The Florida Keys are currently experiencing unprecedented loss of lifeways, biodiversity, and cul... more The Florida Keys are currently experiencing unprecedented loss of lifeways, biodiversity, and cultural heritage due to sea-level rise, catastrophic storm events, unsustainable traditions of resource exploitation, and land development. Yet, these islands have a long history of human occupation and socioecological systems underlying their current sustainability crisis that date back at least 2500 years. Here we report early results of ongoing zooarchaeological research from Upper Matecumbe Key designed to explore anthropogenic engagement with vertebrate fauna between AD 800 and 1250, providing an approximately 500-year window on marine fisheries and terrestrial faunal harvesting for this small island archipelago. Focusing on one of the few remaining, nearly intact Native American archaeological sites in the region, our research contributes to critically needed long-term anthropogenic perspectives on harvest patterns relevant to regional biodiversity conservation and sustainability ini...
espanolLos estudios zooarqueologicos en el area maya complementan cada dia nuestro entendimiento ... more espanolLos estudios zooarqueologicos en el area maya complementan cada dia nuestro entendimiento de la conducta humana en relacion con su medio ambiente. El presente estudio explica la manera en que los habitantes preteritos del asentamiento prehispanico de Xuenkal, Yucatan, explotaron los recursos faunisticos durante el Clasico Tardio-Terminal. En este sentido, se analizan los posibles cambios en la dieta de esta poblacion como resultado de un incremento del poder politico y economico de Chichen Itza en la region. Por ultimo, se considera que Xuenkal fungio como un enclave comercial para Chichen y tambien se analiza la posibilidad de un intercambio de animales con otros asentamientos. EnglishZooarchaeological studies in the Maya area constatly complement our knowledge of human behavior as related to the environment. The present study explores the way how the ancient inhabitants of the prehispanic settlement of Xuenkal, Yucatan, exploited faunal resources during the Late and Termina...
The Archaeology of Human-Environmental Dynamics on the North American Atlantic Coast, 2019
The Florida Keys are a small island chain along the Atlantic coast that preserve unique data on h... more The Florida Keys are a small island chain along the Atlantic coast that preserve unique data on human-environmental interactions in prehistory, overlooked in earlier research but now the focus of new investigations. These investigations were spurred in part by the threat of sea level rise and the need to better understand human adaptations to changing ecosystems. This chapter presents a summary of previous research as well as preliminary results of new investigations into human adaptation in the Florida Keys during the pre-Columbian period.
Research at the ancient Maya city of Yaxuna, located in the heart of the Yucatan Peninsula, has p... more Research at the ancient Maya city of Yaxuna, located in the heart of the Yucatan Peninsula, has provided sufficient data to suggesta preliminary chronological framework for the cultural development of this large polity. Primary ceramic and stratigraphic data arepresented to support a five-phase scheme of cultural history, encompassing the Middle Formative through Postclassic periods (500B.C.-A.D. 1250). In addition to chronological significance, the political ramifications of a pan-lowland ceramic trade are addressed.Yaxuna experienced an early florescence in the Late Formative-Early Classic periods, when it was the largest urban center in thecentral peninsula. A second renaissance in the Terminal Classic period was the result of Yaxuna's role in an alliance between thePuuc and Coba, in opposition to growing Itza militancy. This paper proposes a chronological framework for the culturaldevelopment of one northern Maya region in order to facilitate an understanding of this area as...
In spring of 2017, celebrity chef René Redzepi opened a pop-up of his famed restaurant, Noma, on ... more In spring of 2017, celebrity chef René Redzepi opened a pop-up of his famed restaurant, Noma, on the coast of the Yucatán Peninsula. During its run, Noma Mexico worked closely with the town of Yaxunah, a Yucatec-Mayan speaking community in the peninsula’s interior, hiring women to make tortillas and acquiring local ingredients for the restaurant. For us—two archaeologists interested in past and present Maya food and agriculture who have worked in the Yaxunah community for years—this made the 2017 field season a compelling time to engage in culinary heritage. We share on-the-ground perspectives from our work with Yaxunah community members during a decisive spring for rural Yucatán’s globalizing food system. These perspectives offer a candid contribution to this special issue’s archive of community-based and heritage-engaged archaeological work in the Maya area.
