A History of Ancient Maya Ancestor Veneration and Political Authority in the Mopan Valley of Western Belize
with Kathryn Brown and Jason Yaeger
The Mopan River valley was home to a string of closely spaced centers, extending from Las Ruinas de Arenal in the south to Buenavista del Cayo in the north. Thanks to over six decades of concerted fieldwork by several long-term projects, we have excellent data for reconstructing the region’s political history. Many of these centers were initially occupied in the Early or Middle Preclassic, but they had distinct histories, becoming powerful political centers at different times over the course of the Preclassic and Classic periods. In this talk, we examine the phenomenon of ancestor veneration as one important line of evidence for reconstructing the political history of this region and for understanding how the nature of political authority and political organization changed over the course of nearly two millennia, from the Middle Preclassic period to the Terminal Classic period.
M. Kathryn Brown is the Lutcher Brown Endowed Professor of Anthropology at the University of Texas at San Antonio. For over three decades, her research has examined one of anthropology’s fundamental topics, the origins of complex societies, using the ancient Maya of Belize as her primary case study. Since 2005, she has directed the Mopan Valley Preclassic Project.
Jason Yaeger is the President’s Endowed Professor of Anthropology at the University of Texas at San Antonio. An anthropological archaeologist, he directs the Mopan Valley Archaeological Project, which studies the organization of ancient Maya households and communities, Maya political organization, and the dynamic relationships among climate, environment, and society in western Belize.