Calakmul: New Data from an Ancient Maya Capital in Campeche, Mexico

Folan, William J.; Marcus, Joyce; Pincemin, Sophia; Carrasco, Maria del Rosario Domínguez; Fletcher, Laraine A.; López, Abel Morales

doi:10.2307/971834

Cited by 117 publications

(63 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…As noted above, the development of this city is possible to ascertain because of the excavation that has been undertaken at the site. Other research undertaken in the Maya area makes it clear that Caracol is not unique in terms of its size and scale; Tikal in Guatemala (Puleston 1983) and Calakmul (Folan et al 1995) and Coba (Folan et al 1983) in Mexico share similar characteristics in terms of settlement and size. Furthermore, the growth of Caracol as a city follows patterns of growth that are similar to those found in modern cities, including support staff living next to the city center (Burgess 1923), the infilling of the landscapes following roads and of the need for administrative and market nodes much like that described by Garreau (1991) for edge cities (A.…”

Section: Maya Urbanismmentioning

confidence: 99%

Caracol, Belize, and Changing Perceptions of Ancient Maya Society

Chase

2016

J Archaeol Res

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Archaeological research at Caracol, an ancient Maya site that was rediscovered in 1937, has become a major resource in the interpretation and understanding of the ancient Maya. Caracol, in west-central Belize, is situated in a subtropical region once characterized as being unsuitable for the development or maintenance of complex societies, yet it is one of the largest, if not the largest Classic period Maya site in the southern Maya Lowlands, home to over 100,000 people at its height between AD 600 and 700. The investigations at Caracol underscore the utility of long-term archaeological projects incorporating large-scale settlement study that combine excavation with varied research designs and the use of a contextual approach. By employing Maya epigraphic history, traditional archaeology, and modern technology like LiDAR, research at Caracol details the rise, maintenance, and fall of an ancient Maya city, affording a large window into ancient Maya lifeways. Archaeological work provides evidence of sustainable agriculture, a market economy, city planning that included a road system, the impact of warfare on the site's inhabitants, the sociopolitical status of women, the role that archaeology can play in refining written history, and the significance of commemorating the cyclical passage of time to the ancient Maya. This article

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Section: Maya Urbanismmentioning

confidence: 99%

Caracol, Belize, and Changing Perceptions of Ancient Maya Society

Chase

2016

J Archaeol Res

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“…With few exceptions, studies of these practices have focused on large-scale water storage facilities constructed in the capitals and administrative centers from which kings and their immediate subordinates ruled Maya polities. At the sites of Tikal (Scarborough and Gallopin, 1991;Scarborough, 1993Scarborough, , 1996Scarborough, , 1998, Calakmul (Folan et al, 1995), Caracol (Chase and Chase, 1998:70 -71), El Mirador (Matheny, 1982:168;Scarborough, 1993:29 -32;Scarborough et al, 1994), La Milpa (Scarborough et al, 1995), and Kinal (Scarborough, 1993:56 -59), the most architecturally prominent of these facilities was the reservoir and the artificial drainages that fed them. That large reservoirs are adjacent to ceremonial and administrative precincts suggests to Scarborough (1993, VOL.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lowland Maya water management practices: The household exploitation of rural wells

Johnston

2004

Geoarchaeology

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A hypothesis developed by Vernon Scarborough and endorsed and modified by Lisa Lucero and Anabel Ford proposes that lowland Maya elites centralized and coordinated political power by controlling access to water stored in large, centrally located reservoirs. The hypothesis presupposes that in the central and southern Maya lowlands, nonelites did not have access to viable alternative dry-season water sources. This paper demonstrates that, in the east-central and southwestern areas of the Maya lowlands, fault springs were an important source of water, particularly to rural peoples. After reviewing the evidence of Maya fault spring exploitation and documenting the hydrogeological conditions under which fault springs form, I describe wells that rural households built to expose fault springs and enhance their flow, including clay-lined and stone-lined shafts. Also documented are three well types found elsewhere in the Maya lowlands: (1) wells built to exploit permanent, generally shallow water tables; (2) wells dug to catch precipitation as it filtered down through bedrock; and (3) buk'teob, built to recover during the dry season the receding contents of pools that during the rainy season collect in aguadas. The dispersed distribution of Maya wells in rural settings and their frequent association with modest residential remains suggests that nonelite households managed them. The existence of Maya wells that supplied water to rural peoples through the dry season is inconsistent with the Scarborough-Lucero-Ford hypothesis. ᭧

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“…In the Late Preclassic period, it is well known that Calakmul was an important site with a growing population and impressive architectural arrangements (Carrasco Vargas, 2000). In the case of the Late Classic period archaeological and epigraphic evidence demonstrate that Calakmul was a powerful site and a key player in political life (Folan et al, 1995;Martin and Grube, 2000). All of this suggests that during these periods there existed specialized and organized production that would explain the introduction and use of volcanic ash in the plasters.…”

Section: Calakmul Plastersmentioning

confidence: 97%