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Zeitschrift fr Mesoamerikaforschung
Journal of Mesoamerican Studies Revista sobre Estudios Mesoamericanos

Vol. XXXII

Februar/April 2010

Nr. 1/2

Contents
mexicon XXXII (1/2)

Cover: El Zacatal Stela 1

Notes
Conferences and Exhibits
Obituaries

15
513
1314
1415

Contributions
Thomas H. Guderjan, Timothy Beach, Steve Bozarth,
Colleen Hanratty, Sheryl Luzzadder-Beach, and
Timothy Preston
New information about the Demise of a Maya City:
Fieldwork at Blue Creek,
Belize, 2006 and 2007
1522
Vronique Darras and Brigitte Faugre
Chupicuaro and the Preclassic Shaft
Tomb Tradition

2230

David F. Mora-Marn
A Review of Recent Work on the Decipherment
of Epi-Olmec Hieroglyphic Writing
3137
Recent Publications Books
Periodicals
Impressum

3740
4144
44

Cover
El Zacatal Stela 1

Fig. 2. El Zacatal, Stela 1 in a looters trench, looking east.

sphere, and Encanto Estriado pertaining to the Late Classic

Tepeu complex (Garca Lpez 2009). Both ceramics and
some characteristics of monumental architecture suggest
that El Zacatal must have become a rather important centre
by the Late Preclassic.
The most prominent constructions of the civic and ceremonial core (Fig. 1) were built upon an extensive platform
and around a large plaza dominated on its north side by Structure 1, an acropolis-type building topped by four structures
and reaching a total height of some 25 m above the surrounding natural ground. Among the buildings standing on top of
the basal pyramidal platform and enclosing a small patio, the
largest one, about 10 m tall, is centred on the north side of the
platform and preserves remains of alignments of stones that
once belonged to its east faade, while two smaller mounds
up to 2 m high are situated on the eastern and western flanks
of the patio, giving the compound a triadic shape, typical for
Late Preclassic architecture in southeastern Campeche and
neighboring areas. However, with an additional low platform
on the south side of the patio, the whole group seems to belong to a special version of triadic assemblages represented,
for example, by Structure 6 of Cerros, Belize (cf. Freidel
1986; Schele and Freidel 1990: 118; Walker 2005), and Struc-

In 2007, during the seventh field season of Archaeological

Reconnaissance in Southeastern Campeche, Mexico, a relatively large site was found within the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, near kilometre 25 of the road leading from the village
of Conhus southward to Calakmul. Only after our inspection
of the site, located with the aid of aerial photography (CONABIO 199596), did we find out that it had been discovered earlier by researchers of the Universidad Autnoma de
Campeche, whose recently published contribution includes,
however, only a very brief description
and a sketch map of the site, which
El Zacatal
Campeche, Mxico
they designated El Zacatal (Folan et
Latitud N 181936
al. 2008: 308, Fig. 5).
Longitud W 895201
(Estructura 1)
The core area of El Zacatal (Fig.
1) is situated immediately west of
the road to Calakmul, on a low but
relatively extensive natural elevation
descending to a large bajo to the south.
The coordinates determined for Structure 1, the sites largest building, are
N181936" and W895201". Fragments of ceramics collected on the
rea de estructuras
surface, mostly in looters trenches,
no reconocidas
indicate that the settlement flourished
N
from the Middle Preclassic to the
Terminal Classic period. The most nu0
50m
merous sherds found at several spots
were of Sierra Rojo type of the Late
altura aproximada de la
estructura
Preclassic Chicanel complex, guila
Naranja of the Early Classic Tzakol Fig. 1. El Zacatal, sketch map of the core area (survey and drawing: A. Flores Esquivel).
mexicon

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ture F-1 of Yaxnohcah, Campeche (prajc and Flores 2008:

74, anexo 3: plano 13)
Structures 2 and 3 constitute a Group-E-type compound,
defining the east-west axis of the main plaza. Structure 2 is
a pyramidal building rising about 13 m above the plaza level
and exhibiting remains of a vaulted structure on its top, as
suggested by looters trenches that severely damaged the
building, particularly its east and north sides, and exposed
small stucco fragments with remains of red painting. Structure 3 is an elongated platform with three ruined buildings on
its top, all damaged by looters, the central mound reaching
about 9 m in height above the plaza level. Only this part of
the site was surveyed with total station and astronomical reference for determining the site map orientation. The azimuth
of the line connecting the uppermost parts of Structures 2
and 3 turned out to be 9720 15 with respect to true north;
similar alignments have been recorded at other sites in central
Maya Lowlands, including some E-Group-type compounds
(prajc 2008a: 240; Aveni et al. 2003: Table 1).
On its south side the plaza is delimited by Structures 4 and
5, connected to each other by a low platform. Other structures
on the plaza are rather small rectangular platforms, three of
them flanking what seems to be an access to the plaza at its
northwestern corner.
In front of Structure 3 and along the central east-west axis
of the main plaza, Stela 1 was found, lying on its front face
and exposed by a looters trench excavated through the plaza
floor observed in its profile (Fig. 2). Lower parts of a standing
human figure sculpted in relief and with both feet turned to
the left are preserved on the stela front (front cover), while
remnants of red paint survive on its left side. The monument,
sculpted in Early Classic iconographic style, exhibits some
interesting resemblances with Stela 3 of Uaxactun dated to

the same period (9.3.13.0.0): apart from presenting a similar

composition in their iconography (side view of a standing
figure), both monuments were re-sculpted, with the apparent
purpose of reusing parts of them as circular altars (cf. Graham 1986: 5, 137, 139). However, unlike Stela 3 of Uaxactun,
having its lower part reworked and removed, Stela 1 of El
Zacatal was modified in its upper section, which, however,
was not completely detached from the remaining stone block,
giving the monument a contour resembling an old-style lock
(front cover).
Near the centre of the main plaza and evidently moved
from its original location was Altar 1, a cylindrical monument
without traces of carving. Originally it may have been placed
with Stela 1, along the central east-west axis of the plaza.
West of the main acropolis there is a leveled area, probably another plaza, extending to Structure 11, a rather large
basal platform but only up to 5 m high, whose central axis
seems to be roughly aligned with Structures 2 and 3. Six stelae and a cylindrical altar were found on this plaza. The stelae
are plain and of relatively modest dimensions: the heights
of Stelae 2, 3, 4 and 5 almost do not exceed 1 m, while the
remaining two are slightly larger. Stela 2, still standing, is
located in the northern part of the plaza, looking with its wider
faces to the north and south; Stela 3, apparently a fragment,
was found lying on the ground a few meters eastward (Fig.
3), and Altar 2, without traces of relief, near the northeastern
corner of Structure 11. The southernmost Stela 6 is still in
vertical position and looking northwest or southeast (Fig. 4),
while Stela 7 is fallen, lying near the southeastern corner of
Structure 11. While all the monuments are rather irregularly
scattered over the esplanade (Fig. 1), the position of Stelae

Fig. 3. El Zacatal, Stelae 2 and 3, looking east.

Fig. 4. El Zacatal, Stela 6, looking southeast.

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monument with a groove transecting its upper face (Fig. 6),

was found in the middle of the plaza. Below this acropolis
and attached to its northwest corner is a smaller platform
with a patio group.
In accordance with the ranking system based on our previous work in the area and substantiated elsewhere (prajc
2008b), El Zacatal can be classified as a major centre. Its
considerable sociopolitical significance is suggested by
both sculpted monuments and architectural characteristics.
According to what has been observed during the surveys accomplished so far in southeastern Campeche, the presence
of an E-Group-type complex does not necessarily indicate a
particularly high rank of a site; however, the acropoleis, triadic groups and ball-courts do occur mostly at sites ranked as
major centres (prajc and Grube 2008: 265f, tabla 11.1).
Text: Ivan prajc and Atasta Flores Esquivel
Photos: Ivan prajc and Saa aval.
Acknowledgments

Fig. 5. El Zacatal, Stela 4 and 5, looking west.

4 and 5, in the central part, is particularly unusual: inclined,

but still thrust in the ground and facing north and south, they
are practically stuck to each other (Fig. 5). They might be
fragments of two different monuments.
An extension of the main acropolis at its northeastern
extreme supports four buildings (Structure 12), including
what seems to be a ball court. Another compound further
northeast is composed of Structures 13 to 16, the first one
being a pyramidal structure with a low platform attached to its
east side, while the remaining buildings to the north enclose
two patios. Northeast of this group there is another platform
of considerable size. The northern and southern flanks of the
plaza on the platform are dominated by pyramidal Structures
17 and 18, while Structure 19, a quadrangle of low platforms,
delimits the west side of the plaza. Altar 3, a cylindrical

The 2007 field season of the project of Archaeological Reconnaissance in Southeastern Campeche was sponsored by
the Scientific Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of
Sciences and Arts, Ljubljana, Slovenia, and authorized by the
Consejo de Arqueologa of the Instituto Nacional de Antropologa e Historia, Mexico. We wish to express our thanks
to both institutions.
References
Aveni, Anthony F., Anne S. Dowd, and Benjamin Vining
2003 Maya calendar reform? Evidence from orientations of specialized architectural
assemblages. Latin American Antiquity 14 (2): 159178.
CONABIO
199596 Fotografas areas de la Reserva de la Bisfera de Calakmul, Campeche,
escala 1:20,000, 19951996. Mxico: Comisin Nacional para el Conocimiento
y Uso de la Biodiversidad.
Folan, William J., Abel Morales L., Raymundo Gonzlez H., Mara del Rosario
Domnguez C., Armando Anaya H., Hubert Robichaux, Candace Pruett, and Joel D.
Gunn
2008 El corazn del Petn del norte: Calakmul, Campeche, Mxico y su estado regional. In: Los Investigadores de la Cultura Maya 16, tomo I: 305329. Campeche:
Universidad Autnoma de Campeche.
Freidel, David A.
1986 Monumental architecture. In: R. Roberston and D. Freidel, eds., Archaeology at
Cerros, Belize, Central America, volume 1: An interim report, Dallas: Southern
Methodist University Press.
Garca Lpez, Mara Isabel
2009 Anlisis del material de superficie. In: Ivan prajc, Atasta Flores Esquivel, Saa
aval and Mara Isabel Garca Lpez, Reconocimiento Arqueolgico en el
Sureste de Campeche: Informe de la temporada 2007 (ms.). Mxico: Instituto
Nacional de Antropologa e Historia, Archivo Tcnico.
Graham, Ian
1986 Corpus of Maya hieroglyphic inscriptions, vol. 5, Part 3: Uaxactun. Cambridge:
Harvard University Press.
Schele, Linda, and David Freidel
1990 A forest of kings: The untold story of the ancient Maya. New York: Morrow and
Co.
prajc, Ivan
2008a Alineamientos astronmicos en la arquitectura: In: Ivan prajc, ed., Reconocimiento arqueolgico en el sureste del estado de Campeche, Mxico:
19962005, BAR International Series 1742 (Paris Monographs in American
Archaeology 19), Oxford: Archaeopress, 233242.
2008b Definicin y jerarquizacin de los sitios arqueolgicos. In: Ivan prajc, ed.,
Reconocimiento arqueolgico en el sureste del estado de Campeche, Mxico:
19962005, BAR International Series 1742 (Paris Monographs in American
Archaeology 19), Oxford: Archaeopress, 1722.

prajc, Ivan, and Atasta Flores Esquivel

2008 Descripcin de los sitios. In: Ivan prajc, ed., Reconocimiento arqueolgico en el
sureste del estado de Campeche, Mxico: 19962005, BAR International Series

Fig. 6. El Zacatal, Altar 3.

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1742 (Paris Monographs in American Archaeology 19), Oxford: Archaeopress,

23124.
prajc, Ivan, and Nikolai Grube
2008 Arqueologa del sureste de Campeche: una sntesis. In: Ivan prajc, ed.,
Reconocimiento arqueolgico en el sureste del estado de Campeche, Mxico:
19962005, BAR International Series 1742 (Paris Monographs in American
Archaeology 19), Oxford: Archaeopress, 263275.
Walker, Debra S.
2005 Sampling Cerros demise: A Radiometric Check on the Elusive Protoclassic.
Report to FAMSI (http://www.famsi.org/reports/03064/index.html).

Notes
Barcohaltun de las dos Cruces:
The lost Maler-site of Xbalche?
AUGSBURG (Stephan Merk). In the search for the lost site
of Xbalche in the Puuc area of northern Campeche, Simone
Ehrentreich, Lara Krieg and mexicon staff member Stephan
Merk, together with Manuel Bonilla Caamal from Santa Elena, Yucatn, reached an ancient Maya ruin which perhaps
is identical to Xbalche, a site the German-Austrian explorer
Teobert Maler visited in 1887. Because the circumstances
did not allow a positive identification, the ruin was provisionally named Barohaltun de las dos Cruces, after the small
rancho on the grounds of which the ancient site stands. The
main group, Group 1, sits on top of the highest hill on the
southeast side of the rancho. The sites settlement area will
be tentatively estimated as 0.3 square km.
Barcohaltun de las dos Cruces can be reached by a rough
and rocky road which starts 1.8 km south of the junction of
Road 261 with San Antonio Yaxche and heads east.
Building 1

Building 2

Group 1 is so far the only one which still shows standing architecture. Another group with platforms and low
stonemounds can be found on plain grounds, around 100 m
southwest of the two rancho huts, close to a sarteneja (rock
pond). A handheld GPS receiver gave the following reading: 2005.763N, 8942.804W. This group was explored
very superficially. Between the rancho huts and the high hill
which carries Group 1 the remains of a circa 5 m-high pyramid were seen in the savannah (2005.750N, 8942.543W).
Around three-quarters of the way up the hill is a terrace with
a destroyed structure which roughly had a north-south axis;
a collapsed chultun, a metate broken into two parts and a
pila were noticed. On a somewhat higher elevation there is
another destroyed structure, also with north-south axis and
a caved-in chultun. Some metres northeast is a nicely laid
platform with a chultun.
Group 1 with its six structures sits on the flattened top of
the hill, on a ca. 3 m-high platform. On its northwestern side
two rooms were built into this platform (Building 1), and a
destroyed staircase descends from there downhill. On top of
the platform five structures were arranged to form two plazas.
In the northwestern half of the platform is the first plaza. It is
surrounded by Building 2 in the northwest, a fallen two-room
(?) structure in the northeast (which had a southeast-northwest axis), a four-room (?) structure in the southeast, which
most likely consisted of a double line of two rooms each,
and a possible three-room structure in the southwest (which
had a southeast-northwest axis). The second plaza in the
southeast was only bordered on two sides: In the northwest
by the southeastern line of rooms of the four-room structure
already mentioned, and by a fallen three-room structure in
the northeast. This last structure had a southeast-northwest
axis; in its rubble, on the southeast end, a faade column was
seen, indicating at least for this former building a Classic
Colonnette or Classic Mosaic style.
Building 1 consists of two rooms in a row, which were
built into the platform. Room 1 in the northeast is mostly destroyed, only its back wall has not collapsed. Directly southwest is Room 2. This is complete, except that all facing stones
from the upper faade, above a one-member medial moulding,
have fallen down. Nests of aggressive wasps made it impossible to enter the room. Immediately southwest of Room 2 is a
maybe up to 5 m-wide staircase descending from the platform

Barcohaltun de las dos Cruces

Fig. 7. Group 1 in Barcohaltun de las dos Cruces. (Drawing by

Dorothea Graf, 2009).
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Fig. 8. Group 1 in Barcohaltun de las dos Cruces: Entrance to Room

3, Building 2. (Photo by Stephan Merk, 2009).

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in a northwestern direction, towards the savannah. It is interesting to notice that southwest of the staircase which is not
in the centre and northeast of Room 1 no more rooms were
constructed, although there is space on both sides.
Building 2 stands on top of the platform, a few metres
southeast of Building 1. It has an L-form: Room 1 in the
southeast creates one of the two wings of this type of structure. It has a southeast-northwest axis and faced southwest.
The room is relatively well preserved and measures 356 x 224
cm. All of its nine capstones are in situ. Only the entrance is
a bit demolished: its northwestern door jamb has collapsed
and the lintel is no longer in its original position but shifted a
metre towards the southeast. The second door jamb is intact
and was formed as all the other door jambs in this building
by several stones in two vertical lines.
Directly northwest of Room 1, in the centre of the L
is the almost square, small Room 2. It was reachable by a
doorway from Room 3. Its inner dimensions could only be
estimated (around 225 x 225 cm; the width of Room 3 was
used as a model) because several wasp nests did not permit
entry.
Room 3 with its northeast-southwest axis follows southwest of Room 2. The southeastern front wall has collapsed
and it was not possible to determine if Room 3 had an entrance on this side, facing the plaza. The back side of this
chamber is still standing and it has an entryway towards the
northwest (in the direction of the staircase and the savannah). The northwestern outer walls of Rooms 2 and 3 together
measure 860 cm.
The visible parts of the faades of Buildings 1 and 2 show
somewhat regularly laid stones in the lower and upper parts
and a one-member medial moulding. There is, however, one
exception on the small southeastern sidewall of Room 1 in
Building 2. Here, on top of the one-member medial moulding the upper faade does not step back as usual but sticks
out as far as the medial moulding. From the upper part of
the faade on this side a few long but small and flat stones
overhang. It is possible that once stone figures were placed
on these protruding stones to embellish the faade. Buildings
1 and 2 are Early Puuc. At least the collapsed structure in the
eastern part of the platform was erected in a Classic Puuc
style. A hand-held GPS receiver gave the following reading
for Building 2: 2005.690N, 8942.434W.
On March 5th, 1887 the German-Austrian explorer Teobert Maler visited a small Maya site which he described
under the name Xbalche. The corresponding report was
finally published in 1997 as part of Malers monumental
manuscript Pennsula Yucatn. Since then, several scholars have failed to relocate these buildings, which according
to Malers description were already damaged by the end of
the 19th century.
The major problem is that Maler was not precise by
describing the location of the site and the way to reach it,
in addition to the fact that he did not take photographs. In
Pennsula Yucatn he wrote (p. 57) that he left the Hacienda San Antonio Yaxche in easterly direction, without any
luggage and on foot. After 1.5 leguas he crossed a high hill
and descended into a small valley which had almost no trees
and was known to the locals as the savannah of Xbalche. A
legua for Maler was the distance he could walk in one hour in
the bush (Hanns J. Prem, personal communication, 2003).
mexicon

Four km east of San Antonio Yaxche are the Maya ruins

of Balche. This name was given to the site by Mexican archeologist Abel Morales Lpez, who visited it in 1979. Its
distance from the hacienda, which seems to correspond to
Malers 1.5 leguas, and its eastern direction have led some
modern researchers to believe that Xbalche and Balche are
identical. I have always mistrusted this proposal for several
reasons. First, none of Malers buildings and landscape descriptions of what he saw in Xbalche correspond to those
found in Balche. Secondly, Maler did not mention any of
the buildings that we can still find standing in Balche. These
are actually in much better shape today than those already
described for Xbalche. Thirdly, If the savannah in Balche
is identical with the one in Xbalche, Maler could not have
missed this structure with a minimum of seven rooms on two
floors, standing on a high platform and clearly dominating
Balches savannah.
The text Maler wrote, however, is not the only clue he
gave about Xbalches location. On page 58 of the Pennsula
Yucatn describing the Maya site of Chunyaxnic the
early explorer added a sketched map which showed the ruins
he visited around Hacienda San Antonio Yaxche. This map
places Xbalche not east but exactly 1.5 leguas southeast of
the hacienda. Coming back to the distance Maler gives for
Xbalche: The explorer called this trip through the bush exhausting which means that for sure he could not move as fast
as he usually did. My own experience in that specific part of
the Puuc country leads me to the conclusion that a legua for
Maler in this case was close to two km.
In September 2009 I viewed for the first time in Google
Earth the area north of the modern town of Bolonchen in the
northeastern part of the Mexican state of Campeche. Given
that, at least at the moment, the satellite pictures resolution
for that specific region is not very high, I was only able to
distinguish green bush and brownish savannas. I realized that
I know all the savannas in that area with one exception: A
savannah about three km southeast of San Antonio Yaxche,
the small town which grew around the abandoned Hacienda
San Antonio. I also found out that I could connect Maya ruins
to each of the savannas known to me. Putting together this
information with that provided by Maler about Xbalche made
me believe that I was on the right path by looking for Malers
ruin in this specific savannah.
A short visit to the Yucatan peninsula in November 2009
was made to solve this case. Following a strong hint provided
by Iken Paap, Katharina Farys and Nikolai Grube, all with the
University of Bonn, I was able after a few unsuccessful attempts to finally reach the already mentioned savannah and
the tiny Rancho Barcohaltun de las dos Cruces located there.
Following Malers description of the location of a structure
he named El Castillo (the castle) in Xbalche I investigated,
together with Manuel Bonilla Caamal, as well as Iara Krieg
and Simone Ehrentreich from Germany, the highest hill at the
southeastern edge of the savannah.
On top of this hill we found a group of ruins, including a
building with a good portion of standing early architecture.
Our delight soon got mixed with disillusion: We had found a
Maya ruin that was not registered but the group we saw was
clearly not Malers Xbalche. Neither the description and form
of the building, nor its orientation fit Malers specifications
for El Castillo or any other of the structures he mentioned.

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Given that that was our last day of exploration, and the day
was already coming to an end, we could not search for other
buildings at this site. Because the location fits almost perfectly with Malers description, I am personally convinced
that the group we explored is indeed part of Xbalche, but
that Teobert Maler did not visit the buildings we saw. Only
more exploration could shed light on this question. Therefore,
this ruin is temporarily named Barcohaltun de las dos Cruces,
after the nearby rancho. This name is a mixture of Spanish
(barco: the boat) and Maya (haltun: sarteneja) and could be
translated as "the boat on the pond with the two crosses". The
deeper meaning of this name remains unclear.
Reference
1997 Maler, Teobert: Pennsula Yucatn (Hanns Prem, editor). Monumenta Americana V. Berlin: Gebr. Mann Verlag.

The Maya Cave of Aktunkin,

Campeche, Revisited
CLEVELAND (Jack Sulak). The cave of Aktunkin in southwestern Campeche, Mexico, was officially discovered on October
26, 1990 by Mexican archaeologist Florentino Garca Cruz
of the Centro Campeche of the Instituto Nacional de Antropologa e Historia, who was accompanied by Juan Pech and
the French photographer Sergio Riou. Garca Cruz (1991)
published a brief report on the discovery of the 500 m long
cave and describes findings of a large quantity of ancient ceramics. His report is accompanied by a photograph taken by
Riou, showing offerings of large broken vessels. The name
Aktun Kin is translated as Cave of the Sun. Within the

Fig. 9. Map showing location of Aktunkin in relation to other

important archaeological sites and modern settlements (Map by
J. Sulak, 2009)
mexicon

Fig. 10. Sculpted stone with hieroglyphs (Photo by Florentino

Garca Cruz, 1990)

cave an abundance of pottery fragments of the Classic Period

were found, as well as bones from human burials. It is a sinuous cave with a shallow stream running through it and very
close (approximately 4 km) to the new village of Cristbal
Coln (Fig. 9). Besides the discoveries of human bones and
ceramics on the floor of the cave, Garca Cruz and Riou photographed, but did not mention it in the published report, an
inscribed stone fragment, which is missing now (Fig. 10).
Graca Cruz suggests it is part of a stela. No dimensions of
the monument fragment are known.
Aktunkin is briefly mentioned by Ivan prajc, who visited the site in 1998. He refers to the report by Garca Cruz,
discusses the spelling of the name of the site, reports various
groups of mounds, between 5 and 10 m high, near the cave
entrance, and shows its location on an archaeological map
(prajc 2008: 113, Mapa A-5, Anexo 2).
My first visit to the cave was in June of 1998, with driver
David Salas. The cave branches are underneath an archaeological site (Fig. 11). We were guided to the location by the
young boy who originally found the Maya cave that was part
of his mothers property. At this time the stream inside the
cave was not active, although there were standing pools of
water. There were many areas with large concentrations of
displaced ceramic remains.
After examining my photographs of pottery from this
cave, Joseph Ball, San Diego State University (written communication to Karl Herbert Mayer, October 2009) reported
that vessels shown in Fig. 12, include large unslipped
striated jars of the Encanto Striated:Yokat (not the Alambre)
Variety, and one slipped Triano Brown water jar. All these
belong to the Terminal Classic Xcocom complex, and could
date anytime from around A.D. 780/790 to 850/900. Figs. 13
and 14 show a melange of Pastelaria Composite incensario
bowls and incense containers. The Pastelaria Composite type
also is Xcocom in date and would be contemporary with the
vessels shown in Fig. 12.

