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El artículo está dedicado al desciframiento del signo “cabeza de conejo” en la escritura jeroglífica maya del período clásico. Se puede identificar su valor de lectura como la sílaba pe gracias a dos observaciones – el signo se combina con el silabograma ‘e en el nombre de La Mar y parece a la letra “p” del alfabeto de Diego de Landa. Este valor silábico pe resulta en la lectura del nombre de La Mar como pe[pe]’tuun y en la identificación de dos raíces verbales: kop- “rollar, enroscarse” y pek- “llamar, invocar”. El última se utiliza cuando los vasallos se convocan enfrente de su rey y cuando se invocan los dioses. La palabra ‘u-kope‘m “su cosa enrollada” se aplica como el término para “la cuerda del sacrificio de sangre”, además, ésta forma parte de una expresión metafórica de parentesco “el hijo del padre”. The paper is dedicated to the phonetic decipherment of the “Rabbit Head” sign in Maya hieroglyphic writing. It is possible to establish its reading value pe thanks to two observations – the sign is optionally combined with the syllable ‘e in the name of La Mar kingdom and bears resemblance to Diego de Landa’s sign for the letter “p”. This syllabic value pe results in the reading of La Mar as pe[pe]’tuun and identification of two verbal roots: pek- “to summon, call up” and kop- “to roll up, coil”. The former one is used to describe convocation of the vassals before the king and to invoke gods. The word ‘u-kope‘m “his rolled-up one” is used as a term for “bloodletting rope”, also as part of a metaphorical “father’s child” parentage statement.

This essay reviews the following works: Ancient Maya Pottery: Classification, Analysis, and Interpretation. Edited by James John Aimers. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2013. Pp. vii + 293. $79.95 cloth. ISBN: 9780813042367. The Huasteca: Culture, History, and Interregional Exchange. Edited by Katherine A. Faust and Kim N. Richter. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2015. Pp. vii + 241. $55.00 cloth. ISBN: 9780806147048. Excavations in Residential Areas of Tikal: Group 7F-1. By William A. Haviland. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, 2015. Pp. xi + 133. $65.00 cloth. ISBN: 9781934536810. Politics of the Maya Court: Hierarchy and Change in the Late Classic Period. By Sarah E. Jackson. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2013. Pp. ix + 248. $29.95 hardback. ISBN: 9780806143415. The Ancient Maya Marketplace: The Archaeology of Transient Space. Edited by Eleanor M. King. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2015. Pp. vii + 325. $60.54 cloth. ISBN: 9780816500413. The Spectacle of the Late Maya Court: Reflections on the Murals of Bonampak. By Mary Miller and Claudia Brittenham. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2013. Pp. xi + 285. $54.05 cloth. ISBN: 9780292744363. Maya Lords and Lordship: The Formation of Colonial Society in Yucatan, 1350–1600. By Sergio Quezada. Translated by Terry Rugeley. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2014. Pp. ix + 248. $34.95 cloth. ISBN: 9780806144221. Place and Identity in Classic Maya Narratives. By Alexandre Tokovinine. Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection/Harvard University Press, 2015. Pp. vii + 180. $39.95 paperback. ISBN: 9780884023920.

In this paper, I explore the political potentialities the ­women’s collective in the Mam Maya town of Toj Coman Guatemala open when they bring the historical moment of the Spanish invasion into the...

The Popol Wuj is one of the most important, commonly studied, and widely circulated Indigenous literary works from colonial Mesoamerica. By some accounts, there are 1,200 editions of the work published in thirty world languages, all of which trace back to a single manuscript—itself a copy of an earlier Mayan work. To protect their work from being destroyed by colonial officials or Inquisitional authorities, the original K’iche’ authors of the Popol Wuj had to embed their ways of knowing in a language and narrative structure that could not be detected by Spanish readers. Each edition of the Popol Wuj therefore helps to uncover different elements of the cosmovisión that is embedded in the text. This article draws from recent collaborative efforts to prepare a digital critical edition of the Popol Wuj based on the editorial standards and scholarly conventions of the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI). By comparing and contrasting the advantages and drawbacks of this edition relative to printed works and digital editions, we suggest how methods from the digital humanities can shed new light on texts like the Popol Wuj.

