JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. A long-standing understanding of the Maya highlands suggests that the Postclassic period was characterized by increased warfare and conflict over the preceding Classic period, as seen in settlement patterns and defensive features. Based on recent archaeological work in Guatemala's western highlands, we argue that the archaeological evidence does not support this conclusion; defensive characteristics are also common in the Classic period. Drawing on examples from the Huista Acatec region of the Cuchumat?n Mountains, a typology of defensive characteristics is presented, along with comparative examples elsewhere in the Maya highlands. We suggest that these material correlates of defensibility, while showing that conflict was a central concern in both the Classic and Postclassic periods, lay the foundation for future studies of warfare in the Maya highlands. These insights have implications for the study of settlement pattern defensibility beyond the Maya highlands, including the construction and use of defensive feature typologies, the appropriateness of categorizing societies as either peaceful or militaristic, and the wider identification of cultural continuity. Se ha pensado que el per?odo postcl?sico se caracteriz? por m?s guerras que el per?odo cl?sico precedente, en base a los patrones de asentamiento y rasgos defensivos de las tierras altas mayas de Guatemala. La nueva evidencia arqueol?gica de nuestro proyecto en las tierras altas occidentales guatemaltecas no apoya esto; rasgos defensivos son tan communes en el per?odo cl?sico como en el per?odo postcl?sico. Se presenta una tipolog?a de las caracter?sticas defensivas en la regi?n Huista Acateco de las monta?as Cuchumat?nes de Guatemala junto con ejemplos comparativos de otras regiones de las tierras altas mayas. Sugerimos que este correlato material de defensa, adem?s de mostrar que las situaciones de conflicto fueron centrales en los per?odos cl?sico y postcl?sico, sirve como punto de partida para nuevos estudios de Guerra en las tierras altas mayas. Esto tiene implicaciones para el an?lisis de los patrones de asentamiento defensivos en otras regiones, incluyendo la elabo raci?n y uso de tipolog?as de rasgos defensivos, el problema de categorizer sociedades pac?ficas o militarizadas, y una m?s amplia identificaci?n de la continuidad cultural.For many years following the turn of the last century, archaeologists characterized the Lowland Maya of the Classic period (A.D. 300 to 1000) as a peaceful society of priest-kings. Empirically, this perspective seemed to be sup ported by the apparent lack of fortifications or defensive features around Lowland Maya sites dur ing this period. In contrast, the Postclassic Maya, particularl...
This study investigates the connectivity between a number of places in an ancient Tuscan landscape by developing and testing hypotheses about mobility around and across the region. Interpretatively, it makes use of the concepts of familiarity and repetition in evaluating the quotidian experience of a landscape. Methodologically, it employs a multi-stranded approach, combining traditional topographical and archaeological assessments with GIS and ground-truthing exercises in a recursive dialog. It posits a ‘meshwork of connectivity’, which served to facilitate short- and long-distance travel within and across the region. It explores interactions between natural barriers and routeways, on the one hand, and human interventions and decision-making, on the other, and proposes the existence of both ‘corridors of movement’ and ‘focal points’ in the landscape. Finally, it suggests that seasonal variation in both environmental factors and economic imperatives likely impacted both the ease and the extent of regional travel.
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