Fig. 11. Archaeological mounds near the cave entrance (Photo by

J. Sulak, 2009)

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Fig. 12. Large fragments of pottery (Photo by J. Sulak, 1998)

Fig. 14. Ceramic fragments on cave floor (Photo by J. Sulak,
1998)

Fig. 13. Pottery sherds on a water sculpted shelf (Photo by J. Sulak,

2009)

On a later visit, my second, in July 2009, with Salvador

Gonzlez, we were guided to the cave by Felipe Hernndez
and were told that the cave has always been a part of his
property, which is a cattle ranch. Between my two visits (nine
years), much of the ceramics had again been disturbed and redistributed, partly possibly by visitors to the cave. The stream
was now flowing but not strongly. It must be very strong at
times as is evidenced by the many water-sculpted areas of
the cave (Fig. 13) and a table-shaped outcropping (Fig. 15)
approximately 2 m x 0.9 m and 0.72 m high. There was also
evidence of more collapse at the entrance.
At the time of my second visit, we were at first taken to a
different cave with little evidence of ancient Maya use (only
two fragments of ceramics), but it is connected by the same
stream to the cave of Aktunkin. We were told that both caves
are part of a system of five connected caves, and possibly
more, including one at some distance away called Grutas
Xibalba, reportedly with archaeological objects.
The area around the ejido of Cristbal Coln is a karst
landscape with a number of sink-holes, which probably accounts for the large number of caves in the area.
The geographical coordinates of Aktunkin, taken during my third trip to the cave site in November 2009, with a
hand-held GPS receiver, are: 18 13.039 North 89 28.456
West.

mexicon

Fig. 15. A water sculpted Altar/Table with broken pottery on top

(Photo by J. Sulak, 1998)
Refences
Garca Cruz, Florentino
1991 Aktunkin: A Maya Cavern in Campeche. Mexicon, Vol. XIII, Nr. 3, p. 45
prajc, Ivan (Editor)
2008 Reconocimiento arqueolgico en el sureste del estado de Campeche, Mxico:
19962005. Paris Monographs in American Archaeology 19, BAR International
Series 1742. Archaeopress, Oxford

Chunpich, a Maya Ruin

in Northeast Campeche
AUGSBURG (Dorothea Graf / Stephan Merk). On February 25,
2009 an international team formed by Dorothea Graf, Lee
Jones and mexicon staff members Karl Herbert Mayer and
Stephan Merk reached the Maya ruins of Tantah, a rarely visited site in the Puuc zone in the northeastern part of the Mexican State of Campeche (Mayer 2009). The team was guided
by Pedro Pacheco Dzul and Antonio Uc, both from the small
town of Bolonchn de Rejn. The German-Austrian explorer
Teobert Maler visited this minor archaeological site in 1889
and reported mostly on the main palace, a partly standing Lshaped building with an exquisitely worked Colonnette style
faade (Maler 1997: 198199). Additionally, Maler described
in brief a much more fallen down second palace-like structure
(2. Halbsulchenpalast) located about one kilometre further down the trail. Although the explorer unfortunately did
not give an exact direction, it can be asserted that he moved
towards the north. As far as it is known, no one since Malers

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Fig. 16. Chunpich, Structure 1, Room 3 (Photo by Dorothea Graf,

2009)

times has visited this place. The search for the second palace
by the above mentioned international team in 2009, departing
from Tantah, remained also unsuccessful.
More than two weeks later on March 14th, 2009 Pedro
Pacheco Dzul, Antonio Uc and Lucio Uc Uc showed Dorothea Graf and Stephan Merk a small site. This is located
around 10 km northeast of the modern town of Bolonchn and
about 1.2 km east-northeast of Tantah. The local name given
to the ruin is Chunpich (Yucatec Maya for Root of the Pich
Tree) after a sarteneja (rock pond) and an abandoned rancho located close by which share the same name. Its faade
decoration proves that Chunpich is not identical with Malers
second palace of Tantah, but is an as yet not reported site.
In Chunpich, two former buildings stand on an around
two-metre-high platform: Structure 1 in the northern central
part of the platform and Structure 2 a few metres to the
southwest. Both have an east-west axis and look towards the
south. Only Structure 1 shows some standing architecture
in our days. It has three rooms in a line (Rooms 1 to 3 from
east to west) facing a plaza. Room 1 has completely collapsed. From the central room, Room 2, the western parts
of the vault and the back wall are still in situ. The length of
the chamber reaches 550 cm. Two entryway columns can be
seen in the rubble of the fallen down front side, indicating
a former multiple entrance. The western room, Room 3, is
well-preserved and measures 413 x 262 cm. The doorway is
75 cm wide and 55 cm deep; each one of its jambs consists
of several stones laid in two vertical rows. One pair of cord
holders are to the left and right sides of the entryway, on the
inner wall. The central capstone in the vault shows traces of
what perhaps once was a painted image.
The lower part of the front wall of Room 3 (Fig. 16) is
decorated with veneer-stones of different sizes; these are
irregularly laid. The upper faade sticks out without a medial moulding to then softly sloop inwards; its lower row
consists of horizontally laid flat stones, while the three still
visible rows above this are made out of veneer stones which
are considerable larger than the ones in the lower section.
Probably there once was a multiple upper moulding crowning the structure; but whatever was there, it has fallen down.
The small western sidewall and the western half of the back
wall of Structure 1 are also mostly intact. Their decoration
resembles that on the front side though in some parts it
additionally shows a sticking out flat row of stones above
the upper faade, a remainder of the presumed upper mouldmexicon

ing. According to the classification established by George

F. Andrews, Chunpich Structure 1 could belong to an early
Intermediate style which is part of the Classic Puuc styles.
The destroyed Structure 2 lies a few metres west of Structure 1 but was shifted two to three metres towards the south.
It probably had two rooms in a row. Among the debris of
the western room two entryway columns were found (like in
front of Room 2, Structure 1). Directly northwest and northeast of Structure 2 is a pila each. Nearby the small group
of ruins only a few platforms were identified. About 350 to
400 metres southeast is situated an aguada which at the time
of the visit was completely dry. A hand-held GPS receiver
gave the following reading for Chunpich: 2003.784N,
8940.593W.
References
Maler, Teobert
1997 Pennsula Yucatn. Aus dem Nachla herausgegeben von Hanns J. Prem. Monumenta Americana V. Gebr. Mann, Berlin
Mayer, Karl Herbert
2009 The Maya Site of Tantah, Campeche. IMS Explorer, vol. 38, no.7, pp. 12, 5.

Maya hieroglyphic inscriptions

from Nohpat, Yucatan, Mexico
GRAZ (Karl Herbert Mayer). The extremely important ancient
Maya city of Nohpat is located in the archaeological Puuc
Zone of the Mexican state of Yucatn, in the Santa Elena
District. The ruined site is very famous for a long Precolumbian sacbe (causeway) that connects Nohpat with Uxmal to
the northwest and the large site of Kabah to the south and
features a number of large architectural complexes, many
of them with impressive vaulted architecture (Dunning 1992,
pp. 169171; Kelly 1993, pp. 9699). The highest and largest masonry structure at the city, a pyramid with a megalithic
stairway and a temple structure atop, has traditionally been
known as the Nohoch Mul (large or great mound), or Structure 1 of Group I.
The very large, but greatly ruined Puuc city is located
8.5 km east of the ruins of Uxmal (geographical coordinates
2021.57 North 89 46.25 West) and 6.5 west-southwest of
the modern town of Santa Elena (2019.67 North 89 38.53
West), as the parrot flies.
In 1842 John Lloyd Stephens and his British draftsman
Frederick Catherwood (Stephens 1843, Vol. 1, pp. 362368;
1963, pp. 220224) visited the site, described it and published
four drawings, but no hieroglyphic inscriptions were noted.
Only a short time after the visit by Stephens and Catherwood,
Estanislao Carrillo (1845) and Martin F. Peraza (1845) visited
Nohpat and reported on their findings.
Another earlier visitor was the Austrian explorer, architect
and photographer Teobert Maler who sketched several stone
sculptures at Nohpat. Malers work at Nohpat has not been
known previously. He did not describe his visit in his monumental work Pennsula Yucatn (1997), where he recorded
a very large number of Puuc sites. In 1981, when inspecting
the Maler Estate, preserved in the archives of the IberoAmerikanische Institut, Preuischer Kulturbesitz, in Berlin,
I encountered a thin and fragile sheet of paper on which Maler
had recorded Nohpat sculptures with a pencil. This important document is hitherto unpublished (Mayer 1981; Strecker
and von Flemming 1981, p. 3). When exactly Maler visited
Nohpat is not known, but perhaps around 1893, when he in-

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1936. Original photographs are preserved in the Peabody Museum, Harvard University, with the designations A-36-278,
279, and 280. Pollock published both a photograph and a
sketch (1980, p. 277, Fig. 475b). Deducing from the illustrated to-scale drawing, the altar is approximately 65 cm high and
its widest diameter is 40 cm. It shows two vertically arranged
glyph blocks (A1-2), recording a calendrical statement, a Tun
9 3 Ahaw expression (Fig. 17). This altar may be designated
as Nohpat Altar 1 or briefly NPT:Alt.1. Nikolai Grube (1994,
p. 344) and Daniel Graa-Behrens (2009, Vol. 1, p. 362, and
Pl. 105) transcribe the date also as 9 Tun 3 Ahaw, placed in
the Maya Long Count as 10.1.9.0.0. This date corresponds
to 858 A.D. (Grube 2003, p. 369). The present whereabouts
of this conical-shaped altar are unknown.
In 1987 Nicholas P. Dunning investigated Nohpat and
created the first preliminary map of the core area of Nohpat,
although the site was densely overgrown and difficult to
explore. Several improvements of this map were made as a
result of a later visit to the ruins in February 1988 by personnel of the archaeological Sayil Project. The work by Dunning at Nohpat encompasses the first thorough description
of the sites location, size, civic plan, and of three distinct
architectural complexes, which he defined as Groups I, II,
and III, as well as a description of the stone sculptures he
encountered. Besides a general map he also created plans and
profiles of some architectural
groups and structures and a
Ball Court. His fundamental work was documented
in several unpublished and
published sources (Dunning
1987; 1990a; 1990b; 1992;
Fig. 17. Nohpat Altar 1 (Drawing by Christian Prager)

10

vestigated the nearby ancient city of Uxmal (Maler 1971, p.

55; 1997, p. 231). In an undated and unpublished manuscript
housed in Berlin, Maler (Dolinski 2000, p. 38, Ms.13) notes
that he had not yet completed his description of Nohpat, as
well as of other sites he explored.
In 1930 the Danish archaeologist Frans Blom mapped
Uxmal and surrounding regions in the vicinity, including
Nohpat, but no description of this site was ever published
(Blom 1934).
Sylvanus Griswold Morley referred to the first discovered
hieroglyphic monument found at Nohpat, whose low-relief
carving features two glyph-blocks (Morley 19371938, Vol.
IV, pp. 249, 262, 295, 375, 378; 1948, p. 75).
In 1975, Ian Graham, when designing his Corpus of
Maya Hieroglyphic Inscriptions Project, proposed a threeletter-code for Maya sites with glyphic texts and suggested
for Nohpat the code NPT (1975, pp. 23, 24).
In the official Atlas Arqueolgico de Yucatn (Garza
Tarazona and Kurjack 1980, p. 146) Nohpat was registered
with the site code 16Qd(10):3.
In 1980 Harry Pollock of the Carnegie Institution of
Washington (1980, pp. 276277) devoted more than one-anda-half pages to the archaeology and architecture of the site
and published in his monumental publication The Puuc for
the first time an inscribed limestone monument from Nohpat,
namely a glyphic altar, which he found and photographed in
mexicon

Fig. 18. Nohpat Glyphic Panel 1 Fig. 19. Nohpat Glyphic Panel 2
(Drawing by Christian Prager) (Drawing by Christian Prager)

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Dunning and Kowalski

1994, p. 71, Fig. 5).
That the ruins cover a
very large region is made
clear by the fact that in
1998 and 1999 a previously
unknown section of Nohpat
was located and recorded in
the south of the city, known
locally as the Chac Mool
Group. In the large vaulted
Structure 1, containing an
estimated total of 15 rooms,
a series of red-coloured
handprints were discovered
(Mayer 2000).
In 1990 Ramn Carrasco Vargas of the Centro
Yucatn of the Instituto
Nacional de Antropologa
e Historia investigated the
famous
Uxmal-NohpatKabah sacbe and mapped Fig. 20. Nohpat Glyphic Panel 3
many features of Nohpat (Drawing by Christian Prager)
in detail (Carrasco 1993).
During his investigations he
discovered three inscribed stone panels which were sketched.
These carved stones were buried at the site in order to prevent
their possible illegal displacement. In an unpublished doctoral dissertation, Jos Miguel Garca Campillo (1995, Vol. I,
p. 315), mentioned these unnumbered carvings, dating them
tentatively to about 750840 A.D. and refers to an unpublished drawing by Carrasco. Garca Campilla kindly provided
me, in 1994, with a photo copy of Carrascos sketch showing three all-glyphic fragments. Carrasco generously granted
permission for me to use these sketches, drawn at a 1:5 scale,
for publication. Assuming that the scales are correct and the
photocopy is at a 1:1 scale of the original sketch, the size of
the three objects are presented here with a certain caution.
Judging from the thin plain frames around the three inscriptions they are probably not broken fragments from one single
monument, but independent objects. The width of all three
pieces is very similar. Carrasco, in a personal communication,
suggests they are parts of a doorjamb. The monument type
is not definitely identified, and just as likely could also be a
wall panel. In the following brief descriptions the carvings
are provisionally and neutrally termed Glyphic Panels 1, 2,

and 3. Christian Prager has kindly modified and inked the

drawings for publication purposes.
Nohpat Glyphic Panel 1

This panel (Fig. 18) is approximately 88 cm high and 22 cm

wide. The thickness is unknown. Thin, plain frame elements
surround the inscription which contains four glyph blocks
(A14). The style of the glyphs is rather crude and unusual
and possibly provincial style similar to some other Puuc Zone
inscriptions. The glyphic compounds at A34 represent a
known title for political rulers: Chok Sajal (Montgomery
2003, pp. 208209). The Sajal title is commonly interpreted
as referring to provincial governors and subsidiary lords or
war leaders. Christian Prager (written communication, December 2009), comments that this title of a young (chok)
and ruler (sajal) is clearly decipherable, whereas the glyphs
at A12 are difficult to read; A2 resembles an abstract form
of T614, read as otoot, meaning house. The inscription segment could therefore very tentatively read as "is the house of
the young Sajal". If this reading is correct the bas-relief may
indeed be part of a doorway, or particularly a door jamb, as
Carrasco surmised. The title sequence Chok Sajal is rarely
found in Puuc monumental inscriptions, but the simple Sajal
title occurs several times in the texts of Xcalumkin (Grube
1999, pp. 317, 319321), and at some other sites.
Nohpat Glyphic Panel 2

This panel (Fig. 19) is approximately 61 cm high and 23 cm

wide. The thickness is unknown.The inscription is enframed
by a thin and plain border and encompasses three glyph
blocks (A13). Prager (written information, December 2009)
comments that no glyphs can be identified.
Nohpat Glyphic Panel 3

This is the smallest relief panel (Fig. 20) and measures approximately 43 cm in height and 20 cm in width. The thickness is unknown. The hieroglyphic text consists of three
glyph blocks (A13) and its orientation is not entirely clear.
Prefixed dots suggest that numerical classifiers are recorded.
Prager (written communication, December 2009) remarks
that the glyph block at A2 may represent 2 Haab and A3
could show the number 1; therefore the inscription could express a calendrical statement.
Nohpat Monument 1, Panel 3.

In 1995, 1999, 2002, and 2006 I visited, always briefly,

Nohpat, each time accompanied by Stephan Merk of the staff

Fig. 21. Nohpat Monument 1, detail (Drawing by Markus Eberl, 2000; from Maler)
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12

of mexicon and guided by Manuel Bonilla Camaal from the

town of Santa Elena, Yucatn. During the first visit in 1995,
while I was taking photographs in Group III, the ground
around the Ball Court area, at Structure 3, the so-called
Tzompantli platform, I noted that recent fires and burnings
for agricultural purposes permitted easy finding and examination of the scattered stone sculptures, because they were
freed from the obscuring low bushes and high zacate grass
that normally grows in this area. These sculptures obviously
belong to a destroyed carved platform consisting of bas-relief
panels decorated with death symbols, representing crossed
bones, human skulls, and round elements. These reliefs were
already seen, described and partially recorded by Stephens
(1843; 1963, Vol. I, p. 223), Carrillo (1845, p. 262), Peraza
(1845, p. 366), and Maler, and in 1987 registered, designated
and photographed by Dunning (1987; 1990b; 1992, pp. 170,
172). The platform elements depicting frontal human skulls,
documented by Catherwood and Maler, are missing.
To my great surprise the remaining strewn and dispersed
platform elements not only were carved with crossed-bones
designs, but the seven panels recorded showed horizontally
arranged glyphic bands on top. Although the hieroglyphic
inscriptions are in a rather weathered condition, the glyphs
are certainly recognizable and several can be read and interpreted. Epigraphically, the writings are not pseudo-glyphic,
but evidently represent real scripts. One of these panels, here
provisionally designated as Panel 3 of the Tzompantli Platform or Monument 1, is a typical example of these stone slabs,
which formed the exteriors of the original platform. Panel 3
(Figs. 22, 23) is here presented for the first time. This panel

is 70 cm high, 47 cm wide, and 33 cm thick. The maximum

relief depth is 2 cm. All of the carved panels remaining from
the platform, together with the three-dimensional sculptures
associated with this structure, are still under study and will
be published in the near future (Mayer 2010). Unfortunately,
looters have removed the Tzompantli Platform blocks that
Stephens published and Maler sketched. A revision of
Catherwoods and Malers drawings show that both draftsmen have obviously seen these hieroglyphic inscriptions as
the fine lines, scrolls, and contours in their recordings suggest
(Stephens 1963, Vol. I, p. 223, Fig. 21; and see Fig. 21).
The sculptured platform at Nohpat is iconographically and
epigraphically closely related to the well-known platforms at
Uxmal (Seler 1917, Pls. XXXIXXXIII; Pollock 1980, pp.
223229, Graham 1992, pp. 121133), where the death images on the facing stone blocks are equally accompanied by
horizontally placed hieroglyphic inscriptions on top.
The precise geographical coordinates of the Tzompantli
Group, taken with a portable GPS receiver in 1999, are: 20
18.81 North 89 42.37 West.
Besides the well-known Altar 1, the three panels recorded by Carrasco, and the seven inscribed panels from the
Tzompantli Platform, there may be additional hieroglyphic
inscriptions, all unpublished, occurring at Nohpat. Nicholas
Dunning has mentioned sculptures with reliefs which may
feature other inscriptions (Dunning 1987; 1992, p. 170).
In conclusion it should be noted, that the presently known
hieroglyphic inscriptions at Nohpat very probably date to the
Terminal Classic period.

Fig. 22. Nohpat Monument 1, Panel 3 (Photo by Karl Herbert

Mayer, 2006)

Fig. 23. Nohpat Monument 1, Panel 3 (Drawing by Daniel GraaBehrens, 2001)

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The ancient city of Nohpat is one of the largest sites in

the whole Puuc Zone of Yucatn and Campeche and should
be investigated and mapped in detail, consolidated, partially
restored, maintained and guarded, like its splendid ancient
sister cities, Uxmal and Kabah.
References
Carrasco V., Ramn
1993 Formacin sociopoltica en el Puuc: El sacbe Uxmal-Nohpat-Kabah. Perspectivas antropolgicas en el mundo maya, Mara Josefa Iglesias Ponce de Len y
Francesc Ligorred Perramon, eds., pp. 199212. Publicaciones de la S.E.E.M.,
Nm. 2. Sociedad Espaola de Estudios Mayas, Instituto de Cooperacin
Iberoamericana, Madrid
Blom, Frans
1934 Short Summary of Recent Explorations in the Ruins of Uxmal, Yucatan. Verhandlungen des XXIV Internationalen Anmerikanistenkongresses 1934, pp. 5559.
Hamburg
Carrillo, Estanislao
1845 Dos das en Nohpat. Registro Yucateco, Tomo I, pp. 261272. Imprenta de
Castillo y Compaa, Mrida
Dolinski, Eckehard
2000 El descubrimiento de las edifications mayas de Centroamrica por medio de la
fotografa. Obra y legado de Teobert Maler. Universidad Autnoma de Yucatn,
Mrida
Dunning, Nicholas P.
1987 Monuments in Yucatan and Campeche. Mexicon, Vol. IX, Nr. 5, p. 99
1990a Prehispanic Settlement Patterns of the Puuc Region, Yucatan, Mexico. Ph. D.
Dissertation. University of Minnesota. Manuscript
1990b Report on a Tzompantli Platform and Associated Sculptures at Nohpat, Yucatan.
Minneapolis. Manuscript
1992 Lords of the Hills: Ancient Maya Settlement in the Puuc Region, Yucatn, Mexico. Monographs in World Archaeology, No. 15. Prehistory Press, Madison
Dunning, Nicholas P., and Jeff Karl Kowalski
1994 Lords of the Hills: Classic Maya Settlement Patterns and Political Iconography
in the Puuc Region, Mexico. Ancient Mesoamerica, 5: 6395
Garca Campillo, Jos Miguel
1995 Antroponmia y toponima en las inscripciones mayas clsicas de Yucatn. 2
Vols. Tesis Doctoral. Departamento de Historia de Amrica II (Antropologa
de Amrica), Facultad de Geografa e Historia, Universidad Complutense de
Madrid, Madrid. Manuscript
Garza Tarazona de Gonzlez, Silvia, and Edward Barna Kurjack Bacso
1980 Atlas arqueolgico del estado de Yucatn. Centro Regional del Sureste, Instituto
Nacional de Antropologa e Historia, Mxico, DF.
Graham, Ian
1975 Corpus of Maya Hieroglyphic Inscriptions, Vol. 1: Introduction to the Corpus.
Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, Cambridge
1992 Corpus of Maya Hieroglyphic Inscriptions, Vol. 4, Part 2: Uxmal. Peabody
Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, Cambridge
Graa-Behrens, Daniel
2009 Die Maya-Inschriften aus Nordwestyukatan, Mexico Kalenderangaben, Chronologie und kulturgeschichtliche Interpretation. 2 Vols. Sdwestdeutscher Verlag fr Hochschulschriften, Saarbrcken
Grube, Nikolai
1999 Hieroglyphic Sources for the History of Northwest Yucatan. Hidden among the
Hills: Maya Archaeology of the Northwest Yucatan Peninsula, Hanns J. Prem,
ed. Acta Mesoamericana, Vol. 7, pp. 316358. 2., erweiterte Auflage. Verlag
Anton Saurwein, Markt Schwaben
2003 Hieroglyphic Inscriptions from Northwest Yucatan: An Update of Recent
Research. Escondido en la selva, Arqueologa en el norte de Yucatn. Segundo
Simposio Teoberto Maler, Bonn 2000, Hanns J. Prem, ed., pp. 339370. Universidad de Bonn, Bonn and Instituto Nacional de Antropologa e Historia, Mxico,
D.F.
Kelly, Joyce
1993 An Archaeological Guide to Mexicos Yucatn Peninsula. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, Oklahoma
Maler, Teobert
n.d. Allerlei Aufzeichnungen ber die Ruinen Yucatns. Kurze Hauptbemerkungen
ber die Ruinen etc. Manuscript in the Maler Estate, Ibero-Amerikanisches
Institut, Preuischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin
1971 Bauten der Maya. Aufgenommen in den Jahren 1886 bis 1905 und beschrieben
von Teobert Maler. Aus dem Nachlass herausgegeben von Gerdt Kutscher.
Monumenta Americana, Vol. IV. Gebr. Mann Verlag, Berlin
1997 Pennsula Yucatn. Aus dem Nachla herausgegeben von Hanns J. Prem. Monumenta Americana, Vol. V. Gebr. Mann Verlag, Berlin

mexicon

Mayer, Karl Herbert

1981 Memorandum. IAI, Berlin. 12. Oktober 1981. Graz. Manuscript
2000 Red Handprints in the Maya Ruins of Nohpat, Yucatan. Mexicon, Vol. XXII, Nr.
1, pp. 34
2010 Maya Sculptures and Inscriptions from Nohpat, Yucatan, Mexico. Graz, Manuscript in progress, Graz
Montgomery, John
2003 How to Read Maya Hieroglyphs. Hippocrene Books, New York
Morley, Sylvanus Griswold
19378 The Inscriptions of Peten. 5 Vols. Carnegie Institution of Washington, Publication 437. Washington, D.C.
1948 Check List of the Corpus Inscriptionum Mayarum and Check List of All Known
Intitial and Supplementary Series. Division of Historical Research, Carnegie
Institution of Washington, Cambridge
Peraza, Martin F.
1845 Una incursion al interior. Registro Yucateco, Tomo I, pp. 361370. Imprenta de
Castillo y Compaia, Mrida
Pollock, H. E. D.
1980 The Puuc: An Architectural Survey of the Hill Country of Yucatan and Northern
Campeche, Mexico. Memoirs of the Peabody Museum, Vol. 19.
Peabody
Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, Cambridge
Seler, Eduard
1917 Die Ruinen von Uxmal. Abhandlungen der Kniglich Preuischen Akademie
der Wissenschaften, Philosophisch-Historische Klasse, Nr. 3, Jahrgang 1917.
Berlin
Stephens, John L.
1843 Incidents of Travel in Yucatan. 2 Vols. Harper & Rowe, New York
1963 Incidents of Travel in Yucatan. 2 Vols. Dover Publications, New York
Strecker, Matthias, and Karl-Friedrich von Flemming
1981 Photos and Drawings by Teobert Maler: A Preliminary List. Internationale
Gesellschaft fr Mesoamerikaforschung, Contribution No. 1. Mexicon Verlag,
Berlin

