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Objective: To analyze the changes in children's height, weight, BMI and rates of stunting and overweight and obesity over three periods: 1986–1987, 1996–1998, and 2023 for the community of Yalcoba in the Yucatan Peninsula. Material and Methods: Four hundred forty (6‐to‐15 years) children measured in 2023 were compared with data obtained in 1986–1987 (n = 675) and 1996–1998 (n = 628). Z‐scores of height and BMI were calculated to estimate percentages of stunting and high BMI‐for‐age (overweight and obesity). Comparisons of anthropometric parameters by sex and age groups between years of measurement were performed through one way ANOVAs. Results: Differences in anthropometric parameters were significant in all age groups of both sexes. Boys measured in 2023 were, on average, 6.4 and 3.3 cm taller than boys measured in the 1980s and 1990s, respectively. Increases in girls were 12 and 7.3 cm, respectively. Average increases in weight of boys measured in 2023 were 7.9 kg compared to the 1980s and 5.8 kg compared to 1990s. Average increases in girls measured in 2023 were 11.3 kg compared to the 1980s, and 7.6 kg compared to the 1990s. Stunting between the 1980s and 1990s decreased by 15 percentage points and between the 1990s and 2023 decreased by 47 percentage points. The percent of children deemed overweight/obese during these periods increased from 8 to 12–50 by 2023. Conclusion: Results reflect the overall trends seen in the Yucatan where stunting has decreased substantially but the numbers of overweight/obese youths have increased dramatically in the past 30 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the change in the Dietary Diversity (DD) Index of Maya women of reproductive age living in rural areas of the Western Highlands of Guatemala after nutrition, health, and agroecology interventions. Methods: This is a secondary analysis study on DD from two matched groups from three villages in the Lake Atitlan area in the department of Sololá. The first cohort was recruited in 2017 (sample of n = 77). The second cohort was recruited in 2020 (sample of n = 61). Both were followed until 2021. The program provided various resources for assistance for food production and home improvements (sessions from 2018 to 2022). Agroecology sessions were conducted in the test farm. Due to the COVID-19, adjustments were made to continue the education and training sessions. Results: Both cohort samples had a statistically significant increase in participants who consumed at least 15 g from five groups of foods (2017: p =.00002; 2020: p =.045). There was a statistically significant increase in mean food groups consumed daily (2017: p <.00001; 2020: p =.005). Conclusions for Practice: Implementing interventions that include nutrition, health, and agroecology practices in the long term has demonstrated a statistically significant increase in the Dietary Diversity Index of Maya women in their reproductive years living in rural villages in the Western Highlands. Significance: Indigenous Maya women face numerous health challenges, including stunting, poor nutrition, and maternal mortality. Low dietary diversity and limited food access in rural areas of Guatemala exacerbate these issues. The intervention in this study statistically increased the Dietary Diversity Index of Maya women, notably raising the consumption of Vitamin B and Vitamin A-rich foods, which are essential for maternal and fetal health. These findings highlight the potential for culturally appropriate nutrition programs to enhance dietary diversity in this population, promoting overall health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Classic period Maya populations were mobile, and both burial patterns and dietary analyses suggest that many movers were incorporated into local communities. This paper presents a multi‐isotopic (Sr, O, S, C, and N) study of the diet and mobility of 18 Late (AD 550–800) and Terminal Classic (AD 800–900) individuals from the site of Pacbitun, Belize. Three distinct isotope systems identify where people lived at different stages of life, from the childhood origins of migrant and local Pacbitun populations to their final residences. The enamel strontium isotope ratios of the Court 3 individuals were higher than local ranges established by faunal and human bone values, suggesting elite migration, or even residential mobility within the polity. Sulfur isotope values reveal information about the local population, where all but one individual in the sample lived at the site for many years before they died. The exception was an isotopically nonlocal individual in a dedicatory deposit, as reported in other studies. Diet also informs on the receiving community and how migrants assimilated, as people with local and nonlocal isotope values ate isotopically similar foods. Individuals from elite site core contexts and those in Pacbitun's peripheral settlements both consumed C4‐enriched proteins, though there were more isotopically diverse protein sources in peripheral settlements during the Terminal Classic period. Sulfur, carbon, and nitrogen isotope data also reveal some differences in where food was acquired, including use of nonlocal fauna. Combining isotope systems that sample different body tissues also may blur the line between migrants and locals, terms that may describe the same person at different stages of life and show the need for a more nuanced discussion of ancient mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Biosphere Reserve of the Maya Lowlands, the large‐scale characterisation of the current wetlands ecology and the exploitation and management of their natural resources by the ancient Maya is severely constrained by the forest. This paper presents an integrated geomatic, geoarchaeological and ecological approach, developed to overcome this obstacle in the microregion of the Naachtun Maya city. It is based on the analysis of LiDAR, and field and laboratory data. This approach has revealed the mosaic of current ecological conditions of the wetlands, thanks to the characterisation and spatial modelling of the landforms, hydrology, vegetation and soil cover. It has enabled the characterisation of numerous hydraulic and agricultural structures: 70 large reservoirs, raised fields (the largest over 1.5 km²), canals and ditches (with a cumulative length of over 300 km) and dikes. Eight morphological types of hybrid structures—hydraulic and agricultural—are described. These constructions have enabled the intensive exploitation of water and soil resources, their management and the resulting environmental risks. This study has shown that the agroecosystems of lowland areas were created as early as ~1500 B.C.E. and evolved in a polyphasic way, until a phase of radical decline around 1000 C.E. This study has made it possible to characterise the legacy of the Maya Early Anthropocene on current wetlands, as well as their important natural and cultural heritage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article synthesizes monumentality, governance, urbanism, and regional statecraft in the Northern Maya Lowlands during the Preclassic and Classic periods. As in some parts of the Southern Lowlands, ceremonial spaces likely predated sedentism and monumental construction predated large-scale inequality. Nevertheless, the process of construction and the resulting monuments facilitated complex societies. In the Late Preclassic, some political centers featured factional competition, and there is less evidence for individual rulers than in the Southern Lowlands. The Classic period exhibits remarkable variation in governance. Both dynastic rulership and collective governance in the form of shared decision making are common in the Northern Lowlands throughout the Classic period, with a shift toward the former in later centuries. Northern Lowland cities, while more densely settled than most Southern Lowland centers, do not follow settlement scaling expectations. Density contributed to neighborhood formation and collective action, yet minimal spatial