Institute of Archaeology

ARCL0120: Maya Art, Architecture, and Archaeology 2019-20

Term II, Option, .5 Unit Time: Thursday 2-4p.m.; Room: B13 Co-ordinator: Dr. Elizabeth Graham

e-mail: e.graham@ucl.ac.uk Room 614, Tel: x27532

Office hours: 4-6pm after class; generally in every day but see door for unavailable times

First Essay Due: 5 March, 2000 words Second Essay Due: 16 April, 2000 words

Don’t you guys have anything better to do?

Don’t you guys have anything better to do?

2

Short description ARCL0120 focuses on the culture history of Maya civilisation, and on Neotropical urbanism, by familiarising students with recent research and new developments in archaeology, history, urban studies, epigraphy, iconography, and ethnohistory. Readings in ethnography and anthropology will also be explored. Week-by-week summary

Week Date Topic

1 16 January Introduction to the course 2 23 January Maya thought and culture

3 30 January Maya social organisation, identity, settlement, political organisation, state models

4 06 February Classic Maya kingship, origins, cosmos, royal courts, nobles 5 13 February Deciphering Maya hieroglyphic script [or] The archaeology of death & burial

6 17-21 February READING WEEK

7 27 February The Maya built environment: architecture, building terms, urban life 8 05 March Neotropical urbanism 9 12 March The Terminal Classic

10 19 March The Maya collapse and warfare 11 26 March The Maya and the Spanish Conquest

Key general texts and web sites

The Ancient Maya by Robert J. Sharer with Loa Traxler, 6th edition. Stanford University Press, Stanford, California, 2006.

The Maya, by Michael D. Coe. Thames & Hudson, London. There are about 8 editions; pick one of the later ones.

Chronicle of the Maya Kings and Queens, by Simon Martin and Nickolai Grube, Thames & Hudson, London, 2008.

The Classic Maya, by Stephen D. Houston and Takeshi Inomata. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2009.

Ancient Maya: The Rise and Fall of a Rainforest Civilization, by Arthur Demarest. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2004.

Ancient Mexico and Central America, by Susan Toby Evans. Thames and Hudson, London, 2004, 2008 (reference text on Mesoamerica).

www.mesoweb.com

www.famsi.org

http://decipherment.wordpress.com/

www.wayeb.org

Other texts that will act as sources of information

Reading Maya Art, by Andrea Stone and Marc Zender. Thames and Hudson, London, 2011.

A Lexicon for Maya Architecture, by H. Stanley Loten & David M. Pendergast. Royal Ontario Museum Archaeological Monograph 8. Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, 1984. Available on the ROM digitised archive: https://archive.org/stream/lexiconformayaar00lote#page/4/mode/2up

Introduction to Maya Hieroglyphs, by Harri Kettunen and Christophe Helmke. Wayeb 2010. Download from www.mesoweb.com or, the most recent version can be downloaded from: http://www.wayeb.org/download/resources/wh2014english.pdf

3

Contents, Delivery, Aims, Outcomes

Brief summary of contents The culture and history of the Mayan-speaking peoples of the Yucatan peninsula with a focus on the third to seventeenth centuries as seen through art and architecture, rulers and dynastic competition, evolving economies and tribute networks, 'collapse', religious change, and colonial contact.

Summary of methods of delivery

Classes meet for two hours a week. Students are expected to read a topic and contribute to discussions on a weekly basis, although format will vary. Lectures offer background information as well as information to help students carry out research on their essay topics. We have occasional guest lecturers.

Weighting Weekly assignments Summaries of the readings (see below) are required. For any missing assignments, .5% will be subtracted from the overall mark. Written submissions: First essay: 2,000 words – DUE 5th March 2020 Second essay: 2,000 words – DUE 16th April 2020

Aims Overall aims: To provide students with the opportunity to gain insight into the development of Maya civilization within its Mesoamerican context; to gain information about the European conquest of Yucatan and its consequences for the Maya; to become more aware of what we now know about Maya cultural heritage in the context of the aspirations of Mayan-speaking peoples today. Specific objectives: You should become familiar with complexity and hierarchy as concepts in understanding social change. You should be aware of the methods used to acquire knowledge in archaeology, epigraphy, and art history and be critical of their effectiveness. You should have developed familiarity with the art and architectural styles of the Maya. You should be able to evaluate patterns of urbanism and models of collapse. You should be able to apply what has been learned to evaluate contemporary socio-cultural conditions and change.

Intended learning outcomes On completion of the course you should: be able to assess theoretical and methodological approaches critically. have acquired a range of advanced research and writing skills. have learned how to integrate ideas from a variety of sources. be assiduous in the practice of source citation.

4

Week-by-week Summary

Week 1 16 January

Theme: Chronology, setting, natural resources, people and languages. Reading: None required but basic information can be found in Coe, Introduction, pp. 11-31 and Sharer, Ch 1, pp. 23-56.

______________________________________________________________________________________

Week 2 23 January

Theme: Maya thought and culture. Readings: Coe, Ch. 9 (9th, 8th or 7th edition); see below. WILL ASSIGN READINGS FOR WEEK 3. Class assignment: Coe’s chapter 9 in each of the editions deals with the topics of:

Gods, spirits, supernatural entities: The universe and the gods/the earth and the gods/ordering the universe/gods & spirits; the 8th and 7th editions have ‘The Classic Maya underworld’ which I will leave optional but it does discuss some gods

Ritual: Being religious/Rites and ritual practitioners

The universe, the world, creation: Ordering the universe (only the ninth and last edition; this information may occur under other chapters in the 8th and 7th edition)

The calendar and astronomy: Numbers and the calendar/the sun and moon/ the celestial wanderers and stars

Maya writing: The nature of Maya writing

History of decipherment & the subject of inscriptions: ‘History graven in stone’

The Classic Maya political system: The Great Game/Maya superstates

Ownership: A possessed world/Name-tagging Pick one of the above topics from the chapter you have read. Then search on either www.mesoweb.com or www.famsi.org (or any other key texts) or http://decipherment.wordpress.com for one other reading on the selected topic. Submit a summary of what you have read. Length should be 2 pages (double- or 1 ½-spaced) (.5%). I will ask you to summarise briefly in class.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Week 3 30 January

Theme: Introduction to Maya social organization and identity Readings: Sharer, Ch. 12, pp. 665-718.; Restall, Matthew. 2004. Maya Ethnogenesis. Jour. Latin American Anthropology 9(1): 64-89. If you can’t read the entire article now, make sure you read it at some point. Even reading a few paragraphs will give you an idea of how problematic the term ‘Maya’ can be. Class assignment: Sharer’s chapter deals with the topics of:

Maya society, pp. 665-677 Personal appearance, Birth and early childhood, Puberty, Life and Death; Marriage and the family.

Households, pp. 677-682: Ancient Maya households

Settlement, pp. 682-690: Settlement in the Maya lowlands, Chronological control, population reconstructions.

Residence & descent, pp. 692-696: Residential and descent groups, residential groups and the house model.

Social stratification & hierarchy: pp. 690-692; 696-702: Social divisions, kings, kingship and power.

Maya polities and state organizational models, pp. 703-718: Maya polities, Location and power, Size and power, Number and size of polities, Cycles of growth and decline, state organizational models, The basis of political power (more theories of states)

Maya identity (Restall, M. and in same issue, Castaneda) Pick a topic in class. In addition to the information from Sharer Chapter 12, I will ask you to use one or more sources, either from his lists on pp. 806-808 or which you find on your own. When you submit the summary, make sure to list the sources you used. Be prepared to present information in class.

5

Topic 1: Maya society - Familiarise yourself with the basic information on personal appearance, birth, childhood, puberty, life, death, marriage & the family. How might we learn about these aspects of Maya society through the archaeological record? Given the ethnography you have looked at, what knowledge about the society might be difficult to ‘get at’ via archaeology and why? (Sharer + 1 source + ethnography.) Topic 2: Households

How do archaeologists learn about households and inhabitants from the archaeological record? (Sharer + 1 source + ethnography)

Topic 3: Settlement How do archaeologists learn about settlement and settlement patterns? (Sharer + 2 sources from his bibliography or what you find on your own).

Topic 4: Residence, descent, and the house model Familiarise yourself with the information on residence and descent but give particular attention to the house model and explain its significance. (Sharer + Gillespie 2000): Gillespie, Susan D. 2000. Rethinking Ancient Maya Social Organization: Replacing “Lineage” with “House.” American Anthropologist 102: 467-84.

Topic 5: Social stratification & hierarchy – social divisions, rulers and rulership What were the main social divisions? How were the Maya ruled? (Sharer + 1 source from his bibliography/or your own + Martin & Grube 2008, pp. 14-16).

Topic 6: Maya polities and state organizational models – 1) What was a Maya polity? How do we know about polities in the glyphic record? 2) What models have been used to reconstruct ancient Maya states and how are they characterized? How was authority enforced? Does the Classic period differ from the Postclassic period?

