Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T23:39:59.208Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

WALKING RURAL IN TZACAUIL, YUCATAN, MEXICO

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 May 2022

Chelsea Fisher Open the ORCID record for Chelsea Fisher [Opens in a new window]
Chelsea Fisher*
Affiliation:
Environmental Studies Program, Washington and Lee University, 018 Tucker Hall, Lexington, Virginia 24450, USA
*
E-mail correspondence to: cfisher@wlu.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

How were so-called rural Maya settlements experienced by the people who lived in them? In this article, I focus on the archaeology of walking in the small site of Tzacauil, Yucatan (outlying the much larger site of Yaxuna), to explore how experiences of rurality were historically and socially contingent. Walking produces and reproduces embodied understandings of place—and, as such, can yield a more dynamic conceptualization of rurality. In Formative Tzacauil (ca. 300 b.c.–a.d. 250), grounded walking, incorporated with and sensitive to terrain, coexisted alongside groundless walking on artificial surfaces (i.e., sacbes and built walkways) imposed onto terrain. I argue that an understanding of everyday walking in Formative Tzacauil was not unlike that of urbanizing Yaxuna. I propose that only in Classic Tzacauil (ca. a.d. 550–1100) did walking become categorically different from Yaxuna, and I discuss how that shift opens new avenues for inquiry into rurality as an embodied experience of place that was always subject to change.

Type
Special Section: Rethinking Rurality in Ancient Maya Studies
Information
Ancient Mesoamerica , Volume 33 , Issue 1 , Spring 2022 , pp. 148 - 161
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