clustering of households makes neighborhoods more difficult to identify. Intra-household inequality appears not to correlate with forms of governance. Marketplaces facilitated the both leadership strategies and household livelihoods. Scholars debate the nature or governance at Chichen Itza, yet several recent projects in its hinterlands clarify the nature of regional statecraft at Chichen, whose leaders exercised a variety of strategies, enabling the enrichment of some of its neighbors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, it has been determined in various studies that many fermented products produced by natural fermentation have probiotic potential. It is reported that shalgam juice, which is one of the traditional vegetable-based fermented foods unique to our country and has a microbiota rich in lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and yeasts, has probiotic potential and the consumption of this product is beneficial for health. However, in order to call the product as "probiotic food", and to have positive effects on health, it must contain at least 106 CFU/mL-g of viable probiotic cells. This study was carried out to examine whether traditional and commercially produced turnip juices sold in different provinces of Turkey contain sufficient amounts of viable cells. In the study, the LAB counts of the samples were determined between 1.55-6.51 log CFU/mL, while the yeast counts of the samples were found between 1.13-5.32 log CFU/mL. These results revealed that shalgam juices commonly do not contain viable cells sufficient to call the product as probiotic. In addition, there is a need for studies in which the culturable microorganisms obtained from shalgam juices should be investigated in terms of probiotic properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article revisits ear ornament data from Tikal—both material and visual—to better understand the varied roles of ear ornamentation in ancient Maya society over time. The author discusses relevant terms and terminology, then emphasizes the social aspects of ear piercing and stretching as well as the place of ear ornaments in economic exchange. Ear ornamentation was a critical aspect of socialization for ancestral Mayas, but the extent of this practice was classed. Whereas the styles of nonelite ear ornaments were more resistant to change over time, the jade earflares of elites became more standardized in form while growing in complexity. With this standardization, jade earflares achieved a status close to currency, not just to be coveted or collected but also to be displayed on the body to the fullest extent possible. However, like many currencies, jade earflares were more complex than simple tokens of exchange. The symbolic dimensions that gave these objects meaning and economic value were integral to their power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sounds produced by humans and their environment are perceived and codified based on people's experiences as members of social groups, resulting in some sounds being used as means of communication. In this article, we present an archaeoacoustic study of diverse types of instruments excavated or collected from Comalcalco and Jonuta, two important pre-Hispanic Maya sites located in the modern state of Tabasco (Mexico). We propose a methodology to analyze organological and acoustic characteristics for each type of instrument, considering their relevant archaeological information, so as to provide some interpretations of how sounds could have been materialized, shared, and used in specific moments of Maya ritual and daily life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, I use the type-variety-mode analysis to define the diagnostic ceramic material for the Ik'hubil Ceramic Complex dating to the Terminal Classic (ca. a.d. 780–930/1000). The percentages of shared ceramic content indicate that multiple sites in the mid-to-lower Sibun Valley are members of an Ik'hubil Ceramic Sphere. My preliminary analyses of sites in the lower Belize River valley suggest that the Ik'hubil Sphere may extend across a broader area of north-central Belize during the Terminal Classic, discrete from the Spanish Lookout Sphere in the upper Belize Valley. Northern Yucatec traits are identified in ceramics and architecture in the eastern Sibun and Belize Valleys, along with marked changes in foodways. The presence of trading diasporas and more intimate social relationships, such as intermarriage, may explain this mix of local and hybrid forms of material culture introduced by the ninth century in this part of the eastern Maya Lowlands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children's literature is not devoid of political discourse. Notwithstanding the value of subtle political messaging, this article examines children's literature with overt political content that provides all readers—children and adults—tools to engage contemporary movements like "Water is Life" or "Black Lives Matter." Such is the case with Maya Gonzalez's (2017a) When a Bully is President: Truth and Creativity for Oppressive Times/Cuando el Presidente es un Bulí: La Verdad y la Creatividad en Tiempos Opresivos , which incorporates major themes such as colonization, slavery, war, and xenophobia through a queer and feminist of color political lens. Rather than shielding readers from social inequalities, Gonzalez reframes these within bully discourse and social justice responses to bullying through what I am identifying as temporal interconnection and collective creativity—as evidenced by the book's call for "truth and creativity." Created during dire times, When a Bully is President invites us to pause, witness, reflect, and engage in collective action in order to cultivate a queer and feminist of color future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2019, the Maya Leaders Alliance unveiled "The Future We Dream," a vision document sharing a common interest among the Mopan and Q'eqchi' Maya people of Belize for a future in which they are committed to sustaining a reciprocal relationship with and stewardship of the land. In this context, this paper shares results from three communities bordering a forest reserve who were asked to identify important practices, which they considered "traditional" and "environmentally sustainable," as part of a collaborative NGO project to promote indigenous forest management. Through analysis of data collected alongside Indigenous Community Promoters (ICPs), it explores how these terms were defined and deployed to discuss healthy forests and healthy communities. The paper discusses how collaborative and community- led data collection addresses both the need to decolonize sustainability discourse and produce better data for better project outcomes (Maya, traditional ecological knowledge, forest management, environmental sustainability, indigenous land rights). