Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant - The Yalahau Regional Settlement Pattern Survey

University Of California-Riverside, Riverside CA

Investigators

Abstract

The Yalahau Regional Settlement Pattern Project, conducted by Jeffrey B. Glover under the supervision of Dr. Scott L. Fedick, is investigating the socio-political organization of the ancient Maya in the northeastern corner of Mexico's Yucatan peninsula. The Yalahau region represents a unique water-rich environment with extensive freshwater wetlands that is strikingly different from the dry landscape that dominates the rest of the northern Yucatan peninsula. This project will test four possible models of the spatial organization of administrative centers within the region from the Late Preclassic period (100 B.C. - A.D. 350) to the Late Postclassic period (A.D. 1250 - 1521). Through the synchronic and diachronic analysis of the administrative system(s) operating within the Yalahau region, an understanding of the processes associated with the emergence and eventual decline of socio-political complexity at a regional scale will enrich the growing corpus of research addressing socio-political complexity not only in the Maya area but across the globe. By comparing hierarchical and heterarchical models of socio-political organization in the analysis of the data, the researcher will clearly highlight the strengths and weaknesses of both, and in the process, potentially develop a model with cross-cultural applicability. To cover the 5,000 km. of the region, the researcher will utilize two economical survey methods, an informant-based survey and a survey of cleared fields adjacent to rural roads. These survey techniques will provide a distribution of all of the major sites within the region, the majority of the moderate sized sites, and a sample of the small settlements. At these sites, surface collections of ceramic material will be conducted, and at a sample of the large sites, off-structure test excavation units will be placed. With these locational and chronological data, the major architectural groups will be mapped at each site when present. From these data two types of analyses will occur. First, a comparative database will be constructed based on a volumetric assessment of a sample of the major architecture as a means to measure the relative administrative power of each site. Secondly, the spatial patterning of the major architecture will be used to investigate intersite relations. All of these data are being contained in a Geographic Information System (GIS). The Yalahau region is threatened today by a rapidly growing population that is a direct result of Cancun's success as a vacation destination. In light of this threat, the completion of the project will catalog the sites within the region and provide INAH (National Institute of Anthropology and History) with important data for the protection of this area's rich cultural patrimony. Aside from managing data, the GIS will be used to generate a predictive model of as yet unidentified sites within the region. The predictive model can be used by subsequent Mexican and American scholars interested in the area, as well as aid INAH with further site preservation. Stemming from the informant-based survey technique, Mr. Glover is working closely with a number of indigenous Maya communities. At the termination of the dissertation, visually accessible maps and brief narratives about the archaeological resources found on their land will be presented to each community so that they can better assess and manage their cultural patrimony. By funding this research, NSF will be contributing to the preservation of non-renewable cultural patrimony as well as helping provide a legacy of valuable educational tools in the form of a predictive model, a comparative ceramic collection, and fieldwork training in basic archaeological skills (survey and excavation) for future Mexican and American scholars.