Hostname: page-component-5db58dd55d-l8wb7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-06-05T01:27:25.859Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Late Postclassic Lowland Maya politico-ritual architecture: Temple assemblages and Zacpeten

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 September 2024

Prudence M. Rice Open the ORCID record for Prudence M. Rice [Opens in a new window] ,
Don S. Rice  and
Timothy W. Pugh Open the ORCID record for Timothy W. Pugh [Opens in a new window]
Prudence M. Rice*
Affiliation:
Professors emeriti, Department of Anthropology, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL 62905, USA
Don S. Rice
Affiliation:
Professors emeriti, Department of Anthropology, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL 62905, USA
Timothy W. Pugh
Affiliation:
Timothy W. Pugh, Department of Anthropology, Queens College, 65-30 Kissena Boulevard, Flushing, NY 11367, USA
*
Corresponding author: Prudence M. Rice, pmrice2947@gmail.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Late Postclassic lowland Maya civic-ceremonial masonry architecture appears in two main configurations—temple assemblages and basic ceremonial groups—first identified at Mayapan. Around the Peten lakes, these two architectural complexes have been tied to northern immigrant Kowojs and Itzas, respectively, and their distributions map the varying control over the lakes by these two ethnopolities. Temple assemblages exhibit considerable variation in their structural components and arrangements throughout the lowlands, but they have not been studied comparatively. Here, we examine 14 temple assemblages at 12 lowland sites. We consider one of the two assemblages at Zacpeten (Sak Peten), Group A, to have been built by Kowojs, who asserted their identity and earlier (Late/Terminal Classic) ties to the site by reusing carved monuments. “Blended” assemblage Group C is more difficult to parse, but reflects cosmo-calendrical principles of statecraft and the builders’ and users’ broader ties to Mayapan and Topoxte.

Resúmen

Resúmen

La arquitectura de mampostería cívico-ceremonial maya de las tierras bajas del Posclásico Tardío aparece en dos configuraciones principales, grupos ceremoniales básicos y conjuntos de templos, identificados por primera vez en Mayapan, Yucatan, Mexico. Alrededor de los lagos de Peten central (Guatemala), los dos complejos arquitectónicos han estado vinculados a inmigrantes itza y kowoj, respectivamente, y sus distribuciones mapean el control variable sobre las poblaciones de los lagos por parte de estas dos etnopolíticas. Los conjuntos de templos exhiben una variación considerable en sus componentes y sus disposiciones estructurales en sitios de las tierras bajas, pero no han sido estudiados comparativamente. Aquí, examinamos 14 conjuntos de templos en 12 sitios de las tierras bajas. Consideramos que uno de los dos conjuntos en Zacpeten (Sak Peten), Grupo A, fue construido por los Kowojs haciendo una declaración sobre su identidad y su función, como también se ve en los artefactos. Los constructores del Grupo A afirmaron enlaces anteriores (Clásico Tardío/Terminal) con el sitio mediante la reutilización de monumentos tallados, así como con Tikal. El conjunto “combinado” del Grupo C es más difícil de analizar, pero refleja ideales cosmo-calendáricos del arte de gobernar y los vínculos más amplios de los constructores y usuarios con Mayapán y Topoxte.

Keywords

Lowland MayaLate Postclassictemple assemblageZacpeten

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Ancient Mesoamerica , Volume 35 , Issue 3 , Fall 2024 , pp. 865 - 881
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

