Circulation as Place-making: Late Classic Polities and Portable Objects (2014)

AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST

RESEARCH ARTICLES

Circulation as Placemaking: Late Classic Maya Polities

and Portable Objects

Christina T. Halperin

ABSTRACT What do portable objects have to do with the making of places? Portable objects are seemingly

peripheral to understandings of place, as landscape studies often revolve around human experiences in relation

to relatively fixed features, such as monumental buildings, agricultural fields, and settlements. Attention to the

fleeting movements and intersecting juxtapositions of portable things, people, and landscapes, however, reveals

placemaking as relational and dynamic. From a multiscalar perspective, in this article I identify the Late Classic (ca.

600–900 C.E.) Maya Ik’ polity in Peten, Guatemala, as a series of overlapping and relational local, provincial, and

regional places. I examine the circulation and social meanings of polychrome vessels and ceramic figurines through

paste composition, iconographic, and contextual analyses not only to understand the spatial junctures of the Ik’

polity but also to explore how conceptions of the Ik’ polity were forged by those who used, viewed, and moved these

objects. [space and place, materiality, politics, circulation, Maya]

RESUMEN Que tienen que ver los objetos portatiles con la construccion de lugares? Los objetos portatiles aparente-

mente son perifericos a los entendimientos de lugar en la medida en que los estudios de los paisajes giran en torno

a experiencias humanas en relacion a caracterısticas fijas tales como edificios monumentales, predios agrıcolas,

y asentamientos. Atencion a los movimientos momentaneos, yuxtaposiciones intersectantes de cosas portatiles,

gente y paisajes, sin embargo, revela la construccion de lugar como relacional y dinamico. Desde una perspectiva

multi-escalar, en este artıculo identifico la entidad polıtica del Ik Maya del clasico tardıo (aproximadamente 600–900

de la Era Comun) en Peten Guatemala, como una serie de lugares locales, provinciales y regionales superpuestos

y relacionales. Examino la circulacion y los significados sociales de vasijas policromadas y figuras de ceramica, a

traves de la composicion de la pasta, y los analisis iconografico y contextual no solo para entender las coyunturas

espaciales de la organizacion polıtica del Ik, pero tambien para explorar como las concepciones de la entidad polıtica

del Ik fueron forjadas por aquellos que usaron, vieron y movieron estos objetos. [espacio y lugar, materialidad,

polıtica, circulacion, Maya]

What do portable objects have to do with the making ofplaces? Some may view them as of little consequence

to the social construction of landscape, polity, village, andhome. After all, the staking out of place is often equated withthe modification of “natural” and “built” landscapes, suchas monumental buildings, city walls, and water features.In archaeology, political territories are often identified by

AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST, Vol. 116, No. 1, pp. 1–20, ISSN 0002-7294, online ISSN 1548-1433. C© 2014 by the American Anthropological Association.

All rights reserved. DOI: 10.1111/aman.12068

relatively fixed landscape features, which often include largercapital centers and smaller surrounding settlements placedinto a regional settlement hierarchy. Repetitive practices atthese settlement centers may create a biography of place inwhich architecture structures and is structured by collectivememory, ritual, labor, and everyday routines. Yet publicarchitectural buildings and settlements are more than just

2 American Anthropologist • Vol. 116, No. 1 • March 2014

contiguous sites of placemaking, and spatial practices involvemore than just inert features in the landscape.

Rather than examine space solely in absolute terms,as in a settlement hierarchy model or as a biography ofa single place, in this article I examine places producedthrough the movements and the intersecting juxtapositionsof people, things, and landscapes. Following Yi-Fu Tuan(1977), I understand place to be socially constructed whilespace comprises a physical locality devoid of social meaning(cf. Lefebvre 1991). In this sense, places do not exist a prioribut are produced by ongoing human social practices andexperiences with the material world. While portable mediamay appear to be poor candidates for understanding place,(1) they underscore the experience of place as a form ofmovement or circulation, and (2) they have the potential toconceptually capture and connect distant or noncontiguousplaces.

