Sculpture in the Ancient Maya Plaza: The Early Classic Period. Flora Simmons Clancy. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, 1999. x + 169 pp., 53 figures, notes, bibliography, index. $65.00 (cloth).

2000 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-102
Author(s):  
Clemency Coggins
Keyword(s):  
New Mexico ◽  
Classic Period ◽  
Ancient Maya ◽  
University Of New Mexico ◽  
Early Classic Period

Cacao Residues in Ancient Maya Vessels from Rio Azul, Guatemala

1990 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 138-143 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grant D. Hall ◽  
Stanley M. Tarka ◽  
W. Jeffrey Hurst ◽  
David Stuart ◽  
Richard E. W. Adams
Keyword(s):  
Classic Period ◽  
New Method ◽  
Chemical Analyses ◽  
Ancient Maya ◽  
Clear Indication ◽  
Ceramic Vessels ◽  
Early Classic Period

Results of chemical analyses on residues collected from ceramic vessels found in an Early Classic period Maya tomb revealed that certain of the residues contained theobromine and caffeine, a clear indication that the corresponding vessels once contained cacao in some form. One of the vessels yielding cacao residues is decorated with hieroglyphs, two of which we believe have the phonetic values for the word “cacao” in the Mayan language. These findings are significant for three reasons: (1) a new method for recognizing ancient cacao use is demonstrated, (2) a novel way of verifying glyph interpretations is presented, and (3) data are generated that indicate what contents certain Maya vessels actually held, thus permitting useful functional interpretations.

An Early Classic Center in the Puuc Region

1998 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 233-257 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael P. Smyth ◽  
José Ligorred Perramon ◽  
David Ortegón Zapata ◽  
Pat Farrell
Keyword(s):  
Surface Soil ◽  
Classic Period ◽  
Ancient Maya ◽  
Maya Lowlands ◽  
New Information ◽  
Site Survey ◽  
Important Center ◽  
Early Classic Period ◽  
Rare Opportunity ◽  
Activity Areas

AbstractA comprehensive site survey and excavation program took place in 1995 and 1996 at the Maya center of Chac II (Chac) located within the Puuc hills region of Yucatan, Mexico. This work presents a body of evidence in support of the idea that Chac was an important center beginning in the Early Classic period (a.d. 300–600) that experienced significant foreign contacts. In addition, multifaceted data from surface, soil, architectural, and excavated contexts are addressing major questions pertaining to architectural and ceramic chronologies, the founding of the Puuc stoneworking tradition, site activity areas, and patterns of land use. Furthermore, dating indicates that Chac predated Sayil and that the two sites have a close geographical relationship. Also, terrace agriculture appears to have been widespread at Chac, contrasting greatly with Sayil where intensive gardening was widely practiced. In light of the new information from Chac, we argue that the traditional models of Puuc origins are inadequate. Investigations at a major Early Classic site in the heart of the Puuc region suggests that the region's rise was indigenous coupled with external ties to foreign groups reaching to central Mexico. The site of Chac is thus taking on strategic importance for understanding the origins of Puuc civilization, providing a rare opportunity to study a Maya center that was on the brink of urbanism in one of the most urban ancient Maya areas. These new data are helping to elucidate the nature of Maya urbanism in the Puuc region and establish the kinds of cultural links that existed between the northern Maya Lowlands and the rest of Mesoamerica during the Classic period.

Social structural consequences of population growth

1981 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 107-122
Author(s):  
R. E. W. Adams
Keyword(s):  
Population Growth ◽  
Classic Period ◽  
City Size ◽  
Ancient Maya ◽  
Rate Of Development ◽  
Archaeological Data ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Structural ◽  
Political Units ◽  
Early Classic Period

SummaryEstimates from archaeological data of the numbers in the elite classes, non-elite occupational specialists, density of population, city size, and size of political units in the ancient Maya civilization suggest that there was a quantum shift in rate of development in the Early Classic period, associated with intensification of agriculture, and that the social structure approximated to a generalized feudal pattern.

Ancient Maya Queenship

2020 ◽  
pp. 196-217
Author(s):  
Olivia C. Navarro-Farr ◽  
Keith Eppich ◽  
David A. Freidel ◽  
Griselda Pérez Robles
Keyword(s):  
Classic Period ◽  
The Political ◽  
Ancient Maya ◽  
Late Classic ◽  
Political Network ◽  
Monumental Sculpture ◽  
Early Classic Period ◽  
The City

Olivia Navarro-Farr and colleagues explore another example of how the Snake Kings manipulated the political landscape of the Classic period with a fascinating case study in ancient Maya queenship at Waka’ in Chapter 10. Waka’ was first embroiled by the geopolitics of the lowlands during the Teotihuacan entrada of AD 378, after which the kingdom was apparently incorporated into the New Order’s political network based at Tikal. Kaanul subsequently brought Waka’ into its hegemony near the end of the Early Classic period with the marriage of the first of at least three royal Kaanul women to kings of Waka’. Beyond simply telling this story, Chapter 10 explores monumentality in two ways. First, Waka’ is presented as a contested node on the vast political and economic network of the Classic period, its importance evident in its role in the entrada, the deliberate and long-term strategy to integrate it into the Kaanul hegemony through royal marriage, and Tikal’s Late Classic star war conquest of Waka’ in AD 743. Second, Navarro-Farr and colleagues examine how, through reverential manipulation of monumental sculpture and architecture, the occupants of Waka’ continued to honor the great Kaanul queens for over a century following the failure of institutional kingship at the city.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document