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ECONOMY, EXCHANGE, AND POWER: NEW EVIDENCE FROM THE LATE CLASSIC MAYA PORT CITY OF CANCUEN

Arthur A. Demarest, Chloé Andrieu, Paola Torres, Mélanie Forné, Tomás Barrientos and Marc Wolf

Ancient Mesoamerica / Volume 25 / Issue 01 / March 2014, pp 187 - 219 DOI: 10.1017/S0956536114000121, Published online: 07 August 2014

Link to this article: http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0956536114000121

How to cite this article: Arthur A. Demarest, Chloé Andrieu, Paola Torres, Mélanie Forné, Tomás Barrientos and Marc Wolf (2014). ECONOMY, EXCHANGE, AND POWER: NEW EVIDENCE FROM THE LATE CLASSIC MAYA PORT CITY OF CANCUEN. Ancient Mesoamerica, 25, pp 187-219 doi:10.1017/S0956536114000121

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ECONOMY, EXCHANGE, AND POWER: NEW EVIDENCE FROM THE LATE CLASSIC MAYA PORT CITY OF CANCUEN

Arthur A. Demarest,a Chloé Andrieu,b Paola Torres,c Mélanie Forné,d Tomás Barrientos,e and Marc Wolff aDepartment of Anthropology, Vanderbilt Institute of Mesoamerican Archaeology and Development, , Nashville, TN 37235 bCNRS, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Archéologie des Amériques, Maison de l’archéologie et de l’ethnologie, 21 allée de l’université, 92023 Nanterre, France cUniversidad de San Carlos de , 11 calle “A” 5-31 zona 18 Col. Santa Elena II, Ciudad de Guatemala dCentre d’Études Mexicaines et Centraméricaines, 5a Calle 10-55 Dentro de Alianza Francesa, Finca la Aurora, zona 13, Ciudad de Guatemala eUniversidad del Valle, Departamento de Arqueología, 18 avenida, 11-95 zona 15. Vista Hermosa III, Ciudad de Guatemala fCity University of New York, Department of Anthropology, CUNY GC, 365 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10016

Abstract

The site of Cancuen held a strategic position as “head of navigation” of the Pasión River and the physical nexus of land and river routes between the southern highlands, the Maya lowlands, and the transversal route to Tabasco and Veracruz. For that reason, the well-defined ports of Cancuen were critical to both Classic Maya highland/lowland commerce and interactions with the far west. All aspects of Cancuen were related to its role as a port city. By the late eighth century, evidence suggests that in the site epicenter peninsula ports and other aspects of the economy were elite controlled and supervised, based on associated architectural complexes, artifacts, imports, and placement. Recent evidence indicates that, in addition to previously discussed long-distance exchange in exotics such as and pyrite, Cancuen also was involved in very large-scale transport and production, as well as probable exchange of other piedmont commodities such as cacao, cotton, salt, achiote (Bixa orellana), and vanilla. Distribution of architectural, epigraphic, and iconographic evidence and an administrative/ritual palace all indicate growing roles for nobles in these economic activities, particularly the ports. It would appear that, as elsewhere, nobles were taking a more direct mercantile role and that many aspects of the multepal system of power, characteristic of Postclassic period societies, were already in place at Cancuen by the late eighth century. The failure of Cancuen’s early transition to a Terminal Classic political economy may be related to its dependence on highland resources and overextended trade networks.

The 13 large-scale field seasons and 14 years of laboratory research major land routes (Figure 1). Cancuen lies at the direct interface by over 40 scholars at the royal port city of Cancuen have provided between highlands and lowlands (Figure 2), controlling the begin- important evidence on the nature of eighth-century changes in ning of one of the longest trade routes of the ancient Maya world. Classic Maya interregional economy. Excavations and laboratory Thus, it held a strategic position in Classic Maya exchange analyses have been reported in more than 200 articles, chapters, systems, a fact acknowledged by the history of actions of the or reports, most in Spanish (see, for example, Andrieu and Forné Classic Maya dynasties and alliances to secure this nexus of terres- 2010; Andrieu et al. 2011, 2014; Andrieu, Quiñonez, and Rodas trial and riverine routes. The epicenter of Cancuen and its adjacent 2011; Barrientos 2014; Barrientos and Demarest 2007; Barrientos zones have clear evidence for ports and port economy. Examination et al. [eds.] 2006; Demarest and Barrientos 1999, 2000, 2001; of this evidence in field, laboratory study, and comparative perspec- Demarest et al. 2002, 2003; Demarest et al. [eds.] 2007, 2008, tive provides some insights into Maya economy, elite control, and 2011, 2012; Demarest and Martínez 2010, 2013; Fahsen and changes in power and hegemony on the eve of the Classic Maya Barrientos 2006; Fahsen et al. 2003; Fahsen and Jackson 2001; “collapse.” Forné et al. 2008, 2010, 2013; Forné and Torres 2010; Torres Before turning to the nature and history of Cancuen as a port city et al. 2013; Urquizu et al. 2013; Wolf and Bracken 2013a). The and aspects of its economy, we should specify the focus of this par- location of the site at the head of navigation of the Pasión River ticular article and then review some theoretical issues. Note that facilitated its role as a port and a gateway, linking highland valley many other recent publications, cited for various specific interpret- land routes to the south with the lowlands to the north via the ations, deal more directly and in detail with the specific evidence on broad river highway of the Pasión, which flows north through the aspects of Cancuen including the most recent analyses of the obsi- Peten past many of its cities and connecting to tributaries and dian assemblage (Andrieu, Quiñonez, and Rodas 2011; Andrieu et al. 2011, 2012), ceramics and chronology (Forné et al. 2010, 2013 Forné and Torres 2010; Torres et al. 2013), ideological E-mail correspondence to: [email protected] systems legitimating economic power (Barrientos 2008, 2014; 187 188 Demarest et al.

Figure 2. Cancuen region at the valley interface of the highland and Figure 1. Some of the principal exchange and transport routes of the lowland Maya worlds. Classic Maya world.

Barrientos and Demarest 2007, 2012; Barrientos et al. 2006; 2006; Torres et al. 2013; Woodfill 2010). Also, recent fieldwork Demarest 2013); the extent of the site and its sustaining area has included excavation of neighboring highland sites (Demarest ’ (Demarest 2013; Demarest et al. 2009, 2013; Wolf and Bracken et al. 2013; Demarest and Martínez 2013;OMansky et al. 2013; 2013a), epigraphy and political relations (Barrientos 2014; Fahsen Torres et al. 2013; Wolf and Bracken 2013b), as well as further and Barrientos 2006; Fahsen et al. 2003; Fahsen and Jackson investigation of the complex peninsular epicenter (Demarest and 2001; Jackson 2004, 2005), new understandings of Cancuen’s Martínez 2010; Demarest et al. 2011, 2012). Port and related activi- role in nonexotic, basic commodity production and exchange ties and much public architecture, as well as residences, were con- (Demarest and Martínez 2013; Demarest et al. 2013), corrected centrated in that epicenter. and new analyses of jade working (Andrieu et al. 2011, 2012, 2014; Andrieu, Quiñonez and Rodas 2011), the significance of local ceramic types and imports (Torres et al. 2013), and instrumen- A FEW POINTS ON THEORY, TERMINOLOGY, AND tal neutron activation analysis (INAA) of both (Bishop et al. 2005; EVIDENCE Forné et al. 2010; Torres et al. 2013), cave ritual (Spenard 2006; Recent Relativistic Perspectives on Ancient Maya Economy Woodfill 2010; Woodfill and Andrieu 2012), frontier relations (Demarest and Martínez 2013; Demarest et al. 2013; Wolf and One stylistic trope that will be avoided here is to posit that the new Bracken 2013b), and evidence on Cancuen’s violent collapse evidence overturns the “traditional model” of Classic Maya (Demarest 2014; Demarest et al. 2014; Quintanilla 2013; economy, power, and/or exchange. There is no traditional model Quintanilla and Demarest 2013; Suasnávar et al. 2007; Winburn (unless one evokes once more the ghost of J. E. S. Thompson et al. 2013. These are referenced here, and they provide detail on from the 1940s). Rather, for decades there has been long-standing elements referred to in this synthetic article by the Cancuen subpro- healthy debate regarding the nature of Classic Maya economy and ject directors. the role of elites in it (see, for example, Chase and Chase 1992, Here the focus is primarily on the epicenter port area of the site, 2014; Masson and Freidel 2002, 2013; Schortman and Urban not the site as a whole. The “Greater Cancuen” area extends for 2004a; Tourtellot et al. 1992; and see below regarding other several kilometers beyond the epicenter peninsula, depending on recent critiques). Those debates center around several issues, includ- direction (Demarest and Martínez 2013; Demarest et al. 2013). ing the degree of elite involvement in various aspects of economy Detailed mapping and excavations are underway on the 4 km trans- such as exchange, production, and infrastructure. In the past, such ect east (Wolf and Bracken 2013a). Cave shrines 8 to 12 km from debates were diverted into contrasting Classic versus Postclassic the epicenter have been excavated and there the very characteristic models, as absolutes, or contrasting universal models of regal-ritual Cancuen ceramic assemblage ends (Demarest 2013; Spenard versus unitary states, and so on. Increasingly, however, it is Economy, Exchange, and Power 189 recognized that models of both ideology and economic power that it could imply elite supervision of workshops (Clark 2003; should be more complex and that Classic Maya intersite, interregio- Clark and Parry 1990; Costin 2001). This criterion has been recently nal, and chronological variability was very great. Therefore, we criticized, and various authors have underlined that there is no need should address these issues in relative—not absolute—terms with to supervise work to control it and vice versa (Clark 2003; Costin a recognition of the multiplicity and great variability in 2001, 2007; Flad 2007). In fact, supervision of work is only one Mesoamerican (including Classic Maya) politics and economy of the possible means of controlling production, which can also (compare, for example, Aoyama 1999, 2007; Braswell 2010; be controlled by restricting the access of the producers to the raw Chase and Chase 1996; Demarest 2009; Fox et al. 1996; material or by centralizing a part or the totality of the distribution McAnany 1993, 2010; McAnany et al. 2002; Rice 2009; of the final products (Costin 2001). Patterns, therefore, such as the Schortman and Urban 2004a; Schortman et al. 2001; Shaw 2012; exclusion of the producers from the finished artifacts (Andrieu Wells 2006). et al. 2014), or patterns of exclusiveness in the distribution of Accepting the latter point allows us to assert, in relative terms certain artifacts (Aoyama 2001), would appear to be a much more only, that most Maya centers in the southern lowlands in the full effective criterion. It has been argued, however, that the latter Classic period (in contrast to some central Mexican and would be difficult to distinguish from consumption by wealthy con- Postclassic period states) appear to have been characterized by rela- sumers (Clark 2003), and such patterns should be compared to data tively less direct state involvement in economic infrastructure, some- on the organization of the corresponding production. Centralization what less important interregional markets, and a relatively greater of certain specific production waste in elite contexts is another reliance on local or subregional tribute, or “tithing,” as sources of element that could indicate either embedded production, elite economic support for the elites and for their architectural, artifac- direct participation in the production process (Inomata 2001), or tual, and ritual expenses (see McAnany [2010, 2013] for compara- hierarchized control of production (Pool et al. 2014). In all cases, tive and chronologically sensitive discussion of the latter point). we suggest that the use of a single criterion is probably not Most Classic period Maya state economies appear to have been enough and that such complex relationships such as power relations largely sustained in their basic subsistence necessities within a of production should be demonstrated by correlating different more limited region. This is a pattern appropriate to the varied, parameters. but still less variable, Peten lowland subsistence environment rela- Because the word “control” covers a wide variety of cases, and tive to, for example, highland . By putting assessments in social and economic relations, in this article we specify in some relative terms, we avoid the ubiquitous stylistic and analytical cases these various power relations by using different terms. We fallacy of “hyperbolizing the argument of the other.” will use the term “supervision” to designate control through propin- Even in the Classic period, the variability between megasites in quity, “participation” to refer to forms of embedded production, the lowlands, such as , , , or , and the vast majority of Maya polities is great, with the average site prob- ably far more reliant on local ideological and military authority and usually only tied via tribute to those greater centers of power—at least in economic terms. Interregional variability is also pronounced, to some degree responding to ecological par- ameters (Scarborough et al. 2003), when one contrasts the complex political economy and ecology of a northern lowland center, particularly a port city, such as (Dahlin 2009; Hutson et al. 2008), with the majority of southern lowland Classic Peten sites. Finally, as emphasized in this article, variation over time in state or elite economic roles is not only pronounced, but may be the factor of greatest interest to our understanding of the dynamics of economy in the history of Classic Maya states. A major issue in understanding the diversity of Maya economies and their degree of commercialization is the quantity of goods pro- duced and exchanged through time (Hirth and Pillsbury 2013; Smith 2004). Here we argue that at Cancuen there was an intensifi- cation of the production and exchange of goods in the last four decades of occupation, and that elites were probably directly super- vising the major ports in the site epicenter and production of some resources, even in initial stages. We also speculate here that the cen- tralized ruler’s power, in relation to merchant elites, was waning at the end of the eighth century.