(Sharer + for polities, pick from the list below + for state organizational models, pick from the sources below.) Maya polities Martin, S. & N. Grube 2008, Chronicle of the Maya Kings and Queens, pp. 14-21. Lacadena García Gallo, Alfonso & Andrés Ciudad R. 1998. Reflexiones sobre la estructura politica Maya classica. In Ciudad Ruiz, A., Y. Fernández M., J.M. García C., M.J. Iglesias Ponce de León, A. Lacadena G., and L.T. Sanz C., eds. Anatomia de una civilización: Aproximaciones interdisciplinarias a la cultura Maya. Madrid: SEEM. Sharer, R.J. & C. Golden. 2004. Kingship and Polity: Conceptualizing the Maya Body Politic. In Golden, C.W. & G. Borgstede, eds. Continuity and Change in Maya Archaeology: Perspectives at the Millennium. Routledge, New York.

State organizational models: Iannone, Gyles. 2002. Annales History and the Ancient Maya State: Some Observations on the “Dynamic Model”. American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol. 104(1): 68-78. Chase, Diane Z. 1986. Social and political organization in the Land of Cacao and Honey: Correlating the Archaeology and Ethnohistory of the Postclassic Lowland Maya. In Sabloff, J.A. & E.W. Andrews V, eds., Late Lowland Maya Civilization, pp. 347-377.

6

____________________________________________________________________________________ Maya foundational ethnographies – Found either in the Anthropology library or Senate House library. Annis, Sheldon. 1987. God and Production in a Guatemalan Town.

Blaffer, Sarah C. 1972. The Black-man of Zinacantan: A Central American Legend.

Boremanse, Didier. 1998. Hach Winik: The Lacandon Maya of Southern Chiapas, Mexico.

Bricker, Victoria R. 1981. The Indian Christ, The Indian King: The Historical Substrate of Maya Myth and

Ritual.

Bricker, Victoria & Gary H. Gossen, eds. 1989. Ethnographic Encounters in Mesoamerica: Essays in Honor

of Evon Zartman Vogt, Jr. Institute for Mesoamerican Studies, Studies on Culture and Society, Vol. 3.

Albany: Institute for Mesoamerican Studies, University at Albany, State University of New York.

Bunzel, Ruth. 1952. Chichicastenango: A Guatemalan Village. Publications of the American Ethnological

Society, vol. 22. Locust Valley, NY: J.J. Augustine.

Burkhart, Louise M. 1993. The Cult of the Virgin of Guadalupe in Mexico. In Southern and Meso-American

Native Spirituality: From the Cult of the Feathered Serpent to the Theology of Liberation, ed by Gary

H. Gossen, 198-227. London, SCM Press.

Burns, Alan. 1983. An Epoch of Miracles.

Cancian, Frank. 1965. Economics and Prestige in a Maya Community: The Religious Cargo System in

Zinacantan.

Carlsen, Robert S. 1997. The War for the Heart and Soul of a Highland Maya Town.

Cruz, Pacheco. 1984. Estudio etnográfico de los mayas del ex Territorio Quintana Roo. Merida, Yucatan:.

Colby, Benjamin N. and Pierre L. van den Berghe. 1969. Ixil Country: A Plural Society in Highland

Guatemala.

Deuss, Krystyna. 2007. Shamans, Witches, and Maya Priests: Native Religion and Ritual in Highland

Guatemala.

Hill, Robert M. and John Monaghan. 1987. Continuities in Highland Maya Social Organization:

Ethnohistory in Sacapulas, Guatemala.

Ingham, John M. 1986. Mary, Michael , and Lucifer: Folk Catholicism in Central Mexico.

LaFarge, Oliver. 1947. Santa Eulalia: The Religion of a Chuchumatan Indian Town.

Maurer Avalos, Eugenio. 1993. The Tzeltal Maya-Christian Synthesis. In Southern and Meso-American

Native Spirituality: From the Cult of the Feathered Serpent to the Theology of Liberation, ed. by Gary

H. Gossen, 228-50.

Monaghan, John D. 1995. The Covenants with Earth and Rain: Exchange, Sacrifice, and Revelation in

Mixtec Sociality.

Nash, Manning. 1958. Machine Age Maya: The Industrialization of a Guatemalan Community.

Oakes, Maud. 1969. The Two Crosses of Todos Santos.

Redfield, Robert. 1941. The Folk Culture of Yucatan.

Redfield, Robert and Alfonso Villa Rojas. 1934. Chan Kom: A Maya Village. Carnegie Institution of

Washington Publication No. 448. Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Institution.

Reina, Ruben E. 1966. The Law of the Saints: A Pokomam Pueblo and Its Community Culture.

Sandstrom, Alan R. 1991. Corn is Our Blood: Culture and Ethnic Identity in a Contemporary Aztec

Indian Village.

Siegel, Morris. 1941. Religion in Western Guatemala: A Product of Acculturation. American

Anthropologist, n.s., 43(1): 62-76.

Tedlock, Barbara. 1982. Time and the Highland Maya.

Vogt, Evon Z. 1976. Tortillas for the Gods: A Symbolic Analysis of Zinacanteco Rituals.

Wagley, Charles. 1949. The Social and Religious Life of a Guatemalan Village. Memoirs of the American

Anthropological Association, no. 71. American Anthropological Association, Menasha, Wisconsin.

Wasserstrom, Robert. 1983. Class and Society in Central Chiapas.

Watanabe, John. 1992. Maya Saints and Souls in a Changing World.

_______________________________________________________________________________

7

Week 4 06 February

Theme: Classic Maya Kingship, origins, cosmos, royal courts, nobles Class assignment: Prepare a 2-page summary (1 ½ or double-spaced) of the suggested reading(s). You can read more or even write (a bit) more but only two pages are required.

Topic 1: The Classic Period: Chapter 4 in Houston, Stephen D. & Takeshi Inomata, 2009, The Classic Maya, pp. 105-127. Sharer, Chapter 7, pp. 287-305.

1) When is the Classic period? 2) Are both the highlands and the lowlands involved? 3) Does Teotihuacan play a role? 4) What sites dominate in the Early Classic? 5) What is the system of governing?

Topic 2: Kings and queens: Chapter 5 in Houston & Inomata, 2009, pp. 131-150; Chapter 7 in Sharer, pp. 296-297.

1) What titles are relevant to rulership? 2) What does the ‘emblem glyph’ mean? 3) Who is eligible to rule? (What are the ‘rules’?) 4) What is one of the accoutrements that would identify a ruler on a stela or in other imagery? 5) Can women be rulers?

Topic 3: Courts and palaces: Chapter 5 in Houston & Inomata, 2009, pp. 150-158; also ‘Peopling the Classic Maya Court’ by S. Houston and D. Stuart, 2001, in Royal Courts of the Ancient Maya, Vol. 1, ed. by Inomata and Houston, pp. 54-83.

1) How is the ‘court’ defined? 2) Have palaces been identified securely? 3) Who would be members of the court?

Topic 4: Chapter 6 in Houston & Inomata, 2009.

1) What do we mean when we refer to ‘nobles’ among the Classic Maya? 2) Can anyone be a noble? 3) Do we know of any titles that apply to nobles? What are they? 3)What do we think nobles did in Maya society? What were their roles?

Topic 5: Preclassic origins of Classic Maya society and kingship Chapter 3 in Houston and Inomata 2009, pp. 65-104.

1) What important features of Classic society are rooted in the Preclassic? 2) What material culture, including the material culture of kingship, is shared between the Preclassic and Classic periods. 3) What Preclassic sites exhibit monumental architecture: 4) What Preclassic stelae/monuments or other imagery display symbols of kingship?

Topic 6: The cosmos: gods, supernaturals, ancestors: Chapter 7 in Houston and Inomata 2009, pp. 193-217. (See also Ch.3, Figs. 3.13 & 3.14)

1) What is the significance of k’uh’? 2) Was k’uh applied to non-elites? 2) Who is the ‘Principal Bird Deity’? 3) Who is Chahk? 4) What were the roles of gods as opposed to ancestors? (If there was a difference.)

READINGS RELATED TO COSMOS, KINGSHIP, COURTS PALACES Could be useful if you choose a related essay topic:

Cosmos and kingship/rulership:

Fields, Virginia M., Dorie Reents-Budet and Ricardo Agurcia Fasquelle. 2005. Lords of Creation: The origins of sacred Maya kingship. Scala Books.

Ch 5, Kings & Queens, Courts and Palaces, in The Classic Maya by Stephen D. Houston and Takeshi Inomata, pp. 131-146, 158-162, 2009. [kings & kingship]

Martin & Grube, Chronicle of the Maya Kings and Queens, 2008. [kings & kingship]

Houston, S. & D. Stuart. Of gods, glyphs, and kings: Divinity and rulership among the Classic Maya. Antiquity 70: 289-312.

