Archaeological Evidence for Occupational Specialization Among the Classic Period Maya at Tikal, Guatemala

Abstract

Recent models for the organization of Classic period Maya in the Guatemala lowlands suggest a complex system of stratified social classes. Much of the basic data supporting such theoretical models is derived from the evidence for the existence of numerous occupational specializations. Previously, the data have been largely inferential, but extensive and comprehensive excavations at Tikal over a period of 13 yr have provided significant information suggesting that the occupations of residents of specific buildings or house groups can be determined. This evidence also suggests techniques by which future excavations might be directed in order to augment existing information.

Caracol, Belize, and Changing Perceptions of Ancient Maya Society

“…Chase 1992), as they likely were present in at least 70% of the site's residential groups. The presence of inlaid teeth also was considered a status indicator (e.g., Becker 1973;Williams and White 2006, p. 148); again the Caracol data suggest a more complex picture. As noted above, the proportion of Caracol burials with dental inlays and/or filing (20.8%; n=152 of 732 individuals) was much higher than at Tikal.…”

Pottery politics: Late Classic Maya palace production at Motul de San José, Petén, Guatemala

“…For example, at some sites, polychrome pottery manufacture was not necessarily restricted to ''palace school" contexts, as Becker (1973Becker ( , 2003 has suggested that a ''middle-class" residential neighborhood in the eastern sector of Tikal, Guatemala, produced polychrome vessels, figurines, and possibly censers. 5 It is unclear, however, what types of polychrome pots were produced in this Tikal sector as the vessels are referred to as ''high-quality" polychromes but no further ceramic types or descriptions were provided.…”

Late Classic Maya Pottery Production: Review and Synthesis

“…Studies of specialized pottery production, Maya and otherwise, began to gain ground in the 1970s (e.g., Adams 1970;Becker 1973). There followed more than 30 years of anthropological efforts to define, refine, measure, and categorize variants of fundamental notions of specialized production of pottery and other goods (Clark 1995;Clark and Parry 1990;Costin 1991Costin , 2001Peacock 1981;Rice 1981Rice , 1982Rice , 1987cRice : 183-191, 1991van der Leeuw 1977), along with the problems of identifying such variants in the archeological record.…”

“…Marshall Becker (1973Becker ( , 2003 proposed that polychromes were manufactured in a distinctive class of residential architecture at Tikal known as the Plaza Plaza 2 (PP2). Nine of these PP2 groups were situated on a tongue of higher land extending into the Bajo Santa Fe on the eastern periphery of the city.…”