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This article examines Preclassic Maya ritual practices and craft production by means of a study of ritual deposits containing obsidian artifacts dated mostly to the late Middle Preclassic period (700–350b.c.) at Ceibal, Guatemala. New ritual practices developed at Ceibal during this period, possibly through political interactions and negotiation involving emerging elites and other diverse community members. Common objects in ritual deposits in the public plaza shifted from greenstone celt caches to other artifacts, including those made of obsidian. The inhabitants of Ceibal engaged in various kinds of craft production, including the manufacture of obsidian prismatic blades. They also conducted public rituals in the Central Plaza, depositing exhausted polyhedral obsidian cores and other artifacts with symbolic significance in caches and as offerings in incipient elite burials and interments of sacrificed individuals. These cores clearly demonstrate the use of a sophisticated blade technology. Like greenstone objects, exhausted polyhedral obsidian cores deposited in cruciform arrangements along the east–west axis of the central E-Group plaza were used as symbols and markers of the center and four cardinal directions within the Maya cosmos. Public rituals were important for creating collective identities and for processes of political negotiation within the community. Emerging elites likely came to play an increasingly important role in public rituals as principal performers and organizers, setting the stage for later public events centered on rulers. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The probable E-Group assemblage was a primary focus of our investigation at the lowland Maya center of Ceibal. Tunnel excavation into Structure A-20 (the western structure of this complex) demonstrated that the Ceibal residents built the earliest version (Structure Ajaw) by carving natural marl around 950 b.c. The earliest version of the eastern platform (Structure Xa'an) was also made at the same time out of the natural marl layer. Through a series of renovations, the western structure grew into a pyramidal shape, and later versions of the eastern platform were moved further to the east. In addition, excavations revealed numerous caches, many with greenstone axes, along the center line of the E-Group assemblage. These results show that a formal ceremonial complex was established at the beginning of occupation at Ceibal, and its construction and public events held there played an important role in the creation of a new community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Excavations in large platforms in the center of Ceibal revealed extensive early Middle Preclassic constructions. They consisted of extensive clay platforms that supported low basal structural platforms. Although the function of the earliest platform, Sulul, during the Real-Xe 1 and 2 phases (950-775 b.c.) is not clear, the one built during the Real-Xe 3 phase (775-700 b.c.) likely supported multiple residential buildings. The emphasis on elevating this domestic space above the natural land surface and the communal labor involved in these constructions indicate that they were most likely inhabited by an emergent elite. These places were continuously remodeled and used until the end of the Middle Preclassic. This new data from Ceibal contributes significantly to our understanding of the processes involved in the transition to a sedentary lifestyle and the development of social and political differentiation in the Maya lowlands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Skeletal remains excavated from the lowland Maya site of Ceibal, representing approximately 117 individuals, provide significant data for the study of changes in bodily treatments and mortuary practices from 1000 b.c. to a.d. 900. The early Middle Preclassic residents of Ceibal apparently did not bury their dead inside residential structures, which represents a burial practice different from those found at contemporaneous Belizean sites. During this time, tabular erect cranial deformations were found among possible local residents. Sacrificial burials were present by the end of this period, but skeletal remains of violent rituals deposited in public spaces increased from the Middle Preclassic to the Late Preclassic. During the Late Preclassic, tabular erect cranial deformations coexisted with tabular oblique shapes. The Classic period witnessed a prevalence of tabular oblique forms, which were probably tied to local residents. The common placement of the dead under house floors and the preference of ceramic vessels as burial goods also indicate Ceibal's strong affinities with other parts of the Maya lowlands during the Late Classic period. During the Terminal Classic period, there was a resurgence in the placement of sacrificial burials in public spaces and tabular erect cranial deformations were found in possible non-local individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the results of my diachronic analysis of lithic artifacts collected around Ceibal, Guatemala, in order to elucidate one aspect of long-term changing patterns in the pre-Columbian Maya economic systems and warfare. The importation of large polyhedral obsidian cores and local production of prismatic blades began as the result of sociopolitical development in Ceibal during the early Middle Preclassic Real-Xe phase. El Chayal obsidian was heavily used during the early Middle Preclassic period, while San Martín Jilotepeque was the principal