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores ethnographically the impact of foreign missionaries in a Maya Mam community of Guatemala between 1954 and the end of the 1970s. As previously evidenced, the development-oriented activities of the missionaries were well received by local youths as they enabled their empowerment before the Ladino population and endorsed rebellion against the civil-religious status quo of communal power. This article proposes that, despite causing a rupture that sometimes escalated into violence, the communal order reshaped by rebellious youths maintained elements of continuity with the past. By analysing the persistent entanglement of power and religion and an emerging relevance of basketball through the lens of Graeber and Sahlins’ reflections on the divine origins of power, we can see how, under the surface of the explicit rupture, there was a hidden attempt to appropriate modernity by placing it within the Indigenous logics of rituality and power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The slash-and-burn cultivation system is a millenarian practice still used in many countries today, with significant environmental impacts. However, identifying evidence of this agricultural method in soil records is challenging due to natural and human factors that can obscure or alter fire signals. This challenge is particularly evident in the Yucatán Peninsula, where the ancient Maya practiced slash-andburn agriculture in a dynamic tropical karst environment, making it difficult to pinpoint the origins and consequences of this practice. In this study, we use a recent agricultural burning in a karstic landscape in Chiapas as a model to understand alterations in soil properties. We then apply these insights to identify similar features at a Maya site on the Yucatán Peninsula, specifically at Coyote Quarry. For both cases, we conducted micromorphological analysis, soil physical-chemical characterization, thermogravimetry and differential scanning calorimetry analysis, and radiocarbon dating of mollusk shells, soil organic carbon, and charcoal fragments (the latter exclusively at Coyote Quarry). Our findings reveal significant effects on the soils from the Chiapas site post-burning, including changes in grain size distribution, pH, and total organic and inorganic carbon. These results were compared to those obtained from the Coyote Quarry soils and pedosediments. Key findings include micromorphological features, the presence of charcoal and other burned materials, and pyrogenic carbon identified through thermal analyses. The preservation of these burned features was facilitated by the typical karstic vertical soil erosion and redeposition as pedosediments in karstic depressions. The intrinsic association of the fire signals found in these karstic sinkholes and their radiocarbon dates enables us to link this evidence to the initiation of slash-and-burn agriculture by the Maya in the Yucatán Peninsula during the transition between the Archaic and Early Pre-Classic periods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the isolation of yeasts originated from Shanklish cheeses produced and consumed in Turkey, their identification using the SCoT marker method, and the determination of their enzymatic activities were aimed. Twenty-four yeasts were isolated from these ripened Shanklish cheeses and they are grouped by obtaining DNA fingerprints using the SCoT marker method and then representative isolates from each group were sequenced for identification. Based on the identification results, 19 Kluyveromyces lactis, 2 Pichia kudriavzevii, 1 Pichia fermentans, 1 Pichia membranifaciens and 1 Clavispora lusitaniae strains were identified and their enzymatic characterizations were determined using the API-ZYM enzyme test kit. Among these strains, K. lactis ANO17 showed high esterase lipase, leucine arylamidase, valine arylamidase, cysteine arylamidase, acid phosphatase, naphtol-ASBI-phosphohydrolase, α-glucosidase, and β-glucosidase activities, while showing moderate esterase, β-galactosidase, and low-level alkaline phosphatase activities and so this strain was identified as the most promising strain in terms of its enzymatic activity. According to these study results, it is considered that the use of K. lactis ANO17 strain in potential starter/adjunct culture combinations with lactic acid bacteria can be utilized to obtain technologically superior cheese. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent research has shown that by the age of 4, preschool children tend to associate social power with the male gender. The present study examined this association with a group of children from a Maya community in Guatemala, where gender inequalities are high, and tested the prediction that a strong gender hierarchy reduces girls' perception of themselves as being dominant in dyadic power situations. However, contrary to our predictions, we did not find that children associated power with the male gender. In Experiment 1, we asked 4 to 7 years-old children (N = 70) to identify themselves with a dominant or subordinate character in same-gender and mixed-gender relationships. In contrast, to what was previously observed with French children, the results showed no significant difference between male and female participants, both of whom strongly identified with the dominant character. In Experiment 2, we asked 4 to 6 years-old participants (N = 70) to assign a gender to a dominant and subordinate character and found a strong own-gender effect, with all participants, males and females, assigning their own gender to the powerful character. Again, this contrasts with previous findings indicating that children from France, Norway and Lebanon did consistently associate power with the male gender. The absence of a male-power association in Maya children is discussed in terms of cultural differences regarding exposure to gender stereotypes, power values and representations of female-male comparisons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present text refers to the bad treatment that the ixawal 'owner of the land' had with her workers. The Tojol-ab'al rebelled against her injustices in several localities. This story focuses on the events that occurred in Bajucú, a community located in the so-called Cañada Tojol-ab'al where the rebellion took place. The author of the narrative, Don Lampo Vázquez, is recognized in the town as a great storyteller. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pre-Columbian food production in the Maya Lowlands was long characterized as reliant on extensive, slash-and-burn agriculture as the sole cultivation system possible in the region, given environmental limitations, with maize as the dominant crop. While aspects of this "swidden thesis" of Maya agriculture have been chipped away in recent years, there has been an underappreciation of the many forms of long-term capital investments in agriculture made by ancient Maya people. Here, we review the last three decades of research that has overturned the swidden thesis, focusing on long-term strategies. We demonstrate long-lasting agricultural investments by Maya people, in social capital including multigenerational land tenure, in cultivated capital including long-lived trees, and in landesque capital including soil amendments and landscape engineering projects, such as terracing and wetland modification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ancestral Maya engineered wetland fields and canals in floodplains for plant cultivation and water management. Canals and reservoirs, however, also provide aquatic resources to supplement agriculture. Maya created multi-trophic ecological aquaculture by modifying the waterscape to increase the amounts of foods and useful materials, such as fish, turtles, waterfowl, and reeds. While archaeological and ethnographic investigations across the Maya area explore aquatic constructions, technology, and foodstuffs, they have not focused on aquaculture. In the western Maya lowlands, including the site of Mensabak, Chiapas, Mexico, ancestral Maya modified floodplains around lakes and rivers for farming fish and aquatic resources near their settlements and fields. These extensive modifications for ecological aquaculture enhanced the productivity and resiliency of natural ecosystems. The domesticated waterscapes near the ritually important Mirador Mountain at Mensabak also followed pan-Mesoamerican beliefs in origin mountains that generated water, plants, and fish for humans. Importantly, Maya integrated subsistence is illuminated by research on domesticated landscapes and ecological aquaculture that examines a range of resources rather than just plants. Certainly across Mesoamerica, ecological aquaculture allowed people to intensify production of "farms" of aquatic species, particularly fish. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

