THE VIEW FROM BELOW: COMMUNITY RESPONSE TO DRAMATIC POLITICAL AND SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION AT THE ANCIENT MAYA CITY-STATE OF MINANHA, BELIZE by (original) (raw)
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2012
This study examines processes of urbanization, including elements of integration and disintegration, at the low-density/dispersed Classic Period (ca. 300-900 C.E.) Maya centre of Buenavista del Cayo in the Lower Mopan River Valley of west-central Belize. Through an examination of the "biographies" of specific non-elite group constituencies (households and communities -people), represented by their material remains (places and things), I examine their impact on the visibility and characterization of urbanization processes at Buenavista through a multi-temporal, materialistic, and nuanced lens known as "life history".
This thesis explores the abandonment of the ancient Maya site of Minanha, situated in the North Vaca Plateau of west-central Belize. The purpose of this research is to study, through a behavioral-contextual approach, the 12 on-floor assemblages that were excavated across the entire social spectrum of the Minanha community, from commoners to royal elites. The research methods include a careful "type-attribute: mode" ceramic analysis, and detailed contextual, architectural observations. Specifically, this thesis explores the timing of the abandonment for each segment of the Minanha community, as well the differential abandonment processes responsible for the creation of each of the 12 on-floor assemblages excavated at the site. Additionally, intra- and inter-site comparisons, will allow for a regionally integrated reconstruction of the abandonment scenario for the broader Minanha community. Finally, this settlement abandonment study will serve to inquire into ancient Maya rituals and social organization, and into the socio- political dynamics ongoing at Minanha during its last phase of occupation.
Households and Social Trajectories: The Site Core Community at Minanha, Belize
Research Reports in Belizean Archaeology, 2011
Over the span of its history, the ancient Maya city-state of Minanha underwent dramatic changes in its political, economic, and social environment, marked by the establishment of a royal court during the Late Classic period (AD 675-810). Three years of housemound excavations in the Site Core of Minanha has generated a robust data set of fine enough resolution to address the many factors that contributed to the social, political, and economic dynamic of, not only this particular settlement, but also, the center as a whole. The material inventory and nature of the Site Core settlement indicate that, throughout its existence, this community was richly textured, inhabited by an array of individuals and families engaged in a range of different economic activities, socio-political relationships, diverse ritual practices, and with differential access to resources. As an avenue of inquiry, exploring the integrative strategies of the Site Core households, from their initial occupations to their abandonment, has clarified the response this commoner community had to both the rise, and the fall of the Minanha city-state.
The Last Groups Standing: Living Abandonment at the Ancient Maya Center of Minanha, Belize
Latin American Antiquity, 2015
The most archaeologically visible dimension of the Classic Maya Collapse is the abandonment of monumental royal courts. Yet, in some cases, non-elite populations lived for centuries in and around Classic Maya centers without rulers. Processes of abandonment among Classic Maya commoners are detectable and reflect their own ritual and social practices divorced from the ritual performances undertaken by the ruling elite. We study the abandonment context and chronology of three domestic groups from the Contreras Valley, an agricultural community located on the outskirts of the Classic Maya center of Minanha, Belize. There, several artifact assemblages were deposited at the time of abandonment, representing termination rituals. This study goes beyond the ideological dimension of termination rituals, as we examine how these ceremonies helped reshape the identity of social groups who were about to abandon their home. We explore how the last inhabitants of a mostly abandoned landscape lived through this process of gradual depopulation. Moreover, we evaluate potential explanations for the archaeological processes behind the occurrence or non-occurrence of termination rituals in different domestic groups. El aspecto arqueológico más visible del colapso Maya Clásico es el abandono de las cortes reales monumentales. Sin embargo, en algunos casos, poblaciones que no pertenecían a la élite vivieron por siglos en centros Mayas Clásicos sin la presencia de gobernantes. Los procesos de abandono de la gente común durante el periodo Clásico pueden ser discernibles y reflejar sus propias prácticas rituales y sociales, las cuales fueron distintas de la élite. En este artículo estudiamos el contexto de abandono y la cronología de tres grupos domésticos del Valle de Contreras, los cuales formaron parte de una comunidad agrícola ubicada en los alrededores del centro Maya Clásico de Minanha, Belice. Varios conjuntos de artefactos fueron depositados durante el abandono de este valle, los cuales representan rituales de terminación. Este estudio va más allá de las dimensiones ideológicas para examinar cómo estas ceremonias transformaron la identidad de los grupos sociales que estuvieron a punto de abandonar sus casas. Exploramos cómo estos últimos habitantes de un paisaje prácticamente abandonado vivieron este proceso de despoblación gradual. Además, evaluamos explicaciones potenciales para los procesos arqueológicos responsables de la presencia o ausencia de rituales de terminación en diferentes grupos residenciales.
