Maya Archeology

ABSTRACT Palenque's Temple XIX platform inscriptions are revisited basis the JDN 584282½ or 82½ GMT correlation constant, with an elapsed time perspective and day's-ending alignments that changes concatenation and date subtraction arithmetical rules. Definitive proof of an ancient calendric science is emerging with astro-calendric designs embedded in Palenque's inscriptions reconstituted, revealing a computationally derived mythological cosmological framework supportive of a rulership authority. Palenque inscription references corroborating reconstituted astro-calendric computations are presented, showing how a Eurocentric Greenwich current time perspective distorts original intent in the astro-calendric alignments. Palenque's Temple XIX inscriptions embed calendric proper fractions distilled from modulo arithmetic practices, which reveals the identities of Triad Progenitor Muwan Mat, Jaguar lunar deity, Triad deity G-I, K'awil and Itzamna, rooted in a Time of Creation sidereal zodiac and precession shift computations.  Matwil's location and Lakamha' spring are revealed as a cosmological setting, creating an alternative " K'awil taking " authority for Palenque's Rulers.

The flexibility of the ‘house’ as a social unit has led to an extensive use of this concept by many researchers in order to understand
Classic Maya society, especially the elite and dominant groups. The ‘house’, as proposed by Lévi-Strauss, is fundamental for his house
society model and implies the use of a variety of ways to establish social relations that are not only based on consanguinity but also on
affinity, considering as well endogamy, exogamy and other social phenomena that are mutually exclusive in other social organization
models. The complexity of the study of kinship and its interaction with the political structure calls for an interdisciplinary research
program, in this case combining methods of archaeology, bioarchaeology, epigraphy, ethnography, history, iconography, and social
anthropology, among others. As a first step this article will approach the problem from archaeological and epigraphic perspectives
including, to a lesser extent, some iconographic data. The case of study is the Kanu’l entity with a focus on the strategies that this
dynasty implemented to weave a broad net of sociopolitical power based on social relations that include kinship. The strategies used
by the Kanu’l dynasty to expand its power included matrimonial and other kind of alliances that helped to construct a strong solidarity
network through which political power was reiterated and legitimized.

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Archaeological remains of ceramic musical instruments occur among pre-Columbian cultures across Mesoamerica. Sound artifacts recovered from the Maya subarea, for example, have provided an indication of the high order of musical sophistication for the ancient Maya. A brief review of the literature on the subject reveals artifacts unearthed from at least 40 sites. Investigation in 1986 and 1987 at Pacbitun, Belize, recovered a range of well-preserved ceramic musical instruments from Late Classic period elite and royal burials. Recent excavations in 2010 recovered an additional 12 artifacts. These will be described and discussed, as well as insights into their archaeological context, and a comparison will be made to similar artifacts found elsewhere in the Maya subarea.

Vestigios arqueológicos de instrumentos musicales de cerámica fueron hallados en las culturas precolombinas de toda Mesoamérica. Artefactos sonoros de la subárea maya por ejemplo revelaron el alto grado de sofisticación que la música debe haber tenido entre los antiguos maya. Una revisión breve de la literatura pertinente mostró que dichos artefactos han sido excavados en al menos 40 sitios. Las investigaciones llevadas a cabo en Pacbitun, Belice, en 1986 y 1987 descubrieron un buen número de distintos instrumentos musicales de cerámica bien preservados en entierros reales y de élite del período Clásico Tardío. Más recientemente, se encontró otra docena de artefactos sonoros más durante las excavaciones realizadas en 2010 en el lugar. En el artículo todos ellos son descritos y discutidos; además, se proporcionan datos sobre su contexto arqueológico y se comparan con artefactos similares descubiertos en otros sitios de la subárea maya.


Cheong, Kong F., Roger Blench, Paul F. Healy, and Terry G. Powis

2014    Ancient Maya Musical Encore: Analysis of Ceramic Musical Instruments from Pacbitun, Belize and the Maya Subarea. In Flower World: Music Archaeology of the Americas, Vol.3., edited by Matthias Stockli and Mark Howell, pp. 123-140. Ekho Verlag, Berlin.

The aim of this work is to show how political relations between some cities may have had an influence on their urban planning. The choice fell on a comparative analysis of Tikal, Naranjo, and Dos Pilas; as known through epigraphic evidence, these three cities had political relations during the Classic Period, especially during the Late Classic (600-900 A.D.). The focus is on the civic-ceremonial centres, where we can find the most emblematic complexes, analysed from a functional point of view, observing them in accordance with their arrangement within the city and in relation to the citizens’ movement. The analyses have shown how these three Mayan cities had similarities in the arrangement of some complexes and structures, such as Triadic Groups, E-groups or Ball Courts, which may arise from either a mutual influence, the presence of a common dynasty or a similar use of available territory.

