Canajaste: an Evolving Postclassic Maya State.

Using archaeological, ethnohistoric, and ethnographic sources, I examine how the specific processes of (1) inter-regional exchange, (2) warfare, (3) elite colonization, and (4) colonization by whole communities, influence the development of a Postclassic Maya state. The study deals with the following two questions: (1) can these specific processes of inter-polity relations be identified in the archaeological record and , (2) by examining changes in their relative importance through time can we better underst and the evolution of a particular secondary state? In order to answer these questions, I demonstrate that, as each process shifts to prominence, it will have its own distinguishable impact on the social, political, and economic relations among social units within a community. I also argue that, because those relations are expressed and maintained by way of material culture, each specific process has its own discernible affects on the changes in archaeologically observable artifacts and features. A sample of elite and non-elite houses at the Postclassic Maya site of Canajaste, in Chiapas, Mexico were excavated in order to test these ideas. The houses were excavated so that the trajectories of changes in house features, styles, burials, artifacts, and subsistence remains could be monitored for each house group. By comparing the changes that the elite houses underwent with the changes that the non-elite underwent, it was possible to observe the changing relations between the two social classes, and thus, infer changes in the underlying specific processes. Canajaste began as a complete colony towards the end of the Early Postclassic period (ca. A.D. 1200). During that period the elite progressively distanced themselves from the non-elite by controlling a brisk interregional trade. Near the end of that period there was an increase in the scale and frequency of warfare as trade declined. As warfare increased, the community continued to grow, but the material differences between the two social classes diminished. By the end of the Late Postclassic period, trade began to increase once more, but as it did, warfare remained an important aspect of inter-polity relations. The main conclusion is that, in order to underst and the evolution of complex society, we must be able to trace the timing and relative importance of a range of specific processes that lead to socio-political change. Ultimately, it will be necessary to accumulate a series of case studies such as this in order to explain variation in the processes of state development.PhDArchaeologyNative American studiesUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/160480/1/8512363.pd