This paper addresses activities carried out in a late-sixteenth or seventeenth century Maya counc... more This paper addresses activities carried out in a late-sixteenth or seventeenth century Maya council house (popol nah) just before its abandonment. Structure 719 at the site of Zacpeten in the central Peten lakes district is considered a noble residence remodeled into a council house with an adjacent temple. Excavations revealed quantities of de facto refuse inside the structure's two rooms and around the exterior; recent studies focused on ceramics, lithics, faunal remains, and net sinkers. The back room held abundant lithics and diverse fauna, with evidence of grinding red pigment and snapping obsidian prismatic blades into segments for fashioning arrow points. Pottery and faunal remains indicate feasting, as well as possible use of animal parts in ritual and in making ceremonial objects. The Group 719 complex served as a center of production of various goods and community ritual until its abrupt abandonment, likely in the first decade or so of the eighteenth century.
Rice, Prudence M., Don S. Rice, Timothy W. Pugh, and Rómulo Sánchez Polo
2009 Defensive Architect... more Rice, Prudence M., Don S. Rice, Timothy W. Pugh, and Rómulo Sánchez Polo 2009 Defensive Architecture and the Context of Warfare at Zacpetén. In The Kowoj: Identity, Migration, and Politics in Late Postclassic Petén, Guatemala, edited by Prudence M. Rice and Don S. Rice, pp. 123-140. University Press of Colorado, Boulder.
Rice, Don S., Prudence M. Rice, and Timothy W. Pugh
1998 Settlement Continuity and Change in the... more Rice, Don S., Prudence M. Rice, and Timothy W. Pugh 1998 Settlement Continuity and Change in the Central Peten Lakes Region: The Case for Zacpetén. In Anatomía de una Civilización: Aproximaciones Interdisciplinarias a la Cultura Maya, edited by A. Ciudad Riuz, Y. Fernández Marquínez, J. García Campillo, J. Ponce de León, A. García-Gallo, and L. Sanz Castro, pp. 207-252. Sociedad Española de Estudios Mayas, Madrid.
Recent excavations conducted by Proyecto Itza investigated a Late Postclassic (a.d. 1400–1525) co... more Recent excavations conducted by Proyecto Itza investigated a Late Postclassic (a.d. 1400–1525) community at Nixtun-Ch'ich’, Petén, Guatemala. This community was likely occupied by a faction of Itza Mayas called the Chak'an Itzas. Recent work focused on the community's civic-ceremonial architecture and nearby residences. The former was dominated by two colonnaded halls standing abreast. These buildings, believed to have been popol najoob (council houses), likely represented socio-political dualism in Chak'an society. The halls included various sculptures that seem largely associated with the deity Itzamna mounted into architecture so that they were clearly on display. Most sculptures were associated with one of the two halls suggesting that one faction was more powerful and more strongly advertised its connections with Yucatán. Excavations also revealed the avoidance of masonry in residential areas, which differentiated Chak'an residences from their civic-ceremonial areas and also distinguished Chak'an residences from those of their neighbors.
Small pieces of notched pottery at lowland Maya archaeological sites served as sinkers or weights... more Small pieces of notched pottery at lowland Maya archaeological sites served as sinkers or weights (pesas) for fishing nets and lines. More than 1400 of these artifacts recovered from six sites in the central Petén lakes region dated to the Preclassic, Classic, and Postclassic/Contact periods. Thirteen variables of the sinkers were analyzed, including provenience, dimensions, pottery type, and shape, with comparisons among sites and individual structures within sites—including locations of probable decomposed fishing nets. The weights of these artifacts declined dramatically between Preclassic and Classic times, and then less abruptly in the Postclassic, when they began to exhibit signs of standardization: a smaller range of dimensions and use of specially formed pellets. The decline in weight suggests capture of smaller fish, and may reveal changes in water quality, fishing strategies, or “fishing down the food web.” 1. Introduction to Lowland Maya Fish and Fishing The Lowland Setting Ancient Mesoamerican Art and Ritual Colonial History and Ethnography 2. The Petén Lakes: Environment, Archaeology, and Fishes The Central Petén Lakes’ Environment Archaeology and Occupational History of the Lake Basins Freshwater Fishes of Central Petén Fishing Today 3. Fishing Nets and Sinkers Nets Sinkers (Pesas) Characterizing Petén Sinkers: Methods 4. Petén Lakes’ Preclassic and Classic Sinkers Preclassic-Period Sinkers Classic-Period Sinkers 5. Postclassic Contexts and Sinkers Postclassic and Later Sinkers Macanché Island Zacpetén Ixlú Lakes Quexil and Petenxil Tayasal Nixtun-Ch'ich' 6. Fiber-Working and Net-Making 7. Petén Pesas in Broader Context Comparisons of Weight Color Dimensions Classic and Postclassic Comparisons Chronological and Geographical Variations Technology and Economy Why Declining Weights? Archaeological Data on Fish Consumption 8. Discussion and Conclusions