Freidel, David A., Linda Schele and Joy Parker. Centering the World. In Maya Cosmos: Ten Thousand Years on

8

the Shaman’s Path, ed. by D.A. Freidel, L. Schele and J. Parker, pp. 123-172. William Morrow and Company, New York, 1993. [kings & cosmos]

Freidel, D. A. and L. Schele. 1988a. Kingship in the Late Preclassic Maya Lowlands: The Instruments and Places of Ritual Power. American Anthropologist 90 (1988): 547-567. [early kingship]

Freidel, D.A., K. Reese-Taylor and D. Mora-Marín. 2002. The Origins of Maya Civilization: The Old Shell Game, Commodity, Treasure, and Kingship. In Masson, M. & D. Freidel, Ancient Maya Political Organization, pp. 335-64. [origins of kingship]

Gillespie, Susan D. 1989. The Aztec Kings: The Construction of Rulership in Mexica History. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.

Watanabe, J.M. 1983. In the World of the Sun: A Cognitive Model of Mayan Cosmology. Man 18: 710-28. [cosmos]

Buikstra, Jane E, Wright, L.D., Burton, J.A. 2003. Tombs from the Copan Acropolis: A Life History Approach. In Bell, EE, CAnuto, MA, Sharer, R (eds), Understanding Early Classic Copan. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania.

Tiesler, Vera & Andrea Cucina (eds). 2006. Janaab’Pakal of Palenque: reconstructing the life and death of a Maya ruler. INST ARCH DFB 10 TIE

Schele, Linda & Mary Ellen Miller. 1986. The Blood of Kings. Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas. Read the Preface and the chapter on ‘The Royal Person’, pp. 63-102.

Looper, Matthew. 2003. G. Lightning Warrior: Maya Art & Kingship at Quirigua. Austin: University of Texas Press.

McAnany, Patricia. 1995. Living with the Ancestors: Kinship & Kingship in Ancient Maya Society. Austin: University of Texas Press.

Stuart, David. Ideology and Classic Maya Kingship. 2005. In A Catalyst for Ideas: Anthropological Archaeology and the Legacy of Douglas W. Schwartz. School of American Research, Santa Fe, ed. by Vernon Scarborough. (I don’t know the page numbers.)

Houston, Stephen and David Stuart. 1996. Of gods, glyphs and kings: divinity and rulership among the Classic Maya. Antiquity 70(268), pp. 289-312.

Royal courts, palaces

The Classic Maya, Houston and Inomata 2009, Ch 5, pp. 150-158.

Clark, John E. and Richard D. Hansen. The Architecture of Early Kingship: Comparative Perspectives on the Origins of the Maya Royal Court. In Royal Courts of the Ancient Maya, Volume 2, ed. by Takeshi Inomata and Stephen Houseton, 2001, pp. 1-45

King’s People: Classic Maya Courtiers in a Comparative Perspective, by Takeshi Inomata. In Royal Courts of the Ancient Maya, Volume 1, ed. by Takeshi Inomata and Stephen Houston, pp. 27-53, 2001.

Peopling the Classic Maya Court, by Stephen Houston and David Stuart. In Royal Courts of the Ancient Maya, Volume 1, ed. by Inomata and Houseon, pp. 54-83.

Spatial Dimensions of Maya Courtly Life: Problems and Issues, by David Webster. In Royal Courts of the Ancient Maya, Volume 1, ed. by Inomata and Houston, pp. 130-167.

Court and Realm: Architectural Signatures in the Classic Maya Southern Lowlands, by Simon Martin. in Royal Courts of the Ancient Maya, Volume 1, ed. by Inomata and Houston, pp. 168-194.

Classic Maya Concepts of the Royal Court: An Analysis of Renderings on Pictorial Ceramics, by Dorie Reents-Budet. In Royal Courts of the Ancient Maya, Volume 1, ed. by T. Inomata and S. D. Houston, pp. 195-236.

Palaces and Thrones Tied to the Destiny of the Royal Courts in the Maya Lowlands, by Juan Antonio Valdés. In Royal Courts of the Ancient Maya, Volume 2, ed. Inomata and Houston, pp. 138-164.

Life at Court: The View from Bonampak, by Mary Miller. In Royal Courts of the Ancient Maya, Volume 2, ed. Inomata and Houston, pp. 201-222.

The People of the Patio: Ethnohistorical Evidence of Yucatec Maya Royal Courts, by Mathew Restall. In Royal Courts of the Ancient Maya, Volume 2, ed. Inomata and Houson, pp. 335-390.

______________________________________________________________________________________

9

Week 5: 13 February – Panos Kratimenos, lecturer.

THEME options: Deciphering Maya hieroglyphic script OR Death and Burial in the Maya World For: Deciphering Maya hieroglyphic script . . . Required:

Download Introduction to Maya Hieroglyphs by Harri Kettunen and Christophe Helmke. https://www.wayeb.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/wh2019english.pdf READ pp. 6-13, which is the first part. The eager can go on to read about grammar and other details.

Attend Maya-on-the-Thames Maya hieroglyphics workshops, 14 to 16 February. Suggestion only: If you are interested in the history of decipherment, possibly for an essay, check out:

Coe, Michael D. 2012. Breaking the Maya Code. London: Thames and Hudson

Stuart, George E. 1992. Quest for Decipherment: A Historical and Biographical Survey of Maya Hieroglyphic Investigation. In New Theories on the Ancient Maya ed. by Elin C. Danien and Robert J. Sharer. University Museum Symposium Series, Vol. 3. University Museum, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.

For: Death and Burial in the Maya world – Lecturer: Panos Kratimenos Questions will be assigned by Panos in class to individuals for the class assignment.

Readings for Maya Death and Burial lecture Anthropological approaches to death and burial

Duncan WN & Schwarz KR. Partible, permeable, and relational bodies in a Maya mass grave. In

Osterholtz AJ, Baustian KM & Martin DL (eds.) Commingled and disarticulated human remains: working

towards improved theory, methods, and data. New York, NY: Springer, 2014: 149-70

Gillespie SD. Personhood, agency, and mortuary ritual: a case study from the ancient Maya. Journal of

Anthropological Archaeology. 2000;20(1):73-112

Graham E, Simmons S & White C. The Spanish Conquest and the Maya Collapse: how ‘religious’ is

change? World Archaeology. 2013;45(1):161-85

Questions to consider: How are decisions made with regard to how the dead are disposed of? To what extent do religious beliefs play a part in shaping mortuary practice? How should we characterise the relative importance of individual and collective agencies with regard to death and burial?

Demography and social organisation

Chamberlain A. Archaeological demography. Human Biology. 2009;81(3):275-86

Haviland WA. Stature at Tikal, Guatemala: implications for ancient Maya demography and social

organization. American Antiquity. 1967;32(3):316-25

Haviland WA. Family size, prehistoric population estimates, and the ancient Maya. American Antiquity.

1972;37(1):135-9

Whittington SL. Detection of significant demographic differences between subpopulations of

Prehispanic Maya from Copan, Honduras, by survival analysis. American Journal of Physical Anthropology.

1991;85(2):167-84

Questions to consider: What are some of the difficulties in conducting demographic studies in the Maya region? Are the underlying assumptions of demographic analysis in the Maya world sound? What kind of light can demographic analysis shed on ancient Maya social organisation?

Grave goods

Kunen JL, Galindo MJ & Chase E. Pits and bones: identifying Maya ritual behavior in the archaeological

record. Ancient Mesoamerica. 2002;13(2):197-211

Rathje WL. Socio-political implications of lowland Maya burials: methodology and tentative hypotheses.

World Archaeology. 1970;1(3):359-74

Źrałka J, Koszkul W, Martin S & Hermes B. In the path of the Maize God: a royal tomb at Nakum,

Petén, Guatemala. Antiquity. 2011;85:890-908

10

Questions to consider: What kinds of objects – aside from the corpse(s) – tend to be found in Maya graves? How much can we infer about the social status of the interred by considering the objects that accompany them to the grave? How should grave goods be categorised in relation to non-funerary deposits?

Osteological approaches

Serafin S, Peraza Lope C & Uc González E. Bioarchaeological investigation of ancient Maya violence

and warfare in inland northwest Yucatan, Mexico. American Journal of Physical Anthropology.

2014;154(1):140-51

Tiesler V. Becoming Maya: infancy and upbringing through the lens of pre-Hispanic head shaping.

Childhood in the Past. 2011;4(1):117-32

Tiesler V & Cucina A. Procedures of human heart extraction and ritual meaning: a taphonomic

assessment of anthropogenic marks in Classic Maya skeletons. Latin American Antiquity. 2006;17(4):493-

510

Questions to consider: What insights does the physical examination of human bones offer us into the world of the ancient Maya? Can osteological analysis play a leading role in the study of death and burial among the ancient Maya or will it always be dependent on (and therefore subordinate to) cultural and anthropological enquiry?

Palaeogenomics

Geigl E-M & Grange T. Ancient DNA: the quest for the best. Molecular Ecology Resources.