My research explores the relationship between metabolic health and the rise of capitalist food and labor systems, through interviews and long-term ethnographic research with Maya peoples of southern Belize. As work has been replaced with wage labor and farm foods with store-bought alternatives, diabetes has begun to affect Indigenous communities in Southern Belize. "Eating the money" earned by paid labor through consumption of commodity foods and accumulation of resources is seen to produce inequality and nutritional disease. The co-occurrence of diabetes with economic success represents the emergent and contradictory risks posed by integration into consumer capitalist economies. Concern over nutritional diseases like diabetes has led to reflexive critique of the deleterious health effects of modern food and labor relationships. Research participants' narratives emphasize the nutritional consequences of consumer culture as well as the challenges of balancing health and economic concerns in a rapidly changing world. By engaging Maya paradigms of health as embodiment with social scientific literature on political ecology and cultural studies of food systems, this article reveals that diabetes is endemic to the commodification of food and work. These findings demonstrate the integral role of commodification and consumption-oriented cultural practices to the global rise of nutrition-related diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the great city of Tikal, the ancient Maya placed and oriented their ceremonial architecture and monuments in accordance with cosmological principles. Its earliest ceremonial plaza, the Mundo Perdido, is one of the oldest pre‐Classic E‐Groups of the Petén, the astronomical utility of which has been a topic of debate by archeologists and archaeoastronomers alike over the past century. In 1988, Aveni and Hartung surveyed the great temples of Tikal and revealed the relationship between their astronomical and dynastic aspects. Yet, over the intervening decades breakthroughs in the decipherment of the Maya glyphs have greatly increased our understanding of Tikal's dynastic history while interpretations in the field of archaeoastronomy have become more rigorous. For instance, more recent surveys and interpretations by Ŝprajc (2021a, 2021b) have demonstrated the importance of the Maya ritual calendar in the placement and orientation of ceremonial public architecture. The aim of this paper is to reassess this earlier fieldwork in archaeoastronomy, provide recent corroborative measurements of the orientation of key buildings, and provide a cohesive summation of the cosmological principles found in the design and construction of the city of Tikal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today, the use of probiotics is increasing visibly. Many reasons such as preventing the proliferation of pathogenic microorganisms in the intestine, creating a healthier flora environment, strengthening the intestinal barrier, inhibiting inflammation will continue to keep the interest in probiotics on the agenda. Considering the effects of these microorganisms on human health and their beneficial effects on food, the search for new and more effective probiotic sources has begun. Although the majority of probiotic microorganisms are composed of bacteria, the probiotic properties of yeasts are being investigated by many studies today. Since bacteria can be sensitive to antibiotics, produce toxins and show pathogenicity, preference has been given to yeasts in the selection of probiotics. The fact that they increase the flavor in fermented foods, contribute to the development of new functional foods and, in addition, act as a biological control agent on mold and pathogenic microorganisms to increase the shelf life of products shows that the future of yeasts in food biotechnology is bright. Most probiotics used today are derived from fermented foods or from microorganisms that colonize a healthy person. Table olives; Since it is one of the most important fermented foods in the food industry, it can be considered as a potential source of probiotic yeast. Freshly produced extra virgin olive oil has also been shown to contain a biotic fraction represented by a rich microbiota, including yeasts. In this review, the probiotic properties of yeasts, the yeasts found in olive and olive oil, and the probiotic action mechanisms of these yeasts are included. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The discovery of the Maya symbol representing the day on the shields of two warrior figurines, found in shaft tombs belonging to the Bolaños culture, provoked the search for a Maya presence within a mortuary context different from that used by this civilization, despite the enormous distance, geographically speaking, between the two cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the spatial distribution of the built environment in the 10th and 11th centuries a.d. in the periphery of Lamanai, a Precolumbian Maya site in northern Belize. Analysis of structures, labor investments, and ceramic distributions indicates that the periphery was characterized by a small, monumental core between Lamanai and Ka'kabish, known as Coco Chan, which radiated outwards, with smaller structures in the periphery. Ceramic assemblages and their distributions show that artifacts are concentrated near Coco Chan, which may indicate differences in access to materials in the periphery of Lamanai. The Gini Index, a method used to measure dispersion, shows that the settlement (i.e., area per structure) has a relatively high degree of economic equality as compared to other areas in the Maya world. The structures and ceramic assemblages in the periphery of Lamanai may help to explain its uninterrupted occupation history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In microbiological characterisation, experimental conditions emerge as a significant parameter affecting the result. In this study, the tolerance of 50 yeast isolates to bile salts was investigated under three different temperature conditions (26°C, 30°C, and 37°C) and two different media (Sabouraud2% dextrose broth and Yeast Peptone Dextrose Broth, YPD). In general, similar growth was observed in both media at 26°C and 30°C. However, at 37°C, it was determined that four, three, and three strains developed in SDB medium with 0.3%, 0.5%, and 1% bile salt, respectively, while nine strains developed in YPD medium. When YPD and SDB media were compared in terms of yeast growth, it was observed that YPD supported the growth of a greater number of strains at different temperatures and bile ratios. The study determined that Kazachstania unispora was the species most affected by the experimental conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Late Preclassic (400 b.c.–a.d. 200) site of Noh K'uh in Chiapas, Mexico, is home to extended residential groups that aggregated around a small ceremonial complex at the bottom of the Mensäbäk Basin. Evidence collected from domestic contexts indicates that the Late Preclassic households of this site were organized under corporate political systems that emphasized collective identity and cosmological renewal. This article reveals how the people of Noh K'uh integrated cosmological beliefs and practices within the construction of their dwelling spaces, particularly through using cache deposits and participating in other architectural renewal ceremonies. Residents of Noh K'uh may have engaged in these practices to create "semipublic" gathering spaces for administrative and ceremonial activities at the level of the household. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

