Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T16:26:30.143Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Rise and Fall of an Ancient Maya Petty Royal Court

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Gyles Iannone
Gyles Iannone*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario K9J 7B8
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The Maya “collapse” began shortly after A.D. 750, and the events associated with this transition period would play out over the next three centuries. Many factors contributed to the collapse, not the least of which was the trend toward widespread power sharing that began in the eighth century, when lesser nobles, particularly the lords of secondary centers, began to acquire more wealth and political autonomy. The examination of secondary centers, particularly in frontier zones farthest from the polity capitals, offers an advantageous perspective from which to document the events leading up to the collapse and to explore the nature of the collapse itself. Sometime near the beginning of the eighth century, Minanha, one of these secondary centers, emerged as a petty royal court in the frontier between the contracting Naranjo and Caracol polities. After a century of apparent sociopolitical and socioeconomic success, Minanha’s royal residential compound was willfully buried, some of its most important facades and stelae were destroyed, and the center went into rapid decline. The rise and fall of Minanha are discussed with respect to regional politics, as well as the broader ninth-century “collapse” of the southern Maya lowlands.

“El Colapso” de los sitios del Bajío Maya sur comienza un poco después de 750 d.C. Una de las tendencias más significativas fue el periodo de co-poderío general que comienza a principios del siglo ocho d.C., cuando nobles de menor grado, particularmente mandatarios de centros secundarios, empiezan a adquirir más poder y más autonomía política. Es claro que el estudio de centros secundarios, especialmente los ubicados en zonas fronterizas y los más alejados de los grandes centros, nos of recen una perspectiva ventajosa de la cual se pueden documentar los eventos que conllevan al colapso y a estudiar las características del colapso mismo. El tema central de este artículo es el ascenso y la caída de uno de estos centros. Al principio del siglo ocho d.C., Minanha’ emerge como una corte secundaria en la frontera política entre los centros de Naranjo y Caracol. Después de un siglo de éxito socioeconómico y sociopolítico, el complejo residencial real de Minanhá es enterrado a voluntad, algunas de sus estelas más importantes son destruidas, y el centro entra en un periodo de rápido deterioro general. Se investiga el ascenso y la caída de Minanhá, en el contexto del “Colapso” en el siglo nueve d.C.

Type
Articles
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 16 , Issue 1 , March 2005 , pp. 26 - 44
Copyright
Copyright © 2005 by the Society for American Archaeology.

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, John James 2002 Cultural Change on a Temporal and Spatial Frontier: Ceramics of the Terminal Classic to Postclassic Transition in the Upper Belize River Valley. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Tulane University, New Orleans.Google Scholar
Anderson, A. H. 1959 More Discoveries at Caracol, British Honduras. Congreso International de Americanistas 33:211–218.Google Scholar
Ashmore, Wendy 1991 Site-Planning Principles and Concepts of Directionality among the Ancient Maya. Latin American Antiquity 2:199–226.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ashmore, Wendy 1992 Deciphering Maya Site Plans. In New Theories on the Ancient Maya, edited by Elin Danien and Robert J. Sharer, pp. 173–184. Museum Monographs, 77, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Ashmore, Wendy, and Sabloff, Jeremy A. 2002 Spatial Orders in Maya Civic Plans. Latin American Antiquity 13:201–215.Google Scholar
Ashmore, Wendy, Yaeger, Jason, and Robin, Cynthia 2004 Commoner Sense: Late and Terminal Classic Social Strategies in the Xunantunich Area. In The Terminal Classic in the Maya Lowlands, edited by Arthur A. Demarest, Prudence M. Rice, and Don S. Rice, pp. 302–323. University of Colorado Press, Boulder.Google Scholar
