With National Science Foundation Support, Dr. Stephen Houston and Dr. Thomas Garrison, in collaboration with an interdisciplinary team of colleagues, will conduct three seasons of archaeological field and lab research in north-central Guatemala. The team brings together experts in archaeology, iconography, epigraphy, geomorphology, paleohydrography, remote sensing, paleodiet, and human osteology to address issues of ancient Maya landscape succession from 1000 B.C.E. to 1500 C.E. Landscape succession refers to the ways in which cultural perceptions of the landscape affect human decision making, particularly with respect to settlement, and how these perceptions and decisions change through time depending on historical circumstances. The research area for this project focuses on three sites located within the San Miguel de la Palotada Biotope in the central Peten district. From the Late Preclassic Period onwards (c. 250 BCE), the sites of El Palmar, Bejucal, and El Zotz appear to have succeeded each other in regional prominence. This will be the first project in the central Maya lowlands to investigate systematically the succession of multiple landscapes over the course of Maya civilization. The research focuses on how decisions related to subsistence strategies and settlement location hinged on what the Maya perceived to be the most influential factors in the surrounding landscape. The concept of landscape succession will prove useful to archaeologists working with complex societies throughout the world. The proposed research will situate the Maya within discussions of landscape dynamics in regions such as Mesopotamia, India, China, and South America.
The two major research hypotheses put forth are: (1) in the Late Preclassic (400 BC-AD 300), when large-scale communities coalesced in the region, settlements exploited and their location was conditioned by a resource-rich natural landscape; and (2) these settlements were succeeded by Classic Period (AD 300-900) settlements that were strategically established to play a role in the emergent, increasingly complex geopolitical landscape. To address these proposals, the team will reconstruct the ancient natural, political, economic, urban, and rural landscapes through a combination of survey, excavation, paleoenvironmental studies, and epigraphy. These reconstructions will be used to formulate, test, and refine a model of landscape succession for the ancient Maya.
The broader impacts of the proposed project are varied. The research converges on an endangered region of the Maya biosphere that is in strong need of archaeological research before further looting and environmental loss destroys significant evidence of the ancient Maya. An understanding of successful adaptations to the ancient environment will help craft responses to current problems of population expansion in the lowland biosphere and contribute to a growing literature on environmental history and human responses to, and instigation of, such change. The project will maintain an updatable wiki website to disseminate general findings to the public and scholarly community. The interdisciplinary nature of the research allows project members to contribute intellectually to debates in archaeology, environmental science, geography, remote sensing, and geographic information science.