El Tintal's occupation lasted from approximately 600 BCE through 900-1000 CE. During this millennium and a half the settlement underwent two significant cultural apogees: one in the Late Preclassic Period (350 BCE-200 CE) and the second in the Late Classic Period (550-800 CE). Results from recent investigations shed light on particular cultural manifestations for each period and their correspondence to regional traditions and sociopolitical contexts. For example, in Preclassic times emphasis was placed on large, volumetric constructions that defined the cultural and ceremonial landscapes, whereas in the Classic Period there was a notable increase in structure density and territorial extension of the settlement. Here, we summarize these results with the objective of providing a diachronic perspective on the archaeology of El Tintal, a site that has remained largely unknown. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Language revitalization efforts have been critiqued for creating and reproducing linguistic, epistemological, and pedagogical hierarchies that might run counter to a community's needs and interests. Drawing on a seven-year ethnographic and collaborative research with the Maya cultural promoters of the Caste War Museum in Tihosuco, Mexico, we describe the dynamics of our Maya language reclamation partnership focusing on the creation of bilingual comic books and summer workshops for children. These experiences show a slow but steady language reclamation approach based on the concern for younger generations to feel comfortable to claim their right to speak and learn Maya and on their fondness for Maya language and culture. We argue that the construction, negotiation, and assertion of linguistic and pedagogical authority among all participating actors is central to reclamation projects, and that these processes are impacted by outsider researchers-collaborators in ways that can support but also potentially harm these language efforts. This paper sheds light on the various tensions lived in long-term language reclamation projects, recognizing the need for outsider researchers to turn our reflexive gaze inwards and consider how we can bring to the fore practices we can celebrate as well as address and transform those that cause discomfort and uncertainty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The genus Trichosporon, which is a yeast-like basidiomycete, is ubiquitous in nature and a part of human microbiota. It's an oppurtunistic fungal pathogen, which was once rare, but increasing dramatically recently, leading to fatal infections. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence, and antifungal susceptibility of clinical Trichosporon spp. isolates, and to determine whether there was a change in incidence during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Materials and Methods: This was a retrospective crosssectional descriptive study, conducted between January 1, 2013 and February 5, 2023. Cultures which Trichosporon spp. isolated (n=125) were screened, and those met the eligibility criteria were included (n=77). Identification, antifungal susceptibility test results, age, gender records were identified from Microbiology Laboratory Information Management System. Results: 97.4% of the isolates were Trichosporon asahii, and 2.6% were Trichosporon mucoides. The most frequent isolation period was the 2016 and 2019 year group (71.4%), not during the COVID-19 Pandemics (19.5%). The most common sample type was urine (58.4%), of whom predominantly (58.4%) hospitalized in the Intensive Care Unit. Amphotericin B MICs were ≤1µg/ml in 68.9% of the isolates. Fluconazole and voriconazole MICs were ≤1µg/ml in 20.0% and 94.8%, respectively. 59.7% of the isolates had a MIC of ≥4µg/ml for flucytosine. Micafungin and caspofungin MICs were ≥4µg/ml in 88.3% and 92.2% of the isolates, respectively. Voriconazole had the strongest in vitro activity, and amphotericin B had lower MICs than expected. The combination therapy of voriconazole and amphotericin B could be a therapeutic option in this setting, as well as monotherapy of voriconazole. Conclusion: Trichosporon spp. isolated in clinical specimens and their antifungal susceptibility depend on the geographic region and the anatomic site. Identifying local data will contribute to both the management of these patients, and surveillance studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies on the Late Classic Maya elite (AD 600-900) mention the existence of objects that symbolized social power and legitimized their bearer; which were displayed in various events, as observed in some stone monuments and palace scenes on painted vessels dated during this period. One of these objects, which is frequent in such representations, is an artifact similar to a scepter. This paper discusses the presence of scepters in the inscribed monuments of Yaxchilan, Chiapas; which serves as a referential interpretative framework to postulate the possible use of an artifact made with a feline bone limb from Tomb II of Yaxchilan, explored in 1980 under the direction of Roberto Garcia Moll. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been well over a decade since lidar-based research began in earnest in the Maya Lowlands of southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, and Honduras. Most investigations have an archaeological focus, with a few integrating studies of the ancient Maya with analyses of local ecology and land-use. A review of frequently cited publications reveals a lack of consistency in assessing the accuracy of archaeological feature classifications in lidar data with variables such as sensor type, class definitions, and ground-truthing methods differentially affecting assessment results across the Lowlands. In general, area-based ground-truthing approaches to classifications of full waveform lidar data present the most comprehensive accuracy assessments. New assessment data from the Buenavista Valley of north-central Guatemala are presented to compare against existing studies and to demonstrate how a geographic approach (a comprehensive, landscape-scale study of features over space and time) to classification error assessment can enhance understanding of classification accuracy. Results show that meaningful comparisons of archaeological features across lidar datasets cannot be considered reliable without more uniform and detailed presentations of accuracy assessment methods, analyses, and results. The article concludes with recommendations for how such collaborations might proceed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Paleoclimate research in the Maya region of Mesoamerica provides compelling evidence of drought during key periods of cultural transition in Maya society. These include the transition from the Preclassic to the Classic, and from Classic to the Postclassic. Previous research emphasized a causal relationship between drought and cultural change, or so-called "collapse" in the Maya region. Recent advances in the range and precision of climate-sensitive proxies and the development of new archives have enabled quantitative reconstructions of past hydroclimate, as well as providing evidence of high impact, short-duration events, such as tropical cyclones. Simultaneously, archaeological research has unearthed widespread evidence of technologies used by the Maya to exert control over water resources in urban, rural, and agricultural settings. Evidence suggests that many of these water features were in use for multiple generations, possibly centuries, and many were constructed during the Terminal Preclassic and Terminal Classic periods. We suggest that, given the availability of new archaeological and paleoclimate records, these data can be combined to identify the full complexity of Maya adaptation to hydroclimate variability to emphasize adaptation and resilience to both water scarcity and over-abundance (e.g., flooding). Such syntheses, which can offer lessons for present-day efforts to grapple with regional climate change, will benefit from additional studies in data-poor zones of the Maya region, as well as public archiving of paleoclimate and archaeological data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research in Southern Belize has produced a 1000-year record of coupled human and environmental relationships at the ancient Maya city Uxbenká. Located at the southeastern margin of the Maya Lowlands, this region has excellent agricultural land and some of the highest rainfall in the Maya region. Uxbenká was the founding political center in southern Belize after 100 BCE. After 850 years, Uxbenká experienced a long geopolitical disintegration ending in depopulation as part of broad regional collapse. We use kernel density and summed probability distributions of 167 high-precision AMS 14C dates to reconstruct relative changes in population and