UC Riverside

1031 Pages·2016·12.79 MB·English

UC Riverside
UC Riverside Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Title
Enchaining Kinship: Figurines and State Formation at Cahal Pech, Cayo, Belize
Permalink
https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0nr943rx
Author
DeLance, Lisa L.
Publication Date
2016
Copyright Information
This work is made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-
NoDerivatives License, availalbe at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/

Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation
eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library
University of California
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
RIVERSIDE

Enchaining Kinship: Figurines and State Formation at Cahal Pech, Cayo, Belize

A Dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction
of the requirements for the degree of

Doctor of Philosophy

in

Anthropology

by

Lisa LaVon DeLance

December 2016

Dissertation Committee:
Dr. Wendy Ashmore, Chairperson
Dr. Travis Stanton
Dr. Christine Gailey
Copyright by
Lisa LaVon DeLance
2016
The Dissertation of Lisa LaVon DeLance is approved:

____________________________________

____________________________________

____________________________________
Chairperson

University of California, Riverside
Acknowledgements
There are so many people to whom I owe thanks. First and foremost, to Dr.
Wendy Ashmore, who has been a constant source of support and encouragement,
challenging me to grow both professionally and personally. I will be forever grateful for
her willingness to take a chance on an eager graduate student, and for encouraging me to
explore unconventional interpretations. I am grateful for her warm support and
constructive critiques. She was and continues to be generous with her praise, modest in
her suggestions, and always reminding me that learning is a lifelong process. I would not
be the scholar I am today without her and I consider myself lucky to call her my mentor
and friend.
I would also like to extend my thanks to Dr. Christine Gailey, who has always
supported and encouraged me to pursue the things which I thought were impossible. She
has taught me to always think critically about the world around me, explore and engage
with facets of anthropology not related to archaeology, to persevere when things become
difficult, and to thrive with a special grace reserved for those who have seen and
experienced some of the best and worst that life has to offer. She is an inspirational
mentor and friend.
Dr. Travis Stanton not only supported my ideas, but helped me to approach them
pragmatically while also reminding me of the “big picture” of what I intended to
accomplish. He has helped me keep both my research and my academic career in
iv
perspective, allowing me to find the answers on my own, while ensuring that I didn’t fall
painfully flat on my face.
Dr. Thomas Patterson’s brilliant mind, eagerness to offer input, and quick wit
made graduate school a fun and memorable experience, while Dr. Karl Taube was always
willing to discuss iconography and offer insights and opinions when I most needed them.
To both I offer my heartfelt gratitude for their time, knowledge, and energy. I also owe a
special thanks to Anna Wire, Becky Campbell, Lilia Liederbach-Vega, and Tiara
Caldwell-Pleas for their tireless efforts on behalf of all graduate students, and their ability
to do their job every day with smiles on their faces.
This dissertation would not have been possible without the moral and financial
support of the Belize Valley Archaeological Reconnaissance Project (BVAR) and project
directors Dr. Jaime Awe (Northern Arizona University) and Dr. Julie Hoggarth (Baylor
University). I thank both Dr. Awe and Dr. Hoggarth for being so generous with their
time and energy, and for allowing me to explore multiple dimensions of figurine usage at
Cahal Pech and throughout the larger Belize River Valley.
I wish to thank Emily Kaplan from the Smithsonian Institution who provided
invaluable conservation advice and guidance in order to protect the Cahal Pech figurine
corpus for future generations of researchers. I would also like to extend my heartfelt
thanks to my laboratory assistants through the BVAR project: G. Van Kollias, Sydney
Lonaker, Stephen Rosenberg, Mike Berns, Lisa Green, Johnny Chuch, Divine Gamez,
Magdalen Gibson, Daniel Lopez, Annabel Avendano, Amanda Bermudez, Josie Howl,
v
Casana Popp, and E.J. Taylor. Additionally, I would like to thank Antonio Beardall from
the Belize Institute of Archaeology for his friendship and support throughout my field
research and beyond. This dissertation would not be what it is without the editorial
expertise and wonderful comments of Dr. Tom Garrison of University of Southern
California, and Dr. Guy Hepp of California State University, San Bernardino, and to both
of them, I extend my gratitude for their time and energy.
I wish to also thank my family and friends, whose love and encouragement, both
emotional and financial, kept me going. And last but certainly not least, to my cohort:
Jared Katz, Erin Gould, Sharon Rushing, Jennifer Cullin, and Kyle Harp-Rushing for
providing unwavering friendship and support throughout graduate school and beyond. It
is safe to say that this dissertation would not have been completed without their love and
encouragement. They are not just colleagues and friends, but dear family, and I consider
myself lucky to call them such.
This dissertation research was funded by both the BVAR project and the Center
for Ideas and Society Humanities Research Grant, along with the Graduate Student
Research Fellowship and private funding from Virginia DeLance and Larry and Vicki
DeLance. Writing of the dissertation was supported by the University of California,
Riverside Dean’s Distinguished Fellowship and the University of California Graduate
Student Resource Center and the GradSuccess program.

vi
ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION

Enchaining Kinship: Figurines and State Formation at Cahal Pech, Cayo, Belize

by

Lisa LaVon DeLance

Doctor of Philosophy, Graduate Program in Anthropology
University of California, Riverside, December 2016
Dr. Wendy Ashmore, Chairperson

This dissertation examines the use and deposition of ceramic figurine fragments
from the site of Cahal Pech, Cayo, Belize over the range of occupation of the site from
the Formative Period to the Terminal Classic Period (ca. 1,100 BC to AD 900). This
research considers critically the similarities and differences in figurine use and
depositional practices between the site core and smaller neighboring structure groups
examined synchronically, while also charting similarities and differences across the entire
site diachronically.
Mesoamerican figurines are often tied to notions of ancestor veneration and are
generally, although not exclusively, believed to have been tools for ritual practice. An
investigation of use and depositional practices of these figurines reveals that the rise of
social and political complexity and the presence of ceramic figurine deposits at Cahal
Pech have a negative correlation. This suggests that during the state formation process at
vii
Cahal Pech, ancestor veneration rituals involving figurines were either fundamentally
changed to not include figurines in ritual practice or the importance of community based
ancestor veneration ritual gradually ceased. Furthermore, the exploitation and decline of
kin group autonomy associated with state formation is further examined to elucidate how
the deposition of ceramic figurines tied to ancestor veneration were used as symbols of
acquiescence and resistance to the marginalization of kin groups inherent in the state
formation process.

viii
TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1: STATE FORMATION, ENCHAINMENT, AND FIGURINES 1
Research Questions 6
Question 1: Is there a difference in the treatment of ceramic
figurines found at the Cahal Pech site core versus the Cahal Pech
periphery groups? 6
Question 2: Do the features found on ceramic figurines change
over time? 7
Question 3: Is there a correlation between changes in social and political
complexity at Cahal Pech and the uses and deposition of ceramic
figurines? 8
Question 4: Are Formative Period figurines found in different contexts
than figurines dating to the Terminal Classic period? 9
Chapter Organization 9
CHAPTER 2: ENCHAINMENT AND FIGURINES 13
Fragmentation and Enchainment 15
Fragmented Figurines 18
CHAPTER 3: STATE FORMATION AND KINSHIP 24
Maya States 24
Strongly Centralized States 27
The Regional State Model 27
ix