DOCSLIB.ORG

UC Riverside UC Riverside Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
UC Riverside UC Riverside Electronic Theses and Dissertations UC Riverside UC Riverside Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title A Study of Classic Maya Rulership Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6pb5g8h2 Author Wright, Mark Alan Publication Date 2011 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE A Study of Classic Maya Rulership A Dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology by Mark Alan Wright August 2011 Dissertation Committee: Dr. Karl A. Taube, Chairperson Dr. Wendy Ashmore Dr. Stephen D. Houston Copyright by Mark Alan Wright 2011 The Dissertation of Mark Alan Wright is approved: ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ Committee Chairperson University of California, Riverside Acknowledgements Countless people have helped bring this work to light through direct feedback, informal conversations, and general moral support. I am greatly indebted to my dissertation committee, Karl Taube, Wendy Ashmore, and Stephen Houston for their patience, wisdom, and guidance throughout this process. Their comments have greatly improved this dissertation; all that is good within the present study is due to them, and any shortcomings in this work are entirely my responsibility. I would also like to thank Thomas Patterson for sitting in on my dissertation defense committee on impossibly short notice. My first introduction to Maya glyphs came by way of a weekend workshop at UCLA led by Bruce Love back when I was still trying to decide what I wanted to be when I grew up. His enthusiasm and knowledge for the Maya forever altered the trajectory of my undergraduate and graduate studies, and I am grateful for the conversations we‘ve had over the ensuing years at conferences and workshops. I have continued to study the glyphs at the Texas Meetings at Austin, where I have met many wonderful people that have helped me along the way. The following (incomplete) list is comprised of people that I‘ve interacted with through email or at various conferences, symposia or other fora that have given me new insights or ideas concerning my research (and occasionally set me straight on some of my misguided theories). Some of the conversations were brief, others were more detailed, but all made an impact on me. In no particular order, thanks to Marc Zender, Alexandre Tokovinine, Stanley Guenter, Dorie Reents-Budet, Lucia Henderson, Erik Boot, David Stuart, Danny Law, Gerardo Aldana, Mark Van Stone, iv Peter Mathews, Bill Saturno, Kerry Hull, Julia Guernsey, John Clark, Allen Christenson, Michael Coe, Mathew Looper, Genevieve Le Fort, Andrew Weeks, and many others. This dissertation relies heavily on the foundation laid by two great scholars in particular, Pierre ―Robbie‖ Colas and Virginia ―Ginny‖ Fields, both of whom passed away unexpectedly during my time as a graduate student. Robbie‘s work on theonyms and divine titulary is the basis for a large portion of my Chapter 2, and Ginny‘s dissertation examined the origins of divine kingship among the Maya, which is a thread that runs throughout this entire work. I had the honor of knowing Robbie and Ginny, and they both provided me with resources and insights that proved critical to my research. Despite their genius, they exemplified kindness and humility. Thank you to my fellow graduate students in the Anthropology Department at UC Riverside for making the grad school experience much more enjoyable. Thanks especially to Laurie Taylor, Lauren Schwartz, Lucia Gudiel, Melissa Yeager-Farfan, Taisuke Inoue, Shuji Araki, Laurette McGuire, Mike Mathiowetz, Matt Yacubic, Shankari Patel, Patrick Linder,Christina Halperin, Reiko Ishihara-Brito, and Ryan Mongelluzzo, for great conversations over the years. I would also like to thank Brant Gardner and Diane Wirth for helping to create order out of the organizational chaos that I unleashed in the writing process. I would still be in bullet-point limbo were it not for their suggestions. I am greatly indebted for the financial support I received throughout this study to conduct research. The Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship Program (FLAS) funded my language studies in Yucatan in 2007 and 2009. The Ancient America v Foundation funded my language research in 2004 in Jocotán, Guatemala. BYU Religious Education Graduate Studies Grants funded summer research and attendance at the European Maya conference in 2008. I am grateful to the Maxwell Institute at BYU for awarding me the Nibley Fellowship yearly from 2003-2007. On a personal level, I would like to thank my mother, Janet Wright, for raising me in a house full of books about archaeology and a curio cabinet full of artifacts (legally obtained, of