investments in the built environment throughout the growth and decline of the polity. Those data are compared to an annually resolved speleothem paleoclimate record from Yok Balum cave, located less than 3 km from Uxbenká's civic ceremonial core. With no Classic Period wetland fields or evidence for large-scale landscape investments in agricultural intensification, food production would have been rainfall dependent as was water availability for household use. Using a 30 m SRTM DEM, we compute flow accumulation and the upvalley extents of river networks while varying the input precipitation to reflect hypothesized changes in paleorainfall over time. Our data suggest that Uxbenká experienced rapid growth following a severe drought at 200 CE, as well as cycles of growth and contraction until just after 750 CE. We find that geopolitical disintegration in southern Belize was already underway when a severe drought began at 830 CE. That six-decade drought likely contributed to the abandonment of Uxbenká and limited geopolitical reorganization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crabs, due to the fragility of their remains, are one of the scarcely recovered animal groups in archaeological contexts of the Maya lowlands. The best preserved are the marine decapods, which are often located in coastal sites. In Palenque, recent excavations at the Palace, an administrative political building of the local elite, allowed the discovery of more than a hundred freshwater crab claws, showing that this decapod, in addition to being consumed by the ancient Maya, played a relevant role within rituals related to constructive renovations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The wall paintings in a burial chamber in the small site of Chakjobon in the Reserva Balam Ku in the south of the state of Campeche are published for the first time. For stylistic reasons, the murals are contemporary with the murals of San Bartolo in Guatemala. The great importance of the Chakjobon paintings lies in the fact that they contain two very early hieroglyphic texts, thus adding to the very limited corpus of Late Preclassic texts found in situ. The signs show strong parallels with the texts from San Bartolo, but also from Kaminaljuyu Stela 10, and suggest that already in the Late Preclassic there must have been a transregional communication between scribal communities about signs and about writing in general. We can assume that the throne scene depicted in the painting as well as the written texts referred to the person that was originally interred in the burial chamber. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polities require individuals who envision and materialize them; in turn, people's political identity as residents depends on them. The polity and the resident are self-evident only in hindsight, and we discuss their co-constitution. During subjectification, people create and submit to an authority. Our case study is the Early Classic (AD 350–600) emergence of Tamarindito in the south-central Maya Lowlands (modern Guatemala). The Petexbatun Regional Archaeological Project and the Tamarindito Archaeological Project have extensively studied this capital of the Foliated Scroll polity. Although its divine rulers present themselves as fully formed since time immemorial, we discuss how they built their authority through self-serving narratives. Tamarindito originates in the Early Classic, and in the late fourth or fifth century, rulers selected a 70 m high hill as seat. Plaza A's monumentality conceals a small-scale labor effort and a slowly growing polity. Only two non-elite households attached themselves to the royal court during the fifth and sixth centuries, suggesting that non-elites recognized the royal authority only slowly. The formation of the Foliated Scroll polity was an immanent process. Self-aggrandizing divine kings struggled to claim authority, and non-elites subjectified themselves over several centuries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diverging from traditional archaeology, our ongoing research focuses on decomposition rather than preserved fragments of what people left behind. We are looking at the bulk of what constitutes archaeological deposits: soil. Comparing the thickness of soil where people have lived to thickness where there has been no human occupation shows greater accumulation, or soil formation, where humans have been active. These same soils are also often characterised by higher fertility than soils formed in the absence of humans. The implication is that the decay of what people throw away, leave behind or bury forms soil. Yet, what we characterise as archaeological sites do not appear to be "wastelands", because they have been altered by time. Given modern threats to soil security, we are applying what we are learning from wastelands of the past to change attitudes today - we need to embrace waste, trash and rubbish as the soil of the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Especially in large-scale commercial wine production, fermentation is usually carried out by using the species of Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast cultures. Standard wine yeast starter cultures are brought from abroad and used in industrial winemaking in our country. Thus, in course of time, the wines of all producers began to show similar properties. Today, studies focus on terroir wines production with local characteristics by using the countries' own local wine yeasts as a starter. Within the scope of this study Papazkarası grapes were collected from 4 vineyards with different characteristics, such as viticulture practices, microclimatic conditions and locations in the borders of Edirne and Kırklareli. In addition, the grapes were also collected from the vineyard in Tekirdağ Viticulture Research Institute. Spontaneous fermentation was done by crushing the collected grapes in the laboratory. At the end of the fermentation, yeast isolations were made from the musts to YPD medium and a total of 66 isolates were obtained as a result of purification. Fermentation rate, H2S production amount, growth at high temperature, growth at high sugar concentration, resistance to high ethanol, ability to grow at low pH values, resistance to SO2, and volatile acid analysis were done to determine whether they meet the technological requirements for basic winemaking, together with two commercial wine yeasts. DNA sequencing analyzes were made by selecting 15 of the isolates that were found to have the necessary characteristics and it was determined that they belonged to the Saccharomyces cerevisiae species. DNA fingerprinting analysis was performed using delta 12-21 primers to determine the strain differences of the isolates determined to belong to the same species. By DNA fingerprint analysis, it was determined that 9 out of 15 isolates were different strains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intensified social complexity emerged in some parts of the lowland Maya region during the Middle Preclassic period (800–300 BC). Though data for Middle Preclassic complexity remain very thin, states may have formed in the Mirador Basin and other areas that exhibit settlement hierarchy, evidence of centralized administration, and specialization. However, these developments have been obscured by a shift from a more cooperative to a more competitive system during the Late Preclassic period (300 BC–AD 200). Unilinear thought has confused this change in organization with a shift toward greater complexity. Such positions incorrectly assume that divine kingship and its accouterments are a baseline for complexity. Judging Middle Preclassic period complexity according to Classic period developments is dubious given the cooperative–competitive oscillations; the tendency in the Maya area for states to have been secondary with longstanding interactions among Chiapas, Pacific Coast, Isthmian, and the Gulf Coast areas; and internal innovations. New data are needed to characterize early complexity in the Maya lowlands on its own