2018;18(6):1185-7

Knipper C, Mittnik A, Massy K et al. Female exogamy and gene pool diversification at the transition

from the Final Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age in central Europe. Proceedings of the National Academy of

Sciences. 2017;114(38):10083-8

Posth C, Nakatsuka N, Lazaridis I et al. Reconstructing the deep population history of Central and

South America. Cell. 2018;175(5):1185-97

Verdugo C, Kassadjikova K, Washburn E, Harkins KM & Fehren-Schmitz L. Ancient DNA clarifies

osteological analyses of commingled remains from Midnight Terror Cave, Belize. International Journal of

Osteoarchaeology. 2017;27(3):495-9

Questions to consider: What are some of the more promising means of obtaining ancient DNA from human remains? Why have more genomic studies not been conducted to date in the Maya world? How can genetic studies inform on archaeological questions concerning the ancient Maya?

Stable isotope and trace element analysis

Cucina A, Tiesler V, Sierra Sosa T & Neff H. Trace-element evidence for foreigners at a Maya port in

northern Yucatan. Journal of Archaeological Science. 2011;38:1878-85

Metcalfe JZ, White CD, Longstaffe FJ, Wrobel G, Cook DC & Pyburn KA. Isotopic evidence for diet at

Chau Hiix, Belize: testing regional models of hierarchy and heterarchy. Latin American Antiquity.

2009;20(1):15-36

Price TD, Tiesler V, Folan WJ & Tykot RH. Calakmul as a central place: isotopic insights on urban Maya

mobility and diet during the first millennium AD. Latin American Antiquity. 2018;29(3):439-54

Questions to consider: What can the different kinds of stable isotope analysis contribute to the reconstruction of ancient Maya lifeways? How can trace element analysis refine the picture presented by isotopic analysis?

______________________________________________________________________________________

Week 6: R E A D I N G W E E K – 17 to 21 February 2020 ______________________________________________________________________________________

Week 7: 27 February

Theme: The Maya built environment: Architecture, building terms, construction—everything you wanted to know about Maya architecture but were afraid to ask!

Required download to review:

11

Lexicon for Maya Architecture by H.S. Loten and David M. Pendergast, available on-line at: https://archive.org/stream/lexiconformayaar00lote#page/4/mode/2up Bring copy to class or notes for reference. If you can’t print it, let me know as I think I have some copies. Just look over the figures and the terms.

Required reading: ‘Rats and bats and fluffy stuff’. E. Graham. 1993. Antiquity 67(256): 660-65. Pay particular attention to the

section on Volume 1. Class assignment: Each person come up with 1-3 questions on Maya architecture. In addition, I would like

your thoughts on my assessment of constructional history (building sequence) versus real history. For anyone interested in Maya architecture, suggested readings:

Proskouriakoff, Tatiana. 1963. An Album of Maya Architecture (Wonderful architectural drawings.)

Pendergast, David M. Excavations at Altun Ha, Volumes 1,2,3. 1979 for Vol. 1. Royal Ontario Museum Archaeological Monographs. Toronto [or]

Coe, William. 1990. Excavations in the Great Plaza, North Terrace, and North Acropolis of Tikal. Tikal Report No. 14, vol. III.

Pendergast’s and Coe’s excavation reports are worth leafing through as a guide to how excavations are reported.

More interpretive readings on architecture:

Harrison, Peter D. Tikal: Selected Topics, pp. 45-71, in City-States of the Maya: Art and Architecture, ed. by Elizabeth P. Benson. Rocky Mountain Institute for Precolumbian Studies, 1986. Peter used comparative trait analysis to infer room or building function (because we don’t know what rooms were used for!)

Houston, Stephen D., ed. 1998. Function and Meaning in Classic Maya Architecture.

Webster, David. 1998. Classic Maya Architecture: Implications and Comparisons. In Function and Meaning in Classic Maya Architecture, ed. by Stephen Houston, pp. 5-47.

___________________________________________________________________________________

Week 8: 05 March Topic: Neotropical urbanism Readings:

Required:

‘Neotropical Cities as Agro-Urban Landscapes’ by E. Graham & Christian Isendahl. 2018. In The Resilience of Heritage—Cultivating a Future of the Past—Essays in Honour of Professor Paul J.J. Sinclair, ed. by Anneli Ekblom, Christian Isendahl and Karl-Johan Lindholm, pp. 165-180. Studies in Global Archaeology 23 (series editor, Paul Lane). Dept. of Archaeology and Ancient History, Uppsala University, Sweden.

Either: Fletcher, R. 2009. Low-density, agrarian-based urbanism: A comparative view. Insights 2(4): 1–19, or Fletcher, R. 2011. Low-density, agrarian-based urbanism: Scale, power, and ecology. In: Smith, M.E. (ed.), The Comparative Archaeology of Complex Societies, 285–320. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Class assignment: Read the assigned readings. Write your reaction to the arguments in Graham & Isendahl, and to Fletcher’s case for low-density, agrarian-based urbanism.

Other readings on urbanism

Urbanism in Mesoamerica/El Urbanismo en Mesoamérica, Volume 1. 2003. Edited by William T. Sanders, Alba Guadalupe Mastache, Robert H. Cobean. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia and The Pennsylvania State University. Mexico, D.F. and University Park, PA.

Urbanism in Mesoamerica/El Urbanismo en Mesoamérica, Volume 2. 2008. Edited by Alba Guadalupe Mastache, Robert H. Cobean, Ángel Garcia Cook, & Kenneth G. Hirth. Instituto Nacional

12

de Antropología e Historia and The Pennsylvania State University. Mexico, D.F. and University Park, PA.

Barnhart, Edwin L. 2008. Palenque, Urban City of the Ancient Maya. In Urbanism in Mesoamerica, Vol. 2, eds. Alba Guadalupe Mastache, Robert H. Cobean, Ángel Garcia Cook, Kenneth G. Hirth, pp. 165-195. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia and The Pennsylvania State University. Mexico, D.F. and University Park, PA.

Hirth, Kenneth G. 2003. The Altepetl and Urban Structure in Prehispanic Mesoamerica. In Urbanism in Mesoamerica, Vol. 1, ed. William T. Sanders, Alba Guadalupe Mastache, and Robert H. Cobean, pp. 57-84. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia and The Pennsylvania State University. Mexico, D.F. and University Park, PA. (About altepetls but relates to Maya urbanism)

Cowgill, George. 2003. Some Recent Data and Concepts about Ancient Urbanism. In Urbanism in Mesoamerica, Vol. 1, ed. William T. Sanders, Alba Guadalupe Mastache, and Robert H. Cobean, pp. 1-19. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia and The Pennsylvania State University. Mexico, D.F. and University Park, PA.

Smith, Michael E. and Katharina J. Schreiber. 2006. New World States and Empires: Politics, Religion, and Urbanism. Journal of Archaeological Research 14(1): 1-52. (NOTE: Mike Smith has written a lot more on urbanism, although he works in Central Mexico, but you can google him.)

Isendahl, Christian and Michael Smith. 2013. Sustainable agrarian urbanism: The low-density cities of the Mayas and Aztecs. Cities 31, 132-143. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2012.07.012

E. Graham. 1999. Stone Cities, Green Cities. In Complex Polities in the Ancient Tropical World, edited by Elisabeth A. Bacus and Lisa J. Lucero, pp 185-194. Archaeological Papers of the American Anthropological Association 9. AAA, Arlington, Virginia.

E. Graham. 1996. Maya Cities and the Character of a Tropical Urbanism. In The Development of Urbanism from a Global Perspective, edited by Paul Sinclair. Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden. http://www.arkeologi.uu.se/digitalAssets/9/9652_GrahamAll.pdf Posted in 1996.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

13

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Week 9 12 March

Theme: The Terminal Classic

Sharer, Chapter 9 on ‘Transformations in the Terminal Classic’, pp. 499-533, and in the same chapter, The rise of Chichen Itza, pp. 558-570.

Stanton, Travis W., Taube, Karl A. and Jeremy D. Coltman. Rough draft. Social Mobility in the City of the Sun: The Legacy of Chichen Itza at the Turn of the Postclassic period. (Will need reminding but I should be able to get paper copies to you.)

Assignment: Your reactions to the readings. Key reading on the Terminal Classic:

Demarest, A., Rice, P. and Rice, D. (eds.) 2004. The Terminal Classic in the Maya Lowlands: Collapse, transition, and transformation. U. Press of Colorado. For initial insight, read the Introductory chapter and the concluding chapter.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Week 10 19 March

Theme: The Maya Collapse and warfare Readings:

Sharer, Chapter 8, pp. 403-421.

If you are doing the 4,000-word essay, read Sharer, Chapter 8, pp. 403-421 and then pick just two of the sites from the many sites he discusses from pp. 421 to 497 and read about them.