course!), for earning a certificate in archaeology from UCLA, for going off to Israel to dig at Tel Dan when I was a teenager, and for dragging me to my first Maya Weekend at UCLA. My love of archaeology (and a good portion of my library) came directly from her. None of this would have been possible without the unconditional love and support of my brilliant and beautiful wife Traci. We met when we were both in graduate school, and she has only ever known me as a stressed-out grad student. She has shown amazing resilience as I have left her for weeks and months on end to do fieldwork or attend conferences, and far too often even when we‘re together my mind ends up wandering around the ancient Maya area instead of truly being with her in the present. Yet she always makes me laugh and she‘s the only one capable of lifting my spirits when I‘m discouraged and she kept me going when I felt like giving up. Now that this chapter (or these five chapters, rather) of our life are behind us, my beloved ―dissertation widow‖ can finally have her husband back. Thank you for believing in me even when I didn‘t believe in myself, Traci. I couldn‘t have done it without you. vi Dedication For Traci vii ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION A Study of Classic Maya Rulership by Mark Alan Wright Doctor of Philosophy, Graduate Program in Anthropology University of California, Riverside, August 2011 Dr. Karl A. Taube, Chairperson Classic period Maya rulers are often reduced to ―ideal types‖ and are discussed in terms that would suggest they were a homogenous group of individuals cut from the same cloth. Contrary to that assumption, this study employs epigraphic, iconographic, archaeological, ethnohistoric and ethnographic data to demonstrate there was significant local and regional variation in the way kingship was expressed through artistic programs, calendrics, ritual activity, accoutrements of power, sacred warfare, the taking of theophoric throne names and titulary, and the composition and adaptation of local pantheons. The identity of each polity was inseparably connected with that of its ruler, and variations on the rulership theme served to reinforce their unique identity in the larger landscape vis-à-vis other polities. The underlying theoretical approach relies on concepts of mimesis and alterity, duality, and complementary opposition, all of which are creative viii acts which serve to establish a sense of Self in contrast to the Other, both human and divine. This study also examines concepts of divine kingship and deification, and argues that rulers were ―functionally divine‖ while living and were elevated to ―ontologically divine‖ status upon becoming apotheosized ancestors after death. As apotheosized ancestors, they took their place in the pliable local pantheon which further reinforced the unique identity of each site. ix Table of Contents Chapter 1 Theoretical, Historical, and Methodological Foundations of the Study of Divine Kingship in Mesoamerica ..................................................................................... 1 The Theoretical Foundation ...................................................................................................... 1 Divine vs. Sacred: The Contested Nature of Kingship among the Classic Maya ......................... 3 The Functional Divinity of Classic Maya Rulers .......................................................................... 6 The Ideological Aspect of Divine Kingship ................................................................................. 7 The Social Aspect of Divine Kingship ......................................................................................... 9 The Divided Aspect of Divine Rule ........................................................................................... 10 The Material Aspect of Divine Kingship ................................................................................... 10 The Historical Foundation of Divine Kingship in Mesoamerica ................................................ 12 The Uniqueness of Each Polity and the Creation of Identity .................................................... 14 Concepts of Self and Other ...................................................................................................... 15 Mimesis ................................................................................................................................... 19 Methodology and Methodological Concerns .......................................................................... 23 Cross-Cultural Comparison and Ethnographic Analogy ....................................................... 23 The (somewhat) Direct Historical Approach .......................................................................
