Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T04:50:46.168Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Last Groups Standing: Living Abandonment at the Ancient Maya Center of Minanha, Belize

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Maxime Lamoureux-St-Hilaire ,
Scott Macrae ,
Carmen A. McCane ,
Evan A. Parker  and
Gyles Iannone
Maxime Lamoureux-St-Hilaire
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA 70118 ([email protected])
Scott Macrae
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611 ([email protected])
Carmen A. McCane
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, Tulane University, OH 45221 ([email protected])
Evan A. Parker
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, State University of New York at Buffalo, New Orleans, LA 70118 ([email protected])
Gyles Iannone
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Trent UniversityBuffaloPeterborough, ON K9J 7B8 ([email protected])
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The most archaeologically visible dimension of the Classic Maya Collapse is the abandonment of monumental royal courts. Yet, in some cases, non-elite populations lived for centuries in and around Classic Maya centers without rulers. Processes of abandonment among Classic Maya commoners are detectable and reflect their own ritual and social practices divorced from the ritual performances undertaken by the ruling elite. We study the abandonment context and chronology of three domestic groups from the Contreras Valley, an agricultural community located on the outskirts of the Classic Maya center ofMinanha, Belize. There, several artifact assemblages were deposited at the time of abandonment, representing termination rituals. This study goes beyond the ideological dimension of termination rituals to examine how these ceremonies helped reshape the identity of social groups who were about to abandon their home. We explore how the last inhabitants of a mostly abandoned landscape lived through this process of gradual depopulation. Moreover, we evaluate potential explanations for the archaeological processes behind the occurrence or non-occurrence of termination rituals in different domestic groups.

Resumen

Resumen

El aspecto arqueológico más visible del colapso Maya Cldsico es el abandono de las cortes reales monumentales. Sin embargo, en algunos casos, poblaciones que no pertenecían a la élite vivieron por siglos en centros Mayas Clásicos sin la presencia de gobernuntes. Los procesos de abandono de la gente común durante el periodo Clásico pueden ser discernibles y reflejar sus propias prácticas ritualesy sociales, las cualesfueron distintas de la élite. En este artículo estudiamos el contexto de abandono y la cronología de tres grupos domésticos del Valle de Contreras, los cuales formaron parte de una comunidad agrícola ubicada en los alrededores del centro Maya Clásico de Minanha, Belice. Varios conjuntos de artefactos fueron depositados durante el abandono de este valle, los cuales representan rituales de terminacion. Este estudio va más aliá de las dimensiones ideológicas para examinar cómo estas ceremonias transformaron la identidad de los grupos sociales que estuvieron a punto de abandonar sus casas. Exploramos cómo estos ultimos habitantes de un paisaje prácticamente abandonado vivieron este proceso de despoblación gradual .Además ,evaluamos explicaciones potenciales para los procesos arqueologicos responsables de la presencia o ausencia de rituales de terminación en diferentes grupos residenciales.

Type
Articles
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 26 , Issue 4 , December 2015 , pp. 550 - 569
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1999