In spring of 2017, celebrity chef René Redzepi opened a pop-up of his famed restaurant, Noma, on ... more In spring of 2017, celebrity chef René Redzepi opened a pop-up of his famed restaurant, Noma, on the coast of the Yucatán Peninsula. During its run, Noma Mexico worked closely with the town of Yaxunah, a Yucatec-Mayan speaking community in the peninsula’s interior, hiring women to make tortillas and acquiring local ingredients for the restaurant. For us—two archaeologists interested in past and present Maya food and agriculture who have worked in the Yaxunah community for years—this made the 2017 field season a compelling time to engage in culinary heritage. We share on-the-ground perspectives from our work with Yaxunah community members during a decisive spring for rural Yucatán’s globalizing food system. These perspectives offer a candid contribution to this special issue’s archive of community-based and heritage-engaged archaeological work in the Maya area.
Abstract In this paper we present an analysis of lidar data along Sacbe 1, the longest causeway i... more Abstract In this paper we present an analysis of lidar data along Sacbe 1, the longest causeway in Mesoamerica, connecting the sites of Coba and Yaxuna. In addition to performing an analysis of the density of polygons (utilized as a proxy for structures), we calculate the density of basal area and construction volume of the raised features seen in the data set. The results indicate that Maya sites in this region were fairly discrete and that the causeway was built to incorporate previously existing settlements dating prior to the period 600–700 CE. Further, the causeway was an attractor of settlement in the area of state expansion.
Abstract In this paper we present an analysis of lidar data along Sacbe 1, the longest causeway i... more Abstract In this paper we present an analysis of lidar data along Sacbe 1, the longest causeway in Mesoamerica, connecting the sites of Coba and Yaxuna. In addition to performing an analysis of the density of polygons (utilized as a proxy for structures), we calculate the density of basal area and construction volume of the raised features seen in the data set. The results indicate that Maya sites in this region were fairly discrete and that the causeway was built to incorporate previously existing settlements dating prior to the period 600–700 CE. Further, the causeway was an attractor of settlement in the area of state expansion.
The Florida Keys are currently experiencing unprecedented loss of lifeways, biodiversity, and cul... more The Florida Keys are currently experiencing unprecedented loss of lifeways, biodiversity, and cultural heritage due to sea-level rise, catastrophic storm events, unsustainable traditions of resource exploitation, and land development. Yet, these islands have a long history of human occupation and socioecological systems underlying their current sustainability crisis that date back at least 2500 years. Here we report early results of ongoing zooarchaeological research from Upper Matecumbe Key designed to explore anthropogenic engagement with vertebrate fauna between AD 800 and 1250, providing an approximately 500-year window on marine fisheries and terrestrial faunal harvesting for this small island archipelago. Focusing on one of the few remaining, nearly intact Native American archaeological sites in the region, our research contributes to critically needed long-term anthropogenic perspectives on harvest patterns relevant to regional biodiversity conservation and sustainability ini...
espanolLos estudios zooarqueologicos en el area maya complementan cada dia nuestro entendimiento ... more espanolLos estudios zooarqueologicos en el area maya complementan cada dia nuestro entendimiento de la conducta humana en relacion con su medio ambiente. El presente estudio explica la manera en que los habitantes preteritos del asentamiento prehispanico de Xuenkal, Yucatan, explotaron los recursos faunisticos durante el Clasico Tardio-Terminal. En este sentido, se analizan los posibles cambios en la dieta de esta poblacion como resultado de un incremento del poder politico y economico de Chichen Itza en la region. Por ultimo, se considera que Xuenkal fungio como un enclave comercial para Chichen y tambien se analiza la posibilidad de un intercambio de animales con otros asentamientos. EnglishZooarchaeological studies in the Maya area constatly complement our knowledge of human behavior as related to the environment. The present study explores the way how the ancient inhabitants of the prehispanic settlement of Xuenkal, Yucatan, exploited faunal resources during the Late and Termina...
The Archaeology of Human-Environmental Dynamics on the North American Atlantic Coast, 2019
The Florida Keys are a small island chain along the Atlantic coast that preserve unique data on h... more The Florida Keys are a small island chain along the Atlantic coast that preserve unique data on human-environmental interactions in prehistory, overlooked in earlier research but now the focus of new investigations. These investigations were spurred in part by the threat of sea level rise and the need to better understand human adaptations to changing ecosystems. This chapter presents a summary of previous research as well as preliminary results of new investigations into human adaptation in the Florida Keys during the pre-Columbian period.
