U.S.-Mexico Planning Visit: Investigating the Interaction of Macro-Political Change on Local Landscape and Residence through Collaborative Archaeological Research, Yucatan, Mexico

University Of North Carolina At Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill NC

Investigators

Abstract

In this planning project researchers from the U.S. and Mexico will catalyze a collaboration between archaeologists at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (UNC-CH) and the Unversidad del Oriente (UNO) in Vallodolid, Yucatan, Mexico. The collaboration is focused on an archaeological investigation of the interaction of macro-political change with local landscape and residence. Due to the specific occupational history of the Yucatán, this area is a promising locale for this research. Importantly, the presence of local indigenous communities presents an opportunity to refine methods of community-based participatory research within archaeology. Two researchers from UNC-CH, Drs. Patricia A. McAnany & Shoshaunna Parks and two graduate students will collaborate with Dr.Adolfo Ivan Batún Alpuche of Universidad del Oriente (UNO) and his undergraduate students. The proposal that will result from this planning grant will examine how the series of seismic political changes in the Yucatán Peninsula from the Terminal Classic period (800-1000 CE) through the 19th century affected landscape use as well as the quotidian activities of non-elite Maya household members, particularly women and their tribute-related work of cotton cloth production. Broader impacts of this project include the refinement of methods within Maya Archaeology that combine cutting-edge science with knowledge-sharing programs that engage indigenous communities and enhancement of Maya cultural survival and of the conservation of local heritage places. The long-term project to follow this planning grant will offer educational opportunities to children, youth, and adults through workshops, radio broadcasts, and performances via local NGOs and primary/secondary schools. U.S. students and a young female faculty member will also participate in these investigations. Involvement of junior researchers in international research is a major goal of OISE.