Maya osteobiographies of the Holmul region, Guatemala: curating life histories through bioarchaeology and stable isotope analysis

This study applies a life history approach to analyzing the identities of 52 Maya individuals who lived between 2000 BC and AD 900 in and around the city of Holmul, within the Petén region of Guatemala. Primary goals were to: (1) identify migrant and local individuals within the urban population; (2) determine 87Sr/86Sr isotope ratio signatures for the sites of Holmul, Cival, La Sufricaya, K’o, and Hamontun; (3) compile osteobiographies, personal life histories revealed through skeletal remains, of the individuals in the sample; and (4) evaluate evidence bearing on the identities of inhabitants of the Holmul region and how they were represented within economic, political, and cultural landscapes of the ancient Maya. This work demonstrates how bioarchaeologists can implement osteobiographical analyses to advance the understanding of multifaceted social identities and individual experiences of life and death. By integrating osteological study, stable isotope analysis, and consideration of mortuary context, material culture, inscriptions, and monumental architecture, the individual, rather than the population, becomes the focus. This aggregate approach allows for an in-depth consideration of human remains as former social beings with complex identities. The findings of this research suggest that most elite inhabitants in this ancient Maya city were local to the Holmul region, with the few outliers having originated from elsewhere in the Maya lowlands. This conclusion aligns with Maya elite ideologies of establishing lineages and reinforcing power through ancestor veneration. The local 87Sr/86Sr ratio signature of the Holmul region is comparable to other archaeological sites in the southern Maya lowlands. The osteobiographies reveal life histories, which personalize prior interpretations that considered the population only as an aggregate. This project also elucidates identities of sacrificed children, elite/royal women, and the local Holmul elite. Results of the study support the use of the isotopic analysis of human remains as an essential tool for approaching complex archaeological questions and evaluating hypotheses previously addressed primarily using architectural, iconographic, and artifactual evidence. Further, this study demonstrates the benefit of the isotopic analysis of dental enamel, especially in the Maya region and other environments characterized by difficult excavation conditions and the poor preservation of human remains

Research Reports from the Programme for Belize Archaeological Project, Volume Three

Table of Contents : Archaeological Investigations of the Programme for Belize Archaeological Project: An Introduction to Volume Three / by Fred Valdez, Jr. and Rissa M. Trachman (p.1-6) -- Mount Allison University: The 2008 Archaeological Program in Northwest Belize / by Grant Aylesworth and Brent Suttie (p.7-14) -- Excavations (2008) at the Los Pisos Courtyard, La Milpa, Belize / by Maria Martinez (p.15-34) -- Investigations (2008) at La Milpa, Belize: Plaza A, Structure 4 / by Rissa M. Trachman (p.35-40) -- An Overview of Archaeological Investigations at Plaza B, La Milpa: The 2008 Field Season / by Brett Houk, Débora Trein, and Gregory Zaro (p.41-60) -- Excavations at La Milp, Belize: Structure 22 / by Gregory Zaro (p.61-70) -- Overview of the 2008 Excavations at Structures 23 and 27, Plaza B, La Milpa, Belize / by Antonio Padilla and Shannon M. Smith (p.71-80) -- Preliminary Investigations East and West of the Acropolis, La Milpa, Belize: The 2008 Field Season / by Brandon S. Lewis (p.81-84) -- The 2008 Field Season at Group A of the Medicinal Trail Site, Northwestern Belize / by David M. Hyde (p.85-96) -- A Late Preclassic Burial at Medicinal Trail: Excavation and Analysis of Burial 3 / by Angeliki Kalamara Cavazos (p.97-110) -- Group B of the Medicinal Trail Site: Select Excavations at Operation 12 / by Deanna M. (p.111-114) -- Group B of the Medicinal Trail Site: Operation 12 (Lots A, Q, and R) / by Lauri McInnis Martin (p.115-120) -- Operation 15: Berm Structures and Water Management at Medicinal Trail (RB 62), Belize / by Erin E. Gill (p.121-126) -- Medicinal Trail Archaeology: Investigations at Operation 13 / by Maia Dedrick (p.127-142) -- Excavations at the Medicinal Trail Site (2008): Operation 14 / by Madelyn Percy (p.143-144) -- RB 70: The 2008 Investigations (p.145-148) -- Excavations at La Milpa Easts and the Aguada Lagunita Elusiva: The 2008 Field Season / by Estella Weiss-Krejci (p.149-168) -- Plan for Phase Two Research at Wari Camp (RB 56): Household, Neighborhood, and Ward in the Prehispanic Maya City / by Laura Levi (p.167-176) -- Experimental Pottery Studies in Belize / by Sharon Hankins (p.177)Texas Archeological Research Laborator