Research at the ancient Maya city of Yaxuna, located in the heart of the Yucatan Peninsula, has p... more Research at the ancient Maya city of Yaxuna, located in the heart of the Yucatan Peninsula, has provided sufficient data to suggesta preliminary chronological framework for the cultural development of this large polity. Primary ceramic and stratigraphic data arepresented to support a five-phase scheme of cultural history, encompassing the Middle Formative through Postclassic periods (500B.C.-A.D. 1250). In addition to chronological significance, the political ramifications of a pan-lowland ceramic trade are addressed.Yaxuna experienced an early florescence in the Late Formative-Early Classic periods, when it was the largest urban center in thecentral peninsula. A second renaissance in the Terminal Classic period was the result of Yaxuna's role in an alliance between thePuuc and Coba, in opposition to growing Itza militancy. This paper proposes a chronological framework for the culturaldevelopment of one northern Maya region in order to facilitate an understanding of this area as...
In spring of 2017, celebrity chef René Redzepi opened a pop-up of his famed restaurant, Noma, on ... more In spring of 2017, celebrity chef René Redzepi opened a pop-up of his famed restaurant, Noma, on the coast of the Yucatán Peninsula. During its run, Noma Mexico worked closely with the town of Yaxunah, a Yucatec-Mayan speaking community in the peninsula’s interior, hiring women to make tortillas and acquiring local ingredients for the restaurant. For us—two archaeologists interested in past and present Maya food and agriculture who have worked in the Yaxunah community for years—this made the 2017 field season a compelling time to engage in culinary heritage. We share on-the-ground perspectives from our work with Yaxunah community members during a decisive spring for rural Yucatán’s globalizing food system. These perspectives offer a candid contribution to this special issue’s archive of community-based and heritage-engaged archaeological work in the Maya area.
In spring of 2017, celebrity chef René Redzepi opened a pop-up of his famed restaurant, Noma, on ... more In spring of 2017, celebrity chef René Redzepi opened a pop-up of his famed restaurant, Noma, on the coast of the Yucatán Peninsula. During its run, Noma Mexico worked closely with the town of Yaxunah, a Yucatec-Mayan speaking community in the peninsula’s interior, hiring women to make tortillas and acquiring local ingredients for the restaurant. For us—two archaeologists interested in past and present Maya food and agriculture who have worked in the Yaxunah community for years—this made the 2017 field season a compelling time to engage in culinary heritage. We share on-the-ground perspectives from our work with Yaxunah community members during a decisive spring for rural Yucatán’s globalizing food system. These perspectives offer a candid contribution to this special issue’s archive of community-based and heritage-engaged archaeological work in the Maya area.
Abstract In this paper we present an analysis of lidar data along Sacbe 1, the longest causeway i... more Abstract In this paper we present an analysis of lidar data along Sacbe 1, the longest causeway in Mesoamerica, connecting the sites of Coba and Yaxuna. In addition to performing an analysis of the density of polygons (utilized as a proxy for structures), we calculate the density of basal area and construction volume of the raised features seen in the data set. The results indicate that Maya sites in this region were fairly discrete and that the causeway was built to incorporate previously existing settlements dating prior to the period 600–700 CE. Further, the causeway was an attractor of settlement in the area of state expansion.
Abstract In this paper we present an analysis of lidar data along Sacbe 1, the longest causeway i... more Abstract In this paper we present an analysis of lidar data along Sacbe 1, the longest causeway in Mesoamerica, connecting the sites of Coba and Yaxuna. In addition to performing an analysis of the density of polygons (utilized as a proxy for structures), we calculate the density of basal area and construction volume of the raised features seen in the data set. The results indicate that Maya sites in this region were fairly discrete and that the causeway was built to incorporate previously existing settlements dating prior to the period 600–700 CE. Further, the causeway was an attractor of settlement in the area of state expansion.
