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'Event' at the Classic Maya City of Palenque, Mexico by Lisa M

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'Event' at the Classic Maya City of Palenque, Mexico by Lisa M Tracing the Ritual ‘Event’ at the Classic Maya City of Palenque, Mexico By Lisa M. Johnson A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Professor Rosemary A. Joyce, Chair Professor Lisa Maher Professor Lisa Trever Summer 2018 Abstract Tracing the Ritual ‘Event’ at the Classic Maya City of Palenque, Mexico By Lisa M. Johnson Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology University of California, Berkeley Professor Rosemary A. Joyce, Chair In this dissertation, I consider a theoretically driven methodological approach to the study of ritual in archaeology. Inspired by a renewed materialist perspective, the project employs a comprehensive series of methodologies in a study of ancient Maya ritual. Through excavations of two funerary shrines of an elite residence in the city of Palenque, it considers each discrete context not as a “ritual deposit” but as an ‘event.’ Each ‘event’ was comprehensively sampled in order to recover the residues and traces of past actions, and of the various materials brought together in a moment of heightened relationality. The inclusion of multiple macroscale and microscale archaeological methods together not only identifies residues of materials previously undetected, but also employs a microhistorical approach. Micromorphology of ‘events’ shrinks the time frame of analyses and presents archaeological stratigraphy as lived, generational, time. Paleoethnobotanical, zooarchaeological and micromorphological analyses combined with a single context excavation strategy resulted in the recovery and identification of periodic ritual events carried out in honor of the dead. The ancient residence under consideration, known as “Group IV,” was materially rich and politically well connected. The leading members of the house were recorded in texts in the residential group as well as in the main palace, thus providing additional lines of evidence to pull from in order to explore the ritual life of the generations of Maya that lived, died, and were buried in what is suspected to be a founding residence. This work not only provides a general framework for archaeological approaches to the study of ritual in the past, but also provides important information for Maya studies in particular. Few studies in the Maya area have been fortunate enough to have a residence with the names of its occupants, as well as accompanying well-dated, fine-grained stratigraphic resolution that coincides with occupation of the residence within the span of a human lifetime. 1 To the women that have taught me strength and persistence when faced with life’s challenges: my grandmother, Hazel D. Farr (1922 – 2013) and my mother, Mary L. Harding i Table of Contents List of Figures ................................................................................................................................ iv Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ vi Chapter 1: Introduction ................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 2: Theorizing the Ritualized “Event” ................................................................................ 7 Beliefs in Action ......................................................................................................................... 8 Ritual as Practice, or Ritualization............................................................................................ 10 Bounded by the ‘event’ ............................................................................................................. 13 Contemplating the Ritualized ‘Event’ Within a ‘New Materialist’ Ontology .......................... 15 Meaning in Ritual ..................................................................................................................... 20 A Consideration of “Special Deposits” as an ‘Event’ .............................................................. 21 Chapter 3: Analyzing the Ritualized ‘Event’ ................................................................................ 24 Plants among the Maya ............................................................................................................. 25 Recovering Evidence of Ancient Maya Plant Use .................................................................... 27 Animals in Maya Ritual ............................................................................................................ 30 Archaeological recovery of Animals ........................................................................................ 31 Anthropogenic Sediments – detecting the single event ............................................................ 32 Residues .................................................................................................................................... 36 Durable Materials in Maya Ritual............................................................................................. 37 Documentary, Epigraphic and Iconographic Sources ............................................................... 39 Research Design........................................................................................................................ 40 Chapter 4: Palenque: A City of Vibrant Matter ............................................................................ 44 Palenque in the Maya World..................................................................................................... 44 Sedimentation and a History of Becoming: The Urban ‘Exo-Skeleton’ .................................. 50 Matter-Energy Flow .................................................................................................................. 58 Ritualized Events in the City .................................................................................................... 60 Chapter 5: Group IV: The House of Chak Sutz’ and His Ancestors ............................................ 66 Ritual in the East ....................................................................................................................... 71 Event 1: Burying a Founding Member ..................................................................................... 73 Event 2: Feeding the Dead ........................................................................................................ 78 Event 3: Constructing an Altar ................................................................................................. 86 ii Event 4: Events of Burning during the Construction of a Formal Mausoleum ........................ 91 Another mausoleum is built (J6) ............................................................................................... 97 Event 1: Burying another loved one ......................................................................................... 97 Event 2: A Re-entry Event to Dress the Body ........................................................................ 101 Event 3: A Vaulted Chamber .................................................................................................. 102 Discussion ............................................................................................................................... 110 Considering the ‘event’ in Group IV ...................................................................................... 115 Micromorphology Outside of the Ritual Event ...................................................................... 117 Chapter 6: Conclusion................................................................................................................. 119 References Cited ......................................................................................................................... 122 Appendix 1: Harris Matrices Group IV ...................................................................................... 151 Appendix 2: Carbon Dates .......................................................................................................... 153 2.1 Table of Carbon Dates submitted to DirectAMS .............................................................. 153 2.2: Calibrated AMS carbon dates, listed by operation and locus (Figure generated by OxCal) ................................................................................................................................................. 153 Appendix 3: Assembled Materials of Group IV Events ............................................................. 154 Appendix 4: Micromorphology Data .......................................................................................... 155 4.1 Components identified in thin section from micromorphological samples from Group IV ................................................................................................................................................. 155 4.2: Description of Microfacies: ............................................................................................. 156 4.3: Images of microfacies and interpretations ....................................................................... 157 4.4 Additional Micromorphology Images............................................................................... 158 4.5: Scanned Micromorphology Analysis Forms ..................................................................
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