Class assignment: In addition to pp. 403 to 421 in Sharer, have a look at pp. 421 to 497 and pick just two of the sites from the many he discusses. Each of the students doing the 4,000-word essay should prepare a two-page document & address the question: What is common to the collapsing sites, and what is different? What do you think caused the Maya collapse? Recommended:

Aimers, James J. 2007. What Maya Collapse? Terminal Classic Variation in the Maya Lowlands. Journal of Archaeological Research 15: 329-377.

Aoyama, Kazuo and Elizabeth Graham. 2015. Ancient Maya warfare: exploring the significance of lithic variation in Maya weaponry. Lithics: the Journal of the Lithic Studies Society 36: 5-17.

Demarest, A., Rice, P. and Rice, D. (eds.) 2004. The Terminal Classic in the Maya Lowlands: Collapse, transition, and transformation. U. Press of Colorado. For initial insight, read the Introductory chapter and the concluding chapter.

Related readings (if you write second essay on collapse):

The question of the Toltecs, and ‘Who were the Itza’? pp. 198-204 in The Code of Kings (1998) by Linda Schele and Peter Mathews. Scribner, NY.

Stuart, David. 1993. Historical Inscriptions and the Maya Collapse. In Lowland Maya Civilization in the Eighth Century A.D. edited by J.A. Sabloff & J.S. Henderson, pp. 321-354.

Mary Ellen Miller. 1993. On the Eve of the Collapse: Maya Art of the Eighth Century. In Lowland Maya Civilization in the Eighth Century A.D. ed. J.A. Sabloff & J.S. Henderson, pp. 355-413.

Webster, David. 1993. The Study of Maya Warfare: What It Tells Us about the Maya and What It Tells Us about Maya Archaeology. In Lowland Maya Civilization in the Eighth Century A.D. ed. J.A. Sabloff & J.S. Henderson, pp. 415-444.

Manahan, Kam. 2002. Reevaluating the Classic Maya Collapse at Copan. In La Organización Social entre Los Mayas. Memoria de la Tercera Mesa Redonda de Palenque, Vol. 1, ed. V.Tiesler Blos, R. Cobos & M.G. Robertson, pp. 329-338.

Demarest, Arthur. 2004. The Terminal Classic in the Maya Lowlands: Assessing Collapses, Terminations, and Aftermaths. In The Terminal Classic in the Maya Lowlands: Collapse, Transition, and Transformation, ed. A. Demarest, P.M. Rice and D.S. Rice, pp. 545-572. This is the conclusion.

14

Demarest, Arther, Prudence M. Rice and Don S. Rice, editors. 2004. The Terminal Classic in the Maya Lowlands: Collapse, Transition, and Transformation.

Nalda, E. 2005. Clásico terminal (750-1050 d.C) y postclásico (1050-1550) d.C.) en el area maya : colapso y reacomodas. Arqueología Mexicana LXXVI: 30-41.

Wright, Lori E. 2006. Diet, Health, and Status among the Pasión Maya: A Reappraisal of the Collapse. Vanderbilt University Press, Nashville, TN.

Webster, David. 2002. The Fall of the Ancient Maya. Read Chapter 8, ‘Many Kingdoms, Many Fates’.

Golden, Charles, Andrew K. Scherer, A. René Muñoz and Rosaura Vasquez. 2008. Piedras Negras and Yaxchilan: Divergent Political Trajectories in Adjacent Maya Polities. Latin American Antiquity 19(3): 249-274.

Graham, E. 2004. Lamanai reloaded: Alive and well in the Early Postclassic. In Archaeological Investigations in the Eastern Maya Lowlands, ed by Jaime Awe, John Morris, & Sherilyne Jones, pp. 223-241. Research Reports in Belizean Archaeology 1. Institute of Archaeology, NICH, Belize.

________________________________________________________________________________

Week 11 26 March

Theme: The Maya and the Spanish Conquest Assignments:

Option 1: Obviously you can’t read a book in a week. What I’d like you to do is have a look at my book, which is available digitally through our library and Project Muse. Have a look at the chapter headings and read what you can. Then get hold of one of the others and review it. Mine is the only one using archaeological data to understand the Conquest.

My book: Does archaeology help in illuminating conquest and contact in the Maya area?

Your selection from the books below: How does the book you selected contribute to our understanding of the Spanish Conquest of the Maya?

o Restall, Matthew. 1997. The Maya World: Yucatec Culture and Society. o Graham, Elizabeth. 2011. Maya Christians and Their Churches in Sixteenth-Century Belize. o Clendinnen, Inga. 2003. Ambivalent Conquests: Maya and Spaniard in Yucatan, 1517-1570. o Hanks, William F. Converting Words: Maya in the Age of the Cross (The Anthropology of

Christianity) o Jones, Grant. 1989. Maya Resistance to Spanish Rule. U of New Mexico Press. o Jones, Grant. 1998. The Conquest of the Last Maya Kingdom. Stanford

Option 2: o Maya Worldviews at Conquest ed. by Leslie Cecil and Timothy Pugh contains chapers that

examine Maya worldviews in the 16th century. Read two chapters and write your two pages on the ways in which you think worldviews were most changed.

Possible second essay questions related to Conquest:

How did the Maya resist?

What communities survived the Conquest, and how did archaeology contribute information? Pick one or more.

o ‘On the fringes of conquest: Maya-Spanish contact in colonial Belize’. Graham, E., D.M. Pendergast and G.D. Jones. 1989. Science 246 (4935): 1254-1259.

o Have a look at Grant Jones’ two books (above) on Itza and Belize Maya resistance. o ‘The Southern Maya Lowlands Contact Experience: The View from Lamanai, Belize.’ David

Pendergast. 1991. In Columbian Consequences, Vol. 3: The Spanish Borderlands in Pan-American Perspective, ed. by David Hurst Thomas, pp. 336-354. Smithsonian.

o ‘Worlds in Collision: The Maya/Spanish Encounter in Sixteenth and Seventeenth-Century Belize. David. M. Pendergast. 1993. In The Meeting of Two Worlds: Europe and the Americas, 1492-1650, ed. by Warwick Bray, pp. 105-143.

15

o ‘Stability through Change: Lamanai, Belize, from the Ninth to the Seventeenth Century.’ David M. Pendergast. 1986. In Late Lowland Maya Civilization: Classic to Postclassic, edited by Jeremy A. Sabloff and E.Wyllys Andrews V., pp. 223_249. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.

o ‘Archaeological Insights into Colonial Period Maya Life at Tipu, Belize’. E. Graham. 1991. In Columbian Consequences, Volume 3: The Spanish Borderlands in Pan-American Perspective, edited by David Hurst Thomas, pp. 319-335. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C.**

o ‘Contact and Missionization at Tayasal, Peten, Guatemala,’ by Timothy Pugh, Jose Romulo Sanchez and Yuko Shiratori. 2012. Journal of Field Archaeology 37(1): 3-19.

o ‘A Chak’an Itza Center at Nixtun-Ch’ich’, Peten, Guatemala. Timothy Pugh, Prudence Rice, Evelyn Chan Nieto & Don S. Rice. 2016. Journal of Field Archaeology 41(1): 1-16.

16

ESSAY TOPICS Essay 1 due 5th March; Essay 2 due 21st April 2020.

A list of suggested essay topics follows. Please communicate with me about your topic and I can provide you with guides to further reading. In some cases it is best to start with the most recent journal article in either Ancient Mesoamerica or Latin American Antiquity. Other journals which often have key articles on the Maya are the Cambridge Archaeological Journal and Antiquity. For fieldwork reports, check the Journal of Field Archaeology. Google Scholar is also very helpful in searching. For web sites, see sources provided on p. 2. You have the option to design your own essay topic but it must be approved by me. How does the ‘house model’ differ from earlier models of Maya society. Has it improved our understanding of Classic Maya ruling houses?

Gillespie, S.D. 2000. Rethinking Ancient Maya Social Organization: Replacing “Lineage” with “House.” American Antiquity 102: 467-84.

Carsten, J. & S. Hugh-Jones, eds. 1995. About the House: Levi-Strauss and Beyond.

Helms, M. W. 1998. Access to Origins.

Joyce, R.A. & S.D. Gillespie, eds. 2000. Beyond Kinship: Social and Material Reproduction in House Societies.

Also check sources under Sharer 2006, p.807 on ‘Residential Groups and the House Model. _______________________________________________________________________________________________ Woven cotton textiles are and were critical elements in Maya society. What can we learn from Maya textile design about the meaning of textiles [to cosmology] in the Maya past?

Holsbeke, Mireille and Julia Montoya. 2003. “With Their Hands and Their Eyes” -- Maya Textiles, Mirrors of a Worldview. Etnografisch Museum Antwerpen

_______________________________________________________________________________________________ How do approaches to settlement patterns in the Maya lowlands (heavily forested) compare to approaches taken in the Valley of Oaxaca (cleared land) (Blanton, Kowalewski, Feinmen)? Consider the theoretical approaches of the investigators, the methods used, and how interpretations were made. New LiDAR applications will figure here. Check the web site for Caracol by Arlen and Diane Chase for applications of LiDAR technology. Can also check Google—lots of recent material on this.

