Terminal Classic Maya Heterodoxy and Shrine Vernacularism in the Sibun Valley, Belize

McAnany, Patricia A.

doi:10.1017/s0959774312000078

Cited by 24 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…The authors use a simple demographic model to illustrate that living populations would have increasing contact with the dead, a unique context that may have promoted complex mummification practices and elaborate ideological behaviors. Patricia McAnany's () study of monumental shrines along the Caribbean seaboard illustrates how vernacular ceremonial architecture and ritual practice can reference both distant ideologies and local landscapes. Her study stresses the active identity formation involved in ritual practice, leading to what she calls an “agency at the margins”—namely those practices outside dynastic expressions of ideology.…”

Section: Social Complexity As Transformationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Anthropological Archaeology in 2012: Mobility, Economy, and Transformation

Kahn

2013

American Anthropologist

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In 2012, archaeologists continued to grapple with large questions concerning process and structure and how they shaped the nature of humanity. The movement of populations, ideas, and material culture stands out prominently, including mobility's role in promoting social change and how forms of travel and communication, such as pilgrimages or long-distance trade, promoted social interaction. Research concerning the structure of ancient economies acknowledges the amazing diversity within which prehistoric communities organized food production and material goods manufacture and exchange. Social complexity as transformation illustrates how local histories

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Section: Social Complexity As Transformationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Anthropological Archaeology in 2012: Mobility, Economy, and Transformation

Kahn

2013

American Anthropologist

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“…Similarly, we argue below that the spread of these traits in the Terminal Classic and Postclassic signaled conflict and intermarriage and the formation of new dynasties in the eastern Maya lowlands, with greater emphasis placed on the consolidation of alliances through shared governance. We also argue, however, this was not some entirely new form of governance or "heterodoxic" break from Classic-period traditions, as some have suggested (McAnany 2012). Marriages had always been tightly controlled among noble lineages and principals of shared governance appear to root in earlier times (Fash et al 1992;Marcus 1976Marcus , 1992Martin 2017;Sabloff 2018Sabloff , 2020.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 73%

Boundary Things in the Eastern Maya Lowlands: Negotiating Allied Relations From Terminal Classic to Postclassic Times

Harrison‐Buck

Pugh

2020

Ancient Mesoam

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In this study, we offer a relational approach to theorizing boundaries for the Maya, adapting Mills’ (2018) concept of “boundary objects” as a means of understanding how people and things bridge or cross boundaries and were critical for developing and maintaining allied relations. We trace a network of sites on both sides of the Guatemala–Belize border dating to the Terminal Classic and Postclassic, which are generally characterized as times of increased conflict, movement and migration of people, and disruption in dynastic succession with an emphasis on shared governance. We examine the introduction of northern-style traits in the eastern Maya lowlands during the Terminal Classic and Postclassic periods, including circular and colonnaded buildings and distinctive portable goods such as molded-carved ceramics, phallic and turtle effigies, and other material forms. We suggest that during fractious periods in Maya history, northern traits were implicated in boundary crossing negotiations and entangled relations, which included marriage alliances with “foreigners” as a means of elite legitimation.

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“…The Actuncan community's strategies for managing the dissolution of divine kingship represent one of a mosaic of variably successful options adopted by Terminal Classic period communities (Demarest et al 2004; Iannone et al 2016). While some supported rejuvenated royal lineages freed from the bonds of failing Classic period hegemons (Inomata & Triadan 2013; Źrałka & Hermes 2012), other centres built new institutions anchored in cultural connections to the more stable northern Maya Lowlands (Harrison-Buck 2007; Masson & Mock 2004; McAnany 2012). Like Actuncan, other centres likely followed more innovative paths heavily impacted by local historical contingencies (Lamoureux-St-Hilaire et al 2015; Mixter 2017a; Schwarz 2009).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Community Resilience and Urban Planning during the Ninth-Century Maya Collapse: A Case Study from Actuncan, Belize

Mixter¹

2019

CAJ

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To remain in place in the immediate aftermath of the ninth-century Maya collapse, Maya groups employed various resilient strategies. In the absence of divine rulers, groups needed to renegotiate their forms of political authority and to reconsider the legitimizing role of religious institutions. This kind of negotiation happened first at the local level, where individual communities developed varied political and ideological solutions. At the community of Actuncan, located in the lower Mopan River valley of Belize, reorganization took place within the remains of a monumental urban centre built 1000 years before by the site's early rulers. I report on the changing configuration and use of Actuncan's urban landscape during the process of reorganization. These modifications included the construction of a new centre for political gatherings, the dismantling of old administrative buildings constructed by holy lords and the reuse of the site's oldest ritual space. These developments split the city into distinct civic and ritual zones, paralleling the adoption of a new shared rule divorced from cosmological underpinnings. This case study provides an example of how broader societal resilience relies on adaptation at the local level.

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Terminal Classic Maya Heterodoxy and Shrine Vernacularism in the Sibun Valley, Belize

Cited by 24 publications

References 21 publications

Anthropological Archaeology in 2012: Mobility, Economy, and Transformation

Anthropological Archaeology in 2012: Mobility, Economy, and Transformation

Boundary Things in the Eastern Maya Lowlands: Negotiating Allied Relations From Terminal Classic to Postclassic Times

Community Resilience and Urban Planning during the Ninth-Century Maya Collapse: A Case Study from Actuncan, Belize

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