Conferences and exhibits

Mesoamerican Studies in Hamburg
HAMBURG (Lars Frhsorge). Ever since the University of
Hamburg made the decision in 2005 to axe the Department
of Mesoamerican Studies (Mesoamerikanistik), the situation
in the department has grown steadily worse. Following the
retirement of Prof. Ortwin Smailus in 2007 and now the loss
of the position of wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter (last held by
Armin Hinz) in 2009, the department has been left with no
personnel and, apart from the vital but unremunerated support offered by Prof. Smailus and several other lecturers, relies for its programme on single-semester instructors. It goes
without saying that a thorough support of students theses at
least to the end of the summer semester of 2011 is hardly possible under these circumstances. The forced termination of
Mesoamerican Studies here brings to an end a tradition nurtured over the last five decades that was dedicated to teaching
and research in the field of indigenous languages and cultures.
This is all the more regrettable given the fact that Hamburg
with its specialist libraries and its ethnological collections
enjoys access to resources unrivalled elsewhere in Germany,
resources that are doomed to soon gather dust.
Against this background of the wanton destruction of a
prestigious and hallowed academic institution, the surviving students and faculty of the department have organized a
conference that is to take place from 16 to 18 April 2010 in
cooperation with the Museum of Anthropology (Vlkerkundemuseum). Details can be found at www.8hirsch-to-go.de.
The conference is directed primarily towards the lay public
and is to include a glyph workshop, introductory lectures by
visiting scholars and the presentation of the results of theses

Vol. XXXII

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13

by Hamburg students, with the aim of fostering interest in

Mesoamerican themes and drawing attention to the relevance
of our research work. At the same time the conference marks
the beginning of the Mesoamerika-Gesellschaft Hamburg
(Mesoamerica Society of Hamburg), which was founded in
January 2010. This is a non-profit organization, the purpose
of which is to lobby for and promote the long-term survival
of Mesoamerican Studies in Hamburg. The societys goals
are, on the one hand, to increase the publics awareness and
understanding of the cultures of Mesoamerica through a
programme of lectures and counselling and, on the other, to
provide a platform for the exchange of scholarly ideas in
Hamburg. It is further envisioned that research projects and
trips to Mesoamerica be supported by means of travel grants
and stipends.

and ancestors communicated. The exhibit was organized by

Daniel Finamore, The Russell W. Knight Curator of Maritime
Art and History at the Peabody Essex Museum and Stephen D.
Houston, The Dupee Family Professor of Social Science and
Professor of Archaeology at Brown University. The exhibition is scheduled to travel to the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort
Worth, Texas, and the St. Louis Art Museum.
Contact: Peabody Essex Museum, East India Square, 161
Essex Street, Salem, MA 01970-3783, USA; phone: +1-978745-9500, +1-866-745-1876, or visit:
http://www.pem.org/exhibitions/106-fiery_pool_the_
maya_and_the_mythic_sea

Pre-Columbian Funerary Art:

The Passion of Trtola Valencia

Lorenzo Ochoa Salas (1943 2009)

BARCELONA (Fundaci Arqueolgica Clos, Museu Egipci de

Barcelona). From 12 December 2009 to 30May 2010 the Museu Egipci de Barcelona (Egyptian Museum of Barcelona) is
hosting Arte funerario Precolombino: La pasin de Trtola
Valencia (Pre-Columbian Funerary Art: The Passion of Trtola Valencia) an exhibit of a series of pieces representative
of the main cultures present in the Mesoamerican, Central
American and Andean regions before the arrival of Europeans
and the subsequent as well as abrupt cultural upheaval that
this entailed. Most of the objects on show were conceived and
used as part of the funerary equipment that accompanied the
deceased in their tombs. This protected and privileged space
made possible the preservation of very fragile pieces, such as
those created in ceramic, that despite the long time passed are
still in an impeccable state. At the same time, the exhibition
approaches the biographical profile of Carmen Trtola Valencia: a cultured, multifaceted and singular artist whose creative
work as a dancer was inspired by her perception of the exotic
and by the mystery of ancient civilizations. As an art collector,
Trtola Valencia gathered a number of Precolumbian objects
that today form part of the Collection of Precolumbian Art of
the well established Clos Archaeological Foundation. All in
all, the collection comprises 200 carefully chosen pieces that
were compiled over a period of twenty-five years. This is the
first time they are on display in their entirety.
Contact: Fundaci Arqueolgica Clos, Museu Egipci de
Barcelona, Valncia 284, E-08007 Barcelona, Spain; phone:
+34-93 488 01 88, Fax: +34-93-487 80 60, e-mail: infoclos
@museuegipci.com, or visit http://www.museuegipci.com/
index.php?exposicio_actual&item_1800

Fiery Pool: The Maya and the Mythic Sea

14

SALEM (Peabody Essex Museum). From March 27, 2010 to

July 18, 2010 the Special Exhibition Galleries of the Peabody
Essex Museum will host the exhibit Fiery Pool: The Maya
and the Mythic Sea. Over 90 works, many never seen before,
offer exciting new insights into Maya culture that focus on the
sea as a defining feature of the spiritual realm and the inspiration for the finest works of art. Surrounded by the sea in all directions, the ancient Maya viewed their world as inextricably
tied to water. More than a necessity to sustain life, water was
the vital medium from which the world emerged, gods arose
mexicon

Obituaries
MXICO, D.F. (Rosalba Nieto). Al 7 de diciembre 2009 falleci el Maestro Lorenzo Ochoa Salas. Naci en la Ciudad de
Tuxpan, Veracruz. Obtuvo la maestra en antropologa, con
especialidad en arqueologa en la Escuela Nacional de Antropologa e Historia. Realiz estudios de doctorado en arqueologa en la Facultad de Filosofa y Letras de la Universidad
Nacional Autnoma de Mxico. Reconocido como uno de los
principales estudiosos la costa del Golfo, era investigador Titular B de T.C. definitivo en el Instituto de Investigaciones
Antropolgicas, es miembro del Sistema Nacional de Investigadores Nivel II y pertenece al PRIDE Nivel D. Desde
1973 realiz investigaciones en el campo de la arqueologa,
del trabajo etnogrfico y de archivos en Mxico y Espaa.
Coordin y dirigi 6 proyectos de investigacin arqueolgica
en las tierras bajas noroccidentales del rea maya, en la cuenca del ro Candelaria, en el sistema de riego de San Nicols
Atecoxco, Hidalgo, en las cuevas con cajas de madera de
Tenosique, Tabasco y en la cuenca de la laguna de Tamiahua, Veracruz. Como producto de sus investigaciones public
trabajos en ms de 150 libros y revistas especializadas, ms
de una docena de libros tanto de difusin y divulgacin, as
mismo public tres guas Arqueolgicas y varios prlogos
y presentaciones de libros. Ha realizado traducciones y revisado algunas traducciones del ingls al espaol, ha escrito
varios guiones museogrficos y para televisin. Particip en
mas de 150 reuniones acadmicas en Mxico y el extranjero,
dict otras tantas conferencias de difusin y divulgacin, ha
realizado estancias acadmicas en Universidades de la Habana, Estatal de New York, de Huelva, Sevilla, Salamanca en
Espaa y de Varsovia, as como en el Museo del Hombre de
Pars. Ha sido profesor en las Escuelas Nacionales de Antropologa e Historia, de Conservacin, Restauracin y Museografa, y de Trabajo Social de la UNAM. Actualmente es
maestro titular de la materia de Mesoamrica en el Colegio de
Historia de la Facultad de Filosofa y Letras, es organizador
y coordinador del Seminario Permanente de Estudios de la
Huasteca en el Instituto de Investigaciones Antropolgicas.
Ha sido profesor visitante en Cuba, Estados Unidos, Espaa
y Polonia, as mismo ha dirigido y dirige tesis en los tres niveles: licenciatura, maestra y doctorado. Ocup varios puestos
de carcter acadmico administrativo; Fundador y Director
del Centro Regional de Occidente, primer Centro Regional
del INAH, en Guadalajara, Jalisco; Secretario Acadmico del

Vol. XXXII

Februar/April 2010

Centro de Estudios Mayas de la UNAM; miembro de los Consejo Internos de los Institutos de Investigaciones Filolgicas
y Antropolgicas; Miembro de la Comisin de Admisin del
Colegio Mexicano de Antroplogos; Vocal de arqueologa
del Colegio Mexicano de Antroplogos, en la Comisin Organizadora del coloquio Las costas de Mxico: sus pueblos
y sus culturas, de la Comisin organizadora de la XXI Mesa
Redonda de la Sociedad Mexicana de Antropologa, Vocal
de Publicaciones de la Sociedad Mexicana de Antropologa;
Cosecretario del Comit Organizador de la XXII Mesa Redonda de la Sociedad Mexicana de Antropologa; Miembro
de varias comisiones acadmicas; Consejero Universitario;
Miembro del Comit Asesor de los Proyectos Especiales de
Arqueologa del INAH, tambin form parte de la coordinacin del Congreso Cantos de Mesoamrica del Instituto de
Astronoma, Instituto de Investigaciones Antropolgicas y del
Instituto Nacional de Antropologa e Historia. En trminos
editoriales, fue Miembro del Comit Editorial de la revista
Pacarina. Arqueologa y etnografa Americanas, Universidad
de Jujuy, Argentina; del Consejo Editorial de la revista Regiones. Dilogo entre culturas, CONACULTA, Mxico; Editor de Anales de Antropologa, Instituto de Investigaciones
Antropolgicas UNAM (20032006); del Consejo Editorial
de la revista Itinerarios, Universidad de Varsovia, Polonia.
Adems, es miembro de varias sociedades acadmicas Nacionales y extranjeras, y evaluador de proyectos de investigacin del CONACYT. Ha sido designado perito en el rea de
arqueologa por el Colegio Mexicano de Antroplogos, y ha
recibido varias distinciones de algunos estados de la repblica
como Tabasco, San Luis Potos, Hidalgo y Veracruz.

pales contribuciones al acervo arqueolgico mexicano, del arquelogo radicado en Mxico desde 1936, fueron los hallazgos de varios sitios arqueolgicos, el Cdice de Xicotepec,
con ms de 500 aos de antigedad, as como el Calendario
antiguo totonaco. Su labor como cientfico social lo llev a
dedicar su vida al estudio de la Huasteca poblana y potosina,
de las cuales puso al descubierto aspectos desconocidos de
estas civilizaciones mesoamericanas poco estudiadas. Su
campo de estudio, por ms de 60 aos, abarca aspectos etnolgicos, arqueolgicos y etnohistricos de la Huasteca, as
como de la cultura totonaca en Veracruz, de donde destacan
sus investigaciones sobre el ritual Comelagatoazte o palo
volador. Otro de los principales hallazgos de este investigador, considerado como el primer huastecolgo, fue el sitio
de Tamtok, localizado en San Luis Potos. Stresser-Pan
es el heredero de una tradicin cientfica donde se hicieron
famosos autores como el barn Alexander von Humboldt,
Eduard Seler, Konrad Theodor Preuss, Hermann Beyer,
Alfonso Caso y Paul Kirchhoff, indic el Consejo Nacional
para la Cultura y las Artes (Conaculta). Tras expresar en
un comunicado, sus condolencias a su esposa y familiares,
record que el tambin investigador francs, Dominique
Michelet, lo llam un sabio en un mundo que ya casi no
tiene ms que cientficos. Entre los reconocimientos que
obtuvo por su brillante labor como antroplogo destacan la
Medalla guila Azteca, que le otorg el gobierno de Mxico
en 1995, as como el Premio Banamex, Anastasio Sarabia,
en 1999. Guy Stresser-Pan imparti la materia de Historia
de las religiones en la l'cole des Hautes tudes en Sciences
Sociales, (Escuela de Altos Estudios en las Ciecias Sociales)
de Pars (19551981), as como fundador y director del Centro de Estudios Mexicanos y Centroamericanos en Mxico
Guy Stresser-Pan (1913 2009)
(CEMCA), antes Mission Archologique et Ethnologique
MXICO, D.F. (ntrzacatecas.com, Vctor Hugo Martnez). Franaise (Misin Arqueolgica y Etnolgica Francesa)
Reconocido como uno de los principales estudiosos de la (MAEF). Tras su jubilacin en Mxico, continu con sus
cultura huasteca en Puebla y San Luis Potos, el antroplogo
investigaciones y publicaciones cientficas, entre ellas: San
francs Guy Stresser-Pan falleci al 8 de noviembre de 2009. Antonio Nogalar, Tamtok, Lienzos de Acaxochitln,
El arquelogo, nacido en Francia el 17 de agosto de 1913, Cdice de Xicotepec, Viaje a la Huasteca y Le Soleil.
presentaba problemas digestivos desde das pasados, hecho Dieu et le Christ. Este ltimo ser publicado en Mxico por
que le provoc bronconeumona y finalmente el deceso, la
el Fondo de Cultura Econmica (FCE).
noche del pasado domingo 8 de noviembre. Entre las princi-

New information about the Demise of a Maya City:

Fieldwork at Blue Creek, Belize, 2006 and 2007
Thomas H. Guderjan, Timothy Beach, Steve Bozarth, Colleen Hanratty,
Sheryl Luzzadder-Beach, and Timothy Preston
The Maya site of Blue Creek in northwestern Belize has been
the focus of annual excavations and other investigations since
1992. Since Blue Creek has been the focus of on-going, multiinstitutional, multi-national and multi-disciplinary research
and will continue to be so well into the future it provides
a laboratory to test increasingly sophisticated ideas about the
Maya past with increasingly sophisticated methods.
mexicon

Blue Creek is a medium sized Maya center that was occupied from approximately 600BC until approximately AD
1000 (Kosakowski and Lohse 2003; Guderjan 2004, 2007).
Spatially, the greater Blue Creek area covers approximately
100150 square kilometers (Guderjan 2007; Lichtenstein
2000). Nearly 500 ancient buildings have been documented,
and approximately 100 of these have been excavated within

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15

Fig. 3. Structure 50 facing northeast

Events and Processes Leading to Abandonment

16

Ongoing fieldwork at Blue Creek is designed to deal with

several, interconnected research themes. A central research
500m
domain revolves around better understanding the events and
N
processes of abandonment of Blue Creek. We can document processes in the Late Classic period such as populaBlue Creek Settlement
Survey
tion growth, and residential expansion into locations with
Fig. 1. Known components of Blue Creek.
increasingly poor agricultural potential, such as U Xulil Beh
(Guderjan 2007; Lichtenstein 2002). Coincidentally, we see
the 20% of this area that has been intensively surveyed. Ex- construction of small scale agricultural terraces and other
cavations were undertaken throughout this area and across
cross-drainage features on the margins of pre-existing large
all contextual zones.
scale agricultural systems (Guderjan 2007). At the same time,
At other Maya sites, the settlement zone often appears to we have evidence at Blue Creek and regionally of soil erobe a jumble of residences, ranging from the most humble to
sion (Beach, et al 2008; Binford, et al., 1987) and declining
the very elite, all tied economically and politically to the rul- productivity. Such evidence of increasing population coupled
ing elite. At Blue Creek, we have surveyed large areas outside with increasing demands being placed upon the agricultural
of the central precinct and discovered distinctive patterning production systems clearly point to increasing stress during
in the settlement landscape (Guderjan 2007). Broad expanses
this time.
of rich agricultural lands separate outlying residential comBy the Terminal Classic, Blue Creek was being dramatiponents, giving us the opportunity to study each of them as
cally and negatively transformed. At the final moment of
separate units and to undertake comparative analysis.
their occupation, Late/Terminal Classic, the residents of
Blue Creek deposited large quantities of broken ceramic
vessels and other materials on the
fronts of buildings in the Plaza A, the
Structure 13 Courtyard on Plaza B
and two residential groups at Kn Tan
(Guderjan 2004, 2007). No activity appears to have occurred in these areas
after this date.
Further, an Early Postclassic
population existed that may have been
either a residual group or represent a
re-occupation of parts of the site. Our
first indication of this occupation is
represented bt a small Early Postclassic midden on top of Structure U-5 in
the Chan Cahal residential group (Giacometti and La Londe 2002). However, a small but significant occupation
was discovered in 2005 at the Rempel
Kin Tan
Group or Akab Muclil (Padilla 2007).
N
0
100 m
This had been an outlying central place
during the Early Classic period. However, in the Early Postclassic period,
Fig. 2. Map of Kn Tan (Str. 50 is in the Str. 46 Courtyard (upper left) and Str. 83 is adjacent numerous burials were placed in and
to the Str. 41 Courtyard)
around small architectural additions
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Vol. XXXII

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pollen indicate forest and tree crop taxa and broadleaf plants
(Beach, et al. 2009). Such a crop may have continued to produce economically useful products 200 years after the general
abandonment of the area. Cacao was known historically to
have been imported in large quantity from the Ro Hondo
area through the city of Chetumal into larger trade networks
during colonial times (Roys 1965). If so, we can see the settlement of Akab Muclil as being the residence of a remnant
population who continued to exploit the cacao orchards of
their ancestors and traded these products down the Ro Bravo
and Ro Hondo to Chetumal.

Results of Fieldwork in 2006 and 2007

Fig. 4. Special Deposit #11, Lot AA: 3 facing east

Excavations at Kn Tan

(Padilla 2007). Importantly, Akab Muclil was located adjacent to the Ro Bravo and was virtually surrounded by Classic
period ditched agricultural fields.
We are still studying what was being grown in these
fields and analysis of Postclassic Maya behavior gives us
some indications. By the Early Postclassic, say, AD 1100, the
ditches themselves were partially infilled. Instead of being access routes for small canoes, the ditches would have become
muddy impediments for access to the fields. However we
now know that the fields were still utilized at this time and
that at least one pole and thatch field house was built adjacent
to an intersection of two ditches (Guderjan, et al, 2008). We
have rare macrobotanical evidence of maize from this period,
perhaps from a wayward milpa or milpero. The main lines
of evidence from carbon isotopes, phytoliths, charcoal and

Kn Tan is an elite residential group located approximately 1

km. northwest of Blue Creeks public precinct (Figs 1, 2) that
has been investigated by Colleen Hanratty. Previous investigations have shown this was the home of at least one powerful and wealthy multigenerational lineage (Guderjan 2007;
Guderjan and Hanratty 2006, 2007). We have also previously
found large-scale Terminal Classic ritual deposits at Kn Tan
similar to those found in public and royal residential locations in the central precinct (Guderjan 2004, Hanratty 2002).
While the imterpretation of these has become controversial
(Clayton, Driver and Kosakowski 2005; Guderjan 2007), they
do however mark the last act prior to abandonment. Further,
while we term these Terminal Classic, our dating actually
places them all at the initial part of the Terminal Classic, or
perhaps slightly earlier.

Fig. 5. Map of the Rosita Group by Marc Wolf

17
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Prior to 2007, Terminal Classic ritual deposits were

recovered from an ancestor shrine and two residential structures in the Structure 37 Plazuela, the largest residential
group within Kin Tan, and additionally from the front of
Structure 3, a temple that defines the eastern boundary of
Plaza A. Furthermore, testing operations (Ek 2000) indicated
that another may have been located on the western faade of
Structure 50, a shrine within the Structure 46 Courtyard. The
2007 field season sought to shed light on the nature of these
ritual deposits through the careful horizontal stripping and
penetration of Structure 50.
The Importance of Termination Rituals

In many instances, termination rituals destroy a buildings

soul and severe its link to the cosmos. It is important to
clarify, however, that termination rituals can sometimes also
be reverential in nature. For instance, Coe (1959, 1965) recognized a unique pattern that he termed terminal offering in
his discussions of caches and offertory practices at Piedras
Negras, Tikal, and other sites in the Southern lowlands, These
terminal offerings consisted of ceramics or other materials,
purposefully placed on the surfaces of structures which were
then built over with construction of new superstructures
(Coe 1965:464). In addition, excavations at Cerros uncovered evidence for reverential termination rituals throughout
the site core most famously in relation to Structure 5C-2nd.
The deposits associated with this particular structure were
associated with a veneration ritual in which the structure
was terminated prior to being encased within a new structure
(Freidel 1986). It is also important to note that related termination deposits are usually only readily apparent in carefully
conducted horizontal exposures (Inomata 2003; Garber 1986;
Freidel 1986).
Unlike reverential termination rituals that end the life
of a structure prior to its rebirth within a new phase of construction, desecratory termination rituals end the lifecycle of
the structure and are often followed by site abandonment.
Desecratory deposits effectively destroy the buildings link
to the supernatural and prevent this link from being reestablished. For instance, desecratory termination deposits from
Yaxuna were noted in the context of large-scale destruction
of architecture, suggesting that it was an important aspect in
the practice of Maya warfare (Ambrosino et al 2003, Suhler
1996).
Due to the similarities between reverential and desecratory termination deposits, the issues surrounding how to
identify theses events and how to discern the intentions of
their protagonists remain daunting problems (Mock 1998;
Stanton and Brown 2003). Adopting a behavioralist approach

18

Fig. 6. Reconstruction drawing of Rosita, Group RS-5

mexicon

to these contexts is one solution to this dilemma. Behavioral

archaeology is an explanatory theory that advocates the practice of careful stratigraphic approaches to uncover potential
layers of meaning in proposed ritual contexts (Schiffer 1976,
1987). LaMotta and Schiffer (2001) argue for a meticulous
consideration of the actual cultural formation processes surrounding and following abandonment. In their view, the study
of such cultural formations has the potential to provide great
insight into the intentionality behind abandonment processes
and to allow archaeological consideration of a wide array of
potential associated meanings. Inomata and Webb (2003)
advocate a combined micro analysis of individual buildings
and a macro analysis of entire settlements. These are not
mutually exclusive approaches and a micro approach can
serve as a strong case for termination as a means of eliminating sacred ancestral lineage ties, and can also provide strong
frames of reference for patterns of desecrating termination
ritual behavior on a macro scale.
Operation 47: Structure 50

The Structure 46 Courtyard is composed of Structures 46, 47,

48, 49, 50, 51, and 52. Test excavations have been carried out
at each of these structures (Ek 2002). The general chronological trend observed in Kn Tan holds true here the earliest
constructions date to the Early Classic Period while massive
expansions occurred in the Late Classic Period. Test excavations in 2000 revealed the presence of a large concentration of
ceramics on the northwest corner of Structure 50 (Ek 2002).
As a result, our efforts in 2007 focused on the stripping and
penetration of this structure to define both the nature of the
deposit and construction sequence of the building.
Like Structure 34 of the Structure 37 Plazuela Group,
Structure 50 is a central shrine dedicated to private elite rituals and ancestor veneration. The first phase of construction
consisted of a small (5.8 m by 5.0 m), two-meter tall shrine
with rounded corners (Fig. 3). This was constructed on top of
a modified bedrock platform 85 cm in height. No evidence of
a superstructure was recovered. A looters trench penetrating
the western flank of this structure revealed the presence of
a small, but well constructed, crypt within the westernmost
portion of the structure. The materials recovered from the
excavation of the structure indicate a Late Preclassic/ Early
Classic transitional date for the first phase of construction.
Shortly afterward, the shrine was expanded 1.0 m to the west
through the addition of an outset.