Burials and Mortuary Behaviour of the Ancient Maya at Minanha, Belize
This thesis examines the mortuary assemblage from the ancient Maya centre of Minanha, located in the North Vaca Plateau of west-central Belize. The study is an intra- site mortuary analysis that highlights the major trends of a comparative analysis of sociopolitical or socioeconomic status across temporal periods. The assemblage spans from the Late Preclassic (400 B.C.- A.D. 100) to the Early Postclassic (A.D. 900-1200). Analysis indicates that occupants of Minanha’s Late Classic (A.D. 675-810) epicentre/royal court complex invested more energy in their grave constructions and grave offerings than other segments of the community, and that changes in the mortuary record correspond roughly with sociopolitical changes at the centre. Inter-site comparisons at the end of the thesis demonstrate that the Minanha mortuary assemblage fits with the Vaca Plateau regional trends, and that Minanha may have been influenced by the centers of Pacbitun, and/or Caracol.
ARCHAEOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON CLASSIC MAYA SOCIAL ORGANIZATION FROM CARACOL, BELIZE
Ancient Mesoamerica, 2004
Inferring ancient social and political organization from the archaeological record is a difficult task. Generally, the models used to interpret the Classic-period Maya (a.d. 250-900) have been borrowed from other societies and other times and thus also reflect etic conceptions of the past. Maya social and political organization has been interpreted as varying in complexity. Those who would model a less complex Classic Maya social structure have tended to employ lineage models and segmentation. Models of a more complex Classic Maya civilization focus on different social levels and on a breakdown of some kinship systems. Other models, such as that of the "noble house," represent attempts to find a middle ground. Yet archaeological and epigraphic data that have been gathered for the Classic Maya place parameters on any interpretation that is generated. Data collected from Caracol, Belize, over the past 19 years can be used to illustrate the problems that arise in the strict application of "ideal" social models to the Classic Maya situation. These same data also provide parameters for the reconstruction of ancient sociopolitical organization.
Ancient Mesoamerica
This article revisits a long-neglected site in Northern Belize, the Classic Maya settlement of El Pozito, located in the Orange Walk District. Investigations led by Mary Neivens and Dennis Puleston explored the site between 1974 and 1976, documenting its architecture and recovering a substantial quantity of artifacts. Afterward, events conspired to bring these investigations to a close, leaving the site in a half-century scholarly limbo. The research here seeks to rectify this. Combining extant field notes with sporadic publications and recently conducted ceramic analysis, the authors reconstructed El Pozito's sequence of construction, occupation, and usage over 20 centuries. This new research revealed a settlement of surprising complexity, combining aspects of urban functionality amid a landscape of rural complexity. This article argues that the best way to understand such complexity is through the conceptual lens of a “town.” Neither a city nor a dispersed rural settlement, El...
2013
This thesis reports on the 2010 excavations of the North Group and Eastern Court at the ancient Lowland Maya site of Pacbitun. It provides a construction history of the architecture and an analysis of associated artifacts, burials, and caches. The archaeological investigations demonstrate that the seven structures (Strs. 34-40) of this restricted access plazuela group were built in the Early Classic period, and renewed in the Late Classic period. Based on analyses of artifacts (ceramics and lithics), skeletal and faunal remains, and intra- and inter-site comparisons, the North Group functioned as a secondary elite domestic residential group. Reconstruction suggests that the inhabitants here were not commoners; instead, the occupants probably were related to the ruling elite of Pacbitun. Some of the evidence includes the central location and elevation of the North Group, the presence of red painted plaster surfacing, a burial with multiple ceramic musical instruments, and multiple dedicatory caches with exotic goods (e.g., marine shell, jadeite, "Charlie Chaplin" figures).