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

Ahmed, Sara 2006 Queer Phenomenology: Orientations, Objects, Others. Duke University Press, Durham.Google Scholar
Alcocer Puerto, Elias M., Bascopé, Grace, and Cano, Nidelvia Vela 2010 El Turismo en una comunidad maya yucateca: Pasado, presente, y un probable futuro. Teoría y Praxis 8:95–112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anderson, David S. 2011 Xtobo, Yucatan, Mexico, and the Emergent Preclassic of the Northern Maya Lowlands. Ancient Mesoamerica 22:301–322.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Benavides Castillo, Antonio 1981 Coba y Tulum: Adaptación al medio ambiente y contról del medio social. Estudios de Cultura Maya 13:205–222.Google Scholar
Benavides Castillo, Antonio, and Manzanilla, Linda 1987 Introducción: Estudio de centros urbanos. In Coba. Quintana Roo: Análisis de dos unidades habitacionales mayas, edited by Manzanilla, Linda, pp. 11–24. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Carolan, Michael S. 2008 More-Than-Representational Knowledge/s of the Countryside: How We Think as Bodies. Sociologia Ruralis 48:408–422.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chase, Arlen F., and Chase, Diane Z. 2001 Ancient Maya Causeways and Site Organization at Caracol, Belize. Ancient Mesoamerica 12:273–281.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chase, Diane Z., and Chase, Arlen F. 2014 Ancient Maya Markets and the Economic Integration of Caracol, Belize. Ancient Mesoamerica 25:239–250.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cobos, Rafael 2001 El centro de Yucatán: De área periférica a la integración de la comunidad urbana en Chichén Itzá. In Reconstruyendo la Ciudad maya: El urbanismo en las sociedades antiguas, edited by Ciudad, Andrés Ruiz, Ponce de León, María Josefa Iglesias, and Carmen Martínez, Maria del, pp. 253–276. Sociedad Española de Estudios Mayas, Madrid.Google Scholar
Collins, Ryan H. 2018 From Sedentism to Sprawl: Early Urban Process at Yaxuná, Yucatan, Mexico 1000 BCE to 250 CE. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Brandeis University, Boston.Google Scholar
Edensor, Tim 2000 Walking in the British Countryside: Reflexivity, Embodied Practices and Ways to Escape. Body and Society 6:81–106.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edensor, Tim 2008 Walking Through Ruins. In Ways of Walking: Ethnography and Practice on Foot, edited by Ingold, Tim and Vergunst, Jo Lee, pp. 123–141. Ashgate, Aldershot.Google Scholar
Farriss, Nancy M. 1984 Maya Society under Colonial Rule: The Collective Enterprise of Survival. Princeton University Press, Princeton.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fedick, Scott L., De Lourdes Flores-Delgadillo, Maria, Sedov, Sergey, Solleiro-Rebolledo, Elizabeth, and Palacios-Mayorga, Sergio 2008 Adaptation of Maya Homegardens by “Container Gardening” in Limestone Bedrock Cavities. Journal of Ethnobiology 28:290–304.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fisher, Chelsea 2014 The Role of Infield Agriculture in Maya Cities. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 36:196–210.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fisher, Chelsea 2019 Maya Farming Communities and the Long View of Sustainability at Tzacauil. Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Fisher, Chelsea, and Ardren, Traci 2020 Partaking in Culinary Heritage at Yaxunah Yucatán During the Noma Mexico Pop-up of 2017. Heritage 3:474–492.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Folan, William J. 1991 Sacbes of the Northern Maya. In Ancient Road Networks and Settlement Hierarchies in the New World, edited by Trombold, Charles D., pp. 222–229. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Folan, William J., Hau, Jacinto May, Marcus, Joyce, Miller, W. Frank, and Heredia, Raymundo González 2001 Los caminos de Calakmul, Campeche. Ancient Mesoamerica 12:293–298.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foster, Alec, and Newell, Joshua P. 2019 Detroit's Lines of Desire: Footpaths and Vacant Land in the Motor City. Landscape and Urban Planning 189:260–273.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Glover, Jeffrey B., and Stanton, Travis W. 2010 Assessing the Role of Preclassic Traditions in the Formation of Early Classic Yucatec Cultures. Journal of Field Archaeology 35:58–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goñi Motilla, Guillermo Antonio 1993 Solares prehispánicos en la península de Yucatán. Licenciatura thesis, Ciencias Antropológicas en la Especialidad de Arqueología, Escuela Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Guenter, Stanley P. 2014 The Queen of Cobá: A Reanalysis of the Macanxoc Stelae. In The Archaeology of Yucatán: New Directions and Data, edited by Stanton, Travis W., pp. 395–421. ArchaeoPress Pre-Columbian Archaeology 1. Archaeopress, Oxford.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haviland, William A. 1970 Tikal, Guatemala, and Mesoamerican Urbanism. World Archaeology 2:186–198.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hernández Álvarez, Héctor Abraham 2014 Etnoarqueología de grupos domésticos mayas: Identidad social y espacio residencial de Yaxunah, Yucatán. Ph.D. thesis, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Hutson, Scott R. 2010 Dwelling, Identity, and the Maya: Relational Archaeology at Chunchucmil. AltaMira Press, Lanham.Google Scholar
Hutson, Scott R., Magnoni, Aline, and Stanton, Travis 2012 “All That is Solid…”: Sacbes, Settlement, and Semiotics at Tzacauil, Yucatan. Ancient Mesoamerica 23:297–311.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hutson, Scott R., and Welch, Jacob A. 2014 Sacred Landscapes and Building Practices at Uci, Kancab, and Ucanha, Yucatan, Mexico. Ancient Mesoamerica 25:421–439.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hutson, Scott R., Kilgore, Gertrude, Conley, Daniel, Welch, Jacob, Stanton, Travis, and Ardren, Traci 2020 Lidar-based Advances in Linear Features: Sacbes, Ridges, and Terraces in Quintana Roo and Yucatan. Paper presented at The University of Texas Lidar Workshop/Sibley Conference, Austin.Google Scholar
Ingold, Tim 2004 Culture on the Ground: The World Perceived Through the Feet. Journal of Material Culture 9:315–340.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ingold, Tim 2010 Footprints Through the Weather-world: Walking, Breathing, Knowing. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute (N.S.):S121–S139.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ingold, Tim, and Vergunst, Jo Lee (editors) 2008 Ways of Walking: Ethnography and Practice on Foot. Ashgate, Aldershot.Google Scholar