Dans ce premier livre signe en propre qui poursuit une these soutenue en 2010 a Berkeley, la geographe Megan Ybarra analyse la maniere dont les politiques de conservation de la nature constituent des formes de violence envers les Mayas-Q’eqchi’ dans les basses terres du Guatemala, au nord de l’Alta Verapaz. Elle cherche a comprendre comment des groupes mayas se retrouvent victimes d’un « combat » mene au nom de la « defense » et de la « sauvegarde » d’un espace forestier pourtant lui aussi qu...

Les sites archéologiques sont des lieux qui autorisent différentes utilisations sociales et politiques du passé. Cela est particulièrement vrai dans des régions où les vestiges de villes anciennes sont sujets à des négociations entre identités nationales, locales et/ou ethniques. Le présent article s’intéresse aux cérémonies réalisées dans des sites mayas par des acteurs qui leur attribuent une valeur sociale et rituelle dans le présent, en opposition à leurs utilisations et leurs mises en valeur hégémoniques habituelles. On y analyse la relocalisation de la cérémonie du fuego sagrado en contexte archéologique comme une action de contrepouvoir qui suggère l’existence d’un territoire maya transnational et qui revendique une résistance culturelle face au colonialisme. Cette étude s’intéresse particulièrement à l’appropriation et à l’adaptation de cette cérémonie dans la péninsule du Yucatán, notamment dans le département guatémaltèque du Petén et dans l’État mexicain du Quintana Roo, des années 1990 jusqu’à nos jours. Los sitios arqueológicos son lugares que permiten diferentes usos sociales y políticos del pasado. Esto es particularmente cierto en regiones donde los vestigios de las ciudades antiguas están sujetos a negociaciones entre identidades nacionales, locales y/o étnicas. En este artículo me enfoco en las ceremonias que se realizan en sitios mayas por actores que les atribuyen un valor social y ritual en el presente, en oposición a las utilizaciones y puestas en valor hegemónicas. Analizo la relocalización de la ceremonia del fuego sagrado en contextos arqueológicos como una acción de contrapoder que sugiere la existencia de un territorio maya transnacional y que reivindica una resistencia cultural frente al colonialismo. En este estudio me intereso por la apropiación y adaptación de dicha ceremonia en la península de Yucatán, especialmente en el departamento guatemalteco del Petén y en el estado mexicano de Quintana Roo, desde los años 1990 hasta la actualidad. Archaeological sites are places that allow different social and political uses of the past. This is particularly true in areas where the remains of ancient cities are subject to negotiations between national, local and/or ethnic identities. In this paper I focus on ceremonies celebrated in Maya sites by actors who attach social and ritual values to them in the present, in opposition to their hegemonic uses and valorizations. I analyze the relocation of the fuego sagrado ceremony into archaeological sites as a counter-power action which suggests the existence of a transnational Maya territory and evokes a cultural resistance against colonialism. This study is particularly interested in the appropriation and adaptation of this ceremony in the Yucatan Peninsula, specifically in the Guatemalan department of Petén and in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, from the 1990s to the present day.

By developing the artistic style of abstract realism, this work in the medium of oil painting and digital elaboration focuses on the story of a Nepali woman who, by rebelling against constraining s...

In Chiapas, and particularly in the Highland region, few colonial indigenous documents have been found that are similar to those produced by the neighboring Maya peoples of the Guatemala Highlands and the Yucatan Peninsula. The question of whether or not such sources exist is an legitimate one, considering the importance of these testimonies for linking Postclassic historical processes to the development of indigenous societies in the Colonial era. In this respect, the Chiapa Title is an exception. It is a record that gives us a glimpse of the dynamics and conflicts that unfolded between two large political centers: Chiapa and Zinacantan. Thus, the objective of this article is not to reexamine the content of the document, whose classification as a ''title'' is erroneous, but to analyze the nature and form of this fragment and contextualize it in the framework of the legal discourse of the era and the conflicts between the so-called ''pueblos indios''. To this end, we set forth the methodological guidelines used in our examination of the document, as well as reflections on its complex connection to the still fragmentary archeological corpus from the Postclassic period and its transition to the Colonial era.

