The militaristic interpretations of the art of Chichen Itza, Yucatán, Mexico, fails to sufficiently describe its entire decorative program. Absent from discussions of the art tradition is the apparent focus on merchant activity in the city. The influence and power of merchants strengthened during the transition from the Classic to Postclassic in Mesoamerica. With an increase in demand of foreign goods, new exchange relationships developed between centers in Central Mexico, the Gulf, and Maya region. As a result, several cultural regions participated in a vast economic network that created political alliances and syncretic art styles. Focusing on the mural tradition of Chichen Itza, this study proposes a chronological sequence for the wall paintings by examining their style, subject matter, and architectural setting. Analysis of the painted images demonstrates the progressive development of merchant activity in the city and its influence in establishing Chichen Itza as one of the major centers of long-distance trade by the Terminal Classic.

Recent excavations uncovered numerous small rooms constructed on top of the Danta Acropolis at El Mirador, Guatemala. The characteristics of the settlement and the material items indicated that it was a late occupation and lacked the features associated with large Maya polities and Classic Maya culture. This thesis focused on describing the continuities and changes that occurred from the Late Classic to the Terminal Classic at El Mirador based on the ceramic assemblage and architecture. Significant continuity and stability of the pottery making community is reflected in the ceramic assemblage. Additionally, it was desirable to gain an understanding of how the Terminal Classic occupation at El Mirador differed from other Maya cities. The comparisons show that on a general level, despite being a small settlement, El Mirador participated in many of the cultural patterns that characterize the Terminal Classic period. Two levels of ceramic production are postulated for the Late Classic period, one sustaining production of fine wares (polychromes) and the other sustaining production of basic production (utilitarian wares). The people inhabiting El Mirador in the Terminal Classic period were materially less well-off, and did not pursue activities associated with high culture as their counterparts did in larger cities. Nevertheless, they were not culturally isolated and they had access to trade items and small quantities of prestige goods.

No description available.

The dissertation examines the political organization of the ancient Maya during the Terminal Classic Period in the Cochuah Region of Quintana Roo. It evaluates the architecture and site layout of the secondary sites of Sacalaca and San Felipe, and tertiary and quaternary sites surrounding them in order to test political models. Our understanding of the ancient Maya political organization largely comes from Classic Period hieroglyphic texts recorded by Maya kings on public monuments. This reliance on only these kinds of data creates a limitation on the interpretation of political organization, and does not address the local scale of political institution within Maya polities. It also creates the illusion of a centralization of political organization and biases towards primary sites where hieroglyphic monuments are located. The alternative data available for the evaluation of political organization are the regional settlement pattern, individual site layouts and site architecture. Certain types of architecture such as acropoli, mortuary temples, formal plazas and ballcourts, are representative of the institutions of rulership permitting to determine the type of political organization. The distribution of this architecture within the primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary sites will correlate to respective political models. Three models were chosen to be tested after reviewing the various models proposed for the political organization of the ancient Maya. These models are Dynastic Kingship, Mul Tepal, and the Segmentary State. The archaeological correlates of these models are identified and compared with the evidence provided by twenty sites in the Cochuah Region for both the early Terminal Classic Period -the Florescent Phase and the late Terminal Classic Period -the Post Florescent Phase. The conclusion is made that during the Florescent Phase the political organization in the Cochuah Region was a Segmentary State. In the Segmentary State the institution of rulership is found in sites occupying different levels in the settlement hierarchy. Sacalaca and San Felipe and their satellites exhibit a duplication of the institutions of rulership on a smaller scale. During the Post Florescent Phase data indicate the absence of authorities capable of providing order or enforcing laws and perhaps the absence of rulers during this time in the region. This case study demonstrates that some types of political organizations would be only visible through examination of secondary sites and their satellites. Also, this approach addresses the problem of relying on hieroglyphic texts and helps to overcome a bias of centralized political organization created by investigation limited to the primary centers. / Anthropology

