Rural Social Differentiation in Early Classic Chunhuayum, Yucatan, Mexico

Abstract

This article examines rural social differentiation in Chunhuayum, Yucatan, a rural village continuously occupied from approximately 800 b.c.–a.d. 1000. Focusing on the late Early Classic (a.d. 400/500–600/630), a time when other settlements of the Uci polity experienced political and population disruptions, I examine how households shaped and expressed local social differentiation, particularly wealth, occupation, and social connectivity. Residential architecture provides the most salient marker of wealth differences at Chunhuayum, while ceramic, shell, and obsidian assemblages indicate that households also varied in terms of their occupations and external social networks. Within this predominantly agrarian village, two households attempted to improve their economic and immaterial well-being through locally innovative strategies—shell crafting and group-oriented ritual orchestration. Such strategies ultimately had different outcomes both for the household and community. These points underscore the heterogeneity of the rural ancient rural Maya, and that social differentiation was actively constructed by rural people rather than a trickling-down of the normative hierarchical social order. Through habituated practice and innovative action, Chunhuayum's Early Classic residents continued participating in external networks while shaping locally meaningful relations of differences.

Focal Nodes and Ritual Economy in Ancient Maya Hinterland Communities: A Case Study From San Lorenzo, Belize

“…In the tradition of Western scholarship, Mayanists often use dichotomies, defining phenomena in relation to their opposites. For example, many scholars define ancient rural areas and the people who lived there by what they are not: urban (see Lamb 2022). Yet among the ancient Maya and other societies characterized by low-density urbanism (Fletcher 2009), the distinction between the urban and rural is often ambiguous, as there is less of a density decline as one moves away from an urban center and the overall settlement density is relatively high (Iannone and Connell 2003; Yaeger and Robin 2004).…”

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).…”

“…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.…”

“…Diverse theoretical approaches and concepts are applied, such as practice and agency, heterarchy, embodiment, historical ecology, political economy, and biocultural dialectics. While some are explicit in considering and even defining “rurality” (Fisher 2022; Ingalls and Yaeger 2022; Lamb 2022; Valdez et al 2022), others do so more tacitly through comparing rural and city experiences and processes (Lemonnier and Arnauld 2022; McNeil et al 2022; Tiesler and López Pérez 2022). Yet amidst this heterogeneity, the articles in this Special Section share the notions that rural sites are interesting places worthy of study, that the countryside is necessary to understand city and polity dynamics, and that rural people and places were integral in broader social processes of continuity and change, albeit in diverse ways.…”