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Importance of La Corona1 Marcello A
    La Corona Notes 1(1) The Importance of La Corona1 Marcello A. Canuto Middle American Research Institute / Tulane University Tomás Barrientos Q. Universidad del Valle de Guatemala In 2008, the Proyecto Regional Arqueológico monuments led to the realization that these texts La Corona (PRALC; directed by Marcello A. contained several terms not only common in, but Canuto and Tomás Barrientos Q.) was established also unique to the texts of Site Q (Stuart 2001). to coordinate archaeological research in the The locative term thought to be the ancient Maya northwestern sector of the Guatemalan Peten. name of Site Q (sak nikte’), the name of a Site Q ruler Centered at the site of La Corona (N17.52 W90.38), (Chak Ak’aach Yuk), titles characteristic of Site Q PRALC initiated the first long-term scientific rulers (sak wayis), and references to Site Q’s most research of both the site and the surrounding important ally (Kaanal), were all present in the region. To a large extent, however, La Corona texts found at La Corona. Despite expressed doubts was well known long before PRALC began its regarding the identification of La Corona as Site Q investigations, since it was ultimately revealed to (Graham 2002), petrographic similarities between be the mysterious “Site Q.” As the origin of over stone samples from a Site Q monument and from two dozen hieroglyphic panels looted in the 1960s exemplars collected at the site of La Corona led and attributed to the as-yet-unidentified “Site Q” Stuart (2001) to suggest that La Corona was Site Q.
    [Show full text]
  • Ancient Maya Afterlife Iconography: Traveling Between Worlds
    University of Central Florida STARS Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 2006 Ancient Maya Afterlife Iconography: Traveling Between Worlds Mosley Dianna Wilson University of Central Florida Part of the Anthropology Commons Find similar works at: https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd University of Central Florida Libraries http://library.ucf.edu This Masters Thesis (Open Access) is brought to you for free and open access by STARS. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 by an authorized administrator of STARS. For more information, please contact [email protected]. STARS Citation Wilson, Mosley Dianna, "Ancient Maya Afterlife Iconography: Traveling Between Worlds" (2006). Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019. 853. https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd/853 ANCIENT MAYA AFTERLIFE ICONOGRAPHY: TRAVELING BETWEEN WORLDS by DIANNA WILSON MOSLEY B.A. University of Central Florida, 2000 A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Department of Liberal Studies in the College of Graduate Studies at the University of Central Florida Orlando, Florida Summer Term 2006 i ABSTRACT The ancient Maya afterlife is a rich and voluminous topic. Unfortunately, much of the material currently utilized for interpretations about the ancient Maya comes from publications written after contact by the Spanish or from artifacts with no context, likely looted items. Both sources of information can be problematic and can skew interpretations. Cosmological tales documented after the Spanish invasion show evidence of the religious conversion that was underway. Noncontextual artifacts are often altered in order to make them more marketable. An example of an iconographic theme that is incorporated into the surviving media of the ancient Maya, but that is not mentioned in ethnographically-recorded myths or represented in the iconography from most noncontextual objects, are the “travelers”: a group of gods, humans, and animals who occupy a unique niche in the ancient Maya cosmology.
    [Show full text]
  • With the Protection of the Gods: an Interpretation of the Protector Figure in Classic Maya Iconography
    University of Central Florida STARS Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 2012 With The Protection Of The Gods: An Interpretation Of The Protector Figure In Classic Maya Iconography Tiffany M. Lindley University of Central Florida Part of the Anthropology Commons Find similar works at: https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd University of Central Florida Libraries http://library.ucf.edu This Masters Thesis (Open Access) is brought to you for free and open access by STARS. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 by an authorized administrator of STARS. For more information, please contact [email protected]. STARS Citation Lindley, Tiffany M., "With The Protection Of The Gods: An Interpretation Of The Protector Figure In Classic Maya Iconography" (2012). Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019. 2148. https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd/2148 WITH THE PROTECTION OF THE GODS: AN INTERPRETATION OF THE PROTECTOR FIGURE IN CLASSIC MAYA ICONOGRAPHY by TIFFANY M. LINDLEY B.A. University of Alabama, 2009 A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Department of Anthropology in the College of Sciences at the University of Central Florida Orlando, Florida Spring Term 2012 © 2012 Tiffany M. Lindley ii ABSTRACT Iconography encapsulates the cultural knowledge of a civilization. The ancient Maya of Mesoamerica utilized iconography to express ideological beliefs, as well as political events and histories. An ideology heavily based on the presence of an Otherworld is visible in elaborate Maya iconography. Motifs and themes can be manipulated to convey different meanings based on context.
