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Identifying Immigration to the Maya Site of T MISSIONIZATION AND SHIFTING MOBILITY ON THE SOUTHEASTERN MAYA-SPANISH FRONTIER: IDENTIFYING IMMIGRATION TO THE MAYA SITE OF TIPU, BELIZE THROUGH THE USE OF STRONTIUM AND OXYGEN ISOTOPES A Dissertation by WILLA RACHEL TRASK Submitted to the Office of Graduate and Professional Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Chair of Committee, Lori E. Wright Committee Members, David L. Carlson Darryl J. de Ruiter Deborah J. Thomas Head of Department, Cynthia Werner August 2018 Major Subject: Anthropology Copyright 2018 Willa Rachel Trask ABSTRACT The early Colonial Period visita mission cemetery Tipu represents an important opportunity to understand the role mobility played in indigenous Maya resistance on the southeastern Maya-Spanish frontier. This dissertation seeks to identify the geographical origin of a subset (N=195) of the over 600 Postclassic and early Colonial period Maya buried at Tipu. As geographic and cultural frontier, Tipu experienced a dynamic history of fluctuating political alliances and was a pivotal player in frontier politics. Ethnohistorical records indicate that the remote frontier community of Tipu functioned as a place of refuge for a large southern exodus of indigenous Maya from the northern Yucatan escaping the hardships encountered in more populated regions under Spanish colonial control; to date little concrete evidence for this migration has been identified. To test whether the frontier community of Tipu functioned as a haven for refugee Yucatec Maya, strontium (87Sr/86Sr) and oxygen (δ18O) isotopes are used as geologic and climatic tracers to estimate potential childhood homelands for individuals buried at Tipu. Individuals comprising the Postclassic sample are used as a proxy to help establish the “local” range and to aid in the identification of shifts in mobility from the Postclassic to the Colonial period. A comparison of 87Sr/86Sr and δ18O data from the Postclassic and Colonial period samples shows an increase in the quantity of Colonial period individuals falling within the “local” range, as well as a dramatic increase in the total variability and range of observed isotope values in the Colonial period. Nearly two-thirds of the Colonial Tipu population were classified as non-local, suggesting that Tipu was primarily composed of ii recent, first-generation migrants; a highly mobile population is consistent with ethnohistoric records for Tipu. These results indicate Spanish colonialism resulted in a significant and swift shift in mobility of the indigenous Maya, even in more peripheral frontier regions like Tipu, and underscores Tipu’s importance as a refugee for fleeing Maya. The presence of migrants from both Spanish and Maya held territories provides evidence for the fluidity of the Maya-Spanish frontier and Tipu’s importance as a gateway for trade between the two territories. Sex-based differences between migrants and locals are observed, and possible spatial patterns in the distribution of isotope values are explored. This research provides an increased realization of indigenous reactions to early European colonialism in frontier areas. iii DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to the memory of: My sister, Angie Trask My dad, Fred Schaak My grandfather, Clyde East My aunt, Michele East And Cricket iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation was only completed with the guidance and support of many mentors, colleagues, and friends. First and foremost, I would like to thank the members of my dissertation committee who provided support and mentorship throughout my time at Texas A&M. To my advisor, Dr. Lori Wright, during my time at A&M you have helped me develop into a better bioarchaeologist, anthropologist, and scientist. Your advice and support has been invaluable, for both my dissertation research, as well as in my many research side projects. To the remainder of my dissertation committee, Drs. Darryl de Ruiter, David Carlson, and Debbie Thomas, the instruction and mentorship you have provided me during my time at Texas A&M has been invaluable, and I wholeheartedly believe this dissertation is better because of it. Debbie, your moral support and help throughout the years is above and beyond what is usually expected from an external committee member. Thank you so much for continuing to remind me that my research actually is extremely exciting. I would extend my gratitude to the Belize Institute of Archaeology and Dr. John Morris for granting permission to conduct isotope research on the Tipu skeletal assemblage. I would also like to thank Elizabeth Graham for giving my research proposal the “go-ahead”, as well as providing answers to my questions about the Tipu ground stone assemblage. This work could not have been done without the amazing assistance of Dr. Marie Danforth and her wonderful graduate students (and former graduate students) at the University of Southern Mississippi. Marie