Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T07:39:03.816Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Preclassic Maya Houses and Rituals: Excavations at the Karinel Group, Ceibal

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 April 2019

Jessica MacLellan*
Affiliation:
School of Anthropology, University of Arizona, PO Box 210030, Tucson, AZ 85721-0030, USA ([email protected])

Abstract

The site of Ceibal was founded around the beginning of sedentary life in the Maya lowlands. Excavations at the Karinel Group within the site reveal domestic structures and ritual deposits dating to the Middle Preclassic, Late Preclassic, and Terminal Preclassic periods (c. 1000 BC–AD 300). The results complement data from Ceibal's Central Plaza and publications on early households in other regions of the lowlands, inviting future investigations of temporal and geographic variation in Preclassic Maya domestic rituals.

El sitio de Ceibal se fundó alrededor del inicio de la vida sedentaria en las tierras bajas mayas. Las excavaciones en el Grupo Karinel revelaron estructuras domésticas y depósitos rituales fechados en los periodos Preclásico medio, Preclásico tardío y Preclásico terminal (ca. 1000 aC - 300 dC). Los resultados complementan los datos provenientes de la Plaza Central de Ceibal y de publicaciones sobre residencias tempranas en otras regiones de las tierras bajas e invitan a desarrollar investigaciones sobre la variación temporal y geográfica en los rituales domésticos del Preclásico Maya.

Type
Report
Copyright
Copyright © 2019 by the Society for American Archaeology 

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.)