    [Show full text]
  • Introducing Izapa
    Ancient Mesoamerica, 29 (2018), 255–264 Copyright © Cambridge University Press, 2018 doi:10.1017/S0956536118000494 INTRODUCING IZAPA Robert M. Rosenswiga and Julia Guernseyb aDepartment of Anthropology, State University of New York at Albany, Albany, New York 12222 bDepartment of Art and Art History, University of Texas, Austin, Texas 78705 Abstract This paper introduces the articles that comprise this Special Issue on Izapa. First, we review early reporting and assessments of Izapa’s monuments as well as archaeological investigations undertaken at the site during the twentieth century. Next, we describe more recent developments in interpretation and new archeological excavations and survey data collected during the past two decades. The papers in this Special Issue present new information that contribute to our evolving understanding of Izapa during the millennium that stretches from the Middle Formative period through the Middle Classic period (700 b.c.–a.d. 600). They serve as a status report on our understanding of the still largely enigmatic ancient kingdom, its regional structure, and connections to contemporaneous Isthmian sites. INTRODUCTION Blanca collapsed after a few centuries, and population declined in the immediate region. Its demise was a continuation of a millennium Izapa followed a trajectory of settled life that began at the beginning of political volatility characterized by a succession of polities coa- of the second millennium b.c. in the Soconusco region of Chiapas lescing and collapsing on the coastal plain (Love 2002b, 2007, and neighboring Guatemala (Figure 1). A series of Early Formative 2011). This rise-and-fall sequence provided the context in which (1900–1000 b.c., all dates calibrated) centers characterize the mounded architecture was adopted at Izapa sometime around 800 Mazatán zone of the Soconusco region (Clark and Pye 2000; b.c.
    [Show full text]
  • Kahk' Uti' Chan Yopat
    Glyph Dwellers Report 57 September 2017 A New Teotiwa Lord of the South: K’ahk’ Uti’ Chan Yopat (578-628 C.E.) and the Renaissance of Copan Péter Bíró Independent Scholar Classic Maya inscriptions recorded political discourse commissioned by title-holding elite, typically rulers of a given city. The subject of the inscriptions was manifold, but most of them described various period- ending ceremonies connected to the passage of time. Within this general framework, statements contained information about the most culturally significant life-events of their commissioners. This information was organized according to discursive norms involving the application of literary devices such as parallel structures, difrasismos, ellipsis, etc. Each center had its own variations and preferences in applying such norms, which changed during the six centuries of Classic Maya civilization. Epigraphers have thus far rarely investigated Classic Maya political discourse in general and its regional-, site-, and period-specific features in particular. It is possible to posit very general variations, for example the presence or absence of secondary elite inscriptions, which makes the Western Maya region different from other areas of the Maya Lowlands (Bíró 2011). There are many other discursive differences not yet thoroughly investigated. It is still debated whether these regional (and according to some) temporal discursive differences related to social phenomena or whether they strictly express literary variation (see Zender 2004). The resolution of this question has several implications for historical solutions such as the collapse of Classic Maya civilization or the hypothesis of status rivalry, war, and the role of the secondary elite. There are indications of ruler-specific textual strategies when inscriptions are relatively uniform; that is, they contain the same information, and their organization is similar.
