Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons™
Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 9 of 9
Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Jungle Rails: A Historic Narrow-Gauge Railway In Quintana Roo, Jennifer Mathews, Lilia Lizama-Rogers
Jungle Rails: A Historic Narrow-Gauge Railway In Quintana Roo, Jennifer Mathews, Lilia Lizama-Rogers
Jennifer P Mathews
Whereas much of this volume is focused on the ancient Maya, this chapter will highlight the historic chicle industry; the associated railway that traversed the northern corner of Quintana Roo, Mexico; and the recent documentation of the feature through archaeological fieldwork. We believe this to be an important slice of history in Quintana Roo because the lives of the modern Maya often lie in the shadow of their ancient ancestors. Since 1997, members of the Yalahau Regional Human Ecology Project have been studying the 40 km railway, which runs between the modern pueblos of Leona Vicario and Puerto Morelos (Mathews …
The Hidden World Of The Maritime Maya: Lost Landscapes Along The North Coast Of Quintana Roo, Mexico, Jeffrey Glover, Dominique Rissolo, Jennifer Mathews
The Hidden World Of The Maritime Maya: Lost Landscapes Along The North Coast Of Quintana Roo, Mexico, Jeffrey Glover, Dominique Rissolo, Jennifer Mathews
Jennifer P Mathews
At the northeast tip of the Yucatán Peninsula - where the Caribbean meets the Gulf of Mexico - lies a wild and largely unexplored coastline that bore witness to one of the greatest seafaring traditions of the ancient New World (Fig. 11.1). Maya traders once plied the waters of the Laguna Holbox in massive dugout canoes filled with goods from across Mesoamerica (Thompson 1949; Edwards 1973, p. 201; Romero 1991; Romero and Gurrola Briones 1991, 1995; Leshikar 1996). Each port was a link in a chain connecting people and ideas, and supporting the ambitions of city and state. Maritime trade …
Uaxactun, Jennifer Mathews
Uaxactun, Jennifer Mathews
Jennifer P Mathews
Sylvanus Morley of the Carnegie Institution of Washington discovered the ancient Maya site of Uaxactun (17.4° N, 89.6° W) in 1916 (see also Map 3). He soon encountered a stela (upright stone monument) with the Long Count date 8.14.10.13.15, April 11, AD 328 (see also Calendar). Since this was the first monument with a cycle 8 glyph ever found, he named the site "Uaxactun" from the Maya uaxac, meaning "eight," and tun, meaning "stone." In addition to Morley, a number of notable Carnegie Institution archaeologists worked at the site, including Frans Blom, Oliver Ricketson, A. Ledyard Smith, and Edwin Shook. …
San Bartolo, Jennifer Mathews
San Bartolo, Jennifer Mathews
Jennifer P Mathews
The ancient Maya site of San Bartolo (17.5° N, 89.4° W) was a regional capital located approximately 30 km northeast of Uaxactun in the Department of the Petén, Guatemala (see also Map 3). It is located within the 430 km² San Bartolo-Xultun Territory, which is dominated by bajos (seasonally inundated swamps or wetlands), forming a natural boundary around the area. These bajos are filled with stunted vegetation, including the palo de tinte tree, which the Maya harvested and used as a natural dye. The territory also contains many aguadas (ponds that have been modified by humans) and chert sources, which …
Archaeologists Working With The Contemporary Yucatec Maya, Dominique Rissolo, Jennifer Mathews
Archaeologists Working With The Contemporary Yucatec Maya, Dominique Rissolo, Jennifer Mathews
Jennifer P Mathews
The nature of an archaeological project often requires that researchers establish a temporary residence in a local community. Concern for conditions that affect, and are affected by, their presence in this new place and space is often considered peripheral to the task of realizing research objectives. In fact, many archaeologists would admit to enjoying a certain sense of security in their perceived temporal, and therefore legitimized, dislocation from their object of study. In the most extreme cases, an archaeologist might resemble a geologist – extracting, observing, or examining symbolically inert physical material with little regard to contemporary cultural contexts.
Archaeology Meccas Of Tourism: Exploration, Protection, And Exploitation, Quetzil Castañeda, Jennifer Mathews
Archaeology Meccas Of Tourism: Exploration, Protection, And Exploitation, Quetzil Castañeda, Jennifer Mathews
Jennifer P Mathews
This chapter is divided into two distinct sections that are positioned in a point-counterpoint structure of dialogue. These two position statements invoke the etymological meanings of the word essay: to attempt, put to the test, trial, to act out, to explore, travel, or to travail. The first is an historical analysis written in the third person by an anthropologist whose expertise includes the ethnography of archaeology and the anthropology of tourism. The second is a counterpoint commentary written by an anthropologist whose specializations include Pre-Columbian and historical archaeology. Both of us have significant research experience in the same area of …
Late Formative And Early Classic Interaction Spheres Reflected In The Megalithic Styles, Jennifer Mathews, Rubén Cárdenas
Late Formative And Early Classic Interaction Spheres Reflected In The Megalithic Styles, Jennifer Mathews, Rubén Cárdenas
Jennifer P Mathews
Interpreting the politics of the Late Formative and Early Classic periods has special challenges. This chapter examines the topic in the Yucatán Peninsula through the concept of the interaction sphere, as reflected in shared architectural styles.
Yalahau Region, Jennifer Mathews
Yalahau Region, Jennifer Mathews
Jennifer P Mathews
This 3,000-km² region is located in northern Quintana Roo, Mexico, in the northeastern corner of the Yucatan Peninsula. The boundary of this region runs from the north coast 75 km southward, is 40 km wide, and is defined primarily by its unique water resources. It is characterized by a karstic limestone platform that contains only a few small lakes and no surface rivers. Despite this, it has the most abundant water sources of the entire peninsula. First, it receives the greatest annual rainfall of the northern Maya lowlands (up to 2,000 mm), which recharges an underground aquifer and contributes …
Quintana Roo Archaeology, Justine Shaw, Jennifer Mathews
Quintana Roo Archaeology, Justine Shaw, Jennifer Mathews
Jennifer P Mathews
Mexico’s southern state of Quintana Roo is often perceived by archaeologists as a blank spot on the map of the Maya world, a region generally assumed to hold little of interest thanks to its relative isolation from the rest of Mexico. But salvage archaeology required by recent development along the “Maya Riviera,” along with a suite of other ongoing and recent research projects, have shown that the region was critical in connecting coastal and inland zones, and it is now viewed as an important area in its own right from Preclassic through post-contact times. The first volume devoted to the …