Under the guidance of Dr. Stephen Houston, Sarah Newman will investigate the relationship between ritual and refuse at the ancient Maya site of El Zotz, located near the large city of Tikal in the modern Department of Peten, Guatemala. The focal point of this project is an enigmatic "problematic deposit" found in the palace complex at El Zotz and dating to the Terminal Classic period (AD 850-1000). This large-scale deposit represents an unusual and widely variable combination of human, faunal, ceramic, and lithic remains, questioning traditional dichotomies between ritual and secular, elite and commoner, and waste and value. In order to gain a better understanding of the human actions responsible for this complex archaeological assemblage, this project employs innovative methods for the examination of depositional and post-depositional processes, drawn from osteological studies but extended to all artifact categories in this research.
The detailed assemblage and taphonomic analyses employed in this project will contribute to clarifications in defining and studying depositional behaviors through their traces in the archaeological record. The major aims of this research are to examine how specific materials and their depositional histories vary among types of archaeological discard and thereby recognize "signatures" of ritual and refuse deposits. These will provide concrete criteria that can aid archaeologists in interpreting difficult deposits, decrease the likelihood of either ignoring or over-identifying the remains of ritual practices, and enable inter- and intrasite comparisons between archaeological deposits that rely on more than qualitative assumptions or intuition. Moreover, this project highlights methods that have often been under-utilized by archaeologists, including analysis at the scale of the assemblage and the application of taphonomic techniques to artifact types beyond osteological remains. As such, this project will offer a means by which current categories may be reevaluated, perhaps allowing for a more informed view of the continuum of quotidian and ritual actions that entangles past objects, people, and places.
The project will investigate three main hypotheses: (1) that the Terminal Classic "problematic deposit" at El Zotz was produced by the structured deposition of domestic or ceremonial refuse and intentional terminations of objects and architecture; (2) that this deposit represents a unique and intermediary type of ancient discard (the ritual reuse of refuse); and (3) that this example of large-scale investment in ritual practice at El Zotz was employed to reassert political authority and social integration during periods of potential instability (whether real or perceived). In order to test these hypotheses, Newman will use archaeological and taphonomic analyses to evaluate specific materials and depositional histories represented by refuse and ritual deposits in the El Zotz region, for comparison with the deposit in question. Attributes of individual specimens, including pre-depositional wear, fragmentation, weathering, and other natural and cultural modifications, will be used to identify the "signatures" of assemblages with clear behavioral correlates (such as middens or caches) and compare these with the less straightforward deposit, enabling an evaluation of its role in ancient Maya offering, discard, and ritual practices. The broader contexts of ritual deposits will also be explored to assess their role in reasserting political authority and maintaining social integration during periods of instability.
International cooperation represents a major component of this research, in terms of fieldwork, analysis, and publications, as well as training provided for both American and Guatemalan archaeology students. This project also plays a part in strong public outreach and education efforts on behalf of the El Zotz Archaeological Project, including guided tours of the ruins of El Zotz for members from the local community of Cruce Dos Aguadas and training sessions and interpretive signs to inform local tour guides and visitors about the site and its place in Maya history. As the sites in the El Zotz region have suffered a long history of heavy looting, with incidents known from as recently as 2010, embracing the role of local communities in site management promotes stewardship of archaeological resources and the sustainable use of the ruins through eco-tourism. Finally, reconsidering the spectrum of depositional behaviors from refuse to ritual forces a reevaluation of trash as a cultural category, in both the past and the present. These issues not only resonate deeply with current concerns over waste management and environmental awareness, but also highlight the hidden potential of trash to offer insight into cultural systems of meaning and value.
This project examined the relationship between ritual and refuse at the ancient Maya site of El Zotz, located near the large city of Tikal in the modern Department of Peten, Guatemala. The focal point of the study is an enigmatic "problematic deposit" found in the palace complex at El Zotz and dating to the Terminal Classic period (AD 850-1000). This large-scale deposit represents an unusual and widely variable combination of human, faunal, ceramic, and lithic remains, questioning traditional dichotomies between ritual and secular, elite and commoner, and waste and value. In order to gain a better understanding of the human actions responsible for this complex archaeological assemblage, methods drawn from osteological studies, but extended to all artifact categories, were used to examine the depositional and post-depositional processes in ritual and refuse deposits. The project investigated two main hypotheses: (1) that the Terminal Classic "problematic deposit" at El Zotz was produced by the structured deposition of domestic or ceremonial refuse and intentional terminations of objects and architecture and (2) that this deposit represents a unique and intermediary type of ancient discard (the ritual reuse of refuse). In order to test these hypotheses, archaeological and taphonomic analyses were used to evaluate specific materials and depositional histories represented by refuse and ritual deposits in the El Zotz region, for comparison with the deposit in question. Attributes of individual specimens, including pre-depositional wear, fragmentation, weathering, and other natural and cultural modifications, were used to identify the qualitative "signatures" of assemblages and compare these with the less straightforward deposit, enabling an evaluation of its role in ancient Maya offering, discard, and ritual practices. The detailed assemblage and taphonomic analyses employed in this project contribute to clarifications in defining and studying depositional behaviors through their traces in the archaeological record. These provide qualitative criteria that can aid archaeologists in interpreting difficult deposits, decrease the likelihood of either ignoring or over-identifying the remains of ritual practices, and enable inter- and intrasite comparisons between archaeological deposits that rely on more than assumptions or intuition. Moreover, this project highlights methods that have often been under-utilized by archaeologists, including analysis at the scale of the assemblage and the application of taphonomic techniques to artifact types beyond osteological remains. As such, this project offers one potential means by which current categories may be reevaluated, leading toward a more informed view of the continuum of quotidian and ritual actions that entangles past objects, people, and places. International cooperation represents a major component of this research, in terms of fieldwork, analysis, and publications, as well as training provided for both American and Guatemalan archaeology students. This project also plays a part in strong public outreach and education efforts on behalf of the El Zotz Archaeological Project, including guided tours of the ruins of El Zotz for members from the local community of Cruce Dos Aguadas and training sessions and interpretive signs to inform local tour guides and visitors about the site and its place in Maya history. As the sites in the El Zotz region have suffered a long history of heavy looting, with incidents known from as recently as 2010, embracing the role of local communities in site management promotes stewardship of archaeological resources and the sustainable use of the ruins through eco-tourism. Finally, reconsidering the spectrum of depositional behaviors from refuse to ritual forces a reevaluation of trash as a cultural category, in both the past and the present. These issues not only resonate deeply with current concerns over waste management and environmental awareness, but also highlight the hidden potential of trash to offer insight into cultural systems of meaning and value.
