Water, centering, and the beginning of time at Middle Preclassic Nixtun-Ch'ich', Petén, Guatemala

Rice, Prudence M.; Pugh, Timothy W.

doi:10.1016/j.jaa.2017.05.004

Cited by 26 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Fosa Y is thought to have centered the city's axis urbis (Figure 3; Rice and Pugh 2017). Fosa Y is one of two reservoirs on the central axis, although it does not currently hold water.…”

Section: Nixtun-ch'ich’mentioning

confidence: 99%

Faceless Hierarchy at Nixtun-Ch'ich’, Peten, Guatemala

Pugh

Nieto²,

Zygadło

2019

Ancient Mesoam

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Societies vary in how they approach the challenges of increased population, inequality, and occupational specialization. The city of Nixtun-Ch'ich’ and its satellite, T'up, in Peten, Guatemala exhibit orthogonal urban grids—a trait absent from all other known Maya cities. Such grids require extensive planning and the ability to mobilize the population. The present data suggests that Nixtun-Ch'ich’ was substantially larger than any of the surrounding settlements and was, therefore, a primate center during the Middle Preclassic period. The extensive urban planning of the site, as well as that of T'up suggests centralized planning. Yet, we have not encountered evidence of a central ruler propagated as a unifying symbol of the polity. The gridded public streets and lack of a rulership cult suggest that Nixtun-Ch'ich’ had a more collaborative social system.

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“…Fosa Y is thought to have centered the city's axis urbis (Figure 3; Rice and Pugh 2017). Fosa Y is one of two reservoirs on the central axis, although it does not currently hold water.…”

Section: Nixtun-ch'ich’mentioning

confidence: 99%

Faceless Hierarchy at Nixtun-Ch'ich’, Peten, Guatemala

Pugh

Nieto²,

Zygadło

2019

Ancient Mesoam

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“…The “hole” in this monster's back is Fosa Y, a probable sinkhole located on the city's central axis urbis , immediately east of an E-Group. The lowest excavated deposits in Fosa Y yielded “Pre-Mamom” (Terminal Early Preclassic) and Middle Preclassic pottery (Rice et al 2019; Rice and Pugh 2017:3–7). The Candelaria Peninsula, stretching into the waters of Lake Peten Itza (Figure 3a), constitutes the crocodile's head.…”

Section: Crocodiles and Sharks In Ancient Timesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…in eastern Peten and Belize (Garber and Awe 2009; Sullivan and Awe 2013). They are largely absent in early pottery at Nixtun-Ch'ich’, which, from excavations to date, seems to emphasize more generalized aquatic creatures, including birds (Rice and Pugh 2017:Figure 7).…”

Section: Crocodiles and Sharks In Ancient Timesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Crocodiles, Sharks, and Some Speculations on Central Peten Preclassic History

Rice

2019

Ancient Mesoam

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The first part of this two-part essay discusses the important roles crocodiles and sharks played in Preclassic (and later) political geography and myths of cosmogenesis in Mesoamerica. They are associated with sacrifices resulting in creation of the world and births of some major gods. Crocodiles are also associated with fertility, rebirth, and renewal of seasonal and temporal/calendrical cycles. Recent investigations at Nixtun-Ch'ich’ show that its gridded urban landscape, established in the Middle Preclassic period (ca. 800–400 b.c.), was likely modeled on a crocodile's back. The second part of the essay presents some speculations on the early role of this site and crocodiles in central Peten. At Tikal, archaeology and retrospective texts indicate that crocodiles appeared in early versions of the site's emblem glyph and in the name of an early ruler. Nixtun-Ch'ich’ might be the legendary chi place, important in the dynastic foundations of several lowland Maya centers.

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“…Frequent global examples of water scarcity, drought, flooding, and cases such as the ongoing water quality crisis in Flint, Michigan, remind us just how vital water management techniques are to public health and survival. Archaeological studies in 2017 explore diverse human relationships to water in varied agricultural contexts (Barnard and Dooley 2017; Charbonnier, Purdue, and Benoist ; Stoner ; Thomas and Kidd ), ritual (Carson ; Rice and Pugh ), ancient urban health threats (Delile et al. ), climate and drought (Smyth et al.…”

Section: Addressing Current Issuesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Finding Archaeology in 2017: What Is Archaeology and Why Are We Doing It? Why Should We Be Doing It?

Lewis

2018

American Anthropologist

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These annual review essays focus on what we as archaeologists are doing year by year. Many themes continue on from review to review, waxing and waning, not unlike the bell curves of a traditional pottery seriation.Each year, themes are highlighted and presented in varied ways according to the orientation and aims of the reviewer. All do a masterful job of curating the vast range of what archaeologists were, in each annual period, currently producing. My review follows in the footsteps of its predecessors, summarizing an array of new and exciting research, and describing how agendas presented in 2017 cluster around sets of related questions and aims. It will also look at the growing literature that asks, in one way or another, fundamental questions about what archaeology really is and why we pursue it. In this time when the value of academic pursuits and scientific perspectives are being highly scrutinized in politics and popular culture, archaeologists are faced with the uncomfortable question of "What is it, really, that we should be doing?" [archaeology, current issues, public archaeology, digital archaeology] RESUMEN Estos ensayos de revisión anual se enfocan en lo que como arqueólogos estamos haciendo año tras año. Muchos temas continúan de revisión en revisión, creciendo o menguando, no muy diferente de las curvas en forma de campana de la seriación de la cerámica tradicional. Cada año, temas son enfatizados y presentados de varias maneras de acuerdo a la orientación y metas del crítico. Todos hacen un trabajo magistral de organizar un rango vasto de lo que los arqueólogos estaban, en cada período anual, realmente produciendo. Mi revisión sigue los pasos de sus predecesores, resumiendo una colección de nueva y emocionante investigación, y describiendo cómo las agendas presentadas en el 2017 se agrupan alrededor de juegos de cuestiones y metas relacionadas.También examina la creciente literatura que pregunta, de una manera u otra, cuestiones fundamentales acerca de lo que la arqueología realmente es y por qué nos dedicamos a ella. En este tiempo cuando el valor de los empeños académicos y las perspectivas científicas están siendo altamente escrutados en política y cultura popular, los arqueólogos se enfrentan a la pregunta incomoda de "¿Qué es lo que realmente deberíamos estar haciendo?"[arqueología, cuestiones actuales, arqueología pública, arqueología digital] ARCHAEOLOGICAL FRAGMENTATION?While the theme of what such a diverse discipline should be subtly undergirds much of the literature, a number of 2017 articles, each in a very different way, directly address the very nature of what archaeology is and why we practice it. In the Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, Assaf Nativ (2017, 55) asks us to reconsider our notions of the

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Water, centering, and the beginning of time at Middle Preclassic Nixtun-Ch'ich', Petén, Guatemala

Cited by 26 publications

References 26 publications

Faceless Hierarchy at Nixtun-Ch'ich’, Peten, Guatemala

Faceless Hierarchy at Nixtun-Ch'ich’, Peten, Guatemala

Crocodiles, Sharks, and Some Speculations on Central Peten Preclassic History

Finding Archaeology in 2017: What Is Archaeology and Why Are We Doing It? Why Should We Be Doing It?

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