Control of Production and Exchange of Goods Despite the variety of means and reasons for control documented in anthropology (Costin 2001:299; 2007; McAnany 2010:205), we are usually very limited in our interpretation of the archaeological data, Figure 3. Schematic conceptual representation of the strategic position of and propinquity between elite structures and workshops has been Cancuen at the intersection of the north-south (river to highlands) and the most used criterion to recognize attached work, with the idea east-west (transversal) transport routes. Drawing by Luis F. Luin. 190 Demarest et al.

“priority of access” to designate evidence of control of distribution, and “claims of control” to indicate evidence of symbolic control over certain production activities.

Control of Long-Distance Exotics Exchange Routes One area of the debate on elite involvement, participation, supervi- sion, and/or priority of access concerns the routes of long-distance exchange. The intensity of long-distance exchange and the fre- quency of travel involved have never been very clearly understood. While many authors underline that most goods traded over long distances were primarily very highly valued goods, gifted in low quantities, the long-distance exchange of obsidian, cacao, and salt was more complex, and many questions remain (Woodfill and Andrieu 2012). Others have recently argued that the quantities of goods involved in the tribute system could imply that other materials had to be traded in order to pay that tribute (McAnany 2013). In that context, it would have been critical for many cities to assure their access to major trading routes. This pattern is especially evident in the southwestern Peten where the access to the Pasión/Usumacinta trade and transport artery was critical to Classic . In the west, there was a linear trade route on the long, wide, and highly navigable Pasión river, which connected the western and central highlands with the Peten and then, via the Usumacinta, to the in the north and through the highlands and Motagua Valley to the south (Figures 1–4). Major Classic period sites are placed at portages and conjunctions of tributaries along this route, and the main river routes also connect to Peten land routes. One of these was what Freidel, Canuto, and Barrientos refer to as the “royal road” from the highlands through Cancuen down the Pasión River and then by land to Calakmul (Canuto and Barrientos 2013; Freidel et al. 2007) (see Figure 5). This route could have connected these sites in order to secure the transport of precious goods from the highlands, Pacific coast, and Motagua Valley. The epigraphic chronology and history of alliances and wars recorded in monumental texts, as well as changing material Figure 4. The specific routes of the highland Verapaz valley, the “transver- culture, show the attempts to maintain privileged access, or unify, sal,” and the Pasión River. this western route. This occurred in a series of well-documented his- torical episodes including: (1) Early Classic Tikal or central Peten fifth- and sixth-century expansion along the river valley through the Upper Pasión (north-south) River route and with access to the , , and other Pasión Valley sites, and connecting transversal (east-west) route (Figures 4, 5, and 6). In on into the highland land corridor, establishing cave shrines all each case, shifts in alliance are celebrated at many sites in texts along this route which had Central Peten Tzakol ceramic offerings and are materialized in changes in architecture, monuments, and (Bachand 2010; Demarest et al. 2007; Woodfill 2010; Woodfill artifacts (including compositionally traced ceramics and lithics), and Andrieu 2012); (2) later sixth- and seventh-century Calakmul showing that these different strategies had a clear economic versus Tikal wars and alliances centering on the control of Dos impact on the access of each city to long-distance trade. Pilas, El Peru-Waka, Cancuen, and the other western river and Even further downriver, on the Usumacinta, we see that the his- land route centers (Demarest 2006; Martin and Grube 1994, torical and archaeological record presents continuous Late Classic 2008); (3) subsequent Calakmul alliance control of the western wars over access to that river route between Piedras Negras, route (Figure 5), as verified in the texts of the Petexbatun, El , and other powers, and an increase in territorialized Peru-Waka, , Cancuen, and other centers in their recorded control over these trading routes, which became more strategic wars and alliances in the seventh century (Canuto and Barrientos over time (Golden and Scherer 2013). Recent investigations have 2013; Freidel et al. 2007; Martin and Grube 1994, 2008); (4) after shown that in the eighth century, even minor centers along the the a.d. 695 defeat of Calakmul by Tikal, the hegemony Usumacinta were placed and defended along alternative routes expansion of its Petexbatun kingdom and its (approximately a.d. and portages as those wars escalated (Golden and Scherer 2006; 730) marriage alliance with Cancuen to control the Pasión River Golden et al. 2007, 2008, 2010). portion of the route (Demarest 2006; Houston 1993; Houston and Meanwhile, on the other side of the Maya world, the textual and Stuart 1990); and (5) after the a.d. 761 fall of Dos Pilas, the politi- archaeological evidence shows the expansion of central Peten influ- cal disintegration of numerous Pasión River states, but with ence (probably from Tikal) in the Early Classic, through and Cancuen’s greatest florescence as the sole controlling power on into Quirigua and Copan in (Bell et al. 2004), probably to Economy, Exchange, and Power 191

Figure 5. The “royal road” from the Cancuen head of navigation to Calakmul, as hypothesized by Freidel, Canuto, and Barrientos. Map after Canuto and Barrientos [2013:Figure 1]. secure a transport and exchange artery to the and its river dialogue, is the importance to polity leadership and strategy to tributaries (Figure 1) and to Motagua sources of jade, obsidian, control access to the principal long-distance exchange routes shell, and presumably also Belize coastal commodities like salt south, particularly for the exotics and commodities necessary as and cacao (McAnany et al. 2002; McKillop 1989, 1996). accoutrements of elite ceremony and status, for royal and noble Thus, a starting point in our consideration of elite roles in Classic patronage tribute networks, and for the provisioning of royal Maya economic systems, and one of the more secure points in that courts (McAnany 2013). That factor also provides the very reason

Figure 6. The “Great Detour” of Taj Chan Ahk utilizing the western highland base “transversal” land route, and eastern river route via to avoid the chaos of Middle Pasión and Usumacinta riverine wars, creating new exchanges with the far west. Drawing by Luis F. Luin. 192 Demarest et al. for the founding, existence, and importance of Cancuen, and the cascades and rapids, slows down and first becomes navigable for starting point for discussion of the nature and implications of its or boat travel. This makes Cancuen the “head of navigation,” political economy. a strategic transfer point between highlands and lowlands. From there, the Pasión- system heads north, then west, and near its banks, or those of its tributaries, sit many of the great THE STRATEGIC POSITION OF THE PORT CENTER OF sites of the Classic Maya civilization of the southern lowlands CANCUEN (Figures 1 and 4) including , , Dos Pilas, In 1999, the Cancuen Regional Archaeological Project began the , Yaxchilan, Piedras Negras, Machaquila, , first large-scale exploration in a previously little-explored zone cov- and dozens of others—as well as newly discovered sites like El ering hundreds of square kilometers, (Figures 1, 2, and 4), which is Raudal (Barrios et al. 2008; Demarest et al. 2008b; Forné, located at the interface of the highland and lowland Maya worlds— Quintanilla, and Barrios 2011). The river or its tributaries, such as the far southwestern Peten and the piedmont and highlands of the the Santa Amelia, Machaquila, Salinas, and Rio San Pedro, also adjacent Alta Verapaz region. Fourteen years of research in this connect to the land routes that led further inland to great centers zone has led to many new insights but also to an almost annual such as El Peru-Waka, La Corona, Calakmul, Tikal, , need to revise previously published interpretations (see especially Machaquila, , and others (Figures 4, 5, and 6). While the following: Andrieu et al. 2012; Barrientos 2014; Barrientos there are many shorter land or river routes in the Maya lowlands, et al. [eds.] 2006; Demarest 2012, 2013; Demarest et al. 2009; the only other route of Maya transport of that length was the sea Demarest et al. [eds.], 2011; Demarest and Martínez 2010, 2013; route along the Caribbean and Gulf (Figure 1) (Andrews 1990; Forne et al. 2010, 2011, 2013; Torres et al. 2013; Woodfil and Barret and Guderjan 2006; Dahlin and Ardren 2002; McKillop Andrieu 2012; Woodfill 2010). Cancuen’s strategic importance 1989, 1996). Cancuen, however, held a pivotal position in the was already known since it had been identified as the head of navi- western Peten routes that were internal to the southern Maya low- gation of the Pasión River (Tourtellot et al. 1978) with inscriptions lands and connected them to the highlands, as well as to the trans- indicating its founding at this spot by Calakmul (Martin and Grube versal route west. 1994) and its subsequent shift in alliance to Dos Pilas as part of the Late Classic geopolitical sequence described above (Demarest 2006; Houston 1993; Houston and Stuart 1990). Despite these his- CANCUEN HISTORY AND THE EIGHTH-CENTURY torical records, Cancuen and the entire northern Verapaz/southwest APOGEE Peten zone was one of the largest “blank spots” in Maya archeology, known only from some cave reconnaissance carried out in the north- Using this strategic position, Cancuen became a rich royal capital. ern Verapaz (Carot 1989), and some test units and a five day recon- We know from multiple inscriptions that the Upper Pasión naissance at Cancuen (Tourtellot et al. 1978). Cancuen kingdom had its earlier dynastic seat (not yet identified) Cancuen’s location could not be more directly linked to the moved by the hegemonic super power Calakmul to Cancuen’s major trade routes. The great western trade route is a major axis con- Late Classic period peninsular location (Figures 4, 5, and 7) at the necting the volcanic highlands and the Pacific coast through the head of navigation (Fahsen et al. 2003; Fahsen and Jackson narrow valley of the northern Verapaz region (Figure 4), dropping 2001). This founding occurred at a.d. 656, the same time that down over 1,000 m into the Peten lowlands to the north. This Calakmul engaged in other wars and alliances to take control of route has been well documented for the Colonial period (Adams the Pasión river and the connecting land route north (Figure 5) 1978; Feldman 2000). But it was probably already in use long (Canuto and Barrientos 2013; Demarest 2006; Freidel et al. 2007; before, given its potential for moving materials, especially El Martin and Grube 2008). Cancuen’s wealth, disproportionate to Chayal obsidian, into the lowlands (Arnauld 1990; Hammond its site size, grew in the eighth century, as it progressed from a 1972, 1973) and given the number of important sites along this vassal of Calakmul, then to a part of the Dos Pilas hegemony, natural communication corridor (Demarest et al. 2008b). The high- and then—with the a.d. 761 destruction of Dos Pilas—an indepen- land valleys come down to the flat or rolling lowlands at the port city dent power for the late eighth century. Over the short 144 years of of Cancuen, and there the route continues by the Pasión River the site’s history there were great changes in material culture, well (see Figure 3, conceptual schematic; Figure 4 for more specific dated by monuments, architectural sequences, and ceramic probable routes). Thus, Cancuen is located not only at the base of microchronology. the highlands and its valley, but also at the beginning of the By the mid-eighth century, and probably earlier, the Cancuen Pasión-Usumacinta River, a natural access to much of the Maya epicenter peninsula was filled with public and residential architec- lowlands. Furthermore, the seldom discussed (but important both ture, including its oversized palace, ports, noble’s complexes, one historically and today) east-west land route, the “transversal,” runs workshop, and numerous nonelite residences of workers and staff, along the base of the highlands from the Caribbean all the way many possibly involved in port functions (see below). Beyond the west, past Cancuen, Salinas de Nueve , and other sites, ports and epicenter of the narrow peninsula, we now know that curving along the base of the Chiapas hills deep into Mexico to the Cancuen sustaining area occupation covers a large area with Tabasco and Veracruz (Figures 1, 3, and 6). In addition to long- architecture extending for at least the 4 km east of the epicenter distance imports, this transversal route was probably also of impor- peninsula investigated thus far (Demarest 2013; Demarest et al. tance in regional production and exchange with Cancuen, as dis- 2013; Demarest and Martínez 2013; Spenard 2006; Urquizú et al. cussed below. 2013; and see Wolf and Bracken 2013a for data, definition, and dis- Initially, Cancuen was built on a highly defensible island-like cussion of the Cancuen complete site sustaining area and settle- peninsula (Figure 7) sitting in the middle of the Pasión itself ment). Due to 1999–2011 landowner restrictions, most discussion (Barrientos and Demarest 2007; Demarest et al. [eds.] 2008, here (and most published to date) is on the peninsular epicenter 2011). At Cancuen, the river, after dropping from the highlands in and ports, the economic engine of the site. Economy, Exchange, and Power 193

Figure 7. Part of “Greater Cancuen” showing peninsular epicenter, port area, and ongoing east transect leading into non-epicenter occupation (on high ground “mesetas” of drained land). Note the transect location of stelae/altar complexes, Peten architecture, ceremonial areas, and giant lithic cache. Maps by Marc Wolf and Justin Bracken.

