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- Maya (9)
- Mexico (7)
- Quintana Roo (7)
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Articles 1 - 12 of 12
Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
The Life-Giving Stone: Ethnoarchaeology Of Maya Metates [Review], Jennifer P. Mathews
The Life-Giving Stone: Ethnoarchaeology Of Maya Metates [Review], Jennifer P. Mathews
Jennifer P Mathews
This volume attempts to get at the interpretations of the archaeological record from the back-end by studying the modern Maya metate life cycle, including procurement, production, acquisition, use and discard. The author spent two years in Guatemala conducting ethnographic research with metate producers and users in three Maya communities. It is through this rich research that he greatly expands our understanding of metates by providing background of their complexity through several avenues. For example, he documents contemporary gifting traditions, noting that families still give metates as wedding gifts to couples, even as their use decreases with the presence of electric …
Wetland Manipulation In The Yalahau Region Of The Northern Maya Lowlands, Scott L. Fedick, Bethany A. Morrison, Bente Juhl Andersen, Sylviane Boucher, Jorge Ceja Acosta, Jennifer P. Mathews
Wetland Manipulation In The Yalahau Region Of The Northern Maya Lowlands, Scott L. Fedick, Bethany A. Morrison, Bente Juhl Andersen, Sylviane Boucher, Jorge Ceja Acosta, Jennifer P. Mathews
Jennifer P Mathews
Manipulation of wetlands for agricultural purposes by the ancient Maya of southern Mexico and Central America has been a subject of much research and debate since the 1970s. Evidence for wetland cultivation systems, in the form of drained or channelized fields, and raised planting platforms, has been restricted primarily to the southern Maya Lowlands. New research in the Yalahau region of Quintana Roo, Mexico, has recorded evidence for wetland manipulation in the far northern lowlands, in the form of rock alignments that apparently functioned to control water movement and soil accumulation in seasonally inundated areas. Nearby ancient settlements date primarily …
Cenotes As Conceptual Boundary Markers At The Ancient Maya Site Of T’Isil, Quintana Roo, México, Scott L. Fedick, Jennifer P. Mathews, Kathryn Sorensen
Cenotes As Conceptual Boundary Markers At The Ancient Maya Site Of T’Isil, Quintana Roo, México, Scott L. Fedick, Jennifer P. Mathews, Kathryn Sorensen
Jennifer P Mathews
Ancient Maya communities, from small village sites to urban centers, have long posed problems to archaeologists in attempting to define the boundaries or limits of settlement. These ancient communities tend to be relatively dispersed, with settlement densities dropping toward the periphery, but lacking any clear boundary. At a limited number of sites, the Maya constructed walled enclosures or earthworks, which scholars have generally interpreted as defensive projects, often hastily built to protect the central districts of larger administrative centers during times of warfare (e.g., Demarest et al. 1997; Inomata 1997; Kurjack and Andrews 1976; Puleston and Callender 1967; Webster 2000; …
A Pre-Columbian World [Review], Jennifer P. Mathews
A Pre-Columbian World [Review], Jennifer P. Mathews
Jennifer P Mathews
This excellent volume arose out of the 2001 Dumbarton Oaks symposium, “A Pre-Columbian World.” The proposal of the symposium, in response to the recent trend of hyperdifferentiating cultures and emphasizing geographic and cultural boundaries, was to examine commonalities of the pre-Columbian world. The subsequent well-crafted, 11-chapter volume examines “the Americas” through the research of scholars working in North, Central, and South America. A number of themes emerge, including a call to Americanist archaeologists to remember that the geographic and political boundaries that we have placed on the ancient world are not real and that we should once again consider the …
Megalithic Architecture At The Site Of Victoria, Quintana Roo, Jennifer P. Mathews
Megalithic Architecture At The Site Of Victoria, Quintana Roo, Jennifer P. Mathews
Jennifer P Mathews
Megalithische Architektur in der archäologischen Stätte Victoria in Quintana Roo, Mexiko. Das "Yalahau Regional Human Ecology Project" der University of California, Riverside und der Trinity University, San Antonio erforscht seit 1993 die archäologischen Stätten in der Region von Tumben-Naranjal im nördlichen Quintana Roo. Im Jahr 1997 wurde der zuvor nicht bekannte Fundort Victoria im Munizip von Leona Vicario dokumentiert und vermessen. Neben einer kolonialzeitlichen Kirche ließen sich verschiedene Strukturen nachweisen, deren Architektur im megalithischen Stil ausgeführt ist. Die megalithische Bauweise ist charakteristisch für die Zeit der späten Präklassik und frühen Klassik auf der Halbinsel Yukatan. Arquitectura megalítica en el sitio …
Models Of Cosmic Order: Physical Expression Of Sacred Space Among The Ancient Maya, Jennifer P. Mathews, James F. Garber
Models Of Cosmic Order: Physical Expression Of Sacred Space Among The Ancient Maya, Jennifer P. Mathews, James F. Garber
Jennifer P Mathews
The archaeological record, as well as written texts, oral traditions, and iconographic representations, express the Maya perception of cosmic order, including the concepts of quadripartite division and layered cosmos. The ritual act of portioning and layering created spatial order and was used to organize everything from the heavens to the layout of altars. These acts were also metaphors for world creation, world order, and establishing the center as a position of power and authority. This article examines the articulations of these concepts from the level of caches to the level of regions from the past and present in an attempt …
