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ZACPETEN STRUCTURE 719: ACTIVITIES AT A CONTACT PERIOD POPOL NAH BEFORE RAPID ABANDONMENT

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 March 2018

Prudence M. Rice ,
Arianne Boileau ,
Leslie G. Cecil ,
Susan D. deFrance ,
Carolyn Freiwald ,
Nathan J. Meissner ,
Timothy W. Pugh ,
Don S. Rice  and
Matthew P. Yacubic
Prudence M. Rice*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Southern Illinois University Carbondale (emeritus), 1809 W Main Street PMB 298, Carbondale, Illinois 62901
Arianne Boileau
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, P.O. Box 117305, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611
Leslie G. Cecil
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Geography, and Sociology, Stephen F. Austin State University, P.O. Box 13047 SFA Station, 1936 North Street, Nacogdoches, Texas 75962
Susan D. deFrance
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, P.O. Box 117305, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611
Carolyn Freiwald
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology and Anthropology, 510 Lamar Hall, 615 Grove Loop, University of Mississippi, University, Mississippi 38677
Nathan J. Meissner
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology and Sociology, University of Southern Mississippi, Liberal Arts Building 439, 118 College Drive, Box #5074, Hattiesburg, Mississippi 39506
Timothy W. Pugh
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Queens College, Timothy W. Pugh, Department of Anthropology, Queens College, 65-30 Kissena Blvd., Flushing, New York 11372
Don S. Rice
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Southern Illinois University Carbondale (emeritus), 1809 W Main Street PMB 298, Carbondale, Illinois 62901
Matthew P. Yacubic
Affiliation:
Bureau of Land Management, 5100 East Winnemucca Blvd., Winnemucca, Nevada 89445
*
E-mail correspondence to: [email protected]
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Abstract

This paper addresses activities carried out in a late-sixteenth or seventeenth century Maya council house (popol nah) just before its abandonment. Structure 719 at the site of Zacpeten in the central Peten lakes district is considered a noble residence remodeled into a council house with an adjacent temple. Excavations revealed quantities of de facto refuse inside the structure's two rooms and around the exterior; recent studies focused on ceramics, lithics, faunal remains, and net sinkers. The back room held abundant lithics and diverse fauna, with evidence of grinding red pigment and snapping obsidian prismatic blades into segments for fashioning arrow points. Pottery and faunal remains indicate feasting, as well as possible use of animal parts in ritual and in making ceremonial objects. The Group 719 complex served as a center of production of various goods and community ritual until its abrupt abandonment, likely in the first decade or so of the eighteenth century.

Type
Research Article
Information
Ancient Mesoamerica , Volume 29 , Issue 1 , Spring 2018 , pp. 137 - 155
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

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