Eric Taladoire

Chronology of the Río Bec settlement and architecture

Abstract Chronology is a crucial issue given the specific settlement patterns of the Río Bec region located on the northern fringe of the Maya central lowlands. Fine-resolution chronology of the local residential occupation in its many spatial and temporal forms is one of the main proxies available to reconstruct social organization and dynamics, in the absence of a nucleated center with the typical Maya political monuments usually investigated. Variability can be traced in residential morphologies and evolution that must be dated. The scope of the paper aims to describe the construction of the Río Bec chronology in its multiple dimensions, based on a diversity of methods from ceramic Type-Variety classification up to seriation of building sequences defining the evolution of the famous Río Bec architectural style. Epigraphic evidence exists, albeit limited and ambiguous. The general sequence of occupation for the targeted micro-region stretches from the Middle Preclassic to the end of the Terminal Classic period.

COULD WE SPEAK OF THE SUPER BOWL AT FLUSHING MEADOWS?: La pelota mixteca , a third pre-Hispanic ballgame, and its possible architectural context

Mesoamerican studies have long focused on the well-known pre-Columbian game ullamaliztli, its architectural context, and its possible variants. But other games can be identified, among them the stick game from Teotihuacan and a handball game depicted at Dainzù. Despite a large chronological gap, the handball game at Dainzu can be related to the present pelota mixteca, taking into account other artifacts. It may also be associated with the palangana-type ballcourts, thus modifying our interpretations of the ballgame architectural context.

RETURN TO MOXVIQUIL: FORM AND FUNCTION IN A SMALL MAYA CITY

Abstract The excavations of Frans Blom and Clarence Weiant at the small hilltop site of Moxviquil in the early 1950s represent one of the pioneering archaeological projects in highland Chiapas. The results of their excavations, which were minimally published, provide important data on one of the largest Late Classic-Early Postclassic communities in the region. In this paper, we reconsider Moxviquil in light of recent scholarship on Maya urbanism, and present new interpretations of the site as a small city that fulfilled a diversified set of urban functions for residents both within the monumental zone itself, and in the surrounding hinterland areas. Consistent with its likely role as the administrative center of a small, independent highland polity, the monumental center of Moxviquil likely served political, economic, and ritual functions; was an important nucleus of residential settlement; and supported a wide range of household-based craft production and food preparation activities.

TOWARDS A REEVALUATION OF THE TONINÁ POLITY

Among the numerous polities of the Usumacinta region, Tonina stands as the worst defined. In spite of its reduced population, Tonina developed an aggres- sive policy, and won several victories upon close-by and distant cities as well. This article tries, from the available archaeological and epigraphic data, to draw a more precise definition of the Tonina polity and socio-political structure, in order to interpret the city long-lasting success.

¿El centro del tlachco, el centro del mundo?

El centro de las canchas de juego de pelota nunca ha sido el objeto de un estudio especifico; sin embargo, las cronicas confirman su valor simbolico, mientras que las pictografias de los codices y los llamados marcadores ofrecen pruebas innegables de su importancia. La rareza de los datos y su distribucion espacial y cronologica solo permiten definir unos elementos compartidos por las diferentes civilizaciones, el nucleo duro del simbolismo del juego de pelota.