Ancient Maya Commoners THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK Ancient Maya Commoners edited by jon c. lohse and fred valdez, jr. University of Texas Press Austin Copyright © 2004 by the University of Texas Press Allrightsreserved Printed in the United States of America First edition, 2004 Requests for permission to reproduce material from this work should be sent to Permissions, University of Texas Press, P.O. Box 7819, Austin, TX 78713-7819. Thepaperusedinthisbookmeetstheminimumrequirementsof ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (R1997) (Permanence of Paper). Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Ancient Maya commoners / edited by Jon C. Lohse and Fred Valdez, Jr.— 1st ed. p. cm. ‘‘Most of these papers were originally presented as part of a symposium organized forthe1999AmericanAnthropologicalAssociationmeetingsheldinChicago, IL’’—Ack. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-292-70571-9 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Mayas—Social conditions—Congresses. 2. Mayas—Antiquities—Congresses. 3. Working class—Central America—History—Congresses. 4. Social structure— Central America—History—Congresses. 5. Land settlement patterns—Central America—Congresses. I. Lohse, Jon C., 1968– II. Valdez, Fred. III. American Anthropological Association. Meeting (98th : 1999 : Chicago, Ill.) F1435.3.S68A53 2004 972.81'01—dc22 2004004631 In memory of the late Professors Gordon R. Willey and Eric R. Wolf, pioneers whose achievements continue to advance our understanding of ordinary people, both past and present. THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK Contents Acknowledgments ix 1. Examining Ancient Maya Commoners Anew 1 jon c. lohse and fred valdez, jr. 2. Daily Life in a Highland Maya Community: Zinacantan in Mid-Twentieth Century 23 evon z. vogt 3. The Role of Pottery and Food Consumption among Late Preclassic Maya Commoners at Lamanai, Belize 49 terry g. powis 4. Of Salt and Water: Ancient Commoners on the Pacific Coast of Guatemala 73 bárbara arroyo 5. Down on the Farm: Classic Maya ‘‘Homesteads’’ as ‘‘Farmsteads’’ 97 nicholas dunning 6. Intra-Site Settlement Signatures and Implications for Late Classic Maya Commoner Organization at Dos Hombres, Belize 117 jon c. lohse 7. Heterogeneous Hinterlands: The Social and Political Organization of Commoner Settlements near Xunantunich, Belize 147 jason yaeger and cynthia robin viii Contents 8. The Spatial Mobility of Non-Elite Populations in Classic Maya Society and Its Political Implications 175 takeshi inomata 9. Commoners in Postclassic Maya Society: Social versus Economic Class Constructs 197 marilyn a. masson and carlos peraza lope 10. Methods for Understanding Classic Maya Commoners: Structure Function, Energetics, and More 225 nancy gonlin 11. Maya Commoners: The Stereotype and the Reality 255 joyce marcus Contributors 285 Index 287 Acknowledgments We are grateful to the many individuals who contributed in some mea- sure to this edited volume. Most of these papers were originally presented as part of a symposium organized for the 1999 American Anthropological Association meetings held in Chicago, IL, and we appreciate the various contributors’ efforts to revise their presentations into the chapters that follow. The chapters by Nancy Gonlin and Marilyn Masson were added subsequent to the conference to ‘‘fill in’’ important gaps in chronological, regional, or topical coverage; we appreciate these authors’ willingness to contribute their studies to this collection. Evon Vogt, who served as the session discussant, graciously revised his contribution from a summary to an account of daily Zinacanteco life in the mid-twentieth century. Finally, we are indebted to Joyce Marcus, who, though also not a participant in the original session, prepared the excellent summary chapter for the volume. At the University of Texas Press, we are grateful for the dedicated efforts of Theresa May and her assistant Allison Faust on our behalf in helping to steer early versions of this manuscript through the review and university committee approval process. Carolyn Wylie helped with the production of the volume, and Nancy Warrington did an excellent job as copyeditor. Linda Webster prepared the index, and Ellen Gibbs and Regina Fuentes served as proofreaders. Additionally, the help of designer Ellen McKie is acknowledged in working with the illustrations, particu- larly the cover. We appreciate the contributions of all these people. Finally, we are indebted to Frank Cancian for allowing the use of one of his extraordinary photographs (© 1974, courtesy of Frank Cancian) taken during his tenure on the Harvard Chiapas Project as the cover illustra- tion for this book. It serves, we think, as an appropriate reminder of the intimacy and vibrancy that defines the subject matter of this volume, and