Environmental legacy of pre-Columbian Maya mercury
10
Citation
97
Reference
10
Related Paper
Citation Trend
Abstract:
The Mexico and Central American region has a history of mercury use that began at least two millennia before European colonisation in the 16th century. Archaeologists have reported extensive deposits of cinnabar (HgS) and other mercury materials in ancient human settlements across the region. However, there has been no consideration to date of the environmental legacy of this long history of anthropogenic mercury use. This review begins by synthesising our knowledge of the history and nature of anthropogenic mercury in ancient Mesoamerica based on archaeological data, with a particular focus on the Maya culture of lowland Guatemala, Belize, the Yucatan of Mexico, El Salvador, and Honduras. The Classic Period Maya used mercury for decorative and ceremonial (including funerary) purposes: Cinnabar (HgS) predominantly, but the archaeological record also shows rare finds of elemental mercury (Hg 0 ) in important burial and religious contexts. In this review, we have located and summarised all published data sets collected from (or near) ancient Maya settlements that include environmental mercury measurements. Comparing mercury determinations from pre-Columbian Maya settlements located across the region confirms that seven sites from ten have reported at least one location with mercury concentrations that equal or exceed modern benchmarks for environmental toxicity. The locations with elevated mercury are typically former Maya occupation areas used in the Late Classic Period, situated within large urban settlements abandoned by c. 10th century CE. It is most likely that the mercury detected in buried contexts at Maya archaeological sites is associated with pre-Columbian mercury use, especially of cinnabar. In more complex contexts, where modern biological or specifically anthropogenic inputs are more probable, legacy mercury in the environment will have a more complex, and time transgressive input history. This review identifies current research gaps in our understanding of the long history of Maya mercury use and in the collection of robust total mercury datasets from the Maya world. We identify important areas for future research on the environmental persistence and legacy of mercury, including the need to interpret environment mercury data in the context of mercury exposure and human health at Maya archaeological sites.Keywords:
Cinnabar
Mercury
Mesoamerica
Maya
Human settlement
Environmental History
By 250 AD, the Classic Maya had become the most advanced civilization within the New World, possessing the only well-developed hieroglyphic writing system of the time and an advanced knowledge of mathematics, astronomy and architecture. Though only ruins of the empire remain, 7.5 million Mayan descendants still occupy areas of Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, and Honduras. Although they inhabit distant and distinct territories, speak more than 28 languages, and have been historically divided by warfare and a city-state-like political system, and they share characteristics such as rituals, artistic, architectural motifs that distinguish them as unequivocally Maya. This study was undertaken to determine whether these similarities among Mayan communities mirror genetic affinities or are merely a reflection of their common culture. Four Mayan populations were investigated (i.e., the K'iche and Kakchikel from Guatemala and the Campeche and Yucatan from Mexico) and compared with previously published populations across 15 autosomal STR loci. As a whole, the Maya emerge as a distinct group within Mesoamerica, indicating that they are more similar to each other than to other Mesoamerican groups. The data suggest that although geographic and political boundaries existed among Mayan communities, genetic exchanges between the different Mayan groups have occurred, supporting theories of extensive trading throughout the empire.
Maya
Mesoamerica
Cite
Citations (39)
Thus it was recorded [by] the first sage, Melchise [dek], the first prophet, Napuc Tun, the priest, the first priest. This is a song of how the uinal [20-day period] came to be created before the creation of the world. Then he began to march by his own effort alone. Then said his maternal grandmother, then said his maternal aunt, then said his paternal grandmother, then said his sister-in-law: “What shall we say when we see man on the road?” These were their words as they marched along, when there was no man [as yet]. Then they arrived there in the east and began to speak. “Who has passed here? Here are footprints. Measure it off with your foot.” So spoke the mistress of the world. Then he measured the footstep of our Lord, God, the Father. This was the reason it was called counting off the whole earth, lahca (12)Oc. This was the count, after it had been created by [the day] 13 Oc, after his feet were joined evenly, after they had departed there in the east. Then he spoke its name when the day had no name, after he had marched along with his maternal grandmother, his maternal aunt, his paternal grandmother and his sister-in-law. The uinal was created, the day, as it was called, was created, heaven and earth were created, the stairway of water, the earth, rocks and trees; the things of the sea and the things of the land were created.(Roys 1967, 116–117, author's brackets)
Mesoamerica
Maya
Cite
Citations (7)
Research over the past decade has significantly advanced our understanding of the prehispanic Maya codices, both in terms of their content (i.e., hieroglyphic texts, calendrical structure, and iconography) as well as the physical documents themselves (where and when they were painted, and by whom). Recent avenues of exploration include a new emphasis on linguistic and textual analyzes; novel methodologies for interpreting calendrical structure; and comparisons with other manuscript traditions, in particular those from highland central Mexico. As a result of these studies, researchers have found that some codical almanacs functioned as real-time instruments to document important astronomical events; others were used to schedule rituals as part of the 52-year calendar that guided civic and religious life in Mesoamerica during the Late Postclassic period (circa A.D. 1250 to 1520). Evidence of connections with central Mexico, documented in terms of interchange among codical scribes, suggests the need for a more thorough exploration of Maya-highland Mexican interaction during this time period.
