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The Ancient Maya
... It is expected that human activities and occupation of the landscape would follow the complexities of the environmental mosaic with differential focus on regions where environmental conditions are more suitable for human settlement and occupation. However, paleoecological and archaeological evidence suggest human occupation has not only been the result of physical geography, but there have also been historic and societal components (Leyden, 1987;Sharer and Traxler, 2006). Mesoamerica has been home to the Maya civilization for more than 4000 years (Sharer and Traxler, 2006). ...
... However, paleoecological and archaeological evidence suggest human occupation has not only been the result of physical geography, but there have also been historic and societal components (Leyden, 1987;Sharer and Traxler, 2006). Mesoamerica has been home to the Maya civilization for more than 4000 years (Sharer and Traxler, 2006). The most readily recognized aspects of this culture are its large urban centers and extensive agricultural systems, two features that strongly impacted the territory in the Maya region (Beach et al., 2006;Piperno, 2006). ...
... Besides the previously mentioned species, in the Maya milpa, species such as Acacia cornigera, Brosimum alicastrum, Bursera simaruba, Cecropia peltata, Zwietenia macrophylla, and Vitex gaumeri are also commonly found (Ford and Nigh, 2009). Currently, new production systems such as cattle raising and other crops (e.g., sugarcane and coffee) are also widespread along the region (Sharer and Traxler, 2006). ...
To understand human occupation in the context of paleoecological records from the Maya region, there is need to explore the distribution of modern pollen along climate and human-impact gradients. In this study, we analyze the responses of pollen assemblages from 125 surface samples to human influence in the Maya region, using three basic approaches: (i) the evaluation of using modern pollen spectra to distinguish the main anthropogenic and natural vegetation types; (ii) the usage of detrended correspondence analysis (DCA) to evaluate the distribution patterns of pollen along environmental gradients including human influence; and (iii) the evaluation of the responses of tax-on-specific elements to the human-influence gradient, that expresses on the modern landscape , using threshold-indicator taxa analysis. The 125 locations where mud-water interface samples were retrieved were divided into four groups that correspond to the major vegetation types of the Maya region (coniferous and Quer-cus forest, croplands and pastures, tropical seasonal forest, and tropical evergreen forest). In terms of individual taxa responses, we detected 20 elements significantly related to the human influence gradient. These were assigned to negative (decreasing) or positive (increasing) response groups depending on the response direction. Mostly arboreal elements from tropical seasonal forests decreased, while non-arboreal elements typically from anthropogenic vegetation increased in response to different levels of human influence. Also, a community-level abrupt point change is detected at a human influence index of 15. When human influence exceeds this threshold, important elements of the natural vegetation are negatively affected while opportunistic elements become favored. Overall, the study of pollen distribution along environmental gradients and the identification of taxa indicators of human impact provide valuable tools for the interpretation of fossil pollen records from the Maya region.
... The Maya conveyed these beliefs through a range of symbols and various ritual practices. Imagery on ceramics and other media, as well as written texts, also indicate that many cultural traditions, such as the Maya creation story and the myth of the hero twins, were shared across broad temporal and spatial landscapes (Sharer and Traxler 2006). The methods used to express these ideologies, however, differed from region to region, in contrast to other shared Pan-Maya ideologies and symbolic systems. ...
... Geographical and Environmental Background. Modern archaeological research on the prehistory of Mesoamerica and the ancient Maya has been ongoing for over 100 years (Coe and Houston 2015; Gann 1918Gann ,1925Sharer and Traxler 2006). The Maya region comprises modern Guatemala, Belize, southern Mexico and the Yucatan Peninsula, as well as El Salvador and northwestern Honduras (Figure 1). ...
... including the Guatemalan Highlands, the Maya Lowlands-Southern, Central, and Northern-and the Pacific Piedmont along the Pacific coast (Sharer and Traxler 2006). Extensive investigations over the last century on both elite and commoner lifeways at archaeological sites in the Maya Lowlands have produced great insight into the vast temporal and spatial range and socio-political contexts within which the ancient Maya. ...
The ancient Maya expressed their highly developed and complex ideological and cosmological systems through diverse methods. The Maya conveyed these beliefs through a range of symbols and various ritual practices. Imagery on ceramics and other media, as well as written texts, also indicate that many cultural traditions, such as the Maya creation story and the myth of the hero twins, were shared across broad temporal and spatial landscapes (Sharer and Traxler 2006). The methods used to express these ideologies, however, differed from region to region, in contrast to other shared Pan-Maya ideologies and symbolic systems. This ritual variation is principally observed in burial practices, architectural styles, and settlement configuration (Ashmore and Sabloff 2002; Becker 2004; Pendergast 1990).
Ritual caching activity was a Pan-Lowland Maya tradition (Coe and Houston 2015). The ritual caching of objects, particularly offerings containing eccentric chert and obsidian lithics, was a common Lowland manifestation of the complex ideologies of the ancient Maya. The wide variety of eccentric forms suggest that these ritual implements further served to communicate elements of ancient Maya ideology through ritual expression. It appears, however, that distinct styles of eccentric caching practices existed from region to region. Regional variation is evident in the context of cache deposition, as well as in the forms of eccentrics used in these caches. Factors influencing the production, morphology, and use of eccentric lithics may reflect differences in social function of cache, as well as differential access to raw materials or distinct collectives of craftspeople.
My thesis presents a methodological and theoretical framework, within which I will investigate ancient Maya ritual caching of chert and obsidian eccentrics. Specifically, I will focus on eccentric caches recovered from sites in the Upper Belize Valley, with an emphasis on data from the major polity of Xunantunich. I examine forms and contexts of eccentric lithic caches from these sites. Using these data, I explore the eccentric caching traditions of the major and minor centers in the Belize Valley. I then use this comparative data to compare local traditions with other regions within the Central and Southern Maya Lowlands to determine whether the caching of eccentrics can yield information on regional differences in ritual behavior.
... The Maya people occupy a region close to the middle of the isthmian portion of the North American continent (Fig. 1). The Classic period of Maya history began around 250 CE and ended between 900 and 1100 CE (Sharer and Traxler, 2006). It is during the Classic period that the Maya constructed most of the extensive cities and massive pyramids that have made them famous. ...
... The next five rows are the climate records with the thick lines showing the data at 25-year resolution and the thin lines showing the raw palaeoclimate data. The last row shows the approximate boundaries of Classic Maya historical periods according to (Sharer and Traxler, 2006). record from the Cariaco Basin, and a sediment density record from Lake Chichcancanab (Haug et al., 2001;Hodell et al., 2005;Kennett et al., 2012). ...
... The other potential mechanism is economic and involves maize, which was the staple crop for the Classic Maya. Our conflict timeseries shows the strongest interaction with the high-resolution summer Cariaco SST record spanning approximately JuneeAugust (Wurtzel et al., 2013), which overlaps substantially with the primary agricultural season for maize in the Maya region (Sharer and Traxler, 2006;Webster, 2000). Researchers have long been aware that heat stress can reduce maize yields by inhibiting the growth and development of kernels. ...