much else in the Maya world. THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK Ancient Maya Commoners THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK CHAPTER 1 Examining Ancient Maya Commoners Anew jon c. lohse and fred valdez, jr. Studies of ancient complex societies are often charged with answering basic questions such as how such civilizations came about, how they adaptedspecializedstrategiesallowingthemtocontendwithwidelydi- verse environments, and why they ceased to exist. Archaeologists nec- essarily rely on theoretical models, sometimes using ethnographically or ethnohistorically based bridging arguments to provide humanistic expla- nations for these complex and dynamic processes. These accounts deter- mine to a very large degree how social scientists and, ultimately, the gen- eral public come to understand ancient societies and the roles different people played in them. An array of frameworks, approaches, and perspectives have been em- ployed through the years to address questions such as these, particularly in the case of the prehistoric Maya of Central America, though the ma- jority of these frameworks have tended to focus on the behavior of only a small segment of society. Highlighted individuals, many of whom are known to us by name thanks to advances in epigraphy, were community and polity leaders whose actions are perceived as influencing the course of culture history. Most people today are, quite understandably, comfortable with this picture; it accords well with the model of our own society. How- ever, while the point that such individuals long ago played central roles seems beyond question, we suggest that much Maya scholarship tradition- ally has failed to account for the vast majority of historic and prehistoric populations. It is our immediate goal to bring attention to the rich diversity that characterized social non-elites in Maya society. Looking into the future, we hope to encourage a thoughtful reconsideration of both the overt theo- retical perspectives and implicit assumptions applied to the study of pre- 2 Jon C. Lohse & Fred Valdez, Jr. historic elites and commoners alike. The most important theme under- lying our approach, a theme that is reiterated throughout many of the chapters in this volume, involves examining commoners on their terms, accordingtotherolestheydid play in providing the economic base for the social, political, and ideological institutions in ancient Mesoamerica. This view is indispensable to the study of ancient civilizations such as the Maya, for, as has been noted by many, commoners ‘‘allowed the special- ized division of labor that led to writing, metallurgy, monumental archi- tecture, cities, and the great religious and artistic traditions we associate with civilization’’ (Peoples and Bailey 1997:146–147). Seeing Ancient Maya Commoners Even though individuals of non-elite status constituted anywhere between 80 and 98 percent of the population in pre-Columbian times, our percep- tion and understanding of commoners are frequently based on compari- sons with elites, in terms of both material well-being and behaviors under- taken in broader social contexts. Recently, Rosemary Joyce (1994:182) succinctly characterized some distinctions between commoners and elites: ‘‘Thus, the elite become those who use imported or elaborate goods, con- sume more of these goods in life (as seen in middens) and death (as seen in burials), draw on greater energy for the construction of their living sites, and have less evidence of malnutrition or poor health’’ (emphasis added). Focusing on what elites do (and by implication what commoners do not do), Arlen Chase and Diane Chase (1992:3) identify elites simply as ‘‘those who run society’s institutions.’’ Perspectives such as these, perfectly valid and with deep roots in Western anthropology, reflect something of an imbalance in the ways commoners of the past are approached, or not, in archaeology. Qualitiesascribedtothenon-eliteareoftendefinedinreferenceto those displayed by paramount status holders in society. Archaeologists frequently see commoners as ‘‘small’’ (versus larger-than-life rulers often glorified on stone monuments), ‘‘impoverished’’ (when compared to elab- orate palaces and grave offerings of the high and mighty), ‘‘unempow- ered’’ (in the face of elite decisions on most weighty social matters), and ‘‘anonymous’’ (in that none are known to us by name or individual deed). In her summary chapter to this volume, Joyce Marcus evaluates some additional stereotypes of commoners. Throughout the history of anthropology, commoners have been variously characterized as faceless, Examining Ancient Maya Commoners Anew 3 internally homogeneous, and relatively inert in terms of their impacts on cultural development and processes. Karl Marx (1971:230), for example, egregiously described the