884 - Archaeological and Bioarchaeological Perspectives of Ancient Maya Urbanism in Northern Yucatan

18.07.2012 | 17:30 - 19:30
19.07.2012 | 17:30 - 19:30

Coordenator 1: Serafin, Stanley (Macquarie University , Maroubra, Australia / Australien)
Coordenator 2: Peraza Lope, Carlos (Centro INAH Yucatán, Mérida, Mexico / Mexiko)

The proposed symposium provides an interdisciplinary perspective of ancient Maya urbanism in northern Yucatan. This symposium brings together studies of settlement patterns, architecture and human skeletal remains in cities of this region dating from the Early Classic (A.D. 300 - 600) through the Postclassic (A.D. 1000 - 1542) periods. Questions addressed include: 1) how are the territorial limits of cities defined, 2) how did Maya cities relate to their peripheries 3) how were urban areas integrated on a regional level, 4) what were the subsistence bases of urban populations in this region, and 5) did greater population aggregation lead to a deterioration of health over time.

Presenters include archaeologist Eunice Uc González, who will present new findings on the urban fringes of Early Classic cities in northwestern Yucatan; Archaeologist Alfredo Barrera Rubio, who will discuss the regional integration of Terminal Classic Kuluba, a large urban center located in northeastern Yucatan; and bioarchaeologist Stanley Serafin and archaeologist Carlos Peraza Lope, who will compare diet and health in burial samples from several Classic period cities and Postclassic Mayapan, one of the most densely populated cities in Maya history.

This symposium is significant in several ways. It promotes the holistic study of ancient Maya urbanism by incorporating archaeological and bioarchaeological analyses. It integrates elite activities in monumental site cores with activities taking place at urban fringes. It improves our understanding of geographic and temporal variation in Maya urbanism and the repercussions of this variation on diet and health. Further, this symposium will contribute to the current debate over the advantages and disadvantages of different models of urbanism. Thus, the proposed symposium covers a timely topic with the potential to inform present day public policy on the long-term consequences of urban planning decisions.

Palavras-chaves: Maya, Settlement Patterns, Architecture, Biological Anthropology, Bioarchaeology