PROGRAM
Wednesday, October 5
8:00PM Maya at the Playa Texas Hold em’ Poker Tournament at the Hilton Garden Inn
Thursday, October 6
8:00AM - 6:00PM Workshops and Lectures
7:30PM - 10:00PM Opening Night Poolside Reception at the Hilton Garden Inn
Friday, October 7
8:00AM - 6:00PM Workshops and Lectures
7:30PM - 9:30PM Contemporary Maya Fundraising Feast
10:00PM - ? Beach Party
Saturday, October 8
8:00AM - 5:00PM Workshops and Lectures
5:30PM - 7:00PM :Lifetime Achievement Lecture by George E. Stuart
7:30PM - 9:30PM: Lifetime Achievement Award Dinner at Hilton Garden Inn
Sunday, October 9
9:00AM - 4:00PM Workshops and Lectures
6:30PM - 8:30PM Closing Dinner at Woody’s Barbecue
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Abstracts
Schedule of Events
Getting It Right: The Proper (and improper) Recording of Maya Archaeological Data
Dr. George E. Stuart - Boundary End Archaeology Research Center
Virtually all remains of the human past exposed by the archaeologist, from burials to buildings and including tools, paintings, sculpture, and hieroglyphic texts, as well as their original contexts, are ultimately doomed, whether by Nature or by human activity. Thus, the proper recording of such data is essential for both interpretation and indeed for the very future of archaeology andthe success of all those who pursue it. This presentation includes examples from the field of Maya research, ranging from the totally inadequate (however sincere) to the excellent, and in the mediums of pencil drawing, survey mapping, photography and the
ever increasing potential of the Digital Age in all these endeavors.
2 Hours
Early Maya Society, Economy, and Culture at Cuello, Belize
Dr. Norman Hammond - Boston University
The early Maya village of Cuello is among the best-documented sites of the Middle Preclassic period (1200-400 BC), with numerous domestic and ceremonial structures (including the earliest known sweatbath), well-preserved evidence of agriculture and diet, and early examples of Maya personal art in a variety of media.
1 hour
In the Ajaw’s Own Words: Oration and Royal Testimony in Ancient Maya Texts
Dr. David Stuart – University of Texas
My talk will examines a handful of ancient Maya texts that directly convey the spoken words of ancient Maya kings. Although comprising only a few texts at Copan, Honduras, this sub-genre of official literature offers important insights into underlying meanings of Classic Maya royal ritual and performance. The location of these texts within interior spaces of Copan’s architecture also points to the key roles of oration and ancestral address in ancient temple ceremonies.
Maya Codices: Reading the Painted Books
Dr. Bruce Love - University of California Los Angeles
Workshop tutor Bruce Love leads an intensive three-hour workshop covering three Maya hieroglyphic codices: Madrid, Paris and Dresden. The workshop combines lectures and exercises in an interactive hands-on forum. Contents of all three are reviewed--including the astronomical pages--and then the last hour is spent focused on a single text and the nuts-and-bolts of how it was read and understood by the Maya priests, owners of the books. This workshop is designed for beginner to intermediate students.
3 hours
The Maya Revival Style in Yucatán
Dr. Virginia Miller - University of Illinois at Chicago
The Maya revival style in Mexico arose after the Revolution as part of the effort on the part of both government institutions and leading intellectuals to create a new nationalist identity based on indigenous roots. The cradle and apogee of the style was Yucatán, and above all the capital Mérida, where the majority of monuments, parks and buildings were constructed. Variations on the style can be found in the United States and throughout Latin America, from homes to movie theatres. Experimenting freely with scale, color, materials, and designs, revivalist architects and sculptors created striking facades and functional interior and especially exterior spaces, many still in use today. Often derided as an inauthentic pastiche, the neo-Maya style deserves closer analysis, not only for its own sake, but also to provide insights into the tastes, nationalistic beliefs, and archaeological knowledge of a dynamic era. This presentation will explore the prehispanic sources of the style (derived largely from nearby Chichén Itzá and the Puuc sites), address the use of neo-maya as a political and social tool in Mexico during the first half of the 20th century, and review its afterlife on the Yucatán peninsula, decades after its decline elsewhere.
