The Artifacts of Tikal--Utilitarian Artifacts and Unworked Material

Moholy‐Nagy, Hattula

doi:10.9783/9781934536216

Cited by 57 publications

(59 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Weaving-while most common in elite households with the greatest access to surplus female labor-was also present across the entire social spectrum. The archaeological record of Tikal shows a similar distribution, though spinning tools were found in even higher concentrations in commoner households (Moholy-Nagy 2007). This means that households may have had an entrepreneurial approach to currency production-by choosing to allocate more resources to textile production, they gave themselves a means of greater participation in an increasingly diversified marketplace, allowing them to more easily provision themselves and form wider economic relationships.…”

Section: Changing Socioeconomic Relationshipsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Making money in Mesoamerica: Currency production and procurement in the Classic Maya financial system

Baron

2018

Economic Anthropology

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The material nature of money has always been at the core of debates about its early development and its role in socioeconomic relationships. Archaeology can contribute to these debates through its attention to the material world, its long‐term perspective, and its examination of diverse contexts in which money has been used. In this article, I examine the early monetization of cacao beans and cotton textiles among the Classic Maya (250–900 CE). I argue that these products, originally valued for their use in status display, took on monetary functions within a context of expanding marketplaces among rival Maya kingdoms. As a result of this monetization, cacao and textiles could be used to finance more state activities and household needs. In response, political regimes and their subjects devoted more labor and resources to the acquisition of these products and circulated new discourses justifying this acquisition. I conclude that money's value in social relationships is not shaped by its materiality alone but by practices and discourses that frame specific material properties as valuable; through historical processes that move these value‐laden materials into new social contexts; and through the reframing of the relationships and motivations of those who produce, circulate, and consume them.

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Section: Changing Socioeconomic Relationshipsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Making money in Mesoamerica: Currency production and procurement in the Classic Maya financial system

Baron

2018

Economic Anthropology

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“…Human hair and nails have not been found in pre-Hispanic Maya burials (e.g. Ruz Lhuillier 1973;Bell 2007;Moholy-Nagy & Coe 2008). Similarly, keratinous scutes of turtles, whether marine or freshwater, are absent from Maya archaeological sites (see Emery 2004), and this cannot be simply explained by human actions such as cooking practices that may have destroyed the shells (see Hamblin 1984: 62).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The occurrence of tortoiseshell on a pre-Hispanic Maya mosaic mask

Frazier

Ishihara-Brito

2012

Antiquity

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“…4.2;McAnany and Ebersole, 2004: 321). In the case of Tikal, several similar but more oblong artifacts made of unidentified clayed material were found in Protoclassic Burial 85 (Moholy-Nagy with Coe, 2008: fig. 223a).…”

Section: Offering 8 and Stone Spheresmentioning

confidence: 91%

Excavations in Nakum structure 99: new data on Protoclassic rituals and Precolumbian Maya beekeeping

Źrałka¹,

Koszkul²,

Radnicka³

et al. 2014

Estudios de Cultura Maya

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Structure 99, located on top of a large platform occupies a major and prominent part of the North Group complex of the Maya site of Nakum situated in the north-eastern area of Guatemala. Archaeological excavations realized in this structure during a few field seasons have revealed interesting data about the very last moment of Nakum's development during the Terminal Classic period (AD 800-900/950). It also revealed important traces of architectural and ritual activities from the still enigmatic Protoclassic phase (ca. 100 BC-AD 300). Scattered ceramics, stone tools and human bones found on top of Structure 99 -associated with the final hours of its occupation as well as Protoclassic offerings discovered in the lowest layers of this construction, including intriguing clay heads and jade pendants-are evidence of important ceremonial activities and beliefs that everything in the world is alive. By caching or destroying artifacts within the building, it is symbolically animated or killed by the Maya. This paper presents the results of the most important research conducted in Structure 99 that contributes to our knowledge on the ritual and architectural activities of two crucial periods in the history of Nakum: the Protoclassic and Terminal Classic. Among numerous findings described in this article, there is one that merits special attention. It is a cylindrical ceramic artifact lately identified as a beehive, providing a new perspective on beekeeping by the ancient Maya. The artifact is dated to the Protoclassic phase and is one of the oldest beehives discovered in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica.Keywords: Maya culture, Terminal Classic, Protoclassic, termination rituals, beekeeping, beehive.resumen: El Edificio 99, ubicado en la cima de una gran plataforma ocupó un lugar prominente en el complejo denominado el Grupo Norte del sitio maya de Nakum, en el noreste de Guatemala. Durante los recientes trabajos de campo que se llevaron a cabo en esta parte del sitio, se han revelado algunos datos interesantes sobre el último momento del florecimiento de Nakum durante el Clásico Terminal (800-86 estudios de cultura maya xliv 900/950 d.C.). Además se hallaron vestigios importantes de la actividad constructiva y ritual perteneciente a la enigmática fase Protoclásica (ca. 100 a.C.-300 d.C.). Tanto la cerámica dispersa, las herramientas de piedra y los huesos humanos encontrados en la cima del Edificio 99 con fecha del Clásico Terminal, así como las ofrendas colocadas debajo de esta construcción, que incluyen intrigantes cabezas de barro y colgantes de jade, son evidencia de actividades ceremoniales muy importantes y creencias religiosas según las cuales cada cosa del mundo está viva. Al esconder o destruir diversos artefactos en el edificio, los mayas animan o matan simbólica-mente esta construcción. Entre los numerosos hallazgos efectuados en el área del Edificio 99, hay uno que merece una atención especial. Es un artefacto cilíndrico de cerámica, identificado en última instancia como una colmena, que proporciona una nue...

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The Artifacts of Tikal--Utilitarian Artifacts and Unworked Material

Cited by 57 publications

References 18 publications

Making money in Mesoamerica: Currency production and procurement in the Classic Maya financial system

Making money in Mesoamerica: Currency production and procurement in the Classic Maya financial system

The occurrence of tortoiseshell on a pre-Hispanic Maya mosaic mask

Excavations in Nakum structure 99: new data on Protoclassic rituals and Precolumbian Maya beekeeping

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