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

References Cited

Aimers, Jim 2003 Abandonment and Nonabandonment at Baking Pot, Belize. In The Archaeology of Settlement Abandonment in Middle America, edited by Takeshi Inomata and Ronald W. Webb, pp. 149–160. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City. Google Scholar
Asad, Talal 1993 Genealogies of Religion: Discipline and Reasons of Power in Christianity in Christianity and Islam. John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.Google Scholar
Ashmore, Wendy, Connell, Samuel V., Ehret, Jennifer J., Gifford, Chad H., Ted Neff, L., and Vandenbosch, John C. 1994 The Xunantunich Settlement Survey. In Xunantunich Archaeological Project: 1994 Field Season, edited by Richard Leventhal, pp. 248–288. Xunantunich Archaeological Project, Belmopan and Los Angeles. Google Scholar
Beaudry-Corbett, Marilyn, with Bishop, Ronald L. 2002 Ceramics and Their Use at Cerén. In Before the Volcano Erupted: The Ancient Cerén Village, edited by Payson Sheets, pp. 117–138. University of Texas Press, Austin. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bloch, Maurice, and Parry, Jonathan 1982 Introduction. In Death and the Regeneration of Life, edited by Maurice Bloch and Jonathan Parry, pp. 1–44. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cameron, Catherine M. 1993 Abandonment and Archaeological Interpretation. In Abandonment of Settlements and Regions: Ethnoarchae-ological and Archaeological Approaches, edited by Catherine M. Cameron and Steve A. Tomka, pp. 3–10. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cameron, Catherine M. 2013 How People Moved in Ancient Societies: Broadening the View. American Anthropologist 115(2):218–231.Google Scholar
Cameron, Catherine M., and Tomka, Steve A. 1993 Abandonment of Settlements and Regions: Ethnoar-chaeological and Archaeological Approaches. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Carlsen, Robert S. 1997 The War for the Heart and Soul of a Highland Maya Town. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Carlsen, Robert S., and Prechtel, Martin 1991 The Flowering of the Dead: An Interpretation of Highland Maya Culture. Man 26:23–42.Google Scholar
Carsten, Janet and Hugh-Jones, Stephen 1995 Introduction: About the House: Lévi-Strauss and Beyond. In About the House: Lévi-Strauss and Beyond, edited by Janet Carsten and Stephen Hugh-Jones, pp. 1–46. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Google Scholar
Chase, Diane Z., and Chase, Arlen D. 1998 Architectural Context of Caches, Burials and Other Ritual Activities. In Function and Meaning in Classic Maya Architecture, edited by Stephen Houston, pp. 299–332. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Chase, Diane Z., and Chase, Arlen D. 2000 Inferences about Abandonment: Maya Household Archaeology and Caracol, Belize. Mayab, Publicacion especial #13:67–77. Sociedad Española de Estudios Mayas, Madrid.Google Scholar
Chase, Diane Z., and Chase, Arlen D. 2004 Terminal Classic Refuse-Linked Ceramic and the Maya “Collapse”: De facto Refuse at Caracol, Belize. In The Terminal Classic in the Maya Lowlands, edited by Arthur Demarest, Prudence D. Rice, and Don S. Rice. pp. 342–366. University Press of Colorado, Boulder.Google Scholar
Child, Mark B., and Golden, Charles W. 2008 The Transformation of Abandoned Structures at Piedras Negras. In Ruins of the Past: The Use and Perception of Abandoned Structures in the Maya Lowlands, edited by Travis W. Stanton and Aline Magnoni, pp. 65–89. University Press of Colorado, Boulder. Google Scholar
Demarest, Arthur A. 2006 The Petexbatun Regional Archaeological Project: A Multidisciplinary Study of the Maya Collapse. Vanderbilt University Press, Nashville.Google Scholar
Freidel, David, Suhler, Charles K., and Palma, Rafael Cobos 1998 Termination Ritual Deposits at Yaxuna: Detecting the Historical in Archaeological Contexts. In The Sowing and the Dawning, edited by Shirley Mock, pp. 135–144. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque. Google Scholar
Garber, James F. 1983 Patterns of Jade Consumption and Disposal at Cerros, Northern Belize. American Antiquity 48(4):800–807.Google Scholar
Glowacki, Donna M. 2015 Living and Leaving: A Social History of Regional Depopulation in Thirteenth-Century Mesa Verde. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Hammond, Gawain, and Hammond, Norman 1981 Child's Play: A Distorting Factor in Archaeological Distribution. American Antiquity 46(3):634–536.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harrison-Buck, Eleanor, McAnany, Patricia, and Storey, Rebecca 2007 Empowered and Disempowered during the Late to Terminal Classic Transition: Maya Burial and Termination Rituals in the Sibun Valley, Belize. In New Perspectives on Human Sacrifice and Ritual Body Treatments in Ancient Maya Society, edited by Vera Tiesler and Andrea Cucina, pp. 74–98. Springer-Verglad, New York. Google Scholar