Fig. 7. Aerial Photo of Rosita Group RS-5

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Stripping of the northwest corner of Structure 50 revealed

a dense concentration of broken vessels (0.40 m thick and encompassing 9m3) on the floor and against the rounded corner
of the shrine (Fig. 4). This was designated Special Deposit 11
(SD 11) and excavated in six arbitrary lots. Analysis of SD
11 reveals that it was deposited rapidly in a singular event
against the northwest corner and outset of the structure. While
no complete vessels were recovered, numerous vessels that
were at least half reconstructable were noted in situ. Sherds
were large and angular, with numerous striated jar body
sherds measuring in excess of 20 cm by 20 cm. Numerous
small finds were also scattered throughout the deposit. These
included 13 chert biface fragments, two obsidian blade fragments, a slate blank, a chert hammer stone, and a granite
metate fragment. Numerous small finds were recovered at
the base of the ceramic deposit lying directly on the floor,
including two broken granite mano fragments, a broken chert
mano fragment, four obsidian blade fragments, a chert biface
fragment, a hammerstone, an intact coral bead, and a Mother
of Pearl bead fragment. In all, 7850 sherds (243.9 kg) were
recovered from SD #11. The majority (60%, N=4702) of the
sherds were unslipped striated jar body sherds. Based on the
number of reconstructed rims present, the minimum number
of vessels (MNV) within the assemblage is 300. The majority
of these rims were identified as Cayo Unslipped jars (19 %).
The remainder included serving vessels such as Tres Mujeres
bowls (10.5 %), Achote Black bowls, (10 %), Garbutt Creek
Red interior bolstered bowls (6%), Monochrome Cream
bowls (6%), and Tinaja Red restricted orifice jars (5%). 94
(31%) rim sherds were either too eroded or too small to assign
a type designation.
Despite the fact that Special Deposit 11 was quickly
sealed and that preservation was very good, there were no
zooarchaeological or archaeobotanical remains found within
the deposit (Phil Dering, personal communication). The absence of such materials indicates that was not a midden, or
redeposited midden, or redeposited materials from a feasting event. Instead it is the material remains of a ritual event
marking the abandonment of the shrine, the courtyard and the
central sector of Blue Creek.
Excavations at the Rosita Group

Much of the 2006 and 2007 work was focused on Rosita, an

elite, residential group approximately 3 kms. northwest of the

Fig. 8. Excavation Photo, Structure RS-5

central precinct (Preston 2007, Guderjan, Beach, LuzzadderBeach, and Preston 2007; Fig. 1). Rosita consists of complexes of large-scale, masonry residences on the tops of large hill
tops, often taller than 50 meters (Fig. 5). Originally mapped
in 1990 (Guderjan 1991), test excavations were conducted
more recently (Lichtenstein 2000) and the complex has generally been viewed as a part of Blue Creek. However, more
recent excavations (Clayton 2004) raised the question that
Rosita may have incorporated monumental architecture and
its status as a component of Blue Creek should be reviewed.
Consequently, significant effort under the supervision of Tim
Preston has been invested in better understanding Rosita. To
our surprise, Rosita also offered important data pertinent the
events and processes leading to abandonment.
In 2006, we exposed buildings in one of the major patio
groups (RS5), a Classic period, elite residential group with
two shrines and a large masonry residential building dating to
the Early Classic period (Figs. 69). We also found Terminal
Classic activity unlike that seen elsewhere at Blue Creek. A
small enclosure on the summit of Structure RS5, the larger
shrine, was constructed and two Terminal Classic (Daylight
Orange: Fig. 10.) were placed within this enclosure (Preston
2007). Further, we found another Terminal Classic (Daylight
Orange) cache in a bench in the nearby Structure RS9 in 2007
(Preston 2008).
On the north side of the patio group, a small residential
building, R21, was razed in the Terminal Classic and replaced
with a round Yucatecan style shrine (Fig. 11). Harrison-Buck
and McAnany (2005) interpret the proliferation of round
shrines in the Eastern Maya Lowlands as being connected
to contact with northern Yucatec trade groups. They report
that shrines are restricted to coastal zones and areas linked to
the coast by navigable river systems. Importantly, Rosita is
located immediately south of the terminus of the navigable
portion of the Ro Bravo (Barrett and Guderjan 2006). This
raises the possibility that Rosita was re-aligning itself with
sites such as Nohmul upstream that were interacting with the
powerful northern polity of Chichen Itza. So, while the public
precinct, its associated residences and Kn Tan were being
abandoned, Rosita continued to exist and re-align itself with
the outside polities.
Wetland Fields excavations

Since 2000, geoarchaeological research by Sheryl LuzzadderBeach and Timothy Beach has focused on understanding the
formation and diversity of wetland fields around Blue Creek.
This has entailed studying soil stratigraphy, chronology, and
chemistry through numerous excavations and radiocarbon
dates, water chemistry in numerous samples, ecofacts from

Fig. 9. Reconstruction Drawing, Str RS-5

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19

pollen, phytoliths, and macrobotanicals, and the surface expression of field systems (Beach et al. 2006, 2009; Luzzadder-Beach and Beach 2008, 2009). Wetland soil stratigraphy
was striking and similar across these many excavations, with
four units from the bottom upward and the ditches.
To understand the use of these fields and the chronology
of the canals, little-disturbed fields that had been discovered
in 2003 were excavated. We named these the Birds of Paradise fields because of the thick Heliconia foliage that surrounds the region. We cautiously cleared transects for survey
and excavation units, including two north to south and east
to west transect brechas through the dense grasses, sedges,
Heliconia, and Marantacaea that cover the fields. These
fields occupy a meander loop of Cacao Creek, a tributary
of the Rio Bravo on its floodplain. The ditches or canals run
largely north to south and east west for at least 600 m, with
main trunk canals that connect the perennial stream water
with the fields. We have now dug eleven trenches across the
canals and into surrounding fields to study the stratigraphy,
chronology, and chemistry of these fields. Within the fields,
the water table is c. 1.6 m in depth during the end of three Dry
Seasons, though today water tables frequently rise above the
surface during the Wet Season. These fields have had little
recent disturbance except for burning. This may be a natural
occurrence, though we suspect that recent fires are at least
linked to runaway fires from cleared land that lies only two
km north of the site. Nonetheless, well preserved stratigraphy
has allowed us to study the chronology of the canals.
Unit I was the soil surface that confronted the first Maya
farmers. Its high degree of pedogenesis indicates that it required millennia to form, and it had much pollen, phytolith,
and charcoal evidence for intensive human use. Based on
soil morphology, it was a seasonally wet environment, with a
water table that had to be more than 1 m below todays water
table. This soil was buried by Unit II, a large flood sometime
between 2300 and 2000 years ago. The thick sand deposit unit
may represent a hurricane, and two other sites in the upland
bajos also have hurricane evidence that date to this general
time (Beach et al. 2008). Unit III represents the Preclassic
through Classic period and a deeper burial of the landscape
(though a slower one interrupted by one or more periods of
stasis). Since Unit IIIs sediments are dominantly gypsum,
and the near surface water table is nearly saturated in the

20

Fig. 10. Daylight Orange Vessells from Summit Caches in Structure RS5
mexicon

calcium and sulfate ions that precipitate as gypsum, we think

the gypsum layer (Unit III) formed as gypsum precipitated
from the water table from the Late Preclassic through Classic
period. The water table had to rise to the current levels for
the gypsum aggradation to occur, and we consider that the
likely mechanism was rising sea level, which lifted overlying
freshwater aquifers above them. Unit IV is modern topsoil.
Unit V are ditches that lie around and are about 1 to 1.5
m deep and 2 to 3 m wide, which in most places are too
disturbed by plowing, burning, and bull dozing to provide
much chronological information. They are mostly excavated
through Classic and earlier sediments and had mainly Classic
artifacts in the excavations that had little disturbance.
Table 1: Soil Units in Blue Creek Area Wetlands
Unit I, the Ek Lum paleosol, an Archaic to Late Preclassic horizon buried by 1.25 m,
Unit II, a carbonate sand, high energy deposit, c. 8 cm thick
Unit III, a gypsum rich precipitated deposit with one or two
weakly developed buried horizons
Unit IV, a generally thick topsoil, which is highly disturbed by
modern farming
Unit V, ditches 11.5 m deep that cut across Classic Period and
older strata.

We interpret the canal bottoms as the unconformity between clay (massive, gray, reduced, and carbonate rich) and
mlanges of dark organic matter and clay that define the canal
bottoms. The boundary lies about 1 to 1.7 m below the ground
surface, is often distinct, and dates to the Late or Terminal
Classic Period with multiple radiocarbon dates Beach, et al.
2009). There have been few artifacts from the sequences associated with the canal bottom and adjacent field levels: two
ceramics (one not identifiable and the other only to the Classic Period) and some burned bones. Further radiocarbon dates
through the canal fills show a general sequence of gradual
infilling through the Post Classic. One episode from a depth
of c. 70 to 50 cm indicates that reuse of the fields occurred
sometime from A.D. 1180 to 1630 (based on 2 sigma radiocarbon dates on charcoal from three samples). During this
time canal filling accelerated with a burn through the fields
that knocked many trees and branches and sandy, high energy
deposits into the canals. One of the tree trunks in the canal
was hewn and another piece of wood above it appeared to be

Fig. 11. Terminal Classic Yucatec-style shrine

Vol. XXXII

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a Maya digging stick. Moreover, associated with some other

wood that had fallen into the canals, was a large amount of
wattle and daub. We believe this is the remains of a rapidly
burnt, Postclassic fieldhouse and ongoing excavations are
helping clarify its use and chronology.
Other lines of evidence from the 60 to 50 cm depth include
a large influx of phosphorous, which probably came from human sources, and a significant changeover from grasses and
other species that use the C4 photosynthetic pathway in the
Classic period to a dominance of species such as evergreen
broadleaf plants and trees that use the C3 photosynthetic
pathway in the Postclassic period.

Summary events leading to the abandonment

of Blue Creek.
The subject of Terminal Classic abandonment in the Maya
lowlands is currently undergoing intense scrutiny and discussion (Demarest and Rice 2004). New data from Blue Creek
are helping us create an increasingly detailed and nuanced
view of the events and processes the occurred in one Maya
city.
During the Late Classic period, population was certainly
increasing and demands on soil productivity were growing.
Terracing and wetland field systems were at their peaks, but
during the Terminal Classic, canals were infilling. However,
whether these were causative factors cannot yet be determined. By the Terminal Classic Period, the central public
area was being abandoned. Large deposits of ceramics and
other goods made at least one major temple dysfunctional.
Further, residences of the rulers in the central precinct were
also abandoned and subjected to the same desecration. Also,
the homes and ancestral shrines of nearby elites whom we
have elsewhere termed non-royal elites were also desecrated and terminated.
However, elites at Rosita weathered the storm, at least for
a short while. They built new Yucatec-style shrines, made
minor additions to local shrines, and consecrated them with
caches that included Daylight Orange ceramic vessels. Their
political ties to the central precinct were gone and they began
re-aligning themselves with outsiders. Precisely how much
longer they survived is uncertain; perhaps another century?
All or nearly all of Blue Creeks estimated 20,000 or so
people (Guderjan 2007) were gone by the end of the Terminal Classic period. However, in the Early Postclassic there
existed at least one small enclave of people at the Akab
Muclil. We can only guess the population size, but it was
more in the range of 100 people than 20,000. Also we are
uncertain whether they were a remnant group or whether
outsiders reoccupied Akab Muclil. Their economy is largely
unknown, but it is certain that someone was utilizing the
ditched agricultural fields until approximately AD 1100. At
this time, a significant depositional event may have made the
field dysfunctional while also burying the evidence of their
activities. And finally, Blue Creek was no more.
Acknowledgements

The authors thank their colleagues and friends who have

contributed so much to the success of the Blue Creek project
since 1992. These include all of the scholars, students and
volunteers who have participated in the project, our neighmexicon

bors the Programme for Belize Archaeological Project, the

Mexiconers who continue to provide special meaning to
understanding the past, the people of todays community of
Blue Creek, and the staff of the Institute of Archaeology of
Belize.
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2006 A Thriving Non-Royal Lineage at Blue Creek; Evidence from a Sequence of
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Hanratty, C. Colleen
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2000 Settlement Zone Communities of the Greater Blue Creek Area. Occasional Paper
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Luzzadder-Beach, Sheryl and Timothy Beach
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2009 Arising from the Wetlands: Mechanisms and Chronology of Landscape Aggradation in the Northern Coastal Plain of Belize. Annals of the Association of
American Geographers 99 (1): 126.
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Padilla, Antonio
2007 Akab Muclil: A Classic to Postclassic Hinterland Settlement in Northwestern Belize. M.A. Thesis, Dept. of Anthropology, Texas Tech University, Lubbock.

Preston, Tim
2007 Examining Power Heterarchies within an Ancient Maya Community. MA Thesis,
Department of Anthropology, San Francisco State University.
Roys, Ralph
1965 Lowland Maya Native Society at Contact. in Handbook of Middle American
Indians, Volume 3. Edited by Gordon R. Willey. University of Texas Press,
Austin
Schiffer, Michael B.
1976 Behavioral Archaeology. Academic Press, New York.
1987 Formation Processes of the Archaeological Record. University of New Mexico
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Stanton, Travis W. and M. Kathryn Brown
2003 Studying Warfare in Ancient Mesoamerica. In Ancient Mesoamerican Warfare,
edited by M. Kathryn Brown and Travis W. Stanton, pp. 116. AltaMira Press,
Walnut Creek, California.
Suhler, Charles K.
1996 Excavations at the North Acropolis Yaxuna, Yucatan, Mexico. Unpublished
Ph.D. dissertation, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas.

RESUMEN: Diversas excavaciones en el sitio arqueolgico de Blue Creek,

Belice, revelaron nuevos procesos que causaron el abandono de una ciudad
Maya a finales del Perodo Clsico. Mientras que el rea central con sus
asociadas viviendas y sus residencias lites cercanas estaban siendo deshabitadas, las residencias lites ms alejadas se fueron uniendo con otras
unidades polticas. Pero an stas tambin fueron abandonadas pronto. No
obstante, un pequeo grupo de gente sobrevivi o sus casas fueron rehabitadas durante el Postclsico Temprano. Adems, el complejo de campos
agrcolas con canales de irrigacin que trajo prosperidad durante el Perodo
Clsico, segua funcionando y siendo utilizado an durante el Periodo Postclsico Temprano.
ZUSAMMENFASSUNG: In verschiedenen Grabungskampagnen in der archologischen Sttte Blue Creek in Belize konnten die Prozesse erforscht werden,
die zu der Aufgabe einer Maya-Stadt am Ende der klassischen Zeit fhrten. Whrend der zentrale Bereich, die assoziierten Wohnsttten und die
nahegelegen Residenzen des Adels aufgegeben wurden, verbanden sich
auenliegende Adelsresidenzen mit anderen politischen Einheiten. Aber
auch sie wurden bald danach aufgegeben. Eine kleine Gruppe von Menschen
berlebte jedoch, oder ihre Wohnrume wurden in der frhen Postklassik
wiederbesetzt. Auch die komplexe Anlage von mit Bewsserungsgrben
ausgestatteten Feldern, die whrend der Klassik zur konomischen Blte
beitrug funktionierte noch in der frhen Postklassik.

Chupicuaro and the Preclassic Shaft Tomb Tradition

Vronique Darras and Brigitte Faugre

22

Funerary constructions comprising an excavated shaft leading

to mortuary chambers appear to be a characteristic feature of
the pre-Hispanic populations in western Mexico (Fig. 1). Until recently, shaft tomb tradition included all these populations
indiscriminately (Valdez et al. 2006: 297), overshadowing the
wide variety of their mortuary practices as much in the systems of construction as in the treatment of the dead (Beekman
2006: 239). During the last fifteen years or so, the discovery
of new shaft tombs has led to an improvement in chronological precision, an appreciation of its diversity, a revision of the
existing data, and the formulation of new interpretations. The
funerary architecture of El Opeo (Michoacan, 15001000
B.C. Oliveros 2004), was, without doubt, the first stage on
the way to the tradition of the shaft tombs, which flourished
in the centre and north of the State of Jalisco, between 100
B.C. and A.D. 300 (Beekman 2006, 2008; Lopez Mestas and
Ramos de La Vega 2006: 271; Cabrero Garcia and Lopez
Cruz 2007). For their part, the more recent discoveries at
the site of Mascota (Mountjoy 2006), in the Sayula basin
(Valdez et al. 2005, 2006), and in the Tequila valleys, show
that in its multiple expressions this mortuary concept became
mexicon

widespread in the course of the first millennium BC: chamber

tombs with a simple, relatively shallow, access shaft without
stone architecture but sometimes with flagstones closing the
chamber seem to have been built practically everywhere in
western Mexico.
When we started work at Chupicuaro, in the middle
Lerma valley, we knew the ceramic analogies established
with Western Jalisco and Colima, but we did not imagine
our excavations were to reveal other types of remains, funerary and architecturali, which would support and clarify
these links. So the discovery of shaft tombs revives the issue
of Chupicuaros relations with their neighbours in Western
Mexico.
The archaeological remains of the Chupicuaro culture
have been recognised in a geographic space with still imprecise limits but which, broadly speaking, encompasses to the
south, the Acambaro valley in Guanajuato, the Cuitzeo basin,
and the northern fringe of Michoacan, and to the north and
north-east, the region between San Juan del Ro and Yuriria
(Fig. 1). Considered as a strategic region at the intersection
of several cultural spheres including the central highlands

Vol. XXXII

Februar/April 2010

to the east and the Jalisco highlands to the west this region
knew an original cultural process during the Preclassic.
As early as 1946, this intermediate position, together with
the ceramic analogies, raised the issue of the conditions in
which the Chupicuaro culture emerged (Porter 1956, 1969).
While the thesis of an autochthonous development was quickly abandoned for that of colonisation by groups of farmers,
their origin gave rise to inconclusive discussions. Although
Porter initially suggested the valley may have been populated by groups from the Valley of Mexico having progressed
along the Lerma (1969: 8 11), other authors established a
link between Chupicuaro and extreme western regions, based
on ceramic analogies with Capacha and El Opeo (Braniff
1998, Florance 1993, 2000: 29). But in the absence of sufficient archaeological documentation the latter suppositions
could not be proven. By proposing to describe an aspect of
Chupicuaro mortuary practices the way they built their
tombs this article goes some way to meet this need.
The first discoveries in 1946

The mortuary remains are an important component of the

available evidence on Chupicuaro. The excavations carried
out by Rubin de la Borbolla in the Acambaro valley, close to
the village of Chupicuaro, had been oriented from the beginning by the discovery of graves. During the 10 months the
field works lasted 390 graves had been yielded, 388 from the
site El Rayo. This important mortuary complex had enabled
many pottery vessel, ground stones, obsidian industries, shell
and bone artefacts to be recovered, and had allowed mortuary, social, and economic inferences (Balmori and Pia Chan
1948, Rubin de la Borbolla 1948, Porter 1956, 1969). However, in spite of the abundance of the data about the funerary
practices, such as offerings, and skeleton positioning and orientation, no description had been made of the arrangement
and morphological characteristics of the burial spaces. In her
published work Porter indicates the graves are located at the
summit of a hill some in an isolated area, others in small
groups, but the majority concentrated within a well defined
perimeter (1956: 530) whence the hypothesis cemeteries
existed. In any case the author underlines the difficulties
encountered during the excavation due to the nature of the
sediment, the high density of graves and their frequent su-

Western Mexico
San Felipe

Guadalajara

The Chupicuaro project ii

Starting in 1999 the Acambaro valley became the object of an

ambitious archaeological programme, more than fifty years
after the salvage excavations of 1946/47. The projects aim
is to update archaeological knowledge of Chupicuaro thanks
to the constitution of a new corpus of data from stratigraphic
excavations and archaeological and geophysical surveys. The
goal of the Chupicuaro project is to reconstitute the cultural
dynamics in the valley during the Preclassic. Its general objective is to improve the understanding of the local forms
of social, economic, political and religious organisation and
more globally of the level of integration in the cultural
developments in central and western Mesoamerica, as well
as the forms of supra-regional interaction. From this point of
view defining Chupicuaros origins is of particular importance (Darras and Faugre 2005; Darras 2006).
Since the project was formulated, eight field seasons have
been carried out in the Puruagita and San Jos Hidalgo areas.
Used as a first stage to define the chronological framework,
today the mass of data accumulated during these field seasons
allows better acquaintance with settlement patterns, architecture, mortuary practices, and local economy.
The excavations at the sites JR 24 (La Tronera) and TR
6 (El Cuizillo de Don Fidel) have uncovered a moderate
number of graves 17 in total three of new-born and two
of very young children. Despite the samples small size, quite
a wide variety was found in the morphology of the 17 graves

Quertaro

Guanajuato

L.Chapala

L.Yuriria

Acmbaro

L.Zacapu

L.Cuitzeo

L.Patzcuaro

Hidalgo

Acambaro Valley
Chupcuaro

El Opeo

Jalisco

Quertaro

San Juan del Ro

rma

Ro Le

Teuchitlan

perimposition hardly made it easy to date these graves or

identify their types: individual/collective; primary/secondary.
According to Porter the graves were scattered about, most often without perceptible limits of the pits and without stones
(1956: 526). The exceptional presence of stones is, however,
always indicated and they are then interpreted as possible
markers or elements of construction (1956: 531). Besides,
this observation had been made by Mena and Aguirre during
the first research in the valley, which also mention the presence of siliceous or river rocks arranged around the skeletons
(1927: 56).
The absence of information on the mortuary spaces construction systems and how the burials were arranged makes
any tomb type identification impossible.