1 Hour
Jaina: The Portal to the Underworld
Dr. Armando Anaya Hernandez - Universidad Autónoma de Campeche, Mexico
In this lecture a series of hypotheses that reconsider fundamental aspects regarding the creation, function, and geographical location of Jaina during pre-Columbian times are presented. A recent review of burial contexts and the number of individuals interred in them shows that the vast majority documented to date are infants and children placed in a fetal position, within large unslipped jars or alone and with few grave goods. These contexts tend to be found in terrain leveling platform fill, low platforms, and in close proximity to the Jaina’s single ballcourt. While other authors have emphasized the nature of a high pressure demographical situation for the pre-Columbian residents there and in other surrounding areas within the Yucatan Peninsula as an answer to this problem, it would be a worthwhile endeavor to consider another interpretation which revolves around a mythical theme frequently found in Maya iconography. If this be the case, then the myth could have been restaged during specific annual time frames through ritual infant sacrifice at Jaina. Including information from urban design elements and the surrounding natural and cultural environments to the former helps better explain the ideological reason for building an island in this definitive place, instead of other former functional interpretations to date.
1 Hour
Venus Deities and Creation Stories in Postclassic Mesoamerica
Dr. Gabrielle Vail - New College
This two-part workshop provides an overview of the role of Venus in Mesoamerican creation stories. Narratives from a variety of sources will be considered, including the Maya and Borgia group of codices and colonial period accounts related in the Yucatecan Books of Chilam Balam and the Popol Vuh from the K’iche’ culture of highland Guatemala. The second half of the workshop focuses on the Venus table in the Dresden Codex, with particular attention paid to analyzing the hieroglyphic text. Participants are welcome to attend one or both parts of the workshop.
Pt. I: 2 hrs.
Pt. II: 2.5 hrs.
Why Were Preclassic Centers Like Cival, El Mirador and Becan Abandoned Around AD 200? What Brought about Classic Period Kingdoms? Clues from the Holmul Region.
Dr. Francisco Estrada-Belli - Boston University, Maya Archaeology Initiative
The abandonment of many great Preclassic centers around AD 200 is shrouded in mystery. Since the discovery of El Mirador scholars have been puzzled by the complete and utter abandonment of this and other cities among the most populous the Maya lowlands had ever seen. Based on El Mirador evidence the current prevailing view is that El Mirador was a victim of its own success and collapse under the weight of its “conspicuous consumption” of natural resources and/or climate change (drought). Overall, many view this episode in Maya history as a rehearsal of the Classic period collapse and find its causes to be similar and/or recurring. New evidence from the Holmul region suggest a wholly different scenario that may require a revision of the whole idea of collapse. Far from El Mirador and the Maya being unable to sustain their growth and its collapse caused by global causes, when viewed from a historical perspective the abandonment of Preclassic centers may be part of major political dynamics that had massive repercussions across the lowlands and set the stage for new political actors in the Classic period.
1 hour
Maya On The Mind: An Interactive Discussion on Contemporary Sociopolitical Influences on Archaeological Interpretation
Dr. Stan Guenter – Idaho State University
Abstract: Archaeology as a field of study involves interpreting finds recovered in excavations. Contrary to popular belief, archaeologists do not “uncover the past” but rather uncover artifacts and portions of ancient structures and a great amount of interpretation is needed in order to relate these disparate sources of data. Individual artifacts and structures often had long histories of different uses, and meant many different things to the various people that interacted with and within them. Archaeologists are thus confronted with the task of interpreting and attempting to understand palimpsests of equivocal evidence and this leads to a multiplicity of possible interpretations. Which of these various interpretations given archaeologists favor often seems to hinge less upon the weight of evidence than it does upon their own personal sociopolitical views. While archaeologists are taught the dangers of allowing such biases to guide archaeological interpretation, with countless books and articles examining how this was the case in Nazi Germany, and undermines the work done by German archaeologists during this period, almost no attention has been paid to how our own contemporary biases affect our own archaeological interpretations. This workshop will consist of an interactive discussion amongst participants as we examine what are our own biases that guide not only the interpretations we give to archaeological data, but also the very research questions we chose to pursue. Are the findings of modern archaeology as objective as many would like to think, or is our research as subjective as that of the earlier generations of archaeologists we seem to enjoy criticizing? And if the latter, should we abandon all pretence at objectivity, as some postmodernist scholars urge, and embrace archaeology as inherently a form of advocacy for the modern descendants of the ancient groups we study? Participants will be encouraged to join in the discussion and present their own views, examples, and suggestions.
