Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T16:08:08.183Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Maya Settlement Pattern in Northeastern Petén, Guatemala

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

William R. Bullard Jr.
William R. Bullard Jr.*
Affiliation:
Peabody Museum, Cambridge, Mass.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A reconnaissance of Maya ruins in northeastern Petén, Guatemala, reveals a heavy but dispersed type of settlement during the Classic period, with the dispersion conditioned principally by availability of water supply and by suitable terrain for building. The types of archaeological remains described are House Ruins, Minor Ceremonial Centers, and Major Ceremonial Centers. Settlement is seen as having been organized into (1) “clusters” of from five to 12 houses, (2) aggregates of clusters forming township-like zones of from 50 to 100 houses, each of which had a Minor Ceremonial Center as its functional nucleus, and (3) aggregates of zones forming large province-like “districts,” each of which had a Major Ceremonial Center as its functional nucleus. These units are described and discussed. Some consideration is also given to problems of water supply, population, and agriculture. Reference is made to the ruin of Topoxté, a town or small city of the Postclassic period located on a group of islands in Lake Yaxhá.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 25 , Issue 3 , January 1960 , pp. 355 - 372
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1960

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Brainerd, G. W. 1953 Archeological Findings. In “Faunal and Archeological Researches in Yucatan Caves,” by Hatt, R. T., Fisher, H. I., Langehartel, D. A., and Brainerd, G. W., pp. 109–19. Cranbrook Institute of Science, Bulletin No. 33. Bloomfield Hills.Google Scholar
Brainerd, G. W 1956 Changing Living Patterns of the Yucatan Maya. American Antiquity, Vol. 22, No. 2, pp. 162-4. Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Cooke, C. W. 1931 Why the Mayan Cities of the Peten District, Guatemala, Were Abandoned. Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences, Vol. 21, No. 13, pp. 283–7. Washington.Google Scholar
Emerson, R. A. and Kempton, J. H. 1935 Agronomic Investigations in Yucatan. Carnegie Institution of Washington, Year Book 34, pp. 138–42. Washington.Google Scholar
Hester, J. A. 1953 Agriculture, Economy, and Population Densities of the Maya. Carnegie Institution of Washington, Year Book 52, pp. 288–92. Washington.Google Scholar
Lundell, C. L. 1934 The Ruins of Polol and Other Archaeological Discoveries in the Department of Peten, Guatemala. Carnegie Institution of Washington, Publication 436, Contributions to American Anthropology and History, No. 8. Washington.Google Scholar
Lundell, C. L. 1937 The Vegetation of Peten. Carnegie Institution of Washington, Publication 478. Washington.Google Scholar
Maler, Teobert 1908 Explorations in the Department of Peten, Guatemala, and Adjacent Regions: Topoxte, Yaxha, Benque Viejo, Naranjo. Memoirs of the Peabody Museum, Harvard University, Vol. 4, No. 2. Cambridge.Google Scholar
Morley, S. G. 1937-8 The Inscriptions of Peten. Carnegie Institution of Washington, Publication 437. Washington.Google Scholar
Morley, S. G. 1946 The Ancient Maya. Stanford University Press, Stanford.Google Scholar
Ricketson, O. G. Jr., and Ricketson, E. B. 1937 Uaxactun, Guatemala, Group E—1926-1931. Carnegie Institution of Washington, Publication 477. Washington.Google Scholar
Shook, E. M. 1958 Field Director's Report: The 1956 and 1957 Seasons. In “Tikal Reports 1-4,” No. 1, pp. 1–21. Museum Monographs. University Museum, Philadelphia. Google Scholar
Smith, A. L. 1950 Uaxactun, Guatemala: Excavations of 1931-1937. Carnegie Institution of Washington, Publication 588. Washington.Google Scholar
Steggerda, Morris 1941 The Maya Indians of Yucatan. Carnegie Institution of Washington, Publication 531. Washington.Google Scholar
Thompson, E. H. 1897 The Chultunes of Labna. Memoirs of the Peabody Museum, Harvard University, Vol. 1, No. 3. Cambridge.Google Scholar
Thompson, J. E. S. 1954 The Rise and Fall of Maya Civilization. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.Google Scholar
Tozzer, A. M. 1957 Chichen Itza and its Cenote of Sacrifice: a Comparative Study of Contemporaneous Maya and Toltec. Memoirs of the Peabody Museum, Harvard University, Vols. 11, 12. Cambridge.Google Scholar
Wauchope, Robert 1934 House Mounds of Uaxactun. Carnegie Institution of Washington, Publication 436,Contributions to American Anthropology and History, No. 7.Washington.Google Scholar
Willey, G. R. 1956a Problems Concerning Prehistoric Settlement Patterns in the Maya Lowlands. In “Prehistoric Settlement Patterns in the New World,” edited by Willey, G. R., pp. 107-14. Viking Fund Publications in Anthropology, No. 23. Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, New York.Google Scholar
Willey, G. R. 1956b The Structure of Ancient Maya Society: Evidence from the Southern Lowlands. American Anthropologist, Vol. 58, No. 5, pp. 777–82. Menasha.Google Scholar
Willey, G. R., Bullard, W. R. Jr., and Glass, J. B. 1955 The Maya Community of Prehistoric Times. Archaeology, Vol. 8, No. 1, pp. 18–25. Cincinnati.Google Scholar