The impact of climate change on conflict is an important but controversial topic. One issue that needs to be resolved is whether or not climate change exacerbates conflict over the long term. With this in mind, we investigated the relationship between climate change and conflict among Classic Maya polities over a period of several hundred years (363–888 CE). We compiled a list of conflicts recorded on dated monuments, and then located published temperature and rainfall records for the region. Subsequently, we used a recently developed time-series method to investigate the impact of the climatic variables on the frequency of conflict while controlling for trends in monument number. We found that there was a substantial increase in conflict in the approximately 500 years covered by the dataset. This increase could not be explained by change in the amount of rainfall. In contrast, the increase was strongly associated with an increase in summer temperature. These finding have implications not only for Classic Maya history but also for the debate about the likely effects of contemporary climate change.
... The Maya Civilization is both widespread and long-lasting. Descendants of the Maya live today, with a population of a several million people who still speak a dialect of Mayan as their primary language (Sharer 2006). These living Maya survive a civilization with a tremendous legacy of art, architecture, and political organization. ...
... These living Maya survive a civilization with a tremendous legacy of art, architecture, and political organization. Ruins of the Maya civilization are spread across an area of 125,000 square miles and serve as a testament to the ability of the Maya people to harness and exploit a wide range of different environmental zone (Sharer 2006). ...
... From as early as 1000 BC and as late as AD 1500, the Maya existed throughout portions of Central America and the very southernmost portion of North America. During peak levels of population in the mid-first millennium AD, people of the Maya civilization occupied much of the southeastern portion of what is now Mexico and most of upper Central America (Sharer 2006). ...
Over two decades of technological and academic advances, numerous platforms and tools have been developed to help archaeologists visualize traditional data in new ways. The resulting products have ranged from realistic 3D models to virtual reality simulators to geographic information systems. In the field of digital archaeological visualization one of the main areas of development is to address the communication of the level of confidence and uncertainty in certain aspects of the visualizations. Quirigua is an ideal candidate to be used as the subject for the creation of a new digital visualization tool for archaeological sites that is designed to put to use some research materials, such as excavation photographs, largely ignored by digital archaeologists.
... In the 'intuitive' "letter to number" code (the Roman numerals lacking zero), or "letter to number" cipher, letters of an alphabet are replaced by numbers; for example, in English, we start with a-b-c…, making them to correspond to 1-2-3…, and we end with …x-y-z, being transformed, or 'codified' into …24-25-26. 1 A variant of such "letter to number" code includes the zero (0) at the beginning (as the more advanced Arabic/Hindu numerical system did, also developed by the Maya, who had a vigesimal counting system based on the number of the human fingers and toes [3], a system that we are going to explore in this article and that is exemplified in Fig. 1. ...
... For example, to say "I love you" with numbers in the "letter to number" code that includes the zero, the corresponding numbers are (using bold for capital letters, here the first letter, while adding an empty space to separate the words, and a dash to concatenate letters within the same word): 8 11-14-21-4 24-14-20 The same word in the encryption lacking zero will be: 9 12-15-22-5 25- 15-21. 2 In the same way that 'organically' the Maya represented the numbers, we are going to review how to use our ten fingers in mnemonics to remember the most simpler 'letter to number' code; and by analogy, to also remember the genetic code. We are also going to use our four extremities, our two arms and our two legs, to remember the four foundational nucleotides of the genetic code: A, T, C, G. 3 The "letter to number" hand-code 'dictionary' that we are going to use next does not include the zero as its starting point, we rather start with the number one, so a mnemonics letter to number the code that could be used in this 'letter number' translation is proposed in Fig. 2. Fig. 2 shows that by using both of our hands as tools in mnemonics to remember the "letter to number" code, we use five letters or numbers to be memorized through each finger, except the thumbs that are used to memorize the last six of them. We start with the little finger (the 'pinky'), then with the ring, the middle, the index, and thumb finger, from the inside of the hand, and in the inside from top to bottom as follows: distant phalanx, followed by the middle phalanx, and then by the proximal phalanx at the bottom of each finger, continuing with the next number, or letter, from the outside of the finger in the same relative position where we left as illustrated (in the outside from bottom to top); here, to identify which hand is which, as it was done with the Mayan numerals in Fig. 1, just observe your own hands (right hand at the center, left at the extremes of Fig. 2). ...
In programming and bioinformatics, the graphical interface is vital to describe and to abbreviate aspects and concepts of the physical world. The Mayan Culture developed the vigesimal system, a numerical system based on their count of fingers and toes. My objective is to equate the Mayan system and their numerical representation to the twenty amino acids according to size, except for the number one, represented by a dot, that here is given to cysteine, which acts as glue among peptides as one of its properties; in such a way, two vertical dots will be easily used to represent its related selenocysteine. The Mayan numerical system included the zero, represented by the Maya with an empty shell that here is used to represent the stop codons. On the other hand, the Chinese had a binary numerical system, similar to the binary comparisons of the three properties of Nucleotides within the double helix: H-Bonds, C-Rings and Tautomerism, called the I Ching which here is applied to the natural groups of amino acids that result of the 64-codons compared in binary in their H-Bonds versus their C-Rings, used here to successfully represent the mature sequence of the glucagon amino acids. Additional anatomical tools for the mnemonics of the genetic code and of its amino acid groups are also presented, as well as a functional icosahedron to represent them. Concluding, tools are presented for the visual analysis of proteins and peptide sequencing in bioinformatics and education to teach the genetic code and its resulting amino acids, plus their numerical systems.
... One of the most common case studies that is discussed in the context of learning from the past is the ancient Maya civilization in the region of the Yucatan peninsula. This case represents a large and complex society that left widespread and relatively accessible remains [16][17][18]. Some scholars have described the Maya's end as a rapid 'collapse' , although it appears to have included significant spatial and temporal variability [19][20][21]. ...
Environmental changes pose unprecedented risks to human societies worldwide. Over the past few decades, burgeoning academic literature argues or assumes that past societies’ responses to environmental impacts can provide valuable lessons to guide adaptation to contemporary environmental changes. The ancient Maya civilization, whose decline is often linked with historically unprecedented droughts, constitutes a major case study for extracting such lessons. To analyze these lessons, we conduct a meta-analysis of the discourse of learning from past Maya-environment interactions. We demonstrate that although studies often refer to learning from the Maya explicitly, the learning is primarily declarative and discursive rather than substantive, and lessons are often vague, misguided, or inapplicable. Only a few articles employ research designs conducive to learning from the past, and only a few reflect on the process of, or the problems associated with, learning from the past. On the other hand, many articles are content with reaching ‘inspirational’ lessons, calling, for example, for increasing resilience, while only a fifth of the papers drew more specific lessons that offer somewhat concrete recommendations and courses of action. Many studies also claimed that their findings are applicable to present-day societies far outside the core regions of Maya habitation, ignoring pertinent social and geographical differences. Although the paper does not preclude the theoretical possibility of learning from the past, it argues that such learning must undergo significant changes to achieve robustness and relevance for the present. This would also require a more open discussion between scholars of the past and adaptation practitioners.
... The so-called Main Group is the most known compound of the site, with its northern part marked by the low-level plazas, and its southern part constituted by the Acropolis. One of the most famous pieces of stonework in this compound is the Hieroglyphic Stairway ( Figure 1), with the longest known Maya hieroglyphic text [4]. The Copán river changed its course along the centuries, thus destroying part of the Acropolis [5]. ...