2 hours
The Books of Chilam Balam: Their Physical History
Dr. Bruce Love - University of California Los Angeles
The Books of Chilam Balam are Colonial Period manuscripts from Yucatán written in the Mayan language using the Latin alphabet. This lecture traces the physical history of these books from their first appearance to where they reside today, filling in some fascinating gaps in their stories and of course opening up new mysteries and lines of future research. Examples will be shown of the earliest photographs and hand-made copies of these marvelous manuscripts. The author's current ongoing work with the Chilam Balam of Tizimin will be emphasized.
1 hour
Kahk Upakal Kawiil and the Dresden Codex Venus Table: More Evidence that the GMT is Wrong
Gerardo Aldana - University of California Santa Barbara
This presentation begins with a quick review of the standard interpretation of the Dresden Codex Venus Table and its relationship to Chich?en Itza. It then shows how Eric Thompson created an intimate interdependency between the standard interpretation of the Venus Table and the GMT calendar correlation. Unpacking this interdependency reveals a critical instability to the GMT. We will then review various other problems with the GMT, most of which have been recognized?and ignored?for some time, along with why these problems matter (or don't). After a short intermission, I will introduce a new reading of the main verb within the Venus Table. Using this new reading, and leaving the GMT behind, I will demonstrate a much more coherent relationship between the astronomy of Copan, the Dresden Codex Venus Table, and K?ahk? Upakal K?awiil?s ?Observatory? at Chich?en Itza.
1.5 hours
Exploring the Maya Vase Database
Dr. Mark Van Stone – Southwestern College
Next to architecture, Maya vases provide a rich corpus of illustrations of their mythology and its earthly reflection in the Royal court, Ballcourt, forest and battlefield. Photographer Justin Kerr has made a vast and uniquely important collection of images of these, and, more significantly, provided them to us on the internet in medium- and high-resolution. This is an extremely important tool for understanding Classic Maya life and inscriptions. Its search engine is excellent, and the brief comments and longer articles he has posted are illuminating. It is so vast that it is easy to get lost, and rich with still-unpicked fruit. This workshop will guide you in maximizing and focusing your searches and inquiries to achieve real results.
2 Hours
The Emblem-Glyph
Dr. Ramzy Barrois – Ecole du Louvre
Since Heinrich Berlin (1958), a glyph is known by scholars as a royal title in the Classic Maya world. It is a complex of three signs: the adjective kuhul (divine), the name ajaw (lord), and a changing central part. We use to translate that glyph “divine lord of X”. It seems that each Emblem-Glyph corresponds to one particular site. Nevertheless, some Maya cities shared the same emblem-Glyph (Tikal-Dos Pilas, Uaxactun-Yaxchilan, Calakmul-Dzibanché).
Apart the emblem-Glyph, Maya cities were named with toponyms. The two terms do not have the same use in the Classic text. In fact the Emblem-Glyph represent more a dynastic title rather than a placename.
1 Hour
Lithic Technology
Dr. James Stemp - Keene State College
This workshop focuses on lithic technology and the process of making chipped stone tools. It is designed as a hands-on experience in which participants will learn the basics of knapping stone tools and will try their hand at replicating their own tools. Introductory discussion will focus on the properties of stone that can be chipped and the four primary techniques used in almost all chipped stone tool production (hard-hammer percussion, soft-hammer percussion, indirect percussion and pressure-flaking). In addition to the making of stone tools themselves, the value of the debitage (or flaking debris) that is produced in the process of making a tool will also be discussed. No prior training in stone tool replication is required; this workshop is open to all who are curious about how stone tools are made and what archaeologists can determine about past life-ways based on the recovery of lithic artifacts. Participants can keep what they make.