Danforth, thank you so much for accommodating me during my multiple trips to Hattiesburg to access the Tipu skeletal material. Your vast v knowledge of the Tipu collection and assistance during my data collection (and after) has been invaluable. I would like to thank Amanda Harvey for her assistance with Tipu collection while we were both in Hattiesburg collecting our dissertation samples; from that time through to our dissertation defenses, you have been a wonderful source of encouragement. Julie Hoggarth, thank you very much for your assistance with providing partial funding for my Postclassic strontium samples. A large portion of this dissertation research could not have been possible without the help of Drs. Brent Miller, Debbie Thomas, and the Texas A&M R. Ken Williams ’45 Radiogenic Isotope Geosciences facility. Brent and Debbie, thank you very much for your invaluable guidance and instruction throughout my time at A&M in all things related to strontium sample prep, chemistry, and the always exciting adventure of running the TIMS. I also would like to thank the Texas A&M Stable Isotope Geosciences Facility for their assistance in running my light isotope samples. Throughout my graduate and professional career, I have greatly benefited from many wonderful mentors and colleagues that I am now fortunate to call friends. I would like to thank the many many wonderful friends I made during my time in College Station. Bonny Christy, Nanda Grow, and Keely Carlson, you three have been such exceptional friends (and officemates), and your collective support has been invaluable, both with negotiating the PhD process and life. To Kristin Hoffmeister, thank you so very much for all the help you have provided me during our time at A&M, and for always having an incredibly uncanny sense of humor when it was most needed. Thanks to Angela Gore, Ellie Sonderman, and Casey Wayne for your friendship and support throughout the years, and for helping me from afar once I moved to Hawaii. I would also like to thank Andrew King and Goose for their amazing vi support during my final year of dissertation writing. Goose, thank you for always being willing to accompany me on beach walks when I needed a break from writing, even though I know you had ulterior motives. While conducting fieldwork in southern Belize over the last decade I have been very fortunate to have worked with some wonderful colleagues who have helped me become a better scientist, archaeologist, and person. To Keith Prufer, Brendan Culleton, Tim Dennehy, Claire Ebert, Carolyn Freiwald, Jill Jordan, Andy Kindon, Clayton Meredith (and Mary), Holly Moyes, Claire Novotny, Mark Robinson, Amy Thompson, Chuck Mustain, Shannon Lucernoni, and all the current and former members of the Uxbenká Archaeological Project and Bladen Paleoindian and Archaic Project, I am grateful to have had the opportunity to work with you, and truly value our friendships. Mark Robinson, thank you so very much for helping me with dissertation edits, often at very little notice; your comments were invaluable. Very special thanks are extended to Don Owen Lewis, Francisca Bardalez, and the Bardalez family of Big Falls, Belize for always making me feel at home. To Don Owen Lewis, thank you so very much for your wit and humor, you are missed. To Cannon Daughtrey and Marina Adame, you both have been such wonderful friends since some of my earliest days of CRM work. Thank you both for being so amazingly supportive throughout the years and for always being there for me. Whether we’re catching up over a drink during one of my many trips across the country, or during a semiannual meetup for Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles, I am so fortunate to be able to call you friends. I am happy that you both took me up on opportunities to come down to southern Belize to excavate with the UAP (Cannon) and BPAAP (Marina); it was wonderful to be able to share with you the little slice of Belize that has become so important to me. vii The support of many of my colleagues at the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency helped me make it through the final few months of dissertation writing. I would like to extend my gratitude to Miranda Jans, Tony Koehl, Jade de la Paz, Heli Maijanen, Kyle McCormick, Audrey Scott, and Rebecca Taylor. Thank you all so much for your support and constant reminders that there was a light at the end of the tunnel, and I was very very close to reaching it. Most of all I thank my wonderful family for all their support throughout this process. To my mother Becky, thank you for always being there for me, and for instilling in me a curiosity for the natural world that has helped me become the person I am today. To my late step-father Fred, thank you so much for the help, guidance, and moral support you provided me throughout my life; at a very young age you taught me the importance of critical thinking, which becomes increasingly indispensable to me with every passing year.
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