Humphrey, Caroline, and Laidlaw, James 1994 The Archetypal Actions of Ritual: A Theory of Ritual Illustrated by the Jain Rite of Worship. Clarendon Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Iannone, Gyles 2000 SARP Recording Sheets and Classification Guides. In Archaeological Investigations in the North Vaca Plateau, Belize: Progress Report of the Second (2000) Field Season, edited by Gyles Iannone, Lisa McParland, Adam Menzies, and Ryan Primrose, pp. 109–125. Trent University, Peterborough. Google Scholar
Iannone, Gyles 2005 The Rise and Fall of an Ancient Maya Petty Royal Court. Latin American Antiquity 16(1): 26–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Iannone, Gyles 2006 Archaeological Research at Minanha: Summary of the 2006 Investigations. In Archaeological Investigations in the North Vaca Plateau, Belize : Progress Report of the Eighth (2006) Field Season, edited by Gyles Iannone, Jeffrey Seibert and Jason Seguin, pp. 1–11. Trent University, Peterborough. Google Scholar
Iannone, Gyles 2009 Archaeological Research at Minanha: Summary of the 2009 Investigations. In Archaeological Investigations in the North Vaca Plateau, Belize: Progress Report of the Eleventh (2009) Field Season, edited by Gyles Iannone, Matthew Longstaffe, and Scott Macrae, pp. 1–11. Trent University, Peterborough. Google Scholar
Iannone, Gyles 2010 Collective Memory in the Frontiers: A Case Study from the Ancient Maya Center of Minanha, Belize. Ancient Mesoamerica 21:353–371.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Iannone, Gyles, Chase, Arlen F., Chase, Diane Z., Awe, Jaime, Moyes, Holley, Brook, George, Polk, Jason, Webster, James, and Conolly, James 2014 An Archaeological Consideration of Long-Term Socio-Ecological Dynamics on the Vaca Plateau, Belize. In The Great Maya Droughts in Cultural Context: Case Studies in Resilience and Vulnerability, edited by Gyles Iannone, pp. 271–300. University Press of Colorado, Boulder. Google Scholar
Inomata, Takeshi 2008 Warfare and the Fall of a Fortified Center: Archaeological Investigations at Aguateca. Vanderbilt University Press, Nashville.Google Scholar
Inomata, Takeshi, and Ponciano, Erick 2010 The Palace Group. In Burned Palaces and Elite Residences of Aguateca: Excavations and Ceramics, edited by Takeshi Inomata and Daniela Triadan, pp. 23–52. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City. Google Scholar
Inomata, Takeshi, and Triadan, Daniela (editors) 2010 Burned Palaces and Elite Residences of Aguateca: Excavations and Ceramics. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Inomata, Takeshi, and Webb, Ronald W. (editors) 2003 The Archaeology of Settlement Abandonment in Middle America. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Joyce, Arthur A., and Johannessen, Sissel 1993 Abandonment and the Production of Archaeological Variability at Domestic Sites. In Abandonment of Settlements and Regions: Ethnoarchaeological and Archaeological Approaches, edited by Catherine M. Cameron and Steve A. Tomka, pp. 138–153. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kennett, Douglas J., Breitenbach, Sebastian F. M., Aquino, Valorie V., Asmerom, Yemane, Awe, Jaime, Baldini, James U.L., Bartlein, Patrick, Culleton, Brendan J., Ebert, Claire, Jazwa, Christopher, Macri, Martha J., Marwan, Norbert, Polyak, Victor, Prufer, Keith M., Ridley, Harriet E., Sodemann, Harald, Winterhalder, Bruce, and Haug, Gerald H. 2012 Development and Disintegration of Maya Political Systems in Response to Climate Change. Science 338(6108):788–791.Google Scholar
Knapp, Bernard A., and Ashmore, Wendy 1999 Archaeological Landscapes: Constructed, Conceptualized, Ideational. In Archaeologies of Landscape: Contemporary Perspectives, edited by Wendy Ashmore and Bernard A. Knapp, pp. 1–30. Blackwell, Oxford. Google Scholar
LaMotta, Vincent M., and Schiffer, Michael B. 1999 Formation Processes of House Floor Assemblages. In Archaeology ofHousehold Activities, edited by Allison M. Penelope, pp. 19–29. Routledge, London. Google Scholar
Lamoureux-St-Hilaire, Maxime 2011 The Last Inhabitants ofMinanha, Belize: Examining the Differential Abandonment of an Ancient Maya Community. Master's thesis, Department of Anthropology, Trent University, Peterborough.Google Scholar