terms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thanks to many epigraphic references compiled in the last 35 years, there is a growing consensus among Mayanists that a hegemonic state existed in the Maya Lowlands during the Classic period headed by the Kaanu'l royal dynasty and based at Dzibanche and Calakmul. Many aspects of its organization are still poorly documented, however. Important questions that remain unanswered include how power was exerted and passed on within this political system in ways that might differ from those found in an average-sized Maya kingdom. In this article we present new archaeological and epigraphic data from Chochkitam, a little-known site in northeastern Peten, Guatemala. Although this was a center of average size, the epigraphic texts reveal its political standing as a royal city with important connections with the Kaanu'l and other regional powers at various significant junctures during the Classic period, including before, during, and after the Kaanu'l hegemony. These historical reconstructions, although fragmentary, provide important data to validate emerging hypotheses regarding how the Kaanu'l kings managed their domain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent decades, the value of hieroglyphic texts to Maya archaeology has become increasingly clear. Texts provide precise chronologies and insights into the Maya worldview. They also link artifacts to individual agents and social categories and help us to understand the roles and interactions of historical individuals. Historical texts engage with other archaeological datasets in specific ways, suggesting comparative interpretations of events in the past. Even though the Maya script remains incompletely deciphered, linguistic variation within the script offers a way to explore ethno-linguistic diversity among the ancient Maya. Cultural diversity can also be explored through examination of formal aspects of the script from the perspective of paleography and graphemics in general, both of which provide evidence of scribal interactions and script evolution. Digital technologies are particularly valuable for visualizing and encoding texts with relation to time, space, and other archaeological datasets and, when combined with a social networks perspective, can be used to map other dimensions of sociocultural diversity in the Maya world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many Maya archaeological areas are not comprehensively or systematically mapped because ruins, often hidden under tropical forest canopy in rugged terrain, can take decades to locate, identify, and map. Recent years have seen an explosion of lidar data collection, and machine learning provides a way to exploit these lidar data, making feature analyses more efficient and consistently executed. At present, there are a limited number of small, area-specific models that exist for the Maya area, the largest of which covers 230 km2. Here we present the foundation for a broadscale, multi-area-based convolutional neural network (CNN) object detection model that uses airborne laser scanning data, or lidar, for archaeological feature detection across 615 km2 of the Maya area, as well as preliminary results from an additional 885 km2 test area. This sets the path for a model that will enable researchers to map archaeological areas across the entire Maya Lowland area in weeks or months instead of decades. Notably, we find that a model trained on multiple areas with significantly different topographies produces better results for all areas as compared to a model trained on a single area. The broadscale model here presented produced an F1 score of 0.80. Results also include many potential new structure detections, including detections on lidar at an archaeological area that has not yet been comprehensively ground-surveyed and is located in an entirely different country in the Maya Lowlands from where the model was trained on. This model represents an attempt at a broadscale machine learning approach for archaeological feature mapping in the Maya area and demonstrates how big data can be integrated into traditional archaeological workflows. Lidar has already shown much greater ancient Maya infrastructure throughout the Maya world and elsewhere in the tropics, and this study using machine learning with lidar is showing even greater Maya infrastructure through vast areas of the Maya tropical forest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men are disproportionately affected by HIV in Guatemala; interpersonal violence may increase behaviours that augment the risk of HIV in this group. Although 44% of Guatemalans identify as Indigenous, little information exists on the experiences of Indigenous sexual minority individuals. In this study, we sought to compare different forms of violence and HIV-related behaviours by Indigenous identity among gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men; and determine if associations between violence and HIV-related behaviours differed by Indigenous identity. We used cross-sectional survey data from 716 Spanish-speaking, adult men recruited from urban centres to examine the prevalence of and relationship between different forms of interpersonal violence and HIV-related behaviours using logistic regression analyses, including the moderating effect of Indigenous identity. In general, fewer Indigenous participants reported interpersonal violence victimisation and HIV-related behaviours compared to their non-Indigenous counterparts. In weighted multivariable analyses, non-Indigenous participants who reported physical and/or sexual violence were over five times as likely to report transactional sex (OR = 5.17, 95% CI 2.11–12.68, p < 0.001), but the relationship was not significant for Indigenous participants. Findings suggest that Indigenous sexual minority men have unique contexts and that additional strengths-based research is needed to ensure that actions and efforts to promote violence and HIV prevention meet their needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cacao seeds, Theobroma cacao, provide the basis for a ceremonially important Mesoamerican food. Past efforts to identify cacao in ceramics focused on highly decorative vessel forms associated with elite ceremonial contexts, creating assumptions as to how cacao was distributed and who could access it. This study examines 54 archaeological ceramic sherds from El Pilar (Belize/Guatemala) of Late Classic (600 to 900 CE) residential and civic contexts representing a cross-section of ancient Maya inhabitants. Identification of cacao in ancient sherds has depended on the general presence of theobromine; we used the discrete presence of theophylline, a unique key biomarker for cacao in the region. Analysis was done by grinding off all outside surfaces to reduce contamination, pulverizing the inner clay matrix, extracting absorbed molecules, and concentrating the extractions. In order to obtain especially high selectivity and low limits of detection, our study utilized the technique of resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization coupled with laser-desorption jet-cooling mass spectrometry. This technique isolates molecules in the cold gas phase where they can be selectively ionized through a resonant two-photon process. Of the sherds analyzed, 30 samples (56%) were found to contain significant amounts of theophylline and thus test positive for cacao. Importantly, cacao is present in all contexts, common to all Maya residents near and far from centers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) is an inborn error of immunity, characterized by abnormal susceptibility to bacterial and fungal infections and a lack of systemic inflammatory regulation. Pathogenic variants in the CYBB gene are transmitted in an X-linked pattern of inheritance; while the pathogenic variants present in the EROS, NCF1, NCF2, NCF4, or CYBA genes are transmitted with an autosomal recessive inheritance pattern. Objectives: To describe the clinical, immunological, and genetic characteristics of two patients with CGD and BCG