Search

Archaeological excavations at Yaxnohcah have revealed a long sequence of sedentary occupation, from 1000 b.c. to a.d. 1400, with dynamic periods of growth occurring during the Middle (1000–400 b.c.) and Late Preclassic (400 b.c.–a.d. 200). Two of these complexes, Grazia and Helena, serve as case studies that reveal the transformative processes of this period, illustrating site evolution on a larger scale. The Grazia platform probably began as a residential area in the Middle Preclassic and acquired an increasingly public character throughout subsequent modifications, culminating in the construction of a triadic temple platform and a ballcourt. A long sequence of fire rituals and altars show the importance of the Grazia complex as a center for collective ritual. Helena also features Middle Preclassic domestic constructions, but was transformed into a ballcourt platform during the transition to the Late Preclassic. Both cases show that Yaxnohcah was founded as a widespread, loosely integrated settlement in the Middle Preclassic and evolved into a formally and centralized network of communities with their respective nodal centers in the Late Preclassic period. Placemaking and the rise of monumentality played an important role in this transformation and reflect the particular forms of community integration.

In this article, we argue that landesque capital was integral to the development of complexity in the Maya Lowlands. Such features involved permanent investments in the landscape that supported material and ideological practices, resulting in increased sustainability and well-being. We contend that these developments stemmed from accretional modifications to soils in the Preceramic/Early Preclassic, as well as intentional investments of labor in agricultural features, large public works, and select civic complexes during the Middle Preclassic. Capital improvements were particularly important during the Middle Preclassic, when sedentary occupations and civic life were established. The timing and location of the investments strongly correlate with other aspects of Middle Preclassic lifeways, such as the transition to sedentism, acquisition and control of resources, changes in lithic production, and the emergence of an elite class. We note that some of the largest investments in landscape management during the Middle Preclassic occurred in the Central Karstic Uplands, where substantial cities rose in the Late Preclassic. We conclude that during the Middle Preclassic an ontology of landesque capital developed, based on the synergistic fusing of daily and ritual practices with physical features, which provided a foundation for resilience, sustainability, and well-being in subsequent generations.

Elemental analyzer (EA) Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry was used to measure ∂13C values on soil organic matter from reservoirs and depressions at the ancient Maya urban centers of Tikal, Guatemala and Yaxnohcah, Mexico. Variation in δ13C values on soil organic matter were > −2.0‰, which suggests enrichment from C4 plants including maize, other tropical grasses (Poaceae), and tropical sedges (Cyperaceae), CAM plants (Clusia sp.), and cyanobacteria (blue-green algae). Cyanobacteria were likely a major contributor to the 13C enrichment of soil organic matter in Maya reservoirs and depressions, which has obfuscated our understanding of ancient Maya maize production. It is possible that the Maya used cyanobacteria as a fertilizer, which enriched agricultural field soil organic matter.

Many early Maya cities developed along the edges of large structural or karst depressions (bajos). This topographic position aided growing populations to more effectively capture and store rainwater, a necessity for year-round occupation of interior portions of the Maya Lowlands of Mexico and Central America. Ancient Maya forest clearance on sloping terrain led to accelerated soil loss and the aggradation of the bajo margins. These newly created margins of colluvial lands became a focus of subsequent intensive agriculture and helped underwrite further urban expansion. We document this long-term landscape transformation with data derived principally from field investigations at Tikal, Guatemala, and Yaxnohcah, Mexico, but with reference to other Maya centers in the Elevated Interior Region (EIR). Data are derived from field investigations, interpretation of lidar imagery, and laboratory analyses. We present a model of three variants of bajo margin landscape change with differences attributable to topography, lithology, hydrology, and cultural processes. We present preliminary data on crops that were cultivated on bajo-margin soils. We further describe how agriculture was adapted to evolving bajo margins as evidenced by systems of field walls, terraces, and ditches.

High-resolution airborne lidar has been employed in the Maya lowlands to examine landscape modifications, detect architectural features, and expedite and expand upon traditional settlement surveys. Another potentially beneficial—and to-date underutilized—application of lidar is in the analysis of water management features such as small reservoirs and household storage tanks. The urban center of Yaxnohcah, located within the Central Karstic Uplands of the Yucatan Peninsula, provides an ideal test case for studying how the residents of this important Maya community managed their seasonally scarce water resources at the household scale. We employ an integrative approach combining lidar-based GIS analysis of 24 km 2 of the site area, ground verification, and excavation data from five small depressions to determine their function and the role they may have played in water management activities. Our research shows that some, but not all, small depressions proximate to residential structures functioned as either natural or human-made storage tanks and were likely an adaptive component of expanding Middle Preclassic to Classic period urbanization at the site. Thus, while lidar has revolutionized the identification of topographical features and hydrologic patterns in the landscape, a combination of ground verification and archaeological testing remains necessary to confirm and evaluate these features as potential water reservoirs.

This study proposes a sampling method for ground-truthing LiDAR-derived data that will allow researchers to verify or predict the accuracy of results over a large area. Our case study is focused on a 24 km2area centered on the site of Yaxnohcah in the Yucatan Peninsula. This area is characterized by a variety of dense tropical rainforest and wetland vegetation zones with limited road and trail access. Twenty-one 100 x 100 m blocks were selected for study, which included examples of several different vegetation zones. A pedestrian survey of transects through the blocks was conducted, recording two types of errors. Type 1 errors consist of cultural features that are identified in the field, but are not seen in the digital elevation model (DEM) or digital surface model (DSM). Type 2 errors consist of features that appear to be cultural when viewed on the DEM or DSM, but are caused by different vegetative features. Concurrently, we conducted an extensive vegetation survey of each block, identifying major species present and heights of stories. The results demonstrate that the lidar survey data are extremely reliable and a sample can be used to assess data accuracy, fidelity, and confidence over a larger area.

