An Ancient Maya Measurement System

1986 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 136-151 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia J. O'Brien ◽  
Hanne D. Christiansen
Keyword(s):  
Measurement System ◽  
Classic Maya ◽  
Measuring System ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Ancient Maya ◽  
Late Classic ◽  
Chichen Itza

In this report we attempt to answer the question: which measurement system did the Late Classic Maya use to build their buildings? Measurements were collected from ten buildings at three Puuc style archaeological sites: Uxmal, Kabah and Chichén Itzá, which date about A.D. 750-1000. The tentative results of the study suggest the Maya employed a measurement system involving what we are calling a zapal, which was 147 ± 5 cm long. A zapal was divided into 16 units, kab, of 9 xóot’ each, or 9 units, oc, of 16 xóot’ each. Thus, there were two alternative ways of grouping the 144 xóot’ that made up each zapal. An examination of the linguistic and ethnohistoric data reveals nothing to contradict the notion that such a measuring system was present among the ancient Maya, and that multiples of 3, 4, and 12 are involved.

Lords of the Hills

1994 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas P. Dunning ◽  
Jeff Karl Kowalski
Keyword(s):  
Agricultural Soils ◽  
Ninth Century ◽  
Classic Maya ◽  
Ancient Maya ◽  
Late Classic ◽  
Important Relationship ◽  
Late Ninth Century ◽  
The City ◽  
Chichen Itza ◽  
Divine Kingship

AbstractA regional investigation of the ancient Maya settlement patterns of the Puuc suggests that this region was occupied by increasing numbers of people seeking to maximize control over prime agricultural soils during the Late Classic period. During the Late Classic the eastern Puuc region was controlled by numerous autonomous major centers that carried on the Classic Maya tradition of divine kingship. During the late ninth century a.d., the city of Uxmal briefly emerged as the politically dominant center of the region and was involved in an important relationship with the city of Chichen Itza. By a.d. 950, however, Uxmal and the other major centers of the Puuc had ceased all important elite activities.

Stature at Tikal, Guatemala: Implications for Ancient Maya Demography and Social Organization

1967 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 316-325 ◽  
Author(s):  
William A. Haviland
Keyword(s):  
Social Organization ◽  
Classic Maya ◽  
Ancient Maya ◽  
Ruling Class ◽  
Late Classic ◽  
Class Division ◽  
Lower Status ◽  
Simple Class ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
Maya Site

AbstractThis paper presents an analysis of stature of the prehistoric population from the Maya site of Tikal, Guatemala. From this analysis, based on 55 skeletons from the Tikal burial series, three important conclusions emerge with respect to ancient Maya demography and social organization. (1) Tikal was settled by people of moderate stature, and this remained relatively stable over several centuries. A marked reduction in male stature in Late Classic times may be indicative of a situation of nutritional stress, which may have had something to do with the collapse of Classic Maya civilization. (2) Stature differences between those buried in tombs and others at Tikal suggest that, in the last century B.C., a distinct ruling class developed at Tikal. This simple class division of rulers and commoners may have become more complex in Late Classic times. (3) There was a marked sexual dimorphism in stature between males and females at Tikal. This is probably partially genetic and partially a reflection of relatively lower status for women as opposed to men in Maya society.

Sak Tz’i’, a Classic Maya Center: A Locational Model Based on GIS and Epigraphy

2003 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 179-191 ◽  
Author(s):  
Armando Anaya Hernández ◽  
Stanley P. Guenter ◽  
Marc U. Zender
Keyword(s):  
Geographic Information Systems ◽  
Analytical Tool ◽  
Classic Maya ◽  
Classic Period ◽  
Political Organization ◽  
The Political ◽  
Ancient Maya ◽  
Late Classic ◽  
Maya Lowlands

AbstractThe ancient Maya hieroglyphic inscriptions of the upper Usumacinta region record an intensive interaction that took place among its regional capitals. The precise geographic locations of some of these sites are presently unknown. Through the application of the Gravity Model within the framework of Geographic Information Systems (GIS), we present the probable locations and possible territorial extents of a few of these: Sak Tz’i’, Hix-Witz, and the “Knot-Site.” On this occasion, however, we concentrate our discussion on the role that the kingdom of Sak Tz’i’ played in the geopolitical scenario of the region. It is our belief that this case study constitutes a good example of how, through a conjunctive approach that integrates the archaeological with the epigraphic data, GIS can represent an excellent analytical tool to approach archaeological issues such as the political organization of the Maya Lowlands during the Late Classic period.

