Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-gq7q9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-21T19:20:38.707Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Arroyo de Piedra: Sociopolitical Dynamics of a Secondary Center in the Petexbatun Region

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 October 2008

Héctor L. Escobedo
Héctor L. Escobedo
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, 37212 USA, and Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala, Guatemala
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Arroyo de Piedra occupies a strategic position between the sites of Dos Pilas and Tamarindito, the dominant polities in the Petexbatun region. Temples, palaces, sculptured monuments, quarries, and a defensive wall reflect the importance of this small site. Archaeological and epigraphic investigations conducted by Vanderbilt University from 1990 to 1994 demonstrate that Arroyo de Piedra was founded and ruled by members of the royal family of Tamarindito during the Early Classic. In the Late Classic, Arroyo de Piedra was absorbed by the expansionistic Dos Pilas dynasty through a matrimonial alliance. The marriage was apparently imposed by means of coercion as suggested by evidence of intentional destruction of local sculpture. The center was abandoned during the Terminal Classic, after the fall of Dos Pilas.

Type
Special Section: The Vanderbilt Petexbatun Archaeological Project, 1989–1994
Information
Ancient Mesoamerica , Volume 8 , Issue 2 , Fall 1997 , pp. 307 - 320
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1997

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Ball, Joseph W., and Taschek, Jennifer T. 1991 Late Classic Lowland Maya Political Organization and Central-Place Analysis: New Insights from the Upper Belize Vally. Ancient Mesoamerica 2: 149–165.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Castellanos, Jeanette 1993 Excavaciones en la plaza norte de Arroyo de Piedra. In Proyecto Arqueológico Regional Petexbatun: informe Preliminar #5, Quinta Temporada, edited by Valdés, Juan Antonio, Foias, Antonia, Inomata, Takeshi, Escobedo, Héctor, and Demarest, Arthur A., pp. 137–142. Institute de Antropología e Historia, Guatemala, and Department of Anthropology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN.Google Scholar
Demarest, Arthur A. 1990 Conclusiones: Resumen de los resultados de la segunda temporada. In Proyecto Arqueológico Regional Petexbatun: Informe Preliminar #2, Segunda Temporada, edited by Demarest, Arthur A. and Houston, Stephen D., pp. 607–626. Institute de Antropología e Historia, Guatemala, and Department of Anthropology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN.Google Scholar
Demarest, Arthur A. 1993 The Violent Saga of a Maya Kingdom. National Geographic Magazine 183(2):95–111.Google Scholar
Demarest, Arthur A., and Valdés, Juan Antonio 1995 Guerra, regresión política y el colapso de la civilización maya en la región Petexbatun. In VIII Simposio de Arqueología Guatemalteca, 1994, edited by Laporte, Juan Pedro and Escobedo, Héctor, pp. 777–782. Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología, Guatemala.Google Scholar
Demarest, Arthur A., Valdés, Juan Antonio, and Escobedo, Héctor 1992 Una tumba real en el centro ceremonial de Dos Pilas: Excavación e implicaciones. In V Simposio de Arqueología Guatemalteca, 1991, edited by Laporte, Juan Pedro, Escobedo, Héctor, and Villagran de Brady, Sandra, pp. 301–316. Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología de Guatemala, Guatemala.Google Scholar
Escobedo, Héctor L. 1993 Excavaciones en Arroyo de Piedra: La plaza mayor y las estructuras 1 y 6. In Proyecto Arqueológico Regional Petexbatun: Informe Preliminar #5, Quinta Temporada, edited by Valdés, Juan Antonio, Foias, Antonia, Inomata, Takeshi, Escobedo, Héctor, and Demarest, Arthur A., pp. 123–136. Instituto de Antropología e Historia, Guatemala, and Department of Anthropology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN.Google Scholar
Escobedo, Héctor L. 1994 Investigaciones arqueológicas y epigráficas en Arroyo de Piedra: Un centro secundario en la región Petexbatun. In VII Simposio de Arqueología Guatemalteca, 1993, edited by Laporte, Juan Pedro and Escobedo, Héctor, pp. 429–438. Museo de Antropología y Etnología de Guatemala, Guatemala.Google Scholar
Escobedo, Héctor L. 1996 Arroyo de Piedra, temporada de 1994: Excavaciones en la plaza mayor y en las estructuras 1 y 6. In Proyecto Arqueológico Regional Petexbatun, Informe Preliminar #6, Sexta Temporada, edited by Demarest, Arthur A., Valdés, Juan Antonio and Escobedo, Héctor, pp. 161–184. Instituto de Antropología e Historia, Guatemala, and Department of Anthropology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN.Google Scholar
Escobedo, Héctor L. 1997 La secuencia dinástica de Tamarindito. Manuscript on file, Department of Anthropology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN.Google Scholar
Escobedo, Héctor L., Suasnávar, José, Quezada, Heidy and Urquizú, Mónica 1995 Resultados de la tercera temporada de campo en Arroyo de Piedra: La política maya desde la perspectiva de un centro secundario. In VIII Simposio de Arqueología Guatemalteca, 1994, edited by Laporte, Juan Pedro and Escobedo, Héctor, pp. 469–488. Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología, Guatemala.Google Scholar
