Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Community Heterogeneity and Integration. The Maya Site of Nacimiento during the Seventh Century A.D.

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Under the supervision of Dr. E. Wyllys Andrews V, Markus Eberl will investigate the small Maya site of Nacimiento in the Petexbatun region of Guatemala. Nacimiento was occupied from the seventh into the eighth century A.D., and its inhabitants witnessed a major change of power. A new royal dynasty, led by the ruler B'alaj Chan K'awiil, arrived in the Petexbatun region during the first half of the seventh century A.D. and established the site of Dos Pilas. By about A.D. 700, Dos Pilas emerged as the new regional power. The divine kings of Dos Pilas likely demanded labor and tribute surplus from the local population to build new political centers and to facilitate their extensive military and political campaigns. As newcomers to the region, they also had to establish their power by building alliances and by integrating the local population. This project investigates how this political change affected the inhabitants and the community at Nacimiento: Did the local economy diversify? Did the local elite loose power? And did traditional rituals continue? Nacimiento is with its thirty households, few public structures, and well-defined site boundaries a typical example of a localized community. The community in general is based on a shared identity. Individuals create the shared identity from practices and abstract notions that are reinforced especially when they live together in a localized community by daily interaction and common concerns. Communities are at the same time heterogeneous. Individual members may pursuit various economic activities, may have different wealth, and may occupy diverse sociopolitical roles. Individual differences imply divergent interests, experiences, and knowledge. How, then, is the integration of a community achieved despite of heterogeneity? It is argued that the community constitutes a sociopolitical arena in which individuals negotiate integrative and divisive processes. The project investigates these processes in the economic, sociopolitical, and ritual structures of a localized community. The possible effect of regional political change on these local structures should highlight the dynamic processes that shape the integration and heterogeneity of Nacimiento as a localized community. The external force, in this case a new regional political elite, does not simply determine the internal structure of a community. Community members may take advantage of new opportunities and redefine their position. The community may alternatively integrate itself more tightly to respond collectively to the new situation. The focus on the dynamic formation and transformation of social groups may contribute to the study of the nature of social organization. The proposed research is based on intensive collaboration with Guatemalan students and Q'eqchi' Maya workers. It provides an opportunity for intellectual exchange and training. Eberl is currently helping Q'eqchi' Maya workers who live at Las Pozas to build up an eco-tourism project. The site of Nacimiento, located at the southern boundary of the national park that surrounds the site of Aguateca, provides a potential entry point for tourists coming from Las Pozas. The site is currently threatened by deforestation and looting. The project (Comite de Turismo Las Pozas) aims at the sustainable development of the region and the long-term preservation of the archaeological sites and the forests within the Aguateca national park.