Copan is an important heritage site known by its preserved Maya ruins and recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Property since 1980. To investigate and understand the site development, extensive archaeological tunnels were excavated in the earthen fills of the temples in the twentieth century.Archaeologists found a series of superimposed temples, built one upon another, in a very complex chronological sequence and spatial disposition. Even though the tunnels were initially excavated in the earthen fill without putting in place any supporting structure, masonry lining was applied in parts of the unnels years after they were excavated, in areas that suffered local collapses. Thick walls were built, forming tunnels about 1.0 m wide and 2.0 to 3.0 m high. The excavated soil is unsaturated, and thus has a strength depending on its water content and suction. Since most of the observed collapses take place during raining events, the effect of the change of the saturation degree on tunnels stability was investigated with numerical analyses. As typical in numerical simulations, the positive effects of desaturation were considered in this work through a simplified approach, introducing an ‘apparent cohesion’ depending on the soil water content. The outcomes indicate that in order to ensure sufficient safety margins in the tunnels, water content within the soil mass close to the tunnels, in critical sections, should be carefully monitored, and drainage in the lined sections should be ensured to avoid direct water pressure on the lining.
... The site is most famous for the so-called Main Group (Figure 1), an architectural compound exquisitely decorated with stone sculptures, comprised of a massive elevated royal complex located South, known as the Acropolis, and a series of connecting plazas and smaller structures located North. One of the most famous pieces of stonework is the Hieroglyphic Stairway, the longest known Maya hieroglyphic text (Sharer and Traxler, 2006). The monumental structures were mostly ruined due to abandonment at their rediscovery, and the Copan River changed its course along the centuries destroying part of the Acropolis (Bell, Canuto and Sharer, 2004), slowly forming a river cut, known nowadays as corte, that exposed ancient layers of buildings once hidden in the undergrounds (Figure 2). ...
Archaeological buried structures have received less attention than aboveground historical structures, which seems evident given the visual impact of the latter. Archaeological structures present specific issues related to stability during excavation and after being exposed. This paper addresses a UNESCO world heritage site in Honduras (Copan), which has about 4 km of tunnels in a complex organization that were dug, in the last 100 years, for the purpose of investigation of buried structures under a temple complex. The objective of this work is to assess the safety of the tunnels, helping on the decision of back-filling the tunnels, adding new masonry linings and allowing access in current conditions (possibly with measures to avoid water infiltration). First, the long network of tunnels was categorized into different sections either in an earthen fill only or in presence of a masonry lining. Then, the stability of these sections was discussed as a function of the increase of soil saturation. It was found that unlined tunnels safety is likely to be compromised for a saturation higher than 70%, whereas lined tunnels do not fail when the soil becomes fully saturated, as far as drainage is ensured. Finally, this work allowed to issue recommendations on actions related to the site.
... The agrarian-based world also contained dispersed, low-density urbanism. On the grandest scale these include the vast urban complex of Greater Angkor (Figure 2; Groslier, 1979;Pottier, 1999;Fletcher et al., 2003;Evans et al., 2007), which at its peak in the twelveth century covered ∼1,000 sq km, Anuradhapura and Pollonaruwa in Sri Lanka which ended between the eleventh to thirteenth century CE (Devendra, 1959;Gunawardana, 1971;Coningham and Gunawardhana, 2013) and the famous Classic Maya cities of lowland Central America (Figure 3; Sharer and Traxler, 2006), with maximum areas between 100 and 200 sq km, which faded away in the ninth century CE. The Maya only used pedestrian and riverine transport so the conventional transport innovation explanation for dispersed urbanism in industrial societies is at best partial. ...
The conventional history of urban growth defines agrarian-based cities prior to the nineteenth century CE as densely inhabited and commonly bounded by defenses such as walls. By contrast industrial-based cities are viewed as more spread out and without marked boundaries. Since the 1960s a trajectory toward extensive, low-density urbanism with sprawling, scattered suburbs surrounding a denser core has been formally recognized and given various names such as megalopolis in the West and desakota in southern and eastern Asia. These sprawling industrial cities have been regarded as a unique derivative of modern phenomena such as mechanized transport and the commercial property market. However, this set of premises are not valid. The agrarian-based world also contained dispersed, low-density urbanism—on its grandest scale, the vast circa 1,000 sq km urban complex of Greater Angkor and the famous Maya cities of lowland Central America with maximum areas of about 200 sq km. The Maya only used pedestrian and riverine transport so the conventional transport explanation for industrial dispersed urbanism is at best partial. There was another trajectory to extensive, low-density settlement forms for places which were generally <15–20 sq km in extent but could on rare occasions reach areas as large as 40 to 90 sq km. Famous examples are Great Zimbabwe, Chaco Canyon and the European oppida of the late 1st millennium BCE. No-formally agreed term is available to refer to them. I will refer to them by default as “Giants.” The three trajectories to low-density settlement form redefine the history of settlement growth and the meanings of the term “urban.” Worryingly, none of the successive low-density settlements derive from any of the low-density cases of the preceding trajectory. Neither Angkor nor the Classic Maya cities have any connection to the industrial low-density cities. By contrast compact cities, the epitome of the obsolete definition of cities display continuity to succeeding urban forms over several 1,000 years. The implications for modern, giant, low-density cities are ominous.
... This area is surrounded by the Gulf of Mexico to the west and the north and the Caribbean to the east. It .D. 250-900), which saw the rise and fall of powerful state-level kingdoms both in the central and northern Lowlands, led by successions of individuals who were held to be semidivine rulers (Sharer and Traxler 2006). During and after the collapse of the central Lowland kingdoms at the close of the first millennium A.D., the Puuc hegemonies formed in the northern hemisphere, followed by the rise to power of Chichén Itzá and its allies, hallmarks of the ideology and political organization that characterize the Postclassic period (A.D. 900-1521) prior to European contact. ...
... The city of Copan contextually comes of age for us beginning with the reign of Yax K'uk' Mo' (Ruler 1) 427-437AD, who began an overhaul of the cities structures and a dynasty of 16 rulers that would span over four hundred years (Fash 2000;Sharer 2006). ...
3D visualization, LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), and 3D modeling are not new concepts in archaeology, however when combined they represent a growing body of research that seeks to understand both how these tools can help us to study the people of the past, and the past itself. Recently, archaeologists have been creating large amounts of 3D digital assets because of new and more advanced technologies. Along with these digital assets has come a myriad of single object viewers—both web and desktop based. These platforms specifically focus on visualizing individual objects (i.e., artifacts or buildings). In contrast, 3DGIS and Virtual Reality (VR) software employ recreated landscapes with multiple 3D objects rather than single 3D models. The MayaCityBuilder Project (http://mayacitybuilder.org) employs Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and LIDAR data to simulate the ancient Maya city of Copan in a virtual space for immersive exploration. Using this environment as a virtual lattice, we embed object data into the actual simulated space of Copan, which users can explore using a virtual reality headset. I propose that such an environment allows us to explore the concept of object identity. Wherein the “objects” in the environment (i.e. 3D models of both remotely sensed extant objects and reconstructed buildings) are immersively evaluated by users who can better perceive the relationships between themselves and the “objects” with which they are interacting; resulting in insights that can push archaeological inquiry in new directions. Further, applying such an approach opens the door for 3D data reuse providing a platform that serves a unique database structure holding intuitive and perceptual data. In order to test these ideas, I embed multiple kinds of 3D models into the Copan VR platform and use the relationships between both the environment and the objects to explain object identity. Advisor: Heather Richards-Rissetto
... C. Ti/Sr ratio and Ti concentration along core LIQ13. Sharer and Traxler, 2006). Percentages of Pinus (Â10 À2 ) (gray area), taxa associated with montane cloud forest (green area), and open vegetation (orange area) for cores LIQ13 (A) and ESM12 (B); presence of Zea mays pollen is indicated with red stars. ...
