A Reversal of Fortune: Problematical Deposit 50, Tikal, Guatemala

Abstract

The contents, context, and date of Problematical Deposit 50 bear on the origin, function, and meaning of Teotihuacan stylistic traits in the Southern Maya Lowlands. Archaeological data and material culture research appear to support emulation and adaptation by local rulers and elites, while an actual presence of Teotihuacanos is asserted by epigraphy and iconography. PD 50, the partial contents of a probable Early Classic chamber burial, appears to support local emulation, but an extraordinary pottery vessel, nicknamed here the “Arrival Bowl,” implies direct contact. The chronology and archaeological context demonstrate that the appearance of Teotihuacan stylistic traits at Tikal during the later Early Classic period is functionally distinct from the goods distributed over an interregional interaction sphere of much longer duration in which both Central Mexico and the Maya area participated. Furthermore, together with other features at Tikal, PD 50 suggests that adoption of Teotihuacan ideology by Tikal's elite was eventually met with resistance that contributed to the violence at the end of the Early Classic period that is manifested in the archaeological record.

A pivot point in Maya history: fire-burning event at K'anwitznal (Ucanal) and the making of a new era of political rule

“…The arrival of Teotihuacanos to the Maya city of Tikal on 11 Eb 15 Mak (16 January AD 378) is recorded in post-factum textual documents and in the archaeological evidence of Teotihuacan presence or influence at the site at around this time (Stuart 2000; Houston et al . 2021; Moholy-Nagy 2021), yet the arrival itself, occurring as a distinct event, is unknown in material terms. Such monumental events are historically contingent and emerge from the structural patterns and contexts of socially embedded ways of being (Marx 1963; Giddens 1984).…”

“…But we can now only speculate about the event or events-such as the ceremonial erection of a large cypress marker post in a centre plaza-that crystallised this major transformation of Mississippian history in the minds and memories of the Mississippians themselves. The arrival of Teotihuacanos to the Maya city of Tikal on 11 Eb 15 Mak (16 January AD 378) is recorded in post-factum textual documents and in the archaeological evidence of Teotihuacan presence or influence at the site at around this time (Stuart 2000;Houston et al 2021;Moholy-Nagy 2021), yet the arrival itself, occurring as a distinct event, is unknown in material terms. Such monumental events are historically contingent and emerge from the structural patterns and contexts of socially embedded ways of being (Marx 1963;Giddens 1984).…”