scholarly journals Lord of the Maya Creations on his jaguar throne: the eternal return of Elder Brother God L to preside over the 21 December 2012 transformation

2011 ◽  
Vol 7 (S278) ◽  
pp. 203-213
Author(s):  
John B. Carlson
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
Rites Of Passage ◽  
Classic Maya ◽  
Ancient Maya ◽  
Eternal Return ◽  
Late Classic ◽  
Cultural Contexts ◽  
The World ◽  
Western Scholarship

AbstractSpeculation about what ancient Maya texts have to say about 2012 is becoming a global phenomenon in popular culture. This speculation, largely apocalyptic, is more often based on acquaintance with historical Western interpretations than on familiarity with the texts themselves and their cultural contexts. This paper approaches the 2012 phenomenon through close readings of Maya texts and images considered within the contexts of historical and contemporary Maya culture and Western scholarship. It focuses on images of mythological events depicted on two Late Classic Maya vessels: the ‘Vase of the Seven Gods’ (Kerr no. 2796) and the ‘Vase of the Eleven Gods’ (Kerr no. 7750). These images are interpreted as representing deities, gathered in ‘cosmogonic conclave’, preparing to re-create the world with their sacrifices at the last completion of a great cycle and the beginning of a new 5,125-year 13-Bakˈtun Maya ‘Long Count’. The rites of passage are presided over by an enigmatic Venus-warrior/sacrificer deity previously known only as God L. God L's principal name and nature had remained undeciphered and his identity obscure until the author's researches resulted in the decipherment and ‘reading’ presented here. This study offers an explication of why God L, whom the author has demonstrated is the Maya god of tobacco among his many aspects, takes the senior role in presiding over these 13-Bakˈtun completion rituals and why it is reasonable to hypothesize that the same entities would be back for the fulfillment of the present cycle in 2012.

Understanding Late Classic Maya Mortuary Ritual in Caves

2018 ◽  
pp. 133-158
Author(s):  
Amy R. Michael ◽  
Gabriel D. Wrobel ◽  
Jack Biggs
Keyword(s):  
Social Status ◽  
Dental Health ◽  
Health Data ◽  
Classic Maya ◽  
Classic Period ◽  
Ancient Maya ◽  
Late Classic ◽  
Mortuary Practice ◽  
Mortuary Ritual ◽  
Analytical Approaches

Bioarchaeology frequently investigates dental health in burial populations to make inferences about mortuary variability within and between ancient groups. In this chapter, micro- and macroscopic dental defects were examined in a series of ancient Maya mortuary cave and rockshelter burials in Central Belize. The nature of mortuary cave ritual use and funerary performance in the Late Classic is widely debated in the literature. This study utilizes two analytical approaches, mortuary practice and paleopathology, to better understand mortuary variability between two site types that may be distinguished by social status in life. Ethnohistoric accounts focused on mortuary activities in the Late Classic period have described sacrificial victims as individuals originating outside of the elite population. To test these accounts, this study compares the dental health data of individuals from non-elite (rockshelter) populations to elite (cave) burial contexts.

Artistic Connections Between the Chichen Itza Toltec and the Classic Maya

1954 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 281-282 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert L. Rands
Keyword(s):  
Classic Maya ◽  
Present Writer ◽  
The South ◽  
Late Classic ◽  
Water Lily ◽  
Maya Archaeology ◽  
Single Motif ◽  
Maya Area ◽  
Chichen Itza

A recent development of some interest in Maya archaeology has been the appearance of several studies showing rather unexpected connections between the art of the Toltec period at Chichen Itza and that of the late Great period in the Classic centers to the south. Inferentially, this may indicate the approximate contemporaneity of the Chichen Itza Toltec and the late Classic Maya. Such a reconstruction is not only a far cry from the outmoded concept of “Old” and “New Empires” but, as Lothrop (1952, p. 112) points out, challenges the generally favored 11.16 (Goodman-Martinez- Thompson) correlation of the Maya and Christian calendars. Three studies may be cited as of particular importance in emphasizing the affinity of Chichen Toltec and Classic Maya art. Monographs by Proskouriakoff (1950) and Lothrop (1952) deal, respectively, with sculptured monuments from the Maya area as a whole and with metal objects from the sacred cenote at Chichen Itza. A paper by the present writer (Rands, 1953) is concerned with portrayals of a single motif, the water lily, in the Maya area.