3 hours
Household Archaeology and Collapse in the Maya Lowlands
Meaghan Peuramaki-Brown - University of Calgary and Julie A. Hoggarth -University of Pittsburgh
This is a two part workshop dealing with household archaeology and collapse in the Maya Lowlands. The first half of the workshop will focus on presenting typical household settings as reflected in the ethnohistoric and archaeological records, in addition to types of material evidence encountered in domestic contexts. Participants will get hands-on experiences with artifacts that the ancient Maya used in their daily activities, and the remains that archaeologists regularly encounter. We will discuss how archaeologists use those remains to construct interpretations about the past, as well as the theoretical background of household archaeology for understanding people and events in the past. Such events currently of interest in household archaeology includes the understanding of periods of collapse and decline as reflected on a daily life scale. Traditional views of collapse tend to be dominated by top-down views that generally focus on the loss of "Great Tradition", such as the loss of monumental construction, writing, and art as well as elite paraphernalia. In contrast, it is often "Little Tradition" that remains and forms the basis for continuity and transformation in the reorganization of society during times of collapse and regeneration. The second part of the workshop will examine the archaeological approaches to understanding collapse and decline, emphasizing the emerging perspectives for understanding these drastic forms of social change at the community and household levels. Archaeological research from sites in the Belize Valley will be used as case studies to illustrate these ideas.
3 hours
Eternal and Incomparable: El Mirador, the Snake Kingdom, and the Superpower Model of Classic Maya Political History
Dr. Stan Guenter – Idaho State University
In the 1950s Eric Thompson compared the Classic Maya to the Greeks, in contrast to the later Aztecs, whom he saw as similar in their bellicose imperialism to the Romans. In the 1990s Simon Martin and Nikolai Grube developed a model of Classic Maya political history in which Classic period history was seen as reflecting a centuries-long competition between the two “superpowers” of Tikal and Calakmul, not dissimilar to the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the U.S.A. in the second half of the 20th century. This talk presents an alternative model, one which borrows from Thompson as well as Martin and Grube, but with significant differences. Evidence will be presented that suggests that the Snake Kingdom, ruling from various capital cities over the centuries, was the dominant superpower for most of the Preclassic and Classic periods. Tikal, in contrast, though a large and powerful site that at least twice defeated the Snake Kingdom in battle, never established political dominion over its rival and had its regional political sway equaled by much smaller sites such as Copan and Palenque. The key to understanding Classic period history and political rhetoric, it will be argued, is a proper understanding of the role of El Mirador as capital of the Snake Kingdom during the Late Preclassic period, when most of the major elements of “Classic” civilization were first developed. It will be argued that El Mirador, the largest ancient Maya city, was likely a dominant and imperialistic power, akin to Rome, and that the subsequent Classic period is better compared to the European Middle Ages, during which previously smaller centers saw their own greatest developments, but all in the shadow of a fallen, formerly great imperial power. And, just as the memory of the greatness of Rome was preserved in the much later Holy Roman Empire, so, it will be argued, was the memory of El Mirador preserved in the later capital cities of Dzibanche and Calakmul. Classic Maya history is seen in this model as featuring long-term attempts by these centers to revive the imperium of El Mirador under the guise of the Snake Kingdom.
1 Hour
Excavating Underwater Maya: New Discoveries from 2011
Dr. Heather McKillop - Louisiana State University
Wooden posts protrude from the seafloor, which is littered with pottery and charcoal. Submerged by sea-level rise and preserved in a peat bog below the seafloor, we discovered wooden buildings where salt was produced by evaporation in pots over fires. Dated to the Classic period, we had discovered and mapped several thousand posts. With funding from the National Science Foundation, we began transect excavations which I report in this presentation. Excavating in shallow water, we recovered a massive quantitity of briquetage—pottery from the boiling process---associated with wooden structures. The minority of decorated pottery, as well as radiocarbon dates, place the salt works in the Early through Late Classic periods of the Maya—when the demand for salt at inland cities was at its height. I also discuss a Site Preservation Grant from the Archaeological Institute of America to protect the underwater Maya sites by involving the local tour guides and communities in tourism.
1 Hour
Beginners Level Workshop on Maya Hieroglyphs: The History of Ixik Winakhaab Ajaw, queen of Piedras Negras
Dr. Ramzy Barrois – Ecole du Louvre
This workshop will offer a first approach to Classic Maya writing system through ancient texts of Piedras Negras during the Late Classic Period. The aim of the workshop is to learn the method to be able to analyze the structure of Maya texts, and make some comparisons between different monuments of the Maya art. Participation in this workshop doesn’t require any prerequisite.