Discerning Migration In The Archaeological Record: A Case Study At Chichén Itzá

Migration, as a theory to explain aspects in the archaeological record, has fallen out of favor in Mesoamerican archaeology, possibly due to a lack of a standard definition or description of migration. Migration as an explanation of change in Maya civilizations has been around since the 1950\u27s and the culture-history era of American archaeology. Since the early 1990\u27s, migration has been treated as a process, one that can be discerned in pre-literate cultures as well as historical ones. Models of the migration process are being developed and tested. One type of migration, elite dominance migration, is a particularly suitable process to study in Mesoamerica. A model of elite dominance migration might include the following attributes: advance contact by the migrating culture, migration to a center, maintenance of contact with the sending population, spatial concentration of the incoming population, migration of a selected population of elites, and a cause or push factor. To find these attributes, the receiving population is studied to determine if there are multiple changes in the material record consistent with an intrusion of an outside group. And, there should be a rough chronological correlation between the sending and receiving populations. The Maya site of Chichén Itzá is a classic case study, and provides a starting point as a possible receiving population of an elite dominance migration. There is an abundance of scholarship devoted to the question of the relationship between Chichén Itzá and Tula, Hidalgo, in Central Mexico. The iconographic similarities between the two sites are numerous and have been thoroughly discussed in the literature. But, there is much more evidence that should be examined in applying a model of elite dominance, such as architecture, artifacts (including ceramics and obsidian), burial and caching practices, and site configuration. Comparing all of these categories at the two sites, one reaches two conclusions: there are multiple lines of evidence for change in the material record across the spectrum of categories at Chichén Itzá, and, to a lesser extent, at Tula, Hidalgo, indicating a population intrusion. And, secondly, there are abundant similarities in architecture, caching practices, ceramics, and other aspects of the material record that support the assertion of strong contacts between the two sites. Applying the model of elite dominance migration to Chichén Itzá, the majority of the markers for this type of migration can be seen in the material record of the site, as well as the site of Tula, Hidalgo. Chichén Itzá has the attributes of a receiving population, with an elite dominance migration of Central Mexican people taking place there, either from Tula, Hidalgo or from a third, as yet unspecified site that impacted both Chichén Itzá and Tula

Social Reorganization and Household Adaptation in the Aftermath of Collapse at Baking Pot, Belize

This dissertation focuses on the adaptations of ancient Maya households to the processes of social reorganization in the aftermath of collapse of Classic Maya rulership at Baking Pot, a small kingdom in the upper Belize River Valley of western Belize. With the depopulation of the central and southern Maya lowlands at the end of the Late Classic period, residents in Settlement Cluster C at Baking Pot persisted following the abandonment of the palace complex in the Terminal Classic period (A.D. 800-900). Results from this study indicate that noble and commoner households in Settlement Cluster C continued to live at Baking Pot, developing strategies of adaptation including expanding interregional mercantile exchange and hosting community feasts in the Terminal Classic and Early Postclassic periods. Breaking from the strict social hierarchies of the Classic period, households were increasingly participating in mercantile exchange in the Terminal Classic and Early Postclassic periods, with exotic luxury items becoming more evenly distributed throughout the community, particularly among commoner households. The even distributions of exotic items, coupled with low-level production of local resources, suggests that households were engaging in interregional networks of exchange, although this did not involve a complete reorganization of economic production. New relationships between noble and commoner households were forged, as noble households hosted large-scale community feasts during the Terminal Classic and Early Postclassic periods. Although households were not found to have been utilizing Pan-Mesoamerican symbols as a form of status differentiation, they did display local Maya iconography on ceramics and other media, displaying a sense of shared identity and cohesion. However, this and other forms of shared identity, such as burial practices, shifted in the transition to the Postclassic period. Overall, households at Baking Pot developed innovative strategies to adapt to the changing social landscape following the sociopolitical collapse of the Classic Maya polity, playing a prominent role in the in the processes of social reorganization in the Postclassic period

