Proyecto Arqueológico Ceibal-Petexbatun: Informe de La Temporada de Campo 2016

This item in the Maya Archaeology collections has been made available by University of Arizona faculty and the University Libraries. Please contact Professor Takeshi Inomata with any questions, [email protected]

Proyecto Arqueológico Ceibal-Petexbatun: Informe de La Temporada de Campo 2014

This item in the Maya Archaeology collections has been made available by University of Arizona faculty and the University Libraries. Please contact Professor Takeshi Inomata with any questions, [email protected]

Proyecto Arqueológico Ceibal-Petexbatun: Informe de La Temporada de Laboratorio 2018

This item in the Maya Archaeology collections has been made available by University of Arizona faculty and the University Libraries. Please contact Professor Takeshi Inomata with any questions, [email protected]

Proyecto Arqueológico Ceibal-Petexbatun: Informe de La Temporada de Campo 2015

This item in the Maya Archaeology collections has been made available by University of Arizona faculty and the University Libraries. Please contact Professor Takeshi Inomata with any questions, [email protected]

Proyecto Arqueológico Ceibal-Petexbatun: Informe de La Temporada de Campo 2016

This item in the Maya Archaeology collections has been made available by University of Arizona faculty and the University Libraries. Please contact Professor Takeshi Inomata with any questions, [email protected]

Proyecto Arqueológico Ceibal-Petexbatun: Informe de La Temporada de Campo 2017

This item in the Maya Archaeology collections has been made available by University of Arizona faculty and the University Libraries. Please contact Professor Takeshi Inomata with any questions, [email protected]

Informe del Proyecto Arqueológico Ceibal-Petexbatun: La Temporada de Campo 2014

This item in the Maya Archaeology collections has been made available by University of Arizona faculty and the University Libraries. Please contact Professor Takeshi Inomata with any questions, [email protected]

Artificial plateau construction during the Preclassic period at the Maya site of Ceibal, Guatemala

Investigations at the Maya site of Ceibal, Guatemala, documented an artificial plateau, measuring 600 x 340 min horizontal dimensions and 6 to 15m in height. Unlike highly visible pyramids, such horizontally extensive constructions covered by the rainforest are difficult to recognize on the ground, but airborne laser scanning (LiDAR) revealed its planned form. Excavations carried out over many years provided data on its construction sequence, fill volumes, and labor investments. The initial construction of the plateau occurred around 950 B.C. when a formal ceremonial complex was built in its center. This was the period when the inhabitants of the Maya lowlands were adopting a new way of life with greater reliance on maize agriculture, full sedentism, and ceramic use. The inhabitants of areas surrounding Ceibal, who retained certain levels of residential mobility, probably participated in the construction of the plateau. In this regard, the Ceibal plateau is comparable to monumental constructions that emerged before or during the transition to agriculture or sedentism in other parts of the world. The data from Ceibal compel researchers to examine the social implications of monumental constructions in the Maya lowlands before the establishment of centralized polities with hereditary rulers. Unlike pyramids, where access to the summits may have been limited to privileged individuals, the horizontal monumentality of the plateau was probably more conducive to inclusive interaction. The Ceibal plateau continued to be built up during the Preclassic period (1000 B.C.-A.D. 175), and its fill volume substantially surpassed those of pyramids. Large-scale construction projects likely promoted organizational and managerial innovations among participants, which may have set the stage for later administrative centralization.Japan Society for the Promotion of ScienceMinistry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan (MEXT)Japan Society for the Promotion of Science [21402008, 26101003, 26300025]; Alphawood Foundation; Agnese Nelms Haury Program of the University of ArizonaOpen access articleThis item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

The Maya Preclassic to Classic transition observed through faunal trends from Ceibal, Guatemala

It is well known that the development of the ancient Maya civilization had significant and long-lasting impacts on the environment. This study assesses a large collection of faunal remains (>35,000 specimens) recovered over a span of several kilometers in and around the archaeological site of Ceibal, Guatemala, in order to determine whether the composition of animal resources was continuous throughout the site's history between 1000 BC and AD 1200, or whether there were any changes that could be attributed to sociopolitical or environmental causes. Results show a steep uniform decline in the number of freshwater mollusks across the site that occurred during the Preclassic to Classic transition, when large region-wide political changes, including the development of more complex and centralized political organization, took place throughout the Maya region. Evidence of species introductions (e.g., turkeys from central Mexico and possibly the Dermatemys river turtle from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec) and variations in resource exchange (e.g. marine shells) over time indicate that Ceibal was one of likely many communities involved in long-distance animal exchange networks. The results of the faunal analysis at Ceibal show how the ancient Maya had a complex and ever-changing relationship with the local wildlife, with outcomes that can still be observed in the environment today.Open access journalThis item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

Archaeological application of airborne LiDAR to examine social changes in the Ceibal region of the Maya lowlands.

Although the application of LiDAR has made significant contributions to archaeology, LiDAR only provides a synchronic view of the current topography. An important challenge for researchers is to extract diachronic information over typically extensive LiDAR-surveyed areas in an efficient manner. By applying an architectural chronology obtained from intensive excavations at the site center and by complementing it with surface collection and test excavations in peripheral zones, we analyze LiDAR data over an area of 470 km2 to trace social changes through time in the Ceibal region, Guatemala, of the Maya lowlands. We refine estimates of structure counts and populations by applying commission and omission error rates calculated from the results of ground-truthing. Although the results of our study need to be tested and refined with additional research in the future, they provide an initial understanding of social processes over a wide area. Ceibal appears to have served as the only ceremonial complex in the region during the transition to sedentism at the beginning of the Middle Preclassic period (c. 1000 BC). As a more sedentary way of life was accepted during the late part of the Middle Preclassic period and the initial Late Preclassic period (600-300 BC), more ceremonial assemblages were constructed outside the Ceibal center, possibly symbolizing the local groups' claim to surrounding agricultural lands. From the middle Late Preclassic to the initial Early Classic period (300 BC-AD 300), a significant number of pyramidal complexes were probably built. Their high concentration in the Ceibal center probably reflects increasing political centralization. After a demographic decline during the rest of the Early Classic period, the population in the Ceibal region reached the highest level during the Late and Terminal Classic periods, when dynastic rule was well established (AD 600-950)