Melissa Burham, Takeshi Inomata, Daniela Triadan, and Jessica MacLellan
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780813066226
- eISBN:
- 9780813058375
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813066226.003.0004
- Subject:
- Archaeology, Archaeological Methodology and Techniques
In Chapter 4, Melissa Burham and colleagues examine urban growth, monumentality, and local community formation during the Late Preclassic period at Ceibal, Guatemala. Rather than focusing on the ...
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In Chapter 4, Melissa Burham and colleagues examine urban growth, monumentality, and local community formation during the Late Preclassic period at Ceibal, Guatemala. Rather than focusing on the monumental epicenter of the site, the authors turn to the small communities that grew around the site core, each anchored by a minor-temple complex. Though smaller than temples in the site core, these community temples nonetheless represent monumental constructions that required considerable communal effort to build and maintain over an ever-expanding area. In this way, Burham and her coauthors consider how scale informs the definition of monumentality. Chapter 4 draws together various lines of evidence, including excavation and mapping data from Harvard’s previous work at the site and newer data from the current project, to spatially define communities and examine the role of minor temples and ritual in fostering local group identities.Less
In Chapter 4, Melissa Burham and colleagues examine urban growth, monumentality, and local community formation during the Late Preclassic period at Ceibal, Guatemala. Rather than focusing on the monumental epicenter of the site, the authors turn to the small communities that grew around the site core, each anchored by a minor-temple complex. Though smaller than temples in the site core, these community temples nonetheless represent monumental constructions that required considerable communal effort to build and maintain over an ever-expanding area. In this way, Burham and her coauthors consider how scale informs the definition of monumentality. Chapter 4 draws together various lines of evidence, including excavation and mapping data from Harvard’s previous work at the site and newer data from the current project, to spatially define communities and examine the role of minor temples and ritual in fostering local group identities.
Terry G. Powis, George J. Micheletti, Jon Spenard, and Sheldon Skaggs
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780813066226
- eISBN:
- 9780813058375
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813066226.003.0013
- Subject:
- Archaeology, Archaeological Methodology and Techniques
Powis and his colleagues have gathered significant information about the Middle Preclassic period at Pacbitun, data which speak to the broader subject of architectural monumentality. In Chapter 13, ...
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Powis and his colleagues have gathered significant information about the Middle Preclassic period at Pacbitun, data which speak to the broader subject of architectural monumentality. In Chapter 13, they present two specific case studies pertaining to Pacbitun’s Plaza A architecture. In the first case study, the authors’ discussion begins with the low residential/workshop platforms of Plaza B, an area well-recognized for its marine shell bead craft production, and the naturally elevated area to the east of Plaza B, where the large ceremonial structure of El Quemado was built on the highest point that would later become Plaza A. Unlike any structure previously built at Pacbitun, the presence of El Quemado implies an ability to organize a significant labor force and perhaps marks the beginning of institutionalized inequality. An apparent termination event in the form of chopped corners, extensive burning, and subsequent burial marks an important transition in the organization and ideology of Pacbitun’s society at the onset of the Late Preclassic period. Succinctly, the case studies in this chapter both demonstrate that monumentality refers to more than architectural scale. The labor force, energy, and resources needed to construct El Quemado and the E Group would have greatly surpassed what was needed to build contemporary domestic structures.Less
Powis and his colleagues have gathered significant information about the Middle Preclassic period at Pacbitun, data which speak to the broader subject of architectural monumentality. In Chapter 13, they present two specific case studies pertaining to Pacbitun’s Plaza A architecture. In the first case study, the authors’ discussion begins with the low residential/workshop platforms of Plaza B, an area well-recognized for its marine shell bead craft production, and the naturally elevated area to the east of Plaza B, where the large ceremonial structure of El Quemado was built on the highest point that would later become Plaza A. Unlike any structure previously built at Pacbitun, the presence of El Quemado implies an ability to organize a significant labor force and perhaps marks the beginning of institutionalized inequality. An apparent termination event in the form of chopped corners, extensive burning, and subsequent burial marks an important transition in the organization and ideology of Pacbitun’s society at the onset of the Late Preclassic period. Succinctly, the case studies in this chapter both demonstrate that monumentality refers to more than architectural scale. The labor force, energy, and resources needed to construct El Quemado and the E Group would have greatly surpassed what was needed to build contemporary domestic structures.
