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Agricultural Rhythms and Rituals: Ancient Maya Solar Observation in Hinterland Blue Creek, Northwestern Belize

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Gregory Zaro  and
Jon C. Lohse
Gregory Zaro
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131 (gzaro@unm.edu)
Jon C. Lohse
Affiliation:
Texas Archeological Research Laboratory, The University of Texas at Austin, PRC, Building 5, Austin, TX 78712 (jlohse@mail.utexas.edu)
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Abstract

Agriculture in prehispanic Mesoamerica necessitated not only a wide range of knowledge regarding soil types, fertility, and the growing cycles of different plants, but also the attendant rituals that firmly situated agrarian production into a shared Mesoamerican worldview. Due primarily to archaeological visibility, those attendant rituals have traditionally been investigated within the context of large centers. Recent investigations at the site of Quincunx, a hinterland architectural complex in northwestern Belize of the Maya Lowlands, provide evidence that some rural communities may also have had access to and control over esoteric knowledge involved in agricultural practice in the Late Classic period. Our findings are discussed in the context of ethnographic accounts and archaeological data that reveal the deep significance of quincuncial designs in Maya society and Mesoamerican ritual practices.

La agricultura en Mesoamérica prehispánica no necesitaba solamente el conocimiento de los tipos de suelo, la fertilidad, y los ciclos de crecimiento, sino también los rituales acompañados que establecieron la producción agrícola en una cosmovisión común entre los mesoamericanos. Principalmente por su visibilidad en el registro arqueológico, las investigaciones sobre esos rituales se han restringuido a los centros más grandes de los mayas. Investigaciones recientes del sitio de Quincunx, un complejo arquitectónico en el campo del noroeste de Belice, presentan evidencia que algunas comunidades rurales pudieran tener acceso y control sobre el conocimiento esotérico con respecto a la agricultura durante el período Clásico Tardío. Parece que era importante en varios niveles la ubicación y configuración única del complejo de Quincunx a los poblados circundantes. Su plano arquitectónico de cinco estructuras con énfasis en intercardinalidad imita las concepciones del cosmos que existen entre muchas comunidades actuales e históricas de los mayas. Se discuten nuestras conclusiones dentro del contexto de cuentos etnográficos y datos arqueológicos que revelan el significado profundo de los diseños quincunciales en la sociedad maya.

Type
Reports
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 16 , Issue 1 , March 2005 , pp. 81 - 98
Copyright
Copyright © 2005 by the Society for American Archaeology.

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