Soil Erosion, Slope Management, and Ancient Terracing in the Maya Lowlands

1994 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas P. Dunning ◽  
Timothy Beach
Keyword(s):  
Soil Erosion ◽  
Environmental Variability ◽  
Classic Period ◽  
Population Pressure ◽  
Sedimentation Rates ◽  
Late Classic ◽  
Maya Lowlands ◽  
Surficial Geology ◽  
Puzzling Aspect ◽  
Slope Management

A puzzling aspect of Prehispanic soil erosion and sedimentation in the Maya Lowlands is the variation noted between different regions. In the Petexbatún region of Guatemala, recent investigations indicate great variation in sedimentation rates between watersheds of different sizes. In some places, soil erosion was slowed by stone terraces, possibly in conjunction with other conservation methods. A review of the surficial geology and other data on terraces from across the Maya Lowlands indicates that variations in the form and distribution of ancient agricultural terracing was probably the result of environmental variability and population pressure largely during the Late Classic period.

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.

Prehispanic Architecture and Sculpture in Central Yucatan

1976 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 430-448 ◽  
Author(s):  
David F. Potter
Keyword(s):  
Classic Period ◽  
Late Classic ◽  
Maya Lowlands

Analysis of the style of architecture and related sculpture, contemporaneous with part of the Late Classic period, prevalent in what have traditionally been designated as the Rio Bee and Chenes regions of the Maya lowlands, suggests the advisability of reconsideration of these regional designations. The Rio Bee and Chenes styles cannot readily be differentiated either in time or space and are, therefore, appropriately no more than substyles in a wider Central Yucatan regional style. In this style, internal distinctions are markedly less than those between other regional styles of the Maya lowlands. Further, on the basis of these same architectural and sculptural considerations, the Central Yucatan style is more appropriately the first phase of the Florescent period of Yucatan than the middle of the Late Classic period of the Peten with which it is contemporaneous.

Classic Maya Temples, Politics, and the Voice of the People

2007 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 407-427 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa J. Lucero
Keyword(s):  
Political Competition ◽  
Classic Maya ◽  
Classic Period ◽  
Late Classic ◽  
Maya Lowlands ◽  
Preliminary Results ◽  
The People ◽  
Secondary Center ◽  
The Voice

Temples provide sanctuary, a home for the gods, a place to worship, a stage for ceremonies, a depository for offerings, and a place to redistribute goods. Finally, temples provide an arena for political competition. The role of Maya temples, however, is not so clear. Inscriptions, when present, detail who built some temples, but not if nonroyals built them, if they were built for specific gods, and why the Maya built so many. The presence of several temples in any given center might indicate that various groups built them and that they served as arenas to compete for status, prestige, and power. If this were the case, then people may have had a choice at which temple to worship and support. To explore the politics of temple construction, I compare temple size, location, construction patterns, and ritual deposits at temples at the secondary center of Yalbac, Central Belize. Preliminary results from temple looters' trenches have exciting implications regarding temple histories in the southern Maya Lowlands during the Late Classic period (ca. A.D. 550-850).

SHIFTING SOCIAL RELATIONS DURING THE TERMINAL CLASSIC PERIOD (ca. a.d. 810–950/1000): CERAMICS FROM THE LOWLAND MAYA SITE OF UCANAL

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Jean-Baptiste LeMoine ◽  
Christina T. Halperin
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Archaeological Site ◽  
Classic Period ◽  
Late Classic ◽  
Maya Lowlands ◽  
Economic Networks ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Terminal Classic ◽  
Maya Site ◽  
Political Economic

Abstract The end of the Classic period was a tumultuous moment in Maya history, not only because the power of many dominant political centers waned, but because the ways in which elites and non-elites related to each other were increasingly called into question. To understand the nature of changing social relations in the southern Maya lowlands during this time, this study examines the distribution and provenance of decorated ceramics during the Late Classic (ca. a.d. 600–810) and Terminal Classic (ca. a.d. 810–950/1000) periods from the archaeological site of Ucanal, Peten, Guatemala. Comparisons of ceramics from different households across the site reveal that differences in access to decorated and imported ceramics decreased between these periods, suggesting that socioeconomic distinctions leveled out over time. In turn, chemical analysis of ceramics using a portable X-ray fluorescence instrument reveals that the site shifted its political-economic networks, with greater ties to the Petexbatun and Usumacinta regions and continued ties with the Upper Belize Valley.