References

References Cited

Aimers, James J., Powis, Terry G., and Awe, Jaime J. 2000 Preclassic Round Structures of the Upper Belize River Valley. Latin American Antiquity 11:7186.Google Scholar
Aoyama, Kazuo, Inomata, Takeshi, Triadan, Daniela, Pinzón, Flory, Palomo, Juan Manuel, MacLellan, Jessica, and Sharpe, Ashley 2017 Early Maya Ritual Practices and Craft Production: Late Middle Preclassic Ritual Deposits Containing Obsidian Artifacts at Ceibal, Guatemala. Journal of Field Archaeology 42:408422.Google Scholar
Brown, M. Kathryn, Awe, Jaime J., and Garber, James F. 2018 Ideology, Religion, & Ritual in Social Complexity in the Belize River Valley. In Pathways to Complexity: A View from the Maya Lowlands, edited by Kathryn Brown, M. and Bey, George J. III, pp. 87116. University Press of Florida, Gainesville.Google Scholar
Burham, Melissa, and MacLellan, Jessica 2014 Thinking outside the Plaza: Ritual Practices in Preclassic Maya Residential Groups at Ceibal, Guatemala. Antiquity 88 (340). http://journal.antiquity.ac.uk/projgall/burham340.Google Scholar
Cheetham, David 1995 Excavations of Structure B-4, Cahal Pech, Belize: 1994 Operations. In Belize Valley Preclassic Maya Project: Report on the 1994 Field Season, edited by Healy, Paul F. and Awe, Jaime J., pp. 1844. Occasional Papers in Anthropology 10. Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario.Google Scholar
Grove, David C., and Gillespie, Susan D. 2002 Formative Domestic Ritual at Chalcatzingo, Morelos. In Domestic Ritual in Ancient Mesoamerica, edited by Plunket, Patricia, pp. 1119. Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Monograph 46. Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, University of California, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Hammond, Norman (editor) 1991 Cuello: An Early Maya Community in Belize. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Hendon, Julia A. 2000 Round Structures, Household Identity, and Public Performance in Preclassic Maya Society. Latin American Antiquity 11:299301.Google Scholar
Inomata, Takeshi 2017 Emergence of Standardized Spatial Plans in Southern Mesoamerica: Chronology and Inter-regional Interaction Viewed from Ceibal, Guatemala. Ancient Mesoamerica 28:329355.Google Scholar
Inomata, Takeshi, Triadan, Daniela, Aoyama, Kazuo, Castillo, Victor, and Yonenobu, Hitoshi 2013 Early Ceremonial Constructions at Ceibal, Guatemala, and the Origins of Lowland Maya Civilization. Science 340:467471.Google Scholar
Inomata, Takeshi, MacLellan, Jessica, Triadan, Daniela, Munson, Jessica, Burham, Melissa, Aoyama, Kazuo, Nasu, Hiroo, Pinzón, Flory, and Yonenobu, Hitoshi 2015 Development of Sedentary Communities in the Maya Lowlands: Coexisting Mobile Groups and Public Ceremonies at Ceibal, Guatemala. PNAS 112:42684273.Google Scholar
Inomata, Takeshi, Pinzón, Flory, Palomo, Juan Manuel, Sharpe, Ashley, Ortíz, Raúl, Méndez, María Belén, and Román, Otto 2017 Public Ritual and Interregional Interactions: Excavations of the Central Plaza of Group A, Ceibal. Ancient Mesoamerica 28:203232.Google Scholar
Inomata, Takeshi, Triadan, Daniela, MacLellan, Jessica, Burham, Melissa, Aoyama, Kazuo, Palomo, Juan Manuel, Yonenobu, Hitoshi, Pinzón, Flory, and Nasu, Hiroo 2017 High-Precision Radiocarbon Dating of Political Collapse and Dynastic Origins at the Maya Site of Ceibal, Guatemala. PNAS 114:12931298.Google Scholar
Lee, David 1996 Nohoch Na (The Big House): The 1995 Excavations at the Cas Pek Group, Cahal Pech, Belize. In Belize Valley Preclassic Maya Project: Report on the 1995 Field Season, edited by Healy, Paul F. and Awe, Jaime J., pp. 7797. Occasional Papers in Anthropology 12. Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario.Google Scholar
Lee, David, and Awe, Jaime J. 1995 Middle Formative Architecture, Burials, and Craft Specialization: Report on the 1994 Investigations at the Cas Pek Group, Cahal Pech, Belize. In Belize Valley Preclassic Maya Project: Report on the 1994 Field Season, edited by Healy, Paul F. and Awe, Jaime J., pp. 95115. Occasional Papers in Anthropology 10. Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario.Google Scholar
Lohse, Jon C. 2010 Archaic Origins of the Lowland Maya. Latin American Antiquity 21:312352.Google Scholar
Marcus, Joyce 1999 Men's and Women's Ritual in Formative Oaxaca. In Social Patterns in Pre-Classic Mesoamerica, edited by Grove, David C. and Joyce, Rosemary A., pp. 6796. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
McAnany, Patricia A. (editor) 2004 K'axob: Ritual, Work, and Family in an Ancient Maya Village. Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, University of California, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Palomo, Juan Manuel, Inomata, Takeshi, and Triadan, Daniela 2017 Mortuary Rituals and Cranial Modifications at Ceibal: From the Early Middle Preclassic to the Terminal Classic Period. Ancient Mesoamerica 28:305327.Google Scholar
Ringle, William M. 1999 Pre-Classic Cityscapes: Ritual Politics among the Early Lowland Maya. In Social Patterns in Pre-Classic Mesoamerica, edited by Grove, David C. and Joyce, Rosemary A., pp. 183223. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Sabloff, Jeremy A. 1975 Excavations at Seibal, Department of Petén, Guatemala: Ceramics. Memoirs of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology Vol. 13(2). Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Cambridge, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Smith, A. Ledyard 1982 Excavations at Seibal, Department of Peten, Guatemala: Major Architecture and Caches. Memoirs of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology Vol. 15(1). Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Cambridge, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Tourtellot, Gair 1988 Excavations at Seibal, Department of Petén, Guatemala: Peripheral Survey and Excavation, Settlement and Community Patterns. Memoirs of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology Vol. 16(1). Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Cambridge, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Triadan, Daniela, Castillo, Victor, Inomata, Takeshi, Palomo, Juan Manuel, Méndez, María Belén, Cortave, Mónica, MacLellan, Jessica, Burham, Melissa, and Ponciano, Erick 2017 Social Transformations in a Middle Preclassic Community: Elite Residential Complexes at Ceibal. Ancient Mesoamerica 28:233264.Google Scholar
Willey, Gordon R., Ledyard Smith, A., Tourtellot, Gair, and Graham, Ian 1975 Excavations at Seibal, Department of Petén, Guatemala: Introduction: The Site and Its Settings. Memoirs of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology Vol. 13(1). Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Cambridge, Massachusetts.Google Scholar