Dissertation Research: Social Emplacement on an Early Maya Landscape: Assessing Preclassic Duration at Aguateca and Punta de Chimino, Guatemala

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Under the supervision of Dr. Takeshi Inomata, Bruce Bachand will excavate Late Preclassic cultural remains at the neighboring Maya centers of Aguateca and Punta de Chimino in Guatemala's Petexbatun region. Preliminary excavations indicate these centers were occupied during an unstable political period in ancient Maya culture history from 100 B.C. to A.D. 350. Both communities erected small pyramids at this time in an effort to anchor their social identities and political dispositions in a place. Bachand's excavations will refine the chronology at these two centers using radiocarbon and thermoluminescence dates retrieved from burials, cache deposits, middens, and plaster surfaces in an effort to trace a sequence of modifications to public spaces, monumental buildings, and surrounding residences. In agrarian cultures like the Maya, a community's social identity, its connection to forbearers, and its collective memory become materially fused in physical places. A number of practices characterize Preclassic Maya social emplacement-burial of the dead, expansion of residential buildings, maintenance and refurbishment of public spaces, and the deposition of ritual objects in public spaces. The frequency, duration, and social nature of these practices are indicative of a Maya community's rootedness or attachment to a place at various moments in time. This study aims to correlate the local expression of these practices with evidence of political change in adjacent areas within the Maya region.This project has multiple levels of significance for anthropology, archaeology, and the prehistory of the Maya lowlands. For anthropology, it addresses how people anchor themselves to places materially during times of broad cultural change, especially political change entailing the reinvention of leadership and reshaping of local community identities when a state disintegrates. In the archaeological sphere, the project seeks to develop more effective and accurate means of chronometric dating through the creative acquisition of samples and application of 'reality based' statistical tools. Finally, the early cultural history of the Maya region will be improved. New dates and new archaeological evidence will be used to assess how early Petexbatun communities fit into the social fabric of a rapidly changing Late Preclassic landscape.Besides addressing scientific questions, Bachand's project will enhance modern people's emplacement on the Petexbatun landscape. Local Q'eqchi' Maya are developing their own archaeo-tourism businesses as large, internationally funded restoration projects approach completion at Aguateca and Dos Pilas. Q'eqchi' Maya will learn about their ancestral roots as project excavators. Bachand will also help the owner's of the local Chimino's Island Lodge develop interpretive media for visitors to Punta de Chimino. Improvements of this kind attract foreign tourists, encourage local entrepreneurship, and foster appreciation for the region's cultural patrimony.