Cancuen’s eighth century wealth was reflected in its ostentatious coastal shell and, most importantly, huge quantities of El Chayal royal palace of over 32,000 m2. This palace featured 11 courtyards obsidian. Other commodities may have followed a lesser distance (Figure 8), with some rooms 8 m high and decorated with massive on the transversal routes. Cancuen was truly a “gateway center,” full round stucco sculptures, some reaching nearly 3 m in height but not fully in the same technical sense as defined by Hirth (Barrientos 2014; Barrientos and Demarest 2012; Demarest 2013). (1978), since its exchange and influence patterns at the highland The palace covered an area almost equal to the Tikal palace, the interface continued to be linear, not dendritic, as guided by the topo- , although Cancuen is only a fraction of Tikal’s graphy along the Verapaz Valley route, the east-west transversal, size. The epicenter has three elaborate ballcourts, each in a different and on the river corridor of the Pasión. regional style (Torres 2011), eight smaller range structure com- Cancuen’s wealth, internationalism, and importance grew in plexes, and at least six ports, of which three are fully confirmed three stages, as reflected by changes in alliances and trade routes, and excavated. By the late eighth century, Cancuen had an interre- and as well defined by epigraphy, architecture, and ceramics. First, gional mix of styles in ceramics, architecture, and artifacts. The it was a modest kingdom under Calakmul domination (a.d. 656 to reach of its connections across Mesoamerica was extraordinary, as approximately a.d. 720). Then, between a.d. 720 and 735, it fell indicated by compositional (INAA) tracing of ceramics and sourcing under the hegemonic sway of the Petexbatun kingdom. That connec- of obsidian and jade (Andrieu, Quiñonez, and Rodas 2010, 2011; tion was formalized by a much celebrated marriage alliance between Andrieu et al. 2011; Bishop et al. 2005; Ronald Bishop, personal the “Lady of Cancuen” and the ruler of Dos Pilas (Demarest 2006; communication 2011–2013; Forné et al. 2008, 2009, 2010, 2013). Fahsen et al. 2003; Houston 1993). Yet the periods of Cancuen’s In light of its position and ports, this impressive late apogee is greatest internationalism and wealth corresponded with the late not surprising, since a good portion of the exotic goods necessary eighth century and a distinct change in strategy confirmed by arti- to many western Peten k’uhul for accoutrements of power or facts and epigraphy. The a.d. 740–760 disintegration of the for patronage networks, would have passed through Cancuen— Petexbatun kingdom of Dos Pilas, the coeval defeat of El either along the north-south route of the Verapaz valley to the Peru-Waka, and other events led to an epoch of endemic warfare Pasión River or along the east-west transversal. To the south, in and political disintegration downriver to the north in the Middle the adjacent Verapaz highland and piedmont regions, are recently Pasión region (Demarest 2004, 2006;O’Mansky and Dunning identified sources of jade (Andrieu et al. 2010, 2011), as well as 2004). As a result, much of the Pasión would have become extremely the core habitat of the quetzal bird that was valued for its problematic as a route of transport. During the same period, the plumage. Down the southern land valley route also came Pacific Usumacinta route, to which the Pasión connected, was also 194 Demarest et al.

Figure 8. Cancuen’s central palace: (a) map position of the royal palace of Taj Chan Ahk showing its oversized placement in relation to the epicenter; (b) the Cancuen palace general view; (c) the western royal entryway; (d) one of the many high ostentatious exterior struc- tures of the palace; (e) head of large stucco sculpture figure. All drawings by Luis F. Luin.

plagued with intercenter warfare, and there alternative routes and some lithics from Tabasco and Veracruz. This “detour” west detours were sought by land and controlled by defensible outposts (Demarest et al. 2007, 2009) avoided the chaos occurring in the (Golden and Scherer 2013; Golden et al. 2007, 2008, 2010). It late eighth century to the north, where most of its former allies down- was precisely in that period, during the reign of the great ruler Taj river on the Pasión were destroyed, declined, or were under siege Chan Ahk (a.d. 757–796), that Cancuen achieved its true apogee, (Demarest 2006; Inomata 2008;O’Mansky and Dunning 2004). A the expansion of its palace, a proliferation of elite architecture, its second change in emphasis was on the northeast river routes, finest ballcourts, massive obsidian exchange and production, very moving not due north on the Pasión through the Petexbatun, but long-distance imports, and, in its final years (a.d. 790–800), a probably from the Upper Pasión to an eastern tributary river corridor jade preform workshop. During these periods (relating to the Los to Machaquila (Figures 5 and 6)—a change indicated in historical Laureles [a.d. 760–780], Early Chaman [a.d. 780–790], and Late texts at Cancuen (Fahsen and Barrientos 2006; Lacadena 2011). Chaman [a.d. 790–800] ceramic phases) (Forné, Alvarado, and Torres 2011; Forné et al. 2010, 2013; Torres et al. 2013), there THE CANCUEN PORTS was an apparent change in Cancuen’s exchange routes, avoiding the chaos of the Middle Pasión and Usumacinta to the north by The peninsular epicenter of Cancuen was essentially a large port. By emphasis on exchange along the east-west transversal route the mid-eighth century, probably earlier, it was filled with residen- (Figures 1, 4, and 6), and marked by an influx of ceramics and tial and public, elite and nonelite architecture, and its port facilities, Economy, Exchange, and Power 195 which lined this peninsula, which was defined by the river and the jade preform working area, a number of unusual architectural swamps (Figure 9). Based on topography and use today, there complexes, and the isthmus entrance to the epicenter. The were six, possibly seven ports, with three or four of them on the Peten-style range structure complex (Figures 10, 11a) dominates western side of the peninsula. It is the three east side ports, the landscape with an elaborate stairway and fine masonry and a however, that have been mapped in detail and extensively excavated higher percentage of Peten-style ceramics (Forné et al. 2010, between 1999 and 2013 (Alvarado 2004, Alvarado et al. 2006; 2013; Torres et al. 2013). It is situated on the north and at the Demarest and Martínez 2010, Demarest et al. 2008a, 2011; Wolf highest point on the adjacent escarpment facing both the port and and Bracken 2013a). Those three are shown in Figures 9 to 16. the jade preform workshop to the south. The slopes around the Each consists of a fine protected natural portage with adjacent port present extremely uneven terrain, and so the hillside was elite architecture located above the port on the north. Each port is sculpted by terraces for leveling (see, for example, Figures 10, surrounded by structures of a wide variety of styles, sizes, possible 11j, and 11q), and many individual structure floors were made levels of status or wealth, and differing interregional affiliations in level by different types and styles of retaining walls on one, two, artifacts and architectural style. At two ports we have excavated or three sides (Figure 11b, 11c, 11k, and 11l). Around the sides probable stone docking locations or terraces. All three east side of the port, modified and artificial terraces rise up the steeply ports were still used by the local Q’eqchi’ and/or landowners sloping escarpments south and north. A western path slopes more when our first explorations were initiated in 1996. Of the three exca- gradually from the port up the escarpment to the architectural com- vated ports, two of these, the east and southeast ports, gave access to plexes above. the elite activity areas, palaces, plazas, and a . A third, the On all sides of the area around the northeast port were structures northeast port, was the true “head of navigation” of the Pasión of both probable residential and administrative function with a com- River and a principal working port, probably the most important pletely unpredictable range of styles and sizes (Figures 10 and 11). at the site. Many structures were clustered together in dense, irregularly shaped Recent investigations (2008–2013) have focused on this north- complexes incorporating platforms of differing style, and probable east port zone (Figures 9, 10, and 11), which also linked to a status and/or function, on high ground that was leveled or extended wider, but more shallow, possible northwest port, the latter yet to by artificial terraces (see Figure 11b, 11c, 11j, 11k, 11l, 11q). These be investigated. Located in the northern part of the epicenter penin- are defined by Wolf and Bracken (2013a)as“aggregated clusters.” sula, near this northeast port, were a high range structure complex, More than 30 structures have been identified near the northeast port and jade preform working mounds. Most of those structures were excavated with large horizontal exposures between 2006 and 2011 (Demarest et al. [eds.] 2007, 2008, 2011; Demarest and Martínez 2010; Wolf and Bracken 2013a). Excavations measuring 2,796 m2 in this northern port and jade workshop zone have been carried out, as well as intensive laboratory analyses of all recovered artifacts and detailed mapping (Demarest et al. [eds.] 2007, 2008, 2011; Demarest and Martínez 2010; Wolf 2006; Wolf and Bracken 2013a). As discussed above, structures there defy consistent typolo- gical assignment, some ranging from simple 4 × 6 m residential platforms, like typical Peten-style house mounds, to a fine masonry range structure, to a single platform of more than 270 m2 in area (9 × 30 m) with a six-course retaining wall only on its down- hill slope and an obsidian and eccentric cache (Figures 10, 11c, and 11l). In yet other cases, structures are of cobbles and earth in high- land style (Quiñonez and Hernandez 2011) (see Figure 11f and 11n), and still others have portions constructed in pounded clay (Figure 11i and 11p). Some are at ground level on one end but with retaining walls and even stairways on hill slopes (Figure 11b, 11c, 11k, and 11l). Middens and burials indicate that, whatever else their functions may have been, most were also residential. The complexity and variety of structures is primarily due to fitting them onto the rolling ridges between inundated and uninhabitable land that define parts of the peninsular epicenter, as well as most areas of the rest of Cancuen beyond it (Wolf and Bracken 2013a). The variety, however, also probably reflects some specialized func- tions and, above all, the interregional variety at Cancuen in both structure styles and ceramics, which includes familiar Classic Maya Peten platforms, Dos Pilas-style construction (Figure 11e), and highland styles—with associated ceramics and lithics from the lowlands, the piedmont, the highlands, Tabasco, and Veracruz, as well as types distinctively characteristic of Cancuen Figure 9. Cancuen main peninsula with probable ports and position of assemblages. confirmed and excavated northeast, east, and southeast ports. Map by The failure of most of our initial attempts at structure typologies Marc Wolf and Luis F. Luin. and/or residential interpretations (Barrientos 2002; Demarest et al. 196 Demarest et al.

Figure 10. Complexes of the northeast including small palace, port areas, “aggregated cluster” complexes, and jade preform production area Maps by Marc Wolf and Justin Bracken.

2003; Kovacevich 2007, 2013; Woodfill et al. 2001) were due to the example, Palka 1995) was related directly to elevation and drainage misapplication of standard lowland Maya categories to the bewilder- in this swampy inundated zone. Lying near the base of the rainy ing variety of Cancuen’s architecture, a variability most evident in Verapaz highlands, river flood levels at Cancuen can change errati- the northern area of the epicenter and the non-epicenter east transect cally by 8–9 m per year and as much as 6 m in a single day, as where level, drained land was limited. To understand Cancuen, par- occurred in June 2013 (Figure 12). In this swampy riverine penin- ticularly near the port areas, we find that it has been necessary sula, even minor differences in the elevation of residences and simply to excavate extensively almost all structures with both public architecture were consistently associated with higher levels deep trenches and wide horizontal exposures. The artifacts and of wealth or status, as seen in other archaeological markers architecture recovered have confirmed the strikingly multiregional (lithics, ceramics, masonry, etc.). Although this is not an uncommon nature of the city—fitting well with its port function as a nexus of pattern at Classic Maya sites, it is more pronounced here, given the exchange between many areas (Barrientos and Demarest 2007; river and swamp environment of Cancuen (see similar patterns at Barrientos et al. 2006; Demarest et al. 2009, 2013; Forné et al. Dos Pilas [Palka 1995] and [Arnauld et al. 2004]). 2009, 2010). Note also that the slightly higher elevated ground usually has the Again, despite their great variability, most structures were, at longest occupation sequences within the ceramic phases of least in part, residential, given middens and burials placed under Cancuen’s century and a half history (Arriaza 2012; Barrientos floors or on one or more sides. Yet many structures appear to 2014). Completed and ongoing investigations of the general site have had exclusively ritual or public functions (Barrientos 2014; sustaining area beyond the peninsula also reflect this association Demarest 2013; Torres 2011). Judging from architecture and arti- between elevation and status (Demarest et al. 2013; Wolf and facts, status at Cancuen and some other Pasión sites (see, for Bracken 2013a). At the lowest area of one mound cluster in the Economy, Exchange, and Power 197

Figure 11. Some of the very wide range of different Cancuen architectural or construction styles on the level, and more often rolling, terrain of Cancuen: (a) fine masonry nonresidential audiencia range structure overlooking the northeast port and its varied groups; (b and k) artificially leveled ground with worked stone staircase; (c and l) partially worked stone terrace walls forming large leveled plat- forms; (d and m) structures with partially worked stone wall and patios of different heights; (e) higher mounds with platforms defined by lines of stone roughly worked on only one face; (f and n) platforms with unworked or minimally worked retaining walls; (g and o) very low platforms formed by thin unworked paving stones; (h) pounded clay platforms, some with thin flat stone patios; (i and p) platforms of very dense hard red clay, sometimes with later earth or clay extensions; (j and q) large unworked boulder retaining walls to level slopes for group or aggregated cluster construction. northern peninsula zone were several residential floors with almost directly above the sharply defined bay of the port. This port was exca- no platforms, where initial stages of jade preform production were vated from 2002–2004 (Alvarado 2004; Alvarado et al. 2006). It has a carried out near the end of Cancuen’s history (Figure 10; see also shallow small bay with one cobblestone terrace on the north side, just Andrieu et al. 2014:Figure 2). above water level, that could have served as a dock (Alvarado 2004; Further south, the east port (Figures 13, 14, and 15) is also well Alvarado et al. 2006). At the end of the small port bay, the inclined defined with a larger subroyal elite (“noble’s”) palace complex slope leads up to a palace group and a stone, gravel, and plaster 198 Demarest et al.