Araro

JR 24

Puruagita

TR 6 San Jos Hidalgo

Morelia

Michoacan
0

100 km
Archaeological sites

Edo. de Mexico

D.F.
Cuicuilco

Fig. 1. Map of the region

23
mexicon

Vol. XXXII

Februar/April 2010

 14 dating from the late Chupicuaro phase (400100 B.C.).

Though pit graves, some are simple pits, others have stone
structures, and still others have a more complex morphology
the four individual shaft tombs, found at TR 6.

from Early Chupicuaro (600 400 B.C.) to Mixtlan phases (1

250 A.D.). Among the remains uncovered two large masonry constructions were observed one 43 m in diameter and
the other, quadrangular with sides of 22 m corresponding to
patios hundidos and dated to the Late Chupicuaro phase (400
The site TR 6 shaft tombs
100 B.C.), remains of households, and several graves (Fig.
Site TR 6 is located on the left bank of the Lerma, in the 2). In total eight burials were excavated: two were simple pits,
middle Acambaro valley (Fig. 1). On the surface it shows
two others contained the remains of very young children and
the usual characteristics of the preclassic sites in the region were dated to the Early Chupicuaro phase, and four had an
consisting of a slight topographic deformation, particular access shaft.
pedological features (soft sediment on surface, grey-coloured
Grave 10: it was dug from an occupation surface much
and silty to powdery in texture) with high concentrations of spoiled by erosion. Excavation revealed a sub-rectangular
ceramic and lithic material. In spite of a great deal of looting, shaft with rounded corners, oriented east/west, 1.37 m long,
the geophysical surveys of 2003 revealed several anomalies
0.65 m wide and 0.60 m deep. This shaft had vertical walls,
interpreted as the remains of circular and quadrangular monu- and its south side had a step first cut into the layer of black
mental structures (Darras and Faugre 2004, 2005). At the
clay and then carefully smoothed. The shaft bottom coinend of the geophysical exploration, two excavation field sea- cided with the beginning of a restricted mortuary chamber
sons were thus undertaken showing an occupation extending developing into a niche to the west. It was filled with not

sep 17
sep 14

sep 12

sep 10
Shaft tombs
Pit graves from the transition Early/late Chupicuaro phase

Pit grave from the Late Chupicuaro phase

House 2 (600 - 400 B.C., Early Chupicuaro phase)

Circular patio hundido (400 - 200 B.C., Late Chupicuaro subphase A)

Part of circular platform (400 - 200 B.C., Late Chupicuaro phase)

Quadrangular patio hundido (200 - 100 B.C., Late Chupicuaro subphase B)

Platform (A.D. 1 - 250, Mixtlan phase)

Fire place with concentration of stones (around A.D. 100., Mixtlan phase)

Line of stones (built before quadrangular patio hundido, Late Chupicuaro phase)

Excavation areas

24

Fig. 2. Plan of TR6 with location of the graves

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Vol. XXXII

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Fig. 3. View of grave 12 shaft

very compact, homogenous sediment, silty in texture. The

cavity had a sub-triangular floor plan, dug in both the layer
of black clay (forest soil) and the tepetateiii. It contained a
primary individual burial containing the skeletal remains of
an adult man, oriented east/west, lying in dorsal decubitus,
and the upper limbs alongside the thorax with the head to the
west. The offerings consisted of 11 ceramic vessels arranged
on either side of the shoulders and at the feet.
Grave 12 (Figs. 3, 4, 5): it is the best preserved of the
four graves. After excavating heterogeneous clay sediment,
the shafts limits appeared clearly as a rectangle with rounded
corners, 1.15 m long by 0.65 m wide, oriented east/west. After excavating the fill the shaft appeared 1.10 m deep with
two steps. The first in the south side was shaped and then
smoothed in the layer of black clay. As for the second step,

Fig. 4. View of the grave at end of excavation

step 2

step 2

step 1

step 1

base of the shaft

Superior limit
of step 2

Fig. 5. Plan and cross section of grave 12

25
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Vol. XXXII

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Fig. 6. View of grave 14 shaft

smaller and more irregular, it was made in the tepetate. Like

the preceding grave, the base of the shaft corresponded to the
east part of a restricted mortuary chamber developing into a

niche to the west. Its excavation revealed an oval plan with a

slight inclination westward (20-cm slope). Just like the previous grave its base rested on the tepetate.
The skeletal remains corresponded to an adult man, oriented east/west, stretched in dorsal decubitus, the upper limbs
alongside the thorax, the head to the west. Seven ceramic
vessels were arranged on the individuals thorax or at the
level of his shoulders.
Grave 14 (Figs. 6, 7): though badly preserved, it is the
most spectacular of the four examples. It is located at the
foot of a small circular masonry platform, and was dug into
strongly compacted soil. Clearing an ash deposit first freed
the edges of an asymmetrically shaped sub-rectangular pit
with rounded corners at its east end, more irregular on its
west side. Excavation of the fill revealed a shaft 1.10 m long,
0.80 m wide and 1.30 m deep with three steps. The two lowest were placed along the south side, and had been cut in the
layer of black clay. The third step, more irregular in shape
and against the shafts north-west side about 40 cm from the
surface, had been constructed before closing the shaft with
a substantial amount of grey coloured silt. This shaft bottom
also opened into a very small mortuary cavity, extending
westwards. On contact with this cavity the fill changed nature
and was characterised by its extreme looseness, homogeneity,
and silty texture. Just as for the preceding graves the chamber
had been dug into the black clay and the substratum.
Though primary and individual, the grave was rearranged
and emptied of its contents during the late Chupicuaro phase:
the mortuary chamber was found empty except for the remains in situ of a part of the left arm, three fragments of ribs

26

Fig. 7. Plan and cross section of grave 14

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Vol. XXXII

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Fig. 8. Atitlan Las Cuevas shaft tombs (drawn from Weigand

1993, p 48, no scale)

Fig. 10. Atemajac shaft tombs (from Beekman and Galvn 2006,
p. 260, figure 1)

Fig. 9. Caseta shaft tomb (from Valdez et al. 2006, p 303, fig. 3)

and small fragments of the cranium. The offerings also seem

to have withdrawn as only two fragments of rock crystal
could be found at the east end of the mortuary cavity. The
few skeletal remains suggest the individual was oriented
east/west in dorsal decubitus, probably stretched out, with
the skull to the west. By their nature these skeletal remains
may have belonged to a slightly built individual perhaps an
adult of female sex, or an adolescent.
The stratigraphic study has shown the shafts initial shape
had in fact been rectangular and that the irregular form of its
western extremity was due to subsequent alterations in order
to recover the mortuary remains.
Grave 17 : this grave is located in the same sector as the
previous one and was dug into a fire-hardened clay floor. The
tombs design follows the same pattern as those discussed
above, though with a few variations. The west part of the
shaft was destroyed by looting but its rectangular rounded
corner plan could be made out. It could be deduced from
the excavation that it was longer than the preceding tombs,

probably between 1.30 and 1.50 m. The east part of the shaft
is 0.65 m wide; because of a step placed in the north wall it
widens in the middle opening on its entire length on to the
mortuary cavity. Unlike the other cases in which the mortuary
deposit was made via the east end of shaft and then slid into
the mortuary niche, the individual of grave 17 was placed
along the step.
It was a primary individual grave containing the remains
of an adult woman, oriented east/west, placed in dorsal decubitus, the limbs stretched out and the skull oriented to the
east. The offerings consisted of a total of five ceramic vessels placed at the individuals head and feet, and an obsidian
scraper and a deer bone tool both side by side between the
thighs.
The four examples we have just described used a design
with a shaft, without flagstones to close it. This design involved digging a rectangular shaft of variable depth, with
rounded corners, and made with one to three steps, all of
which gave access to a very restricted mortuary chamber (table 1). The access shaft was oriented to the cardinal points, its
length following the east/west axis; the chamber containing
the mortuary deposit always developed towards the west following the same axis and in line with the shaft. The bottom
of the shaft was always on the same level as the floor of the
mortuary chamber and constituted a part of it. In the cases

Table 1: Shaft tomb morphological characteristics

Burial Access shaft
10

12

1.37 metre (L) x 0.65 metre

(w) x 0.60 metre (depth)

1.15 metre (L) x 0.65 metre

(w) x 1.10 metre (depth)

Steps Step Dimensions

1

1.10 metre (L) x 0.15 metre

(w) x 0.30 metre (thickness)

Step 1: 1.15 metre (L) x

0.30 metre (w) x 0.30 metre
(thickness)
Step 2: 0.35 metre (L) x
0.20 metre (w) x 0.18 metre
(thickness)

14

1m10 (L) x 0m80 (w) x 1m36

(depth)

Step 1: 0.92 metre (L) x 0.20

metre (w) x 0.18 metre (H).
Step 2: 0.60 metre (L) x 0.30
metre (w) x 0.20 metre (H)
Step 3: 0.60 metre (L) x
0m35 (w) x 0.60 metre (H).

17

Unknown (L) x 0.65 metre

(w) x 0.76 metre (depth)

1.10 metre (L) x 0.25 metre

(w) x 0.25 metre (H)
mexicon

Vol. XXXII

Mortuary Cavity
Orientation
2.10 metre (L) x 0.50 metre
(l at level of feet) 0.80
East/West
metre (l at level of shoulders)
x 0.400.50 metre (H).

1.90 metre (L) x 0.80 metre

(w) x 0.450.60 metre (H)

1.70 metre (L) x 0.50 metre

(w) x 0.400.50 metre (H).

1.95 metre (L) x 0.85 metre

(w) x 0.50 metre (H)

Februar/April 2010

East/West

East/West

East/West

27

Commentaries
studied, the bodies rested systematically on the tepetate, the
cavity vault being dug in the black sediment. The chambers The identification of shaft tombs at site TR6 raises a cerfloor plan is either oval or sub-triangular, and its dimensions
tain number of issues the first being chronological. Given
were enough for only one individual with his offerings. The
the small size of the sample treated it is premature today to
ceiling is also small (between 45 and 60 cm) and its section
certify a meaningful chronological context. However, the
is always oval. The arrangement of the bones indicates the
stratigraphic relations, together with the mortuary offerings
body was stretched out in dorsal decubitus, the head being stylistic characteristics and calibrated AMS dates of two burplaced indifferently west or east. Certain aspects of how the
ied individuals (table 2) place these four burials in the Late
bones were recovered suggest constraints probably due to Chupicuaro phase, i.e. between 400 and 100 B.C. Still, grave
the cavitys small size, and perhaps also to a stiff perishable 17 is the oldest and going by the radiodatings could be
material envelope (a petate maybe?).
earlier by more than a century than grave 10. These tombs
The arrangement of the offerings suggests they were
followed well-defined construction standards albeit without
most often deposited last of all, once the deceaseds body being standardised, since they varied one from another in
had been slid into the pit and pushed against the wall opposite
shaft depth or step numbers. For their part, the two other adult
the access shaft. Because of the small size of the access shaft graves found at TR 6 show a different morphological pattern,
and mortuary chamber only one person at a time could have
both being simple pits. So based on these few examples varideposited the body and furnishings. The way the offerings ability in burial space morphology is found within a single
were distributed depended on the space left available ei- site and supposedly for a same period. Moreover, the same
ther in the vacant spaces between the body and the wall by variability is observed at site JR 24: the five adult graves
the shoulders and feet, or above the thorax, as was the case
found at this site placed in the same chronological bracket
for grave 12. In both grave 10 and 17 the ceramic vessels were all arranged as simple pits or capped with flagstones.
were arranged for much the greater part in the space left free Only a young childs grave has some similarities with the
between the body and one of the walls of the chamber. The
shaft concept: the funerary cavity shows a niche form with a
chamber taking the mortuary deposit was left unfilled, but the
closing flagstone (Darras and Faugre 2005).
access shaft was filled meticulously with the sediment from
Thus during the Late Chupicuaro phase making shaft
the initial excavation consisting of a mixture of black clay and
tombs does not seem to have been a funerary practice comtepetate. In one case sediment of an identical nature seems to
mon to the whole population of a single site, any more than it
have totally covered the limits of the access shaft possibly was a standard for all the settlements in the valley.
evidence of an intention to seal (grave 12). However, in the
However, our sample is not large enough to classify and
three other cases these limits seem to have been left visible
interpret these variations in terms of social position, or local
by the sites inhabitants who occupied the surrounding floors. characteristics even if the richness of the mortuary offerings
Lastly, in the case of grave 14 the presence of ash marks on appears significant (table 2). In the same way, the action
the surface of the shaft may be evidence of mortuary rituals
to recover the skeletal remains and offerings in grave 14
(ritual fires). The three tombs seem to have contained particu- corresponding to particular mortuary rituals suggests the
larly abundant ceramic vessels, mainly brown monochrome
individual may have had a special status.
pottery (table 2).
The second issue is the archaeological context and the
spatial and functional relation between these events and the
other components of site TR 6: notwithstanding interpretation difficulties owing to disturbances due to successive inTable 2: Shaft tomb composition and dating
Id.

Furnishing

C14
Datings

Cal. 1 sigma
(OxCal)

Cal. 2 sigmas
(OxCal)

10

Adult
male

9 brown monochrome
composite vessels
1 brown polychrome
recipient
1 black polychrome
recipient

2120 +-30
B.P

200 100 BC

210 (90.7%)
40BC

12

Adult
male

6 brown monochrome
composite vessels
1 black polychrome
recipient

Stratigraphic correlations
and ceramic style suggest
contemporaneous with
grave 10.

14

Indeterminate

Two rock crystals

fragments.

Stratigraphic correlation
with grave 17.

17

Adult
female

5 brown monochrome
composite vessels
1 deer bone tool
1 obsidian scraper

2195 +-25
B.P

360 200 BC

SEP

28

mexicon

Vol. XXXII

370 180 BC

Februar/April 2010

Relative Dating

terventions of the Chupicuaro populations followed by 20th

century looting we succeeded in showing three of the four
tombs had been dug in exterior surfaces. Two of them 14
and 17 were associated with the remains of a small circular
platform about six metres in diameter. The latters state of
conservation makes its function impossible to determine, but
nothing indicates residential use. As for tombs 10 and 11 they
are located a few metres west of the circular patio hundido
but owing to looting and erosion it is impossible to be sure
they were contemporaneous. The TR6 tombs were evidently
concentrated within a given perimeter (Fig. 2) but the data
remain insufficient to judge whether the spaces were specialised or not cemeteries.
The third issue concerns the shaft designs symbolic dimensions. We have just mentioned that present knowledge
hardly allows it to be determined whether shaft tomb architecture was the expression of prestige and symbolism linked
to a specific status. Nonetheless, we can see no burial cavity
was dug completely into the tepetate, harder to excavate, as
was the case in the Teuchitlan culture , but that the vault
was made systematically in the black layer, with the body
laid on top of the white-coloured tepetate. These characteristics are certainly due to the local geological and pedological
conditions, but was their association in the mortuary cavity
the decisive factor that determined the depth of the shaft? If
the intention was only to reach the tepetate, it is likely the
depth of each shaft tomb was determined by the deepness
of the bedrock. In the end, if these shaft tombs allude to the
idea of a cave, the symbolic implications of the contrasting
colours in the shape of the chamber could only be formulated
by means of an exhaustive analysis of the regions funerary
practices, and their comparison with the west of Mexico.
Another interesting aspect is the presence of steps: varying
in number according to the shafts depth, their function must
be discussed. At first, it seems that the shallow depth of the
shafts had no need for any such features. Moreover the steps
noticeably reduced the space allowing access to the mortuary
chamber, and may have made the burial more complicated.
The case of the third step in grave 14 is particularly interesting: it was added just before filling and closure i.e. after
the burial, or maybe later when people came back to recover
the bones and offerings. Thus, may the addition of a step be
able to indicate both functional and symbolic use? Can we
consider the areas occupied by the steps have been useful for
helping the deposition of the dead and offerings, and maybe
for the ritual stages associated to the funeral activities? In any
case, given the present state of our information, these findings
allow the suggestion the steps maybe were there not to meet a
functional need, but rather the funeral rituals requirements.
The construction system of the four TR6 tombs shows
similarities with other tombs found in the west of Mexico.
Its relative simplicity sets it apart from the complex and
spectacular shaft tombs of the Teuchitlan culture (Galvan
1991, Lopez and Ramos 2006). On the other hand, similar
mortuary patterns have been found in other regions in Jalisco
and Colima, for the middle and late Preclassic period, but
also for the beginning of the Classic. In the Altos de Jalisco,
near the village of San Felipe, but also at Atitlan-Las Cuevas, several tombs with an identical configuration or in niche
have been found (Fig. 8, phase San Felipe 1000 300 B.C.,
Weigand 1993, 2000). Those of Caseta, in the Sayula basin,
mexicon

are dated to the Usmajac phase (300 B.C. A.D. 200) and
also show a similar morphology, even if their access shaft
and mortuary chamber plan are most often circular, and this
latter have a closure flagstone (Fig. 9). Besides, these tombs
have a deeper access shaft than at TR 6 (between 1.60 and
2.87 deep), and larger mortuary chambers able to take two
individuals (Acosta and Uruuela Ladrn de Guevara 2005:
390391; Valdez et al. 2006: 302305). Also from the same
period the simpler Atemajac valley tombs show a similar
pattern (Fig.10, Beekman and Galvn 2006, Galvn 1991).
Lastly, the TR 6 shaft tombs are comparable to those found
at the El Manchon site (Colima), even if the latter have not
been dated (Kelly 1978).
These various examples enable clear correspondences to
be established between some mortuary patterns of Chupicuaro
and those in several regions in the west of Mexico. Probably
emerging during the early Preclassic, at the site of El Opeo,
this practice seems to have been shared subsequently by all
the populations of these regions in the course of the Preclassic
period. The TR 6 tombs particularities are evidence, however, of the variability of these arrangements, belonging to
the same chronological phase. In any case, the unexpected
discovery of shaft tombs in the Acambaro valley allows the
Chupicuaro culture to be fully integrated into the cultural
sphere of Western Mexico.
Acknowledgments

Financial and logistic support for the Chupicuaro Project

was provided by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, by
the Centre dtudes mexicaines et centramricaines (CEMCA), and by the Centre national de la recherche scientifique
(CNRS). Permission was granted by the Instituto Nacional
de Antropologia e Historia (INAH). We thank Christopher
Beekman for their comments and suggestions.
Bibliography
Acosta, Rosario, and Gabriela Uruuela L. de Guevara
2005 Los entierros explorados en la cuenca de Sayula. In: Valdez Fransisco, Otto Schndube, and Jean Pierre Emphoux
(eds), Arqueologa de la Cuenca de Sayula: 383 406,
UDG/CUCSH/IRD, Mexico.
Balmori, Elma Estrada, and Roman Pia Chan
1948 Complejo funerario en Chupcuaro. In: El Occidente de
Mxico, Sociedad Mexicana de Antropologa: 40 42.
Beekman, Christopher S.
2006 The Chronological Context of the Central Jalisco Shaft
Tombs. Ancient Mesoamerica 17 (2): 239 250.
2008 Corporate power strategies in the late Formative to early
Classic Tequila valleys of Central Jalisco. Latin American
Antiquity 19 (4): 414 434.
Beekman, Christopher and Luis Javier Galvan
2006 The shaft tombs of the Atemajac valley and their relation to
settlement. Ancient Mesoamerica 17 (2): 259 270.
Braniff, Beatriz
1998 Morales, Guanajuato, y la tradicin Chupcuaro. Coleccin
cientfica 373, INAH, Mxico.
Cabrero Garcia and Lopez Cruz 2007
2007 The Shaft Tombs of El Pion, Bolaos Canyon, State of
Jalisco, Mxico. Ancient Mesoamerica 18: 239 257.

Vol. XXXII

Februar/April 2010

29

Darras, Vronique
2006 Las relaciones entre Chupcuaro y el Centro de Mxico
durante el Preclsico reciente. Una crtica de las interpretaciones arqueolgicas. Journal de la Soc. des Amricanistes
92-2, Paris: 69 110.
Darras, Vronique and Brigitte Faugre
2004 Informe cientfico sobre los trabajos realizados durante los
meses de febrero y marzo en el sitio TR 6, Tarandcuao,
Guanajuato. Unpublished MS., CEMCA, Mxico.
2005a Informe cientfico sobre los trabajos realizados durante los
meses de febrero y marzo en el sitio TR 6, Tarandcuao,
Guanajuato. Unpublished MS., CEMCA, Mxico.
2005b Cronologa de la cultura Chupcuaro: Secuencia estratigrfica y fechamientos radiocronomtricos del sitio La Tronera,
Puruagita, Guanajuato. In: Weigand Phil, David Grove,
and Eduardo Williams (eds.), El Occidente de Mxico y
el Mundo Mesoamericano : Nuevos Datos, Futuras Direcciones, pp 255 281, Col. de Michoacan/INAH/Found. for
the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies.
Florance, Charles
1993 The Preclassic in Southeastern Guanajuato and Observations on relationships with the Basin of Mxico and West
Mxico. Unpublished paper presented at Perspectivas sobre
la arqueologa de la periferia septentrional de Mesoamrica,
INAH, Zacatecas.
2000 The Late and Terminal Preclassic in Southeastern Guanajuato: Heartland or Periphery? In: Michael S. Foster and Shirley
Gorenstein (eds.), Greater Mesoamerica. The Archaeology
of West and Nortwest Mexico: 21 34, University of Utah,
Salt Lake City.
Galvan Villegas, Luis Javier
1991 Las tumbas de tiro del valle de Atemajac. Coleccin cientfica 239, INAH, Mxico.
Lopez Mestas Lorenza, and Jorge Ramos de La Vega
2006 Some interpretations of the Huitzilapa Shaft Tomb. Ancient
Mesoamerica 17(2): 271 282.
Kelly, Isabel
1978 Seven Colima Tombs: An Interpretation of Ceramic Content.
Studies in Mesoamrica III. Contributions of the University
of California Archaeological Research Facility, num.36:
.126, University of California Press, Berkeley.
Mountjoy, Joseph
2006 Excavaciones de dos Panteones del Formativo Medio en el
Valle de Mascota, Jalisco, Mxico. Informe FAMSI.
Porter, Muriel
1956 Excavations at Chupcuaro, Guanajuato, Mexico. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society 46: 515637,
Philadelphia.
1969 A Reappraisal of Chupcuaro. In: Frierman, Jay D. (ed.), The
Nathalie Woods Collection of Precolumbian Ceramics at
UCLA: 5 15, University of California, L.A.
Oliveros, Jos A.
2004 Hacedores de tumbas en El Opeo, Jacona, Michoacn. El
Colegio de Michoacn, Ayuntamiento de Jacona.