The original 1982 manuscript presented both at the 44th International Congress of Americanists, Manchester, England in 1982 and the American Astronomical Society in Boston, January 1983.  This research article is the only scholarly study that provides an independent proof that the Codice Maya de Mexico, (CMM) formerly known as the Grolier Codex, must be a genuine pre-Columbian codex – because it contains key iconographic and other data that could not have been known to a potential fabricator in the mid-1960s when the Codex was found.  One of four known ancient Maya books, the Grolier Codex depicts different manifestations of the planet Venus; the column of glyphs on the left of each panel records days in a 104-year Venus almanac. These plaster-coated bark-paper pages, carbon-dated to the 13th century, represent only half of the 20-page original. The author also demonstrates his discovery that the previously labeled pages 10 and 11 of the Codex are actually two parts of the same page "10".

This article has been posted on Academia.edu as part of the Grolier Codex Project of the Center for Archaeoastronomy under the directorship of John B. Carlson, Ph.D.  The Grolier Codex Project seeks to further advance the study of the Grolier Codex.

How do the social and spatial organization of units of pottery production units change over time? As a follow-up to "Social Change and the Evolution of Ceramic Production and Distribution" (Colorado, 2008), this book uses a unique approach to ceramic ethnoarchaeology that traces the history of potters in Ticul, Yucatán and their production space over a period of more than four decades. Illustrated with more than 100 images of production units, it uses narrative to trace the changes in production personnel and their spatial organization through evolution production organization in Ticul including traditional househose and the development of new types of production organization. Although several different kinds of these units developed, only households have roots that extend deep into the 19th century, and these units are both the oldest and the most persistent units of production in spite of massive social change and the re-orientation of pottery production to the tourist market. On the contrary, recently developed entrepreneurial, attached, and government-sponsored workshops were more short-lived and did not persist. Changing production organization in Ticul also reveals that intermittent crafting, multi-crafting, and risk management also play and important role revealing the complexity of the craft production in the present as well as in antiquity.

Maya Blue is an unusual blue pigment used on pottery, sculpture, and murals from the Preclassic to the Colonial period. Until the ate 1960s, its composition was unknown, but chemists working in Spain, Belgium, Mexico, and the United States identified Maya Blue as a combination of indigo and the unusual clay mineral palygorskite (also called attapulgite). A source of palygorskite in the Maya area was unknown for years; then ethnoarchaeological research in the mid-1960s demonstrated that the contemporary Maya recognized the unique physical properties of palygorskite and used it as an additive for pottery temper and for curing certain types of illnesses. Because of its importance in Maya Blue, pre-Hispanic sources of the mineral were then suggested based on ethnoarchaeological data. One of these sources was the cenote in the town of Sacalum, Yucatan. This paper briefly reviews the history of the Maya Blue research from an anthropological perspective and presents evidence of a second possible pre-Hispanic mining site for palygorskite at Yo’ Sah Kab near Ticul, Yucatan. Archaeological and technological approaches have demonstrated the use, distribution, composition, and characteristics of Maya Blue, but ethnoarchaeology has related it to Maya language and culture and to possible pre-Hispanic sources of one of its constituents, palygorskite.

Soluciones cíclicas para las series de eclipses de la Tabla de las Estaciones del Códice de Dresde (pp. 65-69) que demuestran la validez de todas y cada una de las bases calculadas a través de los Números de Serpiente, Números de Anillo y Tablas de Múltiplos de las pp. 61-64.

Dicho conjunto de soluciones contrasta con la afirmación efectuada en 1988 por Victoria Bricker y Harvey Bricker (y aún aceptada en la actualidad por muchos de sus seguidores), según la cual, la iconografía de la Tabla de las Estaciones aplica única y rigurosamente para versiones de la estructura originadas exclusivamente en la Serie de Serpiente 10.6.1.1.5, 3 Chikchan 8 Sak.

En esta primera entrega se detalla una de las posibles soluciones para la Serie de Serpiente 10.6.10.6.3, 13 Akbal 1 K'ank'in, triplemente referenciada en las pp. 31, 62 y 63 del Códice de Dresde.

En la Parte 2, esta misma solución será reproducida para la Serie de Serpiente 10.4.6.15.14, 3 Ix 7 Pax, para luego proceder a desarrollar una segunda solución para la Serie de Serpiente 10.6.10.6.3, 13 Akbal 1 K'ank'in, que incluye la identificación de eclipses distanciados por ciclos metónicos, acontecidos los días del paso cenital del sol sobre Chichén Itzá y la Isla de Cozumel.

En la Parte 3, retrocederemos seis siglos, a partir de 10.6.10.6.3, para demostrar la validez de esta metodología (desarrollada entre 2011-12) para resolver la Serie de Serpiente 8.16.3.12.3, 13 Akbal 11 Yaxk'in (doblemente referenciada en las pp. 31 y 63). Un método simplificado, aplicable a segmentos individuales de 91 días, será finalmente desarrollado.