Despite well documented biases inherent in Spanish Colonial depictions, Bishop Diego de Landa’s R... more Despite well documented biases inherent in Spanish Colonial depictions, Bishop Diego de Landa’s Relacion has been read by generations of Mayanists as a relatively unproblematic ethnographic description of sixteenth century Yucatec Maya life. While filled with tantalizing details of daily practice from Landa’s memory and first hand observations, the portrayal of women and children in the Relacion is particularly deceptive. Landa’s work is better understood as Colonial era fantasy, a highly selective reconstruction of those elements of Yucatec Maya life burned into the friar’s memory. In his writing about Maya women and children, Landa’s anxieties and desires are fully exposed and these depictions reveal as much about Landa’s values as they do those of the Maya.
The Relacion was written late in Landa’s life when he had returned to Spain to defend himself against accusations of excessive force in the Christianization of Yucatan. The middle aged friar, like most Spanish ecclesiasticals, had little personal experience with women or children. In both Spain and indigenous Maya society, the daily activities of most women and men were largely segregated along gendered lines that would have allowed Landa very little access to the world of Yucatec women. The Maya domestic world where children, gardening and craft activities took place was a private space, administered by matriarchs and inhospitable to un-related men, much less foreign men. Franciscan attitudes toward women, who were seen as childlike and in need of governance under idealized codes of conduct, did not provide a suitable context for Landa to understand the complementarity of Maya gender roles, nor the power exercised by many Maya women.
When women appear in the Relacion, most frequently it is in the context of Landa’s anxiety over the spiritual authority of certain Maya women and their lack of adherence to Spanish codes of female behavior. Frank expressions of physical desire lurk behind his descriptions of the behavior of young Maya women and his condemnations of their licentiousness. The grossest misunderstanding may be Landa’s disgust and obsession with the participation of Maya women in the religious and ceremonial life of the villages, where women continued to perform long-standing ritual roles in more active and profound ways than allowed within strict Christian practice of the time. Landa looks more fondly upon the children of Colonial Maya society, who he describes as healthy and well loved, although he was utterly unable to explain the persistence of child sacrifice despite recording the Maya rationale in his writings.
The depiction of Maya women and children we read today in the Relacion is not purely imaginary but it is the product of Landa’s imagination, memory, and anxiety over his failed conversion of the Maya. Women and children were farthest from his reach and their lives proceeded with less impact from the Colonial enterprise than any others. For these reasons and others to be explored in this paper, the Relacion reveals Landa’s desires for power and control of an imagined Colonial Maya resistant to his message of salvation. In his hostile longing for dangerous Maya women we see the clearest expression of a fictionalized and selective memory at work.
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The Relacion was written late in Landa’s life when he had returned to Spain to defend himself against accusations of excessive force in the Christianization of Yucatan. The middle aged friar, like most Spanish ecclesiasticals, had little personal experience with women or children. In both Spain and indigenous Maya society, the daily activities of most women and men were largely segregated along gendered lines that would have allowed Landa very little access to the world of Yucatec women. The Maya domestic world where children, gardening and craft activities took place was a private space, administered by matriarchs and inhospitable to un-related men, much less foreign men. Franciscan attitudes toward women, who were seen as childlike and in need of governance under idealized codes of conduct, did not provide a suitable context for Landa to understand the complementarity of Maya gender roles, nor the power exercised by many Maya women.
When women appear in the Relacion, most frequently it is in the context of Landa’s anxiety over the spiritual authority of certain Maya women and their lack of adherence to Spanish codes of female behavior. Frank expressions of physical desire lurk behind his descriptions of the behavior of young Maya women and his condemnations of their licentiousness. The grossest misunderstanding may be Landa’s disgust and obsession with the participation of Maya women in the religious and ceremonial life of the villages, where women continued to perform long-standing ritual roles in more active and profound ways than allowed within strict Christian practice of the time. Landa looks more fondly upon the children of Colonial Maya society, who he describes as healthy and well loved, although he was utterly unable to explain the persistence of child sacrifice despite recording the Maya rationale in his writings.
The depiction of Maya women and children we read today in the Relacion is not purely imaginary but it is the product of Landa’s imagination, memory, and anxiety over his failed conversion of the Maya. Women and children were farthest from his reach and their lives proceeded with less impact from the Colonial enterprise than any others. For these reasons and others to be explored in this paper, the Relacion reveals Landa’s desires for power and control of an imagined Colonial Maya resistant to his message of salvation. In his hostile longing for dangerous Maya women we see the clearest expression of a fictionalized and selective memory at work.