Blanton, R.E., S. A. Kowalewslki, Gary M. Feinman & L.M. Finsten. 1997. Ancient Mesoamerica.

Willey, G.R. ed. 1956. Prehistoric Settlement Patterns in the New World.

Willey G.R. 1981. Maya Lowland Settlement Patterns: A Summary Review. In Lowland Maya Settlement Patterns, ed. W. Ashmore, pp. 385-415.

Sharer 2006, p. 807 on ‘Settlement in the Maya Lowlands’. _______________________________________________________________________________________________ Divine kings or divine kingship? What arguments can be made that the basis of royal power in the Maya area does not lie in divine kings, but in divine kingship. Comparative data from other areas of the world are welcome. (See readings for Week 4.)

Martin & Grube 2008. The Chronicle of the Maya Kings and Queens.

See readings under the relevant theme, above in the lecture schedule. _______________________________________________________________________________________________ Describe the foundations for the classification of Maya ceramics. Provide a brief history of classification methods prior to the introduction of the type:variety system. How were ceramics dated and how were early chronologies established? What questions were these pre-type:variety approaches meant to solve? Were they successful? If so, in what ways and if not, why not? _______________________________________________________________________________________________ Review the history of Mayanists’ views about the Preclassic period in the southern Maya lowlands, its developments, and its relationship to Classic florescence. How have these views changed, and why?

I would start with Evans and Sharer. From them, you might decide to focus on a particular theme such as: origins of rulership; origins of particular kinds of settlement; origins of urban organization; origins of pottery as social expression.

Evans, S.T. Ancient Mexico and Central America.

Grove, David C. and Rosemary A. Joyce, editors. Social Patterns in Pre-Classic Mesoamerica. 1993.

17

Love, Michael and Jonathan Kaplan. 2011. Southern Maya in the Late Preclassic: The Rise and Fall of an Early Mesoamerican Civilization.

Sharer, R.J. The Ancient Maya, chapters 4,5,6.

Lucero, Lisa J. 1999. Classic Maya Political Organization: A Review. Journal of World Prehistory 13:211-63. o Check the spots where she refers to the Preclassic, and any sources that look like they might discuss

Preclassic origins of Maya political organization.

Lucero, Lisa J. 2003. The Politics of Ritual: The Emergence of Classic Maya Rulers. Current Anthropology 44: 523-58.

o Not sure about this but when you discuss origins of rulership or kings in the Preclassic, Lisa may point to some sources.

McAnany, Patricia. 1995. Living with Ancestors.

Sharer, Robert J. 1992. The Preclassic Origin of Lowland Maya States. In New Theories on the Ancient Maya, ed. by Elin Danien and Robert Sharer, pp. 131-36.

Webster, D. 2000. The Not So Peaceful Civilization: A Review of Maya War. Journal of World Prehistory 14(1): 65-119.

o Only if he has information on warfare in the Preclassic.

Schele, Linda and M.E. Miller. 1986. The Blood of Kings. o Not sure about this. There are a few Preclassic artefacts but they may draw conclusions that go way

beyond the data. Still might be useful. _______________________________________________________________________________________________ What was the source of royal power in the Maya Classic period?

See the readings for the lecture on kingship, courts, etc.

Gillespie, Susan. 1989. The Aztec Kings. (. . . as a comparison) _______________________________________________________________________________________________ How have Mayanists determined the nature of hierarchy in the Maya area? Draw from epigraphic and archaeological research.

Best to start with Sharer, and then Houston and Inomata (2006)

Some of the ideas come from Postclassic models, so see readings on the Postclassic (references in Sharer) _______________________________________________________________________________________________ What is the ‘theatre state’ model and how has it been applied in Maya studies of the ancient political landscape? Arthur Demarest has published quite a bit on this. Perhaps go to his work first.

Lucero, Lisa J. 1999. Classic Lowland Maya Political Organization: A Review. Journal of World Prehistory 13, No. 2: 211-263.

Geertz, Clifford, 1980. Negara: The Theatre State in Nineteenth-Century Bali. Princeton, Princeton University Press.

I believe Houston and Inomata also discuss the theatre state in The Classic Maya, and Coe may do so as well as he has studied and written about Southeast Asian cities.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________ To what extent can ethnographies on Maya social organization help us to understand the ancient Maya? (refer to list of classic ethnographies.) Pick a classic ethnography and compare it to a modern ethnography on the Maya. _______________________________________________________________________________________________ Discuss the history of the debate between epigraphers and archaeologists on determining the age of Maya rulers’ skeletons, particularly Pakal of Palenque. What were the strengths and weaknesses of the arguments on either side? How was the argument resolved, and what guidelines does it provide for the resolution of future debates on the value of bioarchaeological v. epigraphic data? If you decide on this essay, check with me. I believe Cucina and Tiesler’s edited book is the best source but ask me. _______________________________________________________________________________________________ What are the problems in applying the concept of ‘religion’ to studies of the ancient Maya?

Lambek, Michael, ed., 2002. Anthropology of Religion. Blackwell, Oxford.

Lambek, Michael. 2000. The anthropology of religion and the quarrel between poetry and philosophy. Current Anthropology 41: 309-20.

ESSENTIAL: Pharo, Lars K. 2007. The Concept of Religion in Mesoamerican Languages. Numen 54: 28-70.

18

Chapter 3 in Graham, Elizabeth. 2011. Maya Christians and Their Churches in Sixteenth-Century Belize. University Press of Florida, Gainesville.

Graham, Elizabeth, Scott E. Simmons & Christine D. White. 2013. The Spanish Conquest and the Maya collapse: how ‘religious’ is change? World Archaeology 45(1): 1-25.

______________________________________________________________________________________________ Maya identity – I could also include a question on ‘Maya identity’. This can be discussed. (Other topics depending on your interests are possible.) ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Choose one of the books listed for the week on the Conquest (Week 10) and read it in its entirety. The essay should focus on the impact of the Spanish conquest on Maya society and culture. There are many impacts, but in a 2,000 word essay, space is limited so focus on a particular aspect of culture or society. Use other sources in addition to the book to support your argument. (For the 4,000-word essay, see below.) ______________________________________________________________________________ Who were the Itza, where are they said to be from, and what is seen to be their role in the rise of Chichen Itza, and perhaps generally in the politics of Yucatan? Where does the evidence come from to support an Itza presence, and are some arguments stronger than others?

‘Who were the Itza’? pp. 198-204 in The Code of Kings (1998) by Linda Schele and Peter Mathews. Scribner, NY. This is part of their chapter on Chichen Itza, which you might also want to read.

Alexander Wolfgang Voss N. 2002. Quiénes fueron los itzáes? La identidad social de un linaje gobernante. In La Organización Social entre Los Mayas. Memoria de la Tercera Mesa Redonda de Palenque, Vol. 1. Ed. Vera Tiesler Blos, Rafael Cobos and Merle Greene Robertson, pp. 163-182. INAH, México, D.F.

Rice, D.S. 1986. The Peten Postclassic: A settlement perspective. In Sabloff, J.A. and Andrews V, E.W. (eds). Late Lowland Maya Civilization: Classic to Postclassic, pp. 301-345. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.

Fox, J.W. 1989. On the rise and fall of Tulans and Maya segmentary states. American Anthropologist 91: 656-681.

Fox, J.W. 1980. Lowland to highland Mexicanization processes in southern Mesoamerica. American Antiquity 45: 43-54.

Thompson, J.E.S. 1970. Maya History and Religion. University of Oklahome Press, Norman.

Scholes, F.V. and Roys, R.L. 1948. The Maya Chontal Indians of Acalan-Tixchel. Carnegie Institution of Washington Publication 560. CIW, Washington, D.C.

Ball, J.W. & Taschek, J.T. 1989. Teotihuacan’s fall and the rise of the Itza: Realignments and role changes in the Terminal Classic Maya lowlands. In Diehl, R.A. & Berlo, J.C. (eds) Mesoamerica after the Decline of Teotihuacan A.D. 700-900. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C. pp. 187-200.

Kowalski, J.K. 1989. Who am I among the Itza? Links between northern Yucatan and the western Maya lowlands and highlands. In Diehl, R.A. and Berlo, J.C. (eds). Mesoamerica after the Decline of Teotihuacan A.D. 700-900.

See also pp. 334-335 in Aimers, J. 2007. ‘What Maya Collapse? Terminal Classic Variation in the Maya Lowlands.’ Journal of Archaeological Research 15: 329-377.

________________________________________________________________________________ How have our concepts of Maya geopolitics changed, particularly in recent years, by challenging the idea that Maya polities functioned as bounded territorial units or provinces? Maya polities are often discussed in terms of the territory they control. In fact the ethnohistorian Ralph Roys proposed the existence of Precolumbian ‘provinces’. That geopolitical units formed territories with boundaries is strongly argued by some Mayanists, yet there is little question that geopolitical organisation was, in Webster’s (2002: 94) words, ‘fluid and frequently contested’ in a way that defies western expectations of territorial control. Did the Maya attempt to control territory? Or did the Maya attempt to control resources?