Before Kukulkán

This volume illuminates human lifeways in the northern Maya lowlands prior to the rise of Chichén Itzá. This period and area have been poorly understood on their own terms, obscured by scholarly focus on the central lowland Maya kingdoms. "Before Kukulkán" is anchored in three decades of interdisciplinary research at the Classic Maya capital of Yaxuná, located at a contentious crossroads of the northern Maya lowlands. Using bioarchaeology, mortuary archaeology, and culturally sensitive mainstream archaeology, the authors create an in-depth regional understanding while also laying out broader ways of learning about the Maya past. Part 1 examines ancient lifeways among the Maya at Yaxuná, while part 2 explores different meanings of dying and cycling at the settlement and beyond: ancestral practices, royal entombment and desecration, and human sacrifice. The authors close with a discussion of the last years of occupation at Yaxuná and the role of Chichén Itzá in the abandonment of this urban center. "Before Kukulkán" provides a cohesive synthesis of the evolving roles and collective identities of locals and foreigners at the settlement and their involvement in the region’s trajectory. Theoretically informed and contextualized discussions offer unique glimpses of everyday life and death in the socially fluid Maya city. These findings, in conjunction with other documented series of skeletal remains from this region, provide a nuanced picture of the social and biocultural dynamics that operated successfully for centuries before the arrival of the Itzá

Identity and community structure in Neolithic Man Bac, Northern Vietnam

FUNDING This research was supported by JSPS fund 16H02527 and Australian Research Council grant DP0774079. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Many people have been involved in the excavation and post-excavation work associated with Man Bac over the years. Here we wish to pay special thanks to Nguyen Kim Dung (then of the Institute of Archaeology, Hanoi) who co-directed the excavations in 2004/5 and 2007. The following were involved in either one or several ways between 2004/5 and 2007 (facilitation of land access, excavation, post-excavation analysis, and ublication): Nguyen Hann Khang and Nguyen Cao Tan (Ninh Binh Provincial Museum, Vietnam), the landowner of Man Bac Nguyen Van Sai, the Chung Village community, Peter Bellwood and Lorna Tilley (Australian National University), Nguyen Giang Hai (former Director, Institute of Archaeology, Hanoi), Nguyen Kim Thuy, Nguyen An Tuan, Vu The Long, Tran Thi Thuy Ha, Bui Thu Phuong, Ha Manh Thang, Nguyen Ngoc Quy, Vo Thanh Huong, Nguyen Chi Tan, Nguyen Thi Mai Huong (Institute of Archaeology, Hanoi), Mariko Yamagata (Okayama Science University, Japan), Ken-ichi Shidoda (National Museum of Nature and Science, Japan), Yukio Dodo (formerly of Tohoku University, Japan), Takeji Toizumi (Meiji University, Japan), Junmei Sawada (Nigata University of Health and Welfare, Japan), Mark Lipson (Harvard Medical School, USA), Anna Willis (James Cook University, Australia). Many thanks to Jeff Oliver for reading and commenting on an earlier draft.Peer reviewedPostprin

The material culture of religion and ritual : an analysis of social change in the Aztec-to-colonial transition at Tula, Hidalgo