References cited

Acevedo, Renaldo 2000 Entierros. In El sitio maya de Topoxté: Investigaciones en una isla del lago Yaxhá, Petén, Guatemala, edited by Wurster, Wolfgang W., pp. 91–126. Verlag Philipp von Zabern, Mainz am Rhein.Google Scholar
Alexander, Rani T. 1998 Postclassic Settlement Patterns at Isla Cilvituk, Campeche, Mexico. Paper presented at the 63rd annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Seattle, Washington.Google Scholar
Alexander, Rani T. 2005 Isla Cilvituk and the Difficulties of Spanish Colonization in Southwestern Campeche. In The Postclassic to Spanish-Era Transition in Mesoamerica: Archaeological Perspectives, edited by Kepecs, Susan and Alexander, Rani T., pp. 161–181. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Barrios, Edy 2009 Monumentos prehispánicos de la isla de Flores. Revista Petén Itzá 72(50):79–81.Google Scholar
Becker, Marshall Joseph 1971 The Identification of a Second Plaza Plan at Tikal, and Its Implications for Ancient Maya Social Complexity. Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Becker, Marshall Joseph 2004 Maya Heterarchy as Inferred from Classic-Period Plaza Plans. Ancient Mesoamerica 15(1):127–138.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beliaev, Dmitri, Vepretskii, Sergei, and Galeev, Philipp 2017 Documentación y análisis de las inscripciones de los sitios secundarios de Petén y de la collección del Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología. In Proyecto Atlas Epigráfico de Petén, Fase IV, edited by Belaiev, Dmitri and León, Mónica de, pp. 96–164. Centro de Estudios Mayas Yuri Knórosov, Guatemala City. Electronic document, https://www.academia.edu/39456048/Las_inscripciones_de_los_Sitios_Secundarios_de_Pet%C3%A9n, accessed February 6, 2022.Google Scholar
Boot, Erik 1995 Kan Ek' at Chich'en Itsá. A Quest into a Possible Itsá Heartland in the Central Petén, Guatemala. Yumtzilob 7(4):333–339.Google Scholar
Boot, Erik 1997 Kan Ek', Last Ruler of the Itsá. Yumtzilob 9(1):5–21.Google Scholar
Bracken, Justin 2023 Preclassic Maya Fortification at Muralla de León, Peten: Deducing Assets, Military Strategies, and Specific Threats through Analysis of Defensive Systems. Ancient Mesoamerica 34:216–240.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bullard, William R. Jr. 1970 Topoxte: A Postclassic Maya Site in Peten, Guatemala. In Monographs and Papers in Maya Archaeology, edited by Bullard, William R. Jr., pp. 245–307. Papers Vol. 61. Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Duncan, William N. 2005 The Bioarchaeology of Ritual Violence in Postclassic El Petén, Guatemala (AD 950–1524). Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale.Google Scholar
Duncan, William N. 2009 The Bioarchaeology of Ritual Violence at Zacpetén. In The Kowoj: Identity, Migration, and Geopolitics in Late Postclassic Petén, Guatemala, edited by Rice, Prudence M. and Rice, Don S., pp. 340–367. University Press of Colorado, Boulder.Google Scholar
Egan, Rachel K. 2011 New Perspectives on the Quatrefoil in Classic Maya Iconography: The Center and the Portal. Master's thesis, Department of Anthropology, University of Central Florida, Orlando. Electronic document, https://stars.library.ucf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2844&context=etd, accessed March 3, 2023.Google Scholar
Folan, William J., Kintz, Ellen R., and Fletcher, Laraine A. 1983 Coba, A Classic Maya Metropolis. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Freidel, David A., Chase, Arlen F., Dowd, Anne S., and Murdock, Jerry (editors) 2017 Maya E Groups: Calendars, Astronomy, and Urbanism in the Early Lowlands. University Press of Florida, Gainesville.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Freidel, David A., and Sabloff, Jeremy A. 1984 Cozumel: Late Maya Settlement Patterns. Academic Press, Orlando.Google Scholar
Graham, Elizabeth 2011 Maya Christians and Their Churches in Sixteenth-Century Belize. University Press of Florida, Gainesville.Google Scholar