Lamoureux-St-Hilaire, Maxime, and Iannone, Gyles 2012 The Last Waltz at Minanha: Exploring Gradual Abandonment in the North Vaca Plateau. In Research Reports in Belizean Archaeology Vol. 9, edited by John Morris, S. Jones, Jaime Awe, George Thompson, and Melissa Badillo, pp. 207–220. National Institute of Culture and History, Belmopan. Google Scholar
McAnany, Patricia A. 2014 Living with the Ancestors: Kinship and Kingship in Ancient Maya Society (revised edition). University of Texas Press, Austin.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McAnany, Patricia A., and Lamoureux-St-Hilaire, Maxime 2013 Detaching from Place in Theory and Practice. Paper presented at the 78th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Honolulu.Google Scholar
McAnany, Patricia A., Sabloff, Jeremy, Lamoureux-St-Hilaire, Maxime, and Iannone, Gyles 2015 Leaving Classic Maya Cities: Agent-based Modeling and the Dynamics of Diaspora. In Social Theory in Archaeology and Ancient History: The Present and Future of Counternarratives, edited by Geoffrey Emberiing, pp. 259–288. Cambridge University Press, NY. Google Scholar
McCane, Carmen A., Hills, Kendall, Snetsinger, Andrew, and Longstaffe, Matthew 2009 The Last Year of Trying to Figure Out “What Was Going on Over Yonder?” The 2009 Peripheral Investigations in Contreras, Minanha, Belize. In Archaeological Investigations in the North Vaca Plateau, Belize: Progress Report of the Eleventh (2009) Field Season, edited by Gyles Iannone, Matthew Longstaffe, and Scott Macrae, pp. 13–49. Trent University, Peterborough. Google Scholar
McCormick, Carmen 2007 What Was Going on Yonder? The Periperal Investigations in Contreras, Minanha, Belize. In Archaeological Investigation in the North Vaca Plateau, Belize: Progress Report of the Ninth (2007) Field Season, edited by Gyles Iannone and Scott Macrae, pp. 74–98. Trent University, Peterborough. Google Scholar
McCormick, Carmen 2008 A Continuation of the Investigation into What Was Going on Over Yonder? The 2008 Peripheral Investigations in Contreras Valley, Minanha, Belize. In Archaeological Investigation in the North Vaca Plateau, Belize: Progress Report of the Tenth (2008) Field Season, edited by Gyles Iannone and Scott Macrae, pp. 14–72. Trent University, Peterborough. Google Scholar
McKee, Brian R., and Sheets, Payson 2003 Volcanic Activity and Abandonment Processes : Ceren and the Zapotitilan Valley of El Salvador. In The Archaeology of Settlement Abandonment in Middle America, edited by Takeshi Inomata and Ronald W. Webb, pp. 61–75. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City. Google Scholar
Macrae, Scott A. 2010 A Comparative Approach to Understanding the So-cio-Political and Socio-Economic Organization of the Intensive Terrace Farming at the Ancient Maya Centre of Minanha, Belize. Master's thesis, Department of Anthropology, Trent University, Peterborough.Google Scholar
Mock, Shirley B. 1998a The Defaced and the Forgotten: Decapitation and Flaying/Mutilation as a Termination Event at Colha, Belize. In The Sowing and the Dawning, edited by Shirley B. Mock, pp. 113–124. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque. Google Scholar
Mock, Shirley B. 1998b Prelude. In The Sowing and the Dawning, edited by Shirley B. Mock, pp. 3–20. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque. Google Scholar
Navarro-Farr, Olivia C., Freidel, David A., and Prera, Ana Lucia Arroyave 2008 Manipulating Memory in the Wake of Dynastic Decline at El Peru-Waka': Termination Deposits at Abandoned Structure M13–1. In Ruins of the Past: The Use and Perception of Abandoned Structures in the Maya Lowlands, edited by Travis W. Stanton and Aline Magnoni, pp. 113–145. University Press of Colorado, Boulder. Google Scholar
Pagliaro, Jonathan, Garber, James, and Stanton, Travis 2003 Evaluating the Archaeological Signatures of Maya Ritual. In Ancient Mesoamerican Warfare, edited by Kathryn Brown and Travis Stanton, pp. 75–90. Altamira Press, Walnut Creek. Google Scholar
Palka, Joel W. 2003 Social Status and Differential Processes of Abandonment at the Classic Maya Center of Dos Pilas, Peten, Guatemala. In The Archaeology of Settlement Abandonment in Middle America, edited by Takeshi Inomata and Ronald W. Webb, pp. 121–133. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City. Google Scholar
