Perspective Peopling the past: New perspectives on the ancient Maya Cynthia Robin* Department of Anthropology, Northwestern University, 1810 Hinman Avenue, Evanston, IL 60208 The new direction in Maya archaeology is toward achieving a greater understanding of the Maya area and in highland Mexico, people and their roles and their relations in the past. To answer emerging humanistic near the city of Teotihuacan. Stylistically, questions about ancient people’s lives Mayanists are increasingly making use of new and the vessels in Yax K’uk’ Mo’s tomb resem- existing scientific methods from archaeology and other disciplines. Maya archaeology is ble those of royal tombs from the Maya bridging the divide between the humanities and sciences to answer questions about cities of Tikal and Kaminaljuyu. To date, ancient people previously considered beyond the realm of archaeological knowledge. the study of epigraphy, bone chemistry, and ceramic chemistry at Copa´n combine uestions about time, space, and peo- tem. Classic Maya rulers recorded ver- to provide an unusual glimpse into Yax ple form the core of the social sci- sions of their life histories in hieroglyphic Q K’uk’ Mo’s personal origins and suggest ences. Given the material and spatial na- texts and images inscribed throughout close, and likely face-to-face, interaction ture of the archaeological record, their cities. These public narratives com- among ancient Maya elites. archaeologists have always been at the bined history, worldview, and personal The analysis of burials, from social and forefront of research on time and space. and political goals, strategies, and agen- bioarchaeological perspectives, has always Over the past century Maya archaeolo- das. They provide personalized glimpses been a critical means for archaeologists to gists have developed a deep understand- into the lives of rulers and other elites.‡ ing of the duration and spatial extent of assess past people—rich and poor. Maya occupation in the Maya area [which ex- Finding Out About the People burial studies are particularly illuminating tends at least as far back as the Paleo- An example of the new multidisciplinary because the ancient Maya typically buried Indian period ca. 10,000 before Christ and work in Maya archaeology comes from the people in the floors of their houses, rather includes what is now Guatemala, Belize, Early Copa´n Acropolis Project, directed than in cemeteries. Like archaeologists southern Mexico, western Honduras, and by Robert Sharer. Excavations in the civic- studying cemeteries, Mayanists have ana- El Salvador; Fig. 1 (1–4)].† The new di- ceremonial heart of this ancient city in lyzed burials to examine how personhood rection in Maya archaeology, and archae- Honduras located the tomb of a male (self, gender, sexuality, age, beauty) inter- ology in general, is toward a greater un- considered to be the dynastic founder, sect with socio-economic (status, diet, derstanding of people in the past (5). The Yax K’uk’ Mo’. Throughout world histo- health), political, and religious dimensions fundamental, but inanimate, questions of ry—and Copa´n is no exception here— of life. But because people were buried in what, when, and where, are being comple- kings have sought to legitimate their the floors of their houses, Mayanists also mented by animate questions of how, why, power by claiming to have arrived from a can use burial analyses to reconstruct fam- by whom, and with what meaning. distant realm. In one of his inscriptions, ily grouping and from these infer kin This study of a peopled past brings to Copa´n’sfounder seems to make such a organization and relationships (9, 10). the interpretive foreground what we have claim. Archaeologists and historians often Even from some of the humblest house- always known: the disembodied materials have been baffled to determine the truth holds, Patricia McAnany has discerned that constitute the contemporary archae- behind such statements. Did the king re- from distinctive patterning in the form ological record are simply the remains of ally come from afar? Or was he just using and location of interments how ordinary once active ancient landscapes. To answer that claim to legitimate his power? How people revered the important personages humanistic questions about the lives of would we know if all we have access to, (ancestors) from their kin group (11). ancient people Maya archaeologists are beyond the claim, is the buried remains of Even more intimate details of people’s increasingly making use of new and exist- the king’s body? Jane Buikstra’s innova- lives are now being gleaned through new ing scientific methods to complement tive application of strontium isotope ratio applications of existing bioarchaeological more conventional archaeological and art analysis on Yax K’uk’ Mo’s remains de- techniques. Lori Wright and Francisco historical analyses. This multidisciplinary termined both that Yax K’uk’ Mo’ had Chew have used collagen analysis in infant research bridges the divide between the