Rubbish, Reuse, and Ritual at the Ancient Maya Site of El Zotz, Guatemala

Newman, Sarah

doi:10.1007/s10816-018-9388-9

Cited by 14 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 71 publications

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“…In some ways, our concern with most functional interpretations of peri-abandonment deposits echoes those of Newman's (2015, 2018) for the identification of some cultural deposits as evidence for termination events. She notes that some cultural assemblages are too often labelled as “termination deposits” without a careful analysis of the “life histories” of the objects contained in their assemblages.…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 52%

Applying Regional, Contextual, Ethnohistoric, and Ethnographic Approaches for Understanding the Significance of Peri-Abandonment Deposits in Western Belize

et al. 2020

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The discovery of cultural remains on or above the floors of rooms and courtyards at several Maya sites has been interpreted by some archaeologists as problematic deposits, squatter's refuse, as evidence for feasting, termination rituals, de facto refuse, or rapid abandonment as a result of warfare. Investigations by the Belize Valley Archaeological Reconnaissance Project have recorded similar deposits at several surface and subterranean sites in Western Belize. Our regional, contextual, and methodological approaches for studying these deposits, coupled with ethnohistoric and ethnographic information, provide limited support for the interpretation of these remains as de facto refuse or due to rapid abandonment. Instead, we argue that these deposits are more likely the result of peri-abandonment activities such as propitiation rituals and/or pilgrimages during and after the gradual abandonment of sites in the Belize River Valley.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 52%

Applying Regional, Contextual, Ethnohistoric, and Ethnographic Approaches for Understanding the Significance of Peri-Abandonment Deposits in Western Belize

et al. 2020

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“…Simply placing these materials in quantified tabular form, like we have done below for Structure B64 (Table 1), does not actually promote full comparison or understanding of a specific context. As Newman (2019:806) has aptly noted for her analysis of El Zotz on-floor materials, “employing reified archaeological categories may actively impede the identification of differences among ancient activities.” More detailed analysis of materials is necessary.…”

Section: The Significance Of On-floor Remainsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Final Moments: Contextualizing on-Floor Archaeological Materials From Caracol, Belize

Chase

2020

Ancient Mesoam

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The description and analysis of materials from on-floor deposits that reflect the final activity before site abandonment are key to making a determination as to what happened during the Maya collapse around a.d. 900. On-floor deposits recovered at Caracol, Belize indicate that factors like warfare, the breakdown of the site's market system, and heightened social tensions were in play prior to the abandonment of the site. In an attempt to understand the meaning of these deposits, we first examine why on-floor remains constitute an important data class for archaeology. We next look at the kinds of artifactual materials that are recovered in these deposits and then at the locations and nature of on-floor deposits at Caracol. Finally, we offer our thoughts on what they represent in the broader Maya context.

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“…Many other studies add to a growing trend of archaeological research focused on how objects not only represent but also manifest social claims (Crown ; Davies ; Newman ; Wilkinson ). Such studies cast off earlier archaeological presumptions that suggest that material styles simply mark or correspond to political and cultural entities.…”

Section: Situated Learning Things and Assemblagesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Other studies uncover how the deposition of particular objects, such as whetstones used to sharpen everyday tools, marked and manifested a common person's social relationship to their residence, connecting the life cycles of a human family to the stone farmhouse (Reniere and De Clercq ). Also, Newman () employs a detailed taphonomic analysis of objects from an ancient Maya termination rite, demonstrating that some of these things were fragments of broken pots that had been stored for years prior to their ultimate deposition within the sediments of the royal palace at El Zotz. She suggests that the objects came to be valued, if not “sacred,” things precisely because of the practices by which they were kept and then discarded.…”

Section: Situated Learning Things and Assemblagesmentioning

confidence: 99%

New Digs: Networks, Assemblages, and the Dissolution of Binary Categories in Anthropological Archaeology

Kosiba

2019

American Anthropologist

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Anthropological archaeology has long been a process of categorization. The history of the subdiscipline could be rendered in terms of an ongoing project to create, critique, and then refashion the categories by which archaeologists understand and explain social and ecological processes. Despite ever-changing theoretical tides, many archaeologists have continued to adhere to a lingua franca that demarcates their object of study, whether "the past," "nature," complexity, material culture, or historical knowledge. In 2018, strong currents in archaeological scholarship have both challenged and washed out the boundaries of many of these epistemological mainstays. This was more than a postmodern exercise to question metanarratives of history or to destabilize supposed social universals. The recent scholarship develops innovative theoretical perspectives and sophisticated methodological tools to shed light on the varied human interactions, practices, and projects that were previously occluded by research too sharply focused on bounded categories such as periods, polities, adaptations, and meanings. Furthermore, archaeologists are now more than ever critically examining the colonial institutions that they perpetuate and seeking to establish new common ground with Indigenous communities. A decidedly archaeological perspective seems to be taking shape.This is a view that sees social life from the ground up in terms of complicated relationships between people, things, and other organisms that cannot be reduced to catchall categories. [year in review, archaeology, archaeological theory, current issues, Indigenous archaeology, environmental anthropology] RESUMEN La arqueología antropológica ha sido durante mucho tiempo un proceso de categorización. La historia de la subdisciplina podría ser descrita en términos de un proyecto continuo de crear, criticar y luego rehacer las categorías a través de las cuales los arqueólogos entienden y explican los procesos sociales y ecológicos. A pesar de las mareas teóricas siempre cambiantes, muchos arqueólogos han continuado adhiriéndose a una lengua franca que demarca su objeto de estudio, ya sea "el pasado", "naturaleza", complejidad, cultura material o conocimiento histórico.En 2018, corrientes fuertes en la investigación arqueológica han tanto retado como difuminado los límites de muchos de los pilares epistemológicos. Esto fue más que un ejercicio posmoderno para cuestionar metanarrativas de la historia o para desestabilizar supuestos universales sociales. La reciente investigación desarrolla perspectivas teóricas innovadoras y herramientas metodológicas sofisticadas para arrojar luz sobre las variadas interacciones humanas, prácticas y proyectos que estuvieron previamente ocluidos por investigación excesivamente enfocada en categorías delimitadas tales como períodos, unidades políticas, adaptaciones y significados. Además, los arqueólogos ahora están más que nunca examinando críticamente las instituciones coloniales que perpetúan y buscando establecer un nuevo terreno común con las c...

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Rubbish, Reuse, and Ritual at the Ancient Maya Site of El Zotz, Guatemala

Cited by 14 publications

References 71 publications

Applying Regional, Contextual, Ethnohistoric, and Ethnographic Approaches for Understanding the Significance of Peri-Abandonment Deposits in Western Belize

Applying Regional, Contextual, Ethnohistoric, and Ethnographic Approaches for Understanding the Significance of Peri-Abandonment Deposits in Western Belize

Final Moments: Contextualizing on-Floor Archaeological Materials From Caracol, Belize

New Digs: Networks, Assemblages, and the Dissolution of Binary Categories in Anthropological Archaeology

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