Hermes, Bernard 2000a Industria cerámica. In El sitio maya de Topoxté: Investigaciones en una isla del lago Yaxhá, Petén, Guatemala, edited by Wurster, Wolfgang W., pp. 164–202. Verlag Philipp von Zabern, Mainz am Rhein.Google Scholar
Hermes, Bernard 2000b Ofrendas. In El sitio maya de Topoxté: Investigaciones en una isla del lago Yaxhá, Petén, Guatemala, edited by Wurster, Wolfgang W., pp. 77–91. Verlag Philipp von Zabern, Mainz am Rhein.Google Scholar
Hermes, Bernard 2000c Resumen de la secuencia constructiva. In El sitio maya de Topoxté: Investigaciones en una isla del lago Yaxhá, Petén, Guatemala, edited by Wurster, Wolfgang W., pp. 58–63. Verlag Philipp von Zabern, Mainz am Rhein.Google Scholar
Hermes, Bernard 2000d Síntesis y consideraciones finales por período cronológico. In El sitio maya de Topoxté: Investigaciones en una isla del lago Yaxhá, Petén, Guatemala, edited by Wurster, Wolfgang W., pp. 289–296. Verlag Philipp von Zabern, Mainz am Rhein.Google Scholar
Hermes, Bernard, and Quintana, Oscar 2000 Estelas y altares. In El sitio maya de Topoxté: Investigaciones en una isla del lago Yaxhá, Petén, Guatemala, edited by Wurster, Wolfgang W., pp. 64–66. Verlag Philipp von Zabern, Mainz am Rhein.Google Scholar
Hofling, Charles Andrew 2017 Comparative Maya (Yucatec, Lacandon, Itzaj, and Mopan Maya). In The Mayan Languages, edited by Aissen, Judith, England, Nora C., and Maldonado, Roberto Zavala, pp. 685–760. Routledge, London. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315192345.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, Jay K. 1985 Postclassic Maya Site Structure at Topoxte, El Peten, Guatemala. In The Lowland Maya Postclassic, edited by Chase, Arlen F. and Rice, Prudence M., pp. 151–165. University of Texas Press, Austin.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, Grant D. 1998 The Conquest of the Last Maya Kingdom. Stanford University Press, Stanford.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, Grant D. 2009 The Kowojs in Ethnohistorical Perspective. In The Kowoj: Identity, Migration, and Geopolitics in Late Postclassic Petén, Guatemala, edited by Rice, Prudence M. and Rice, Don S., pp. 55–69. University Press of Colorado, Boulder.Google Scholar
Jones, Grant D., Kautz, Robert R., and Graham, Elizabeth 1986 Tipu: A Maya Town on the Spanish Colonial Frontier. Archaeology 39:40–47.Google Scholar
López Portillo Guzmán, Mónica A., and Olguín, Octavio Quetzalcóatl Esparza 2018 Mural Paintings of the Tulum Castillo: Discovery, Conservation, and Study of New Pictorial Elements. The PARI Journal XVIII(4):1–21.Google Scholar
Lorenzen, Karl James 2005 Ancestor Deification in Ancient Maya Ritual and Religion: Late Postclassic Communities Shrines and Family Oratories. Washington Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Macri, Martha J., and Vail, Gabrielle 2009 The New Catalog of Maya Hieroglyphs, Volume 2. The Codical Texts. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.Google Scholar
Milbrath, Susan, and Lope, Carlos Peraza 2009 Clash of Worldviews in Late Mayapán. In Maya Worldviews at Conquest, edited by Cecil, Leslie G. and Pugh, Timothy W., pp. 183–204. University Press of Colorado, Boulder.Google Scholar
Miller, Arthur G. 1974 On the Edge of the Sea: Mural Painting at Tancah-Tulum, Quintana Roo, Mexico. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Paris, Elizabeth H., Serafin, Stanley, Masson, Marilyn A., Lope, Carlos Peraza, Guzmán, Cuauhtémoc Vidal, and Russell, Bradley W. 2017 Violence, Desecration, and Urban Collapse at the Postclassic Maya Political Capital of Mayapán. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 48:63–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peraza Lope, Carlos, and Masson, Marilyn A. 2014a An Outlying Temple, Hall, and Elite Residence. In Kukulcan's Realm: Urban Life at Ancient Mayapán, edited by Masson, Marilyn A. and Lope, Carlos Peraza, pp. 105–148. University Press of Colorado, Boulder.Google Scholar