This paper addresses activities carried out in a late-sixteenth or seventeenth century Maya counc... more This paper addresses activities carried out in a late-sixteenth or seventeenth century Maya council house (popol nah) just before its abandonment. Structure 719 at the site of Zacpeten in the central Peten lakes district is considered a noble residence remodeled into a council house with an adjacent temple. Excavations revealed quantities of de facto refuse inside the structure's two rooms and around the exterior; recent studies focused on ceramics, lithics, faunal remains, and net sinkers. The back room held abundant lithics and diverse fauna, with evidence of grinding red pigment and snapping obsidian prismatic blades into segments for fashioning arrow points. Pottery and faunal remains indicate feasting, as well as possible use of animal parts in ritual and in making ceremonial objects. The Group 719 complex served as a center of production of various goods and community ritual until its abrupt abandonment, likely in the first decade or so of the eighteenth century.
This paper addresses activities carried out in a late-sixteenth or seventeenth century Maya counc... more This paper addresses activities carried out in a late-sixteenth or seventeenth century Maya council house (popol nah) just before its abandonment. Structure 719 at the site of Zacpeten in the central Peten lakes district is considered a noble residence remodeled into a council house with an adjacent temple. Excavations revealed quantities of de facto refuse inside the structure's two rooms and around the exterior; recent studies focused on ceramics, lithics, faunal remains, and net sinkers. The back room held abundant lithics and diverse fauna, with evidence of grinding red pigment and snapping obsidian prismatic blades into segments for fashioning arrow points. Pottery and faunal remains indicate feasting, as well as possible use of animal parts in ritual and in making ceremonial objects. The Group 719 complex served as a center of production of various goods and community ritual until its abrupt abandonment, likely in the first decade or so of the eighteenth century.
Rice, Prudence M., Don S. Rice, Timothy W. Pugh, and Rómulo Sánchez Polo
2009 Defensive Architect... more Rice, Prudence M., Don S. Rice, Timothy W. Pugh, and Rómulo Sánchez Polo 2009 Defensive Architecture and the Context of Warfare at Zacpetén. In The Kowoj: Identity, Migration, and Politics in Late Postclassic Petén, Guatemala, edited by Prudence M. Rice and Don S. Rice, pp. 123-140. University Press of Colorado, Boulder.
Rice, Don S., Prudence M. Rice, and Timothy W. Pugh
1998 Settlement Continuity and Change in the... more Rice, Don S., Prudence M. Rice, and Timothy W. Pugh 1998 Settlement Continuity and Change in the Central Peten Lakes Region: The Case for Zacpetén. In Anatomía de una Civilización: Aproximaciones Interdisciplinarias a la Cultura Maya, edited by A. Ciudad Riuz, Y. Fernández Marquínez, J. García Campillo, J. Ponce de León, A. García-Gallo, and L. Sanz Castro, pp. 207-252. Sociedad Española de Estudios Mayas, Madrid.
Recent excavations conducted by Proyecto Itza investigated a Late Postclassic (a.d. 1400–1525) co... more Recent excavations conducted by Proyecto Itza investigated a Late Postclassic (a.d. 1400–1525) community at Nixtun-Ch'ich’, Petén, Guatemala. This community was likely occupied by a faction of Itza Mayas called the Chak'an Itzas. Recent work focused on the community's civic-ceremonial architecture and nearby residences. The former was dominated by two colonnaded halls standing abreast. These buildings, believed to have been popol najoob (council houses), likely represented socio-political dualism in Chak'an society. The halls included various sculptures that seem largely associated with the deity Itzamna mounted into architecture so that they were clearly on display. Most sculptures were associated with one of the two halls suggesting that one faction was more powerful and more strongly advertised its connections with Yucatán. Excavations also revealed the avoidance of masonry in residential areas, which differentiated Chak'an residences from their civic-ceremonial areas and also distinguished Chak'an residences from those of their neighbors.