This paper revisits the Bengali novel, Maya Mridanga (1972) written by Syed Mustafa Siraj (14 October 1930–4 September 2012), locating its queer affirmativeness in the context of the current politi...

From Idols to Antiquity: Forging the National Museum of Mexico. By Miruna Achim. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2017. Pp. ix+ 327. $30.00 paperback. ISBN: 9781496203373. Framing a Lost City: Science, Photography, and the Making of Machu Picchu. By Amy Cox Hall. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2017. Pp. xiv + 267. $29.95 paperback. ISBN: 9781477313688. Knowing the Day, Knowing the World: Engaging Amerindian Thought in Public Archaeology. By Lesley Green and David R. Green. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2013. Pp.vi + 308. $55.00 hardcover. ISBN: 9780816530373. Creating Patzcuaro, Creating Mexico: Art, Tourism, and Nation Building under Lazaro Cardenas. By Jennifer Jolly. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2018. Pp. xi + 340. $29.95 paperback. ISBN: 9781477314203. Nature and Antiquities: The Making of Archaeology in the Americas. Edited by Philip L. Kohl, Irina Podgorny, and Stefanie Ganger. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2014. Pp. ix + 246. $60.00 hardcover. ISBN: 9780816531127. Our Indigenous Ancestors: A Cultural History of Museums, Science, and Identity in Argentina, 1877–1943. By Carolyne R. Larson. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2015. Pp. viii + 221. $79.95 hardcover. ISBN: 9780271066967. Maya Cultural Heritage: How Archaeologists and Indigenous Communities Engage the Past. By Patricia A. McAnany. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2016. Pp. ix + 245. $85.00 hardcover. ISBN: 9781442241275. Making Machu Picchu: The Politics of Tourism in Twentieth-Century Peru. By Mark Rice. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2018. Pp. xvi + 233. $29.95 paperback. ISBN: 9781469643533.

We propose to analyze how difference is constructed in order to produce diverse inequalities along the lines of ethnicity, social class, generation, and gender, in Yaxcaba, a Maya village in Yucata...

The Maya-Q’eqchi’ are the people that occupy the most territory in Guatemala and that historically, like other indigenous peoples, have resisted multiple waves of dispossession through ‘communitari...

We investigated the coupled social and ecological dynamics of swidden agriculture through a common property resource field experiment framed as a game with realistic social norms and ecological dynamics. We tested the hypothesis that community social norms related to labor reciprocity and graduated sanctioning may encourage sustainable swidden cultivation. We played the game with 150 people from two Q’eqchi’ Maya villages in southern Belize where swidden agriculture is common. We found that when the game mimics local social norms related to agricultural labor exchange, clearing requests decrease and a statistical analysis indicates that players sanctioned one another in order to decrease resource use and increase sustainability. We validated our results using qualitative methods, post-game surveys, and interviews, and we conclude that cultural and social norms related to labor exchange improve the sustainability of swidden agriculture.

Studying Gaspar Pedro Gonzalez’ A Mayan Life offers North American students an introduction to the material and spiritual consequences of colonialism as well as strategies for challenging its domin...

For the current-day K’iche’ Maya of the Highland community of Momostenango, Guatemala, animals are conceived as having not human, but artificial souls: they are, in fact, objects that exist in the mountain dwellings of their gods. Conversely, artefacts like sacred altars are seen as being wild animals of the gods and ancestors, which can bring illness and death to people when not fed by ritual offerings. Based on this and other data that the author gathered during his recent ethnographic fieldwork among the K’iche’, in this article he explores the ontological paradoxes of living beings and artefacts among current-day Maya and other Mesoamerican peoples of the past to propose a version of perspectivism that incorporates the ideas of technology, asymmetry and material culture to the more horizontal and personhood-based model proposed for Amazon cultures by Viveiros de Castro in his article, ‘Cosmological deixis and Amerindian perspectivism’ (1998).