Mesoamerica
Maya
Cite
Citations (0)
The culture historical framework for Lowland Maya culture history has undergone constant change since the inception of systematic research one hundred years ago. While some changes have been accretive and modifying, others have been more radical, especially within the last thirty years. These include new understandings of Maya Highland-Lowland interactions, Maya linkages to other parts of Mesoamerica, Maya-Olmec relationships, Preclassic-to-Classic configurations of development, and the long-time problem of southern Lowland-northern Lowland relationships. Above all, the reemergence of problems whose solutions had been taken for granted suggests the need for caution as the Lowland Maya space-time cultural-relationship structure is used as the basis for processual inquiry.
Maya
Mesoamerica
Cite
Citations (2)
Our purpose in this chapter is to explain how human physical growth
reflects the biocultural environment in which groups of people live. We do
this in the context of our research on the physical growth and health of Maya
children and adults. The Maya are one of the native peoples of the Americas.
There are an estimated 7-8 million Maya living in Guatemala, the Yucatan
Peninsula and a few other areas of southern Mexico, Belize, El Salvador,
and western Honduras (Figure 1.1). The majority, about 6.5 million live in
the highlands of Guatemala (Bogin, 2012). These demographic statistics make
the Maya the most populous Native American ethnic group. To better
understand the Maya people we created the Maya Project, a blend of art and
science portraying the biocultural realities of the Maya in Mesoamerica. One
aspect of the Maya Project is a web site – http://mayaproject.org.uk. We will
highlight some aspects of the Maya Project web site in later sections of this
chapter. First we offer some explanation of the biocultural perspective of
human growth.
Maya
Mesoamerica
Yucatan peninsula
Cite
Citations (1)
Mesoamerica
Maya
Cite
Citations (0)
Research over the past decade has significantly advanced our understanding of the prehispanic Maya codices, both in terms of their content (i.e., hieroglyphic texts, calendrical structure, and iconography) as well as the physical documents themselves (where and when they were painted, and by whom). Recent avenues of exploration include a new emphasis on linguistic and textual analyses; novel methodologies for interpreting calendrical structure; and comparisons with other manuscript traditions, in particular those from highland central Mexico. As a result of these studies, researchers have found that some codical almanacs functioned as real-time instruments to document important astronomical events; others were used to schedule rituals as part of the 52-year calendar that guided civic and religious life in Mesoamerica during the Late Postclassic period (circa A.D. 1250 to 1520). Evidence of connections with central Mexico, documented in terms of interchange among codical scribes, suggests the need for a more thorough exploration of Maya–highland Mexican interaction during this time period.
Mesoamerica
Maya
Cite
Citations (19)
Abstract Interaction between distant, culturally distinct, complex societies can significantly impact the sociopolitical development of the societies involved. In Classic period Mesoamerica, the urban center of Teotihuacan was a dominant force in the Valley of Mexico, and there is compelling evidence that its influence extended well beyond this region. The role of Teotihuacan in the political development of Maya cities has been debated for decades, though interaction may have also included exchange and the presence of Maya individuals at Teotihuacan. In this study I investigate interaction between Teotihuacan and several Maya polities through typological, spatial, and compositional analyses of Maya ceramics found at Teotihuacan. Data from instrumental neutron activation analysis are used to identify probable subregions from which Maya ceramics were imported to Teotihuacan. Results indicate that diverse Maya polities interacted with Teotihuacan over the course of five centuries, and that relationships involving polities in the central Petén region were particularly long-lived. This research has important implications for understanding the sociopolitical histories of Mesoamerican complex societies specifically, and interaction among complex societies in general.
Mesoamerica
Maya
Cite
Citations (64)
Since the mid-1980s there has been tremendous interest among anthropologists and Maya speakers in preserving, promoting, and revitalizing aspects of Maya culture throughout Mesoamerica. While the emphasis and intensity of this effort varies regionally, ethnographers have documented efforts to revitalize Maya theater in Chiapas, to promote spoken Maya in Guatemala, to excavate new ruin sites in Yucatan, and to reinvigorate Maya literature, music, and dance in all three areas.
Maya
Mesoamerica
Cite
Citations (2)
Mesoamerica
Maya
Baseline (sea)
Isotopes of strontium
Cite
Citations (14)