HELD CAPTIVE BY SCRIPT: INTERPRETING “TAGGED” PRISONERS IN LATE CLASSIC MAYA SCULPTURE

2016 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine E. Burdick
Keyword(s):  
Classic Maya ◽  
Ancient Maya ◽  
Late Classic ◽  
Secondary Meaning ◽  
Scholarly Inquiry

AbstractAlthough captive images have been examined for the Classic Maya, we lack a thorough understanding of depicted captives as a pictorial motif. Furthermore, the convention of “tagging” Late Classic Maya captive sculptures with identifying texts was understood a century ago, yet the ways in which these scripts functioned beyond the role of label are not well known. This layering of identifying texts onto captive figures presents interesting avenues of scholarly inquiry for understanding relationships among ancient Maya texts, figural images, and actual bodies. In this article I explore captive iconography and then suggest that the captive tagging convention is related to the tagging of possessed objects. The artistic tendency toward tagging the thigh with more frequency than other bodily regions suggests a secondary meaning for such markings, and I propose that these tags alluded to the post-sacrifice practice of removing the femur as a war trophy.

Contemporary Tzotzil Cosmological Concepts as a Basis for Interpreting Prehistoric Maya Civilization

1964 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 301-306 ◽  
Author(s):  
William R. Holland
Keyword(s):  
Companion Animals ◽  
Classic Maya ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Ancient Maya ◽  
Ancestor Worship ◽  
Maya Civilization ◽  
Spirit World ◽  
Sacred Mountain

AbstractA heretofore little-known aspect of Tzotzil religion centers around belief in sacred mountains, the mythological origin places of patrilineal groups. The companion animals of the corresponding kin groups are distributed throughout the 13 levels of the sacred mountain according to age and status. Ceremonial relations are maintained with the “spirit world” by means of periodic pilgrimages to the tops of these mountains. There are many suggestive analogies between these contemporary Tzotzil practices and those of the ancient Maya as recorded in the Popul Vuh and The Book of Chilam Balam of Chumayel and as inferred from archaeological studies. The sacred mountains of the Tzotzil are suggested as functional counterparts of some of the smaller pyramids in Classic Maya archaeological sites. These ancient pyramids may have been the centers of rule of patrilineal groups which, as progressive layers were added with lineage successions, may have become centers for ancestor worship where priest-rulers were buried.

MAYA FLASKS: THE “HOME” OF TOBACCO AND GODLY SUBSTANCES

2016 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer A. Loughmiller-Cardinal ◽  
Dmitri Zagorevski
Keyword(s):  
Native American ◽  
Residue Analysis ◽  
Classic Maya ◽  
Classic Period ◽  
Cultural Tradition ◽  
Ancient Maya ◽  
Late Classic ◽  
Basic Construction ◽  
Construction Methods ◽  
Social Mediation

AbstractAmong the specialized types of Late Classic Maya vessels (a.d. 550–900) are small bottle-shaped containers known as “flasks.” Current interpretations of their uses, for example as poison bottles or medicine bottles, are speculative. In some cases, such interpretations rely on analogical comparisons with other Native American containers based on their formal similarities of shape or construction. This paper presents research on basic construction methods of flasks, a set of correlations between the various social mediation roles in which such flasks are depicted in Classic-period artwork, their material correlates (the vessels themselves), and a report of their specific contents. We also provide evidence of the first discovery of nicotine in an ancient Maya vessel, which is the first empirically demonstrated proof for the presence of tobacco contained in a clay vessel from this cultural tradition. The codex-style flask yielding this evidence bears a text that appears to read yo-'OTOT-ti 'u-MAY-ya, spelling y-otoot 'u-mahy “the home of his/her tobacco.” This is only the second case in which residue analysis has shown a Maya vessel to hold the same content as is indicated by a hieroglyphic text on the same vessel.

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