Herckis, Lauren R.
(2015)
Cultural Variation in the Maya City of Palenque.
Doctoral Dissertation, University of Pittsburgh.
(Unpublished)
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Abstract
Mesoamerican archaeological research has made recent inroads toward an understanding of the cultural diversity inherent in hinterland settlements and amongst commoners. Research in other disciplines has long shone a light on the many ways in which people who imagine themselves part of the same larger community may construct their identities through varying interpretations of community characteristics. Little archaeological research has been undertaken at the intersection of these concepts: the role of the city in hinterland identity and vice versa, particularly in the ways that common people living on the fringes of urban centers and people living in the urban core of ancient cities might differentially perform identity through domestic ritual and daily practice.
This research presents a case study in the elaboration of difference across commoner households in two hinterland neighborhoods associated with the ancient Maya city of Palenque, focusing particularly on the ways in which the dynamic force of human agency can shape production, exchange, and domestic ritual. A diachronic examination of domestic remains reveals a high degree of complex heterogeneity at the level of the neighborhood. Two clusters of house groups located approximately fifteen kilometers apart were situated differently in the economic, political, urban, and ritual landscapes of the Palenque polity. Commoners living in these neighborhoods both shaped and were shaped by the ritual practices and political economy of Palenque’s dynastic elites.
A set of unifying political and economic trends which span the region played different roles in the lives of people living in different neighborhoods. Some distinctions between neighborhoods, such as variation in household ritual, the use of fossils and fossil-bearing materials, food processing and feasting practices, the use of imported volcanic materials, and the technostylistic choices made by potters, demonstrate ways in which people living in close proximity to one another were selective about their engagement with larger trends.
Other distinctions, such as differences in chipped stone tool production, consumption, and exchange, ceramic production and exchange, and the kinds of imported resources used in hinterland households, illustrate the different roles played by inhabitants of different neighborhoods in the political economy of the Palenque polity.
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Details
| Item Type: |
University of Pittsburgh ETD
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| Status: |
Unpublished |
| Creators/Authors: |
|
| ETD Committee: |
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| Date: |
21 September 2015 |
| Date Type: |
Publication |
| Defense Date: |
29 April 2015 |
| Approval Date: |
21 September 2015 |
| Submission Date: |
21 August 2015 |
| Access Restriction: |
No restriction; Release the ETD for access worldwide immediately. |
| Number of Pages: |
219 |
| Institution: |
University of Pittsburgh |
| Schools and Programs: |
Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences > Anthropology |
| Degree: |
PhD - Doctor of Philosophy |
| Thesis Type: |
Doctoral Dissertation |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: |
Maya, domestic ritual, Chiapas, Palenque, household archaeology, obsidian exchange |
| Date Deposited: |
21 Sep 2015 13:06 |
| Last Modified: |
15 Nov 2016 14:30 |
| URI: |
http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/26034 |
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