Article contents
ZACPETEN STRUCTURE 719: ACTIVITIES AT A CONTACT PERIOD POPOL NAH BEFORE RAPID ABANDONMENT
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 March 2018
Abstract
This paper addresses activities carried out in a late-sixteenth or seventeenth century Maya council house (popol nah) just before its abandonment. Structure 719 at the site of Zacpeten in the central Peten lakes district is considered a noble residence remodeled into a council house with an adjacent temple. Excavations revealed quantities of de facto refuse inside the structure's two rooms and around the exterior; recent studies focused on ceramics, lithics, faunal remains, and net sinkers. The back room held abundant lithics and diverse fauna, with evidence of grinding red pigment and snapping obsidian prismatic blades into segments for fashioning arrow points. Pottery and faunal remains indicate feasting, as well as possible use of animal parts in ritual and in making ceremonial objects. The Group 719 complex served as a center of production of various goods and community ritual until its abrupt abandonment, likely in the first decade or so of the eighteenth century.
- Type
- Research Article
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018
References
REFERENCES
- 8
- Cited by