The Classic Maya

Martin, Simon and Nikolai Grube. 2008. Chronicle of the Maya Kings and Queens

Matthews, Peter. 1991. Classic Maya Emblem Glyphs. In Classic Maya Political History, ed. T. Patrick Culbert, pp. 19-29 .

Smith, Adam. 2003. The Political Landscape: Constellations of Authority in Early Complex Polities. University of California Press, Berkeley. Chapter 3 on ‘Geopolitics’ specifically discusses the case of the Classic Maya.

19

Stuart, David and Stephen Houston. 1994. Classic Maya Place Names. Dumbarton Oaks.

Quezada, Sergio. 1993. Pueblos y caciques yucatecos, 1550-1580. Mexico City: El Colegio de México.

Okoshi Harada, Tsubasa, Lorraine A. Williams-Beck, and Ana Luisa Izquierdo, eds. 2006. Nuevas perspectivas sobre la geografía política de los Mayas. Mexico City: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Universidad Autónoma de Campeche, Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies (FAMSI). See esp. Okoshi Hara on “Los Canul y Los Canché: Un interpretación del ‘Códice de Calkiní, 29-55.

The Postclassic and Conquest-period Maya

Webster, David. 2002. The Fall of the Ancient Maya. Turn to pp.93-94 for a quick summary of political units at the time of the conquest.

Roys, Ralph. 1957. The Political Geography of the Yucatan Maya. Carnegie Institution of Washington Publication 613.

Okoshi Harada, Tsubasa. 2006. Los Canul y Los Canche: Una interpretación del ‘Códice de Calkiní’. In Nuevas Perspectivas sobre la geografía política de los Mayas, ed. Tsubasa Okoshi Harada, Lorraine A. Williams-Beck, and Ana Luisa Izquierdo, 29-55. Mexico City: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Campeche, Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies.

Okoshi Harada, Tsubasa. 2009. Códice de Calkiní. Mexico City: UNAM.

Okoshi Harada, Tsubasa, Lorraine A. Williams-Beck, and Ana Luisa Izquierdo, editors. Nuevas Perspectivas sobre la geografía política de los Mayas (as above).

Graham, Elizabeth. Maya Christians and Their Churches in Sixteenth-Century Belize. Chapter 2.

Quezada, Sergio. 1993. Pueblas y caciques yucatecos, 1550-1580. Mexico City: El Colegio de México. _______________________________________________________________________________ How does Maya courtly life of the Late Classic Period compare to courtly life in___________?

See the readings for Week 10, above. Essentially:

The Classic Maya, Houston and Inomata 2009, Ch 5, pp. 150-158.

Inomata, Takeshi & Stephen Houston, editors. 2001. Royal Courts of the Ancient Maya, Volumes 1 and 2.

Reents-Budet, Dorie. 1994. Painting the Maya Universe.

Miller, Mary and Simon Martin. 2004. Courtly Art of the Ancient Maya. Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. _______________________________________________________________________________ What is ‘palace’ architecture, and what do we know – or not know— about how Maya palaces functioned? (See sources under Maya courts, next) How did Maya courts function?

See the readings for Week 10, above. Essentially:

The Classic Maya, Houston and Inomata 2009, Ch 5, pp. 150-158.

Inomata, Takeshi & Stephen Houston, editors. 2001. Royal Courts of the Ancient Maya, Volumes 1 and 2.

Reents-Budet, Dorie. 1994. Painting the Maya Universe.

Christie, J.J. (ed.) 2003. Maya Palaces and Elite Residences: An Interdisciplinary Approach.

Reese-Taylor, K. and R. Koontz. The Cultural Poetics of Power and Space in Ancient Mesoamerica. In Landscape and Power in Ancient Mesoamerica, ed. by R. Koontz, K. Reese-Taylor and A. Headrick, pp. 1-27. Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado, 2001. [Space & place]

Kristan-Graham, C. A Sense of Place at Chichen Itza. In Landscape and Power in Ancient Mesoamerica, ed. by R. Koontz, K. Reese-Taylor and A. Headrick, pp. 317, 2001.

Pohl, John M.D. 1999. The Lintel Paintings of Mitla and the Function of the Mitla Palaces. In Mesoamerican Architecture as a Cultural Symbol, ed. Jeff Karl Dowalski, pp. 176-197. (Mitla is Mixtec and in Oaxaca but might be good for comparison.)

Proskouriakoff, Tatiana. 1976. An Album of Maya Architecture.

Tate, Carolyn. 1992. Yaxchilan: The Design of a Maya Ceremonial City. ______________________________________________________________________________ Critically discuss Jared Diamond's views on collapse with respect to whether they explain (or not) the end of the Classic period in the Maya lowlands [or] How do Jared Diamond and Mel Gibson depict Maya civilisation; to what do they attribute collapse? How do their popular views compare to explanations for the Maya collapse in the scholarly literature?

20

See Readings, above, under Week 11.

Diamond, Jared. 2005. Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive. Penguin.

Gibson, Mel. Apocalypto. 2006. Directed by Mel Gibson; written by Mel Gibson and Farhad Sefina. Produced by Icon Entertainment International, Icon Productions, and Touchstone Pictures. Stars Rudy Youngblood and Dalia Hernández.

Demarest, Arthur. 2004. Ancient Maya: The Rise and Fall of a Rainforest Civilization. Cambridge U. Press, Cambridge.

Demarest, Arthur. 2006. The Petexbatun Regional Archaeological Project: A Multidisciplinary Study of the Collapse of a Classic Maya Kingdom. Vanderbilt Institute of Mesoamerican Archaeology Series, Volume 1, Nashville.

Demarest, Arthur, Prudence M. Rice and Don S. Rice, editors. 2004. Terminal Classic in the Maya Lowlands: Collapse, Transition, and Transformation. University Press of Colorado, Boulder.

Webster, David. 2002. The Fall of the Ancient Maya.

Wright, L. E. and C. D. White. 1996. Human Biology in the Classic Maya collapse: Evidence from Paleopathology and Paleodiet. Journal of World Prehistory 10(2):147-198.

Gill, Richardson B. 2000 The Great Maya Droughts: Water, Life, and Death. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.

Gill, Richardson B., Paul A. Mayewski, Johan Nyberg, Gerald Haug, and Larry C. Peterson. 2007 Drought and the Maya Collapse. Ancient Mesoamerica 18 (2007): 283-302.

Haug, Gerald H., Detlef Günther, Larry C. Peterson, Daniel M. Sigman, Konrad A. Hughen, Beat Aeschlimann. 2003 Climate and the Collapse of Maya Civilization. Science, New Series, Vol. 299, No. 5613: 1731-1735.

News items about drought and the Maya collapse:

Vince, Gaia. Intense droughts blamed for Mayan collapse. New Scientist, 13 March, 2010. http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn3502-intense-droughts-blamed-for-mayan-collapse.html

Dawicki, Shelley. News Release: Century-Long Drought Linked to Collapse of Mayan Civilization. March 21, 2003. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution http://www.whoi.edu/page.do?pid=9779&tid=282&cid=921&ct=162

Cecil, Jessica. The Fall of the Mayan Civilisation. BBC-History-Ancient History in depth, 2010-10-15. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/cultures/maya_01.shtml

Drought and collapse in perspective

McAnany, Patricia A. and Tomás Gallareta Negrón. 2010. Bellicose Rulers and Climatological Peril? Retrofitting Twenty-First-Century Woes on Eighth-Century Maya Society. In Questioning Collapse, ed. by Patricia A. McAnany & Norman Yoffee, pp. 142-175. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

McAnany, Patricia and Norman Yoffee, eds. 2010. Questioning Collapse.

Lawler, Andrew. Collapse? What collapse? Science 330, 12 November 2010: 907-909. www.sciencemag.org _______________________________________________________________________________ What was the role of the scribe in Maya courtly life? What was the role of the painter of Late Classic ceramic vases in Maya courtly life? Reents-Budet, Dorie. 1987. The Discovery of a Ceramic Artist and Royal Patron among the Classic Maya. Mexicon 9: 123-126.

Barrales Rodríguez, Dehmian. 2002. Nuevas perspectivas sobre la posición y organización social de los escribas mayas durante el Clásico tardío. In La Organización Social entre los Mayas, Memoria de la Tercera Mesa Redonda de Palenque, Vol. 1, ed. Vera Tiesler Blos, Rafael Cobos and Merle Greene Roberston, pp. 69-88. INAH, Mexico City.

Reents-Budet, Dorie. 1994. Painting the Maya Universe. Duke University Press, Durham.

Preziosi, Donald and Claire Farrago. 2012. Art Is Not What You Think It Is. Wiley-Blackwell, Chichester, West Sussex, U.K.

