Research Laboratories of Archaeology

The Maya archaeological site of Xcaret, formerly known as P’ole’, was once an important port community of the Caribbean littoral, serving as a mainland gateway to the religious shrine of Ixchel and the ports on the island of Cozumel during the Late Postclassic Period (1250 – 1519 CE). Over the past two decades, this ancient port has been transformed into the most publicized archaeo/eco-tourist theme park in the Maya world, a modern, multisensory gateway to a series of cultural narratives of identity built around, in part, the ancient ruins that provide a physical/historical backdrop and performance space. In this paper we critically examine the multiple narratives presented to the public at the archaeological site/theme park that stem from historicized places, people, material culture, and texts--what we refer to as archaeonarratives. At Xcaret, an “ancient Maya past” provides the contextual backdrop for audiovisual representations of a national Mexican imaginary directed toward an elite national and international tourist public. Ironically, this heritage centering takes place in a peripheral location that has been historically and culturally disconnected from the larger Mexican national identity discourse. Our research, which integrates approaches from cultural studies, ethnography, and archaeology, suggests that archaeotourism at Xcaret and the Mexican Caribbean has provided a gateway for a “Maya past” to be incorporated into the palimpsest of modern heritage discourse in Mexico in unprecedented ways that problematize the relationship between local and regional identities and the nation-state.

The material expressions of the powerful symbols and cultural traditions of ancient Mesoamerican civilizations
have long played vital roles in constructing social and political discourses, collective identities, and worldviews in
the Mexican present. In this chapter, we provide the theoretical background for this volume, highlighting the early history of archaeological representation and patrimony in Mexico prior to the 20th century and situating these studies within the current phase of anthropological research in the related areas of public archaeology, heritage studies, and community (engaged) archaeology. [public archaeology, heritage, identity politics, community archaeology, tourism]

The karst landscape of Yucatán, Mexico is dotted with thousands of sinkholes that provide access to fresh water. These features, called cenotes in Spanish and ts’ono’ot in Yucatec Maya, range from subterranean caverns with well-developed speleothems to open-air sinkholes. While there are a variety of cenote types, all are connected to the subterranean freshwater aquifer. The interconnectivity of cenotes magnifies the impact of cenote contamination. Because of their significance as water sources, cenotes were conceived by ancestral Maya peoples as portals to supernatural forces and guardians of rain. Today, cenotes remain culturally important and are located near the center of most Maya communities, although wells have replaced them as sources of potable water. Many are now developed for tourism and serve as important economic resources. Despite their cultural and economic importance, cenotes are increasingly endangered by contamination caused by industrial and agricultural run-off, trash dumping, chemical and waste contamination, and unsustainable recreational use.  One approach to mitigating these threats is through community-driven educational programming aimed at mobilizing youth to study and conserve cenotes in their communities. In 2018, InHerit: Indigenous Heritage Passed to Present, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, collaborated with students and faculty at the Universidad de Oriente in Valladolid, Yucatán, along with teachers at nine public secondary schools in Maya communities, to develop sustainable experiential education curricula related to sinkhole conservation, water quality monitoring, and cultural heritage. Supported by funding from a National Geographic Society grant, students and teachers at nine middle schools participated in this project. Here we discuss the goals and methods employed, as well as how this project is transforming students’ ideas about water conservation, and the application of Indigenous knowledge for cenote conservation.

Esperamos que este manual sea útil para el currículo de los maestros y una introducción divertida al estudio de los cenotes como recursos bioculturales de suma importancia. Los maestros descubrirán que mientras el énfasis de los manuales es “cenotes,” la información y las capítulos son aplicables de manera más amplia o una variedad de asignaturas. Se puede utilizar muchas fuera del aula en proyectos extracurriculares o los clubs fuera del horario normal de las clases. Los docentes también se darán cuenta de que aunque el lector meta para los manuales es el alumno de primer año de secundaria, se puede integrar mucho del contenido y las actividades a lo largo de la experiencia de la secundaria, inclusive el segundo y tercer año. Somos optimistas que proveerá a los estudiantes con una amplia fuente de información sobre cenotes y fortalecerá en los jóvenes un sentido de orgullo de los cenotes como aspectos preciosos e irreemplazables del patrimonio cultural Yucateco.

The past three decades have ushered in a paradigm shift in the field of archaeology toward increasingly collaborative, participatory, and multivocal approaches developed through synergistic partnerships with descendant communities that foreground the impacts and relevance of archaeology and cultural heritage preservation in the present, as well as the deep connections between local places and shared identity. Community-engaged archaeology projects are both global and local in the sense that they contribute to broader efforts to decolonize the research process and elevate the voices of underrepresented communities in conservation and public interpretation of cultural resources, while the path collaboration takes varies considerably depending on local context and relationships between stakeholders. For over a decade, InHerit: Indigenous Heritage Passed to Present, a program founded by archaeologist Patricia A. McAnany, has developed and supported several collaborative projects that combine anthropological research, cultural heritage education, and conservation. Through recent InHerit partnerships with communities in Yucatán, Mexico and North Carolina, we see that some of the most profound opportunities (and challenges) grow out of two essential components of community-engaged projects: interweaving different epistemologies and knowledge systems in pursuit of shared objectives and integrating local interests directly into research design and implementation.

In the Yucatán Peninsula, freshwater sinkholes known as cenotes are the only natural water systems beyond seasonal rainfall. In addition to their role as sustainable sources of water, certain cenotes were sacred to ancestral Maya peoples. Unfortunately, today, cenotes are threatened by pollution and contamination due to trash-dumping, intensive farming, and the effects of tourism. In response to these threats, InHerit: Indigenous Heritage Passed to Present (University of North Carolina), partnered with the Universidad de Oriente (UNO) in Valladolid, Mexico, and nine middle schools in Maya towns throughout Yucatán. Together, we developed curriculum resources focused on the environmental and cultural preservation of cenotes. Our initiative not only generated conservation activities but archival materials related to cenotes. These include photographs and landscape drawings by students, community oral histories about cenotes, and illustrations related to cenotes in the Maya codices—ancestral books of prophecy and fate authored by Yucatec Maya scribes before the sixteenth century. Through our multi-disciplinary exploration of the relationship between biocultural heritage and place, we investigate whether or not cenotes as landscape markers and archaeological caches, themselves, can also be archives—spaces with the capacity to collect, preserve, protect, and convey intergenerational memory and knowledge in the Yucatec Maya world.