arrived at Copa´n in late adulthood and bones and stable oxygen isotope ratios of humanities and sciences. It enables ar- had likely come from the Pete´n area of adult tooth enamel to determine how long chaeologists to propose answers to ques- Guatemala, where the major Maya city of women living in the Dos Pilas region of tions previously considered beyond the Tikal is located (7). Corroborating evi- Guatemala breast fed their children (12). realm of archaeological knowledge— dence for Yax K’uk’ Mo’s extensive net- questions about people’s life cycles and work of long-distance communications life histories, and their perceptions of the comes from Ellen Bell, Dorie Reents- *E-mail: [email protected]. world. Another significant breakthrough Budet, and Ron Bishop’s neutron activa- †I refer readers to the aforementioned reviews for more in the ability of archaeologists to under- tion analysis of the ceramic offerings from extensive bibliographies than space permits here. stand ancient Maya people has been the his tomb (8). The tomb contained locally ‡A review of recent research in Maya epigraphy would require a separate article. For an overview of recent re- decipherment of the Classic (anno Domini manufactured vessels, as well as those search see ref. 6. Herein I will reference epigraphic research 250–900) Maya hieroglyphic writing sys- manufactured in various other locales in as it is part of multidisciplinary research programs. 18–21 ͉ PNAS ͉ January 2, 2001 ͉ vol. 98 ͉ no. 1 Downloaded by guest on September 30, 2021 contexts it is impossible to locate actual preserved at Cere´n we even know the types people (in human remains, images, or of wood people used in construction and the texts). Peopling the past is about under- range of food they planted, ate, and pre- standing the interconnections between sumably traded or provided as tribute (42). people and other aspects of social life. Interestingly, the residents of Cere´n’s hum- Whether or not we can find people in the ble households had sufficient housing, a archaeological record, we can infer their good food supply, and an elaborate aesthetic presence, roles, and relations. In Maya sense (which included objects of their own studies, as in archaeological research manufacture as well as highly regarded ob- around the world, the development of jects acquired from elsewhere). Indeed the household, community, and settlement ar- quality of life for ancient Cere´n inhabitants chaeology has been a springboard for was much better than that of contemporary analyses of a peopled past. It has now been rural El Salvadoraneos. But Sheets (22) many decades since Maya archaeology cautions us not to see Cere´n as a ‘‘Garden of deserved its old stereotype of being ‘‘the Eden.’’ Cere´n’sinhabitants were not eco- archaeology of temples and tombs.’’ From nomically self-sufficient. Many of their daily the 1960s onward the pioneering work of essentials came from elsewhere and their Gordon Willey and Wendy Ashmore, local resources were hardly equal to those of among many others, has inspired new the higher status people with whom they generations of archaeological research interacted. into the places where people really lived: Given the poor preservation in the trop- households, communities, and settle- ics, we usually can’t assess the richness of ments (19–21). To illustrate this research people’s everyday lives the way we can at I discuss below two household archaeol- Cere´n.But Mayanists are turning to more Fig. 1. Map of the Maya area showing major sites ogy case studies, one from the Cere´n extensive excavations of households, and and sites mentioned in the text. Project directed by Payson Sheets (22, 23), even whole neighborhoods and communi- and the other from the Xunantunich Ar- ties, to collect more comprehensive infor- chaeological Project, directed by Richard mation on people’s everyday lives. Even at The up to 4 years of ancient mothers’ Leventhal and Wendy Ashmore (24–28). Cere´n,the excavation of a house in isolation breast feeding is more than twice as long The rural village of Cere´n in El Salva- or the excavation of a test pit (a small, often as contemporary breast feeding. Intrigu- dor is the Pompeii of the New World. no larger than2mby2m,excavation ingly, the Classic period adults of this area Around anno Domini 600 the Loma resembling a telephone booth) into a house, survived childhood anemia to a much Caldera volcano erupted, burying Cere´n would not provide sufficient evidence for greater extent than contemporary people documenting everyday life. We conducted survive this disease. This leads Wright and below 5 meters of ash. Because the erup- tion was sudden, Cere´n’s inhabitants extensive excavations of rural settlements Chew to the seemingly counterintuitive ANTHROPOLOGY could only run from the village and had to throughout the Xunantunich polity in Bel- conclusion that ancient Maya children ize, in conjunction with excavations within were living under healthier conditions leave their possessions behind.