Peraza Lope, Carlos, and Masson, Marilyn A. 2014b Politics and Monumental Legacies. In Kukulcan's Realm: Urban Life at Ancient Mayapán, edited by Masson, Marilyn A. and Lope, Carlos Peraza, pp. 39–104. University Press of Colorado, Boulder.Google Scholar
Peraza Lope, Carlos, and Masson, Marilyn A. 2014c Religious Practice. In Kukulcan's Realm: Urban Life at Ancient Mayapán, edited by Masson, Marilyn A. and Lope, Carlos Peraza, pp. 425–519. University Press of Colorado, Boulder.Google Scholar
Proskouriakoff, Tatiana 1962 Civic and Religious Structures of Mayapan. In Mayapan Yucatan Mexico, by Pollock, H. E. D., Roys, Ralph L., Proskouriakoff, Tatiana, and Ledyard Smith, A., pp. 87–163. Publication 619. Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Pugh, Timothy W. 2001 Architecture, Ritual, and Social Identity at Late Postclassic Zacpetén, Petén, Guatemala: Identification of the Kowoj. Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale.Google Scholar
Pugh, Timothy W. 2003a A Cluster and Spatial Analysis of Ceremonial Architecture at Late Postclassic Mayapan. Journal of Archaeological Science 30:941–953.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pugh, Timothy W. 2003b The Exemplary Center of the Late Postclassic Kowoj Maya. Latin American Antiquity 14(4):408–430.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pugh, Timothy W., and Rice, Prudence M. 2009 Kowoj Ritual Performance and Societal Representations at Zacpetén. In The Kowoj: Identity, Migration, and Geopolitics in Late Postclassic Petén, Guatemala, edited by Rice, Prudence M. and Rice, Don S., pp. 141–172. University Press of Colorado, Boulder.Google Scholar
Pugh, Timothy W., Rice, Prudence M., Nieto, Evelyn Chan, and Rice, Don S. 2016 A Chak'an Itza Center at Nixtun-Ch'ich', Petén, Guatemala. Journal of Field Archaeology 41(1):1–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pugh, Timothy W., and Shiratori, Yuko 2018 Postclassic Architectural Traditions and the Petén Itzas. In Historical and Archaeological Perspectives on the Itzas of Petén, Guatemala, edited by Rice, Prudence M. and Rice, Don S., pp. 227–251. University Press of Colorado, Boulder.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Restall, Matthew 2001 The People of the Patio: Ethnohistorical Evidence of Yucatec Maya Royal Courts. In Royal Courts of the Ancient Maya, Vol. 2: Data and Case Studies, edited by Inomata, Takeshi and Houston, Stephen D., pp. 335–390. Westview, Boulder.Google Scholar
Rice, Don S. 1986 The Peten Postclassic: A Settlement Perspective. In Late Lowland Maya Civilization: Classic to Postclassic, edited by Sabloff, Jeremy A. and Wyllys Andrews, E., V, pp. 301–344. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Rice, Don S., and Rice, Prudence M. 1981 Muralla de León: A Lowland Maya Fortification. Journal of Field Archaeology 8:271–288.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rice, Prudence M. 1979 The Ceramic and Non-Ceramic Artifacts of Lakes Yaxha-Sacnab, El Petén, Guatemala. Part I – The Ceramics: Section B, Postclassic Pottery from Topoxte. Ceramica de Cultura Maya 11:1–86.Google Scholar
Rice, Prudence M. 2009 Incense Burners and Other Ritual Ceramics. In The Kowoj: Identity, Migration, and Geopolitics in Late Postclassic Petén, Guatemala, edited by Rice, Prudence M. and Rice, Don S., pp. 276–312. University Press of Colorado, Boulder.Google Scholar
Rice, Prudence M. 2019 Late Maya Factionalism and Alliances: The Case of Contact-Period Central Petén, Guatemala. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 56(4). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaa.2019.101083.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rice, Prudence M., Boileau, Adrienne, Cecil, Leslie, deFrance, Susan, Freiwald, Carolyn, Meissner, Nathan J., Pugh, Timothy W., Rice, Don S., and Yacubic, Matthew 2018 Zacpetén Structure 719: Activities at a Contact-Period Popol Nah before Rapid Abandonment. Ancient Mesoamerica 29(1):137–155.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rice, Prudence M., and Cecil, Leslie G. 2009 The Iconography and Decorative Programs of Kowoj Pottery. In The Kowoj: Identity, Migration, and Geopolitics in Late Postclassic Petén, Guatemala, edited by Rice, Prudence M. and Rice, Don S., pp. 238–275. University Press of Colorado, Boulder.Google Scholar