Ball, Joseph W., and Taschek, Jennifer T. 1991 Late Classic Lowland Maya Political Organization and Central-Place Analysis. Ancient Mesoamerica 2:149–165.Google Scholar
Chase, Arlen F. 1994 A Contextual Approach to the Ceramics of Caracol. In Studies in the Archaeology of Caracol, Belize, edited by Diane Z. Chase and Arlen F. Chase, pp. 157–182. Pre-Columbian Art Research Institute, Monograph 7, San Francisco.Google Scholar
Chase, Arlen F, and Chase, Diane Z. 1987 Investigations at the Classic Maya City of Caracol, Belize: 1985–87. Pre-Columbian Art Research Institute, Monograph 3, San Francisco.Google Scholar
Chase, Arlen F, and Chase, Diane Z. 1994a Details in the Archaeology of Caracol Belize: An Introduction. In Studies in the Archaeology of Caracol, Belize, edited by Diane Z. Chase and Arlen F. Chase, pp. 1–11. Pre-Columbian Art Research Institute, Monograph 7, San Francisco.Google Scholar
Chase, Arlen F, and Chase, Diane Z. 1994b Maya Veneration of the Dead at Caracol, Belize. In Seventh Palenque Round Table, 1989, edited by Virginia M. Fields, pp. 53–60. Pre-Columbian Art Research Institute, San Francisco.Google Scholar
Chase, Arlen F, and Chase, Diane Z. 1996 A Mighty Nation: How Caracol Built an Empire by Cultivating Its “Middle Class.” Archaeology 49(5):66–72.Google Scholar
Chase, Arlen F, and Chase, Diane Z. 1998 Late Classic Maya Political Structure, Polity Size, and Warfare Arenas. In Anatomia de una civilización aproximaciones interdisciplinarias a la cultura maya, edited by Andres Ciudad Ruiz, Yolanda Fernández Marquínez, José Miguel García Campillo, M. Josefa Iglesias Ponce de León, Alfonso Lacadena García-Gallo, Luis T. Sanz Castro, pp. 11–29. Sociedad Española de Estudios Mayas, Madrid.Google Scholar
Chase, Arlen F, and Chase, Diane Z. 2001 The Royal Courts of Caracol, Belize: Its Palaces and People. In Royal Courts of the Ancient Maya, Vol. 2: Data and Case Studies, edited by Takeshi Inomata and Stephen D. Houston, pp. 102–137. Westview Press, Boulder.Google Scholar
Chase, Diane Z. 1994 Human Osteology, Pathology, and Demography as Represented in the Burials of Caracol, Belize. In Studies in the Archaeology of Caracol, Belize, edited by Diane Z. Chase and Arlen F. Chase, pp. 123–135. Pre-Columbian Art Research Institute, Monograph 7, San Francisco.Google Scholar
Chase, Diane Z. 1997 Southern Lowland Maya Archaeology and Human Skeletal Remains: Interpretations from Caracol (Belize), Santa Rita (Belize), and Tayasal (Guatemala). In Bones of the Maya, edited by Stephen L. Whittington and Dayid M. Reed, pp. 15–27. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Chase, Diane Z., and Chase, Arlen F. 1996 Maya Multiples: Individuals, Entries, and Tombs in Structure A34 of Caracol, Belize. Latin American Antiquity 7:61–79.Google Scholar
Chase, Diane Z., and Chase, Arlen F. 1998 The Architectural Context of Caches, Burials, and Other Ritual Activities for the Classic Period Maya (as Reflected at Caracol, Belize). In Function and Meaning in Classic Maya Architecture, edited by Stephen D. Houston, pp. 299–332. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Chase, Diane Z., and Chase, Arlen F. 2004 Hermeneutics, Transitions, and Transformations in Classic to Postclassic Maya Society. In The Terminal Classic in the Maya Lowlands, edited by Arthur A. Demarest, Prudence M. Rice, and Don S. Rice, pp. 12–27. University of Colorado Press, Boulder.Google Scholar
Culbert, T. Patrick 1988 The Collapse of Classic Maya Civilization. In The Collapse of Ancient States and Civilizations, edited by Norman Yoffee and George L. Cowgill, pp. 69–101. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Culbert, T. Patrick 1991 Maya Political History and Elite Interaction: A Summary View. In Classic Maya Political History: Hieroglyphic and Archaeological Evidence, edited by T. Patrick Culbert, pp. 311–346. Cambridge University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Culbert, T. Patrick (editor) 1973 The Classic Maya Collapse. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Demarest, Arthur A., Rice, Prudence M., and Rice, Don S. 2004a The Terminal Classic in the May a Lowlands Assessing Collapses, Terminations, and Transformations. In The Terminal Classic in the Maya Lowlands, edited by Arthur A. Demarest, Prudence M. Rice, and Don S. Rice, pp. 545–572. University of Colorado Press, Boulder.Google Scholar