Figure 12. Examples of highly unstable river levels and frequent inundations (left, Q’eqchi’ Maya Cancuen Visitor Center, May 2013; right, June 2013). sacbe, which runs past courtyards and architecture further south conceived (Demarest et al. [eds.] 2002, 2003;Jackson2002). The toward the palace complexes (Figures 13 and 15). This port adjacent platforms of this plaza group, low but with well-defined complex was surrounded in the final years of Cancuen’s occupation retaining walls and high elevation, were the actual residences of the by a defensive wall, identical to the many kilometers of such walls elites of this complex, and lower platforms nearby were likely those in the Middle Pasión Petexbatun region during its late eighth-century of retainers. Some of these well-constructed residential platforms collapse period (Demarest 2006; Inomata 2008). The noble’s complex had significant numbers of sherds of fine paste wares from Tabasco directly above the port had numerous residential structures associated (Torres et al. 2013) (see Table 1). Note that an elaboration of this with a presentation palace structure of fine corbelled-vaulted masonry complex and a slight reorientation toward the port occurs in the late (Jackson 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005). The fine masonry, purely Peten eighth century, perhaps associated with the defensive additions. Maya-style principal structure has been identified to have been an The southeast port (Figure 16) is topographically very clear but audience chamber, as proposed by Barrientos (2014) for this and has been disturbed by modern activity. It is the principal portage many peripheral structures of the palace—not residential, as originally today. There a bay of the Pasión River was overlooked from an escarpment by several structures. Unfortunately, the principal struc- ture here was dismantled for stone by the local landowner. Its form and status (potentially “middle” to “high”) can be inferred from fin- ished masonry base blocks and the landowner’s great stack of stone masonry extracted from the building (observed during our initial visits to the site in 1996). Excavations in and around this structure recovered ceramics of each period but with an unusual concentration of fine orange sherds from Veracruz (Torres et al. 2013) (see Table 1). Along the sides of the shallow inner bay that was entered from the southeast port were a variety of structures ranging from simple mounds to complexes with bottom courses of fine masonry, one of which had another concentration of the imported fine paste wares. The bay leads into the site, narrowing and terminating near the entrance to the royal ballcourt of Taj Chan Ahk and adjacent subroyal palace structures.

“INTERNATIONALISM” AT CANCUEN IN THE EIGHTH CENTURY Fitting with its role as an interregional port center, Cancuen has a mixture of regional styles in both architecture and artifacts. Multiregionalism at Cancuen, especially in the a.d. 740–800 period, includes architecture in central Peten style, some with fine masonry, including a number of central Peten style “Plaza Plan 2” groups with high east side structures (at least three of those are outside of the epicenter on the east transect). Also present are Dos Pilas/Pasión distinctive style structures with a mix of only some (often just one or two) fine masonry courses combined with clay and rough faced stone. One structure of this Dos Pilas style is even part of the palace complex (Sears 2002). More common are southern highland styles of constructions of clay- and cobble-faced Figure 13. Map of east port. Map by Marc Wolf and Luis F. Luin. platforms and, of course, simple earthen mounds (Figure 11). Note Economy, Exchange, and Power 199

Figure 14. Detailed map of excavations and features of Cancuen’s east port. Map by Carlos Alvarado. that at Cancuen structure forms do not correspond simply with status, but also with chronological period, terrain slope, and regional styles. Indeed, a seemly unimpressive structure that was in the dis- tinctive and rather crude Dos Pilas “mixed style” (of clay and partly worked stone with only a few courses of masonry) held the tomb of a king (Sears 2002). As at the east port, other compounds sometimes have nonresidential fine masonry “audiencias” with separate corre- sponding elite residences and combined with probable simpler retai- ner structures in terraced clusters (Barrientos 2014; Barrientos and Demarest 2012; Cotom-Nimatu and Quintanilla 2011; Jackson 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005; Martínez 2008; Martínez et al. 2012).

Figure 15. Reconstruction of the east port complex circa A.D. 800. Figure 16. Map of the southeast port showing entrance, bay to epicenter, Drawing by Luis F. Luin. and dismantled elite structure. Map by Marc Wolf and Luis F. Luin. 200 Demarest et al.

Table 1. Ceramic detail on Gulf Coast Fine Paste imports. The 11 contexts with the highest frequencies of Fine Paste ceramics from Tabasco and Veracruz. (Listed in order of highest frequencies of Chablekal Fine Grey.)

Sherds analyzed Number of sherds of Frequency of Fine Paste Location at the site M2 of excavation and classified Fine Pastes imports in context

1 K7-24 (in Operation 13) residence near palace 213 m2 23%* 1,595 281 Chablekal 17.61% Chablekal 14 Campamento .877% Campamento 2 “Los Patos” (in Operation 39) Western 250.1 m2 27%* 1,449 59 Chablekal 4.07% Chablekal epicenter at possible northwest port 34 Campamento 2.34% Campamento 3 K8-11 and K8-12 Western epicenter probable 137.5 m² 14.8% 4,803 170 Chablekal 3.53% Chablekal west port (in Operation 19A) 46 Campamento .957% Campamento 2 Chablekal vessels 4 Residential cluster at probable north NW port 176.27 m2 19%* 2,595 58 Chablekal 2.235% Chablekal area (in Operation 54) 3 Campamento .115% Campamento 2 Chablekal vessels 1 Campamento vessel 5 Jade preform workshop area; Structures M10-3 924 m2 100%* 15,355 330 Chablekal 2.15% Chablekal to M10-7 near NE/NW ports (in operation 24) 43 Campamento .28% Campamento 4 Chablekal vessels (fifth in Chablekal Concentration) 6 North epicenter Highland Ballcourt 381.18 m2 41.2%* 8,646 165 Chablekal 1.908% Chablekal (in operation 25C, 25F, and 25G) 40 Campamento .462% Campamento 7 Sacred cistern mass burial at palace entrance 269.9 m2 29%* 2,370 25 Chablekal 1.054% Chablekal (in Operation 42) 5 Campamento .21% Campamento 8 Structure M6-12 on excavated SE port bay 138.6 m2 15%* 8,251 75 Chablekal .90% Chablekal (in Operation 14B) 43 Campamento .52% Campamento 9 Structure L6-2 Large palace kitchen (in 84 m2 9%* 2,442 21 Chablekal .859% Chablekal Operation 7) 0% Campamento 10 M9 Elite complex at excavated East port 571.75 m² 61.8%* 28,245 221 Chablekal .74% Chablekal (in Operation 25A, 25E) 43 Campamento .152% Campamento 11 M6-19 on excavated SE port bay 51.45 m² 5.5%* 4,672 27 Chablekal .577% Chablekal (in Operation 14A) 32 Campamento .684% Campamento Totals 3,197.6 m² 80,423 1,422 Chablekal 2.145% of total sherds are these 303 Campamento imported fine paste wares 8 Chablekal and 1 Campamento vessel

*Percentage of area excavated compared to area excavated at jade workshop/NW port (924 m²)—by far largest sampled area. All ceramic and statistical data by Paola Torres, Melanie Forne, and their laboratory teams. (Imports compositionally confirmed by INAA by Bishop/Smithsonian.) Note that: 1) All contexts are securely dated to Los Laureles (a.d. 760–780), Early Chaman (a.d. 780–790), and/or Late Chaman (a.d. 790–800). 2) Six or seven of the 11 contexts with most imported Gulf fine pastes are areas adjacent to confirmed (east) or probable (west) ports (but the latter are still under investigation). 3) There is no correlation of Chablekal (nor Campamento) with production areas or artisans. 4) The jade workshop area is not highest in Chablekal frequency, but fifth, and seventh in Veracruz Campamento. 5) Combining # 8 and # 11 the general SE port area would be second in Campamento. 6) Surprisingly, there is no correlation with regional architecture styles.

