The Lineage Model and Archaeological Data in Late Classic Northwestern Belize

Abstract

Central topics of anthropological study from the 1940s through the 1970s, kinship and lineage became largely discredited during the 1980s. Recent scholarship, however, has indicated that kinship and lineage, when considered as the products of social activity, can make important contributions to studies of living and past populations. This paper explores lineage as a model of social organization distinguished by specific activities practiced by members of Late Classic Maya social groups. This model is derived from cross-cultural literature on lineages, but practices associated with lineage organization are historically and culturally specific. A suite of archaeological correlates, based on practices endemic to the Late Classic Maya, is evaluated against a test case from northwestern Belize. The implications of a landscape populated by lineages during the Classic period argue that archaeological investigations of hinterland areas are an important complement to more traditional studies focused on nucleated site centers.

Population and Demographic Shifts Along the Coast of Yucatan From the Early to Late Classic: A View From Xcambo, Mexico

“…Based on ethnographic studies in Mesoamerica (Redfield and Villa Rojas 1962; Robichaux 2005), scholars have hypothesized that one of the characteristics of such houses was that they were inhabited by nuclear families. Corporate groups bounded by patrilinearity keep a corporate property and venerate their ancestors (Hageman 2004; Hendon 1991; Robichaux 2005). Such groups alternated cycles of fusion and fission across generations (Robichaux 2005), and dwellings are the remains of these cycles (Webster and Freter 1990).…”

An integrated assessment of archaeobotanical recovery methods in the Neotropical rainforest of northern Belize: flotation and dry screening

“…The drainage to the north contains 22 check dams and footslope terraces, while the drainage to the south has two additional check dams. Previous work (Hageman, 2004a(Hageman, , 2004b indicates the group was constructed in the Late/Terminal Classic.…”

“…This residence is located about 200 m north of Barba, and consists of three mounds no greater than 0.5 m in height atop a small hill. As with Barba, excavations indicate Bronco was built in the Late/Terminal Classic period (Hageman, 2004a(Hageman, , 2004b Of the four residential groups, Guijarral and Barba contain shrines that likely played a likely role in local ancestor veneration (Hageman, 2004b). In addition, ceramics recovered from middens associated with these shrines contain a 2:1 preponderance of food preparation and serving vessels to food storage vessels (Hageman, 2004a,b).…”

Ancient Maya Commerce : Multidisciplinary Research at Chunchucmil

“…These frequent interactions among a predictable set of people sharing the same spoke probably resulted in the creation of neighborhoods containing between 200 and 800 people or districts with over 1,000 people (Hutson 2016). Such potential corporate groups at Chunchucmil are larger than the lineages (Hageman 2004) discussed by other archaeologists but equivalent in size to the barrios in sixteenthcentury towns in northern Yucatán described by Roys (1957). The people living in these neighborhoods and districts probably attended ceremonies at a particular quadrangle, thus further solidifying corporate identity.…”