... In 1499, at the dawning period of coloniality, in the aftermath of the Spanish conquest of Granada, and as part of the forced conversion to Christianity of the Moors, the Maddrasah Library containing 250,000 books was burned and Islamic literature ordered to be destroyed. In the New World there was startling similarity in the 1562 incident where Bishop Calderon ordered the Mayan texts to be destroyed, much to the anguish of the Mayans (Grosfoguel 2013;Carr 2009;Sharer and Traxler 2006). On the slave plantations in the New World, there were no books to burn but the erasure of memory took the form of a brutal seasoning process. ...
According to Cowen and Shenton (1996) the concept of development has over 700 definitions. This reflects the contested nature of the development discourse and its many different definitions, approaches, and ideologies. Development has been expressed from the perspectives of structural functionalism, marxism, feminism, postcolonialism, poststructuralism and most recently decoloniality. However, the discourse of development has not been a meritocratic or inclusive process. Biases within the production of knowledge have pervaded both the narratives and counter-narratives of development. Academic, white, global north and male voices have occupied a privileged position (Grosfoguel 2011; Kothari 2006) with this having the effect of silencing and making invisible perspectives that emanate from the deeper experiences of western modernity/coloniality. This has given rise to the tendency towards Eurocentric critiques of the Eurocentric (Mpofu 2017; Ndlovu-Gatsheni 2012). Even when thinkers emerge from the global south to offer critiques, these voices tend to reflect the internal race, colour, class (etc) hierarchies within the global south. All of this translates into a lack of urgency towards excavating non-European, non-Judeo Christian, non-bourgeois, non-capitalist and non-patriarchal voices that have been discarded into the dustbin of history within the last 500 years of western modernity/coloniality.
... What the model is showing is that the land's production capacity might have already been severely exhausted and a reduction in crops might have been unavoidable even in the absence of drought. A fall in crop production is consistent with evidence from skeletal remains that show signs of progressive nutritional disease (Folan and Hyde, 1985;Sharer and Traxler, 2006), while at the same time, there are no mass graves discovered that might indicate large scale epidemics or warfare (Folan et al., 2000). Our research cannot be taken as proof, but it does suggest that drought, though important, played a smaller role than previously thought (Hodell et al., 2001;Haug et al., 2003;Gill et al., 2007;Webster et al., 2007;Kennett et al., 2012;Douglas et al., 2015). ...
In this study we investigate the societal development of the Maya in the Southern Lowlands over a span of approximately 1400 years and explore whether societal dynamics linked to the depletion of natural resources can explain the rise and fall of the Classic Maya. We propose a dynamical systems model that accounts for the state of the land, population and workers employed in swidden and intensive agriculture and monument building. Optimisation of model output to he empirical data fixes biometric parameters to values consistent with the literature and requires that a shift from swidden to more intensive agriculture took place at around 550 CE. The latter prediction is consistent with the dating of the beginning of the Late Classical period. Thus, our model offers an explanation of the collapse of the society of the Maya and suggests that the role of droughts may have been overestimated. Consistent with previous work, the collapse can be modelled by a critical transition (supercritical Hopf bifurcation), where the critical parameter is the harvesting rate per capita of intensive agriculture. Furthermore, an extensive sensitivity analysis indicates that the
model and its predictions are robust.
... For example, among the Ituri Forest Pygmies (the Bambuti) of Central Africa the forest, as the source of all necessary resources, was religiously personified as the spiritual parent of humans, and religious rituals such as the christening ceremony and molimo ritual emphasized the tie between humans and the forest (Turnbull 1968). Among the sophisticated urban Mayans of ancient Guatemala, the cities of Tikal and Copan were designed to mirror the earthly seasons and the movement of the cosmos (Sharer and Traxler 2005). Chichén Itzá in southern Mexico, for example, has two structures that link the Mayan city to the cosmos. ...
Illegal dumping is the unlawful deposit of any type of domestic, commercial, or industrial waste. Although this practice causes environmental pollution, it is relatively poorly known. Studies on illegal waste dumps around Slovenia’s capital, Ljubljana, have demonstrated that there are great amounts of waste in areas of importance to Ljubljana’s water supply. In particular, illegal dumps located in areas where groundwater flows towards pumping stations present a considerable threat to drinking water quality. In addition, shallow groundwater levels and gravel pits as ideal locations for illegal disposal sites increase the vulnerability of the environment even more. More than 1,400 illegal waste dumps have been found in the water protection areas north of Ljubljana. Their total area is 128,056 m2 and their total waste volume is 220,071 m3. The size of an average dump is 80.7 m2 and, on average, it contains 138.8 m3 of waste material. Two-thirds (66.7%) of waste comes from construction material, followed by primary waste, which accounts for 18.7%. Municipal waste accounts for 11.2%, and industrial waste for 2.2%, whereas the percentage of medical and veterinary waste is negligible-that is, only 0.2%. Of the total waste, 13.5% is hazardous, representing nearly 30,000 m3. Of this, construction waste accounts for 84.6% and industrial waste for 9.9%.
... This is not to say that particular Maya polity capitals did not at times exert various forms of hegemonic control over non-local areas during their histories (e.g., Martin and Grube 2000). However, the full extent and range of the consequences-economic, social, or political-of such interactions have proven difficult to track materially (Hammond 1991;Marken and Straight 2007;Sharer and Traxler 2006). Aside from a few select cases, Mayanists have been unable to define not only the boundaries but indeed the full settlement composition of most Classic polities (e.g., Ashmore 1981; Ashmore, Yaeger, and Robin 2004;Chase andChase 1987, 1994;Demarest 2006;Fialko Coxemans 1996;Folan 1992;Folan, Kintz, and Fletcher 1983;LeCount and Yaeger 2010a;LeCount et al. 2002;Liendo Stuardo 2003, 2011Robin 2002;Scarborough, Valdez, and Dunning 2003;Willey et al. 1975). ...
... Moraceae, i.e., tropical forest hardwoods and fruits, and ficus (Ficus sp.), i.e., lesser woods used mostly for shade and very poor fire wood, are summed for this component. This pollen represents the drier (∼1000-2000 mm/yr precipitation;Sharer and Traxler 2006) northwest of the study area. ...
We report a study of central Maya lowland dynastic information networks, i.e., six cities' external elite ceramic influences, and how they reflect the decision-making practices of Maya elites over 3000 years. Forest cover, i.e., Moraceae family pollen, was added to the network analysis to provide ecological boundary conditions, thus ecologically moderated information networks. Principal components analysis revealed three dominant patterns. First, the networking of interior cities into powerful polities in the Late Preclassic and Classic periods (400 BCE-800 CE). In a second pattern, coastal cities emerged as key entrep?ts based on marine navigation (Terminal and Postclassic periods, 800-1500 CE). Climate dynamics and sustainability considerations facilitated the transition. Forest cover, a measure of ecosystem health, shows interior forests diminished as interior cities networked but rebounded as their networks declined. By contrast, coastal forests flourished with networks implying that the marine-based economy was sustainable. Third, in the Classic, the network-dominant coast, west or east, changed with interior polities' political struggles, the critical transition occurring after 695 CE as Tikal gained dominance over the Calakmul-Caracol alliance. Beginning with the Late Preclassic about 2000 years ago, it is possible to assign names to the decision makers by referencing the growing literature on written Maya records. Although the detectable decision sequence evident in this analysis is very basic, we believe it does open possible avenues to much deeper understanding as the study proceeds into the future. The Integrated History and Future of People on Earth-Maya working group that sponsored the analysis anticipates that it will provide actionable social science intelligence for future decision making at the global scale.
