the real world. Besom thoughtfully tackles the place of mountains and child sacrifice within the Andes with a focus on the late prehispanic Inca. Reinhard and Constanza offer a detailed and richly illustrated case study of state-sponsored child sacrifice on a mountaintop in the south of the Inca Empire. Taken together, these somewhat disparate books produce several fascinating parallels in the sacred geographies of mountains and the offerings made to them.     

Applying new approaches to modeling diet and status: isotopic evidence for commoner resiliency and elite variability in the Classic Maya lowlands

Classic Maya states were characterized by a high degree of socioeconomic stratification. This paper investigates the degree to which status, as defined by grave goods and tomb construction, influenced dietary patterns of elites and commoners throughout the Classic Period (200–900/1000 AD) of the southern lowlands. We compile a database (N = 102) of previously-published stable isotope ratios (δ¹³C collagen, δ¹³C apatite, and δ¹⁵N collagen) from Maya bone mineral and collagen, and interrogate these data through two new isotopic modeling techniques: a simple carbon isotope model ( Kellner and Schoeninger, 2007; Froehle et al., 2010) and a multivariate isotope model ( Froehle et al., 2012). We find that Maya elite diet varied significantly through time in terms of maize consumption and trophic level, while commoner diet remained remarkably stable. These findings provide new information relevant to studies of ancient Maya class structure and to studies of subsistence strategies of the pre-Columbian Americas.     

Chemical composition of architectural plaster at the Classic Maya kingdom of Piedras Negras,Guatemala

Architectural plaster from elite masonry structures at the Classic Maya kingdom of Piedras Negras, Guatemala, is examined. Chemical composition is determined through X-ray fluorescence and compared statistically. Based on this sample, it was observed that any single masonry building was coated with plaster made from a single source of limestone and limestone-based aggregate, but that architectural plaster from different buildings across the site varied in chemical composition. It is concluded that this pattern is best accounted for by a model of rotational labor obligations to the state, with spatially distinct groups being responsible for manufacturing plaster for specific buildings.     

Past or present? Differentiating California prehistoric native American remains from forensic cases: An empirical approach

The goal of this project is to provide additional data and statistical analyses for differentiating between prehistoric/historic Native American remains and modern forensic cases that may be potentially confusing. Forensic anthropologists often receive requests from local law enforcement to infer whether skeletal remains are of forensic or non‐forensic significance. Skeletal remains of non‐forensic significance are commonly of Native American ancestry, but the empirical methods common for determining Native American affinity from skeletal remains have not been established for California prehistoric/historic Native Americans. Therefore, forensic anthropologists working in California lack empirical methods for not only identifying prehistoric California Native American remains, but also differentiating them from modern/forensic populations whose skeletal attributes are similar. In particular, skeletal remains of Latin American US immigrants of indigenous origins are becoming more present in the forensic anthropological laboratory, and can exhibit the same suite of skeletal traits classically used to identify Native American affinity. In this article, we initiate an investigation into this issue by analyzing both craniometric and morphoscopic data using a range of statistical methods for differentiating prehistoric Northern California Native Americans from modern Guatemalan Maya. Our discriminant analyses results indicate that by using nine craniometric variables, group classification is 87% correct. In addition, seven morphoscopic variables can predict group classification correctly for 77% of the sample. The results suggest that it is possible to differentiate between our two samples. Such a method contributes to the efficient and empirical determination of temporal and geographic affinity, allowing for the repartriation of Native American remains to their tribes, as well as the accurate analysis of forensically significant remains. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

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.     

An integrated assessment of archaeobotanical recovery methods in the Neotropical rainforest of northern Belize: flotation and dry screening

This report presents results of a study examining the ancient use of plants at four Late Classic (CE 600-900) Maya rural farmsteads in northwestern Belize. Our research specifically targeted residential middens for macrobotanical recovery. Samples yielded the remains of more than a dozen plant families, representing some genera that do not currently grow in the area. These plants were used in the Late Classic, countering the idea that ancient botanical remains do not survive in Neotropical archaeological contexts. We also evaluated two macrobotanical sample processing methods vis-à-vis one another: flotation and dry screening. Our results indicate that flotation recovered 58% more seeds than dry screening, while dry screening yielded almost twice as much charcoal and other wood as flotation. The divergent quantities in the types of material recovered suggest a comprehensive macrobotanical recovery program should include the use of both processing methods.     

Late Classic Maya Pottery Production: Review and Synthesis

Studies of the organization of Maya pottery production have been pursued via numerous methods but without theoretical models. I review available data on production of Late Classic southern lowland Maya polychrome pottery in light of my calendrically based may model of geopolitical organization. I conclude that: (1) production arrangements vary by “kind” of pottery; (2) “craft specialization” and “workshops” are inappropriate concepts; (3) study of polychrome production necessitates multiple approaches, including analysis of decorative content; (4) better “bridging arguments” and “middle-range theory” are needed; (5) figural polychromes were “inalienable” wealth goods; and (6) they were painted in palaces of primary and secondary centers—may and k'atun seats in the model—in realm-specific signature styles.