The use of airborne mapping lidar (Light Detection and Ranging), a.k.a airborne laser scanning (ALS), has had a major impact on archaeological research being carried out in Mesoamerica. Since being introduced in 2009, mapping lidar has revolutionized the spatial parameters of Mesoamerican, and especially Maya, archaeology by permitting the recovery of a complete landscape and settlement pattern for further analysis. However, like any new technology, there are learning curves to be overcome, resulting in a feedback relationship between the on-the-ground archaeologists, the virtually grounded computer analysts, and the instrument designers. Archaeologists have been able to identify problems and issues with data production and visualization for the determination of archaeological remains caused by vegetation, special terrain conditions, and modern disturbance. The identification of these concerns helps the technician to develop new techniques, especially when working in conjunction with the field researcher. As seen through the papers in this volume, this symbiotic relationship promises to yield both new breakthroughs in landscape and settlement analysis for Mesoamerican archaeology and enhanced analytic and visualization techniques for lidar with the potential for applicability in other contexts. In many regards, the development of lidar has parallels to the development of radiocarbon dating as a revolutionary technology.

For almost three thousand years, Mesoamerican societies have crafted spaces for ritual performance with the express purpose of forging power relations. However, in order to develop an understanding of the public discourse, Mesoamerican scholars must attend to the details of the data. The site of El Tajin was a major Epiclassic urban center on the northeastern fringes of Mesoamerica. During the Epiclassic period, the entire Mesoamerican political landscape was reshaped as the Classic centers and systems fell between 700–900 AD. Even though large-scale public displays of political power had been a part of the Mesoamerican political process since Olmec times, during the Epiclassic period these displays were a strategic imperative for individuals to secure and strengthen newly formulated social roles inside of burgeoning new polities. Snake Mountain was a central Ancient Mesoamerican aesthetic trope that regulated the shape of various mythic narratives, rituals, and ceremonial centers.

In order to fully understand E Groups, they must be considered within the broader landscapes of the Preclassic (1000 BCE-CE 250). At Yaxnohcah, the E Group lies in the center of a vast dispersed settlement comprised of voluminous platforms. Recent excavations have revealed that the earliest manifestations of three of these platforms were likely built at the same time as the earliest E Group platform, during the early Middle Preclassic (1000–350 BCE). Moreover, the three platforms are arranged in an evocative triadic formation. During the later Middle Preclassic and again during the Late Preclassic (300 BCE–250 CE), the site was enlarged and the architecture amplified and elaborated, with a focus on triadic arrangements and ballcourts. Significantly, however, the E Group complex maintained its centrality in the overall site plan throughout the development of the civic core. Therefore, this chapter considers the corpus of architectural forms at Yaxnohcah. These architectural constructs, the E Group, the Triadic Group, the ballcourt, and sacbes are essential elements of the founding landscape and work in concert to embody the evolving cosmological and social worldview of the lowlands Maya during the Preclassic.

Chapter 2 reviews recent data on the original settlement of the Chetumal Bay region. There is evidence for habitation in northern Belize during the Archaic and Preceramic periods on Progresso Lagoon and other parts of the interior, but the first evidence for settled life on the bay itself stems from the early Middle Preclassic period, specifically around Santa Rita Corozal in Belize and Oxtankah in Mexico. By the late Middle Preclassic a trading port was established on Tamalcab Island, indicative of organized community interaction and trade in highland imports such as jade and obsidian, probably exchanged for salt and other marine products. By the end of the Late Preclassic, the bay area population had increased dramatically, and both ports and inland centers exhibited monumental architecture.

This article discusses sacred places and landscapes within Mesoamerica. Sacred places and landscapes are created and evolve through human acts. While these places may reflect the cosmological organizing principles of society, they are not merely cosmograms but dynamic, complex landscapes created as settings for the reenactments of mytho-historical narratives. Narrative structure unifies the sacred places within broader landscapes and reinforces the social memory of the acts performed in them. Sacred places and landscapes are also spatially liminal. Just as events in stories happen in a time before time, and are then reenacted in the present, sacred places coexist with prosaic places: a sacred place can be a plaza that both serves as the location of a market within a bustling city at one time and, at another time, is the location of the watery underworld. Finally, like creation and migration narratives, sacred landscapes are religious and philosophical touchstones, as well as powerful sociopolitical statements.

Texas Utilities Services and Espey, Huston & Associates, Inc. have conducted ongoing archaeological investigations of cultural resources in Northeast Texas for the past 15 years. As a part of these studies, prehistoric Caddoan ceramic assemblages were recovered from 13 sites in three distinct drainage basins: three sites from the Sabine River drainage; three sites from the Cypress Creek drainage; and seven sites from the Sulphur River drainage. Recent research on the ceramic collections has emphasized variability in surface treatment, vessel form, and paste composition by means of a detailed attribute analysis and petrographic examination of a sample of the Caddoan sherds. This paper focuses on the paste composition of a sherd sample selected to undergo petrographic analysis. The sample contains representatives among the sherds of the major tempering agents identified during a macroscopic examination of the pastes. The initial goal of the analyses was establishment of a baseline for paste composition in the study areas. A detailed point count, and grain size measurements, allowed for the identification of constituents in a range of frequencies from among the sites located in each of the three drainage basins. Upon completion of the initial studies, the results of the analyses from the three studies were compared. This paper presents a discussion of preliminary patterns identified in Caddoan ceramic assemblages of resource procurement and manufacturing techniques observed among the site samples.