[Aztlan] THE 2ND ANNUAL MAYA AT THE PLAYA EVENT

[michael ruggeri]

Listeros,



The 2nd Annual Maya at the Playa in Palm Coast, Florida from October  
2-5 has a very good program of lectures scheduled among other things.

AIA and AFAR (American Foreign Academic Research) are sponsoring the  
Second Annual Maya at the Playa Conference October 2-5 in Palm Coast,  
Florida. Join eminent Maya scholars for lectures, workshops, and  
special events.

http://www.mayaattheplaya.com/Site/M@PHome.html

Below are some of the lectures;

Child sacrifice and the perception of childhood in Classic Maya culture

The remains of infants and very small children are often found within  
watery locations or buried within ceramic jars in architectural fill  
during the Classic Maya period.  Other children are found buried with  
family members and surrounded by grave goods.  This lecture will  
explore Classic Maya ideas about childhood and the ritual power of  
certain children.  With especial attention to the human offerings  
from the Sacred Cenote at Chichén Itza, we will explore why Maya  
people made sacrifices and why they sometimes chose to sacrifice  
children.  New techniques for analyzing human bone as well as new  
ideas about the sacred importance of infants will change your ideas  
about human sacrifice!
Caching and Trashing Animal Bones: Why Maya Zooarchaeologists Don’t  
Find Enough Faunal Remains in Middens
Maya archaeologists typically don’t find many animal bones among the  
archaeological deposits. Why is this? Poor preservation may be part  
of the explanation, but recent research among the modern Maya of  
Guatemala suggests other explanations. The modern Maya of lowland  
Petén have specific methods for disposing of animal-related trash,  
and none of them include tossing the remains out the back-door where  
a Maya archaeologist might think to look for them! In addition, the  
modern Maya of both highlands and lowlands actually curate many  
animal remains, using them in ceremonies and for medicines … they  
never dispose of them at all! These results are guiding our current  
thoughts on why we don’t find enough faunal remains in our  
archaeological deposits … and how to interpret the ones we do find.
Privilege or Pitfall?  The Politics of Health and Identity at Waka’,  
Guatemala
The royalty and nobility of Classic period Waka’ were engaged in a  
complex web of social negotiation, alliance and competition, and the  
creation of public figures in life and after death.  The identities  
of individuals and groups, and their place in the social memory of  
Waka’s inhabitants, were subjects of primary concern to noble and  
royal families, and evidence of this can be found in the  
archaeological materials and human remains that make up mortuary and  
ritual contexts.  This paper will examine patterns of health and  
ritual manipulation to show what we can learn about the politics of  
privilege and the relationships among the nobility at a turbulent  
time in Waka’s history.
The Maya the Year 2012
There is widespread and growing speculation concerning the  
significance of the Dec. 21, 2012 date in the Maya Long Count  
calendar. Numerous books and hundreds of internet sites in dozens of  
languages currently address the topic with creative abandon.  
Curiously, little in this 2012 phenomenon has a substantive basis in  
Maya culture. This talk focuses on what the Maya themselves, both  
ancient and contemporary, have to say about the completion of the  
13th Pik cycle on the rapidly approaching 2012 winter solstice.

The Truth in Small Matters: Determining Stone Tool Use and the  
Reconstruction of Maya Life in Two Communities

Microscopic use-wear analysis of chipped stone tools allows  
archaeologists to more accurately determine tool function. By  
analyzing assemblages of stone tools from ancient Maya sites, both  
spatial and temporal patterns of use can be reconstructed using this  
technique. These reconstructions provide the opportunity to comment  
on the daily tasks undertaken by the Maya, as well as the recognition  
of more complex socio-economic activities such as the organization of  
craft-production, for example. The examination of chipped chert and  
chalcedony tools from the Maya sites of Marco Gonzalez and Pook’s  
Hill under the microscope allows the archaeologist to demonstrate the  
similarities and differences in stone tool use in two ancient  
communities. The coastal adaptation of the Marco Gonzalez Maya was  
certainly different from that of the inland Pook’s Hill Maya due, in  
part, to environmental, socio-economic and socio-political factors.