Palmer, Gary B., and Jankowiak, William R. 1996 Performance and Imagination: Toward an Anthropology of the Spectacular and the Mundane. Cultural Anthropology 11(2):225–258.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Plunket, Patricia, and Uruñuela, Gabriela 2003 From Episodic to Permanent Abandonment: Responses to Volcanic Hazards at Tetimpa, Puebla, Mexico. In The Archaeology of Settlement Abandonment in Middle America, edited by Takeshi Inomata and Ronald W. Webb, pp. 13–27. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City. Google Scholar
Prince, Peter V. 2000 The Second Terrace Operation: Investigations at Group R, Minanha, Belize. In Archaeological Investigations in the North Vaca Plateau, Belize: Progress Report of the Second (2000) Field Season, edited by Gyles Iannone, Lisa McParland, Adam Menzies, and Ryan Primrose, pp. 51–64. Trent University, Peterborough. Google Scholar
Schiffer, Michael B. 1972 Archaeological Context and Systemic Context. American Antiquity 37(2): 156–165.Google Scholar
Schiffer, Michael B. 1975 Behavioral Chain Analysis: Activities, Organization, and the Use of Space. In Behavioral Archaeology: First Principles, pp. 53–66. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City. Google Scholar
Schiffer, Michael B. 1985 Is There a “Pompeii Premise” in Archaeology? Journal of Anthropological Research 41:18–41.Google Scholar
Schwake, Sonja Andrea 2008 The Social Implications of Ritual Behavior in the Maya Lowlands: A Perspective from Minanha, Belize. Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of California at San Diego, San Diego.Google Scholar
Simms, Stephanie R., Parker, Evan, Bey, George J. III, and Negron, Tomas Gallareta 2012 Evidence from Escalera al Cielo: Abandonment of a Terminal Classic Puuc Maya Hill Complex in Yucatan, Mexico. Journal of Field Archaeology 37(4):270–288.Google Scholar
Stanton, Travis W., Kathryn Brown, M., and Pagliaro, Jonathan B. 2008 Garbage of the Gods? Squatters, Refuse Disposal, and Termination Rituals among the Ancient Maya. Latin American Antiquity 19(3):227–248.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stanton, Travis W., and Magnoni, Aline 2008 Places of Remembrance: The Use and Perception of Abandoned Structures in the Maya Lowlands. In Ruins of the Past: The Use and Perception of Abandoned Structures in the Maya Lowlands, edited by Travis W. Stanton and Aline Magnoni, pp. 1–24. University Press of Colorado, Boulder. Google Scholar
Stanton, Travis W., and Magnoni, Aline (editors) 2008 Ruins of the Past: The Use and Perception of Abandoned Structures in the Maya Lowland. University Press of Colorado, Boulder.Google Scholar
Stuart, David 1998 “The Fire Enters his House”: Architecture and Ritual in Classic Maya Texts. In Function and Meaning in Classic Maya Architecture, edited by Steven Houston, pp. 373–426. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Suhler, Charles, and Freidel, David 2003 The Tale End of Two Cities: Tikal, Yaxuna, and Abandonment Contexts in the Lowland Maya Archaeological Record. In The Archaeology of Settlement Abandonment in Middle America, edited by Takeshi Inomata and Ronald W. Webb, pp. 135–147. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City. Google Scholar
Turner, B.L. II, and Sabloff, Jeremy 2012 Classic Period Collapse of the Central Maya Lowlands: Insights about Human-Environmental Relationships for Sustainability. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 109(35): 13908–13914.Google Scholar
Turner, Victor 1995 The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure. Transaction Publishers, Piscataway.Google Scholar
Van Gennep, Arnold 1909 Les rites depassage. Émile Nourry, Paris.Google Scholar
Witschey, Walter R. T., and Brown, Clifford T. 2008 The Electronic Atlas of Ancient Maya Sites. Electronic document, http://mayagis.smv.org/, accessed October 28, 2015.Google Scholar
Yaeger, Jason 2010 Shifting Political Dynamics as Seen from the Xu-nantunich Palace. In Classic Maya Provincial Politics: Xunantunich and Its Hinterlands, edited by Lisa J. LeCount and Jason Yaeger, pp. 145–160. University of Arizona Press, Tucson. Google Scholar
Zehrt, Claudia 2006 Excavations in Group S, the 2006 Season. In Archaeological Investigations in the North Vaca Plateau, Belize: Progress Report of the Eighth (2006) Field Season, edited by Gyles Iannone, Jeffrey Seibert, and Jason Seguin, pp. 27–57. Trent University, Peterborough. Google Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

Lamoureux-St-Hilaire et al. Supplementary Material

Supplementary Material

Download Lamoureux-St-Hilaire et al. Supplementary Material(PDF)
PDF 4.6 MB
Supplementary material: PDF

Lamoureux-St-Hilaire et al. Supplementary Material

Supplementary Material

Download Lamoureux-St-Hilaire et al. Supplementary Material(PDF)
PDF 75.4 KB