Demarest, Arthur A., Rice, Prudence M., and Rice, Don S. (editors) 2004b The Terminal Classic in the Maya Lowlands. University of Colorado Press, Boulder.Google Scholar
Fash, William L. 1991 Lineage Patrons and Ancestor Worship among the Classic Maya Nobility: The Case for Copan Structure 9N-82. In Sixth Palenque Round Table, 1986, edited by Virginia M. Fields, pp. 68–80. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.Google Scholar
Fash, William L., and Stuart, David S. 1991 Dynastic History and Cultural Evolution at Copan, Honduras. In Classic Maya Political History: Hieroglyphic and Archaeological Evidence, edited by T. Patrick Culbert, pp. 147–180. Cambridge University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Folan, William J., Marcus, Joyce, Pincemin, Sophia, del Rosario Dominguez Carrasco, María, Fletcher, Laraine, and López, Abel Morales 1995 Calakmul: New Data from an Ancient Maya Capital in Campeche, Mexico. Latin American Antiquity 6:310–334.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gill, Richardson B. 2000 The Great Maya Droughts. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Gillespie, Susan D. 2000 Rethinking Ancient Maya Social Organization: Replacing “Lineage” with “House.” American Anthropologist 102:467–484.Google Scholar
Graham, Elizabeth A. 2004 Lamanai Reloaded: Alive and Well in the Early Post-classic. In Research Reports in Belizean Archaeology, Vol. 1, edited by Jaime Awe, John Morris, and Sherilyne Jones, pp. 223–241. Institute of Archaeology, National Institute of Culture and History, Belmopan, Belize.Google Scholar
Grube, Nikolai 1994 Epigraphic Research at Caracol, Belize. In Studies in the Archaeology of Caracol, Belize, edited by Diane Z. Chase andArlen F. Chase, pp. 83–122. Pre-Columbian Art Research Institute, Monograph 7, San Francisco.Google Scholar
Grube, Nikolai 2000 The City-States of the Maya. InA Comparative Study of Thirty City-State Cultures, edited by Mogens Herman Hansen, pp. 547–565. Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, Copenhagen.Google Scholar
Hammond, Norman 1991 Inside the Black Box: Defining Maya Polity. In Classic Maya Political History, edited by T. Patrick Culbert, pp. 253–284. Cambridge University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Hammond, Norman 1999a A Maya Throne Room at La Milpa. Pre-Columbian Art Research Institute Newsletter 28:12–13.Google Scholar
Hammond, Norman 1999b “A Pillar of State … Majestic, Though in Ruin”: The Royal Acropolis of La Milpa. Context 14(1):11–15.Google Scholar
Hammond, Norman, and Thomas, Ben 1999 Another Maya Throne Room at La Milpa. Context 14(1):15–16.Google Scholar
Harrison, Peter D. 1981 Some Aspects of Postconquest Settlement in Southern Quintana Roo, Mexico. In Lowland Maya Settlement Patterns, edited by Wendy Ashmore, pp. 259–286. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Harrison, Peter D. 2001 Thrones and Throne Structures in the Central Acropolis of Tikal as an Expression of the Royal Court. In Royal Courts of the Ancient Maya, Vol. 2: Data and Case Studies, edited by Takeshi Inomata and Stephen D. Houston, pp. 74–101. Westview Press, Boulder.Google Scholar
Hirth, Kenneth G. 1978 Interregional Trade and the Formation of Prehistoric Gateway Communities. American Antiquity 43:35–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Houston, Stephen D. 1993 Hieroglyphs and History at Dos Pilas: Dynastic Politics of the Classic Maya. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Iannone, Gyles 1996 Problems in the Study of Ancient Maya Settlement and Social Organization: Insights from the “Minor Center” of Zubin, Cayo District, Belize. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Institute of Archaeology, University College London.Google Scholar
Iannone, Gyles 2002a Annales History and the Ancient Maya State: Some Observations on the “Dynamic Model.” American Anthropologist 104:68–78.Google Scholar
Iannone, Gyles 2002b Fall of the House of Minanha: A Case Study of Late Classic Political Disruption in West Central Belize. Paper presented at the 67th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Denver.Google Scholar