Il n’est pas toujours possible de distinguer, au sein d’un ensemble funéraire apparemment homogène, l’existence de différences statutaires entre les défunts. Pourtant, lorsqu’elles existent, celles-ci définissent souvent la manière dont les vivants interagissent avec les morts : comment ils les inhument, combien de temps ils s’en souviennent, quel pouvoir ils leur attribuent. Comment identifier archéologiquement ces distinctions et, surtout, leur donner du sens ? Les pratiques funéraires mayas, étroitement liées aux habitats dans lesquels les morts sont inhumés, obéissent à une grammaire spatiale dont on perçoit aujourd’hui encore les échos parmi leurs descendants. En associant observations archéologiques issues de cas concrets et données ethnographiques, il est possible de rendre partiellement aux défunts leur place dans une hiérarchie funéraire plus nuancée que la figure parfois omniprésente des "ancêtres" ne le laisse envisager. When faced with homogeneous funerary complexes, it is not always possible to discern the existence of different statuses among the dead. When they do exist, such differences often define how the living interacted with their forebears: how they were buried, how long they were remembered, what powers were bestowed upon them. As archaeologists, how do we identify such differences and, above all, what do they mean? Ancient Mayan funerary practices were closely associated with the habitats in which the dead were buried and they obeyed a spatial codification that still echoes among their descendants to this day. By associating archaeological observations and ethnographical data, it becomes possible to partially restore the place of the dead in a funerary hierarchy of greater subtlety than the sometimes omnipresent figure of the "ancestor" tends to suggest.

Significance The disruption of Classic Maya society coincided with extended droughts, as suggested by numerous paleoclimatic studies. However, the role of drought in civil upheaval and demographic decline is complicated by the difficulty of linking relatively coarse estimates of meteorological drought with fine-scale plant processes that underpin agriculture. Our analysis of drought resistance across the historically documented, indigenous food plants of ethnographic Maya groups shows a broad range of foods gradually dwindling through droughts of increasing severity. This finding implies that short to moderate droughts could have caused agricultural disruption but not subsistence collapse. However, multiyear extreme drought is consistent with agricultural collapse and the specter of starvation, unless mitigated by food storage or trade from areas less affected by drought., Paleoclimatic evidence indicating a series of droughts in the Yucatan Peninsula during the Terminal Classic period suggests that climate change may have contributed to the disruption or collapse of Classic Maya polities. Although climate change cannot fully account for the multifaceted, political turmoil of the period, it is clear that droughts of strong magnitude could have limited food availability, potentially causing famine, migration, and societal decline. Maize was undoubtedly an important staple food of the ancient Maya, but a complete analysis of other food resources that would have been available during drought remains unresolved. Here, we assess drought resistance of all 497 indigenous food plant species documented in ethnographic, ethnobotanical, and botanical studies as having been used by the lowland Maya and classify the availability of these plant species and their edible components under various drought scenarios. Our analysis indicates availability of 83% of food plant species in short-term drought, but this percentage drops to 22% of food plant species available in moderate drought up to 1 y. During extreme drought, lasting several years, our analysis indicates availability of 11% of food plant species. Our results demonstrate a greater diversity of food sources beyond maize that would have been available to the Maya during climate disruption of the Terminal Classic period than has been previously acknowledged. While drought would have necessitated shifts in dietary patterns, the range of physiological drought responses for the available food plants would have allowed a continuing food supply under all but the most dire conditions.

Anthropologist Didier Boremanse’s Ruins, Caves, Gods, and Incense Burners transports readers to the remote jungles of eastern Chiapas and the villages of the Northern Lacandon Maya. According to Bo...