Human Sacrifice Among the Ancient Maya:  Evaluating the Evidence

The notion of human sacrifice has long captured the attention of the  
public and as a result abounds in popular depictions of ancient Maya  
society in movies, television, and literature.  A number of  
ethnohistoric and iconographic sources verify that the Maya indeed  
practiced human sacrifice, though archaeologists disagree about its  
extent and importance within ancient Maya cultures. This presentation  
will focus on the process of identifying and evaluating evidence for  
human sacrifice.  As a specialist in biological anthropology, Dr.  
Wrobel's discussion will highlight the role of skeletal data and will  
include an explanation of indicators of specific types of trauma.   
Several case studies of contexts containing human remains attributed  
to sacrifice will be discussed and the biological, as well as  
contextual, data used as criteria for interpretation will be assessed.



Architectural Manifestations of Power and Prestige: Examples from the  
Classic Period Maya Sites of Cahal Pech, Xunantunich and Caracol,  
Belize.

 From the construction of the earliest masonry buildings in the  
Middle Preclassic period, the Maya of western Belize, like their  
contemporaries in greater Mesoamerica, utilized architecture as a  
medium for artistic expression and as manifestations of elite power  
and prestige.  This practice culminates in the Late Classic period  
when monumental architecture at these lowland sites was deliberately  
used to also demarcate public from private spaces.  This paper  
examines the architectural morphology of important structures at  
Cahal Pech, Xunantunich and Caracol, three very different Classic  
period Maya polities, and demonstrates how these distinct communities  
utilized slightly different architectural forms to convey similar  
expressions of power and socio-political stature.
The archaeological site of La Rejolla is located to the east of the  
Chiquibul River, in the Department of Peten, Guatemala, approximately  
20 km (12 miles) to the east of the site Ucanal and 6 km to the  
northwest of the important site Caracol.  In this region, several  
small sites are located upon hills and one such site is La Rejolla.   
La Rejolla is known by its stelae with iconographic scenes and  
glyphic texts that refer to Caracol’s king K’ahk’ Ujol K’inich II. As  
part of the project the ancient Maya causeway that connects La  
Rejolla with other sites situated to the east.  The La Rejolla  
project aims to define the exact nature of the relations between this  
site and the major seats of power in the region, namely Caracol,  
Ucanal and Naranjo.  In this presentation the results of the  
excavations and site surveys are presented, as are preliminary  
comments on the geopolitical relation of La Rejolla with the other  
sites of the area.

Thoughts on the Personification of Diseases among the Ancient Maya

Based on the glyphic texts and imagery of the ancient Maya (AD  
300-900) we know of monstrous and grizzly creatures, the meldings of  
humans and animals, including skeletal centipedes and conflations of  
spider monkeys and deer.  These demonic entities were referred to in  
the glyphic texts as wahy and belonged to the royal dynasties of  
particular sites.  A review of the glyphic corpus and Maya medical  
texts and incantations of the XVIIIth century, provides evidence of  
continuities and leads to the conclusion that many wahy are  
personifications of particular ailments and diseases.  In this  
presentation I review the data for particular groups of wahy  
creatures, including those of the ancient site of Caracol, Belize,  
with the aim of matching particular afflictions to their incarnations.
Introduction to Mundo Maya
The opening presentation provides an introduction to the Maya area in  
geographical terms and presents the characteristic flora and fauna of  
the region. The presentation will also introduce the modern and  
ancient Maya people and aspects of their culture, history, languages,  
art, and writing system.
Ritual and Performance in the Formation of Collective Memory: some  
examples of Social Continuity from El Perú-Waka’, Guatemala, and  
Cahal Pech, Belize.

Mike Ruggeri


Mike Ruggeri's Ancient America Museum Exhibitions, Conferences and  
Lectures
http://community-2.webtv.net/Topiltzin-2091/AncientAmerica/