infection. Methods: In peripheral blood neutrophils, H2O2 production and the expression of NADPH oxidase subunits were measured. Detection of pathogenic variants was by Sanger sequencing of the NCF2 gene. The clinical information was extracted from the records by the treating physicians. Results: We present two male infants from two unrelated families of Mayan ethnicity, with CGD and BCG vaccine infection. Three different pathogenic variants in the NCF2 gene were identified; on the one hand, c.304 C>T (p.Arg102*) has already been reported, on the other hand, c.1369 A>T (p.Lys457*) and c.979 G>T (p.Gly327*) not reported. Conclusions: In patients with mycobacterial infection with BCG, we should suspect an inborn error of immunity, such as CGD. The diagnosis of CGD is made through the detection of a lack of radical oxygen species in neutrophils. The reported patients had pathogenic variants in the NCF2 gene, two of which have not been previously reported in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the beginning of the 1580s, some Maya caciques of Yucatan sent to King Philip II a letter asking him the future bishop of the province to be Franciscan and a group of religious from the same Order to be sent to the peninsula in order to consolidate the evangelization of Native people. The letter was written in Yucatec maya and was translated into Castilian by the interpreter Juan Ruiz de la Vega. The record, which remains unpublished until today, completes the restricted corpus of sixteenth century texts written in Yucatec maya and, for that same reason, it has an exceptional historical value. The present article offers a linguistic and philological analysis of both the maya text and its translation. It aims at highlighting that the term "maya" was used in the letter to emphasize the native linguistic and cultural identity. We also demonstrate that the interpreter intended to minimize the expression of this revendication in its translation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Like indigenous peoples across the hemisphere, the Maya of southern Belize have long struggled to decolonize their ancestral lands. For over four decades, the 'Maya movement' has clashed with the state, yielding mixed results. After a series of favorable court decisions, the Maya communities have won legal claim to their lands. However, the government of Belize has not substantively addressed this decision, and the rural Maya communities of Toledo remain the poorest in the country. This paper analyses one exceptional period, 1997–2004, when the Maya movement aligned itself with progressive state leaders to advance a set of goals, including but not limited to land rights. I argue that a combination of factors made the 1997–2004 conjuncture decisive for shaping present conditions in Toledo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the past twenty-five years, Belize's Toledo District has been the theatre for one of the world's most recognised indigenous rights cases as the Toledo Maya have sought tangible recognition of their customary rights over their ancestral lands. It has been a battle fought through both domestic and regional courts, gaining notoriety for the first domestic invocation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples within the legal judgement. However, recent events have reminded that this contested land, one naturally dominated by Maya narratives in recent decades, is home to two indigenous peoples. This piece adopts the indigenous lens to the Toledo Garifuna—the Afro-indigenous people who settled in Toledo following their exile from St Vincent. Despite receiving significant scholarly attention in Belize and beyond, the Garifuna role (or lack of) in the Maya land rights case is conspicuous by its absence in academic discourse. After outlining both peoples' shared indigenous history in Toledo, the focus turns to discussing the reasons why the Garifuna did not join the Maya in their legal challenge, before finally considering the surge in Garifuna advocacy in recent years, one that must be welcomed with both hope and caution. Durante los últimos veinticinco años, el distrito de Toledo en Belice ha sido escenario de uno de los casos de derechos indígenas más reconocidos del mundo, ya que los mayas de Toledo han buscado el reconocimiento tangible de sus derechos consuetudinarios sobre sus tierras ancestrales. Ha sido una batalla librada a través de tribunales nacionales y regionales, ganando notoriedad particular por la primera invocación nacional de la Declaración de las Naciones Unidas sobre los Derechos de los Pueblos Indígenas dentro del juicio legal. Sin embargo, los acontecimientos recientes han recordado que esta tierra en disputa, naturalmente dominada por las narrativas mayas en las últimas décadas, es el hogar de dos pueblos indígenas. Este artículo adopta la perspectiva indígena de los toledanos garífunas—el pueblo afroindígena que se asentó en Toledo tras su exilio de San Vicente. A pesar de recibir una atención académica significativa en Belice y más allá, el rol garífuna (o la falta de este) en el caso de los derechos territoriales de los mayas, ha sido poco atendido desde la academia. Después de esbozar la historia indígena compartida de ambos pueblos en Toledo, este artículo se enfoca en discutir las razones por las que los garífunas no se unieron a los mayas en su desafío legal, antes de considerar finalmente el aumento en la defensa de los garífunas en los últimos años, algo que debe ser bienvenido con esperanza y, a su vez, con cautela. Au cours des vingt-cinq dernières années, le district de Toledo au Belize a été le théâtre de l'un des cas de droits autochtones les plus reconnus au monde, les Mayas de Toledo ayant demandé une reconnaissance tangible de leurs droits coutumiers sur leurs terres ancestrales. Ce fut une bataille menée devant les tribunaux nationaux et régionaux, qui a acquis une notoriété particulière pour la première invocation nationale de la Déclaration des Nations Unies sur les droits des peuples autochtones dans le cadre du jugement juridique. Cependant, les événements récents ont rappelé que cette terre contestée, naturellement dominée par les récits mayas au cours des dernières décennies, abrite deux peuples autochtones. Cette pièce adopte l'optique indigène des Toledo Garifuna—les Afro-indigènes qui se sont installés à Tolède après leur exil de Saint-Vincent. Bien qu'il ait reçu une attention scientifique importante au Belize et au-delà, le rôle (ou l'absence de rôle) des Garifuna dans l'affaire des droits fonciers mayas est remarquable par son absence dans le discours académique. Après avoir décrit l'histoire indigène commune des deux peuples à Tolède, l'accent est mis sur la discussion des raisons pour lesquelles les Garifuna n'ont pas rejoint les Mayas dans leur contestation judiciaire, avant d'envisager enfin la montée en puissance du plaidoyer des Garifuna ces dernières années, qui doit être saluée par les deux. espoir et prudence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the ritual and socioeconomic significance of animals in ceremonial contexts at Kaminaljuyu, Guatemala. Kaminaljuyu was once the largest and most politically powerful highland Maya center. We compare faunal remains from different contexts, including burials and dedicatory offerings in and around monumental features, to better understand the role of animals in these deposits. We then compare ceremonial activities across Mesoamerica to identify similarities alluding to widely recognized practices. Late and Terminal Preclassic (350 BC–AD 250) ceremonies at Kaminaljuyu contain some of the earliest marine fish recovered from a Maya highland site, demonstrating the ability of early elites to obtain exotic species for special events. Dogs, including perhaps the first evidence for Preclassic hairless dogs in Guatemala, appear in deposits that resemble canine sacrificial offerings in central Mexico. The new faunal data in this study provide a novel perspective on Kaminaljuyu's sociopolitical role in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]