Search

To study the Classic Maya is to at once recognize the shared material representations and practices that give coherence to this cultural category as a unit of analysis, as well as to critically examine the diversity and idiosyncrasy of specific cultural traits within prehispanic Maya society. Maya hieroglyphic writing, in particular the tradition of inscribing texts and images on carved stone monuments, offers evidence for widespread and mutually intelligible cultural practices that were, at the same time, neither unchanging nor uniform in their semantic content. As conduits of linguistic and cultural information, Maya hieroglyphic monuments offer detailed records of Classic Maya dynastic history that include the names, dates, and specific rituals performed by élite individuals. In this article, we analyze the distribution and diversity of these inscriptions to examine ritual variation and the divergence of dynastic traditions in Classic Maya society. Diversity indices and methods adapted from population genetics and ecology are applied to quantify the degree of ritual differentiation and evaluate how these measures vary over time and are partitioned within and between elite populations. Results of this research refine our understanding about the variation of Clássic Maya ritual traditions and make substantive contributions to examining the population structure of cultural diversity within past complex societies.

Analyses of terminal long count dates from stone monuments in the Maya lowlands have played a central role in characterizing the rise and “collapse” of polities during the Late and Terminal Classic periods (a.d.730–910). Previous studies propose a directional abandonment of large political centers from west-to-east. We retest the west-to-east hypothesis, using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and spatial statistics to analyze an updated dataset of 89 terminal dates from the Maya Hieroglyphic Database (MHD). Our results do not support a directional collapse, but instead suggest a contraction of Terminal Classic polities around seven core areas in the Maya lowlands. Three regions demonstrate distinct subregional abandonments of monument carving over a period of 24 to 127 years, consistent with independent archaeological data for each region. Advances in GIS, spatial statistics, and related methods applied to an increasingly detailed and comprehensive epigraphic and archaeological database provide a foundation for examining long-term sociopolitical dynamics in the Maya lowlands.

In keyboarding and coding the linguistic notes collected by J.P. Harrington, the Harrington Database Project has encountered situations in which the increased accessibility to this valuable archive jeopardizes existing indigenous communities or individuals and their descendants. Some considerations have to do with publicizing private or embarrassing information, others have to do with stories and songs considered sacred, others with the protection of sacred sites and village locations. Even for materials already in the public domain, there are both ethical and pragmatic reasons to limit accessibility. The project attempts to balance the interests of both scholars and indigenous communities.

The organization of Classic Maya society emerged from diverse and overlapping social interactions which shaped a dynamic political landscape. Vying for power, elites legitimized their status by claiming ancestry from various supernaturals and engaged in conspicuous displays of competition, warfare, and ritual practice which were often recorded on stone monuments. By examining the inscribed relationships between Maya centers, we chart organizational changes in sociopolitical networks throughout the Classic period. Methods derived from social network analysis are used to examine temporal changes in the distribution and centralization of political power through different network interactions. We examine the intersection of antagonistic, diplomatic, subordinate, and kinship relationships and discuss how these overlapping networks contributed to dynamic changes in the Classic period. This case study demonstrates how current network analysis techniques can contribute to archaeological studies of the scalar dynamics and organizational changes of past social and political systems.

The discovery of words in a Nahua language on a Maya ceramic vessel provides evidence of Nahua influence in the Maya region as early asa.d.480, centuries earlier than previously believed. The words are spelled in syllabic Maya signs painted on a pot known to have contained chocolate (Hall et al. 1990). The words occur within the context of the primary standard sequence, a well-known Maya formula, and describe the chocolate drink that among the later Mexica (Aztec) was reserved for “rulers and esteemed noblewomen.” This new reading supports the Uto-Aztecan etymology ofcacaoproposed by Karin Dakin and Søren Wichmann (2000) and their assertion that an economically and militarily powerful Nahua-speaking people were responsible for the spread of the wordcacaointo southern Mesoamerica. More broadly, these findings have implications for the role of Uto-Aztecan speakers in the formation and spread of Mesoamerican civilization.

This paper examines Nahua words found in both the Maya codices and the monumental texts. These words, spelled with syllabic signs, occur for the most part in contexts associated with foreign influence: Nahuatl deity names and words for “helmet,” “tribute,” and “heart.” One word—“and then”—is a conjunction used frequently in discourse. Sound correspondences between these loan words and the Nahua sources suggest an Eastern Nahua dialect as the likely source during the Classic period. Thus, Mexican influence in the Maya area, frequently attributed directly to Teotihuacan, may in fact have come by way of Nahua-speakers settled in the Gulf region. The epigraphic evidence establishes that Nahua speakers were influential in Mesoamerica far earlier than previously believed.

Yucatecan, Ch’olan, and Tzeltalan languages have numeral classifiers which obligatorily follow numbers. Although such classifiers are not present in every number expression, several numeral classifiers occur frequently in the Classic Maya inscriptions. The most common of them, the period glyphs, constitute a feature which distinguishes Maya inscriptions from Mixe-Zoquean inscriptions, since the classifiers required in Mayan languages do not occur in Mixe-Zoquean languages. Any glyph immediately following bar/dot numbers should be examined carefully for that possibility. Several morphemes which immediately follow numbers are discussed here, and evaluated for the likelihood of their having functioned as classifiers.

This article examines the use of supplemental food programs by two Native American populations and assesses some of the health and cultural impacts of these programs. A cross-sectional survey of 80 American Indian families, 40 families residing on the Round Valley Indian Reservation and 40 in Sacramento, California was conducted to determine access, use and appropriateness of supplemental feeding programs. Respondents at both the rural and urban geographic location showed considerable familiarity with available supplemental feeding programs. USDA Food Commodities were utilized most at Round Valley, raising the concern that provided staples which were highly processed and contained significant amounts of sodium, sucrose, and fat, could contribute to the problems of obesity and diabetes. Native Americans in Sacramento used food banks and food closets as their primary source of supplemental foods, and some expressed concern that the foods provided were highly sweetened and high in fat. While some nutrition advising was available at both geographical localities, access was inadequate. The study found that the foods provided by the supplemental food programs varied considerably in their nutritional quality and healthier foods such as fresh fruits, vegetables, and meats were either completely lacking or in short supply. In addition, culturally sensitive nutritional counseling and the development of education modules to instruct program recipients in the preparation of healthy meals and how to manage obesity and diabetes were needed and requested within the California Native American communities surveyed.

Proceedings of the Eleventh Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society (1985), pp. 216-225

Proceedings of the Sixteenth Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society: Special Session on General Topics in American Indian Linguistics (1990), pp. 128-136

Proceedings of the Twelfth Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society (1986), pp. 186-194