[Aztlan] Preclassic Yucatan

[David Hixson]

Once again following up on the thread regarding "NEW FINDINGS IN THE PUUC REGION OF THE YUCATAN" (originally posted by Mike Ruggeri regarding the site of Kiuic)...
 
I was recently reminded while reading an SAA presentation by E.W Andrews V. that another relatively "new" site should be mentioned alongside Kiuic, Komchen, Yaxuna, Poxila, and the dozens of other Middle Preclassic sites from Northern Yucatan.
 
The site is called "Xtobo" and is currently being investigated by Ph.D. candidate David Anderson of Tulane University -- originally documented along with archaeologists Tony Andrews and Fernando Robles of the Costa Maya / CostaYuc project.
 
The recently illuminated developmental trajectory of northern Yucatan clearly challenges the primacy of the southern lowlands in the early periods of Maya civilization.
 
http://studentweb.tulane.edu/~danders3/papers/SAA2003.pdf

http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~marl/Publications/mono_y_conejo_volume_3.pdf

http://studentweb.tulane.edu/~danders3/papers/Report2004.pdf

http://studentweb.tulane.edu/~danders3/papers/Aaa2004.pdf

http://studentweb.tulane.edu/~danders3/images/Reconstruction.jpg

http://studentweb.tulane.edu/~danders3/images/Ballcourt.jpg

--- On Mon, 6/23/08, David Hixson <chunchucmil at yahoo.com> wrote:

From: David Hixson <chunchucmil at yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [Aztlan] NEW FINDINGS IN THE PUUC REGION OF THE YUCATAN (RE-POST)
To: aztlan at lists.famsi.org
Date: Monday, June 23, 2008, 9:13 AM

Dear Listeros,
 
It's nice to see the great work that's being done by Ringle, Bey,
Gallareta and their crews getting the press it deserves.  The Kiuic project,
in addition to being an important archaeological project, is also working on
sustainable development through ecological protection and responsible research
models.
 
However, I'd like to remind folks that this new news regarding the
importance of Northern Yucatan and the Puuc during the Middle Preclassic is
only the latest in a growing body of evidence that this region was highly
populated and much more important during this early era of Maya civilization
than previously thought.  Middle Preclassic ballcourts are now known to have
been extremely common at even minor sites throughout the region (see the work
of Tony Andrews and the "CostaYuc" project).  In my own survey of
the seasonal wetlands west of Chunchucmil, I found two middle preclassic
ballcourt sites with substantial monumental architecture - coeval with the
later phases of the Olmec civilization.
 
So, we seem to be returning to the questions that were first raised back in the
1970's and '80's when E.W. Andrews highlighted the importance of NW
Yucatan in his study of Komchen (outside of Dzibilchaltun).  At that time,
Komchen was relatively unique (now it is only one of dozens and dozens of
significant Middle Preclassic sites in Yucatan), which lead other scholars to
propose various reasons for the area's precociousness.  [For example, see
"Praise the Gods and Pass the Metates" by Rathje.]
 
It will be very exciting to see what new (or re-vamped) models are developed in
the coming years to account for all of this new data on early Maya civilization
in the northern Maya lowlands.
 
-Dave
__________________________________________
David R. Hixson
PhD Candidate
Tulane University
Department of Anthropology
chunchucmil at yahoo.com
 
"Nothing more useless than a bored archaeologist"
-Douglas Adams