3,000 Years of War and Peace in the Maya Lowlands: Identity, Politics, and Violence

375 Pages·22.294 MB·English

by  Geoffrey E. Braswell

3,000 YEARS OF WAR AND PEACE

IN THE MAYA LOWLANDS
3,000 Years of War and Peace in the Maya Lowlands presents the cutting-edge
research of 25 authors in the fields of archaeology, biological anthropology, art
history, ethnohistory, and epigraphy. Together, they explore issues central to
ancient Maya identity, political history, and warfare.
T he Maya lowlands of Guatemala, Belize, and southeast Mexico have
witnessed human occupation for at least 11,000 years, and settled life reliant
on agriculture began some 3,100 years ago. From the earliest times, Maya
communities expressed their shifting identities through pottery, architecture,
stone tools, and other items of material culture. Although it is tempting to think
of the Maya as a single unified culture, they were anything but homogeneous, and
differences in identity could be expressed through violence. 3,000 Years of War
and Peace in the Maya Lowlands explores the formation of identity, its relationship
to politics, and its manifestation in warfare from the earliest pottery-making
villages through the late colonial period by studying the material remains and
written texts of the Maya.
T his volume is an invaluable reference for students and scholars of the ancient
Maya, including archaeologists, art historians, and anthropologists.
G eoffrey E. Braswell is Professor of Anthropology at the University of
California, San Diego. Among his numerous works are The Maya and Teotihuacan,
T he Ancient Maya of Mexico, and The Maya and Their Central American Neighbors.
Routledge Archaeology of the Ancient Americas
Series Editor: Geoffrey E. Braswell

Vernacular Architecture in the Pre-Columbian Americas
E dited by Christina Halperin and Lauren Schwartz
S ettlement Ecology of the Ancient Americas
E dited by Lucas C. Kellett and Eric Jones
R eligion and Politics in the Ancient Americas
U nsettled Gods
E dited by Sarah B. Barber and Arthur A. Joyce
3 ,000 Years of War and Peace in the Maya Lowlands
I dentity, Politics, and Violence
E dited by Geoffrey E. Braswell
F or more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/
Routledge-Archaeology-of-the-Ancient-Americas/book-series/RAAA
3,000 YEARS OF WAR

AND PEACE IN THE
MAYA LOWLANDS
Identity, Politics, and Violence

Edited by Geoffrey E. Braswell
Cover image: © Geoffrey E. Braswell
First published 2022
by Routledge
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and by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2022 selection and editorial matter, Geoffrey E. Braswell; individual
chapters, the contributors
The right of Geoffrey E. Braswell to be identified as the author of the
editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has
been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other
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Trademark notice : Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN: 978-1-138-57704-6 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-138-57705-3 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-351-26800-4 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781351268004
Typeset in Bembo
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
To Ritamarie,

Who encouraged my first tentative journeys into the Maya
world and has been wondering why ever since.

CONTENTS

List of figures ix
List of tables xiv
List of contributors xv
1 Identity, politics, and violence: an introduction
to 3,000 Years of War and Peace in the Maya Lowlands 1
Geoffrey E. Braswell
2 Identity and power of the earliest Maya: Preclassic
architecture and cultural development of Nakum
and Yaxha, Peten, Guatemala 19
Bernard Hermes and Jarosław Źrałka
3 Migration and conflict, or emulation and interaction?:
The Belize Valley during the Middle Preclassic 48
Nancy Peniche May, Jaime J. Awe, and Claire E. Ebert
4 Southern Belize from Paleoindian to Preclassic times:
introduction to the region, early origins, and identity 79
Geoffrey E. Braswell
5 The Southern Belize Region in Early to Late Classic
period Mesoamerica: first settlement, Nim li Punit,
and Uxbenka 99
Geoffrey E. Braswell
viii Contents
6 The Southern Belize Region in Late to Terminal
Classic period Mesoamerica: Pusilha, Lubaantun,
and identity 136
G eoffrey E. Braswell
7 Queens and statecraft: royal women in the heart
of the Fire Shrine at El Perú-Waka’ 159
Olivia C. Navarro-Farr, Damien Marken, Mary Kate Kelly,
Keith Eppich, Griselda Pérez Robles, and Juan Carlos Pérez
8 Architecture as a material representation of sociopolitical
structure: an analysis of lowland Maya palace complexes
in the late eighth century 184
Tomás Barrientos Q .
9 As the B ’ak’tun turned: reconstructing Classic to Postclassic
population dynamics in the Belize River Valley 209
Julie A. Hoggarth, Carolyn Freiwald, Claire E. Ebert,
Christophe Helmke, Jaime J. Awe, Kirsten Green Mink,
Patricia Powless, and Ashley H. McKeown
10 Dzehkabtun: crisis and violence in the Terminal Classic 241
Iken Paap
11 Foreign encounters: warfare, trade, and status
at Chichen Itza 256
Annabeth Headrick and John W. Hoopes
12 The sustenance providers: war, sacrifice, and the origin
of people in ancient Mesoamerica 304
Oswaldo Chinchilla Mazariegos
13 Power and politics on the late colonial frontier
of British Honduras 330
Brooke Bonorden and Brett A. Houk
Index 352
FIGURES

1.1 The Maya lowlands showing the sites and regions

discussed throughout this work 7

2.1 Nakum and Yaxha in the Triangle Park of northeastern

Guatemala 20

2.2 Nakum, Guatemala 22

2.3 Chronologies of Nakum, Yaxha, and other Peten sites 23

2.4 Middle Preclassic architecture at Nakum 25

2.5 E-group in the Northern Sector of Nakum 26

2.6 Buried early architecture in the northern part of the

Nakum Acropolis 27

2.7 Reconstruction of the Central Acropolis of Nakum 29

2.8 Late Preclassic stelae 30

2.9 Yaxha, Guatemala 32

2.10 Maler Group, Yaxha 33

2.11 North Acropolis, Yaxha 34

2.12 North Acropolis platform, Yaxha 36

2.13 Mythological stucco frieze on Structure 134 Sub-1 37

2.14 Late Preclassic architecture, Yaxha 40

3.1 The Valley of Belize showing the location of sites mentioned

in the text 49

3.2 Cahal Pech site core 55

3.3 Location of the excavation units opened in Plaza B by

various projects 56

3.4 Savana Ceramic Group, early facet of the Kanluk phase 60

3.5 Jocote Ceramic Group 61

3.6 Savana Ceramic Group, late facet of the Kanluk phase 62

3.7 Profile of Structure B-4 showing its architectural sequence 64