Intermediate Level Workshop on Maya Hieroglyphs: Military Campaigns in the Eastern Peten During the Late Classic Period
Dr. Harri Kettunen – University of Helsinki
This workshop will provide participants with an insight of the armed conflicts in the Eastern Maya Lowlands during the Late Classic Period, based on epigraphic records. The focus of the workshop is the hieroglyphic corpus of the ancient city of Naranjo during the reign of its famed 38th king, K’ahk’ Tiliw Chan Chahk, who ruled from AD 693 until at least 728. During the workshop we will also take a look at related texts from other sites, such as Tikal and Caracol. Participation in this workshop assumes that you already have a basic working knowledge of ancient Maya writing or have successfully attended a prior workshop on Maya hieroglyphs.
Quen Santo: Caves With More Than 1000 Years of Ritual Use
Allan Cobb
Quen Santo is located in a corner of the Department of Huehuetenango in Guatemala close to the border with Chiapas. Today, as in the past, the cave has attracted visitors from a wide area. Two studies have been performed on the cave, one at the beginning of the 20th Century and the other at the beginning of the 21st Century. Within the main cave an ancient structure is still used as a focus of ritual activity.
1 hour
Rio Bec Temple B and a showing of the film the "Mystery of the Maya"
Kieth Merwin
Temple B at Rio Bec is significant in Mayan history because its design serves as the basis for the Rio Bec architectural style. Discovered in 1912 and subsequently "lost" in Mayan history, Temple B was the subject of a 60-year search until it was rediscovered in 1973 by Hugh and Suzanne Johnston, documentary filmmakers. Their research, assisted by Princeton art historian Gillett Griffin, was documented in the film "Mystery of the Maya" and was broadcast nationally on PBS. Not shown for many years until now, a third of this film involves locating Temple B, with the remainder documenting Maya research of the time. In addition to the viewing of this historic film, an update on the history of Temple B and its restoration will be presented.
2 hours
Learning Ceramic Analysis
David Lee and Sarah Sage - Southern Methodist University
Of the various tools in the archaeologist’s toolbox for deciphering the ancient past, few are as important as ceramic analysis. Across the world, ancient peoples formed vessels and art objects of clay, and then fire-hardened them into ceramics. The incredible durability of this medium makes ceramic technology a lasting testament to both the extraordinary events, and the everyday human activities of the distant past. Archaeologists turn to ancient pottery to date archaeological contexts and architectural features; to examine sequences of social change; to explore fashion and aesthetic preference; to study diet; and to decipher ritual behavior and burial practices.
This workshop will provide a hands-on introduction to the process of sorting and analyzing pottery. Beginning with bags of broken ceramics (sherds) you will learn the methods and criteria by which archaeologists sort, document, identify, and in some cases reassemble ceramic vessels. We will also discuss relative dating and other techniques that allow us to glean important information about the lives of ancient people.
2 Hours
The Travails of Some Early Mayanists
Steve Glassman - Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
This presentation will touch on the difficulties of some early and some not so early Mayanists. Figures such as Frans Blom, Ian Graham and others will be discussed on.
1 Hour
Why do Well Designed Buildings Fall: The Collapse of Maya Temples
Joaquin Rodrigues III - Institute of Maya Studies
This presentation examines the agents of deterioration and mechanisms of failure of masonry construction in the Maya land, from chemical activity of acid rain and biological agents to the effect of seismic forces.
1 Hour
Temple of the 7 Dolls: An Examination of Architectural Proportion
Rick Slazyk – Institute of Maya Studies
The T7D has been called an un-attractive building and was criticized for what was considered ungainly proportions. In this lecture we will cover a brief history of the T7D and will demonstrate a possible theory for the layout of its proportions, based on geometry and challenging its past critics.
1 Hour
Excavations of Burial B1-BU7 at Cahal Pech: A Royal Maya Tomb from the Belize River Valley.
Dr. Jaime Awe – Belize Institute of Archaeology, Dr. Marc Zender – Tulane University
ABSTRACT TO BE SUBMITTED
The Naranjo Wars of the Late Classic Period
Dr. Harri Kettunen – University of Helsinki
ABSTRACT TO BE SUBMITTED
Below, you will find a Schedule of Events and a listing of program Abstracts. The Schedule of Events is general at this time and a large percentage of the abstracts have not been submitted. The Maya at the Playa Conference strives to bring the most cutting edge research to attendees so much of the material that will be presented this fall is work being done right now. We will keep the program updated as abstracts are submitted and hope to finalize the program schedule in the next few weeks.