    [Show full text]
  • Descargar Este Artículo En Formato
    Foias, Antonia E. y Ronald L. Bishop 1994 El colapso Clásico Maya y las vajillas de Pasta Fina en la región de Petexbatun. En VII Simposio de Investigaciones Arqueológicas en Guatemala, 1993 (editado por J.P. Laporte y H. Escobedo), pp.469-489. Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología, Guatemala. 42 EL COLAPSO CLÁSICO MAYA Y LAS VAJILLAS DE PASTA FINA EN LA REGIÓN DE PETEXBATUN Antonia E. Foias Ronald L. Bishop Una teoría prominente sobre el Colapso Clásico Maya de las Tierras Bajas Centrales se refiere a invasiones extranjeras de la región del río Pasión. Clave a esta hipótesis de invasiones extranjeras es un grupo de cerámica llamado vajillas de pasta fina: Gris Fino y Naranja Fino. Se propuso que estas vajillas fueron traídas del área de la Chontalpa por los invasores Putunes (Thompson 1970; Adams 1971, 1973; Sabloff 1973, 1975; Kowalski 1989; Ball y Taschek 1989; Schele y Freidel 1990). Este grupo viajó por el Usumacinta y después por el Pasión donde conquistaron los dos sitios de Ceibal y Altar de Sacrificios. La importancia de estas pastas finas queda entonces como marcador de esta invasión extranjera en las Tierras Bajas Mayas del Oeste. Seguidamente, presentamos nuevos datos sobre estas vajillas (Naranja Fino y Gris Fino) en la región de Petexbatun y discutiremos su significado dentro del problema del colapso en el drenaje del río Pasión. La región Petexbatun se localiza en el suroeste de Petén, Guatemala, entre el río Petexbatun al este, el río Pasión al norte y el río Chixoy-Salinas al oeste (Figura 1). Esta región ha sido el enfoque del Proyecto Arqueológico Regional Petexbatun de la Universidad de Vanderbilt y de la Fundación Mario Dary, bajo la dirección general de Dr.
    [Show full text]
  • LA 119 Maymester Seminar Guatemala and Belize Dr. David
    LA 119 Maymester Seminar Guatemala And Belize Dr. David Stuart, Department of Art and Art History Dr. Stuart’s Office Office Hours email ART 1.412B (Mesoamerica Center) T 1:00-2:30 PM [email protected] Class Times: Tuesdays 2:30 PM - 4:30 PM in ART 2.208 Class meets eight times on the Following dates: January 29, February 12, February 26, March 12, March 26, April 9, April 23, and May 7 Topic Description: Maya civilization emerged on the scene over 3,000 years ago within what is today southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras and El Salvador. The Maya soon developed one of the great civilizations of the ancient world, well known for its impressive ruins, temple pyramids and palaces, stone sculptures, and elaborate hieroglyphic writing system. The Maya experienced profound changes and disruptions throughout their history and development, including the so-called “collapse” of many cities around 800-900 AD. The arrival of the Spanish in the sixteenth century and the British in the 18th century then brought near destruction to their world, but Maya peoples emerged resilient in the wake of conquest in what are now the modern nations of Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, and El Salvador. Today six million strong, the modern Maya continue to express their cultural identity in the art and politics of modern Mexico and Central America. Their cultural legacy has left its mark on northern Central America in many ways, and the tortured indigenous history of the region continues to shape the politics of our own time. Course Objectives: This class prepares students on the history of the Maya of Guatemala and Belize, spanning the Pre-Columbian, Colonial, and modern times, and provides the literature and visual culture background for the Maymester study abroad course on Maya Art and Architecture (ARH 347M) taking place in Guatemala and Belize.
    [Show full text]
  • The Rulers of Palenque a Beginner’S Guide
    The Rulers of Palenque A Beginner’s Guide By Joel Skidmore With illustrations by Merle Greene Robertson Citation: 2008 The Rulers of Palenque: A Beginner’s Guide. Third edition. Mesoweb: www. mesoweb.com/palenque/resources/rulers/PalenqueRulers-03.pdf. Publication history: The first edition of this work, in html format, was published in 2000. The second was published in 2007, when the revised edition of Martin and Grube’s Chronicle of the Maya Kings and Queens was still in press, and this third conforms to the final publica- tion (Martin and Grube 2008). To check for a more recent edition, see: www.mesoweb.com/palenque/resources/rulers/rulers.html. Copyright notice: All drawings by Merle Greene Robertson unless otherwise noted. Mesoweb Publications The Rulers of Palenque INTRODUCTION The unsung pioneer in the study of Palenque’s dynastic history is Heinrich Berlin, who in three seminal studies (Berlin 1959, 1965, 1968) provided the essential outline of the dynasty and explicitly identified the name glyphs and likely accession dates of the major Early and Late Classic rulers (Stuart 2005:148-149). More prominent and well deserved credit has gone to Linda Schele and Peter Mathews (1974), who summarized the rulers of Palenque’s Late Classic and gave them working names in Ch’ol Mayan (Stuart 2005:149). The present work is partly based on the transcript by Phil Wanyerka of a hieroglyphic workshop presented by Schele and Mathews at the 1993 Maya Meet- ings at Texas (Schele and Mathews 1993). Essential recourse has also been made to the insights and decipherments of David Stuart, who made his first Palenque Round Table presentation in 1978 at the age of twelve (Stuart 1979) and has recently advanced our understanding of Palenque and its rulers immeasurably (Stuart 2005).