Isendahl, Christian 2012 Agro-Urban Landscapes: The Example of Maya Lowland Cities. Antiquity 86:1112–1125.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keller, Angela 2010 A Road by Any Other Name: Trails, Paths, and Roads in Maya Language and Thought. In Landscapes of Movement: Trails, Paths and Roads in Anthropological Perspective, edited by Snead, James E., Erickson, Clark L., and Darling, Andrew, pp. 133–157. University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Kurjack, Edward B. 1974 Prehistoric Lowland Maya Community Social Organization: A Case Study at Dzibilchaltun, Yucatan, Mexico. Middle American Research Institute, Publication 38. Tulane University, New Orleans.Google Scholar
Kurnick, Sarah and Rogoff, David 2020 Maya Cartographies: Two Maps of Punta Laguna, Yucatan, Mexico. Journal of Social Archaeology 20:119–143.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lefebvre, Henri 1996 Writings on Cities. Translated by Kofman, Eleonore and Lebas, Elizabeth. Blackwell, Malden.Google Scholar
Lucero, Lisa J., Fletcher, Roland, and Coningham, Robin 2015 From “Collapse” to Urban Diaspora: The Transformation of Low-Density, Dispersed Agrarian Urbanism. Antiquity 89:1139–1154.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Magnoni, Aline, Hutson, Scott R., and Dahlin, Bruce H. 2012 Living in the City: Settlement Patterns and the Urban Experience at Classic Period Chunchucmil, Yucatan, Mexico. Ancient Mesoamerica 23:313–343.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marcus, Joyce 1993 Ancient Maya Political Organization. In Lowland Maya Civilization in the Eighth Century A.D., edited by Sabloff, Jeremy A. and Henderson, John S., pp. 111–184. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Restall, Matthew 1997 The Maya World: Yucatec Culture and Society, 1550–1850. Stanford University Press, Stanford.Google Scholar
Robin, Cynthia 2002 Outside of Houses: The Practices of Everyday Life at Chan Nòohol, Belize. Journal of Social Archaeology 2:245–268.Google Scholar
Robin, Cynthia (editor) 2012 Chan: An Ancient Maya Farming Community. University Press of Florida, Gainesville.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rohrer, Patrick, and Stanton, Travis W 2019 Imaging and Imagining Ancient Maya Causeways: When Sacbes Turn. In Chacmool at 50: The Past, Present, and Future of Archaeology, edited by Pennanen, Kelsey and Goosney, Susanne, pp. 25–36. Proceedings of the 50th Annual Chacmool Archaeology Conference, Chacmool Archaeology Association, Calgary.Google Scholar
Roys, Ralph 1957 The Political Geography of the Yucatan Maya. Carnegie Institute of Washington, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Sharer, Robert J. 1992 The Preclassic Origin of Lowland Maya States. In New Theories on the Ancient Maya, edited by Danien, Elin C. and Sharer, Robert J., pp. 131–36. University Museum, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Shaw, Justine M. 2008 White Roads of the Yucatán: Changing Social Landscapes of the Yucatec Maya. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Shaw, Justine M. 2012 Roads to Ruins: The Role of Sacbeob in Ancient Maya Society. In Highways, Byways, and Road Systems in the Pre-Modern World, edited by Alcock, Susan E., Bodel, John, and Talbert, Richard J.A., pp. 128–46. John Wiley and Sons, Malden.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sheets, Payson, Dixon, Christine, Lentz, David, Egan, Rachel, Halmbacher, Alexandria, Slotten, Venicia, Herrera, Rocío, and Lamb, Céline 2015 The Sociopolitical Economy of an Ancient Maya Village: Cerén and Its Sacbe. Latin American Antiquity 26: 341–361.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Snead, James E., Erickson, Clark L., and Darling, J. Andrew (editors) 2009 Landscapes of Movement: Trails, Paths, and Roads in Anthropological Perspective. University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Stanton, Travis, and Collins, Ryan 2017 Los orígenes de los mayas del norte: Investigaciones en el Grupo E de Yaxuná. Arqueología Mexicana 25:32–37.Google Scholar
Stanton, Travis W. 2017 The Founding of Yaxuná: Place and Trade in Preclassic Yucatán. In Early Maya E-Groups, Solar Calendars, and the Role of Astronomy in the Rise of Lowland Maya Urbanism, edited by Freidel, David A., Chase, Arlen F., Dowd, Anne S., and Murdock, Jerry, pp. 450–479. University of Florida Press, Gainesville.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stanton, Travis W., and Freidel, David A. 2005 Placing the Centre: Centering the Place: The Influence of Formative Sacbeob in Classic Site Design at Yaxuná, Yucatán. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 15:225–249.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stanton, Travis W., and Ardren, Traci 2005 The Middle Formative of Yucatan in Context: The View from Yaxuna. Ancient Mesoamerica 16:213–228.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stanton, Travis W., Freidel, David A., Suhler, Charles K., Ardren, Traci, Ambrosino, James, Shaw, Justine M., and Bennett, Sharon 2010 Archaeological Investigations at Yaxuná, 1986–1996: Results of the Selz Foundation Yaxuna Project. BAR International Series 2056. Archaeopress, Oxford.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stanton, Travis W., Ardren, Traci, Barth, Nicolas C., Fernandez-Diaz, Juan C., Rohrer, Patrick, Meyer, Dominique, Miller, Stephanie J., Magnoni, Aline, and Pérez, Manuel 2020 ‘Structure’ Density, Area, and Volume as Complementary Tools to Understand Maya Settlement: An Analysis of Lidar Data along the Great Road between Coba and Yaxuna. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 29:102178.Google Scholar
Tiesler, Vera, Cucina, Andrea, Stanton, Travis W., Freidel, David A., and Ardren, Traci 2017 Before Kukulkán: Bioarchaeology of Maya Life, Death, and Identity at Classic Period Yaxuná. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tilley, Christopher Y. 1994 A Phenomenology of Landscape: Places, Paths, and Monuments. Berg, Oxford.Google Scholar
Tozzer, Alfred M. 1941 Landa's Relacion de Las Cosas de Yucatan. Papers of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology, No. 18. Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Vargas, Ernesto, Santillan, Patricia S., and Vilalta, Marta 1985 Apuntes para el análisis del patrón de asentamiento de Tulum. Estudios de Cultura Maya 16:55–83.Google Scholar
Villa Rojas, Alfonso 1934 The Yaxuna-Coba Causeway. Contributions to American Archaeology, No. 9. Carnegie Institution of Washington, Publication 436. Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Vogt, Evon V. 1961 Some Aspects of Zinacantan Settlement Patterns and Ceremonial Organization. Estudios de Cultura Maya 1: 131–145.Google Scholar
Vogt, Evon V. 1983 Ancient and Contemporary Maya Settlement Patterns: A New Look from the Chiapas Highlands. In Prehistoric Settlement Patterns: Essays in Honor of Gordon R. Willey, edited by Vogt, Evon V. and Leventhal, Richard M., pp. 89–114. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Woods, Michael 2010 Performing Rurality and Practising Rural Geography. Progress in Human Geography 34:835–846.CrossRefGoogle Scholar