Iannone, Gyles, and Connell, Samuel V. (editors) 2003 Perspectives on Ancient Maya Rural Complexity. Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, Monograph 49. University of California, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Inomata, Takeshi, and Houston, Stephen D. 2001 Opening the Royal Maya Court. In Royal Courts of the Ancient Maya, Vol. I: Theory, Comparison, and Synthesis, edited by Takeshi Inomata and Stephen D. Houston, pp. 3–23. Westview Press, Boulder.Google Scholar
Inomata, Takeshi, Triadan, Daniela, Ponciano, Erick, Pinto, Estela, Terry, Richard E., and Eberl, Markus 2002 Domestic and Political Lives of Classic Maya Elites: The Excavation of Rapidly Abandoned Structures at Aguateca, Guatemala. Latin American Antiquity 13:305–330.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Inomata, Takeshi, Triadan, Daniela, Ponciano, Erick, Terry, Richard, and Beaubien, Harriet F. 2001 In the Palace of the Fallen King: The Royal Residential Complex at Aguateca, Guatemala. Journal of Field Archaeology 28:287–306.Google Scholar
Kopytoff, Igor 1987 The African Frontier: The Reproduction of Traditional African Societies. Indiana University Press, Bloomington.Google Scholar
Kopytoff, Igor 1999 The Internal African Frontier: Cultural Conservatism and Ethnic Innovation. In Frontiers and Borderlands: Anthropological Perspectives, edited by Michael Rösler and Tobias Wendl, pp. 31–44. Peter Lang, New York.Google Scholar
LeCount, Lisa J., Yaeger, Jason, Leventhal, Richard M., and Ashmore, Wendy 2002 Dating the Rise and Fall of Xunantunich, Belize. Ancient Mesoamerica 13:41–63.Google Scholar
Lowe, John W. G. 1985 The Dynamics of Apocalypse: A Systems Simulation of the Late Classic Maya Collapse. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Marcus, Joyce 1976 Emblem and State in the Classic Maya Lowlands: An Epigraphic Approach to Territorial Organization. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Marcus, Joyce 1983 Lowland Maya Archaeology at the Crossroads. American Antiquity 48:454–488.Google Scholar
Marcus, Joyce 1992 Dynamic Cycles of Mesoamerican States: Political Fluctuations in Mesoamerica. National Geographic Research and Exploration 8:392–411.Google Scholar
Marcus, Joyce 1993 Ancient Maya Political Organization. In Lowland Maya Civilization in the Eighth Century A.D., edited by Jeremy A. Sabloff and John S. Henderson, pp. 111–183. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Marcus, Joyce 1998 The Peaks and Valleys of Ancient States: An Extension of the Dynamic Model. In Archaic States, edited by Gary M. Feinman and Joyce Marcus, pp. 59–94. School of American Research, Santa Fe.Google Scholar
Marcus, Joyce 2003 Recent Advances in Maya Archaeology. Journal of Archaeological Research 11:71–148.Google Scholar
Martin, Simon, and Grube, Nikolai 1995 Maya Superstates. Archaeology 48(6):41–47.Google Scholar
Martin, Simon, and Grube, Nikolai 2000 Chronicles of the Maya Kings and Queens. Thames and Hudson, London.Google Scholar
McAnany, Patricia A. 1995 Living with the Ancestors: Kinship and Kingship in Ancient Maya Society. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
McAnany, Patricia A., and Plank, Shannon 2001 Perspectives on Actors, Gender Roles, and Architecture at Classic Maya Courts and Households. In Royal Courts of the Ancient Maya, Vol. 1: Theory, Comparison, and Synthesis, edited by Takeshi Inomata and Stephen D. Houston, pp. 84–129. Westview Press, Boulder.Google Scholar
Mock, Shirley Boteler (editor) 1998 The Sowing and the Dawning. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Primrose, Ryan 2003 The Ancient Maya Water Management System at Minanha, Belize. Unpublished M.A. thesis, Department of Anthropology, Trent University, Peterborough.Google Scholar
Rice, Prudence M. 1999 Rethinking Classic Lowland Maya Pottery Censers. Ancient Mesoamerica 10:25–50.Google Scholar
Rice, Prudence M., Demarest, Arthur A., and Rice, Don S. 2004 The Terminal Classic and the “Classic Maya Collapse” in Perspective. In The Terminal Classic in the Maya Lowlands, edited by Arthur A. Demarest, Prudence M. Rice, and Don S. Rice, pp. 1–11. University Press of Colorado, Boulder.Google Scholar