Rubin de la Borbolla, Daniel

1948 Problemas de la arqueologa de Chupcuaro. In: El Occidente
de Mxico: 4849, Sociedad Mexicana de Antropologa.
Valdez, Fransisco, Jean Pierre Emphoux, Rosario Acosta, Susana
Ramirez, Javier Reveles, and Otto Schondube
2006 Late Formative Archaeology in the Sayula Basin of Southern Jalisco. Ancient Mesoamerica 17 (2): 297 312.
Weigand, Phil
1993 Evolucin de una civilizacin prehispnica: Arqueologa
de Jalisco, Nayarit y Zacatecas. El Colegio de Michoacn,
Zamora.
2000 The Evolution and Decline of a Core of Civilization: The
Teuchitlan Tradition and the Archaeology of Jalisco. In: M.
S. Foster and S. Gorenstein (eds.), Greater Mesoamerica: 43
58. The Archaeology of West and Northwest Mexico, Univ.
of Utah, Salt Lake City.
RESUMEN: La tradicin de las tumbas de tiro aparece como una de las principales caractersticas de las poblaciones del Occidente de Mxico durante el
periodo preclsico. Durante estos ltimos 15 aos, la excavacin de nuevos
hallazgos de este tipo en varias reas de Jalisco y Colima ha permitido
precisar el marco cronolgico, apreciar toda su diversidad, revisar la documentacin existente y proponer nuevas interpretaciones. El descubrimiento
reciente de tumbas de tiro en la regin de Chupicuaro (Guanajuato) reaviva la
problemtica de los vnculos con sus vecinos del Occidente. Las excavaciones realizadas en el sitio TR 6, en el valle de Acmbaro, evidenciaron cuatro
tumbas que tenan un tiro de acceso con uno a tres peldaos abriendo sobre
una cmara funeraria de tamao restringido, la cual contena un entierro
individual primario. Tanto las correlaciones estratigrficas como las caractersticas estilsticas de las ofrendas cermicas y las fechas calibradas AMS
obtenidas para dos de los individuos, permiten fechar estas tumbas durante
la fase Chupicuaro reciente, es decir entre 400 y 100 a.C. Las caractersticas
de las tumbas de tiro del sitio TR 6 permiten establecer correspondencias
claras entre el rea de Chupicuaro y varias regiones del oeste y ilustran la
gran diversidad que existe entre este tipo de manifestacin. La existencia
de este patrn funerario en el valle de Acmbaro constituye as uno de los
indicadores que permiten integrar plenamente la cultura Chupicuaro en la
esfera del Occidente de Mxico.
ZUSAMMENFASSUNG: Schachtgrber scheinen eines der charakteristischen
Merkmale pr-hispanischer Populationen Westmexikos whrend der prklassischen Periode gewesen zu sein. Whrend der letzten fnfzehn Jahre
hat die Entdeckung zahlreicher Bestattungen dieses Typs in verschiedenen
Regionen von Jalisco und Colima zu einer Verfeinerung der Chronologie,
einer Neueinschtzung der Formenvielfalt und zu neuen Interpretationen
gefhrt. Die Neuentdeckung von Schachtgrbern in der Chupicuaro-Region
(Guanajuato) belebt die Diskussion ber die Beziehungen zwischen Chupicuaro und seinen Nachbarn in Westmexiko aufs Neue. Bei Ausgrabungen
in der Fundsttte TR6 im Acambaro-Tal wurden vier Grber mit einem
dreistufigen Schachtzugang gefunden, die zu einer kleinen Grabkammer
mit individuellen Primrbestattungen fhren. Sowohl die Stratigraphie wie
auch die stilistischen Charakteristika der Keramikbeigaben und die kalibrierten AMS-Daten von zwei der beigesetzten Individuen datieren diese vier
Grber in die spte Chupicuato-Phase, also in die Zeit zwischen 400 und
100 v.Chr. Die Besonderheiten der Schachtgrber von TR6 weisen deutliche Korrespondenzen mit verschiedenen Regionen im Westen von Mexiko
auf, und belegen gleichzeitig die groe Diversitt dieser Anlagen. Die hier
vorgestellten Entdeckungen erlauben es, die Chupicuaro-Kultur nun vllig
in die Kultursphre von Westmexiko zu integrieren.

Endnotes

Monumental architecture with a circular pattern is also an evidence for

links with western Mexico.
ii Directed by Vronique Darras and Brigitte Faugre.
iii The substratum is made up of hardened volcanic ash, white in
colour, and locally called tizate or tepetate.
ANZEIGE

ACTA MESOAMERICANA

Maya Ethnicity

The Construction of Ethnic Identity from Preclassic to Modern Times

30

VOLUME 19

9th European Maya Conference, Bonn, December 1012, 2004

Edited by Frauke Sachse
Acta Mesoamericana, Vol. 19, vi+267pp., cloth, size 2129.5cm; ISBN 3-931419-15-0, EURO 62,00
Verlag Anton Saurwein, Markt Schwaben, Germany 2006
(Order information: publisher@mexicon.de)
mexicon

Vol. XXXII

Februar/April 2010

A Review of Recent Work on the

Decipherment of Epi-Olmec Hieroglyphic Writing
David F. Mora-Marn
This paper aims to review key assumptions and methodological strategies applied by Justeson and Kaufman (1993, 1996,
1997) and Kaufman and Justeson (2001, 2004) in their recent
work on Epi-Olmec decipherment. The goal is not to assess
whether the long list of requirements for a decipherment provided by Houston and Coe (2003) has been met, to propose
an analysis of the Teotihuacan-style mask, or to critique the
alleged immodesty of the works in question, but simply to
determine whether one specific requirement, which this author judges to be crucial of any scientific endeavor, is met: Is
the methodology applied with the goal of testing hypotheses,
or the goal of imposing a hypothesis on a set of data regardless of the patterning described by such data? In other words,
a trial and error learning process should be in evidence: a
successful result in one environment is multiplied by its continued testing in varied environments, or rejected if it is not
shown to be fruitful elsewhere. If the proposed decipherment
is to be taken seriously, separate hypotheses for separate signs
(i.e. not assuming allography from the beginning), and separate contexts for the same signs should lead to a cumulative
and cohesive result. The paper also discusses, consequently,
the notion of coherence, focusing on the claim by Justeson
and Kaufman that their results are grammatically coherent
only in terms of Mixe-Zoquean grammar, at least when
considering the languages that are or have been spoken in
the area of Epi-Olmec writing. Lastly, I have utilized, in the
present discussion, only what is available to any scholar from
published sources.
Preliminaries

Before proceeding it is necessary to provide illustrations of

the Epi-Olmec signs that are discussed below (Fig. 1), along
with their MS catalog numbers by Macri and Stark (1993),

10
MAK ten

20
wu

38
i

39
i

44
na

63
ma

85
ja

143
pa

164
172
JAMA day; animal
JAMA day; animal
spirit companion
spirit companion
Fig. 1. Epi-Olmec signs discussed in paper with their respective
MS (Macri and Stark 1993) sign catalog numbers and proposed syllabographic values (bold, smallcase letters) and logographic values
(bold, capital letters) by Justeson and Kaufman (1993). All drawings
by the present author.
mexicon

and their proposed values by Justeson and Kaufman (1993,

1997) and Kaufman and Justeson (2001, 2004).
Review of Methods

Under the heading Inference Methods in their 1993 Science

article, Justeson and Kaufman (1993:1707) state:
With the use of [the aforementioned orthographic assumptions of a logosyllabic script with minimally CV syllabograms], reconstructed Mixe-Zoquean patterns of grammatical affixation provided us with a systematic framework
for phonetic decipherment. Such patterns provide clues to
the pronunciation because grammatical affixes are almost
always spelled by phonetic signs; we first read several epiOlmec signs by means of their roles as grammatical affixes.
The other major sources of evidence are the reconstructed
vocabularies of proto-Mixean, proto-Zoquean, and protoMixe-Zoquean. We could exploit them because clues to
the meanings of some written words can be inferred from
patterns of dates, from similar logograms and symbols in the
writing and iconography of other early cultures in southern
Mesoamerica, and from correspondences between certain
syntactic patterns and semantic properties.
Houston and Coe (2003) do not make reference to the
above paragraph directly, but only vaguely, and omitting
mention of the most specific methodological assumptions
and procedures presented in it: namely, that, if spelled at
all, grammatical affixes are almost always spelled by
phonetic signs, when many writing systems are taken into
account, and that assuming this, the authors first read several
epi-Olmec signs by means of their roles as grammatical affixes. Indeed, it was the use of a Mixe-Zoquean grammatical
framework that allowed Justeson and Kaufman to begin their
work in general, and it was their specific assumption that
frequently occurring and rigidly patterned signs were likely
to be, first, syllabograms, and second, phonetic spellings of
grammatical affixes. For example, Justeson and Kaufman
(1993:1708) explain that Pre-proto-Zoquean verbs are required to take one of six tense-aspect-mood suffixes. Of the
six, they continue, The independent completive suffix *-w
is easily the most common in Mixe-Zoquean, and it occurs
frequently in narrative texts, adding that(1):
The syllable *-w would be spelled by a CV syllabogram,
which would be very frequent at the ends of words and rare
elsewhere in any epi-Olmec text. MS20, the most common
sign in our texts, is always or almost always word-final it
ends repeating sign sequences and many columns and its
word-final frequency far exceeds that of any other sign. It can
hardly be other than a syllabogram for w...
The authors note too that Proto-Mixe-Zoquean had a relativizing enclitic +w (transliterated as +w in Justeson and
Kaufman [1993:1703], but as +w in Kaufman and Justeson
[2001:98], with <+> indicating that a morpheme functions as
a clitic, not an affix). This enclitic would be used after nouns
and adjectives in order to form words meaning the one(s)

Vol. XXXII

Februar/April 2010

31

who [VERB](s) or the one(s) who is/are a [NOUN]. Those

authors note that the same sign that they identified, in terms
of grammatical context and frequency, as a syllabogram w,
also occurs after what they identified as titles, based on their
iconic motivation and similarity to titles in other scripts in
Mesoamerica. This twin usage of sign MS20, they propose,
not only confirms the reading but is also a signature of MixeZoquean grammar, confirming the hypothesized language
identification (Justeson and Kaufman 1993:1708). In other
words, the dual function of the syllabogram w to spell two
phonetically very similar morphemes, independent completive (of verbs) and relativizer (of nouns and adjectives),
entails a pattern that would not be found in Mayan: first, because the completive/plain status in Mayan writing shows
two distinct forms, one for transitive roots, and another for
intransitive roots, a distinction not present in Mixe-Zoquean
or the Epi-Olmec texts; and second, because neither of the
completive/plain status markers in Mayan, be it the transitive
or intransitive, is near-homophonous with a marker that functions as a relativizer. Thus, an initial hypothesis of MS20 as a
syllabogram w, used to represent the independent completive suffix -w, is supported and strengthened by its apparent
use as a relativizer of nouns and adjectives, -w, given that
both could be represented by the same syllabogram.(2) An
example that illustrates this dual use of is seen in Figures
2ab. First, the spelling IX-ja-ma for 9 days shows that the
sequence MS85:63 functions as a noun. Second, the spelling
ja-ma- w shows that a noun such as that spelled by MS85:63
can take w. Also, an example that illustrates the verbal suffix
use of w is seen in Figures 2cd. First one finds the use of
MS31 STAR in a spelling ma-MATZA-?tza, followed by a
spelling showing STAR- w, as a possible verb given the use
of w. The expected constituent word order in an intransitive
clause would be Subject-Verb. Here one finds ma-MATZA?tza STAR- w, where ma-MATZA-?tza star could be the
subject and STAR-w verb presumably a verb referring
to the (apparent) behavior of a star or of stars in general.
Justeson and Kaufman (1993) gloss this possible verb as
shone precisely because of the grammatical and semantic
constraints just mentioned. The same clause is repeated at
R5-R8 on La Mojarra Stela 1.

the independent completive status marker. Based on this

pattern they suggest that MS143 represents *-pa independent incompletive status marker. The authors assume here that
MS143 is not an allogram with the value w, but instead a
syllabogram with a different value altogether. Thus, they are
assuming that for each Mixe-Zoquean syllable only one syllabogram is used, revising this assumption only when other
evidence requires them to do so. As way of comparison, in
Mayan writing, some syllables can be represented by multiple signs (allograms). But it is a worthwhile assumption for
the purpose of initial decipherment work an assumption of
simplicity to assume that each syllable is represented by
one syllabogram, and resort to proposing multiple allograms
when the evidence demands it. The authors continue:
A pa reading for MS143 is confirmed by the spelling
SKY-pa []; the only Mixe-Zoquean word for sky (protoMixe-Zoquean/proto-Zoquean *tzap) ends in p and has the
root vowel a.
There are more assumptions that need to be explained
here. First, they assume that the sign that precedes MS143 is
a sign for SKY; this is based on what the authors suggest are
iconic similarities between MS143 and the Mayan sign T561
CHAN sky, particularly in the SKY.OVER.EARTH collocation (Kaufman and Justeson 2001:27), as already noted
by Stross (1990:51, Fig. 10b), and shown in Fig. 3. Second,
they assume that there is only one plausible lexeme that could
mean sky, an assumption that can be readily confirmed by
the cognate sets in Wichmann (1995:284285), which lead
one to Proto-Mixe-Zoquean *tzap sky. And third, they
noted that MS143 appeared to have the vocalic value a, given
its possible use as pa independent incompletive, so that the
syllabogram that was chosen as a phonetic complement to MS
144 SKY, would therefore provide for a synharmonic spelling
TZAP-pa, which provided support for their assumption of a
principle of synharmony already detected in other spellings
prior to the TZAP-pa spelling. On its own, each of these
assumptions might seem insufficient, but put together, and
given the paradigmatic relationship between -w independa
b

Fig. 2. a) Count of days: IX-ja-ma 9 days, from R12-R13 on La

Mojarra Stela 1. b) Proposed relativized form of day/nagual: ja-maw for jama+w who/which is a day/nagual, from Q31-Q33 on La
Mojarra Stela 1. c) ma-MATZA-tza for matza star, from C1-C2b
on La Mojarra Stela 1. d) STAR- w for STAR-ed, a completive
form of an independent verb spelled by the STAR sign, proposed by
Justeson and Kaufman (1993) to be shone, from C3 on La Mojarra
Stela 1. All drawings by the present author.

32

Justeson and Kaufman (1993:1708) also note that MS143

appears in contexts that are structurally equivalent to the use
of MS20, their proposed syllabogram w, used to represent
mexicon

Fig. 3. a) Spelling SKY-pa for tzap sky, O18 on La Mojarra

Stela 1. b)-c) Two collocations of proposed SKY logogram, the
first from P22 on La Mojarra Stela 1, the second from O18 on La
Mojarra Stela 1. d) The SKY.OVER.EARTH logogram in Epi-Olmec, from S15 on La Mojarra Stela 1. e) The SKY.OVER.EARTH
or SUN.AT.HORIZON logogram in Mayan. f)h) Comparison of
iconographic elements and motifs relating the Mayan SKY sign at
f) to the Epi-Olmec SKY sign at g) and to the SKY motif of the
SKY.OVER.EARTH collocation in Epi-Olmec. All drawings by
the present author.

Vol. XXXII

Februar/April 2010

ent completive and -pa independent incompletive, the later date that bear numerical coefficients THIRTEEN and SIX,
marker having a vocalic value a, the syllabographic value for which provide for the possibility that the glyphs associated
MS 143 as pa is certainly plausible. Of course, Mayan does with such coefficients could refer to year and month, renot have a word for sky that ends in p.
spectively. One of these, the one associated with the numeral
And last, for now, is the case of MS38. This sign had pre- THIRTEEN, closely resembles Mayan T548, a sign depicting
viously been defined as a clause-initial sign by Ayala (1983: a drum and used to represent both HAB anniversary (also
197) based on its presence in the Tuxtla Statuette. Justeson TUN year by the Postclassic period) in Mayan script. Asand Kaufman (1993:1708) found this sign to be very common
suming that the sign sequence associated with SIX is in fact
at the beginning of words, usually as the first sign in a word, a spelling of month, it would seem as though the two long
whether a verb or a noun. Based on the frequency expectation counts are connected by distance numbers including the eight
that a narrative text in a Mixe-Zoquean language should have years and six months that separate them, but not the two days.
a high incidence of third person ergative markers, and the fact However, Justeson and Kaufman (1993:1708) write:
that MS38 was very frequent, especially at the beginning of
Similarly, MS165-63 is a noun that occurs twice in a paswords, they concluded that Its only feasible Mixe-Zoquean
sage that fails to mention just 2 out of the 4802 days elapsed
interpretation is as the third person ergative pronominal prefix between successive state dates, and it has a numeral prefixed
i-, both as the subject (he/she/it/they) of a transitive verb or in a separate calendrical context. The sequence apparently
dependent intransitive verb and as possessr (his/her/its/their) refers to a period of 1 day. The normal Zoquean word for
of nouns [] (Justeson and Kaufman 1993:1708). For this day is *jama, which suggests a ja-ma reading for the sereason they proposed the syllabographic value i for MS38. In
quence [].
Mayan writing something similar could be said of T1: it apThe key assumptions are two. First, it is assumed that
pears often as the first part of a verb in order to represent the MS165-63 is a spelling for the word day (cf. Justeson
subject of a transitive verb, or as the first part of a noun, if the and Kaufman 1992[1996]). And second, that the spelling
noun is possessed. However, the authors note that the i value
is purely phonetic, not logosyllabic, like the very frequent
for MS38 is supported by its apparent use in a phonetic spell- Mayan spelling KIN-ni for day, sun. This is an assumption
ing for a temporal adverb in calendrical contexts as i-si for of simplicity: it is feasible to assume that the two signs that
is lo!. This use of a sign to spell part or all of a third person
make up the spelling for day are syllabograms; that way
ergative singular marker and a temporal marker beginning their corresponding phonetic values could be tested in other
with the same phonetic sequence, u..., is not a Mayan trait, contexts in a straightforward way based on their phonetic
but instead a trait of Mixe-Zoquean that supports the i value value alone. Part of the reason why it was feasible to assume
of MS38. In addition, MS38 and MS44, the authors note, ap- this is that, as Justeson (personal communication, 2005) has
peared to exhibit a substitution pattern: either could appear in
noted, since there were at first two obviously different types
the same position at the beginning of a word, presumably as a
of spellings that corresponded to day counts, one involving
person agreement marker. As they did for the relationship be- MS165-63 in a spelling IX-MS165-MS63 (Fig. 4a), and
tween MS20 and MS143, they assumed in this case a paradig- another involving MS172 in a spelling XIII-MS172 (Fig.
matic relationship, where MS38 and MS44 substitute for one 4b), it was possible to assume that one was logographic
another not because they have the same phonetic value (and (MS172), the one involving a single sign, and the other
are therefore allograms), but because they serve an equivalent phonetic (MS165-63), the one involving two signs, since the
function (person agreement marker). Under such assumption, two did not have any signs in common. Such assumption is
MS44 would represent a syllabogram that corresponded in one of economy, pure and simple, and as such it could have
phonetic shape to the shape of a person agreement marker proven to be incorrect. Given this pattern, of one sign used
other than i-. The authors suggest the value na for MS44, for to refer to day in one context, and of two signs used to refer
first person exclusive ergative, though they do not provide
to day in another context, with no common sign between
the full rationale for it being first person exclusive and not
the two contexts, Justeson and Kaufman supposed that the
another person. Nor do they provide the rationale why MS44 second spelling might be the phonetic spelling for day.
could not simply be also a syllabogram i, and therefore an Given the typical CVCV(C) root shape of Mixe-Zoquean,
allogram together with MS38. They do observe that MS44 the authors sought a CVCV(C) root for day; the only availiconically depicts the basal, earth motif of Izapan-style sculp- able form to fit the shape was pre-proto-Zoquean *jama day,
ture, an iconographic function already noted by Stross (1990), shapeshifter. The authors thus suggested the values ja and
who suggests, on such basis, that MS44, and what he regards
ma for MS165 and MS63, yielding IX-ja-ma 9 days (Fig.
as the Mayan borrowing of MS44, namely T23 na, are based 4a), respectively, and a logographic reading JAMA day,
on Mixe-Zoquean *na:s earth (cf. Mora-Marn 2003). Thus, shapeshifter for MS172, yielding XIII-JAMA 13 days.
the proposed value is supported by a plausible hypothesis for Iconographically, MS172 seems to correspond to the profile
its acrophonic origin and iconographic source.
view of a bird-impersonator (Justeson and Kaufman 1992:
Houston and Coe (2003) also contend that the cultural 20, Fig. 9), such as that depicted on the Tuxtla Statuette (Fig.
context that serves as a background to the study of the Epi- 4c); the term *jama day also means nagual (shapeshifter)
Olmec script is insufficient to allow for testing hypotheses
in Zoquean (cf. Wichmann 1995:312). Indeed, on the Tuxtla
pertaining to the content of the texts. There is one key source Statuette itself, a sculpture that appears to depict a shapeshiftof contextual inferences: calendrical patterns. In fact, on La
er, the spelling MS164-63 appears: by itself an occurrence of
Mojarra Stela 1, there are two long count dates, spaced thir- MS164-63, proposed to spell JAMA2-ma day and possibly
teen years, six months, and two days apart. As it turns out, shapeshifter, provides for an iconographic contextualization
there are two glyphs associated with the earlier long count of the type that Houston and Coe (2003) claim is lacking for
mexicon

Vol. XXXII

Februar/April 2010

33

1087) note that the ja value of MS165 is also supported by its

presence within the confines of a verb as a possible spelling
of the jay indirective suffix, and in the position expected
for such a suffix: after the absolutive and ergative person
agreement markers and the verb stem, and before the plural
person agreement marker and the independent completive
marker. To this authors knowledge, the strongest support for
MS63 as ja remain the day count contexts.