There are a number of enigmatic structures of unusual dimensions, (Demarest 2013; Demarest et al. 2013; Wolf and Bracken 2013b; some in highland style (Demarest and Martínez 2010; Demarest and, for a fuller critique of such boundary models see, for et al. [eds.] 2011; Quiñonez and Hernandez 2011). Two modally example, Schortman and Urban 1994, 2012). Epicenter ceramics early La Concordia phase (beginning at a.d. 656) palace construc- are also eclectic, including not only Cancuen’s local styles, but tions from the first occupation of the site by the dynasty were actu- Tepeu lowland ceramics, highland vessels, southern piedmont ally made of adobe bricks (Barrientos 2014). The latter is clearly a Verapaz-style ceramics, and fine paste pottery from distant highland influence, and a parallel to the initial palace architecture of Tabasco and Veracruz (Ronald Bishop, personal communication the similarly intrusive “frontier” Peten Maya elite occupation at 2011–2013; Forné et al. 2008; 2010, 2011, 2013; Forné and Copan during the Early Classic establishment of that lowland Torres 2010; Torres et al. 2013). dynasty (Bell et al. 2004). Using INAA data demonstrates that the high chromium variant “Frontier” interaction with transversal, piedmont, and highland Chablekal Fine Grey ceramics found at Cancuen (specifically the sites is primarily reflected within Cancuen itself, rather than at decorated Telchac Composite and Chicxulub Incised) were actual those presumably less complex centers, a pattern that challenges imports from the distant plains near the Gulf coast of Mexico, not both intuitive expectations and more traditional notions of “fron- just local stylistic imitations (Ronald Bishop, personal communi- tiers” between “high civilization” and less complex societies cation 2010–2013; Bishop et al. 2005; Forné et al. 2010). More Economy, Exchange, and Power 201 recently, and even more surprising, was the compositional identifi- associated with deposits or constructions dating to the late (a.d. cation of Campamento Fine Orange ceramics imported from 760–800) chronological periods, as now known from ten more Veracruz (Ronald Bishop, personal communication 2010, 2012; years of site-wide investigations (Demarest et al. [eds.] 2008, Forné et al. 2010, 2013; Christopher Pool, personal communication 2011; Demarest and Martínez 2010; Forné et al. 2010, 2013; 2011; Torres et al. 2013). It is important to emphasize that these Forné and Torres 2010; Forné, Alvarado, and Torres 2011; Torres thin-walled, fine paste wares of Chablekal and Campamento are et al. 2013) (see Table 1 for exact statistics; Figure 17 for a distri- not markers of the Terminal Classic period but are late eighth bution map). There is no lithic working or production of any kind century ceramics (Chablekal a.d. 750–800; Campamento a.d. at most of the 11 identified areas with Chablekal concentrations 650–800) that indicate early western exchange and influence of (Torres et al. 2013) and it is not most associated with jade-working. some kind (Bishop et al. 2005; Forné et al. 2010; Torres et al. Furthermore, we can no longer say that Chablekal is not associated 2013). These early fine paste wares are important in the establishing with elites since many sherds were present in the east port noble’s the culture-history, dating to the Los Laureles (a.d. 760–780) and group and a lip-to-lip Chablekal dedicatory vessel cache was Early Chaman (a.d. 780–790) and Late Chaman (a.d. 790–800) found in the patio directly in front of what has been identified as phases. Chablekal Fine Grey and Campamento Fine Orange cer- the very residential complexes of ruler Taj Chan Ahk (L7-12 and amics are found at each of the three excavated ports and notably L7-33) within the palace itself (Barrientos 2014; Barrientos et al. near the head of navigation northeast port but are also found in [eds.] 2006; Rodas et al. 2011; Torres et al. 2013; Valle 2010). some deposits at other locations (Table 1; Figure 17). These loci The latter is perhaps the most “elite” possible context in the site. include the elite residential complexes near the east port and the Veracruz Campamento Fine Orange is relatively rare but co-varies southeast port, groups near the northeast port, and at other structures with Chablekal and has its second greatest concentration at the near the palace and even a cache in the palace itself. two principal structures of the southeast port (Torres et al. 2013) Note that this ceramic type is not correlated with artisans, crafts- (see Table 1 and Figure 17). men, or jade production, as previously hypothesized (Demarest It seems probable, given their loci of distribution, that these fine et al. [eds.] 2003; Kovacevich 2007, 2013), but with the entire paste ceramics had some significance, particularly associations with northern port area, other ports, and other contexts but always ports and long-distance exchange. But, even those correlations are not yet definitive. It is notable that two “aggregated cluster” groups near the northern ports also have such fine paste ceramics from Tabasco and Veracruz. One of these large complexes (Operation 24) contains a small group with jade preform production debris (Figure 10, center; see also Andrieu et al. 2014:Figure 2), but the other (Operation 54) (Figure 10, upper left) appears to be purely residential—with a variable mix of structures of different styles and probable statuses (Figure 11) within both of these aggregated clus- ters (Demarest et al. 2009, 2013; Torres et al. 2013; Wolf and Bracken 2013a). The multiregionalism of Cancuen is also manifest in the pres- ence of both green and black opaque or semiopaque obsidian from highland Mexico in quantities (n = 201), much more than present at most Classic period Peten centers, and comparable to Terminal Classic occupations (Braswell 2003; Forné et al. 2013). This central Mexican obsidian is also mostly found in the northern portion of the peninsular epicenter and the northeast and east ports but, again, also in other locations, including the highland ballcourt. Of the Ixtepeque obsidian at Cancuen, all seven concentrations are at loci that have Chablekal Fine Grey ceramics. All of this material from distant regions speaks to the function of Cancuen as a transport center and also confirms that during the late eighth century (the epoch of downriver Pasión disintegration), Cancuen was not only looking south to the highlands, but was also engaged with the trans- versal land route to northern Chiapas, Tabasco, and Veracruz (Demarest et al. 2009, Forné et al. 2010, 2013; Forné and Torres 2010). Meanwhile, direct southern highland connections were apparent in ceramics and especially in the presence of a large sprawling highland-style ballcourt in the middle of the epicenter that is like none found in the Maya lowlands (Torres 2011). Its low earthen alley was defined by alignments of natural stone slabs and it was Figure 17. Distribution of some long-distance ceramic imports in the epi- surrounded by thick middens with local and Verapaz piedmont cer- center. Circles are areas of the epicenter that have Chablekal Fine Grey amics including comales, jars, and serving vessels (see Demarest (high chromium variety) from Tabasco, some also having Campamento 2013:Figure 9; Torres 2011). It was a “feasting ballcourt” of the Fine Orange ceramics from Veracruz. Map and data by Paola Torres, type found in the highlands and southern periphery of Mélanie Forné, Marc Wolf, and Luis F. Luin. Mesoamerica (Fox 1996), an identification confirmed by its 202 Demarest et al. artifactual associations with piedmont ceramics (Torres 2011). It is 2011). Most of it could be visually associated to the El Chayal particularly interesting to note that, while no such ballcourt is source (11,226 fragments), with 388 fragments visually attributed known in the lowlands, exactly this highland architectural style of to the Ixtepeque source, 201 considered as non-Guatemalan (prob- ballcourt and other constructions is found at sites in the Verapaz/ ably central Mexican, because of their visual aspect—opaque, Quiche regions (Ichon and Hatch 1982; Torres 2011; van green, or semiopaque), and 47 fragments attributed to other Akkeren 2012). This area is the source zone for Cancuen’s substan- sources, such as San Martin Jilotepeque or Milpas Altas. X-ray dif- tial quantities of jade from the newly identified non-Motagua depos- fraction is in course. its (Andrieu et al. 2010, 2011). As elsewhere, this underscores the Most of the Cancuen production is oriented toward the manufac- economic as well as ritual functions of ballcourts (Fash and Fash ture of prismatic blades. Of the obsidian collected, 67% are pris- 2007). It also is one of many elements indicating that Cancuen matic blades, 0.8% are prismatic core fragments, 6.3% represent network connections with highland centers were built upon partici- first and second series blades (Clark 1997), and less than 3% rep- pation by highland and local leaders in rituals at Cancuen itself, resent core rejuvenation flakes. The overall lack of cortical rather than upon Cancuen military, or even economic, dominance fragments (n = 44), the scarcity of primary series blades, and the (Demarest 2013; Demarest et al. 2013). absence of any flakes corresponding to the preforming of the Additionally, while Cancuen in general lacks , its rituals cores indicate that the material was brought into the epicenter as pre- were apparently more often held in the cave/hill shrines of remnant pared cores (fragments considered ‘cortical’ were required to exhibit karst towers that lie a few kilometers from the greater site area, and more than 50% cortex on a surface [Andrieu and Quiñonez 2011]). 8–12 km from the epicenter peninsula (Demarest 2013; Demarest The remaining obsidian artifacts were composed of percussion et al. 2013; Spenard 2006; Woodfill 2010). The cave shrines there flakes, a few flake tools (scrapers, macroblades, drills), bifacial have very distinctive Cancuen ceramics, dominated by large open industries, and small unclassified fragments. bowls and jars of the La Isla Group (Forné et al. 2009, 2010, When looking at the different sources of obsidian, it appears 2013; Forné and Torres 2010; Torres et al. 2013). Beyond this that not all this material was likely to have been managed the area, however, the ceramic patterns of Cancuen end (Demarest same way. The central Mexican and Ixtepeque are et al. 2013). What is significant here is that, like the highland-style mostly associated with the northern part of the epicenter peninsula, northern ballcourt, Cancuen’s other religious rituals drew on high- implying that their exchange was probably not centralized. The low land canons, both within the site and in its sustaining areas quantities of both these obsidian types could indicate that they were (Demarest 2013; Demarest et al. 2013; Spenard 2006; Woodfill not exchanged as a principal import but that they arrived among 2010). All of these traits underscore the role of Cancuen as an other types of imports through long distance exchange networks. exchange and port center. Such patterns would be consistent with the hypothesis of port activities, particularly in the northeastern area of the epicenter. A very different pattern appears, however, for the grey translucent NEW EVIDENCE ON CANCUEN OBSIDIAN, JADE, obsidian that we have visually attributed to the El Chayal source. COMMODITIES, AND REGIONAL ECONOMY As a matter of fact, this obsidian material presents a much more As we have continued to investigate this very complex lowland/ centralized pattern. While the distribution of the prismatic blades highland frontier center, repeated surprising discoveries have, is relatively homogeneous across the site (Andrieu 2012), the accordingly, led to evolving perspectives on its economy. Recent distribution of prismatic cores is clearly centralized in elite contexts, data have demonstrated a much wider range of economic roles for indicating that this production could have been at least partially this port city than previously imagined. These are now known to controlled. Of the 101 cores and core fragments found within the include not just the long-distance exchange of exotics, but also a epicenter, 58 were found in elite ritual deposits: 53 in the burial large-scale involvement in commodity production and exchange of Kaan Maax, the last king of the site, two under an epicenter on both a regional and interregional scale. stela along with hundreds of obsidian flakes (Andrieu 2011, 2012), and three in an elite burial in the adjacent small palace group (Operation 45B). Obsidian Blade Production and Exchange This pattern is reinforced by the recent discovery of a massive Obsidian is most often used as a trading indicator because it is not cache of prismatic cores. To the east of the peninsula, the site has perishable and because, unlike many goods exchanged over great continuous habitation on the areas of drained land with 123 struc- distances in the Maya lowlands, it is not a luxury good (Aoyama tures mapped and/or tested, thus far, in the 4-km east transect 2001; Tourtellot and Sabloff 1972). As a major port in a strategic alone, despite the fact that about 20% of this area has been location between the highlands and the lowlands, Cancuen could leveled by tractor plowing and more than 40% of this area is unin- have been a point for the transport of this material, especially the habitable swamp and steep slopes, and is frequently and erratically El Chayal obsidian that was primarily exchanged through inland inundated. These transect structures include houses, standard plaza routes during the Classic period (Arnauld 1990; Hammond 1972, groups, “Plaza Plan 2” groups characteristic of the central Peten, 1973; Nelson 1985, 1994). “aggregate cluster” complexes, and elite or public architecture, In fact, obsidian is abundant at the site. From 1999 to 2011, such as higher structures (4–5 m tall), and three plain stelae 11,862 fragments were recovered at Cancuen. From this material, groups. Near the end of the east transect, at 3.8 km from the epicen- the collection corresponding to the 1999–2004 excavations— ter peninsula, one plain stela was removed and revealed a cache of which were originally analyzed with the data combined by structure 4,219 flakes, 8 chert eccentrics, 8 obsidian eccentrics, and, types (Kovacevich 2006, 2007)—has been entirely reanalyzed in most importantly, 831 whole spent or half spent obsidian cores order to be integrated into a lot by lot analysis, and then added to and 20 complete, but broken, cores (Figure 18) (Urquizú et al. the rest of the materials from the later 2004–2011 excavations 2013). This is by far the largest obsidian core cache or burial (Andrieu and Quiñonez 2010; Andrieu, Quiñonez, and Rodas deposit ever discovered in the Maya lowlands. Economy, Exchange, and Power 203

Figure 18. Some of the 851 whole spent (or half spent) obsidian cores from a Cancuen east transect stelae complex cache.

Together with core caches in elite or public contexts in the epi- improbable given the fragility of blades and the great distance center peninsula, this gives a total of 952 partially spent obsidian north, downriver on the Pasión, to any major Classic Maya site. cores. If we add these to the ones found in the epicenter, it Another hypothesis, perhaps more probable, is that blade distri- appears that 90% of the cores were concentrated in ritual or elite bution from Cancuen in the late eighth century was not downriver, associated contexts. This implies that, at some point, these cores but was southward, to nearby sites with a highland material culture were gathered from the various craftspeople to be buried in highly in the far northern Verapaz and “transversal” piedmont region. This valued contexts. Therefore, it is both a claim for control and a cen- possibility would fit with other new evidence of Cancuen’s intra- tralization of the means of production. It is a very clear hint of a regional ritual and political involvement with the surrounding non- direct relationship between production and elite lowland Classic Maya Verapaz communities (Demarest 2013; contexts. Demarest et al. 2013; Torres 2011). But such a quantity of cores is also impressive when compared to A few obsidian nuclei in this transect cache deposit, however, are the quantities of blades found at the site. Most cores in the epicenter not completely spent (Figure 18). This evidence, the nexus position itself correspond to the very latest occupation at Cancuen: the Kaan of Cancuen, and the ample Peten textual evidence for long-distance Maax burial and Early (a.d. 780–790) and Late (a.d. 790–800) exchange both north and west suggest that Cancuen was also export- Chaman phases. Outside of the epicenter, this plain stela cache ing whole or half-spent obsidian cores downriver to the Peten. Now can be less precisely dated but was within the a.d. 760–800 time- we have indications of a probable massive scale of both long- frame (Torres et al. 2013; Urquizu et al. 2013). This implies a distance obsidian exchange and regional blade production at very high intensity of exchange during that period. It is difficult Cancuen. This evidence is even more striking considering that to calculate the exact number of blades produced from polyhedral 2013 (due to previous landowner and/or ‘drug lord’ issues) was cores (Clark 1986), but we can suggest, given the size of the com- the first season of extensive excavations in the greater site transects plete prismatic blades at the site (3.7–9.5 cm in length and outside the epicenter peninsula. Cancuen may prove to be one of the .5–1.5 cm in width) and that of the exhausted cores (with diameters most important centers for both obsidian production and transport in ranging from 1–2.5 cm), that it is reasonable to infer that a core pro- the lowlands—and probably the largest in the Late Classic period. duced roughly 50–100 blades (Andrieu 2009a, 2009b; Clark 1988; Future excavations on the eastern transect of the site will seek to Flenniken and Hirth 2003:100; Fowler 1981). Therefore, 952 cores locate the workshops and provide a better understanding of obsidian would correspond to the production of anywhere between 47,600 production and exchange at Cancuen. and 95,200 blades—that is to say, far more than what was found for the entire occupation sequence of Cancuen, where the actual col- Elite Supervision of Jade Production lection, so far, totals 7,934 blades. Even if we take into account the fact that a few cores from the plain stela cache were not completely Another important element indicating that Cancuen was oriented exhausted and apply a minimal core/blade ratio of 20, there would toward long-distance exchanges is the jade workshop located still be a vast number of blades missing from the site. close to the northeast port of the site (Figure 10). This workshop The question remains, then, where did these blades go? Initially, was associated with several low, modestly constructed residential it would seem that Cancuen was engaged in long-distance export of mounds within a much larger aggregated cluster (Demarest and obsidian in the form of finished blades, which would seem Martínez 2010; Demarest et al. [eds.] 2008, 2011; Kovacevich 204 Demarest et al. and Pereira 2002; Wolf and Bracken 2013a) where 3,606 fragments has previously been correlated in various interpretations (Andrieu of jade were found. The production in that workshop did et al. 2011; Demarest et al. 2003; Kovacevich 2007, 2013). not involve skilled artistry (Andrieu et al. 2011, 2012, 2014; There is little evidence of later stages of jade production, other Kovacevich 2006). Instead, the analysis of the material showed than the preforms of beads and earflares, and finished jade artifacts that the craftspeople were separating different qualities of jade and are very rare at Cancuen. There are only 14 figurines or pendants making beads and earflare preforms by percussion (Andrieu et al. and 16 earflares found, thus far, across the entire site, and there is 2014; Andrieu and Forné 2010; Andrieu et al. 2011; Andrieu, very little jade in burials—even noble and royal burials (Andrieu Quiñonez, and Rodas 2011; Kovacevich 2006). et al. 2014; Barrientos et al. 2006; Quintanilla 2013). Further, of Many indicators show that this production was elite-controlled the 14 somewhat more elaborately carved jade objects (the pen- (Andrieu et al. 2014), mostly because it clearly appears from the dants), some predate the workshop. For example, two of these are burials found in this workshop that these craftspeople were excluded diadem or crown pieces bearing the “X” design found on the from access to the jade objects they produced. The distribution of Jester God’s forehead that were recovered from a Dos Pilas the different colors of jade within the site clearly shows that the architectural-style (single phase) shrine and royal tomb of the prede- palace area benefited from a priority of access to the brightest cessor, probably the father, of Taj Chan Ahk (Barrientos 2014; (and most valuable) green jade (Andrieu et al. 2014:Figure 19). Sears 2002). This shrine has a carved panel celebrating the latter’s The lack of highland ceramics in that specific residential group— accession to power, which took place in a.d. 757, a date that whereas some highland-style vases were associated with elite and aligns well with the ceramics (modally transitional between the royal burials—(Barrientos 2014; Barrientos et al. 2006) also indi- La Concordia and Los Laureles phases) and with the distinctive cates that raw material procurement may have been elite-managed Dos Pilas architecture (a style that ends with the destruction of and that the craftspeople did not handle the importation of raw that site at a.d. 761). Barrientos (2014), from his architectural materials themselves (Andrieu et al. 2014). sequence (linked to epigraphic dedication dates), would date this Above all, the location of the workshop indicates potentially even somewhat earlier, to a.d. 740–750. Thus, the tomb and direct supervision of the work by elites. Indeed, the jade preform shrine (K7-3), along with its fine , predate the jade workshop workshop is at the bottom of a low topographic bowl completely by somewhere between 30 to 50 years, as do many other important surrounded by a variety of structures in this larger terraced contexts. A second finely carved jade object is a carved plaque “cluster” group and with more elite architectural complexes found in the throne cache in the palace and is, significantly, from nearby (Andrieu et al. 2014:Figure 2; (Demarest 2012; Demarest the later period of the workshop, during the Late Chaman phase and Martínez 2010; Demarest et al. [eds.] 2008) (see Figure 10). (a.d. 790–800). In the other 117 burials analyzed thus far, from One structure above the jade working area was a 9 × 30 m platform, any time period, including elite burials, less than a dozen have with a stone masonry retaining wall on its downside slope (Rodas very simple carved jade objects (Andrieu et al. 2014; Quintanilla and Quiñonez 2010; Wolf and Bracken 2013a)(Figure 11c and 2013). The rich deposit of offerings at the cistern sacrifice site, 11l). Complexes of mixed styles and masonry construction— where 31 elites were executed and deposited with many precious some with stairways (see Figure 11b and 11k)—are higher in artifacts, also has only a few jade pieces (n = 37), and all but four elevation than the adjacent jade working areas (Figure 10). To the were simple beads (n = 33) (Andrieu et al. 2014; Barrientos et al. north, a fine masonry range structure stands directly above all of [eds.] 2006; Demarest et al. 2014; Quintanilla 2013). these complexes and the port of which they were a part This paucity of jade artifacts is remarkable for any intensively (Figure 11a). In sum, the jade working mounds are surrounded by excavated dynastic epicenter, especially one with impressive elite more than 30 structures, including large masonry platforms, and public architecture and monuments, and even more unexpected houses, structures of a variety of styles, and an elite range struc- at a production site. The difference between the 4 kg of finished arti- ture—all in the epicenter of a major regional royal capital facts and the 60 kg of jade debitage found in the workshop is sur- (Demarest 2012; Demarest et al. 2009, 2011). Given the physical prising. This, plus the lack of jade production waste that would layout alone, it would be impossible for anything to occur in that have corresponded to an absent stage of bead and earflare pro- area without elite supervision. As with the ports, location evidence duction, suggests that preform production was almost exclusively suggests such elite supervision of the residential locus of jade as an export commodity (Andrieu and Forné 2010; Andrieu et al. preform production. This does not indicate, of course, elite partici- 2012, 2014). pation in the actual production process, which was repetitive and Jade preform exchanges have never been previously documented very labor intensive (Andrieu et al. 2014). in the Maya lowlands before, but they appear to be attested to later This jade preform production activity came toward the end of on for the (Andrieu et al. 2014). Interestingly, we can under- Cancuen’s occupational sequence (a.d. 790–800). The workshop’s score that the exchange of preform, rather than finished objects, residential floors and middens held 98.4% of identifiable sherds implies a form of commodification of jade. Preforms are more stan- (n = 15,113) from the Late Chaman phase (a.d. 790–800) and dardized in form and shape, and they certainly do not imply the only 1.6% (n = 242) from the ancient surface below one mound same obligations between the actors of the exchange than the gift were Los Laureles phase (a.d. 760–780) based on stratigraphic of finely carved objects (Andrieu et al. 2014; for jade as a “com- microchronological analysis (Forné and Torres 2010; Torres et al. modity,” see also Freidel et al. 2002; Freidel and Reilly 2010; 2013). The Cancuen chronology is also now bracketed by epi- Masson and Freidel 2013:28; Rochette 2009, 2014). graphic dates (Fahsen and Barrientos 2003, 2006; Fahsen et al. 2003; Fahsen and Jackson 2001) and correlated with a six-stage Perishable Commodities architecture sequence (Barrientos 2014) for the a.d. 656–800 period. Thus, the jade production contexts are very securely dated Other, perishable commodities were probably also traded to and to the Late Chaman phase (a.d. 790–800). This demonstrates that from Cancuen. Recent ethnohistorical studies (Caso Barrera and the workshop did not exist until after many features to which it Aliphat Fernández 2006, 2012; van Akkeren 2012) show that the Economy, Exchange, and Power 205

