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Arroyo de Piedra: Sociopolitical Dynamics of a Secondary Center in the Petexbatun Region

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 October 2008

Héctor L. Escobedo
Héctor L. Escobedo
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, 37212 USA, and Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala, Guatemala
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Abstract

Arroyo de Piedra occupies a strategic position between the sites of Dos Pilas and Tamarindito, the dominant polities in the Petexbatun region. Temples, palaces, sculptured monuments, quarries, and a defensive wall reflect the importance of this small site. Archaeological and epigraphic investigations conducted by Vanderbilt University from 1990 to 1994 demonstrate that Arroyo de Piedra was founded and ruled by members of the royal family of Tamarindito during the Early Classic. In the Late Classic, Arroyo de Piedra was absorbed by the expansionistic Dos Pilas dynasty through a matrimonial alliance. The marriage was apparently imposed by means of coercion as suggested by evidence of intentional destruction of local sculpture. The center was abandoned during the Terminal Classic, after the fall of Dos Pilas.

Type
Special Section: The Vanderbilt Petexbatun Archaeological Project, 1989–1994
Information
Ancient Mesoamerica , Volume 8 , Issue 2 , Fall 1997 , pp. 307 - 320
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1997

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References

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