Small pieces of notched pottery at lowland Maya archaeological sites served as sinkers or weights... more Small pieces of notched pottery at lowland Maya archaeological sites served as sinkers or weights (pesas) for fishing nets and lines. More than 1400 of these artifacts recovered from six sites in the central Petén lakes region dated to the Preclassic, Classic, and Postclassic/Contact periods. Thirteen variables of the sinkers were analyzed, including provenience, dimensions, pottery type, and shape, with comparisons among sites and individual structures within sites—including locations of probable decomposed fishing nets. The weights of these artifacts declined dramatically between Preclassic and Classic times, and then less abruptly in the Postclassic, when they began to exhibit signs of standardization: a smaller range of dimensions and use of specially formed pellets. The decline in weight suggests capture of smaller fish, and may reveal changes in water quality, fishing strategies, or “fishing down the food web.” 1. Introduction to Lowland Maya Fish and Fishing The Lowland Setting Ancient Mesoamerican Art and Ritual Colonial History and Ethnography 2. The Petén Lakes: Environment, Archaeology, and Fishes The Central Petén Lakes’ Environment Archaeology and Occupational History of the Lake Basins Freshwater Fishes of Central Petén Fishing Today 3. Fishing Nets and Sinkers Nets Sinkers (Pesas) Characterizing Petén Sinkers: Methods 4. Petén Lakes’ Preclassic and Classic Sinkers Preclassic-Period Sinkers Classic-Period Sinkers 5. Postclassic Contexts and Sinkers Postclassic and Later Sinkers Macanché Island Zacpetén Ixlú Lakes Quexil and Petenxil Tayasal Nixtun-Ch'ich' 6. Fiber-Working and Net-Making 7. Petén Pesas in Broader Context Comparisons of Weight Color Dimensions Classic and Postclassic Comparisons Chronological and Geographical Variations Technology and Economy Why Declining Weights? Archaeological Data on Fish Consumption 8. Discussion and Conclusions
This paper addresses activities carried out in a late-sixteenth or seventeenth century Maya counc... more This paper addresses activities carried out in a late-sixteenth or seventeenth century Maya council house (popol nah) just before its abandonment. Structure 719 at the site of Zacpeten in the central Peten lakes district is considered a noble residence remodeled into a council house with an adjacent temple. Excavations revealed quantities of de facto refuse inside the structure's two rooms and around the exterior; recent studies focused on ceramics, lithics, faunal remains, and net sinkers. The back room held abundant lithics and diverse fauna, with evidence of grinding red pigment and snapping obsidian prismatic blades into segments for fashioning arrow points. Pottery and faunal remains indicate feasting, as well as possible use of animal parts in ritual and in making ceremonial objects. The Group 719 complex served as a center of production of various goods and community ritual until its abrupt abandonment, likely in the first decade or so of the eighteenth century.
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Papers by Don Rice
2009 Defensive Architecture and the Context of Warfare at Zacpetén. In The Kowoj: Identity, Migration, and Politics in Late Postclassic Petén, Guatemala, edited by Prudence M. Rice and Don S. Rice, pp. 123-140. University Press of Colorado, Boulder.
1998 Settlement Continuity and Change in the Central Peten Lakes Region: The Case
for Zacpetén. In Anatomía de una Civilización: Aproximaciones Interdisciplinarias a la Cultura Maya, edited by A. Ciudad Riuz, Y. Fernández Marquínez, J. García Campillo, J. Ponce de León, A. García-Gallo, and L. Sanz Castro, pp. 207-252. Sociedad Española de Estudios Mayas, Madrid.
Books by Don Rice
Publications by Don Rice
Full PDF available on request
2009 Defensive Architecture and the Context of Warfare at Zacpetén. In The Kowoj: Identity, Migration, and Politics in Late Postclassic Petén, Guatemala, edited by Prudence M. Rice and Don S. Rice, pp. 123-140. University Press of Colorado, Boulder.
1998 Settlement Continuity and Change in the Central Peten Lakes Region: The Case
for Zacpetén. In Anatomía de una Civilización: Aproximaciones Interdisciplinarias a la Cultura Maya, edited by A. Ciudad Riuz, Y. Fernández Marquínez, J. García Campillo, J. Ponce de León, A. García-Gallo, and L. Sanz Castro, pp. 207-252. Sociedad Española de Estudios Mayas, Madrid.
Full PDF available on request