“transversal” piedmont zone, just 12–15 km to the south of had covered all potential agricultural land on the peninsular core Cancuen, was a major zone for production of cacao, cotton, of the site. As discussed above (see also Demarest and Martínez achiote, and vanilla throughout the Contact period. Indeed, the 2013; Wolf and Bracken 2013a), moving eastward from the cacao and achiote from this piedmont zone were considered to isthmus of the epicenter, less dense habitations and clustered be of unusually prized quality (van Akkeren 2012:38–39). groups continue for, at least, the 4 km from the peninsula investi- Paleobotanical studies are underway to try to identify physical gated to date (Figure 7). The structures mapped on that transect so evidence of cacao at transversal sites (Avendaño et al. 2013). The far would correspond to a density of about half of that in the penin- highly valued Maya condiments of vanilla and achiote were sular epicenter. These areas, broken by water and swamp, and prob- mixed with the processed cacao in chocolate drinks (Caso Barrera ably also extending in other directions, provided part of the and Aliphat Fernández 2006:36–37; van Akkeren 2012:39), and, agricultural sustaining area of the site. How the epicenter nonelite, of course, cacao was a major element in tribute and court nonagricultural workers identified themselves, given multiple occu- economy (McAnany 2013; McAnany et al. 2002; Stuart 2006). pations, is more problematic, but their power over the productive Cotton was also a major product of the “transversal” far northern process might have been minimal when compared to the wide Verapaz region (van Ahkeren 2012). Such transversal cotton variety of craft and labor arrangements identified elsewhere in would have been important to all the population, but cotton Mesoamerica (Brumfiel 1998; Costin and Wright 1998; Hirth mantas were, specifically, given as tribute to Maya royal courts 1996, 2009; Hirth [ed.] 2009; Hirth and Pillsbury 2013; Inomata (McAnany 2013). 2007; Reents-Budet 1998; Schortman and Urban 2004; At Salinas de Nueve Cerros, further west on this same transversal Schortman et al. 2001). route, previous and ongoing research (Dillon et al. 1988; Woodfill The probability is that many nonelite families and individuals in et al. 2011, 2012) has demonstrated large-scale salt production of the epicenter peninsula area were involved in port functions—most more than 24,000 tons a year. A major route of salt transport from “part-time” in any one occupation but being fully employed as retai- Salinas would have been east on the piedmont transversal to the ners or workers for resident elites in one activity or another. The ports of Cancuen and then downriver via the Pasión. Distinctive center would have needed masons, cooks, and servants. Above Cancuen-style figurines have been found at Salinas and composi- all, however, there would have been a great need for porters, tionally sourced by INAA to Cancuen (Sears et al. 2005). boatmen, rowers, canoe builders, carpenters, and agents of various Furthermore, a unique style of grinding stone for final salt proces- kinds for the primary function of epicentral Cancuen, which sing has been identified at the salt mines of Salinas de los Nueve would have been transport, not production. Port and Cerros, and a number of such grinding stones have been found at transport-related occupations are seldom discussed in the Maya Cancuen (Mijangos 2013). Movement of other perishables may area, except in terms of energetics, but any broader comparative have also included quetzal feathers from the Verapaz core area, consideration would indicate the great importance of such occu- their “biotope,” which lies directly on the Alta Verapaz Valley pations in economy and identity, particularly at a port city. As an route to Cancuen. Probable transfer of all of these perishables aside, modern Pasión River Q’eqchi’ Maya boatmen have a through the Cancuen ports is geographically the shortest and least highly respected, though generally nonelite, status. They are often difficult route. As always, for routes we must rely most directly the wealthiest members, of their, albeit not very wealthy, on lithic and ceramic evidence, and the rest is difficult to demon- communities. strate, but Cancuen was very likely to have been involved in local Note here that we would not extrapolate from the evidence for and regional, as well as long-distance, exchange. elite involvement in exchange and supervision on the Cancuen epi- center peninsula as a general model for Classic Maya centers. Cancuen’s location, its access to multiple long-distance exchange ELITE AND NONELITE ECONOMIC ROLES AND routes, the channeling mechanism of its ports, its connections to POWER AT CANCUEN Gulf coast economies, and the late date of its apogee, may all indi- What was the nature of economic activities and roles in the variety cate an unusual economy and, as discussed below, one that was of complexes around the northern and other ports, and the jade pro- undergoing change near the end of the Classic period. Thus, the duction area? In this regard, it is probable that residential jade Cancuen port economy is best viewed as an addition to the preform producers and other nonelites were probably not “full growing body of evidence on the great degree of economic and pol- time” crafters. The quantities, though high for a material as precious itical variability in the centers of the Classic Maya lowlands. as jade, do not correspond to full-time work; in fact, percussion work is the least time-consuming aspect of the working of jade PORTS, MATRIX CONTROL, AND IDEOLOGY (Pétrequin et al. 2013). It requires strength but not time, as most frac- tures are immediate from the percussion. The same could be said for The supervision of ports by elites, or even the state, could have pro- prismatic blade production, knowing that a qualified knapper can vided ample opportunity for control of resources, elite accumu- produce a complete polyhedral core in roughly an hour (Darras lation, and the development of economic power. The strategic 2010:29), and that “[w]orking at a relaxed pace, one competent position of Cancuen on major exchange routes provided great knapper could reduce 160 polyedral cores in 50 days, working opportunities to create regional and interregional mechanisms of about 2–4 hour day” (Clark and Bryant 1997:132). Thus, the pres- control. On the Cancuen epicenter peninsula itself, restricted ence of 952 cores, though impressive and highly significant in terms access of the ports and isthmus could have facilitated control of epi- of trade and exchange, would not imply more than a few months of center networks of distribution of a wide range of goods. That part-time work, if it was made by a single knapper and even less if would provide ideal circumstances for what Hirth (1996:224) ident- there were numerous artisans. ifies as the “matrix-control principle” in which elites “seek to Few nonelites at the Cancuen epicenter peninsula itself would control these networks by placing themselves at major matrix pos- have been farmers, since by the late eighth century construction itions to influence directly or indirectly the production, 206 Demarest et al. accumulation, and flow of resources.” While the social constructs Cancuen are discussed in detail elsewhere (Barrientos et al. 2006; surrounding elite matrix-control of materials are not well defined Barrientos and Demarest 2012; Demarest 2013). Just a glimpse of at Cancuen, the opportunity for such control is clear. legitimating ideology might be seen in Cancuen’s rich corpus of Matrix-control in this case would facilitate Hirth’s(1996:224) iconography and architecture. For example, in almost all represen- “context-oriented accumulation … where resources are produced tations, the ruler is identified as a water lord. Both the ruler, Taj and/or accumulated in special contexts under the direction of orga- Chan Ahk, and his highest nobles are presented (Figure 19) in a qua- nizing or supervising elites.” trefoil with water symbols, water lilies, and a water deity (Fahsen Yet elite control over peninsular ports and transferred material and Barrientos 2006). Elite architecture is covered with stucco resources needed to be defined and legitimated. It is not a foregone imagery with water associations. The royal ballcourt where kings conclusion that elites control specific resources. To define this it was played nobles was covered with such stucco imagery with water necessary to have an economic ideology, as in Hirth’s “ideology symbols (Fernández Aguilar 2010). principle.”“An economic ideology reinforces both the basis for State or elite control over the river itself also may have been the unequal accumulation of resources and the structure in which claimed in aspects of ritual site landscaping. Throughout the site it occurs” (Hirth 1996:225; also see DeMarrais et al. 1996). In epicenter runs an elaborate ritual water system, a miniature river this case, control would be of ports and some material with stone pools at springs, and small 1 m-wide channels (for resources—an economic power that would need to be legitimated. more detailed discussion of this feature see Alvarado 2011; Such mechanisms of legitimation and/or economic ideology at Alvarado and Mencos 2007; Barrientos 2008; Barrientos et al. 2006; Demarest 2013). This system is comparable to that at other sites but is purely ritual, and its symbolism might be more specific than elsewhere (Lucero and Fash 2006). The elaborately constructed water system was symbolic in nature, since the site has several springs within it, as well as being almost an island in the Pasión River with access to the last aerated cascades (compare against the situation at Copan: Fash 2005; Fash and Davis-Salazar 2006). Water was always abundant, but the ritual water system may have further legitimated their control of the critical nodes in the site’s economic matrix—the river and its ports. Other ideological devices may have been specific rituals, rather than architectonic (Demarest 2013). A number of factors indicate a shift to possible control by nobles of the ports in the final half-century of Cancuen’s history. What is most obvious is the layout of all three of the most investigated ports, as discussed above. Each port was also surrounded by a variety of other elite and “intermediate range” unusual architectural complexes, as defined by taking together artifactual association, masonry, scale, and—just as importantly—elevation.

