Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Award: The Role of Symbols in Establishing Political Power

Washington University, Saint Louis MO

Investigators

Abstract

Since the rise of complex societies, political, military, and religious leaders have materialized power through the creation of distinctive insignias. The manufacture of insignias of power, like masks, is an activity developed through complex artisanal processes carried out by highly trained craftsmen. Cross-culturally, masks can be considered as sacred power objects. For example they can be magical accessories through which ancestors are represented, used as symbols of transformation and concealment in initiation ceremonies, and as markers of social rank. This project will focus on Mayan greenstone mosaic masks and attempt to determine whether they were produced by a single or multiple groups or artisans. The former would suggest that production was tightly elite controlled and thus were manipulated as power symbols. It is hypothesized that the masks were used by a supreme leader of a rising center who sought to expand political influence over minor entities in the region and sealed their affiliation through mask gifting. Past archaeological investigations at 3 archaeological sites in the Central Maya Lowlands revealed seven ancient royal and one sub-royal burials. Many of these artifacts contained in the burials were studied, conserved, and restored, and some have been temporarily exhibited in museums around the world. Nonetheless, other materials remained unstudied, including fragments (tesserae) of greenstone that form disassembled mosaic faces, which are currently stored in the National Museum in Guatemala City. During a preliminary study in 2015, nearly 1000 greenstone tesserae were identified, which could form at least nine masks. Before restoring these artifacts, this research will explore the craft traditions and technology practiced by ancient Maya craftsmen to create these objects. Using microarchaeological approaches, the dissertation student, Juan Carlos Melendez will conduct a study which compares the manufacture traces obtained through experimental archaeology on greenstone with traces recorded on ancient Maya greenstone tesserae. To preserve the original tesserae, selected sectors will be replicated using segments of replicating tape. In collaboration with the Templo Mayor Museum in Mexico City, the segments will be observed using a scanning electron microscope (SEM), allowing magnifications of up to 1000X. At this scale it will be possible to determine manufacturing similarities or differences when compared to the observations made on experiments carried out on greenstone