Historical and political context is essential for evaluating the long-term sustainability of any agroecosystem. Over the past several centuries in Yucatan, Mexico, Maya farmers have practiced milpa (i.e., slash-and-burn) agriculture in ways that are arguably both sustainable and unsustainable depending on whether political leaders created institutional support for farmers to implement a full range of traditional ecological knowledge (TEK). To investigate this relationship between political authority and TEK, I trace changes in maize tribute collection before and after contact between Spaniards and Maya. I argue that late pre-contact milpa agriculture was sustainable in part because political leaders supported institutions that allowed farmers to integrate a wider range of TEK. Colonial authorities, however, dismantled these institutions and thereby undermined the sustainability of milpa agriculture. Confronting these lasting Colonial legacies is a critical part of a larger interdisciplinary effort to expand sustainability discourse and promote environmentally just food systems.

This article focuses on the study of identity issues in contexts of the renewal of pre-Hispanic Maya cosmologies and their dislocation within the realm of New Age and neo-shamanic spiritualities. It problematizes, more specifically, the relationships between transnationalism, the New Age, and Maya ethnicity, from the perspective of Transnational Studies, through the concept of “neo-Mayanity.” These relationships have been embedded in a broader socio-historical context, which is the construction of ethnic categories in Central America since the 1960s, and the growing importance given, at the end of the 1990s, to “Maya Spirituality” in identity processes, such as in Guatemala and Mexico. These debates over ethnicity allow us to analyze the recent emergence of neo-Indigenous performativities through thematic issues such as gender, spirituality, power struggles, religious mobility, life stories, and authenticity. This article aims to show current transformations in the field of “Maya identity,” ever since its contact with globalized New Age and neo-shamanic spiritualities. A variety of empirical examples from the Mexican fieldwork will support the analysis. They represent a very small portion of the data obtained from a multi-sited research I conducted between 2012 and 2015 across different neo-Maya circles in Guatemala, Mexico, Germany, and Switzerland.

This article examines how a market shift toward high-end (‘Third Wave') coffee creates tension between two producer models of economic engagement: cooperatives, with mechanisms that promote solidarity to minimize risks, and ‘open’ markets, with extraordinary rewards for those able to grow the highest quality coffees. Most Maya farmers value cooperative organization and yet a growing number are defecting, unable to forgo the premiums intermediaries offer for their best beans. This is a complicated moral and economic situation in which the Third Wave focus on single-origin coffees forces changes in relations of production that undermine the cooperative preferences of smallholding farmers. Introduction The Guatemalan context This study Cooperatives and Fair Trade The Third Wave of change in the global coffee market Quality versus cooperation Tough choices and uneven rewards Quality, decommodification, and risk Conclusions References

The Maya area has long been characterized as a mosaic of polities large and small, with cultural connections, linguistic dialects, ethnicities, and economic networks that shifted, expanded, and contracted over time. In this paper, we examine different ways of constructing boundaries. From physical demarcations in the landscape to habitual practices of interaction and affiliation, the lines that tied and divided were both unstable and multiple. We draw on definitions and theories from anthropology, history, and geography to review the concepts of borders, frontiers, and boundaries and their implications for the Maya area over the long term.

An examination of several historical texts in the Maya codices reveals that droughts were a significant concern to the pre-Columbian Maya that ultimately resulted in the collapse of their civilization. The effects of such droughts mentioned in those texts include damage to crops, famine, and wildfires. The dates assigned to five droughts in the codical texts agree with dates obtained from the analysis of lacustrine cores and stalagmites in caves by climatologists.

This article presents an autobiographical perspective on the changing nature of Maya archaeology, focusing on the role of settlement pattern studies in illuminating the lives of commoners as well as on the traditional emphasis on the ruling elite. Advances in understanding the nature of nonelite peoples in ancient Maya society are discussed, as are the many current gaps in scholarly understandings of pre-Columbian Maya civilization, especially with regard to the diversity of ancient “commoners” and the difficulty in analyzing them as a single group.