... Evidence of the role of human-induced crises in agricultural societies has also shown the tendency for humanity to exploit natural assets to the point of (self)destruction. In pre-modem civilisations, such as the classic Maya of Central America, increasing rates of natural resource consumption fuelled by demographic growth and internal cultural tensions, and at times compounded by dangerous periods in natural cycles (e.g. in precipitation), catalysed collapse (Sharer, 2006). Although separated by ideology, geography and history, these systems crises demonstrate the co-dependence of natural and social life, with crisis arising in large part from a failure of institutions to adequately arbitrate relationships both within society and between society and nature. ...
Are established economic, social and political practices capable of dealing with the combined crises of climate change and the global economic system? Will falling back on the wisdoms that contributed to the crisis help us to find ways forward or simply reconfigure risk in another guise? This volume argues that the combination of global environmental change and global economic restructuring require a re-thinking of the priorities, processes and underlying values that shape contemporary development aspirations and policy.
This volume brings together leading scholars to address these questions from several disciplinary perspectives: environmental sociology, human geography, international development, systems thinking, political sciences, philosophy, economics and policy/management science. The book is divided into four sections that examine contemporary development discourses and practices. It bridges geographical and disciplinary divides and includes chapters on innovative governance that confront unsustainable economic and environmental relations in both developing and developed contexts. It emphasises the ways in which dominant development paths have necessarily forced a separation of individuals from nature, but also from society and even from ‘self’. These three levels of alienation each form a thread that runs through the book. There are different levels and opportunities for a transition towards resilience, raising questions surrounding identity, governance and ecological management. This places resilience at the heart of the contemporary crisis of capitalism, and speaks to the relationship between the increasingly global forms of economic development and the difficulties in framing solutions to the environmental problems that carbon-based development brings in its wake.. Existing social science can help in not only identifying the challenges but also potential pathways for making change locally and in wider political, economic and cultural systems, but it must do so by identifying transitions out of carbon dependency and the kind of political challenges they imply for reflexive individuals and alternative community approaches to human security and wellbeing.
Climate Change and the Crisis of Capitalism contains contributions from leading scholars to produce a rich and cohesive set of arguments, from a range of theoretical and empirical viewpoints. It analyses the problem of resilience under existing circumstances, but also goes beyond this to seek ways in which resilience can provide a better pathway and template for a more sustainable future. This volume will be of interest to both undergraduate and postgraduate students studying Human Geography, Environmental Policy, and Politics.
https://books.google.com/books/about/Climate_Change_and_the_Crisis_of_Capital.html?id=ZNo5ORQNs1gC
... For example, among the Ituri Forest Pygmies (the Bambuti) of Central Africa the forest, as the source of all necessary resources, was religiously personified as the spiritual parent of humans, and religious rituals such as the christening ceremony and molimo ritual emphasized the tie between humans and the forest (Turnbull 1968). Among the sophisticated urban Mayans of ancient Guatemala, the cities of Tikal and Copan were designed to mirror the earthly seasons and the movement of the cosmos (Sharer and Traxler 2005). Chichén Itzá in southern Mexico, for example, has two structures that link the Mayan city to the cosmos. ...
The pursuit for humanity’s welfare has led to the increase of industrial production for materials that bring comfort which generates waste that jeopardizes the quest for well-being. Phosphogypsum is the by-product of the phosphate fertilizer industry and is one of the biggest wastes generated by human activity. The large amount of phosphogypsum generated due to high annual demand for phosphoric acid, needs a large storage area, which becomes a limiting factor for the economic point of view, in medium and long term. The main parts of contamination resulting from storaging phosphogypsum are: natural radionuclides; the radon emanation; inhalation of radioactive dust and direct exposure to gamma radiation. Other storage problems of phosphogypsum include surface runoff, erosion and instability of the stacks. It is very important to choose the most appropriate techniques for the environment recovery with this kind of contaminant. Phytoremediation presents advantage, because it is an in situ remediation technique, has low costs and less environmental interference. The aim of this study is evaluate the extract and translocate natural radionuclides by volunteer plants that grow under phosphogypsum stack as a potential phytoremediation technique. The following plants were analyzed by induced neutron activation (INAA). The Pteridaceae pityrogramma, Chromolaena aff. odorata, Baccharis Cf. spicata and Blechnum serrulatum rich species showed a high potential as phytoextract of 238U, 232Th and 40K. The Eupatorium asteraceae was the only one has showed potential of translocation for 226Ra, 228Ra and 40K, to roots for the aerial parts. This study classifies this type of plant as excellent phytoextractor to take up and store radionuclides.
Keywords: phytoremediation, radionuclides, environmental remediation, induced neutron activation, phosphogypsum
... Chronological periods in the Maya area (afterSharer and Traxler 2006). ...
Ancient populations across the globe successfully employed wetland agricultural techniques in a variety of environmentally and climatically diverse landscapes throughout prehistory. Within the Maya Lowlands, these agricultural features figure prominently in the region comprised of northern Belize and southern Quintana Roo, an area supporting low-outflow rivers, large lagoons, and numerous bajo features. Along the banks of the Hondo and New Rivers, the Maya effectively utilized wetland agricultural practices from the Middle Preclassic to the Terminal Classic Periods (1000 B.C.—A.D. 950). A number of past archaeological projects have thoroughly examined the construction and impact of these swampland features. After four decades of study, a more precise picture has formed in relation to the roles that these ditched field systems played in the regional development of the area. However, a detailed record of the full spatial extent, combined construction costs, and potential agricultural productivity has not been attempted on a larger scale. This thesis will highlight these avenues of interest through data obtained from high- and medium-resolution satellite imagery and manipulated through geographic information systems (GIS) technology. The research explores environmental factors and topographic elements dictating the distribution of such entities, the energetic involvement required to construct and maintain the systems, and the efficiency of wetland techniques as compared to traditional milpa agriculture. Spatial analyses reveal a total of 254 distinct wetland field systems within the 6560 square kilometer area of interest, clustered along navigable waterways, seasonal lagoons, and upland landscapes separating the Hondo and New Rivers. Energetic estimates illustrate substantial investment in wetland field construction, spanning several generations based on a locally available workforce. However, productivity calculations associated with the ditched field systems commonly exceed those attributed to milpa techniques, suggesting agricultural surplus far beyond the immediate need. The combined data indicate the potential export of maize and other agricultural commodities to regional centers in northern Belize and further abroad during the Late Preclassic and Late to Terminal Classic Periods through riverine trade networks. Additionally, the data help illustrate participation trends and patterns of connectivity relating to tiered sites within the area of interest. This research contributes to the overall understanding of wetland agriculture within Mesoamerica as well as provides insight into the political management of intensive agricultural production during Maya prehistory.
... Houses in Formative (2000 B.C. -A.D. 300) Mesoamerica were often built from mud materials, namely adobe bricks and/or wattle and daub (for examples see Carballo 2011;Flannery 1976a;Manzanilla 1986;Sharer and Traxler 2006;Stark and Arnold I IT 1997;Wilk and Ashmore 1988). Generally little attention has been paid in the fields of archaeology and ethnography to the materiality of construction materials. ...