ELITE VERSUS STATE CONTROL: ROYAL CLAIMS AND NOBLE EVIDENCE A less easily resolved issue pertains to who the elites were that were directly in charge of the supervision of the ports, the jade preform production, obsidian exchange, perhaps commodity exchange, and other economic activities at the ports of Cancuen. Noble versus state control, like elite versus domestic economy, are overlapping, rather than exclusive, categories. Nobles function as agents of the state and the issue becomes one of their relative degrees of auton- omy. The latter is also not a stable variable but one that could vary between individuals, from site to site, and over time in the Classic period. Cancuen’s elites are identifiable by their smaller “subroyal” palaces or range structure complexes, some strategically located near critical resources. That circumstantial evidence indi- cates at least probable direct noble supervision of the ports and the preform jade production area by the resident elites. Note, regard- ing the obsidian core deposits, that in the epicenter they have associ- ations with the royal palace, but in the transect on the outskirts of Cancuen the most massive obsidian cache stelae is associated with a 5 m-high elite structure (Urquizu et al. 2013; Wolf and Figure 19. Panel 3 of Cancuen showing ruler Taj Chan Ahk as a water lord, Bracken 2013a). but sharing the scene with sajal and aj-k’uhun nobles (panel size 58 × Yet there were significant claims of central state control. Late 67 cm). Photograph by Ken Garrett; drawing by Luis F. Luin. eighth century claims of state control of economic activities are Economy, Exchange, and Power 207 explicit, as well as implicit, in royal caches and burials. The cache aj-k’uhun (Jackson and Stuart 2001). The importance of this under the throne of the king includes a giant raw jade boulder cut palace and port complex is underscored by the construction of a and finely polished on only one face (Barrientos et al. [eds.] defensive wall around it late in the history of the site. Meanwhile, 2006). The ruler Kan Maax (a.d. 796–800) was buried with obsi- other similar range structure complexes had fine architecture, dian cores and flakes, and most other cores recovered were in some with stucco portraits, and Peten ceramics (Figure 20). This stelae caches (Andrieu 2009b, 2011; Urquizu et al. 2013). The architecture of nobles’ complexes at Cancuen was a major ruler Taj Chan Ahk, in name and in most representations, is por- element in Jackson’s(2005, 2013) extensive study of similar trayed as a water lord, and his name, headdress, and that found nobles whose numbers, roles, and importance were increasing with his son, Kan Maax, might have been seen as claims of through the southern lowlands, especially in the Usumacinta and mastery of the river. One could speculate that the central location Pasión regions, but also at centers like Copan (Fash et al. 2004; around the palace (and its ballcourt) of the channels and pools of Fash and Stuart 1991; Houston and Inomata 2009:170–176; the ritual water system might have also associated the ruler with riv- Iannone 2005; Jackson 2005, 2013; Stuart 1993; Webster 1989). erine control (Barrientos et al. 2006; Demarest 2013). The iconogra- For the Copan kingdom, various investigators have proposed a phy of royal monuments and stucco sculptures (Fahsen and dramatic shift and balkanization of power in the late eighth Barrientos 2006; Fernández Aguilar 2010) was mostly water through ninth century. Rulers like Yax Pasah were pressured to related and the details of images, as well as the water system, divide their authority with other high lords and coordinate rulership could identify the palace as a “water mountain” (Palka 2014; at popolna or council houses (Fash et al. 1992; Fash and Stuart Palka and Sanchez Balderas 2012). 1991). Just as at Cancuen, this division is also manifest in non-royal, Despite such possible claims of royal control of the river, as well high-elite complexes with presentation chambers and, at Copan, as control of the epicenter jade and possibly obsidian distribution, even with their own thrones. There, some nobles are epigraphically the reality on the ground and in images at Cancuen indicates hege- and iconographically identifiable as high lords, some with specific monic division of power, increasing over time—a phenomenon functions. Such division of power has been seen as a possible pre- common in much of the Maya world in the late eighth century. At cursor for an internal collapse process at Copan, as the centralized Cancuen this is manifest in the proliferation of elite complexes power of the k’uhul ajaw was weakened (Fash et al. 2004; Fash with fine masonry (see, for example, Figure 20), some at strategic and Stuart 1991). points. Some of those complexes were quite impressive, having At Cancuen such division of authority might also be seen in fine masonry stucco decoration and corbelled-vaulted audience monuments in which the central image of the k’uhul ajaw is chambers like those in the Cancuen royal palace (Ajin 2010; shared with other high lords in the final decade of the site’s Barrientos 2014; Cotom-Nimatuj and Quintanilla 2011; Demarest history. On Panel 3 (Figure 19), dated to a.d. 796, the king 2006; Jackson 2001, 2002, 2005; Martínez 2006, 2008; Martínez shares the image with a sajal on one side and an aj-k’uhun on et al. 2012; Pereira 2006; Quintanilla and Mencos 2007; Tejeda another, both important titles of the highest nobles (Fahsen and 2007). The east port palace group and port were connected by a Barrientos 2006). On Altar 2 from Cancuen (Figure 21), dating to sacbe to the more southern subroyal and royal complexes. Given a.d. 790, Taj Chan Ahk shares the scene with a lord who is ident- its features and location, Jackson (2004) believes that this east ified significantly as the captor of a lord of Sac Witz, and later as port complex was the residence of a high noble, perhaps an captor of a lord of the great state of Machaquila (Fahsen and

Figure 20. One noble’s palace complex at Cancuen (L7-28/M7-8) showing the high status of nobles and stucco imagery including a possible noble portrait. Drawing by Luis F. Luin; interpretation of stuccos by Tomás Barrientos, Rudy Larios, and Luis F. Luin. 208 Demarest et al.

pattern of an elaborated “long house” form, as identified by Arnauld (2001). These have an emphasis on complex administrative subdivisions, rather than a centralized residence with only some seg- regated administrative functions. Such a shift is starkly apparent in the royal palace at Cancuen. Excavation and study by Barrientos, Larios, and others (Barrientos 2014; Barrientos et al. [eds.] 2006) in this enormous complex have led to the conclusion that it had few residential rooms and possibly only three royal courtyard groups in the inner palace in its final stages in the eighth century. Instead, most of the many rooms in the structure were audiencias, or receiving rooms for rituals and administration used by the site’s growing elite (Barrientos 2014). Excavation of two of the three royal residences in the palace in 2010–2012 (Demarest and Martínez 2010; Demarest et al. [eds.] 2011; Demarest et al. 2011; Quintanilla and Valle 2011; Rodas et al. 2011; Urquizu and Torres 2012; Valle 2010) confirmed Barrientos’s hypothesis and made starkly clear the architectural distinctions between the small audiencias (less than 3 × 4 m in area, with their wide doorways and benches open to massive stairways and plazas) and the larger rooms with privacy in the royal residences with limited access and greater living areas. As reviewed by Barrientos (2014) in comparative perspective, administrative palaces like Cancuen’s are characteristic of the very end of the Classic and Terminal Classic periods at sites such as , , , Ek Balam, San Clemente, , Caracol, , and Calakmul. Note also that Cancuen lacks the critical centralized “theater state” element of epicenter temples and appears to have relied more on the ritual forms of its highland neighbors, which included the use of more dispersed hill/cave shrines on the edges of the site sustaining area (Demarest 2013; Spenard 2006) and its highland ballcourt (Torres 2011). Extensive study of the many large, almost three-dimensional, stucco sculptures above palace audience chambers and some nobles’ palaces has been carried out by Barrientos, Larios, Luin, and Fernández Aguilar (Barrientos 2014; Fernández Aguilar 2010; Luis Luin, personal communication 2012–2014). They con- clude that the stucco faces have a variety of features suggesting that they were actual portraits. This may also be true of stucco por- traits on facades of the nobles’ complexes, which may have rep- resented the resident lords (Figure 20). Only a few of these might be of ruler Taj Chan Ahk (Fernández Aguilar 2010; Barrientos 2014). Others above the audience chambers in the outer palace (see, for example, Figure 22) might have served to incorporate nobles into palace activities and councils. Barrientos (2014)pro- poses that the palace thus incorporated collaborative political activi- ties like the popolna,or“Mat” houses, discussed above for Copan, Figure 21. Altar 2 of Cancuen showing ruler Taj Chan Ahk and a compa- but also identified at other Pasión Valley sites (Inomata 2008; nion lord playing the ballgame. The latter is credited in the text as having Inomata et al. 2002). As at those sites, such structures indicate the been the actual captor of a lord of Sac Witz and a lord of Machaquila (from importance of power sharing with nobles near the end of the Fahsen and Barrientos 2006). Classic period (Fash et al. 1992, 2004; Fash and Stuart 1991). In sum, a number of traits reveal a probable division of power Barrientos 2006). Altar 3 shows a similar scene with the image of and proliferation of high nobility at Cancuen parallel to that occur- both Kan Maax, the royal successor of Taj Chan Ahk, and a compet- ring elsewhere in the southern lowlands but perhaps with the pattern ing ajaw. at Cancuen being more salient, with nobles’ architecture placed stra- Based on five years of excavations by Tomás Barrientos and tegically in relation to economic resources. One can speculate that Rudy Larios and nine years of analysis (Barrientos 2014; these shifts also correlate to the late changes in political and econ- Barrientos et al. [eds.] 2006; Demarest and Barrientos [eds.] omic power that have also been posited at other centers. Note also 2000, 2001, 2002; Demarest et al. [eds.] 2003), Barrientos has the late date of Cancuen’s elite-supervised jade production, a.d. demonstrated that the division of royal authority with nobles is 790–800, which, though possibly state “controlled,” was likely manifest in the central royal palace architecture and even stucco being supervised by resident sub-royal elites. As Cancuen nobles art—where the form of a centralized palace gives way to the were clearly placed in economically strategic points at the site, we Economy, Exchange, and Power 209

