Travis W. Stanton

Garbage of the Gods? Squatters, refuse disposal, and termination rituals among the ancient Maya

Differentiating the material patterning between domestic refuse from squatters and ceremonial trash generated from termination rituals has been difficult for Maya archaeologists. Rich floor assemblages, especially from elite contexts, have been interpreted as �decadent� squatter refuse by some researchers and the remains of abandonment rituals by others. The identification and separation of these classes of behavior are essential for interpretations of floor assemblages. In this paper, we examine data from numerous contexts, in order to contextualize the debate over the interpretation of these two models. Ethnoarchaeological, ethnohistoric, and archaeological data indicate that close scrutiny of the context and material composition of such deposits are needed to distinguish these very different classes of behavior

Cultural Logic and Practical Reason: the Structure of Discard in Ancient Maya Houselots

Since the 1980s, archaeologists have challenged the idea that prehistoric actions were guided primarily by practicality and expedience. Rubbish disposal, a superficially mundane activity, provides a critical case for exploring the depth to which cultural logics penetrate. Ethnoarchaeological research on discard behaviour in Mesoamerican houselots has modelled rubbish disposal as a matter of expedience predictable by factors such as density of settlement and length of occupation. At the Classic period site of Chunchucmil, Yucatan, such models based on practical reason succeed only partly in predicting the distribution of rubbish. Ethnographic and ethnohistorical accounts of rubbish in Mesoamerica suggest that fully understanding its distribution requires attention to cultural logics. At Chunchucmil, ancient Maya cosmology explains the location of dumps within households. Thus, both practical and cultural logics structured discard. The case of Maya subsistence farming suggests that practical logic is subsumed by cultural logic, rather than the two logics conflicting. These findings show how broadly-held beliefs and predispositions are instantiated and reproduced in daily life.

WARFARE, CERAMIC ECONOMY, AND THE ITZA

Models of polity organization in the northern Maya lowlands are often based on the distribution of ceramic types. These models do not account for crucial links between the processes of ceramic production, distribution, use, and discard and sociopolitical relationships. We discuss several models of ceramic economy. These models suggest that the distribution of some serving vessels may encode information concerning sociopolitical relationships. These models are evaluated in light of stratigraphic evidence from Yaxuna and Uxmal, in order to elucidate the nature of polity at Chichen Itza. We argue that the ceramic data are ambiguous concerning the proposed existence of a large conquest state centered on the capital.

THE MIDDLE FORMATIVE OF YUCATAN IN CONTEXT: The view from Yaxuna

Assumptions concerning the late dating of Middle Formative ceramics in the northern Maya lowlands and similarities between this region and areas to the south underlie mainstream interpretations that the northern Maya lowlands was slower to develop cultural complexity. This paper is a re-evaluation of these assumptions and their impact on interpretations of Formative interaction. Recent research at Yaxuna, Yucatan, Mexico is discussed in light of alternative approaches to the study of sociopolitical interaction among early complex societies.

Placing the Centre, Centring the Place: the Influence of Formative Sacbeob in Classic Site Design at Yaxuná, Yucatán

A series of Formative Period causeways ( sacbeob ) at the Maya site of Yaxuna, Yucatan, Mexico, constituted elements of an early geomantic plan that was renegotiated by the inhabitants of this centre for 1500–2000 years. This plan embodied a series of sacred metaphors including the World Tree and Milky Way. After its initial construction, this widely recognized sacred landscape was reinterpreted using the language of causeways and buildings by people with competing interests. A consideration of how the geomantic plan was differentially modified sheds light on important social transitions throughout the history of the site, as well as the role of landscape and shared memory among the ancient Yucatec Maya of Yaxuna.

IMPACTS OF POLITICS ON MATERIAL CULTURE: EVALUATING THE YAXUNA-COBA SACBE

Abstract Over the past thirty years, Mayanists have increasingly discussed the relationships between large polities. Advances in our understanding of epigraphy have largely driven this increased focus. Yet in areas where the epigraphic record is less understood, as is the case with the northern Maya lowlands, archaeologists have turned to other data to piece together political relationships. These data often consist of architectural and ceramic styles. Models based on such data generally assume that styles of material culture will cluster among social groups that are more closely knit than others (familial or political ties) or will occur in an area after it has been subordinated by a particular polity. One case where such a model has been applied is the site of Yaxuna, which was connected to the metropolis of Coba by a 100 km-long causeway during the Late Classic period. The difference between this case and others is that not only do the two sites share some aspects of material culture during this period, but we can also physically see that the sites were integrated by an actual road. In most cases where stylistic models have been applied, the possible routes connecting sites do not preserve, making the correlation between styles and social interaction more speculative. In this paper, we reevaluate the Yaxuna-Coba case using a modal analysis of the Arena ceramic group shared by Yaxuna and Coba during that time. Our data suggest that one particularly important type (Arena Red) was produced in Yaxuna and exported in a limited range of forms down the causeway toward sites in Quintana Roo. Although several archaeologists have argued that the causeway represents the subordination of Yaxuna by an expanding Late Classic Coba polity, our data suggest that the resulting impact on material culture may be more complex than current models imply. Ceramic economies operating in a very limited fashion within or outside of spheres of political action may have been common among the Maya, although the idea that trade follows flag certainly appears to have existed in this case.

“ALL THAT IS SOLID…”: SACBES , SETTLEMENT, AND SEMIOTICS AT TZACAUIL, YUCATAN

Abstract This paper applies structuration theory and semiotics to interpret the results of a recently completed total coverage pedestrian survey to the east of Yaxuna, Yucatan. Data from this survey suggest that a social group centered at the site of Tzacauil vied for political clout in the Late Preclassic period through the construction of a triadic acropolis 3 km from Yaxuna. This group also initiated but did not complete a new experimental construction: a long-distance causeway between the two sites. A central facet of structuration is the instability of social practice. Rules can be altered when transposed to new contexts, while durable resources, such as causeways and acropolis groups, do not ensure the solidity of the coalitions they are meant to represent. Despite an outlay of labor never again seen to the east of Yaxuna, Tzacauil had a rather short occupation. Though they never completed the causeway, the people of Tzacauil did succeed in transforming the conventional understanding of causeways. These events support a semiotic approach since they show that materiality is contingent: it has a potential that people may or may not work to realize.