source in the late Middle Preclassic, Late Preclassic, and Terminal Preclassic periods, and El Chayal once more became the major source in Ceibal during the Classic period. There is increasing evidence of the production and use of chert and obsidian points in the central part of Ceibal during the Late and Terminal Classic periods, indicating elites' direct involvement in warfare. Although the spear or dart points were predominant weapons in Classic Maya warfare, the increase in both chert small unifacial points and obsidian prismatic blade points in Ceibal points to bow-and-arrow technology by the Terminal Classic period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our investigations at the lowland Maya center of Ceibal have demonstrated that a formal spatial pattern consisting of an E-Group assemblage and large platforms started around 1000 b.c. and gradually expanded over the next several centuries. A re-evaluation of ceramic and radiocarbon data from other lowland Maya sites suggests that the beginning of sedentary life and ceramic use in various parts of the Maya lowlands started roughly simultaneously around 1000 b.c., which may have been triggered by a change in maize productivity. The standardized spatial pattern including the E-Group assemblage probably developed in the Isthmian Interaction Sphere, encompassing the southern Gulf Coast, central Chiapas, the Chiapas-Guatemalan Pacific Coast, and Ceibal, during the transitional period between the decline of San Lorenzo and the rise of La Venta as a major center (1200-800 b.c.). Most of the lowland Maya communities adopted the E-Group assemblage after 800 b.c., but not other elements of the standardized spatial pattern. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Ceibal-Petexbatun Archaeological Project has been conducting field investigations at the lowland Maya site of Ceibal since 2005. Previous research at this site by Harvard University allowed us to develop detailed research designs geared toward specific research questions. A particularly important focus was the question of how lowland Maya civilization emerged and developed. Comparison with contemporaneous sites in central Chiapas led us to hypothesize that the residents of Ceibal established a formal spatial pattern similar to those of the Chiapas centers during the Middle Preclassic period (1000-350 b.c.). Through excavations of important elements of this spatial pattern, including a probable E-Group assemblage and large platforms, we examined how the Ceibal residents participated in interregional interactions with Chiapas, the Gulf Coast, and other areas, and how construction activities and architecture shaped the course of social change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The lowland Maya site of Ceibal, Guatemala, had a long history of occupation, spanning from the Middle Preclassic Period through the Terminal Classic (1000 BC to AD 950). The Ceibal-Petexbatun Archaeological Project has been conducting archaeological investigations at this site since 2005 and has obtained 154 radiocarbon dates, which represent the largest collection of radiocarbon assays from a single Maya site. The Bayesian analysis of these dates, combined with a detailed study of ceramics, allowed us to develop a high-precision chronology for Ceibal. Through this chronology, we traced the trajectories of the Preclassic collapse around AD 150-300 and the Classic collapse around AD 800-950, revealing similar patterns in the two cases. Social instability started with the intensification of warfare around 75 BC and AD 735, respectively, followed by the fall of multiple centers across the Maya lowlands around AD 150 and 810. The population of Ceibal persisted for some time in both cases, but the center eventually experienced major decline around AD 300 and 900. Despite these similarities in their diachronic trajectories, the outcomes of these collapses were different, with the former associated with the development of dynasties centered on divine rulership and the latter leading to their downfalls. The Ceibal dynasty emerged during the period of low population after the Preclassic collapse, suggesting that this dynasty was placed under the influence from, or by the direct intervention of, an external power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The spread of plaza-pyramid complexes across southern Mesoamerica during the early Middle Preclassic period (1000 to 700 BCE) provides critical information regarding the origins of lowland Maya civilization and the role of the Gulf Coast Olmec. Recent excavations at the Maya site of Ceibal, Guatemala, documented the growth of a formal ceremonial space into a plaza-pyramid complex that predated comparable buildings at other lowland Maya sites and major occupations at the Olmec center of La Venta. The development of lowland Maya civilization did not result from one-directional influence from La Venta, but from interregional interactions, involving groups in the southwestern Maya lowlands, Chiapas, the Pacific Coast, and the southern Gulf Coast. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a study within the issue regarding archaeology research by a team led by archaeologist Takeshi Inomata of the University of Arizona, Tucson, that suggests the arrangement of urban ceremonial space in the Maya city of Ceibal in Guatemala was influenced very little by the Olmec people of San Lorenzo and La Venta in southern Mexico. Topics include a comparison between Maya and Olmec ceremonial spaces, the Olmec civilization, and early Maya civilization.