Archaeological evidence shows that mud was an important construction material for houses throughout Mesoamerica during the Formative period (2000 B.C. - A.D. 300). In this paper, research on the materiality of adobe and wattle and daub in combination with information on relevant case studies is shown to provide significant insights into the daily lives of Formative Mesoamerican people. The materiality of the house determined not only the efforts needed for construction, but also influenced what houses looked like, the ways in which climate was managed, the lifespan of a house, the ways in which houses were torn down and rebuilt, and even identity-building. While there is still a lack of research into the subject of house materiality in Mesoamerican archaeology, it is clear that a great deal of information can be gained by studying the materiality of daily life.
Long‐term vision depends on history, and on history alone. Scholarship in technology, manufacturing, and operations management is incomplete without a knowledge of history. In chronicling the history of technology, knowledge, and manufacturing, we have traced the remarkable continuity in the evolution of humans from hominins to homo sapiens, in the migration of homo sapiens from Africa to the furthest reaches of the world, and in the rise of civilizations and industrialization driven by agriculture surplus. Technology, knowledge, and manufacturing did not and do not exist in isolation and many disciplines have addressed them in the literature. Here we concern ourselves with human history until 1760, roughly when the Industrial Revolution began. Our companion paper, Singhal and Singhal (2022), explores the history of technology and manufacturing‐and‐service operations since the Industrial Revolution. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved
This article summarises the scientific methods used to study past climate in the Maya Lowlands. It also provides an overview of the strategies employed by the ancient Maya to adapt to natural climate change and address issues associated with their growing population. The Maya response to these challenges, including to severe droughts between 800 and 1000 CE, culminated in a societal restructuring sometimes referred to as “the Classic collapse.” The story of the Lowland Maya may serve as a “lesson” going forward, as we confront similar issues in the twenty-first century, e.g., food insecurity, water scarcity, pandemics, and waste management, all in the context of anthropogenic climate change. The ancient Maya experience might provide useful insights, given that the effects of modern-day climate change are already being felt.
Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica was a fertile crescent for the development of number systems. A form of vigesimal system seems to have been present from the first Olmec civilization onwards, to which succeeding peoples made contributions. We discuss the Maya use of the representational redundancy present in their Long Count calendar, a non-power positional number representation system with multipliers 1, 20, 18 × 20, …, 18 × 20
n
. We demonstrate that the Mesoamericans did not need to invent positional notation and discover zero at the same time because they were not afraid of using a number system in which the same number can be written in different ways. A Long Count number system with digits from 0 to 20 is seen later to pass to one using digits 0 to 19, which leads us to propose that even earlier there may have been an initial zeroless bijective numeration system whose digits ran from 1 to 20. Mesoamerica was able to make this conceptual leap to the concept of a cardinal zero to perform arithmetic owing to a familiarity with multiple and redundant number representation systems.
Objective
To analyze the genetic origin, relationships, structure, and admixture in Mayan Native American groups from Guatemala and Mexico based on 15 autosomal short tandem repeats (STRs) loci commonly used in human identification (HID).
Methods
We genotyped 513 unrelated Mayan samples from Guatemala based on 15 STR loci (AmpFlSTR® Identifiler kit). Moreover, we included 4408 genotypes previously reported, as following: Mayas from Guatemala and Mexico (n = 1666) and from Latin American, European, and African (n = 2742) populations. Forensic parameters, genetic distances, admixture, and population structure were assessed.
Results
Forensic parameters of the 15 STRs in different Mayan groups from Guatemala were reported. Low (Fst = 0.78%; p = 0.000) and non‐significant differentiation (Fst = 1.8%; p = 0.108) were observed in Mayas from Guatemala and Mexico, respectively. The relative homogeneity observed among Mayan groups supported theories of extensive pre‐Columbian gene flow and trade throughout the Mayan Empire. The distribution of the three Native American ancestries among these Mayan groups did not support the presumable Guatemalan origin of Tojolabal and Lacandon people (South, Mexico). The nonsignificant differentiation between Ladinos and Mayas suggests a relative panmixia in Guatemala. Mestizos from southeastern Mexico and Guatemala constitute a core of Native American ancestry in Latin America related to the Mayan Empire in Central America.
Conclusions
The higher European admixture and homogeneity in Mexican Mayas of the Yucatan Peninsula suggest more intensive post‐Columbian gene flow in this region than in Guatemalan Mayas.
Here we studied HLA blocks and haplotypes in a group of 218 Lacandon Maya Native American using a high-resolution next generation sequencing (NGS) method. We assessed the genetic diversity of HLA class I and class II in this population, and determined the most probable ancestry of Lacandon Maya HLA class I and class II haplotypes. Importantly, this Native American group showed a high degree of both HLA homozygosity and linkage disequilibrium across the HLA region and also lower class II HLA allelic diversity than most previously reported populations (including other Native American groups). Distinctive alleles present in the Lacandon population include HLA-A*24:14 and HLA-B*40:08. Furthermore, in Lacandons we observed a high frequency of haplotypes containing the allele HLA-DRB1*04:11, a relatively frequent allele in comparison with other neighboring indigenous groups. The specific demographic history of the Lacandon population including inbreeding, as well as pathogen selection, may have elevated the frequencies of a small number of HLA class II alleles and DNA blocks. To assess the possible role of different selective pressures in determining Native American HLA diversity, we evaluated the relationship between genetic diversity at HLA-A, HLA-B and HLA-DRB1 and pathogen richness for a global dataset and for Native American populations alone. In keeping with previous studies of such relationships we included distance from Africa as a covariate. After correction for multiple comparisons we did not find any significant relationship between pathogen diversity and HLA genetic diversity (as measured by polymorphism information content) in either our global dataset or the Native American subset of the dataset. We found the expected negative relationship between genetic diversity and distance from Africa in the global dataset, but no relationship between HLA genetic diversity and distance from Africa when Native American populations were considered alone.
This century has witnessed many genocides throughout the world by the hands of leaders and citizens alike. These unjustifiable acts have not failed to exist even today. Although a lot of research and scholarly work has been dedicated towards the study of genocide, there is no single reason as to why it occurs; rather there are many theories that indicate what leads to genocide. The question still remains why does genocide happen? This thesis will attempt to answer this question by analyzing various theoretical perspectives, as well as comparatively observing two case studies that have not been extensively discussed. In doing so, I hope to a) better understand the theoretical implications of genocide and how they explain what causes it; b) find warning signs within both cases; and c) understand both the internal and external factors that come into play during civil unrest
The Classic Maya built environment serves as a symbol, representing the decisions made by social actors who engaged in the design and construction of such buildings. Such architectural construction and the degree of spatial accessibility incorporated into the built environment provide deeper insight into those decisions and shed light on the meaning behind inclusive and exclusive architectural space. This dissertation focusses on identifying patterned variability in the architectural composition and accessibility of the palatial compounds at the Cahal Pech and Baking Pot civic-ceremonial centres in west central Belize, with specific focus on the Late Classic (AD 600-900) construction phases. The architectural analysis of Cahal Pech and Baking Pot aim to provide an example of how ruling elite agents employed different strategies of inclusivity and exclusivity in the construction of their palatial compounds. The degrees of inclusive space reflect a preference on part of the elite to provide a built environment which could accommodate and include associated intermediate elites and the commoner masses in spectacles and events. Conversely, exclusory space would promote ideas of estrangement and could cause the creation of kratophanous perspectives of the elite party residing in such space. Here I argue that the Baking Pot elite strategized inclusion in their architectural space and that the architecture constructed at the Cahal Pech palace demonstrates a strategy of exclusivity. Further, I discuss how the construction and use of inclusive and exclusive space may have been tactical strategies for maintaining political legitimacy on the landscape.
