SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION DURING THE MIDDLE - LATE PRECLASSIC (1,000 BCE - 150 BCE) AT UCÍ, YUCATAN MEXICO

The focus of this project is to track the social change developments in Ucí, Yucatan, Mexico, during the Middle (1,000 – 400 BCE) and Late Preclassic (400 – 150 BCE) that served as foundations to institutionalized hierarchy. This research is geared towards understanding if there were any expressions of social differentiation in the earliest, detectable moments in the history of Ucí, and what were the mechanisms used to eventually make distinctions permanent. Applying an agency approach, I argue that social actors may cause structural change, both consciously and inadvertently, through the application of several strategies aimed to enhancing their role and status within their society. I make use of data from extensive mapping, test excavations, and broad, horizontal excavations at two specific structures to assess differential access to labor, resources, and sumptuary materials. Results show that there was a noticeable change between the Middle and Late Preclassic with regards to labor practices, in which communal institutions were appropriated by individuals or families to enhance their status. Test and broad excavations demonstrated that there was a shift in focus in labor practices from a central structure to outlying, multiple structures. The artifact assemblages at these later structures show that these were most likely used as centers for congregation. The groups here represented used a series of strategies to gain socio-political followers such as rituals, music performances, and the consumption of food and beverages. I believe that this would have ultimately threatened a sense of community. In the Late Preclassic we see the creation of a ceremonial circuit that links the outlying structures to the center of the site through a network of causeways. I believe that this created to diminish social fractures and enhance a sense of community. In this configuration it seems likely that the various interest groups, represented by the outlying structures, could have entered into a competition to host community-wide rituals and enhance institutionalized forms of social differentiation

Reflecting on PASUC Heritage Initiatives through Time, Positionality, and Place

This paper reports on heritage initiatives associated with a 12-year-long archaeology project in Yucatan, Mexico. Our work has involved both surprises and setbacks and in the spirit of adding to the repository of useful knowledge, we present these in a frank and transparent manner. Our findings are significant for a number of reasons. First, we show that the possibilities available to a heritage project facilitated by archaeologists depend not just on the form and focus of other stakeholders, but on the gender, sexuality, and class position of the archaeologists. Second, we provide a ground-level view of what approaches work well and which do not in terms of identifying aspects of cultural heritage that are relevant to a broad swath of stakeholders. Finally, we discuss ways in which heritage projects can overcome constraints to expanding community collaboration