    [Show full text]
  • The Carved Human Femprs from Tomb 1, Chiapa De Corzo, Chiapas, Mexico
    PAPERS of the NEW WOR LD ARCHAEOLO G ICAL FOUNDATION NUMBER SIX THE CARVED HUMAN FEMPRS FROM TOMB 1, CHIAPA DE CORZO, CHIAPAS, MEXICO by PIERRE AGRINIER PUBLICATION No. 5 NEW WORLD ARCHAEOLOGICAL FOUNDATION ORINDA, CALIFORNIA 1960 NEW WORLD ARCHAEOLOGICAL FOUNDATION 1960 OFFICERS THOMAS STUART FERGUSON, President 1 Irving Lane, Orinda, California ALFRED V. KIDDER, PH.D., First Vice-President MILTON R. HUNTER, PH.D., Vice-President ScoTT H. DUNHAM, Secretary-Treasurer J. ALDEN MASON, PH.D., Editor and Field Advisor GARETH W. LowE, Field Director, 1956-1959 FREDRICK A. PETERSON, Field Director, 1959-1960 DIRECTORS ADVISORY COMMITTEE SCOTT H. DUNHAM, C.P.A. PEDRO ARMILLAS, PH.D. THOMAS STUART FERGUSON, ESQ. GORDON F. EKHOLM, PH.D. M. WELLS JAKEMAN, PH.D. J. POULSON HUNTER, M.D. ALFRED V. KIDDER, PH.D. MILTON R. HUNTER, PH.D. ALFRED V. KIDDER, PH.D. EDITORIAL OFFICE NICHOLAS G. MORGAN, SR. ALDEN MASON LE GRAND RICHARDS J. UNIVERSITY MUSEUM ERNEST A. STRONG UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA Philadelphia 4, Pa. J. ALDEN MASON EDITOR Orders for and correspondence regarding the publications of The New World Archaeological Foundation should be sent to SCOTT H. DUNHAM, Secretary 510 Crocker Building San Francisco 4, California Price $2.00 Printed by THE LEGAL INTELLIGENCER Philadelphia 4, Pa. PAPERS of the NEW WOR LD ARCHAEOLO G ICAL FOUNDATION NUMBER SIX THE CARVED HUMAN FEMURS FROM TOMB 1, CHIAP A DE CORZO, CHIAPAS, MEXICO by PIERRE AGRINIER PUB LICATION No. 5 NEW WoRLD ARCHAEOLOGICAL FOUNDATION ORINDA, CALIFORNIA 1960 CONTENTS PAGE INTRODUCTION 1 I. DESCRIPTION ..•...........•......................•... 2 Bone 1 .................................... 2 Bone 2 2 Bone 3 2 Bone 4 3 Technique ................................................
    [Show full text]
  • CHRONOLOGY of the RÍO BEC SETTLEMENT and ARCHITECTURE Eric Taladoire, Sara Dzul, Philippe Nondédéo, Mélanie Forné
    CHRONOLOGY OF THE RÍO BEC SETTLEMENT AND ARCHITECTURE Eric Taladoire, Sara Dzul, Philippe Nondédéo, Mélanie Forné To cite this version: Eric Taladoire, Sara Dzul, Philippe Nondédéo, Mélanie Forné. CHRONOLOGY OF THE RÍO BEC SETTLEMENT AND ARCHITECTURE. Ancient Mesoamerica, Cambridge University Press (CUP), 2013, 24 (02), pp.353-372. 10.1017/S0956536113000254. hal-01851495 HAL Id: hal-01851495 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01851495 Submitted on 30 Jul 2018 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Ancient Mesoamerica, 24 (2013), 353–372 Copyright © Cambridge University Press, 2014 doi:10.1017/S0956536113000254 CHRONOLOGY OF THE RÍO BEC SETTLEMENT AND ARCHITECTURE Eric Taladoire,a Sara Dzul,b Philippe Nondédéo,a and Mélanie Fornéc aCNRS-Université de Paris Panthéon-Sorbonne, UMR 8096 Archéologie des Amériques, 21 allée de l’Université, F-92023, Nanterre Cedex, France bCentro Regional INAH, Yucatan, Antigua Carretera a Progreso s/n, km 6.5, prolongación Montejo. Col. Gonzalo Guerrero, C.P. 97310. Mérida, Yucatán cPost-doctoral researcher, Cancuen Project, CEMCA-Antenne Amérique Centrale Ambassade de France 5 Av. 8-59 Zone 14, Guatemala C-A Abstract Chronology is a crucial issue given the specific settlement patterns of the Río Bec region located on the northern fringe of the Maya central lowlands.