Ringle, William W., and Bey, George J. III 2001 Post-Classic and Terminal Classic Courts of the Northern Maya Lowlands. In Royal Courts of the Ancient Maya, Vol. 2: Data and Case Studies, edited by Takeshi Inomata and Stephen D. Houston, pp. 266–307. Westview Press, Boulder.Google Scholar
Scheie, Linda 1991a An Epigraphic History of the Western Maya Region. In Classic Maya Political History, edited by T. Patrick Culbert, pp. 72–101. School of American Research, Santa Fe.Google Scholar
Scheie, Linda 1991b The Demotion of Chac-Zutz’: Lineage Compounds and Subsidiary Lords at Palenque. In Sixth Palenque Round Table, 1986, edited by Virginia M. Fields, pp. 6–11. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.Google Scholar
Schwake, Sonja, and Iannone, Gyles 2001 Material Remains as Indicators of Long-Term Cultural Recollection: Maya Examples from West Central Belize. Paper presented at the 34th Annual Chacmool Conference, Department of Archaeology, University of Calgary.Google Scholar
Sharer, Robert J. 1991 Diversity and Continuity in Maya Civilization: Quirigua as a Case Study. In Classic Maya Political History, edited by T. Patrick Culbert, pp. 180–198. Cambridge University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Slim, Barbara 2004 Letting the Margins Speak: Exploring the Lower Strata of Ancient Maya Royal Courts at Minanha, Belize. Unpublished M.A. thesis, Department of Anthropology, Trent University, Peterborough.Google Scholar
Stuart, David 1993 Historical Inscriptions and the Maya Collapse. In Lowland Maya Civilization in the Eighth Century A.D., edited by Jeremy A. Sabloff and John S. Henderson, pp. 321–354. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Taschek, Jennifer T., and Ball, Joseph W. 1999 Las Ruinas de Arenal: Preliminary Report on a Sub-regional Major Center in the Western Belize Valley (1991–1992 Excavations). Ancient Mesoamerica 10:215–236.Google Scholar
Thompson, J. Eric S. 1931 Archaeological Investigations in Southern Cayo District, British Honduras. Field Museum of Natural History, Anthropology Series 17, No. 3, Chicago.Google Scholar
Traxler, Loa 2001 The Royal Court of Early Classic Copan. In Royal Courts of the Ancient Maya, Vol. 2: Data and Case Studies, edited by Takeshi Inomata and Stephen D. Houston, pp. 46–73. Westview Press, Boulder.Google Scholar
Valdés, Juan Antonio 2001 Palaces and Thrones Tied to the Destiny of the Royal Courts in the Maya Lowlands. In Royal Courts of the Ancient Maya, Vol. 2: Data and Case Studies, edited by Takeshi Inomata and Stephen D. Houston, pp. 138–164. Westview Press, Boulder.Google Scholar
Valdés, Juan Antonio, and Fahsen, Federico 2004 Disaster in Sight: The Terminal Classic at Tikal and Uaxactun. In The Terminal Classic in the Maya Lowlands, edited by Arthur A. Demarest, Prudence M. Rice, and Don S. Rice, pp. 140–161. University of Colorado Press, Boulder.Google Scholar
Webster, David 1998 Warfare and Status Rivalry: Lowland Maya and Polynesian Comparisons. In Archaic States, edited by Gary M. Feinman and Joyce Marcus, pp. 311–351. School of American Research, Santa Fe.Google Scholar
Webster, David 1999 Ancient Maya Warfare. In War and Society in the Ancient and Medieval Worlds: Asia, the Mediterranean, Europe, and Mesoamerica, edited by Kurt Raaflaab and Nathan Rosenstein, pp. 333–360. Harvard University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Webster, David 2001 Spatial Dimensions of Maya Courtly Life. In Royal Courts of the Ancient Maya, Vol. 1: Theory, Comparison, and Synthesis, edited by Takeshi Inomata and Stephen D. Houston, pp. 130–167. Westview Press, Boulder.Google Scholar
Webster, David 2002 The Fall of the Ancient Maya: Solving the Mystery of the Maya Collapse. Thames and Hudson, New York.Google Scholar
Willey, Gordon R. 1974 The Classic Maya Hiatus: A Rehearsal for the Collapse? In Mesoamerican Archaeology: New Approaches, edited by Norman Hammond, pp. 417–444. Duckworth, London.Google Scholar
Willey, Gordon R., and Shimkin, Demitri B. 1973 The Maya Collapse: A Summary Review. In The Classic Maya Collapse, edited by T. Patrick Culbert, pp. 457–502. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Yoffee, Norman 1991 Maya Elite Interaction: Through a Glass, Sideways. In Classic Maya Political History, edited by T. Patrick Culbert, pp. 285–310. School of American Research, Santa Fe.Google Scholar