![]() Commonly used indicators to rank individuals or households are domestic architecture, burials, and portable artifacts. The other approach is etic and offers inductive description of the social distribution of wealth. The archaeology then illustrates what is already known. Archaeologists using the direct historical approach can look for material patterns consistent with the historically named social categories. One is to identify legal or emic status positions as these may be defined by indigenous documents (nobility, commoners) or by prior theory (elite). Studies of social stratification in ancient Mesoamerica have taken two approaches. Wealth Stratification in Ancient Mesoamerica Characterizations using only native legal categories fail to identify this important aspect of Mesoamerican society and economy. Comparison with other cases in Classic and Postclassic Mesoamerica suggests a similar conclusion, although there was variation over time and across space. The results show a distribution broader and more continuous than would be expected if wealth were accessed strictly by noble or commoner legal status. We describe the degree of wealth differentiation among households in a Late Postclassic city in Oaxaca. The objectives of the two approaches are not precisely identical, since wealth status may not coincide with status as defined by office, occupation, or law. These items are recovered from systematic excavations or systematic surface collecting. ![]() She said the Polish and Guatemalan archaeologists plan to reunite for one month a year to further explore Lake Petén Itzá underwater. Krzemień, a doctoral student, is now studying Mayan archaeology during an international exchange with a Mexican university. The diving team worked with six archaeologists from Guatemala, led by Bernard Hermes, and with two Polish divers who had sponsored the expedition, Sebastian Lambert and Iga Snopek. The researchers spent a month at the lake in August and September last year, taking a total of about 90 dives at various depths. The six-member Polish diving team of the recent study included archaeologists from Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń and the University of Warsaw. Mayan culture also influenced other Mesoamerican civilizations, such as the Aztec culture of central Mexico. The Mayans made advances - including an intricate astronomical calendar and the culture's distinctive pictorial writing - in a civilization that lasted more than 2,000 years before the arrival of Europeans in the Americas. Among the most famous Mayan archaeological sites is the ancient city of Chichen Itza, in the Yucatán Peninsula of modern Mexico. ![]() The ancient city of Nojpetén was a center of Mayan civilization in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica - a civilization that extended across modern southeast Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, and parts of Honduras and El Salvador. Krzemień said that the latest expedition did not establish that the whole of Lake Petén Itzá was a holy place, but some of the ritual objects they found in place underwater showed that at least part of the lake was considered "sacred" by the people who lived there. "It was thought to be the medium door to the underground world, world of death," where the gods lived, she said.Īs a result of these beliefs, the ancient Mayans sacrificed animals and sometimes humans to their gods in lakes and in flooded limestone sinkholes known as cenotes (opens in new tab), which are common in the region. "Water had very special and symbolic meaning in ancient Mayans beliefs," Krzemień said. ![]() The lake surrounding the ancient city of Nojpetén likely played an important part in ancient Mayan rituals. However, it's also possible that some small animals entered and died there later, she said. Small animal bones were found inside some of the bowls, which may indicate that the vessels were used for sacrifices, Krzemień said. This obsidian knife blade found in Lake Petén Itzá could have been used for sacrifices, the researchers say.
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