Rice, Prudence M., and Rice, Don S. 2016 Ixlú: A Contested Maya Entrepôt in Petén, Guatemala / Ixlú: Un Disputado Entrepôt en Petén, Guatemala. University of Pittsburgh Memoirs in Latin American Archaeology No. 23. Center for Comparative Archaeology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh.Google Scholar
Rice, Prudence M., and Rice, Don S. (editors) 2009 The Kowoj: Identity, Migration, and Geopolitics in Late Postclassic Petén, Guatemala. University Press of Colorado, Boulder.Google Scholar
Rice, Prudence M., and Rice, Don S. (editors) 2018 Historical and Archaeological Perspectives on the Itzas of Petén, Guatemala. University Press of Colorado, Boulder.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rice, Prudence M., Rice, Don S., and Pugh, Timothy W. 2017 Small Things Forgotten: Artifacts of Fishing in the Petén Lakes Region, Guatemala. Contributions in Ethnobiology. Society of Ethnobiology, Tacoma, Washington.Google Scholar
Rice, Prudence M., Rice, Don S.., Pugh, Timothy W., and Polo, Rómulo Sánchez 2009 Defensive Architecture and the Context of Warfare at Zacpetén. In The Kowoj: Identity, Migration, and Geopolitics in Late Postclassic Petén, Guatemala, edited by Rice, Prudence M. and Rice, Don S., pp. 123–140. University Press of Colorado, Boulder.Google Scholar
Ringle, William M., and Bey, George J., III 2001 Post-Classic and Terminal Classic Courts of the Northern Maya Lowlands. In Royal Courts of the Ancient Maya, Vol. 2, Data and Case Studies, edited by Inomata, Takeshi and Houston, Stephen D., pp. 266–307. Westview Press, Boulder.Google Scholar
Roys, Ralph L. 1962 [1933] The Book of Chilam Balam of Chumayel. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.Google Scholar
Smith, A. Ledyard 1962 Residential and Associated Structures at Mayapan. In Mayapan Yucatan Mexico, by Pollock, H. E. D., Roys, Ralph L., Proskouriakoff, Tatiana, and Ledyard Smith, A., pp. 165–319. Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Smith, Robert E. 1971 The Pottery of Mayapan. 2 vols. Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Stone, Andrea, and Zender, Marc 2011 Reading Maya Art: A Hieroglyphic Guide to Ancient Maya Painting and Sculpture. Thames and Hudson, London.Google Scholar
Taube, Karl 1988 A Prehispanic Maya Katun Wheel. Journal of Anthropological Research 44(2):183–203.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thompson, J. Eric S. 1957 Deities Portrayed on Censers at Mayapan. Current Reports 40:599–632. Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Tozzer, Alfred M. 1966 [1941] Landa's Relación de las cosas de Yucatan: A Translation. Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, Cambridge. [Reprinted by Kraus Reprint Corporation, New York, 1966]Google Scholar
Wurster, Wolfgang W. 2000 Síntesis de arquitectura y urbanismo. In El sitio maya de Topoxté: Investigaciones en una isla del lago Yaxhá, Petén, Guatemala, edited by Wurster, Wolfgang W., pp. 296–310. Verlag Philipp von Zabern, Mainz am Rhein.Google Scholar
Wurster, Wolfgang W. (editor) 2000 El sitio maya de Topoxté: Investigaciones en una isla del lago Yaxhá, Petén, Guatemala. Verlag Philipp von Zabern, Mainz am Rhein.Google Scholar
Wurster, Wolfgang W., and Hermes, Bernard 2000 Fechas de carbono 14. In El sitio maya de Topoxté: Investigaciones en una isla del lago Yaxhá, Petén, Guatemala, edited by Wurster, Wolfgang W., pp. 247–249. Verlag Philipp von Zabern, Mainz am Rhein.Google Scholar
Yacubic, Matthew P. 2014 Community Crafting and Crafting Community: The Lithic Artifacts of Zacpetén, Guatemala. Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Riverside.Google Scholar