Rural Social Complexity in the Ichcaanziho Region, Yucatan, Mexico

Abstract

During the last decade, archaeological investigations carried out by the Mérida Region Archaeological Project through the National Institute of Anthropology and History have focused on the peripheral sites of the current municipality of Mérida. In this article, we will focus on the northeast section covering a polygon that has an area of 7.19 km2, where rural minor sites such as Oxmuul, Cuzam, and Polok Keej are located. This area was explored in various seasons as a result of archaeological salvage and rescue projects, carrying out archaeological prospecting with the aim of creating cartography, systematic excavations, and descriptive analysis of archaeological materials. One of the objectives was to understand and interpret the social organization of the ancient peripheral communities in relationship higher ranking sites such as T'ho and Dzibilchaltun. The results obtained are presented diachronically in order to explain the role that these sites played within the political economy of the region, which turns them into complex rural sites towards the end of the Classic period.

Defining Rurality at La Joyanca (Peten, Guatemala): Architecture, Land Use, and Social Dynamics

“…Based on ethnographic, ethnohistoric, linguistic, and archaeological evidence, the social model of ancestor veneration and affiliation has local households and supra-households combining kinship (real or fictive) and coresidence under the aegis of the founding family, the latter controlling work force and lands inherited from locally buried ancestors considered as guardians and owners in an idiosyncratic land tenure system (Alexander 2000:391; Gillespie 2000; Hendon 1991; McAnany 1995). This may have not differed from rural areas where ritual and agricultural practices made mobile households circulating on the same lands for generations (Robin 2002; see also Pantoja Díaz et al 2022). Non-swidden agricultural intensification would have fixed permanent residences and social groups to land.…”

Rethinking the Rural in Ancient Maya Studies

“…As summarized elsewhere (Lamb 2020), through the past and continued investigations including the contributions of this Special Section, our understandings of the rural ancient Maya have radically changed. Farming was an essential rural activity, as it was in most cities, yet rural residents pursued diverse livelihoods through a range of farming techniques and crops, resource specializations, and water-management systems (Dixon 2013; Johnston 2004; Sheets et al 2012; see also Fisher 2022 and Valdez et al 2022) and were also capable craft producers (Isaza Aizpurúa and McAnany 1999; Robin et al 2014; Sheets 2000; VandenBosch et al 2010; see also Lamb 2022; Pantoja et al 2022; Valdez et al 2022). They engaged in hierarchical and heterarchical economic systems of different scales, at times outside of the purview of regional capitals (Keller 2012; Kestle 2012; Potter and King 1995; Scarborough and Valdez 2009; Sheets 2000; VandenBosch et al 2010; see also Lamb 2022; McNeil et al 2022; Pantoja et al 2022; Valdez et al 2022).…”

“…Farming was an essential rural activity, as it was in most cities, yet rural residents pursued diverse livelihoods through a range of farming techniques and crops, resource specializations, and water-management systems (Dixon 2013; Johnston 2004; Sheets et al 2012; see also Fisher 2022 and Valdez et al 2022) and were also capable craft producers (Isaza Aizpurúa and McAnany 1999; Robin et al 2014; Sheets 2000; VandenBosch et al 2010; see also Lamb 2022; Pantoja et al 2022; Valdez et al 2022). They engaged in hierarchical and heterarchical economic systems of different scales, at times outside of the purview of regional capitals (Keller 2012; Kestle 2012; Potter and King 1995; Scarborough and Valdez 2009; Sheets 2000; VandenBosch et al 2010; see also Lamb 2022; McNeil et al 2022; Pantoja et al 2022; Valdez et al 2022). Rural people constructed differences of status, wealth, and authority which, while commonly less severe than distinctions in cities, were locally meaningful and impacted the wellbeing of individuals, households, and communities (Clayton 2013; Dixon 2013; Gonlin 1994; Kurnick 2016; Robin et al 2014; Yaeger and Robin 2004; see also Ingalls and Yaeger 2022; Lamb 2022; Pantoja et al 2022; Tiesler and López Pérez 2022; Valdez et al 2022).…”

“…They engaged in hierarchical and heterarchical economic systems of different scales, at times outside of the purview of regional capitals (Keller 2012; Kestle 2012; Potter and King 1995; Scarborough and Valdez 2009; Sheets 2000; VandenBosch et al 2010; see also Lamb 2022; McNeil et al 2022; Pantoja et al 2022; Valdez et al 2022). Rural people constructed differences of status, wealth, and authority which, while commonly less severe than distinctions in cities, were locally meaningful and impacted the wellbeing of individuals, households, and communities (Clayton 2013; Dixon 2013; Gonlin 1994; Kurnick 2016; Robin et al 2014; Yaeger and Robin 2004; see also Ingalls and Yaeger 2022; Lamb 2022; Pantoja et al 2022; Tiesler and López Pérez 2022; Valdez et al 2022). They organized themselves in diverse intermediate scale social groups, including social entities similar to urban neighborhoods, socially constituted and imagined communities, lineages, and Houses (Canuto and Fash 2004; Canuto and Yaeger 2000; Eberl 2007; Fash 1983; Freter 2004; Hageman 2004; McAnany 1995; Robin 2012; see also Lemonnier and Arnauld 2022).…”

“…Although a few edited volumes and sole-authored books have focused on the rural ancient Maya, this Special Section differs from these publications in its breadth. The contributors present research across the Maya area, spanning from the Preclassic through the Classic to address diverse topics such as public rituals and spaces (see Ingalls and Yaeger 2022; Lamb 2022; Pantoja et al 2020), physical mobility (see Fisher 2022; Lemonnier and Arnauld 2022), social inequality including health outcomes (see Lamb 2022; Lemonnier and Arnauld 2022; Pantoja et al 2022; Tiesler and López Pérez 2022), place-making (see Fisher 2022; Ingalls and Yaeger 2022; Lamb 2022), rural resilience and longevity (see Ingalls and Yaeger 2022; Lamb 2022; McNeil et al 2022; Pantoja et al 2022; Valdez et al 2022), and inter-polity relations (see Ingalls and Yaeger 2022; Lemonnier and Arnauld 2022; McNeil et al 2022; Tiesler and López Pérez 2022; Valdez et al 2022). The authors work at various scales of analysis, from individual buildings to interregional comparisons, using a variety of datasets including settlement and landscape patterns, architecture, portable goods, iconography and epigraphy, and human remains.…”