Fash, William L. 1991 Scribes, Warriors and Kings: The City of Copan and the Ancient Maya. Thames and Hudson, New York.Google Scholar
Fash, William L., and Sharer, Robert J. 1991 Sociopolitical Developments and Methodological Issues at Copán, Honduras: A Conjunctive Perspective. Latin American Antiquity 2: 166–187.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foias, Antonia 1996a Changing Ceramic Production and Exchange Systems and the Classic Maya Collapse in the Petexbatun Region. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN.Google Scholar
Foias, Antonia 1996b Operación TA 8: Investigaciones en el conjunto palaciego del grupo A de Tamarindito. In Proyecto Arqueológico Regional Petexbatun, Informe Preliminar #6, Sexta Temporada, edited by Demarest, Arthur A., Valdés, Juan Antonio and Escobedo, Héctor, pp. 31–58. Instituto de Antropología e Historia, Guatemala, and Department of Anthropology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN.Google Scholar
Hammond, Norman 1975 Lubaantun a Classic Maya Realm. Monographs of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology, No. 1, Pt. 2. Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.Google Scholar
Houston, Stephen D. 1983 Warfare Between Naranjo and Ucanal. In Contributions to Maya Hieroglyphic Decipherment I, edited by Houston, Stephen D., pp. 31–39. HRAFlex Books, New Haven, CT.Google Scholar
Houston, Stephen D. 1987 The Inscriptions and Monumental Art of Dos Pilas, Guatemala: A Study of Classic Maya History and Politics. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Yale University, New Haven, CT.Google Scholar
Houston, Stephen D. 1991 Historia y arqueologia en Dos Pilas. In Proyecto Arqueológico Regional Petexbatun, Informe Preliminar #3, Tercera Temporada, edited by Demarest, Arthur A., Inomata, Takeshi, Escobedo, Héctor, and Palka, Joel, pp. 862–871. Institute de Antropología e Historia, Guatemala, and Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN.Google Scholar
Houston, Stephen D. 1993 Hieroglyphs and History at Dos Pilas: Dynastie Politics of the Classic Maya. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Houston, Stephen D., and Mathews, Peter 1985 The Dynastic Sequence of Dos Pilas, Guatemala. Pre-Columbian Art Research Institute, Monograph No. 1. Pre-Columbian Art Research Institute, San Francisco.Google Scholar
Johnston, Kevin 1985 Maya Dynastic Territorial Expansion: Glyphic Evidence from Classic Centers of the Pasion River, Guatemala. In Fifth Palenque Round Table, 1983, vol. VII, edited by Robertson, Merle G. and Fields, Virginia, pp. 49–56. Precolumbian Art Research Institute, San Francisco.Google Scholar
Laporte, Juan Pedro 1995 ¿Despoblamiento o problema analítico? El clásico temprano en el sureste de Petén. In VIII Simposio de Investigaciones Arqueológicas en Guatemala, 1994, edited by Laporte, Juan Pedro and Escobedo, Héctor L., pp. 729–762. Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología de Guatemala, Guatemala.Google Scholar
Lincoln, Charles E. 1985 Ceramics and Ceramic Chronology. In A Consideration of the Early Classic Period in the Maya Lowlands, edited by Willey, Gordon R. and Mathews, Peter, pp. 55–94. Publication No. 10. Institute of Mesoamerican Studies, State University of New York, Albany.Google Scholar
Lounsbury, Floyd G. 1982 Astronomical Knowledge and Its Uses at Bonampak, Mexico. In Archaeoastronomy in the New World: American Primitive Astronomy, edited by Aveni, Anthony F., pp. 143–168. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Marcus, Joyce 1973 Territorial Organization of the Lowland Classic Maya. Science 180: 911–916.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Marcus, Joyce 1976 Emblem and State in the Classic Maya Lowlands. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Marcus, Joyce 1987 The Inscriptions of Calakmul: Royal Marriage at a Maya City in Campeche, Mexico. Technical Report 21. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marcus, Joyce 1992 Mesoamerican Writing Systems: Propaganda, Myth and History in Four Ancient Civilizations. Princeton University Press Princeton.Google Scholar
Mathews, Peter, and Willey, Gordon R. 1991 Prehistoric Polities of the Pasión Region: Hieroglyphic Texts and Their Archaeological Settings. In Classic Maya Political History: Hieroglyphic and Archaeological Evidence, edited by Culbert, T. Patrick, pp. 30–71. School of American Research Advanced Seminar Series, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Miller, Mary Ellen, and Houston, Stephen 1987 The Classic Maya Ballgame and Its Architectural Settings: A Study of Relations Between Text and Image. RES 14: 47–66.Google Scholar
Molloy, John P., and Rathje, William L. 1974 Sexploitation Among the Late Classic Maya. In Mesoamerican Archaeology: New Approaches, edited by Hammond, Norman, pp. 431–444. Duckworth, London.Google Scholar
Palka, Joel 1995 Classic Maya Social Inequality and the Collapse at Dos Pilas, Peten, Guatemala. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN.Google Scholar