Large-Scale Production of Basic Commodities at Salinas de los Nueve Cerros, Guatemala

2020 ◽  
pp. 172-184
Author(s):  
Brent K. S. Woodfill
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Classic Period ◽  
Scale Production ◽  
Production Operation ◽  
Late Classic ◽  
Maya Lowlands ◽  
Large Scale Production ◽  
Basic Production ◽  
Administrative Structures ◽  
The City

Salinas de los Nueve Cerros is a major Pre-Columbian Maya city that grew around the only non-coastal salt source in the Maya lowlands. Residents of the city were able to transform the neighborhoods adjacent to and atop the salt dome into a large-scale production operation with the capacity to produce over 10,000 metric tons of salt a year, which were then distributed throughout the western lowlands via the Chixoy, Pasión, and Usumacinta river networks. By the Late Classic period, the city had expanded into the production and trade of other commodities that were locally produced (including agricultural and pescacultural goods) and traded from farther upriver. Investigations at Nueve Cerros since 2010 have shown that the salt source and basic production was tightly controlled by the local elite—workshops were associated with administrative structures containing the tombs of important individuals—although some phases of production or refining appear to have taken place throughout the site in each of the different neighborhoods under investigation. 

Contextualizing the Glyphic Texts of Tipan Chen Uitz, Cayo District, Belize

2014 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 46-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher R. Andres ◽  
Christophe Helmke ◽  
Shawn G. Morton ◽  
Gabriel D. Wrobel ◽  
Jason J. González
Keyword(s):  
Classic Period ◽  
Archaeological Survey ◽  
Late Classic ◽  
Maya Lowlands ◽  
Political Landscape ◽  
Small Collection ◽  
Maya Site ◽  
Cayo District ◽  
Written Sources

The 2011 investigations of the Caves Branch Archaeological Survey at the large and recently documented Maya site of Tipan Chen Uitz resulted in the discovery of the site's first monument with a glyphic inscription. Prior to this discovery, the site's glyphic corpus was limited to a small collection of texts rendered on fragmentary ceramics. In this paper, we describe these sherds as well as the monument (Monument 1), report on their archaeological contexts, provide an epigraphic analysis of the texts, and consider these written sources relative to our growing understanding of Tipan and its place in the ancient political landscape. The discovery of Monument 1 is important, for it stands to contribute to sociopolitical reconstructions in this part of the central Maya Lowlands and has significant implications for the possible presence of other, as yet undiscovered, Late Classic period (A.D. 550-830) monuments at Tipan.

FIGURINES ARE US? THE SOCIAL ORGANIZATION OF JAINA ISLAND, CAMPECHE, MEXICO

2012 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 211-234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald McVicker
Keyword(s):  
Social Organization ◽  
Classic Period ◽  
Late Classic ◽  
Maya Lowlands ◽  
Terminal Classic ◽  
The Social ◽  
Economic Developments

AbstractDespite the recognition by many scholars of the high esthetic value of Jaina-style figurines, they present a number of analytic problems. Their functions remain obscure, and their role in Late Classic period Maya society has not been adequately examined. Throughout southeastern Mesoamerica, with few exceptions, all figurines and fragments are found in domestic contexts, mostly trash heaps; on Jaina, most examples come from graves. This article addresses the question of Jaina exceptionalism. It places its unique features in the broader context of Terminal Classic political and economic developments that were sweeping across the northern Maya Lowlands. Here I argue that the use of figurines in domestic rituals determined their appropriateness for placement in a particular grave, rather than the age, sex, or occupation of the deceased.

scholarly journals Drought, agricultural adaptation, and sociopolitical collapse in the Maya Lowlands

2015 ◽  
Vol 112 (18) ◽  
pp. 5607-5612 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter M. J. Douglas ◽  
Mark Pagani ◽  
Marcello A. Canuto ◽  
Mark Brenner ◽  
David A. Hodell ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Isotope ◽  
Sediment Cores ◽  
Classic Period ◽  
Maya Lowlands ◽  
Agricultural Adaptation ◽  
Terminal Classic ◽  
Paleoclimate Records ◽  
Early Classic Period ◽  
Plant Wax ◽  
Terminal Classic Period

Paleoclimate records indicate a series of severe droughts was associated with societal collapse of the Classic Maya during the Terminal Classic period (∼800–950 C.E.). Evidence for drought largely derives from the drier, less populated northern Maya Lowlands but does not explain more pronounced and earlier societal disruption in the relatively humid southern Maya Lowlands. Here we apply hydrogen and carbon isotope compositions of plant wax lipids in two lake sediment cores to assess changes in water availability and land use in both the northern and southern Maya lowlands. We show that relatively more intense drying occurred in the southern lowlands than in the northern lowlands during the Terminal Classic period, consistent with earlier and more persistent societal decline in the south. Our results also indicate a period of substantial drying in the southern Maya Lowlands from ∼200 C.E. to 500 C.E., during the Terminal Preclassic and Early Classic periods. Plant wax carbon isotope records indicate a decline in C4 plants in both lake catchments during the Early Classic period, interpreted to reflect a shift from extensive agriculture to intensive, water-conservative maize cultivation that was motivated by a drying climate. Our results imply that agricultural adaptations developed in response to earlier droughts were initially successful, but failed under the more severe droughts of the Terminal Classic period.

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