Radiocarbon Dating Of Architectural Mortar: A Case Study In The Maya Region, Quintana Roo, Mexico, Jennifer P. Mathews
Radiocarbon Dating Of Architectural Mortar: A Case Study In The Maya Region, Quintana Roo, Mexico, Jennifer P. Mathews
Jennifer P Mathews
The use of radiocarbon dating to analyze mortar and charcoal inclusions within mortar or plaster is a useful way to date the construction of architecture, particularly when options for other chronometric methods are limited. In the Yalahau region of northern Quintana Roo, Mexico, members of the Yalahau Regional Human Ecology Project have faced challenges in dating buildings made of large blocks of stone in the Megalithic architectural style. The Megalithic style poses serious problems for any analysis, as excavating into structures with stones weighing several tons can be dangerous, expensive, and time consuming. Additionally, there are no associated sculptures, texts …
The Box Ni Group Of Naranjal, And Early Architecture Of The Maya Lowlands, Jennifer P. Mathews
The Box Ni Group Of Naranjal, And Early Architecture Of The Maya Lowlands, Jennifer P. Mathews
Jennifer P Mathews
The distinctive Early Classic megalithic style of the northern Maya Lowlands did not exist in isolation, but rather shared a number of features with monumental architecture of the central Petén. One particularly striking example is the triadic platform grouping, found at Naranjal as well as Uaxactún and other early sites of the northern and southern lowlands. The temporal and geographic distribution of Maya triadic platform groupings are reviewed in conjunction with such shared architectural features as rounded corners. These comparisons support the early dating ofmegalithic architecture and help define the special characteristics of this northern lowland style.
Preliminary Evidence For The Existence Of A Regional Sacbe Across The Northern Maya Lowlands, Scott L. Fedick, Dawn Reid, Jennifer P. Mathews
Preliminary Evidence For The Existence Of A Regional Sacbe Across The Northern Maya Lowlands, Scott L. Fedick, Dawn Reid, Jennifer P. Mathews
Jennifer P Mathews
Ancient road systems have often been used by archaeologists to reconstruct interaction and political ties among prehistoric settlements. Roads built by the ancient Maya offer many insights into the political geography of the area, particularly in the northern lowlands where hieroglyphic texts are rare. This study examines ethnohistoric, historic, and archaeological data that suggest that a regional road, some 300 km in length, once spanned the northern lowlands from the modern location of Mérida to the east coast facing the island of Cozumel. The political implications of such a road, if it once existed, are discussed.
Houses In A Landscape: Memory And Everyday Life In Mesoamerica [Review], Jennifer P. Mathews
Houses In A Landscape: Memory And Everyday Life In Mesoamerica [Review], Jennifer P. Mathews
Jennifer P Mathews
Using the material remains found in and around ancient Maya domestic spaces in three settlements in Honduras, Hendon examines how aspects of everyday life, rather than ritual and commemoration, transform these shared spaces into ‘places of memory’. She argues that social memory is a reconstructive process and that human groups re-envision the past in light of present circumstances. Social memory – or what she refers to as ‘memory communities' – would have involved an interaction with the remains of the dead, buried within the context of their social spaces. In other words, memory is an active process that binds people …
El Proyecto Costa Escondida: Arqueología Y Compromiso Comunitario A Lo Largo De La Costa Norte De Quintana Roo, México, Jeffrey B. Glover, Dominique Rissolo, Jennifer P. Mathews, Carrie A. Furman
El Proyecto Costa Escondida: Arqueología Y Compromiso Comunitario A Lo Largo De La Costa Norte De Quintana Roo, México, Jeffrey B. Glover, Dominique Rissolo, Jennifer P. Mathews, Carrie A. Furman
Jennifer P Mathews
El Proyecto Costa Escondida iniciado en 2006 se diseñó para investigar las culturas marítimas previas y posteriores al contacto español, así como para estudiar el paisaje del norte de Quintana Roo, Península de Yucatán, México. Este proyecto no promueve una agenda de desarrollo “tradicional”, sino que se inserta en la crítica del desarrollo para ampliar los límites del compromiso comunitario a través del aprendizaje social. Al encontrarse lejos de los principales sitios turísticos de la costa del Caribe, el área cuenta con una industria de turismo en expansión asociada a la Isla Holbox. En este artículo se discuten las experiencias …
Utatlán: The Constituted Community Of The K’Iche’ Maya Of Q’Umarkaj [Review], Jennifer P. Mathews
Utatlán: The Constituted Community Of The K’Iche’ Maya Of Q’Umarkaj [Review], Jennifer P. Mathews
Jennifer P Mathews
This volume is the culmination of fieldwork that was carried out in the 1970s at Greater Utatlán, made up of several communities surrounding the ceremonial centre of Q'umarkaj and the famed home of the Popol Wuj. Although he completed his dissertation in 1980, Babcock freely admits that life got in the way of publishing at the time, and I commend him for returning to it three decades later. This temporal distance offers the advantage of being able to review the initial work within the context of later research and to incorporate the wisdom attained since the initial writing of the …