Discussion

Fig. 4. a) IX-ja-ma for nine days. b) XIII-JAMA for (presumably) mak=tuk thirteen days, from T19-T20 on La Mojarra Stela
1. c) Detail of the Tuxtla Statuette. d) ma-X SKY for mak tzap ten
sky, from P20-P22 on La Mojarra Stela 1. e) ma-MATZA-?tza
for matza star, from R5-R6 on La Mojarra Stela 1. Drawings a)-b)
and d)-e) by the present author.

the Epi-Olmec script, and supports (i.e. is consistent with)

the proposal that MS165 is read ja, and consequently, that
MS172 is a logogram JAMA.
The authors did not stop there. They tested such values in
additional contexts, contexts that they argue confirm their
proposals. The authors note that MS63, proposed to be ma
based on the presumed spelling for day, also occurs preposed to the numeral ten in one instance, yielding MS63-X
(Fig. 4d), and to the STAR sign in two instances (Fig. 4e),
adding that the Proto-Mixe-Zoquean word for ten is mak,
on the one hand, and that the only native words for star in
Mixe-Zoquean languages descend from proto-Mixe-Zoquean
*ma:tza (proto-Zoquean *matza), on the other hand. Consequently, MS63, inferred by Justeson and Kaufman (1993)
as a likely ma syllabogram based on the context of the day
counts, can be supported with such value in other contexts
where the same value yields productive results. But what
about the proposed ja sign? Kaufman and Justeson (2004:

Ma

ja
ma

?NIGHT

ja
ma

34

ma
earlier

jama
a day

?tzu
a night(?)

jama
a day

Fig. 5. Glyphs G1-G6 on La Mojarra Stela 1. All drawings by the

present author.
mexicon

Houston and Coe (2003:153) apparently misunderstand the

assumptions by Justeson and Kaufman (1993) already cited,
stating that
The identification of the [w] syllable, for example, was
based on the supposition that it must be both a relativizer
and, in other phrase-final contexts, an independent completive suffix of the same form; the two exceptions, syllabic
spellings of [ma + w] > /maw.7/ and [pu-w] > /puw-w/,
involve different rules and the ad hoc insertion of an extra
/w/ in the second spelling [...].
First, Justeson and Kaufman (1993) did not suppose that
both the relativizer w (not w as Houston and Coe write)
and the independent completive suffix must be present. The
conclusion that they were both present was based entirely on
their grammatical analysis: after arriving at the hypothesis
that MS20 was a syllabogram w used to represent the -w
independent completive status marker, a marker of verbs,
they noted that it was also used with nouns and adjectives,
suggesting that MS20 was also used as a common suffix on
such parts of speech; given that the only such suffix in MixeZoquean grammar that could be represented with a syllabogram w was +w relativizer, they proposed that MS20
was also used to represent such relativizer, a hypothesis that
could be, and was, tested syntactically, and thus increasing
the range of contexts where MS20 as w proved productive.
Second, what Houston and Coe regard as an inconsistency,
in other words, as two apparent exceptions explained away
in an ad hoc manner, are not regarded as exceptions by
Justeson and Kaufman (1993). Those authors proposed w
to be a syllabogram, and as such, it can be used phonetically
to spell a w sequence. And more importantly, what Houston
and Coe (2003:153) label an ad hoc insertion of an extra /w/
in the spelling pu-w for /puw-w/ is not ad hoc at all, for two
reasons: the authors claim to have found a pattern exhibited
consistently by a number of spellings in which the consonants
/ j w y/ were simply not spelled pre-consonantally or syllableor word-finally, which happens to be the case in /puw-w/, as
well as in other of their proposed spellings, such as i-sa /isaj/ his wing, PAK-ku /pak-kuy/, je-tz /je-tz/ thus, like
that, su-su /suk=su/ hummingbird, po-7a /poya/ moon,
o-tu-pa /7otuw-pa/ he speaks, among others (Kaufman and
Justeson 2001:12-15). In other words, rather than being ad
hoc, this is an exceptionless and coherent pattern that has a
clear phono-graphemic basis in the widespread cross-script
practice of un(der)representing certain weak fricative or
glide consonants.
Houston and Coe (2003:154) imply that the use of a sign
to represent grammatical morphemes and phonetic sequences,
depending on context, is questionable; they imply this with
regard to the proposed w syllabogram, and later with regard
to three other syllabograms:

Vol. XXXII

Februar/April 2010

[...] thus [i] is the reading for both a syllable and sec- other contexts as well, as in N28, also on La Mojarra Stela 1.
ond-person ergative pronoun; as mentioned before, the [w] This alone does not mean MS165 must be a logogram. If it
stands for both a syllable, a relativizer, and marker of is a purely phonetic sign ja, then it should function to spell a
completive aspect [...].
phonetic sequence ja, even when the proposed ma sign is not
As already noted, Justeson and Kaufman (1993) regard
present, simply because there are likely to be plenty of other
MS20 and the other signs to be syllabograms: as such, they phonetic sequences where ja is not followed by ma. Houston
can be used to represent any CV phonetic sequences of the and Coes argument that MS165 could be logographic based
corresponding shape, the normal strategy in syllabographic
on the optionality of the postposed MS63 would only be reaand logosyllabic scripts. In other words, that MS20 could
sonable if MS165-63 and MS165 were used interchangeably
be used, allegedly, to spell -w independent completive in otherwise identical contexts. This is not the case. MS165and -w relativizer, as well as any w phonetic sequence 63 occurs in contexts where a time count (for day) is exis not a contradiction or complication. Similarly, in Mayan, pected, while MS165 by itself occurs in different contexts,
T1 u can be used to spell u- third person ergative prefix most of which are not calendrically constrained (e.g. verbal
and any u phonetic sequence, as in T1.77:501 u-ki-ba for spellings, etc.).
uk-ib(-al) cup, or T1.T563:74 u-to-ma for u[-h-]t-om-
it will/would happen.
Assumptions of Orthographic Naturalness
Also, Houston and Coes (2003) claim that the proposed
reference to a two-day sequence by means of two repeated Houston and Coe (2003:154) claim that the existence of fulspellings of ja-ma /jama/ day is unusual for Mesoamerica is, ly syllabic spellings accompanied by logographs is no longer
to put it plainly, linguistically unproblematic. This amounts
thought to characterize Maya writing, and there is little reason
to a simple case of indefinite reference: a day [...] a day, to think that such redundancy would occur in Isthmian. First,
adding to, essentially, two days, where the unknown, in- fully syllabic spellings immediately following or preceding or
tervening glyph is presumably an adverb (then), conjunc- surrounding logograms do occur in Mayan writing, not very
tion (and), adverbial conjunction (and then), or noun (a
commonly, but they exist (Mora-Marn 2004), as in IX-inight). Kaufman and Justeson (2001:71) interpret this pas- xi for ix+ female proclitic, wa-ya-WAY ~ wa-WAY-ya
sage thus: Earlier a day, a night, and a day had passed (Fig. ~ WAY-wa-ya for way shapeshifter, EM-e-mi for ehm-i
5). Interestingly, after having consistently critiqued Justeson s/he/it descended, and u-UNIW-ni-wa for uniw fourteenth
and Kaufman for allegedly imposing Mayan interpretations
month, among others. And second, the behavior of Mayan
on Epi-Olmec signs and spelling practices, Houston and Coe writing should not be held to be a strong determinant of the
(2003:154) add: Yet, it is counter-intuitive that such basic
behavior of Epi-Olmec writing. Many logosyllabic scripts
signs should only be spelled syllabically rather than as logo- do in fact exhibit, and some of them quite commonly, the
graphs, as they are in Mayan writing. Justeson and Kaufman
presence of fully syllabic spellings immediately preceding
(1993, 1992[1996], 1997) and Kaufman and Justeson (2001, or following or both preceding and following logograms.
2004) do in fact propose a logogram to spell jama day, in Hieroglyphic Luvian and Egyptian Hieroglyphic are two well
the form of MS172, a fact missed by Houston and Coe (2003). known examples. The fact that this is a very common crossAnd in any case, why did the Mayans ever spell as basic a
script phenomenon should lead one to expect its presence
lexeme as kuk quetzal with a syllabic spelling ku-ku, in other logosyllabic scripts; doing so would be the null hyinstead of only a logogram? But conceding to Houston and
pothesis. Mayan writing, with only relatively few examples
Coe (2003) that maybe MS165 could be a logogram for DAY of such spellings, is probably exceptional from a cross-script
instead of phonetic ja, and that MS63 could therefore be a
perspective, and should not be the standard by which Epi-Olphonetic complement ma (JAMA-ma, by analogy, of course, mec writing is measured in this regard.
with Mayan KIN-ni), the authors claim, for one, that the eviHouston and Coe (2003:154) state that phonetic comdence for MS63 being ma comes from the proposed two-day plements for numbers or star signs, which would seem to be
sequence, when in fact the value is supported by two other inherently obvious in their value seem to be inexplicable
contexts at least: the two cases already mentioned, in which
consequences of the proposed decipherment. Interestingly,
MS63 precedes the STAR sign, where it could function as a
Mayan scribes felt the need, on occasion, to place phonetic
phonetic complement ma to a logogram MATZA star, on
complements on numerals (e.g. X-na for LAJUN(-na) ten).
the one hand, and one case where it precedes the numeral For that matter, the Mayan sign for sky, T561 CHAN sky,
TEN, where it could function as a phonetic complement
is very often spelled with T23 na as a phonetic complement,
ma to a logogram MAK ten. The ma value for MS63 was
and the Mayan sign for day, sun, T544 KIN day, sun, is
tested and supported in additional contexts, spelling, vari- most often spelled with T116 ni as a phonetic complement.
ously (Kaufman and Justeson 2004:1101): ma for ma earlier, To a Mayan scribe the values of these two signs, among the
ma-sa for masa(n) holy (thing), god, and ta-ma for +tam
most frequent in the script, should have been quite obvious
animate pluralizer.
too.
Houston and Coe explain too that MS165, the proposed
ja, appears not to need the presence of MS63 ma in other
Coherence
contexts, suggesting that MS165 is a logogram and MS63
presumably a phonetic complement, i.e. JAMA-ma, which As for the standard of coherence, there are several domains
can be done without, i.e. JAMA. They note the presence of that are relevant. One is the orthographic domain. In this doMS165 at S11 on La Mojarra Stela 1 where it is not followed
main Kaufman and Justeson (2001, 2004) define a coherent
by MS63. As a matter of fact, it is not followed by MS63 in orthographic system, with clear, systematic principles: weak
mexicon

Vol. XXXII

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35

36

consonants /7 j w y/ are unrepresented everywhere except

to the meaning of the iconographic content of these works of
before vowels, strong consonants /p t tz k s m n/ were repre- art, as well as to the content of other works of art conveying
sented everywhere except /k p/ before /s/. These authors claim
similar depictions at Izapa, Kaminaljuyu, and elsewhere (e.g.
that all spellings in the texts abide by this principle. Another Kappelman 1997), and is therefore consistent with a contemdomain is grammatical. Nouns are possessed with a pronomi- poraneous cultural context implied by such art. In fact, given
nal prefix that coincides in form with the ergative pronomi- the cumulative nature of supported, interlocking hypotheses,
nal prefix coreferencing the same grammatical person. The
from the orthographic to the grammatical to the contextual,
same suffix used to mark independent completive transitives
it seems clear that the decipherment work on Epi-Olmec by
is used to mark independent completive intransitives; Mayan John Justeson and Terrence Kaufman is proceeding with high
texts differ in this regard, since the suffix of indicative or scientific standards.
completive transitives, -V1w, differs markedly from the suffix
of indicative or completive intransitives, -i(y). The same sufConclusions
fix used to mark independent completive is used to relativize
nouns and adjectives. Mayan texts also differ in this regard, This has been a limited response to Houston and Coes (2004)
since the indicative or completive markers, whether of tran- criticism of Justeson and Kaufman (1993, 1996, 1997) and
sitives or intransitives, differ from the relativizer marker, -aj, Kaufman and Justeson (2001, 2004). It focused on some key
the latter recently identified by Houston et al. (2001). Absolu- methodological and theoretical points that in my opinion
tive markers on nominal predicates appear as prefixes to the Houston and Coe (2003) did not address adequately. My
noun, whereas in Mayan texts, the few examples of absolu- goal has not been to prove that Epi-Olmec writing has been
tive markers so far identified appear as suffixes to the noun, deciphered. David Kelley (1993:29) stated, in such regard:
in agreement with the pattern of Lowland Mayan languages. I, for one, will be much surprised if the number of correct
Also, Justeson and Kaufman (1993), as well as Kaufman and
readings is not substantially higher than is usual in primary
Justeson (2004) report that Epi-Olmec texts exhibit a basic
decipherments. My impression is that however correct the
SOV sentence word order. This is very different from, and in most precise and narrow readings and interpretations of pasfact, the exact opposite of, Mayan texts, with their basic VOS
sages of Epi-Olmec texts may turn out to be, John Justeson
sentence word order (Schele 1986; Bricker 1986). Finally, and Terrence Kaufman have succeeded in demonstrating that
Justeson and Kaufman (1997) use the term coherence to
the script can be regarded as a Mixe-Zoquean language, i.e.
refer to how the content of the side text on La Mojarra Stela 1 the orthographic and grammatical patterns that account for
refers to that of the front of the monument. In arguing against
the use of the most frequent and contextually constrained
coherence, Houston and Coe (2003) failed to notice these
sings clearly point to Mixe-Zoquean as the grammar of the
proposals by Justeson and Kaufman, and in fact, misinter- texts. Future publications by these authors will likely succeed
preted their usage, since Houston and Coe use it to refer to
in clarifying the details of their proposal.
sense (of individual words, sentences, paragraphs), not to
Endnotes
whether one portion of a text (consisting of more than one
sentence) relates to another in a coherent manner. Moreover, 1. Here it is important to note that the phonetic sequence w? would be
expected to be rare elsewhere in Epi-Olmec texts, that is, other than
and despite their criticism of those authors for letting their unat the end of words, because it is in fact rare elsewhere in the spoken
derstanding of Mayan writing influence their view of Epi-Ollanguages (Justeson, personal communication 2005).
mec, Houston and Coe (2003:154) themselves readily judge 2. Additionally, Kaufman and Justeson (2001:28) note that the sign for
the numeral TWO depicting two dots was on occasion used as an althe discourse-pragmatic structure derived from Kaufman and
logram of w, a pattern they explain on the basis of the Zoquean term
Justesons (2001) proposed parsings and translations on the
for
two, *wstk, which begins with the phonetic sequence w, and
basis of what they know of Mayan texts:
therefore
could have served as an acrophonic source for a syllabogram
Maya writing in the Late Classic begins to record some
w
.
Ayala
(1983:197) and Mluzin (1987:69) had previously suggested,

of these nuances, but not such a full set and never in such a
based on the evidence from the Tuxtla Statuette alone, that MS20 was
limited corpus of texts (e.g. Houston and Stuart 1993). The
a clause-ending sign, an analysis tested, supported, and accounted for
suggestion that these phrasings abound on La Mojarra Stela
by Justeson and Kaufman (1993) in their work.
1 would necessitate an entirely different conception of public
inscriptions in Mesoamerica.
References
Houston and Coe (2003:155) instead have relied on the
translations of the texts provided by Kaufman and Justeson Ayala, Maricela
(2001), which they have claimed were essentially nonsensi- 1983 Origen de la escritura jeroglfica maya. In: Antropologa
e historia de los mixe-zoques y mayas (Homenaje a Frans
cal and contributed little or nothing to cultural knowledge
Blom), edited by Lorenzo Ochoa and Thomas A. Lee Jr.,
about the Epi-Olmecs. For one, such assessment ignores
pp. 175221. Coyoacn, Mxico: Centro de Estudios Mayas,
the fact that Kaufman and Justeson (2001) included in their
UNAM.
parsings and translations guesses or iconically descriptive
Houston, Stephen D., and Michael D. Coe
labels of what certain signs might mean or depict, which do
sound odd when read as if they were the term intended by 2003 Has Isthmian Writing Been Deciphered? Mexicon XXV:
151161.
the scribe. Mayan epigraphers do this quite regularly too
substitute nicknames for signs in their parsings and transla- Guernsey Kappelman, Julia
tions when the signs in question are undeciphered. Also, in 1997 Of Macaws and Men: Late Preclassic Cosmology and Politithis authors opinion, the interpretation of the content of La
cal Ideology in Izapan-Style Monuments. Ph.D. dissertation,
University of Texas at Austin.
Mojarra Stela 1 and the Tuxtla Statuette has revealed clues
mexicon

Vol. XXXII

Februar/April 2010

Justeson, John S., and Terrence Kaufman. (1993, 1996, 1997)

1992[1996] Un descriframiento de la escritura jeroglfica epi-olmeca. Arqueologa 8: 1526.
1993 A Decipherment of Epi-Olmec Hieroglyphic Writing. Science 259: 17031711.
1997 A Newly Discovered Column in the Hieroglyphic Text on
La Mojarra Stela 1: A Test of the Epi-Olmec Decipherment.
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Kaufman, Terrence, and John S. Justeson
2001 Epi-Olmec Hieroglyphic Writing and Texts. Austin: Texas
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2004 Epi-Olmec. In: The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the Worlds
Ancient Languages, edited by Roger D. Woodard, pp. 1071
1108. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Kelley, David H.
1993 Epigraphy: The Decipherment of the Epi-Olmec Script as
Zoquean by Justeson and Kaufman. The Review of Anthropology 14: 2932.
Mluzin, Sylvia
1987 The Tuxtla Statuette: An Internal Analysis of Its Writing
System. In: The Periphery of the Southeastern Classic Maya
Realm, edited by Gareth W. Pahl, pp. 67113. UCLA Latin
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Recent Publications
Books
Altemller, Fabian
2009 Schlsselszenen der Eroberung Mexikos - Ein Vergleich
der Schriften von Corts, Daz del Castillo und Sahagn.
Grin Verlag. Mnchen, Deutschland. 80 S., ISBN 9783640284368.
Alvarado Sols, Neyra Patricia
2008 El laberinto de la f: peregrinaciones en el desierto mexicano. El Colegio de San Lus. San Lus Potos, Mxico. 159
pp., ISBN 978-6077601005.
Anders, Ferdinand
2009 Von Schnbrunn und Miramar nach Mexiko: Leben und
Wirken des Erzherzog-Kaisers Ferdinand Maximilian. Adeva, No. 2. ber 300 SW- und Farbabbildungen, 320 pp.,
ISBN 978-3-201-01899-9.
Argueta Villamar, Arturo
2008 Los saberes Purhpecha: los animales y el dilogo con
la naturaleza. Universidad Michoacana de San Nicols de
Hidalgo, Instituto de Investigaciones Histricas. Morelia,
Michoacn. 240 pp., ISBN 978-9689172109.
Argyriadis, Kali et al. (eds.)
2008 Races en movimiento: prcticas religiosas tradicionales
en contextos translocales. El Colegio de Jalisco; Instituto
Tecnolgico y de Estudios Superiores de Occidente; Institut de Recherche pour le Dveloppement; Centre dtudes
Mexicaines et Centreamricaines; Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropologa Social. Zapopan,
Jalisco; Tlaquepaque, Jalisco y Mxico D.F., Mxico. 411
pp., ISBN 978-9685891127.
2008 Arquitectura I: catlogo comentado de impresos novohispanos de la biblioteca palafoxiana. Apoyo al Desarrollo de
Archivos y Bibliotecas de Mxico. Mxico, D.F., Mxico.
85 pp., ISBN 978-9689068525.

RESUMEN: El presente es una crtica limitada de Houston y Coe (2003), resaltando el dictamen que dichos autores realizan sobre el marco terico y
metodolgico del desciframiento de la escritura epi-olmeca por Justeson y
Kaufman (1992, 1993, 1997) y Kaufman y Justeson (2001), pero no sobre
su intento de evaluar tal modelo mediante el anlisis de la mscara de estilo
teotihuacano inscrita con un texto epi-olmeca. Se demuestra que el desciframiento propuesto por John Justeson y Terrence Kaufman s exhibe evidencia de una metodologa cientfica que permite la acumulacin de resultados
positivos basados en hiptesis correctas, por un lado, y el desechamiento de
los negativos basados en hiptesis incorrectas. Tambin, y al contrario de
lo afirmado por Houston y Coe (2003), se demuestra que el desciframiento
por John Justeson y Terrence Kaufman s toma en cuenta el contexto cultural de la sociedad epi-olmeca, al igual que los controles semnticos que
resultan por la evidencia calendrica e iconogrfica asociada a los textos
epi-olmecas conocidos.

Aveni, Anthony
2009 The End of Time: The Maya Mystery of 2012. University
Press of Colorado. Boulder, Colorado. 200 pp. + 21 ills.,
ISBN-10: 0870819615, ISBN-13: 978-0870819612.

ZUSAMMENFASSUNG: Der Beitrag bietet eine begrenzte Kritik von Houston

und Coe (Mexicon 2003), wobei der Schwerpunkt auf ihrer Bewertung des
theoretischen und methodologischen Rahmens fr die Entzifferung der epiolmekischen Schrift durch Justeson und Kaufman (1992, 1993, 1997) sowie
Kaufman und Justeson (2001) liegt, statt auf ihrem Versuch, die JustesonKaufman-Thesen in bezug auf die beschriftete Maske im Teotihuacan-Stil zu
testen. Es wird demonstriert, da die vorgeschlagene Entzifferung Hinweise
auf Anwendung von trial-and-error-Methodologie enthlt. Entgegen den
Aussagen von Houston und Coe (2003) wird gezeigt, da die vorgeschlagene
Entzifferung den kulturellen Kontext der epi-olmekischen Gesellschaft wie
auch eine Anzahl semantischer Restriktionen bercksichtigt, die sich aus
kalendrischen und ikonographischen Daten ergeben.

Bernal Romero, Guillermo

2009 El tablero de Kan Tok: una inscripcin glfica maya del
Grupo XVI de Palenque, Chiapas. Serie testimonos y materiales arqueolgicos para el estudio de la cultura maya 2.
Instituto de Investigaciones Filolgicas para el estudio de la
Cultura Maya, Universidad Nacional Autnoma de Mxico,
Mxico, D.F., Mxico. 178 pp., ISBN 978-607-02-0643-6.

Beaux, Nathalie, Bernard Potter et Nicolas Grimal (eds.)

2008 Image et conception du monde dans les critures figuratives. Actes du colloque Collge de France-Acadmie
des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres. AIBL. Editions Soleb.
Paris, France. 1000 photos et ills., 480 pp., ISBN 978-29523726-8-3.
Benavides C., Antonio
2009 Figurillas de Jaina. Instituto Nacional de Antropologa e
Historia. Mxico, D.F., Mxico. 12 pp., 19 color photos.

Beuchot, Mauricio
2008 Cartografa del pensamiento novohispano. Novohispania
4. Los Libros de Homero. Mxico, D.F., Mxico. 153 pp.,
ISBN 978-1300682004.

37
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Blum, Brunhild E.
2009 Mythos im Historismus: Zum Verstndnis von Raum und
Zeit bei Eduard Stucken. Guthmann-Peterson. Mlheim,
Deutschland. 342 S., ISBN 978-3900782191.
Bohrquez Molina, Jos Gerardo
2008 Cuatlicue Sanjuanita: la peregrinacin a San Juan de
los Lagos. Un rito solidario de retorno a Aztln. Editorial Universitaria. Guadalajara, Jalisco. 173 pp., ISBN 9786074500073.
2008 Botnica: catlogo comentado de impresos novohispanos
de la biblioteca palafoxiana. Apoyo al Desarrollo de Archivos y Bibliotecas de Mxico. Mxico, D.F., Mxico. 86
pp., ISBN 978-607-4160826.
Buxbaum, Birgit
2009 Die Klapperschlange in der mexikanischen Medizin: Eine
ethnomedizinische Studie am Marcado Sonora in Mexico
City. Sdwestdeutscher Verlag fr Hochschulschriften. Saarbrcken, Deutschland. 224 S., ISBN 978-3838105239.

2010 .
Riva Publishers. Sofia, Bulgaria. 366 ills, 86 drawings,
266 pp., ISBN 9789543202294 (Bulgarian translation of
Martin and Grube 2008 Chronicle of the Maya Kings and
Queens).
Caplan, Karen D.
2009 Indigenous Citizens: Local Liberalism in Early National
Oaxaca and Yucatan. Stanford University Press. Palo Alto,
California, USA. 304 pp., ISBN 978-0804757645.
Cecil, Leslie, and Timothy Pugh (eds.)
2009 Maya Worldviews at Conquest. The University Press of
Colorado. Boulder, Colorado, USA. 426 pp., ISBN-10:
0870819453, ISBN-13: 978-0870819452.
Chuc Uc, Cessia Esther
2008 Tsayatsil: el don de la reciprocidad entre los mayas
contemporneos. Universidad Autnoma de Campeche.
Campeche, Mxico. 175 pp., ISBN 978-968-5722-76-6.
del Valle Escalante, Emilio
2008 Nacionalismos mayas y desafos postcoloniales. FLACSO.
Guatemala. 240 pp., ISBN 978-99939-72-64-8.
Durn-Merk, Alma
2099 Villa Carlota: colonias alemanas en Yucatn. Compaa
Editorial de la Pennsula; Instituto de Cultura de Yucatn;
CONACULTA. Mrida, Yucatn, Mxico. 302 pp., ISBN
978-6077524022.
Fbregas Puig, Andrs, Mario Alberto Njera Espinoza y Claudio
Esteva Fabregat (eds.)
2008 Continuidad y fragmentacin de la Gran Chichimeca.
Seminario Permanente de Estudios de la Gran Chichimeca.
Universidad de Guadalajara. El Colegio de Jalisco. Guadalajara y Zapopan, Jalisco, Mxico. 241 pp., ISBN 9786070005121.