This dissertation offers an archaeological perspective on the relationships between power, history, religion, and ritual. Using Tula, Hidalgo in central Mexico as a case study, I provide a long-term perspective on how Christianity developed in the New World following the Spanish military conquest of the Aztec empire. The bulk of secondary historical literature characterizes the colonial conversion project as a top-down process to which Indigenous actors could passively acquiesce or revolt. Using artifacts deposited by Tula’s Indigenous majority, I adopt a material culture perspective to argue for another view: that the active, diverse engagements of Indigenous subjects changed Christianity by forcing it to adapt to Indigenous religious ontologies. To examine the religious transition in Tula, this dissertation compares two early colonial sites: an open chapel constructed around 1530 A.D., and a cathedral constructed around 1550 A.D. I employ historical documents, human burials, architectural elements, ritual objects such as censers, and everyday artifacts such as ceramics, faunal remains, and macrobotanical specimens. The two sites and their corresponding artifact assemblages allow for a diachronic comparison of social change within the Church and the community in Tula. This dissertation takes a power-centered approach to the study of religion. I adopt Judith Butler’s concept of “resignification” to explain the material patterns in Tula: I found that Christian rites, concepts, buildings, and words shifted significantly as they were repeated within an Indigenous religious framework. This broader frame also informs my approach to the major themes of the dissertation: religion, ritual, and history. Based on previous research, my study revealed that Aztec activities in Tula were likely centered around two major rituals that first deconsecrated and later reanimated the city, an interpretation that speaks to debates surrounding the Aztecs’ relationships with their predecessors, the Toltecs, whose capital was Tula. Using data from my excavations, I found that colonial Christian ritual was immediately shaped by Indigenous prerogatives—especially feasting and outdoor worship—and these persisted even as the colonial Church stabilized. My study of everyday materials from a religious perspective revealed that Spanish friars were compelled to adapt to Indigenous material preferences: material changes occurred primarily within the Indigenous tradition even as the Church consolidated its authority in New Spain. Broadly, this dissertation argues that colonial Christianity in central Mexico was deeply indebted to the active contributions of Indigenous subjects.Anthropolog

COSMOLOGY AND SOCIETY: HOUSEHOLD RITUAL AMONG THE TERMINAL CLASSIC MAYA PEOPLE OF YAXHA (ca. A.D. 850-950), GUATEMALA

This study of domestic ritual and symbolism centers on the ancient Maya kingdom of Yaxha in northeastern Guatemala, during the last part of the Classic period (A.D. 850-950/1000). Classic Maya high-culture functioned within a dynastic cosmology that framed royalty’s power. The central question in this dissertation is ‘how did the non-royal population participate and interact with this dynastic cosmology?’ Exploring some possible ways in which ancient Yaxhaeans participated and interacted with the local dynastic cosmology, I have hypothesized three possible behaviors derived from ethnographic studies: active engagement, resistance, and passive compliance. A comparative study of ritual practices and symbolism in ten residences of different social ranks provides the grounds for the discussion. This sample of residences includes the royal palace, a noble palace, two high-end commoner residences, and six low-end commoner residences. While the data from the eight commoner residences was obtained through original research, the information from the royal and noble palaces was recovered from previous research and salvage archaeology projects at Yaxha. The same ritual and symbolic aspects were investigated: symbolism in architectural layouts, ritual feasting, funerary rituals, dedication and termination rituals, and ritual paraphernalia. I have concluded that while nobles and high-end commoners were actively engaged with the ruling dynastic cosmology, low-end commoners were more reluctant. A certain degree of disconnection in the ritual practices of the higher and lower ranks has been detected, suggesting that low-end commoners might have been more passively compliant than actively engaged with the ruling cosmology. No evidence for overt resistance has been found. Although passive compliance is not a behavior usually associated with social change, ethnographic observations suggest that as a form of passive resistance, it might be a symptom of social unrest

A Biogeochemistry Approach to Geographic Origin and Mortuary Arrangement at the Talgua Cave Ossuaries, Olancho, Honduras

Isotopic assays, including stable carbon, stable oxygen, and radiogenic strontium were measured for 37 individuals from the Talgua cave ossuaries to understand human movement and mortuary practice during Formative Period Honduras. Likelihood assignment models demonstrated that the individuals had diverse childhood geographic origins within the surrounding valleys. This shows that different kin or ethnic groups from diverse geographic origins were utilizing the ossuaries. Five possible ‘non-local’ individuals were identified from the radiogenic strontium and stable oxygen isotope datasets, suggesting minimal human movement into northeast Honduras from outside Lower Central America. The low number of ‘non-local’ individuals at Talgua Caves also suggests that trade items were acquired by down-the-line exchange processes rather than through a long-distance trade connection. This type of trade network and bioarchaeological evidence of limited ‘non-local’ individuals at Talgua Caves suggests the surrounding region was culturally distinct from Mesoamerica during the Formative Period