Gell, Alfred. 1998. Art and Agency: An Anthropological Theory. Clarendon, Oxford.

Belting, Hans. 1994. Likeness and Presence: A History of the Image before the Era of Art. Translated by Edmund Jephcott. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

______________________________________________________________________________

21

How did Maya monumental architecture function as cultural symbol?

Reese-Taylor, K. and R. Koontz. 2001. The Cultural Poetics of Power and Space in Ancient Mesoamerica. In Landscape and Power in Ancient Mesoamerica, ed. by R. Koontz, K. Reese-Taylor and A. Headrick, pp. 1-27. Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado. [Space & place]

Kristan-Graham, C. A. 2001. Sense of Place at Chichen Itza. In Landscape and Power in Ancient Mesoamerica, ed. by R. Koontz, K. Reese-Taylor and A. Headrick, pp. 317.

Kowalski, Jeff Karl, (ed.). Mesoamerican Architecture as a Cultural Symbol.

Inomata, Takeshi & Stephen Houston, editors. 2001. Royal Courts of the Ancient Maya, Volumes 1 and 2. ______________________________________________________________________________ What sorts of themes characterize the art of Late Classic Maya polychrome vases? Do the themes tell us about how the vases were used, or who in Maya society owned the vases?

Reents-Budet, Dorie. 1994. Painting the Maya Universe.

Kerr, Justin. Maya Vase Database. http://research.mayavase.com/kerrmaya.html (see the FAMSI web site. Do not rely on Kerr’s classification or his themes for the vessels. They are way out of date.

Houston, Stephen D. and Takeshi Inomata. The Classic Maya.

Miller, Mary Ellen. 1993. On the Eve of Collapse: Maya Art of the Eighth Century, pp. 355-413. In Late Lowland Maya Civilization in the Eighth Century A.D. ed. J.A. Sabloff & J.S. Henderson. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C.

Miller, Mary and Simon Martin. 2004. Courtly Art of the Ancient Maya. Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. ______________________________________________________________________________

General Course Information Word-length Strict new regulations with regard to word-length have been introduced UCL-wide with effect from the 2010-11 session. If your work is found to be between 10% and 20% longer than the official limit, your mark will be reduced by 10%, subject to a minimum mark of a minimum pass, assuming that the work merited a pass. If your work is more than 20% over-length, a mark of zero will be recorded. The following should not be included in the word count: References cited, appendices and tables, graphs and illustrations and their captions, and in-text citations. Submission procedures (Coversheets, Turnitin, Turnitin Class ID and Password) Students are required to submit hard copy of all coursework to the course co-ordinators’ pigeonhole via Reception by the appropriate deadline. The coursework must be stapled to a completed coversheet (available from the web or from outside Room 411A or from the library.) Please note that new, stringent penalties for late submission have been introduced UCL-wide from 2010-11. Late Submission will be penalized in accordance with these regulations unless permission has been granted and an Extension Request Form (ERF) completed. SEE JUDY FOR THE ERF. I’m okay with Date-stamping will be via ‘Turnitin’ (see below), so in addition to submitting hard copy, students must also submit their work to Turnitin by midnight on the day of the deadline. Students who encounter technical problems submitting their work to Turnitin should e-mail the nature of the problem to ioa-turnitin@ucl.ac.uk in advance of the deadline in order that the Turnitin Advisors can notify the Course Coordinator that it may be appropriate to waive the late submission penalty. If there is any other unexpected crisis on the submission day, don’t lose your head (as pictured below). Students should telephone or preferably e-mail the Course Coordinator and follow this up with a completed ERF. Please see the Coursework Guidelines or your Degree Handbook for further details.

22

Timescale for return of marked coursework to students You can expect to receive your marked work within four calendar weeks of the official submission deadline. If you do not receive your work within this period, or a written explanation from the marker, you should notify the IoA’s Academic Administrator, Judy Medrington. Keeping copies Please note that it is an Institute requirement that you retain a copy (this can be electronic) of all coursework submitted. When your marked essay is returned to you, you should return it to the marker within two weeks. Citing of sources Coursework should be expressed in a student’s own words giving the exact source of any ideas, information, diagrams, etc. that are taken from the work of others. Any direct quotations from the work of others must be indicated as such by being placed between inverted commas. Plagiarism is regarded as a very serious irregularity which can carry very heavy penalites. It is your responsibility to read and abide by the requirements for presentation, referencing and avoidance of plagiarism. These requirements can be located in the IoA ‘Coursework Guidelines’ on the IoA website. Teaching Methods This course is taught through a mixture of seminars, discussions and lectures. The essays provide the means by which you are graded for the course (see above) but you are also expected to submit short summaries of the readings, normally but not always, every week. These will not be marked but for any required summary not submitted, .5% will be subtracted from your course mark. You are also expected to be able to discuss your summary in class and share your observations with the other students. Libraries and other resources In addition to the library of the Institute of Archaeology, other libraries at UCL with holdings of relevance to this degree are: The UCL Science Library (DMS Watson); Centre for Anthropology at the British Museum; UCL’s main library; Senate House Library. On-line Resources The text of this Handbook is also available on the class Moodle site. You will all be registered but if you are sitting in, the enrolment code should still work. Attendance Students are required to attend a minimum of 70% of class sessions. A register will be taken at each class. If you are unable to attend a class, please notify the lecturer via e-mail. Departments are required to report each student’s attendance to the UCL Registry at frequent intervals throughout each term. Information for intercollegiate and interdepartmental students:

23

Students enrolled in departments outside the Institute should collect hard copy of the Institute’s coursework guidelines from Judy Medrington’s office. Dyslexia If you have dyslexia or any other condition, please make your lecturers aware of this. Please discuss with your lecturers whether there is any way in which they can help you. Students with dyslexia are reminded to indicate this on each piece of coursework. Feedback Feedback from students is welcome during the course of the year. All students are asked to give their views on the course in an anonymous questionnaire which will be circulated at one of the last sessions of the course. These questionnaires are taken seriously and help the Course Coordinator to develop or change aspects of the course. The summarised responses are considered by the Institute’s Staff-Student Consultative Committee, Teaching Committee, and by the Faculty Teaching Committee. If students are concerned about any aspect of the course, we hope they will feel able to talk to the Course Coordinator, but if they feel this is not appropriate, they should consulte their Personal Tutor, the Academic Administrator (Judy Medrington), or the Chair of Teaching Committee. Health and safety The Institute has a Health and Safety policy and code of practice which provides guidance on laboratory work. This is revised annually. All work undertaken in the Institute is governed by these guidelines and students have a duty to be aware of them and to adhere to them at all times. This is particularly important in the context of any laboratory/field/placement work which might be undertaken as part of this course.

24

Comments Sheet

Master’s Course Candidate No. of Student: Assessment No:

Course No. ARCL0120

MARKER'S COMMENTS DOES THE ESSAY ANSWER THE QUESTION Excellent Poor Demonstrate understanding of the issues/research problem; build to a relevant conclusion

Depth of approach

Clarity of approach

STRUCTURE OF THE ARGUMENT Excellent Poor Relevance, analysis, logic and coherence.

Organization overall

Organizational details

SOURCES? Excellent Poor Use of an appropriate range of relevant sources; discrimination of relative value of different sources;

Originality in selection of sources; reading beyond the reading list.

Range

Types

In-text citations

USE OF EVIDENCE Excellent Poor Selection of evidence bearing on the question; judgment in weighing and assessing different lines of evidence. Selection of appropriate case studies or examples.

Selection & nature of evidence

Presentation (judgment, assessment)

Integration

Use of tables, charts, illustrations

WRITING QUALITY (Communication and reader comprehension) Excellent Satisfactory Poor Spelling, grammar, punctuation, paragraphing and general fluency; use of appropriate vocabulary.

Proof reading

Grammar, punctuation, style

USE OF TABLES, CHARTS, ILLUSTRATIONS (See USE OF EVIDENCE, above)

25

ORIGINALITY AND INDEPENDENT THINKING Excellent Satisfactory Poor Critical reflection; ability to criticise assumptions of other writers; ability to recognize and state own assumptions; independent thinking in evaluation of evidence/interpretation; insight; originality (e.g., in the

application of knowledge); awareness of unresolved issues in the discipline.

Independent thinking

Critical thinking

INTEGRATION OF THEORY, METHODS AND DATA Ability to relate argument to core concepts in general archaeological method and theory (or to core concepts

and broad ideas in your discipline) to build a sustained argument; clear statement/understanding of research problem or question; reasoning from problem to methods to data; selection of appropriate methods and data

for the problem; justification of methods chosen,

The best features:

Suggestions for improvement:

First examiner's signature:

Date:

First examiner’s mark based on content:

Penalty (if any, & reason):

Provisional Overall Mark:

Second Examiner’s

Mark:

Agreed Internal

Mark:

Final Mark:

Relating to broader concepts

Rationale