Site destruction and obfuscation are significant processes that hinder archaeological interpretations. This article focuses on a few natural taphonomic agencies impinging on archaeological site preservation in highland Central American settings. Precipitation and drainage are especially crucial in these riverine environments. Access to water for consumption and agriculture were vital factors in the determination of settlement patterns. Over time, a mixture of both gradual and catastrophic processes ranging from moderate rainstorms to hurricanes are known to trigger flooding, riverine erosion, and landslides with the potential to destroy or obscure vulnerable valley sites. Examples are given of Classic Period (A.D. 200–900) archaeological sites from the Cucuyagua and Sensenti valleys in western Honduras affected by catastrophic weather events during occupation and after site abandonment. Mudslides and landslides, in particular, are highlighted as significant destructive processes that remain under‐discussed in regional literature. Furthermore, we highlight the possible causal role of hurricanes in provoking both landslides and flooding. Finally, we consider the impact of these events in our particular study area.
Las ofrendas rituales realizadas en dos grupos indígenas vecinos, los teenek y nahuas de la Huasteca veracruzana (México), obedecen a priori a la misma lógica. Se presentan a los seres de la tierra para recuperar la salud. Sin embargo, las ofrendas teenek consisten en platillos abyectos (podridos, insípidos, crudos…) que se dejan a la naturaleza mientras las ofrendas nahuas están compuestas de manjares que se comparten en seguida entre humanos y seres ctónicos. El análisis espacial, social, lingüístico y alimenticio de las ofrendas permite resaltar las distintas lógicas que se encuentran atrás de la comida ritual teenek y nahua. Lógicas relacionadas a la sociabilidad sobrenatural pero también mundana que prevalece para cada grupo. Se entrevén así, a través de la comida ritual, la expresión de distintos modos de construcciones simbólicas de la relación colectiva a la alteridad social.
A holistic and relational approach to landscape amplifies understandings of the complexities of human–environment relationships. This article examines ecological and social aspects of landscape at the ancient Maya city of Aventura, Belize, in the context of relational ontologies. The city of Aventura is enmeshed with microenvironments known as pocket bajos, and I argue that pocket bajos defy categorization as natural or cultural. By exploring their spatial context, material content, and associated activities that create cosmological connections, I demonstrate that the pocket bajos were active social agents in the construction of the city and the maintenance of community. The relations that people living at Aventura established with pocket bajos highlight the interconnectedness of humans with the environment, and this approach avoids projecting current-day Western categories of nature and culture onto the past.
Comparative analysis of women rulers and main wives of kings in eight premodern
states around the globe reveals similar patterns of political agency, or the opportunity
and ability to take political action. Queen rulers, regents, and main wives substituting
for their husbands in their absence made policy, but they had somewhat less
political agency than male rulers. Main wives’ political agency took the forms of
influencing policy and people’s behavior (sometimes through their role as patron to
others), interceding between their kin and their husbands, advocating for one party
or the other, spying, and conspiring. Therefore, women’s political agency ought to
be part of any political study. This study builds on the anthropological/archaeological
study of agency by drawing attention to royal women’s political agency and
showing how the analysis of structural rules and the roles of kings, queen rulers, and
main wives illuminates the societal structure in which agency is embedded. By analyzing
premodern societies this way, we learn that there is remarkable similarity of
agency behaviors among royal women in the eight sample societies, even though the
societies emerged independently of one another.
Comparative analysis of women rulers and main wives of kings in eight premodern states around the globe reveals similar patterns of political agency, or the opportunity and ability to take political action. Queen rulers, regents, and main wives substituting for their husbands in their absence made policy, but they had somewhat less political agency than male rulers. Main wives’ political agency took the forms of influencing policy and people’s behavior (sometimes through their role as patron to others), interceding between their kin and their husbands, advocating for one party or the other, spying, and conspiring. Therefore, women’s political agency ought to be part of any political study. This study builds on the anthropological/archaeological study of agency by drawing attention to royal women’s political agency and showing how the analysis of structural rules and the roles of kings, queen rulers, and main wives illuminates the societal structure in which agency is embedded. By analyzing premodern societies this way, we learn that there is remarkable similarity of agency behaviors among royal women in the eight sample societies, even though the societies emerged independently of one another.
From serpent similes and Jacob’s sheep to the wild dogs that devour Jezebel, the Bible abounds with animal life. Indeed, the ubiquity of animals in biblical texts bespeaks a society in which animals were a critical and omnipresent feature of everyday life. Early scholarship on the Bible’s animals focused primarily on classifying species, but attention soon shifted to the literary and rhetorical use of animal imagery. More recently, there has been a good deal of discussion inspired by interests in contemporary animal rights concerning attitudes towards non-human animals in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
The tendency to simplify the richness and intrinsic hybridity of writing systems is particularly apparent in considerations of the Maya hieroglyphic script. Orthodox approaches tend to focus exclusively on its linguistic dimensions (e.g., Houston, Robertson, & Stuart, 2000; Wichmann, 2002, 2004; Kettunen & Helmke, 2014). Considerations of how this system relates to imagery—spatially and graphically—have been largely limited to a search for pictorial features of graphemes as clues to
linguistic readings (e.g., Macri & Looper, 2003; Macri & Vail, 2009). Graphemes—used here to describe elements of the script—have pictorial qualities and often serve as part of the imagery but they also occur in strings or blocks at a standard size so it is useful to distinguish them from other components of imagery. The important point is that script and imagery are inextricably intertwined whenever they co-occur: the space of semantic interpretation occurs at their juncture. Maya writing
is an inherently hybrid system in which the linguistic dimensions of graphemes, usually called “glyphs” in the Mayanist literature, must be considered in tandem with imagery. Script and imagery together create a hybrid morphosyntax in which meaning is generated jointly through the use of linguistic and artistic forms; imagery and script cannot be divorced without losing semantic nuance along with, in most cases, a signiicant part of the basic message.
The Classic Maya of the southern lowlands were one with world rather than one with nature, a view that promoted the conservation of their world for millennia, what I term a cosmology of conservation. I explore how their cosmocentric worldview fostered biodiversity and conservation by discussing the ceremonial circuit and pilgrimage destination of Cara Blanca, Belize. Here the Maya left a minimal footprint in the form of ceremonial buildings from which they performed ceremonies, doing their part to maintain the world at several of the 25 water bodies/portals to the underworld. The Maya intensified their visits when several prolonged droughts struck between 800 and 900 ce; it was to no avail, and many Maya emigrated and have successfully renegotiated their relationship in the world to the present day. Their history of engagement serves as a lesson for present society, one that cannot be ignored.
One of the most intriguing questions for archaeologists studying clay artefacts concerns technologies employed in their manufacture and whether standardization can be demonstrated through traditional ceramic analysis. Visual comparisons and mechanical measurements have been used to determine correlations and infer standardization. Using a laser multi‐line scanner and software developed to quantify Hausdorff distances between vertices in 3D surfaces, we analysed sample collections of figurines and moulds from Belize, Mexico and Honduras. The results indicated that this procedure was a more precise indicator of common source and standardization in moulded clay artefacts. This method provided data relevant to assessing the scope of ancient trade networks and the nature of social and economic relationships that existed among the ancient inhabitants of Mesoamerica.