Quezada, Heidy 1996 Excavaciones en los grupos habitacionales de Arroyo de Piedra. In Proyecto Arqueológico Regional Petexbatun, Informe Preliminar #6, Sexta Temporada, edited by Demarest, Arthur A., Valdés, Juan Antonio and Escobedo, Héctor L., pp. 191–209. Institute de Antropología e Historia, Guatemala, and Department of Anthropology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN.Google Scholar
Quezada, Heidy, and Gómez, Oswaldo 1993 Excavaciones en los grupos B y C de Arroyo de Piedra. In Proyecto Arqueológico Regional Petexbatun: Informe Preliminar #5, Quinta Temporada, edited by Valdés, Juan Antonio, Foias, Antonia, Inomata, Takeshi, Escobedo, Héctor, and Demarest, Arthur A., pp. 143–145. Institute de Antropología e Historia, Guatemala, and Department of Anthropology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN.Google Scholar
Schele, Linda, and Grube, Nikolai 1995 The Proceedings of the Maya Hieroglyphic Workshop: Late Classic and Terminal Classic Warfare. Transcribed and edited by Wananderka, P.. University of Texas, Austin.Google Scholar
Schele, Linda, and Mathews, Peter 1991 Royal Visits and Other Intersite Relationships Among the Classic Maya. In Classic Maya Political History: Hieroglyphic and Archaeological Evidence, edited by Culbert, T. Patrick, pp. 226–252. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Stuart, David S. 1986 The “Lu-Bat” Glyph and Its Bearing on the Primary Standard Sequence. Ponencia, Primer Simposio Mundial de Epigrafía Maya. Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología de Guatemala, Guatemala.Google Scholar
Stuart, David S. 1987 Ten Phonetic Syllables. Research Reports on Ancient Maya Writing No. 14. Center for Maya Research, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Stuart, David S. 1990 Sondeos en Arroyo de Piedra. In Proyecto Arqueológico Regional Petexbatun: Informe Preliminar #2, Segunda Temporada, edited by Demarest, Arthur A. and Houston, Stephen D., pp. 353–368. Institute de Antropología e Historia, Guatemala, and Department of Anthropology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN.Google Scholar
Stuart, David S. 1995 A Study of Maya Inscriptions. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN.Google Scholar
Stuart, David, and Houston, Stephen D. 1994 Classic Maya Placenames. Studies in Pre-Columbian Art and Archaeology No. 33. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Suasnávar, José Samuel 1996a Excavaciones en la estructura 2 de Arroyo de Piedra. In Proyecto Arqueológico Regional Petexbatun, Informe Preliminar #6, Sexta Temporada, edited by Demarest, Arthur A., Valdés, Juan Antonio and Escobedo, Héctor, pp. 171–178. Institute de Antropología e Historia, Guatemala, and Department of Anthropology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN.Google Scholar
Suasnávar, José Samuel 1996b Transectos en el sitio Arroyo de Piedra. In Proyecto Arqueológico Regional Petexbatun, Informe Preliminar #6, Sexta Temporada, edited by Demarest, Arthur A., Valdés, Juan Antonio and Escobedo, Héctor, pp. 201–207. Instituto de Antropología e Historia, Guatemala, and Department of Anthropology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN.Google Scholar
Urquizú, Mónica 1996 Excavaciones en la estructura 13 y en la plaza norte de Arroyo de Piedra. In Proyecto Arqueológico Regional Petexbatun, Informe Preliminar #6, Sexta Temporada, edited by Demarest, Arthur A., Valdés, Juan Antonio, and Escobedo, Héctor, pp. 191–200. Instituto de Antropología e Historia, Guatemala, and Department of Anthropology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN.Google Scholar
Webster, David (editor) 1989 The House of the Bacabs, Copan, Honduras. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Willey, Gordon R. 1973 The Altar de Sacrificios Excavations: General Summary and Conclusions. Papers of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology Vol. 64, No. 3. Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.Google Scholar
Willey, Gordon R. 1990 Excavations at Seibal, Department of Peten, Guatemala: General Summary and Conclusions. Papers of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology Vol. 14, No. 1. Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.Google Scholar
Wolley, Claudia 1996 La suboperación DP 10B: Descubrimiento de altar # 20. In Proyecto Arqueológico Regional Petexbatun, Informe Preliminar #6, Sexta Temporada, edited by Demarest, Arthur A., Valdés, Juan Antonio and Escobedo, Héctor, pp. 221–228. Institute de Antropología e Historia, Guatemala, and Department of Anthropology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN.Google Scholar
Wright, Lori 1993 Estudios osteológicos en la región de Petexbatun: Reporte interno IV. In Proyecto Arqueológico Regional Petexbatun: Informe Preliminar #5, Quinta Temporada, edited by Valdés, Juan Antonio, Foias, Antonia, Inomata, Takeshi, Escobedo, Héctor, and Demarest, Arthur A., pp. 151–160. Instituto de Antropología e Historia, Guatemala, and Department of Anthropology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN.Google Scholar
Wright, Lori 1994 The Sacrifice of the Earth: Diet, Health, and Inequality in the Posion Maya Lowlands. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago, Chicago.Google Scholar