Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Spatial Formation of a Complex Middle American Society

University Of Arizona, Tucson AZ

Investigators

Abstract

Under the supervision of Dr. Takeshi Inomata, Kenichiro Tsukamoto will examine the spatial formation of a peripheral architectural group at the Maya site of El Palmar, Mexico. This regional center is situated at the intersection of three competing political spheres, Tikal, Calakmul, and Río Bec (A.D. 400-800). With only traditional technologies and neither wheeled vehicles or domestic animals the Mayans were able to construct complex societies in an inhospitable lowland environment. Social scientists wish to understand how such systems functioned and what links served to bind large numbers of individuals together. Many traditional societies exist in the world today and knowledge gained about the past is relevant in a contemporary context. El Palmar is located in southeastern Campeche, Mexico and it consists of the civic-ceremonial core or the Main Group and seven peripheral architectural groups surrounding the Main Group. The proposed research specifically focuses on the Guzmán Group, one of these peripheral groups located 1.3 km north of the Main Group. The previous survey identified a hieroglyphic stairway adjoined to a small pyramidal temple along with six other structures around a plaza in this group. This research will assess the evidence for the social status of residents at the Guzmán Group and their political and ideological relationships with ruling elites at the Main Group. Specifically, this study evaluates five alternative hypotheses: the Guzmán Group was inhabited by 1) sub-royal or higher elites; 2) intermediate or lower-status individuals; 3) commoners with a temple sponsored by El Palmar rulers; 4) no residents; the group was a purely ritual place representing the northern part of the cardinal worldview, and 5) people resided after the collapse of the El Palmar polity. These hypotheses will be tested through extensive excavations, surface survey, and laboratory analyses. The excavations of the plaza and six structures around it are designed to uncover inscriptions of a hieroglyphic stairway, construction materials of all the buildings, and their associated artifacts. Surface survey will examine the presence of a causeway that connects both groups, which will serve to assess whether the Guzmán Group was symbolically connected to the core area. The analysis of artifacts will focus on the quantity and distribution of prestige and exotic materials. The results will be compared with data from the Main Group to discern the nature of power and ideological relations between both groups. Hieroglyphic stairways were usually constructed at the civic-ceremonial core to legitimize the political power of ruling elites, and the case of El Palmar stands as exceptional to this general tendency. A detailed examination of the social processes resulting in the construction of a hieroglyphic stairway in a peripheral area may reveal the dynamic nature of power struggles and ideological negotiations in Classic Maya society. Furthermore, this study will highlight the relationship between the formation of center-periphery relations within a polity and changing broader geopolitical relations among neighboring regional centers during the period of political upheavals (A.D. 400-900). New evidence about the social group and their practices at a peripheral architectural group will broaden our current knowledge on varying strategies of rulers and other social groups in response to external political dynamics. This research will provide important collaborations among U.S., Mexican, and Japanese students and academic professionals. The substantial results from this project will be disseminated broadly through publications and presentations at scholarly conferences as well as through public outreach in U.S., Mexico, and Japan. The recovered materials and information will be available for other researchers and students at the laboratory of the National School of Anthropology and History (ENAH) in Mexico City.