    [Show full text]
  • Maya Writing Comprehension Questions
    Maya Writing The Maya were one of the five ancient civilisations to have Although all the ancient Maya people shared the same culture, the Maya people from different cities independently developed a fully-fledged writing system. The and villages had their own distinct customs, clothing and language. This meant that there was not earliest examples of Maya writing were found in San Bartolo, one single Mayan language. There are over 800 Maya glyphs, but we can only decipher around Guatemala and date to as far back as 300 BC. 400 of them at the moment. The Maya people used a hieroglyphic writing system. Hieroglyphic Examples of Maya writing have been found carved in wood, on pottery, on stone monuments and writing consisted of signs or symbols called hieroglyphs or glyphs in codices (books). In addition to this, writing has also been found on lintels in their temples as well. for short. The glyphs in Maya writing were either logograms (which represent words), or syllabograms (which represent a unit of sound). The syllabograms would then be combined Codices written by Maya priests and scholars contained within a single glyph block and read together to create a word. information about astronomy, religion and gods. However, only As the Maya often had several syllabograms to represent the four known copies have survived to date. In 1562, a Catholic same sound, people could be creative when writing and choose priest called Diego de Landa ordered the mass burning of a different syllabograms to build up words. It seems that the Maya number of Maya codices, condemning them as a work of the preferred to vary how they spelt words within the same piece of devil.
    [Show full text]
  • Maya Use and Prevalence of the Atlatl: Projectile Point Classification Function Analysis from Chichen Itza, Tikal, and Caracol
    University of Central Florida STARS Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 2012 Maya Use And Prevalence Of The Atlatl: Projectile Point Classification unctionF Analysis From Chichen Itza, Tikal, And Caracol Andrew J. Ciofalo University of Central Florida Part of the Anthropology Commons Find similar works at: https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd University of Central Florida Libraries http://library.ucf.edu This Masters Thesis (Open Access) is brought to you for free and open access by STARS. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 by an authorized administrator of STARS. For more information, please contact [email protected]. STARS Citation Ciofalo, Andrew J., "Maya Use And Prevalence Of The Atlatl: Projectile Point Classification unctionF Analysis From Chichen Itza, Tikal, And Caracol" (2012). Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019. 2111. https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd/2111 MAYA USE AND PREVALENCE OF THE ATLATL: PROJECTILE POINT CLASSIFICATION FUNCTION ANALYSIS FROM CHICHÉN ITZÁ, TIKAL, AND CARACOL by ANDREW J. CIOFALO B.A. University of Massachusetts, 2007 A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Department of Anthropology in the College of Sciences at the University of Central Florida Orlando, Florida Spring Term 2012 © 2012 Andrew Joseph Ciofalo ii ABSTRACT Multiple scholars have briefly discussed the Maya use of the atlatl. Yet, there has never been a decisive encompassing discussion of prevalence and use of the atlatl in the Maya region with multiple lines of support from iconographic and artifactual analyses. This thesis explores the atlatl at Chichén Itzá, Tikal, and Caracol Maya sites to prove that atlatl prevalence can be interpreted primarily based on projectile point “classification function” analysis with support from iconographic and artifactual remains.
    [Show full text]