Ancient Maya Commerce: Multidisciplinary Research at Chunchucmil

Abstract

It seems that research at Chunchucmil began only yesterday, but it actually goes back more than forty years. The first anthropologist to visit the ruins of Chunchucmil was Salvador Rodríguez Losa, in the early to mid-1970s. At the time he was the director of the Escuela de Ciencias Antropológicas of the University of Yucatán, and he showed his sketch map of the site to Silvia garza Tarazona de gonzález, Edward Kurjack, and David vlcek (vlcek, garza Tarazona de gonzález, and Kurjack 1978:223). garza Tarazona de gonzález and Kurjack were then directing the project "Atlas Arqueológico del Estado de Yucatán, " and vlcek was conducting surveys for the project. This was a state-wide archaeological survey conducted from 1974 until 1980, when garza Tarazona de gonzález and Kurjack published a compilation of the survey data in two volumes of text and maps. Several airphotos and a preliminary airphoto-based map of Chunchucmil were included in volume 1 (garza Tarazona de gonzález and Kurjack 1980:31-35, figures 7-10). As an urban center, Chunchucmil was considered one of the most important "finds" of the Atlas project, and is discussed in several sections of volume 1.After examining air photos of the site, vlcek and Kurjack visited Chunchucmil in 1975, and quickly realized its importance as a dense urban settlement. They asked Norberto gonzález, then director of the Centro Regional del Sureste of the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, if he would support a mapping project, which he did. The purpose of the project was to obtain a detailed map of a residential sector of the city, which included the foundations of houses and other A NDR EWSxiv An enormous variety of people and institutions helped the Pakbeh Regional Economy Program (PREP) conduct the research discussed in this book. The authors of the chapters extend sincere thanks to all. In Yucatán, the research took place on lands that pertain to five ejidos-Kochol, Chunchucmil, San Mateo, Santo Domingo, and Coahuila-and to a landowner from the town of Halacho. The people from these ejidos who gave us the most help are Maestro gualberto Tzuc Mena (Chunchucmil), Rosalino Camal (Chunchucmil), Esteban Uh (Chunchucmil),