A Volumetric Assessment of Ancient Maya Architecture: A GIS Approach to Settlement Patterns

This paper will discuss the general applications of GIS technology to our research in the Yalahau Region of northern Quintana Roo, Mexico. In particular we will address the use of a volumetric analysis as a means of developing an architectural comparative framework at both the intrasite and regional scales. The comparative framework is a powerful tool that allows us to investigate and visualize the distribution of social power both within the site of T\u27isil and across the region. The direct relationship between social power and architectural volume is predicated on the assumption that actors who utilized the largest dwellings were able to coerce (or force) the greatest number of people to aid in their construction

Cenotes as Conceptual Boundary Markers at the Ancient Maya Site of T’isil, Quintana Roo, México

Ancient Maya communities, from small village sites to urban centers, have long posed problems to archaeologists in attempting to define the boundaries or limits of settlement. These ancient communities tend to be relatively dispersed, with settlement densities dropping toward the periphery, but lacking any clear boundary. At a limited number of sites, the Maya constructed walled enclosures or earthworks, which scholars have generally interpreted as defensive projects, often hastily built to protect the central districts of larger administrative centers during times of warfare (e.g., Demarest et al. 1997; Inomata 1997; Kurjack and Andrews 1976; Puleston and Callender 1967; Webster 2000; Webster et al. 2007). As another response to conflict in the southern lowlands, small villages or hamlets are reported to have been established on defensive hilltop locations and surrounded by palisades (Demarest et al. 1997; O\u27Mansky and Dunning 2004). At some walled sites, walls may have served more to define gated communities in the modern sense of the phrase; a boundary that separates an elite community from the more common folk living just outside of the walls

Preliminary Evidence for the Existence of a Regional Sacbe Across the Northern Maya Lowlands

Ancient road systems have often been used by archaeologists to reconstruct interaction and political ties among prehistoric settlements. Roads built by the ancient Maya offer many insights into the political geography of the area, particularly in the northern lowlands where hieroglyphic texts are rare. This study examines ethnohistoric, historic, and archaeological data that suggest that a regional road, some 300 km in length, once spanned the northern lowlands from the modern location of Mérida to the east coast facing the island of Cozumel. The political implications of such a road, if it once existed, are discussed

Wetland Manipulation in the Yalahau Region of the Northern Maya Lowlands

Manipulation of wetlands for agricultural purposes by the ancient Maya of southern Mexico and Central America has been a subject of much research and debate since the 1970s. Evidence for wetland cultivation systems, in the form of drained or channelized fields, and raised planting platforms, has been restricted primarily to the southern Maya Lowlands. New research in the Yalahau region of Quintana Roo, Mexico, has recorded evidence for wetland manipulation in the far northern lowlands, in the form of rock alignments that apparently functioned to control water movement and soil accumulation in seasonally inundated areas. Nearby ancient settlements date primarily to the Late Preclassic period (ca. 100 B.C. to A.C. 350), and this age is tentatively attributed to wetland management in the area

The Yalahau Regional Human Ecology Project: An Introduction and Summary of Recent Research

This chapter will introduce the Yalahau region and summarize research activities and findings from 1998 through 2001, with some observations based on our 2002-2003 investigations, which are still under analysis (Fedick 2004; Mathews 2003a)