CULTURAL VARIATION IN THE MAYA CITY OF PALENQUE by Lauren Rebecca Herckis BA Anthropology, University of Michigan, 1999 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2015 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH The Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences This dissertation was presented by Lauren Rebecca Herckis It was defended on April 29th, 2015 and approved by Dr. Marc Bermann, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology Dr. Olivier de Montmollin, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology Dr. Lara Putnam, Professor and Chair, Deparment of History Dissertation Advisor: Dr. Robert D. Drennan, Distinguished Professor, Department of Anthropology ii Copyright © by Lauren Rebecca Herckis 2015 iii CULTURAL VARIATION IN THE MAYA CITY OF PALENQUE Lauren Rebecca Herckis, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2015 Mesoamerican archaeological research has made recent inroads toward an understanding of the cultural diversity inherent in hinterland settlements and amongst commoners. Research in other disciplines has long shone a light on the many ways in which people who imagine themselves part of the same larger community may construct their identities through varying interpretations of community characteristics. Little archaeological research has been undertaken at the intersection of these concepts: the role of the city in hinterland identity and vice versa, particularly in the ways that common people living on the fringes of urban centers and people living in the urban core of ancient cities might differentially perform identity through domestic ritual and daily practice. This research presents a case study in the elaboration of difference across commoner households in two hinterland neighborhoods associated with the ancient Maya city of Palenque, focusing particularly on the ways in which the dynamic force of human agency can shape production, exchange, and domestic ritual. A diachronic examination of domestic remains reveals a high degree of complex heterogeneity at the level of the neighborhood. Two clusters of house groups located approximately fifteen kilometers apart were situated differently in the economic, political, urban, and ritual landscapes of the Palenque polity. Commoners living in these neighborhoods both shaped and were shaped by the ritual practices and political economy of Palenque’s dynastic elites. iv A set of unifying political and economic trends which span the region played different roles in the lives of people living in different neighborhoods. Some distinctions between neighborhoods, such as variation in household ritual, the use of fossils and fossil-bearing materials, food processing and feasting practices, the use of imported volcanic materials, and the technostylistic choices made by potters, demonstrate ways in which people living in close proximity to one another were selective about their engagement with larger trends. Other distinctions, such as differences in chipped stone tool production, consumption, and exchange, ceramic production and exchange, and the kinds of imported resources used in hinterland households, illustrate the different roles played by inhabitants of different neighborhoods in the political economy of the Palenque polity. v TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE ................................................................................................................................. XIX 1.0 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 1 1.1 REGIONAL CONTEXT ..................................................................................... 4 1.2 EVOLUTION OF THE CURRENT RESEARCH ........................................... 7 2.0 PREVIOUS RESEARCH .......................................................................................... 10 2.1 PALENQUE AS AN URBAN CENTER ......................................................... 10 2.2 ELITES AND COMMONERS ......................................................................... 15 2.3 NEIGHBORHOODS ......................................................................................... 17 2.4 WATER IN MAYALAND ................................................................................ 18 2.5 POLITICAL INTEGRATION OF THE HINTERLAND ............................. 20 2.5.1 Secondary Centers ......................................................................................... 22 2.6 DOMESTIC RITUAL AT PALENQUE ......................................................... 24 2.7 CERAMICS AT PALENQUE .......................................................................... 24 2.8 STYLISTIC VARIATION AND CULTURE AT PALENQUE .................... 29 3.0 METHODOLOGY ..................................................................................................... 31 4.0 HOUSEHOLD UNITS AND NEIGHBORHOODS ................................................ 36 4.1 AREA A HOUSE GROUPS ............................................................................. 39 4.1.1 Site 76 .............................................................................................................. 40 vi 4.1.2 Site 78 .............................................................................................................. 43 4.1.3 Site 79 .............................................................................................................. 45 4.1.4 Site 94 .............................................................................................................. 47 4.2 AREA B HOUSE GROUPS .............................................................................. 49 4.2.1 Sites 122 and 123 ............................................................................................ 50 4.2.2 Site 125 ............................................................................................................ 52 4.2.3 Sites 128 and 129 ............................................................................................ 53 4.2.4 Site 128 ............................................................................................................ 55 4.2.5 Site 129 ............................................................................................................ 55 4.2.6 Site 149 ............................................................................................................ 55 4.3 ECOLOGY AND TOPOGRAPHY .................................................................. 56 4.4 COMPARING AREAS A AND B .................................................................... 58 5.0 LONG DISTANCE EXCHANGE IN THE LOWLANDS ..................................... 59 5.1 OBSIDIAN EXCHANGE ................................................................................. 60 5.1.1 Exchange of Obsidian in the Western Lowlands ........................................ 60 5.1.2 Exchange of Obsidian in and Around Palenque ......................................... 61 5.1.3 Exchange of Obsidian in the Neighborhoods .............................................. 63 5.1.4 Obsidian Use .................................................................................................. 67 5.1.5 Exchange of Obsidian in the Neighborhoods .............................................. 68 5.2 OTHER VOLCANICS ...................................................................................... 70 5.2.1 Exchange of Volcanic Ash in and Around Palenque .................................. 70 5.2.2 Volcanic Temper in the Neighborhoods ...................................................... 71 5.2.3 Exchange of Volcanic Ground Stone in and Around Palenque ................ 73 vii 5.2.4 Exchange of Volcanic Materials in the Neighborhoods ............................. 75 5.3 EXCHANGE OF FINE WARES IN THE MAYA AREA ............................. 76 5.3.1 Exchange of Fine Wares in and Around Palenque ..................................... 77 5.3.2 Exchange of Fine Wares in the Neighborhoods .......................................... 78 5.4 LONG DISTANCE EXCHANGE IN AREA A .............................................. 79 5.5 LONG DISTANCE EXCHANGE IN AREA B .............................................. 81 5.6 LONG DISTANCE EXCHANGE IN CONTEXT.......................................... 82 6.0 CRAFT PRODUCTION ............................................................................................ 87 6.1 PRODUCTION OF CERAMICS IN THE REGION..................................... 88 6.1.1 Ceramics Recovered from Hinterland Commoner House Groups ........... 89 6.1.2 Organic Tempers ........................................................................................... 90 6.1.3 Calcite Tempers ............................................................................................. 91 6.1.4 Paste Traditions ............................................................................................. 93 6.1.5 Reduction Firing ............................................................................................ 97 6.1.6 Formal Variation ........................................................................................... 98 6.1.7 Production of Ceramics in the Neighborhoods ......................................... 108 6.2 PRISMATIC BLADE PRODUCTION ......................................................... 109 6.2.1 Production of Obsidian Blades in the Neighborhoods ............................. 114 6.3 LITHIC PRODUCTION ................................................................................