Chan: The Rise and Demise of an Ancient Maya Agrarian Village

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With National Science Foundation support Dr. Cynthia Robin and her colleagues will conduct three field seasons (2004-2006) of archaeological excavations at the ancient Maya agrarian village of Chan in Belize, Central America. The ancient inhabitants of Chan constructed a productive landscape of agricultural terraces across Chan's hilly terrain and occupied this agrarian village for around 1800 years (900 B.C.-A.D. 890) from the Middle Preclassic to Terminal Classic periods of Maya civilization. Research at Chan will bring together a team of archaeologists, botanists, and geomorphologists to conduct a coordinated investigation into the nature and complexities of ancient Maya agrarian life. Most significantly, given the longevity of occupation at Chan, researchers will be able to document changes in village life across the period of the rise and decline of Classic Maya civilization and examine how changes in ordinary village life affected and were affected by broader socio-political changes in Maya society.Studies of rural producers, such as the inhabitants of Chan, are critical for understanding ancient complex societies. This is particularly the case in agrarian-based complex societies like the ancient Maya. Investigations at Chan provide an ideal case study to explore how changes in village life relate to broader social, political, and economic changes in a complex society. After an initial 1500-year occupation in a provincial region of the Maya area, Chan is incorporated into the intrusive and late-flourishing Xunantunich polity. During the short-lived period of Xunantunich polity expansion, Chan's occupation increases dramatically. Then alongside the abandonment of the polity-capital of Xunantunich, the long-lived village of Chan is abandoned. The parallel trajectories of Chan and Xunantunich suggest a relationship between the local dynamics of village life at Chan and the political-economic system centered at Xunantunich. Researchers at Chan will excavate a representative sample of agrarian households and agricultural fields and terraces to document how Chan was transformed through its interaction with the center of Xunantunich and how the center of Xunantunich may have had to accommodate to preexisting social and economic networks in the village of Chan.Research at Chan is important for several reasons. At a most basic level this village-focused study will document the development and demise of an agrarian village. Due to Chan's long occupation, researchers will also be able to investigate the impact that village life had on larger socio-political changes in Maya society and vice versa. In terms of archaeological methods, research at Chan expands upon the traditional range of archaeological data that archaeologists typically examine to assess ancient life by incorporating botanical and geomorphological studies into a coordinated archaeological investigation. On a broader level US and Belizean archaeology students will be involved in each step of the Chan research which will provide a dynamic training ground for young archaeologists. As the research of the Chan project will be of interest to a wide range of persons from archaeologists to the broader public, a web site will disseminate project results to as wide an audience as possible.