Documenting Cultural Transition Through Contact
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DOCUMENTING CULTURAL TRANSITION THROUGH CONTACT ARCHAEOLOGY IN TÍHOO, MÉRIDA, YUCATÁN by Rhianna C. Rogers A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of The Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Florida Atlantic University Boca Raton, FL August 2010 © Copyright by Rhianna C. Rogers 2010 ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank the many people who have helped me complete this project over the years. First, my dissertation advisor, Dr. Sandra L. Norman, who took an active interest in me and my academic pursuits since I was an undergraduate at Florida Atlantic University (FAU); she was the catalyst behind my pursuit of graduate studies. I would like to acknowledge my mentor, Dr. Graciella Cruz-Taura, for her constant intellectual and emotional support during both my graduate programs. I would like to thank the other members of my dissertation committee, Drs. Susan Love Brown and Arlene Fradkin, for their comments and guidance. I especially want to thank Dr. Clifford Brown and Dr. Fradkin for teaching me what it means to be an archaeologist and how to study native cultures and the Maya. I also would like to acknowledge the Boca Raton branches of the FAU Graduate Student Council and FAU Student Government as well as the Departments of History and Anthropology for funding this project. I would like to say thank you to the University of Florida–Florida Museum of Natural History, specifically Drs. Kathleen Deagan, Susan Milbrath, and Gifford Waters, for giving me access to the Ciudadela collection and providing research guidance. I also would like to thank the University of Texas at Austin–Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Library, specifically then (2005) Head Librarian Ann Hartness, for allowing me to collect and copy colonial Spanish documents from their collections. I also would like to thank the Archivo General de la Nación, iv Mexico City, specifically Director Jorge Ruíz Dueñas, for allowing me to copy and translate colonial documents and the Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México, specifically Director Liborio Villagómez, for allowing me to collect information from their archive. I would like to thank my research assistants, Georgina Yazmín Reyes Gutiérrez and Victoria Beltrán-Kuhn, for helping me collect data in México during (and after) my multiple research trips. I also would like to thank the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH), specifically Director Carlos Peraza Lope, for allowing me to work in the Yucatán and live in the INAH Regional Archive at Telchaquillo/ Mayapan (2005) with Drs. Clifford Brown and Walter R. T. Witschey. I also want to thank Dr. Bruce Dahlin for allowing me to join the final season of his Pakbeh Regional Economic Program (2006) in Chunchucmil, Yucatán; for explaining the importance of cultural ecology to the Maya; and for introducing me to Dr. Larry C. Heilman, one of John Goggin’s research assistants from his 1950s majolica project in the Yucatán. Dr. Heilman’s insight provided me with hours of insightful stories, which were tremendously helpful during the formation of this project. I want to thank the Seminole Tribe of Florida–Tribal Historic Preservation Office and its staff for giving me the opportunity to work in the professional field of archaeology and hone my research skills as an archaeologist during my Ph.D. program. I specifically would like to thank the Tribal Historic Preservation Officer, Willard Steele, for giving me many opportunities to work, volunteer, and direct archaeological projects throughout the state of Florida. I would also like to thank South Florida Bible College for providing financial support for this project and for giving me the opportunity to teach and present the results of this study to students and the greater anthropological community. v Specifically, I would like to thank Dean Esa Autero for his insightful conversations about early Church history and theology. I also would like to acknowledge a few of the many other scholars, colleagues, and friends who offered their advice over the course of this project. Specifically, Dr. James Taggert, Professor of History and Archaeology at Franklin & Marshall College, whose work and research originally inspired me to pursue this project. I also would like to thank Dr. Tim Murray, from La Trobe University in Australia, and Dr. Rodney Harrison, from Open University in the United Kingdom, for explaining the theoretical underpinnings of Contact Archaeology and for providing me with articles to support the application of this approach to my own research. Finally, I would like to say thank you to my close friends and family for their support during this process. I would like to acknowledge my parents, Tony and Cindy Rogers, and thank them for always believing in me and my dream to be an archaeologist. I specifically would like to thank Dennise Rodríguez-Ávila for her emotional support, editing, proofreading, artistic contributions, and willingness to travel with me (and sometimes translate) in Mexico on many of my research trips (thank you just doesn’t say enough!). I also would like to thank Kevin and Cara Hrebik, Stefanie Gapinski, Jaime Jacobs-Thomas, Aimee Lee, Mary Guillen, Kazia Bieluch, and the many others who have helped and supported me during this project. Thank you all very much. vi ABSTRACT Author: Rhianna C. Rogers Title: Documenting Cultural Transition through Contact Archaeology in Tíhoo, Mérida, Yucatán Institution: Florida Atlantic University Dissertation Advisor: Dr. Sandra L. Norman Degree: Doctor of Philosophy Year: 2010 This dissertation is concerned with the role material culture played in transformation and/or retention of Maya authority, just prior to and after Spanish contact (A.D. 1100–1800s). The primary research data used to discuss this transition was derived from the author’s analysis of precolumbian and colonial artifacts from the Ciudadela Structure (YUC 2) in Tíhoo/Mérida, Yucatán—an assemblage originally collected by John Goggin in 1956 and 1957 and currently housed at the University of Florida–Florida Museum of Natural History. As one of the last standing structures in the Maya site of Tíhoo, now buried beneath the Spanish capital city Mérida, the Ciudadela collection represents a rare glimpse into a significant, yet understudied, Type 1 archaeological site. Included in this project are a general examination of Maya studies in the Northwestern Yucatán Corridor and the results of my preliminary classification and vii discussion of materials represented in the YUC 2 assemblage. It is important to note that as a part of this project, I created the first comprehensive catalogs for the YUC 2 Ciudadela collection, entitled FMNH YUC 2: Catalog of Artifacts, FMNH YUC 2: Ceramic Stylistic Catalog and FMNH YUC 2: Non-Ceramic Catalog. Results of the archaeological component of this study illustrated that there was little change in production of indigenous pottery after the fall of Mayapan (ca. A.D. 1441–1461), as inhabitants of precolumbian Tíhoo continued to use preexisting wares from their former capital, particularly those within the Mayapan Red Ware and Mayapan Unslipped Ware classifications, well into the Colonial period. In the Post-Colonial period, a significant change in wares occurred as native inhabitants incorporated foreign ceramic types into their society. Ceramics from Spain, Italy, and England, and porcelains from China and Japan, combined with colonial Mexican Majolica and preexisting Mayapan wares, illustrate the interaction of native inhabitants with European immigrants and their import goods. Although the YUC 2 collection supported the transformation of material culture after Spanish contact, the Maya, through religious practices, militaristic resistance, and oral/written traditions, were able to retain significant aspects of their precolumbian power into the colonial era and beyond. viii DOCUMENTING CULTURAL TRANSITION THROUGH CONTACT ARCHAEOLOGY IN TÍHOO, MÉRIDA, YUCATÁN List of Tables ................................................................................................................... xiii List of Figures ....................................................................................................................xv Chapter 1: Introduction ........................................................................................................1 Objectives of Study .....................................................................................................2 Archaeological Research Justification ...............................................................2 Organization of Dissertation .......................................................................................6 Chapter 2: Previous Research ..............................................................................................9 Archaeological Literature Review ..............................................................................9 The Archaeological Marginalization of Tíhoo ................................................12 The History of the Ciudadela (YUC 2) Collection ..........................................17 Historical Literature Review .....................................................................................21 Chapter 3: The Precolumbian Setting ................................................................................31 Environmental Context .............................................................................................31 Geography