La aplicación de la perspectiva de género al estudio del arte maya es relativamente reciente, por lo que, a pesar de que cada vez son más abundantes los escritos que centran su atención en la representación de la figura femenina, aún quedan muchos aspectos pendientes de investigar. Por este motivo, en este artículo nos remontamos a los primeros trabajos destinados a reflexionar en torno a esta temática y que han marcado las bases de las futuras investigaciones, antes de adentrarnos en el tema que nos ocupa: de qué manera los ornamentos, y más concretamente los que se colocaban en torno al cuello y sobre el pecho, contribuían a construir la imagen de poder de las antiguas mujeres mayas. Para ello realizamos un análisis de los tipos más característicos que lucen los miembros de la élite y los ponemos en relación con su contexto, para extraer así conclusiones sobre el significado que tuvo el que también fueran portados por las damas de la corte.
This chapter is concerned with the historical content of texts written in Classic Ch'olti'an, principally in the Lowlands but also at outlying centers in the uplands of Chiapas and northern Honduras, during the so-called Classic period. The idea of Classic Maya civilization, then, remains a useful heuristic tool, especially because it coincides with the period during which most surviving Maya texts were produced, and, not coincidentally, with the phase of the development of the Maya script that is most legible to modern epigraphers. While a few Preclassic monuments in the Highlands bear hieroglyphic texts, presumably in a Mayan language, Maya writing during the Classic era was largely confined to the Lowlands. As a result, the history of the ancient Maya as derived from indigenous sources is nearly synonymous with Classic Maya history.
Analysis of the two largest southern Maya lowland metal assemblages, from Lamanai (n = 187) and Tipu (n = 99), Belize reveals that Mesoamerican and European technologies were negotiated through the processes of recycling objects to create new forms and juxtaposing objects of different provenances for bodily ornamentation. Lamanai's occupants began acquiring metal as early as a.d. 1100 and then engaged in on-site metallurgy as early as a.d. 1450, continuing into the early seventeenth century. Tipu was a nexus for metals between the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. At both sites, metal objects were recovered primarily from human burials and midden deposits. A program of typological study and compositional analysis revealed forms shared between the sites but evidence of on-site metallurgy is supported only at Lamanai. Metals from these Maya communities, both centers of Spanish reducción , demonstrate that the southern Maya lowlands was by no means a “refuge” from Spanish aggression.
Recent investigations at the Maya centre of Nakum (in Guatemala) enabled the study of the evolution of an interesting complex of buildings that started as the so-called E-Group, built during the Preclassic period ( c. 600–300 bc ). It was used for solar observations and rituals commemorating agricultural and calendrical cycles. During the Classic period ( ad 250–800), the major building of the complex (Structure X) was converted into a large pyramidal temple where several burials, including at least one royal tomb, were placed. We were also able to document evidence of mortuary cults conducted by the Maya in the temple building situated above the burials. The architectural conversion documented in Structure X may reflect important religious and social changes: a transformation from the place where the Sun was observed and worshipped to the place where deceased and deified kings were apotheosized as the Sun Deity during the Classic. Thus the Maya transformed Structure X into one of the most sacred loci at Nakum by imbuing it with a complex solar and underworld symbolism and associating it with the cult of deified ancestors.
The long, iridescent, feathers of the quetzal bird have been recognized as one of the most striking and prevalent appendages of costume from Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, particularly in the region inhabited by the ancient Maya— where quetzal feathers were coveted as high-status goods. This region is home to the Pharomachrus mocinno mocinno, one of two subspecies of Resplendent Quetzal that inhabit Montane Evergreen Forests throughout Central America. Their apprehensive disposition and placid behaviour, combined with their remote environment, made them rare and elusive birds. This rarity undoubtedly impacted the acquisition of quetzal feathers in Pre- Columbian times, and it was likely that knowledge, skill, and planning were necessary to ensure they did not become a scarce resource. This paper offers an insight into the breeding and nesting behaviours of the Pharomachrus mocinno and how these may have affected hunting or collecting strategies of feathers by the ancient Maya.
The culturally induced modification of head form in infants was a widespread practice among the Prehispanic Maya, who employed a host of different compression devices, which left the heads of the children narrow or wide, elevated or reclined. This paper explores the potential ethnic and populational connotations of different head morphologies in the shifting cultural landscape during the centuries before the Spanish conquest. I specifically discuss those visible head morphologies that were either abandoned or adopted during the centuries surrounding the so-called Maya collapse and discuss some of the underlying sociocultural and populational dynamics.
From as early as 1000 B.C., the Maya considered caves to be sacred features of the landscape and used them as ritual performance spaces. These performances became increasingly important during the 8-10th centuries Late Classic Maya ‘collapse’ when a series of events caused the localities in the Southern Lowlands to grow increasingly dissatisfied with their rulers. Las Cuevas, Belize is the most salient example of the strong tie that existed between monumental centers and ritual cave sites of the ancient Maya during this period. Using a combination of perceptual approaches grounded in cognitive methods, traditional excavation techniques, and a Geographic Information System (GIS) to analyze artifact densities, the sinkhole outside the cave at Las Cuevas is shown to be a physically and socially restricted space which reveals political control over ritual resources and the appropriation of sacred space by the elite in reafirming their right to rule in a time of crisis. It is also shown to contain a Late Classic ritual procession route connecting the main plaza and underlying cave, which further suggests the need to refine existing models of ritual circuits in order to include these vital yet previously neglected features of the sacred landscape.
The long, iridescent, feathers of the quetzal bird have been recognized as one of the most striking and prevalent appendages of costume from Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, particularly in the region inhabited by the ancient Maya— where quetzal feathers were coveted as high-status goods. This region is home to the Pharomachrus mocinno mocinno, one of two subspecies of Resplendent Quetzal that inhabit Montane Evergreen Forests throughout Central America. Their apprehensive disposition and placid behaviour, combined with their remote environment, made them rare and elusive birds. This rarity undoubtedly impacted the acquisition of quetzal feathers in Pre-Columbian times, and it was likely that knowledge, skill, and planning were necessary to ensure they did not become a scarce resource. This paper offers an insight into the breeding and nesting behaviours of the Pharomachrus mocinno and how these may have affected hunting or collecting strategies of feathers by the ancient Maya.
This dissertation examines the carrying capacity of the landscape of the Ixcán Rio Basin in northeastern Guatemala. Sustaining areas around the sites of San Bartolo, La Prueba, and Xultun are studied using image analysis of satellite data as well as well as field survey of vegetation patterns. These Maya sites, which span in occupation from the Middle Preclassic to the Late Classic, have been investigated to various degrees by the archaeological Proyecto San Bartolo (PROSABA) since 2001. Remote sensing using false-color composites of IKONOS and Landsat data has proven a valuable tool for identifying the locations of buried Maya settlements under the dense tropical canopy of this part of the Petén. In this dissertation I propose further refinement of this method to better distinguish vegetation communities. The results of satellite image analysis are supported by field survey of forest inventory and soil analysis. Combined, these methods of microenvironment delineation give a good approximation of agricultural valuation of land types. The value of this indirect application of remote sensing to archaeological research is demonstrated through an evaluation of carrying capacity for the study sites as well as more broadly for the study region.
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