A Simulation of Copan Populatin History and its Implications

Abstract

Several projects carried out at Copan since 1975 provide extensive settlement data that form the basis for a simulation of Copan population history between A.D. 400–1250. Most important is a set of 2,048 obsidian hydration dates, associated with 15% of all known sites, that allows unprecedented chronological control of occupational episodes at domestic sites of all social ranks. This article summarizes the results of our simulation, and some of its implications for agricultural intensification, sociopolitical structure, and labor demand for elite construction projects.

El Centro del Poder para los Reyes de Copán

“…Los cálculos de Christine Carrelli (2004) para el primer siglo de construcción de la Acrópolis temprana revelan que durante el reino de K'inich Yax K'uk' Mo' se utilizaron más de 175,000 horas-hombre de labor en la plataforma y edificios iniciales del nuevo complejo real. Dados los estimados de población para este intervalo (Webster et al 1992), cada adulto masculino en el valle de Copán tendría que haber trabajado un mes cada año del reino de K'inich Yax K'uk' Mo' para construir este complejo. Además, el estudio de Carrelli indica que las necesidades de trabajo para la construcción de la Acrópolis temprana, durante los primeros cinco años del reino del Gobernante 2, fueron aun mayores que estos totales.…”

The archaeology of Copán, Honduras

“…Several such groups at Las Sepulturas have been extensively excavated and reconstructed (e.g., Hohmann, 1995;Sheehy, 1991;Willey et al, 1994), clearly revealing their residential character. Population of the urban core at its peak, during the 8th century, is estimated at 9300-11,600 people (Webster and Freter, 1990a, b;Webster et al, 1992).…”

“…About 15% of known residential sites have associated obsidian hydration dates, most from controlled excavations, and these are the basis for the simulation of the ancient population shown in Fig. 7 (Webster et al, 1992) and for others that have recently been published (Freter, 1992(Freter, , 1997. 2 Application of obsidian hydration dating from excavated contexts on this scale, and particularly for absolute in addition to relative purposes, is unprecedented in Mesoamerica and has produced some controversy, so it is necessary to review critical issues before turning to the implications of this set of dates.…”

New world complex societies: Recent economic, social, and political studies

“…Other recent demographic research includes the excavation-based studies by Earle et al (1987) and Smith (1992a), the regional-scale research by Feinman et al (1985), Loker (1989), and Webster et al (1992), the ethnohistoric analyses by Williams (1989Williams ( , 1993 and Smith (1993) and the ethnoarchaeological and comparative work of Kolb (1985) and Siegel (1990). Conceptual issues in the study of ancient population change are discussed by Drennan (1987) and Johnson and Earle (1987).…”