Figure 22. Western entrance to Cancuen’s royal palace showing audience chambers and some of the stucco cornice facades and por- traits. Drawing by Luis F. Luin; stucco interpretations by Tomás Barrientos and Luis F. Luin. can hypothesize that they were acquiring a significant role in the Of particular interest is McAnany’s(2013) argument that by the site’s exchange function, part of a general shift in the Maya world Terminal Classic period, both God L and the image of merchants toward a more mercantile elite. had been “rehabilitated” and had elite associations in both images For example, McAnany (2010, 2013) has drawn on a wide range and architecture such as the Cacaxtla murals. She concludes: of evidence to argue that the role of merchant was transforming in the Terminal Classic period. Merchants do not appear to have Evidence of trading as an elite occupation begins to appear been regarded with esteem in the Classic period in terms of status during the latter part of the Classic period. Conceivably, an and nature. Indeed, “the deity of trading, God L, was not an increasingly commercialized tribute economy facilitated a exulted or a handsome member of the Classic Maya deity set: he change in the perception of traders. Such a shift appears to was depicted as elderly, wrinkled, lascivious, and a denizen of the have been linked to a greater openness to heterodoxic and underworld” (McAnany 2013:235). In the Popol Vuh, the merchant pan-Mesoamerican trading and ritual practices (McAnany deity is presented as an “arrogant and wealthy” supernatural humi- 2013:243). liated by the hero twins (McAnany 2013:235). Such presentation, McAnany posits, “conveys the sense that Classic period royals The evidence at Cancuen may testify to such a process already being were wary of the wealth that came from trading activities that they well underway in the eighth century. As a port center with did not control, but upon which they were greatly dependent, in pan-Mesoamerican associations in artifacts and architecture, it cer- order to express the social difference that formed the heart of their tainly had a central role for mercantile activities, and the elite archi- authority” (McAnany 2013). Meanwhile, the “naturalized authority tecture was associated with specific staging places for those of the royal court” (McAnany 2010:158–198) involved status, activities. A direct economic role for high elites in the site’s princi- patronage goods, and luxury items. The specific needs of the pal activities is suggested by the complexes at the ports, the priority court and its tribute emphasized exotics and commodities, of access to, and supervision of, jade preform production, the obsi- especially jade, quetzal feathers, spondylus shell, cacao, and dian core deposits, the administrative/ritual palace, and the epigra- cotton mantas (McAnany 2013; Stuart 2006). Note that while phy and iconography. In its artifactual assemblages and imports, jade, shell, and obsidian came down the Verapaz Valley route to Cancuen had associations with western and Gulf regions where the Pasión, cacao and cotton were probably cultivated in the such changes had already taken place. nearby transversal as they were in historic times, as discussed Thus, in its final half-century apogee, Cancuen had many pat- above. Thus, all of those five tribute items that were critical for terns characteristic of the Terminal Classic period, from western the royal courts often would have passed through the highlands or fine paste ceramic imports and central Mexican obsidian to its prob- the transversal to the ports of Cancuen in route to western and able involvement in commodities export, to its ritual/administrative central Peten centers. palace, and high architectural and iconographic visibility for its 210 Demarest et al. nobility. A shift in the role of its elites to more direct involvement in Peten. Yet the Peten monuments have no mention of a Cancuen con- economic activities would correspond with this florescence, but quest, and the center was not reoccupied—nor was a similar center would also reflect the weakening of the central royal authority. established nearby. While admitting that we really do not understand what happened to Cancuen, we can propose some even more speculative thoughts THE VIOLENT END OF ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL and possibilities on the abrupt end of its political and economic flor- TRANSFORMATION escence. The most probable answer is that its surrounding Verapaz The overall nature and “feel” of the late Cancuen is different from region piedmont and highland trading partners and nearby neigh- most Classic period Maya centers, including Cancuen itself, prior bors brought a respectful, ritualized, but dramatic end to the site. to a.d. 760. By that time Cancuen had a number of nobles’ The epicenter presence of a Maya highland-style feasting ballcourt, palaces, some placed at ports, an enormous administrative/ritual piedmont and highland ceramic imports, highland vases in royal palace compound, perhaps centralized obsidian distribution within burials, some highland-style architecture, and highland canons of the epicenter, large-scale obsidian tool production beyond the epi- religious ritual (Demarest 2013; Demarest et al. 2013; Spenard center, likely large-scale exchange of both exotics and perishable 2006; Torres 2011), all suggest close ties with that region through commodities, proliferation of elite residential architecture, a lack of which jade, shell, pyrite, obsidian, probably quetzal plumage, and Classic-style /plaza complexes, and a very interregional various commodities had traveled to Cancuen. Cancuen “courted” mix of material culture. By a.d. 790 it had jade preform production those allies with highland-style ideological devices (Demarest as a commodity. Changes were clear, and the involvement of elites is 2013). A rift with that region would have been disastrous. The implied in many of them. As an international port center involved in chert in the scene of the royal mass assassination in the southern epi- exchange with western Mesoamerica, Cancuen was slightly ahead of center red-painted ritual pool included lance heads and points of the curve in many of the transitions and transformations character- chert that were local and could have come from the nearby piedmont istic of the Terminal Classic and Early Postclassic periods. Like communities (Andrieu and Quiñonez 2010). Note that only some Maya centers in Tabasco, , and Yucatan, it was Cancuen’s highland and piedmont neighbors, who had neither making the transition to a Postclassic-style political economy. writing nor monuments, would have failed to celebrate this conquest Despite these transformations, Cancuen did not have the resplen- in imagery and texts. dent Terminal Classic that many centers of those other regions Regardless of whether or not the highlanders are the prime sus- enjoyed (Sabloff and Andrews 1986). Indeed, it did not even pects, we can speculate that the eighth century transformation at survive the eighth century. Like the Yucatan coastal ports of Cancuen to a Terminal Classic form of political economy was Xcambo and Chunchumil (Dahlin 2009; Sierra Sosa et al. 2014), doomed. As centers fell into crisis on both the river and transversal it was left behind earlier by shifts in the pan-Mesoamerican econ- routes, Cancuen found their Peten trading partners disappearing. omic system. In the case of Cancuen, its florescence had a dramatic Long-distance exchange in obsidian and commodities was shifting ending. At about a.d. 800 the site was destroyed and abandoned— to the Caribbean and Gulf maritime route. Furthermore, Cancuen’s its monuments and architecture were subjected to termination rituals role was as a transfer point, an intermediary in exchange, yet the and its king, queen, and 31 of its nobles were ritually executed at Greater Cancuen site area itself had very limited useable land and one palace cistern, and more than 20 nobles at another. The resources, since half the area was swamp, shallow lakes, and bodies of the elites were placed into the two sacred red-painted cis- river. Its lavish ceremonial architecture, its mix of highland and terns of its springs and others at the east port (Alvarado 2004; lowland ballcourts, its highland-style cave shrines, and its other Alvarado et al. 2006; Demarest et al. 2014; Quintanilla 2013; ideological devices presumably had allowed Cancuen to maintain Quintanilla and Demarest 2013; Suasnávar et al. 2007, 2011; its role in highland exchange through ritual and awe, as much as Winburn et al. 2013). In terms of the multiregional nature of strategic position. With economic crisis, the ability to sustain that Cancuen, it is significant that the analyzed sacrificed individuals impressive ceremonial presentation would have ended. in the southern palace cistern were probably Peten lowland Maya Thus, the forces of late eighth century change in political elites, as indicated by isotopic analyses, cranial deformation, economy, which had fueled Cancuen’s remarkable florescence of health, teeth inlays, and artifacts (Quintanilla 2013; Suasnávar a Terminal Classic nature, also left it behind by a.d. 800— et al. 2007; Winburn et al. 2013). The entire site was ceremonially perhaps dramatically disappointing its once-awed highland partners. terminated and not reconquered, not reoccupied, but permanently In any case, at that time its rulers and nobility were ritually assassi- abandoned. Why? nated, its monuments and edifices were terminated, and its bustling The answer to that question sends us even further into the realm ports fell silent. of speculation and is discussed in more detail elsewhere (Demarest et al. 2014; Quintanilla 2013; Quintanilla and Demarest 2013; CONCLUSION Suasnávar et al. 2007, 2011). Perhaps Cancuen was a bit ahead of its time in its internal economic transformations and political hege- The well-defined ports of Cancuen appear to have been critical to mony, creating internal divisions and weaknesses. It also certainly Classic Maya highland/lowland commerce and their interactions would have been a target, as it always was, for political acquisition. with the south and the far west. They also appear to have been That, however, would not explain its abandonment; its lowland rival state or elite controlled, based on associated architectural complexes kingdoms would have seized the head of navigation, not abandoned and artifacts. A late jade preform workshop, enfolded amid more it. Also, even former vassal states like Machaquila recorded no elite architecture, was most probably closely supervised by resident reference to war or conquest of Cancuen on that site’s many a.d. nobles. More speculatively, massive obsidian ritual caches suggest 800–840 monuments. They, or other lowland states, would have an elite role, or at least a claim of such, in its export, and even pro- trumpeted their conquest of Cancuen in their many subsequent pro- duction. Furthermore, those contexts, epigraphic evidence, the pagandistic monuments, as universally practiced in the western administrative/ritual palace, and sub-royal complex contexts all Economy, Exchange, and Power 211 suggest a growing role for nobles in economic activities. It would The dramatic failure of Cancuen’s early transition to a Terminal appear that, as elsewhere, nobles were beginning to take a more Classic political economy remains enigmatic. Yet suggestions are direct mercantile role and that many aspects of the multepal that Cancuen’s internal divisions of power, its dependence on high- system of power characteristic of Postclassic period societies were land and transversal resources, and its overextended trade networks already in place at Cancuen by the late eighth century. may have been factors precipitating its violent demise.

RESUMEN

Por más de una década se han realizado investigaciones en Cancuen, una central. Especialmente transportó bienes de estatus importantes del sur que ciudad portuaria principal y una capital de la realeza maya ubicada en el sur- eran clave para el intercambio maya entre el altiplano y las tierras bajas oeste de Peten. Estos estudios han dado como resultado evidencia importante durante el período clásico. Descubrimientos de 2013 y nuevas evidencias acerca de los puertos mayas y de los cambios en la economía política del etnohistóricas indican que también Cancuen fue un centro muy importante clásico tardío. Cancuen se localizaba al pie del altiplano y en la cabeza de en el intercambio y producción de obsidiana y probablemente en el intercam- navegación del río La Pasión. Esta posición permitió que funcionara, no bio de mercancías incluyendo cacao, sal, achiote, y vainilla. A la vez, a sólo como un puerto, sino como un nexo que entrelazaba a las rutas terrestres juzgar por su asociación con notables complejos arquitectónicos, artefactos, del altiplano de Guatemala hacia el sur, con las tierras bajas, vía la amplia importaciones, y por la ubicación donde se les descubrió, parece que tanto ruta fluvial de La Pasión. Esta ruta llevaba al norte a través de Peten, enla- mucho del intercambio, como los puertos mismos, eran controlados por la zando muchas de las ciudades más importantes del período clásico, y a la élite. Similarmente, el área de producción de preformas de jade descubierta vez conectaba con las principales rutas terrestres (Figuras 1, 3, 4, 5). Así, entre otras estructuras de arquitectura elitista, también era supervisada por Cancuen se constituyó en un vínculo entre el altiplano y las tierras bajas nobles. Dicha zona producía preformas de cuentas y orejeras de jade en (Figuras 2, 4, 5), que llevaba bienes importados incluso el jade, pirita, obsidi- los últimos años de ocupación del sitio (790–800 d.C.). También la ana, concha, y probablemente plumas del quetzal y otras aves del altiplano. distribución de núcleos líticos en contextos públicos o en escondites elitistas También en años recientes el proyecto ha descubierto que Cancuen estuvo puede indicar cuál fue el papel de las elites en la economía de la obsidiana. muy involucrado en la ruta “transversal” que corre de este a oeste a lo Asimismo en los últimos años de Cancuen una supervisión elitista de las largo del pie de los cerros de Alta Verapaz hasta Chiapas y de allí hasta producción de preformas de jade para exportar, sugiere cambios en la Tabasco y Veracruz. La posición estratégica que ocupó Cancuen en los sis- economía y en el poder hegemónico durante los últimos años del sitio. temas antiguos de intercambio mayas condujo a que, durante el periodo En coincidencia con dichas asociaciones, las evidencias epigráficas e clásico tardío, se desarrollara una historia de alianzas dinásticas y de interac- iconográficas, los palacios administrativos/rituales y la distribución de la ciones políticas que tenían como fin asegurar este nexo con las rutas terres- arquitectura relacionada con la élite más alta, indican un papel cada vez tres y fluviales. más activo de los nobles en las actividades económicas. Parecería entonces El sitio de Cancuen y sus zonas adyacentes revelan evidencias de la exis- que Cancuen se anticipó al fenómeno suscitado posteriormente o en los tencia de hasta siete puertos, tres de los cuales han sido confirmados e inves- mismos años en otras regiones, en cuanto a que los nobles empezaron a tigados intensamente. La revisión de estas evidencias de Cancuen en las tomar un papel mercantil más directo. Asimismo se tiene la impresión que investigaciones de campo, estudios de laboratorio y a través de perspectivas muchos de los aspectos del sistema multepal, característico del sistema de comparativas, proveen nuevas ideas acerca de la economía maya, el control, poder de las sociedades del posclásico, ya estaba presente en Cancuen a y los cambios en el poder y la hegemonía en las vísperas del colapso maya fines del siglo VIII d.C. del periodo clásico. El dramático fracaso de Cancuen en esta incipiente y precoz transición Cada uno de los puertos de Cancuen bien definidos estaban relacionados hacia una economía política del clásico terminal continua siendo un con complejos de estructuras elitistas. Los puertos del sitio se encontraron enigma. No obstante, puede sugerirse que las divisiones internas de poder asociados con importaciones provenientes del oeste, como las cerámicas en esta capital portuaria, su dependencia en recursos del altiplano y sus Gris Fino Chablekal de Tabasco y Naranja Fino Campamento de la frontera rutas comerciales vastamente extendidas, pudieron haber sido unos factores entre Tabasco y Veracruz, así como la obsidiana de fuentes en México que precipitaron su violento y sacralizado, final.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The Cancuen research cited here was made possible by grants from the points on the many different incarnations of this paper, but we’d Alphawood Foundation, the National Geographic Society, the Vanderbilt especially like to acknowledge ideas, critiques, and/or unpublished data University Ingram Chair Fund, the Vanderbilt Institute of Mesoamerican from Ronald Bishop, Horacio Martínez, Thomas Calligaro, Monica Archaeology and Development, the Centre National de la Recherche Urquizu, Patricia McAnany, Brent Woodfill, Claudia Quintanilla, Matt Scientifique, the Fyssen Foundation, the National Science Foundation, O’Mansky, Chris Pool, Ken Hirth, and others. Extensive work on the Smithsonian Institution, the Centre d’Études Mexicaines et images and maps was completed by Luis F. Luin, Marc Wolf, Vilma Centraméricaines, Laboratoire du musée du Louvre (C2RMF), the Anleu de Demarest, and Justin Bracken. A special thanks to Universidad del Valle de Guatemala, The City University of New York Vanderbilt’s Chancellor and Board of Trust for extraordinary support for (CUNY), Youngstown State University, and the Didrichsen Museum of the recent years of research. Finally, we should acknowledge the inadver- Helsinki. As always, the Ministerio de Cultura y Deportes de tent contribution of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency to our ability to Guatemala has been very helpful and supportive. We have many to study beyond the peninsular epicenter through their arrest and extradition thank for unpublished data and/or feedback and help with various of our most belligerent drug lord neighbor!

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