essay
The Peten Postclassic: a settlement perspective
late lowland maya civilization : classic to postclassic • Albuquerque • Published In 1986 • Pages: 301-344
By: Rice, Don S..
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
Rice examines settlement patterns and architecture within the Petén lake basins. His data show changes in settlement densities and increases in the number of structures in several lake basins from the Terminal Classic to Early Postclassic periods. This probably means people were migrating to these basins, but Rice is unsure as to where they would have come from. Some of the settlement changes suggest a need for defense. This need for defense is also suggested by small, side-notched projectile points which appear during the Terminal Classic period and which may indicate the introduction of the bow and arrow. 'A natural response would have been to nucleate residenses in those locations which…offer…a degree of natural defense,' (page 340). Don Rice examines some of the foreign influences from non-Petén Maya, particularly that seen in the architecture. Rice also points out that the Maya 'collapse' occurred over 120 years, so it should not be thought of as a 'catastrophy.'
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Identification
- Prehistory
- Acculturation and culture contact
- Cultural participation
- Architecture
- Furniture
- Settlement patterns
- traditionCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Postclassic Maya
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2001
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- Middle America and the Caribbean
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Maya Area
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- essay
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Archaeologist
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 4: Excellent Secondary Data
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- Sarah Berry ; 2000
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1973-1974 and 1979-1981
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- Terminal Classic through Postclassic
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- central Petén lake basins
- NotesAdditional notes
- Don S. Rice
- For bibliographical references see document number 6:Anonymous
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 85016513
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Mayas--Antiquities