38

Fbregas Puig, Andrs, Mario Alberto Njera Espinoza y Jos

Francisco Romn Gutirrez (eds.)
2008 Regiones y esencias: estudios sobre la Gran Chichimeca.
Seminario Permanente de Estudios de la Gran Chichimeca;
El Colegio de Jalisco; Universidad de Guadalajara; Universidad Autnoma de Aguascalientes; Universidad Autnoma
de Zacatecas; Universidad Autnoma de Coahuila; Universidad Intercultural de Chiapas; El Colegio de San Lus;
Colegio de Michoacn Guadalajara y Zapopn, Jalisco;
Aguascalientes, Zacatecas y San Luis Potos, Mxico;
mexicon

Saltillo, Coahuila; San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas;

Zamora, Michoacn. 246 pp., ISBN 978-6070005107.
Gonzlez Aragn, Jorge
2008 Corpus urbanstico de Michoacn en los archivos espaoles.
Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes; Instituto Nacional de Antropologa e Historia, Universidad Autnoma
Mxico, D.F. y Morelia, Michoacn: Metropolitana;
Embajada de Espaa en Mxico; Gobierno del Estado de
Michoacn. 109 pp., ISBN 978-968-03-0295-6.
Gonzlez Ortiz, Felipe
2008 Un pueblo que camina: peregrinacin con el seor del
cerrito de Tepexan. Universidad Intercultural del Estado de
Mxico. San Felipe del Progreso y Mxico D.F., Mxico.
157 pp., ISBN 978-9707228221.
Graa-Behrens, Daniel (ed.)
2009 Die Maya-Inschriften aus Nordwestyukatan, Mexico:
Kalenderangaben, Chronologie und kulturgeschichtliche
Interpretation. 2 Bnde. Verlag fr Hochschulschriften.
Saarbrcken, Deutschland. ISBN 978-3-8381-07165.
2009 Das kulturelle Gedchtnis Mesoamerikas im Kulturvergleich zum Alten China: Rituale im Spiegel von Schrift und
Mndlichkeit. Gebrder Mann Verlag. Berlin, Germany.
250 pp., ISBN 978-3-7861-2600-3.
Herrera Zendejas, Esther
2009 Formas Sonoras: mapa fonico de las lenguas mexicanas.
El Colegio de Mxico AC. Mxico, D. F., Mxico. 249 pp.,
ISBN 978-6074-62025-2.
Houston, Stephen (et al.)
2009 Veiled Brightness: A History of Ancient Maya Color. University of Texas Press. Austin, Texas, USA. 162 pp., ISBN
978-0-292-71900-2.
Houston, Stephen, and Karl Taube
2008 Meaning in Early Maya Imagery. In: Taylor, Paul (ed.): Iconography without Texts, pp. 127-144. The Warburg Institute.
London, UK. ISBN 978-0- 8548-1143-4.
Khler, Ulrich
2009 Vasallen des linkshndigen Kriegers im Kolibrigewand:
ber Weltbild, Religion und Staat der Azteken. Ethnologische Studien. Vol. 39. Lit Verlag. Berlin, Germany. 46
illustrations, 296 pp., ISBN 978-3-8258-1638-4.
Laaha, Sabine, and Steven Gillis (eds.)
2007 Typological Perspectives on the Acquisition of Noun and
Verb Morphology. Antwerp Papers in Linguistics, Vol. 111.
University of Antwerp. Antwerp. ISSN 0776-3859
(Contents: Part I: Early Development of Nominal and Verbal
Morphology from a Typological Perspective: Dressler, Wolfgang U.: Introduction, pp. 310; Xanthos, Aris, and Sabine
Laaha: Method, pp. 1120; Laaha, Sabine, Steven Gillis, Marianne Kilani-Schoch, Katharina Korecky-Krll, Aris Xanthos,
and Wolfgang U. Dressler: Weakly Inflecting Languages,
pp. 2134; Stephany, Ursula, Maria D. Voeikova, Anastasia
Christofidou, Natalia Gagarina, Melita Kovacevic, Marijan
Palmovic, and Gordana Hrzica: Strongly Inflecting Languages:
Russian, Croatian, and Greek, pp. 3546; Aksu-Ko, Ayhan,
F.Nihan Ketrez, Klaus Laalo, and Barbara Pfeiler: Agglutinating Languages: Turkish, Finnish, and Yucatec Maya, pp. 4759;
Xanthos, Aris: General Results, pp. 5966; Dressler, Wolfgang
U., Ursula Stephany, Ayhan Aksu-Koc, and Steven Gillis: Discussion and Conclusion, pp. 6772; Laaha, Sabine: Bibliography, pp. 7380; Part 2: Acquisition of Diminutives: Savickien,
Ineta, Wolfgang U. Dressler, Virg Barcza, Pter Bodor, Nihan
Ketrez, Katharina Korecky-Krll, Marijan Palmovi, Ursula

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Stephany, and Evangelia Thomadaki: Diminutives as Pioneers

of Derivational and Inflectional Development: A Cross-linguistic Perspective, pp. 8192).
Laporte, Juan Pedro, Brbara Arroyo y Hctor E. Meja (eds.)
2009 XXII Simposio de Investigaciones Arqueolgicas en Guatemala, 2008. Museo Nacional de Arqueologa y Etnologa,
Guatemala. 2 Volumes, 1394 pp., maps, tabs, ills.
(Contents: Yvonne Putzeys, Eddy Joaqun, Sheila Flores Menda
y Julio Ajn: Excavaciones en el antiguo mercado de San Pedro
Sacatepquez, Guatemala: resultados preliminares, pp. 112;
Juan Carlos Ramrez: El sistema hidrulico en Santiago, capital
del Reino de Guatemala, 1543-1773: un estudio histricoarqueolgico, pp. 1330; Vctor Sandoval: Restauracin del
Presbiterio de Santa Cruz Verapaz, pp. 3138; Bertila Bailey
Vargas y Sheila Flores Menda: Nuevas excavaciones en el exconvento de Santo Domingo de Guzmn, Antigua Guatemala:
un vistazo reciente a nuestra historia, pp. 3946; Ana Betzab
Cruz: Historia y arqueologa del antiguo convento de Santa
Teresa de Antigua Guatemala, pp. 4756; Marlen Garnica, Zoila
Rodrguez Girn y Jorge E. Cceres: Investigaciones
arqueolgicas en el Real Palacio de la Ciudad de Santiago,
Antigua Guatemala, pp. 5766; Claudia Wolley: Prospeccin
arqueolgica puntual en la Antigua Ermita de Nuestra Seora
de los Dolores del Llano, Antigua Guatemala, pp. 6776; Jorge
E. Chocn y Lilian A. Corzo: Echndole lodo a la historia:
intervencin en la Iglesia de Nuestra Seora de los Dolores,
Petn, pp. 7796; Zoila Rodrguez Girn: La Ermita del Soldado,
San Juan Chamelco, Alta Verapaz, pp. 97112; Julio Snchez
Montfar: A mayor y mejor conservacin, menor restauracin:
criterios de conservacin integral aplicados al patrimonio
cultural y natural de Guatemala, pp. 113126; Jos Heriberto
Erquicia: Resultados de la primera fase del proyecto de
reconocimiento y registro de sitios arqueolgicos histricos de
El Salvador (PAHES-UTEC), pp. 127144; Claudia Vela
Gonzlez: Evaluacin de la enseanza de la arqueologa en
centros educativos guatemaltecos, pp. 145158; Omar Schwendener: La arqueoestereografa: un ensayo terico metodolgico,
pp. 159166; Ana Beatriz Cosenza y Erick Reyes Andrade:
Caracterizacin del suelo y modelado de estructuras en mapas
de resistividad en sitios arqueolgicos, pp. 167178; Ricardo
Perell Roso, Gaspar Muoz Cosme y Marina Sender Contell:
La observacin de las ruinas Mayas y su anlisis patolgico
como indicadores de su comportamiento estructural y constructivo, pp. 179188; Cristina Vidal Lorenzo, Mara Luisa Vsquez
de gredos, Patricia Horcajada Campos y Marco Antonio Valladares: Patrimonio arqueolgico y conservacin: los talleres
de sensibilizacin y las actividades educativas en patrimonio
cultural, pp. 189198; Anabella Coronado-Ruiz: La narrativa
histrica de los sitios Mayas restaurados: implicaciones sociales de la arqueologa y la conservacin arquitectnica, pp.
199-206; Rosa Maria Chan: Anlisis de la situacin del patrimonio cultural en la reserva de la Biosfera Maya, Petn, pp.
207216; Claudia Monzn y Jenny Guerra Ruiz: Tras la reja
del Museo, pp. 217222; Laura Beovide: Transformaciones
productivas y dinmica costera: ms all del concepto de cazadores-recolectores prehispnicos, pp. 223236; Mario M.
Aliphat: Huertos y cacaotales Mayas: un anlisis agroecosistmico, pp. 237244; Laura Caso Barrera: Huertos Qeqchi:
comprobacin actual de un agroecosistema de cultivo prehispnico, pp. 245254; Horacio Martnez: La metamorfosis de
una comunidad Achi: el caso de Ro Negro-Pacux, pp. 255266;
Daniel Jurez Cosso: El proyecto Yaxchilan y las alternativas
de conservacin en la dcada de 1970, pp. 267276; Thomas
Roby, Hctor Eliud Guerra y Jos Rufino Mimbreo: Haciendo
el caso de la conservacin in situ de la Escalinata Jeroglfica
en Copan: evaluacin y monitoreo interdisciplinario de las
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condiciones en un cierto plazo como base para el planeamiento

de la intervencin, pp. 277286; Rudy Larios Villalta: Reto
incomparable de conservacin: Tikal, pp. 287296; Carolina
Castellanos y Franoise Descamps: Puesta en marcha de un
modelo de planificacin para el manejo de sitios patrimoniales:
el caso de Joya de Cern, El Salvador, pp. 297308; Anabel
Ford y Megan Havrda: Arqueologa bajo el dosel de la selva
Maya, pp. 309320; Jos Francisco Castaeda, Seiichi Nakamura y Otto Ortega Morales: Aportes al estudio del bio-deterioro
en la Acrpolis del Norte, Tikal, pp. 321328; Luis Alberto
Romero: Salvando Piedras Negras, pp. 329340; Daniel E.
Aquino, Varinia Matute, Walda Rene Salazar, Adriana L. Segura y Giovanni Virgilio Flores: El misterio del manto verde:
identificando la cobertura vegetal de la arquitectura prehispnica, pp. 341356; Rudy Larios Villalta: Tneles de saqueo:
herramientas de investigacin y conservacin, pp. 357366;
Gaspar Muoz Cosme, Cristina Vidal Lorenzo y Ricardo Perell Roso: Sistemas constructivos y estereotoma en el Palacio
de Oriente de La Blanca, Petn, pp. 367374; Liwy Grazioso
Sierra y Daniel Jurez Cosso: Programa de intervencin de las
Tumbas 1 y 19 de Ro Azul, primera etapa: limpieza y estabilizacin, pp. 375386; Daniel E. Aquino y Karla Cardona Caravantes: La gestin del patrimonio cultural prehispnico: labores
de conservacin preventiva en Yaxha y Topoxte, pp. 387398;
Lorena Paz Aragn, Luis Mndez Salinas, Diana Mndez y
Brbara Arroyo: Hallazgos recientes en Naranjo, departamento
de Guatemala, pp. 399408; Christa Schieber de Lavarreda y
Miguel Orrego Corzo: El descubrimiento del Altar 48 de
Takalik Abaj, pp. 409424; Marion Popenoe de Hatch: El
amanecer reemplaza a las estrellas, pp. 425438; Kanako Nishimatsu, Sakiko Namigata, Nobuyuki Ito y Shione Shibata: El
conchero en la punta de Chiquirn, La Unin, El Salvador, pp.
439454; Akira Ichikawa, Shione Shibata y Masakage Murano:
El Preclsico Tardo en Chalchuapa: resultados de las investigaciones de la Estructura 5 en el Parque Arqueolgico Casa
Blanca, pp. 455468; Adriana Linares Palma: La cermica encontrada en el Lago Atitln, pp. 469478; Guillermo Mata
Amado: Piezas singulares recuperadas del fondo del Lago de
Amatitln, frente a las playas del sitio arqueolgico Mexicanos,
pp. 479498; Bruce R. Bachand, Lynneth S. Lowe y Emiliano
Gallaga Murrieta: Un reencuentro con Chiapa de Corzo: rescatando y aumentando los datos de un centro mayor Mesoamericano, pp. 499514; Akira Kaneko: Investigacin arqueolgica
en la regin Tonal de la Costa del Pacfico de Chiapas, pp.
515532; Christopher Martnez: El estilo escultrico de los
monumentos de Jalapa, pp. 533546; Jos Heriberto Esquicia:
Santa Marcelina: una extensin del sitio Las Victorias en la
zona arqueolgica de Chalchuapa, El Salvador, pp. 547554;
Eddy Joaqun: El patrn funerario en Pexla Grande, Santa
Mara Nebaj, Quich, pp. 555566; Shione Shibata y Akira
Ichikawa: Investigacin arqueolgica en Nueva Esperanza,
Bajo Lempa, El Salvador, pp. 567578; Jeanette Castellanos,
Rodrigo Guzmn, Toms Barrientos, Ernesto Arredondo y
Carlos Alvarado: Proyecto Arqueolgico El Soch: investigaciones en la frontera nororiental del estado Postclsico Kiche,
pp. 579592; Takeshi Inomata, Daniela Triadan, Otto Romn,
Estela Pinto, Jessica Munson y Kenichiro Tsukamoto: Cambios
sociales durante los periodos Preclsico y Clsico en Ceibal:
los resultados del Proyecto Arqueolgico Ceibal-Petexbatun,
pp. 593602; Cristina Vidal Lorenzo, Gaspar Muoz Cosme,
Juan Antonio Valds, Ricardo Torres Manzo y Patricia Horcajada Campos: Investigaciones arqueolgicas en La Blanca,
Petn: temporada de campo 2007, pp. 603618; Stephen Houston, Ernesto Arredondo Leiva, Juan Carlos Melndez, Zachary
Nelson, James Doyle, Alejandro Gillot, Varinia Matute, Cassandra Mesick, Fabiola Quiroa, Caitlin Walker, Zachary Hruby y
Februar/April 2010

39

40

Thomas Garrison: Al cielo quebrado: investigaciones en El Zotz,

2008, pp. 619628; Zachary Hruby, Griselda Prez Robles,
Alejandro Gillot y Melanie Kingsley: Comercio, intercambio de
bienes y la Costa del Caribe, pp. 629636; Ramzy R. Barrois y
Juan Manuel Palomo: Proyecto Arqueolgico La Rejoya, Petn:
resultados de la Temporada 2008, pp. 637654; Arthur Demarest, Horacio Martnez, Marc Wolf, Paola Torres, Waleska
Belches, Chloe Andrieu, Luis Fernando Luin, Matt OMansky
y Claudia Quintanilla: Economa interna, relaciones internacionales de Cancuen y de sitios de su reinado, pp. 655674; Andrew Scherer, Charles Golden, Rosaura Vsquez, Ana Luca
Arroyave, Betsy Marzahn-Ramos, Selket Callejas y Melanie
Kingsley: A los lmites: la temporada de campo 2008 en el
Parque Nacional Sierra del Lacandn, pp. 675686; Marcello
A. Canuto y Toms Barrientos: Proyecto Arqueolgico Regional
La Corona: objetivos generales y resultados preliminares de las
investigaciones en el Sitio Q, pp. 687708; William Saturno y
Mnica Urquiz: Resultados de las investigaciones arqueolgicas de la sptima temporada de campo: Proyecto Arqueolgico
Regional San Bartolo, pp. 709724; Wieslaw Koszkul, Jaroslaw
Zralka, Bernard Hermes y Jari Lpez: Proyecto Arqueolgico
Nakum: resultados de la temporada 2008, pp. 725738; Ciprian
F. Ardelean: Investigaciones recientes en la arqueologa de la
Cuenca Media del Ro Candelaria, Campeche, Mxico: un
acercamiento al colapso, pp. 739754; Agustn Anaya Cancino, Heber Ojeda Mas, David Salazar Aguilar, Adriana Snchez Lpez y Vicente Surez Aguilar: Caractersticas de los
sitios costeros perifricos de Champoton, Campeche, pp. 755
772; Begoa Carrascosa Moliner y Montserrat Lastras Prez:
Tratamientos de extraccin in situ de materiales seos Mayas,
pp. 773782; Kitty F. Emery, Linda Brown, Elyse Anderson,
Erin Kennedy Thornton y Michelle LeFebvre: Etnozoologa de
depsitos rituales de los Mayas modernos e implicaciones para
la interpretacin de la dieta y del ritual de los antiguos Mayas,
pp. 783790; Shintaro Suzuki, Andrea Cucina, Vera Tiesler y
Thelma Sierra Sosa: Morir en Xcambo: evaluacin de la mortalidad en un sitio costero Maya del Clsico a partir del anlisis histomorfolgico, pp. 791802; Megan Pitcavage y Geoffrey
E. Braswell: Entierros mltiples en el reino del Aguacate: evidencia indirecta del sacrificio humano durante el periodo
Clsico Tardo y Terminal, pp. 803810; Christopher Gtz:
Venados para todos!: diferencias socioeconmicas en el uso de
animales vertebrados en las Tierras Bajas Mayas del Norte, pp.
811826; Elisa Mencos: Los artefactos de cobre del Museo
Popol Vuh, pp. 827838; Mara Elena Ruiz Aguilar: Bancos,
taburetes u objetos de molienda?, pp. 839858; Molly Morgan,
Brigitte Kovacevich, Hctor Neff, Oswaldo Chinchilla, Rafael
Castillo y Judith Valle: El uso de LA-ICP-MS en microdesechos
de obsidiana: Estudio de los casos de Chiquiuitan y El Bal, pp.
859872; Luis Mndez Salinas, Edgar Carpio Rezzio y Frederick J. Bove: La ocupacin Nahua-Pipil en la porcin central
de Escuintla: una aproximacin a partir de la evidencia ltica,
pp. 873886; Kazuo Aoyama: El estudio de artefactos lticos y
la organizacin socioeconmica de los estados Clsicos Mayas,
pp. 887898; Vctor Castillo Aguilar, Hctor Neff, Ronald L.
Bishop, Erin I. Sears y M. James Blackman: Mujeres y contrahechos: las figurillas moldeadas de la Costa Sur de Guatemala,
pp. 899912; Adriana Linares Palma: Animales en espacios
ceremoniales: estudio de figurillas zoomorfas en Naranjo, Guatemala, pp. 913934; Jos Luis Garrido: Reconociendo Nueve
Cerros: instrumentos sonoros procedentes del rea, pp. 935
948; Juan Pedro Laporte: El embrujo del tecolote y otras historietas: algunas consideraciones sobre los silbatos del Clsico
de Tikal, pp. 949962; Miriam Judith Gallegos: Manufactura,
iconografa y distribucin de las figurillas de Comalcalco, Tabasco, pp. 963974; Margarita Cossich Vielman: Haciendo hilo,
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creando historia: anlisis de los malacates de la Costa Sur y del

Sureste de Petn, pp. 975990; Masakage Murano, Hiroto Fukuda y Kenji Kanegae: Estudio y resurgimiento de la cermica con
decoracin negativa de estilo Usulutn, pp. 9911000; Sonia
Medrano Busto: Las tortilleras de Escuintla, pp. 10011006;
Raquel Macario y Walter Burgos: Avances del estudio cermico
y ltico de Qumarkaj: proyecto etnoarqueolgico Qumarkaj,
pp. 10071016; Mlanie Forn, Arthur Demarest, Horacio
Martnez, Paola Torres, Silvia Alvarado y Claudia Arriaza: Intercambio y afiliacin cultural en Cancuen: la complejidad
cultural en las vsperas del Colapso, pp. 10171036; Alejandro
Patio: Produccin de cermica durante el Clsico Temprano:
perspectiva desde Naachtun, Petn, pp. 10371048; Griselda
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indigenous Mesoamerican folk taxonomies; Brown, Cecil H.:
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Benz, Bruce F., and John E. Staller: The antiquity, biogeography,
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Valle, Ivonne del
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ANTHROPOLOGIAL LINGUISTICS
University of Nebraska Press. P.O. Box 84555, Lincoln, NE 685014555, USA, ISSN 0003-5483.
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Knowlton,Timothy, and Berry College: Dynamics of Indigenous
Language Ideologies in the Colonial Redaction of a Yucatec Maya
Cosmological Text, pp. 90113
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Mayan Myth, pp. 308-387; Stross, Brian: Eight Reinterpretations of
Submerged Symbolism in the Mayan Popol Wuj, pp. 388423
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Hetty Jo Brumbach: Fun with Dick and Jane: Ethnoarchaeology,
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Dance in the Context of Contemporary Mexican Transnationalism,
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Castro Soto, Gustavo: El agua y los rios amenazados en Mxico: los

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Arnold III, Philip J.: Settlement and Subsistence Among the Early
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una revisin del debate de las propuestas para su aplicacin prctica, pp. 7199; Prez Ruz, Maya Lorena: El movimiento indgena
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SYMBOLS
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Hernndez Cendejas, Gerardo Alberto: Una ideologa emergente: el

liderazgo y la ideologa comunal de Elpidio Domnguez Castro en
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Spring 2008

Snchez Daz, Gerardo: Los manuscritos y las ediciones de la

Relacin de Michoacn: su impacto historiogrfico, pp. 1150;
Medrano de Luna, Gabriel: Entre la sierra y el mar: algunas artesanas de la costa nahua de Michoacn, pp. 135160

Cezeaux, Catherine: Hun, ka, ox, lift: A Behind the Scenes Look at
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Asociacin Tikal. Edificio Galeras Reforma, Oficina 322, Avenida
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No. 82, MayAugust 2008

Arellano, Alfonso: Tula: Myth and History, pp. 73-79; Montiel,
Elsie: Snapshots from Hidalgo, pp. 8086
YAXKIN
Revista del Instituto Hondureo de Antropologa e Historia; Villa
Roy, Barrio Buenos Aires, Tegucigalpa, Honduras. ISSN 02547627.
Vol. 23, No.1, Ao 32, 2007
Cruz Castello, Oscar Neil: La Cultura Chorotega en el departamento de Valle, Honduras, Golfo de Fonseca: posibles evidencias de
su cultura material, pp. 5566; Rodrgues Mota, Francisco Manuel:
Anlisis de representacin de petroglifos antropomorfos de la cueva
pintada de Ayasta, Francisco Morazn, Honduras, pp. 6785

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Martnez Donado, Christopher: Descripcin de algunos sitios del

Departamento de Jalapa, Altos Orientales, pp. 110; Laporte, Juan
Pedro: Humo, humareda, humazn: anlisis regional de los fragmentos de incensarios de una amplia zona del Petn, pp. 1136;
Mata Amado, Guillermo: Notas y Noticias, pp. 3740

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No. 78, January-March 2007

Pedro Gutirrez, Luis: The Potos Regional Museum, pp. 8387
No. 79, May-August 2007
Degollado Brito, Mauricio: Traditional Dress in Michoacn: In the
Face of Modernit, pp. 8186; Montiel, Elsie: The Craft Market: A
Glimpse of the Essence of Michoacn, pp. 8793; Gaspar Ortega,
Kuricaveri: La Huatapera: The Museum of the Four Indigenous
peoples, pp. 100104
No. 80, September-December 2007
Staines Cicero, Leticia: Mayan Architectural Styles in Campeche,
pp. 7178; Gurri Garca, Francisco D.: Agriculture in Calakmul:
Resiliency, Sustainability or a Better Standard of Living?, pp.
8488; Carvajal Correra, Marco Antonio: The San Miguel Museum: Colonial Architecture and Mayan Archaeology, pp. 8994;
Cosme Valadez, Arturo, and Rosa Mara Jasso: Death in Mexicos
Pre-Hispanic Poetry, pp. 99103
No. 81, January-April 2008

44

pp. 4954; Staines Ccero, Leticia: The Ro Bec, Chenes and Puuc
Styles in Campeches Mayan Cities, pp. 7378; Montiel, Elsie: The
Art of Weaving in Caves, pp. 7986; Galindo Trejo, Jess: Between
Water and Sky: Astronomy and Calendars in Edzn, pp. 8792;
Arellano Hernndez, Alfonso: The Bastion of Our Lady of Solitude:
Museum of Mayan Architecture, pp. 9396

Garca, Martha: Half a Century Innovating Tradition: The Frontiers

of Amate Barkpaper Painters, pp. 4148; Anaya Rodrguez, dgar:
In the Slender of the Mountains: The Painting of Gregorio Mndez,
mexicon

Bibliography Peggy Goede Montalvn (Freie Universitt Berlin, Germany;

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Ptz, Catherine Whittaker.
Austrian Office Karl Herbert Mayer (Raffaltweg 11, 8047 Graz, Austria;
email: mexicon.at@mexicon.de).
Mexican Office Vera Tiesler Blos (Universidad Autnoma de Yucatn,
Mrida, Mexico; email: mexicon.mx@mexicon.de).
US Office Thomas H. Guderjan (Maya Research Program, 1910
East SE Loop 323#296, Tyler, TX 75701, USA; email: guderjan@
mrpmail.com).
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Vol. XXXII

Februar/April 2010

Druck: Karle GmbH, Mckmhl