Triple oxygen and hydrogen isotope analysis of the structurally-bound water in gypsum can provide a direct measure of past hydrologic variability. This thesis presents the development of the water extraction and isotopic measurement procedures, the calculation of the gypsum-water isotope fractionation factors, and the application of the method to constrain the palaeohydrologic conditions in two temporally and geographically disparate sites. Measurement of the isotopic composition of gypsum hydration water is used to examine the hydrological changes that occurred during the Terminal Classic Drought of the Maya lowlands (~800-1000 CE), coincident with the period when the Classic Maya Civilization of Mesoamerica collapsed. The data provide a complete and direct archive of hydrological conditions that have previously been limited to ice core records. Mean annual rainfall is shown to have decreased by between 41% and 54%, with intervals of up to 70%, compared to present-day conditions. This study has also shown for the first time that relative humidity was 2%-7% lower during the Terminal Classic Drought compared to today. The methodology is also applied to the massive gypsum deposits in the marginal and deep basins of the Mediterranean to interpret the chemical evolution of parent water bodies during the Messinian Salinity Crisis (5.97-5.3 Ma). By combining the measurement of gypsum hydration water with other traditional (e.g. strontium) and novel (e.g. calcium and barium) isotope tracers, the hydrological changes during the deposition of Primary Lower Gypsum units of the Sorbas Basin in southeastern Spain, the Upper Gypsum units of Sicily, and deep basin deposits have been constrained. The results indicate that all deposits experienced a significant freshwater contribution to the mother fluids from which they formed. It is proposed that obliquity-controlled sea level and eccentricity-modulated precession, superimposed on longer-term tectonic restriction of the Mediterranean-Atlantic exchange, together controlled the varying depositional environments during the formation of the Messinian Salt Giant. This thesis demonstrates that the analysis of gypsum hydration water is a powerful tool for palaeoclimate reconstruction. The methodology can be applied to gypsum (and other hydrated minerals) in a wide range of settings across geological space and time, providing a rich source of information about the environmental conditions under which they formed.

Le site d’Ucanal, dans le Petén au Guatemala près de la frontière avec le Bélize, est un site maya avec une très forte occupation et un grand centre cérémoniel actif durant le Classique terminal, une période où de nombreuses autres cités mayas étaient en ébullition politique ou en train d’être abandonnés. Les jeux de balle faisant partie des centres civiques ont très souvent été fouillés dans des optiques reliées aux activités cérémonielles et à l’élite. Ce mémoire propose d’étudier les déchets provenant des dépotoirs situés en périphérie du jeu de balle afin d’étudier les activités pratiquées par les spectateurs et non juste celles des officiants. Pour ce faire, une analyse globale de tous les artefacts (lithiques, céramiques et fauniques) du jeu de balle #1 du groupe A d’Ucanal a été réalisée. Des analyses de la distribution des artefacts entre les différentes zones du terrain de jeu et entre le terrain de jeu et d'autres contextes du site ont été entreprises afin d'identifier l'éventail possible d'activités associées au terrain de jeu d'Ucanal. Les résultats démontrent qu’en plus des activités rituelles généralement documentées en contexte de jeu de balle, le jeu de balle d’Ucanal est associé à des activités de festins qui impliquent une grande consommation de coquillages possiblement accompagnée de musique et de paris. / The archaeological site of Ucanal, located in the Petén region of Guatemala near the border with Belize, is a Maya site with a large population and active ceremonial centre during the Terminal Classic, a period in which other sites were wrought with political turmoil or were in the process of being abandoned. The ballcourts located in civic centers have often been researched from the perspective of formal ceremonial activities and the elite. This thesis proposes to study the debris from middens located on the outskirts of the Ucanal site ballcourt in order to study the activities practiced by spectators instead of focusing solely on the formal activities within the court itself. To do so, a holistic documentation of all the artifacts (lithic, ceramic and fauna) was conducted from excavations of ballcourt #1 of group A of Ucanal. Artifact distribution analyses between different zones of the ballcourt and between the ballcourt and other areas of the site were undertaken to identify the possible range of activities associated with Ucanal’s ballcourt. The results show that in addition to the ritual activities generally documented in the context of ball games, Ucanal's ballcourt was associated with feasting activities which involved freshwater shells and possibly the accompaniment of music and gambling.

No description available.