Conquest and revival at Chiantla Viejo: the transition of a highland Maya community to Spanish colonial rule

Abstract

Colonised societies often continue traditional practices in private contexts whilst adopting new forms of ritual in public. Excavations at the Mam centre of Chiantla Viejo in highland Guatemala, however, reveal a more complex picture. Combining archaeological evidence with early colonial documents, the author identifies a revival of Indigenous Maya religion following the Spanish conquest (AD 1525–1550). Despite appearing in colonial records as Christian converts, the Maya directed a sequence of destruction, reconstruction and remodelling of the monumental core of Chiantla Viejo to evoke the landscape of their ancestral settlement of Zaculeu. The results emphasise the importance of public spaces for the persistence of Indigenous religion in early colonial settings.

Economic Integration and Obsidian Consumption in the Late Postclassic Period K'iche’ Region

“…This article examines obsidian from the K'iche' capital of Q'umarkaj 1 and the surrounding region using technological and sourcing studies to examine the organization of the Late Postclassic period K'iche' lithic economy (Figure 1). Although there is recent research on the Late Postclassic period in the Maya Highlands (e.g., Castillo Aguilar 2020;Cojti Ren 2012, 2012, this article draws from a legacy collection obtained during the 1970s, highlighting the utility of revisiting data from earlier excavations (e.g., Babcock 2012;Nance et al 2003). I find that, during the Late Postclassic period, access to nearby obsidian sources was managed through independent and diverse acquisition networks, indicating that the exchange of local obsidian was not a source of political power for K'iche' elites.…”