In this article, I explore the ways in which polities wereproduced in Late Classic (ca. 600–900 C.E.) Maya soci-ety through the circulation of polychrome ceramic vesselsand molded ceramic figurines. In doing so, I build on along history in archaeology of examining the distribution ofceramics and other forms of material culture to identify po-litical, religious, and cultural interaction spheres (Caldwell1964; Golden et al. 2008; Stark 1998; Wright and Johnson1975). Unlike previous research, which often maps artifactdistributions as indicators of the spatial extent of an empire,state, or polity’s control or influence, here I combine a spatialanalysis of artifact distributions with a sociosymbolic analy-sis of material culture. I identify the circulation of ceramicsusing paste composition studies (chemical, mineral, and vi-sual analyses), the debris of a ceramic production workshop,and archaeological contexts of discard and burial to providesome general parameters of object origins and their subse-quent spatial movements from those origins. I also considerhow particular places may have been experienced throughthe social use of such objects and through their iconographicand symbolic meanings, which were informed by and madereference to understandings of place. This synthesis of spa-tial distributions and sociosymbolic analysis is in recognitionthat polities, like any communities, manifest spatially andmaterially (e.g., particular groupings of residential build-ings, settlements) as well as conceptually (e.g., imaginedcommunities), both of which are mediated by ongoing socialpractices (see, e.g., Abrams 1988; Canuto and Yaeger 2000;LeCount 2010).

I argue that political places should be considered as rela-tional and dynamic rather than as a static domain of contigu-ous spaces (e.g., settlements). That is, places are constitutedas much through the ongoing movements and relationshipsbetween seemingly bounded social or political domains aswithin them. One of the ways relational understandings ofpolitical place may be identified is through textual sourcesthat outline networked and shifting relations within and be-tween people from different polities (Campbell 2009). Inthe case of the Late Classic period Maya, a relatively large

corpus of hieroglyphic texts makes claims to a complex webof political interactions between polities. Here, however, Ireveal the relational nature of political places through thejuxtaposition of multiple artifact circulation spheres in ref-erence to both textual sources and relatively fixed featuresin the landscape. The circulation of polychrome vessels withhieroglyphic texts and figural scenes denotes far-reachingelite political alliances. These movements contrast, in part,with those of ceramic figurines, which are suggestive of bothelite and commoner participation in the making of politicalplaces. The ceramic vessels and figurines correspond withbut also reveal alternative histories to those claimed in hiero-glyphic texts and to those dictated by settlement analyses.While the incongruences in these datasets are troublesomefor attempts to understand monolithic political boundaries,it is precisely these uneven juxtapositions that highlight thedynamism of polity formations produced through diversesets of alliances and tensions.

As a case study, I focus on the site of Motul de SanJose and its surrounding settlements at the western sideof Lake Peten Itza, Peten, Guatemala. Motul de San Josewas the capital (or perhaps one of several capitals) of theepigraphically known Ik’ polity (Foias and Emery 2012;Marcus 1976; Reents-Budet et al. 1994, 2007). While Motulde San Jose is a relatively small capital center, ceramic vesseland figurine circulations reveal that the Ik’ polity operated onmultiple, if sometimes conflicting, provincial and regionalspheres of interaction. The vessels and figurines were morethan just neutral objects exchanged over geographic space;they were part of the social construction of people and placesmanifested in their uses and meanings.

MOVEMENT AS PLACEMAKINGMoving bodies and portable things are critical but oftenoverlooked or secondary components in anthropological andsocial science discourses on space and place. At the heart ofthis predicament is the conception that bodies and things actin or are located in space and, as such, are epiphenomenalto it. Such a disconnect may have a temporal dimensionin which fleeting bodies and things seem to defy and crossspace, while static, inert bodies (i.e., a group of people con-tinuously occupying a given area of land) and things seemto produce place.1 The movement of people and things,nonetheless, produces socially meaningful places by bothlinking and delimiting more inert physical features, such asresidential architecture, settlements, and ecological zones,as a component of lived experience (Low 2009; Rodman1992). It is these mobile, intersecting elements of people,things, and landscapes that are experienced and perceived asmeaningful places, such as households, communities, poli-ties, and the state (Tuan 1977:136–148).

Such places may be formally recognized and officiallydemarcated or the result of more informal, everyday prac-tices. Michel De Certeau (1984), for example, argues thatthe everyday movements of walkers within contemporaryManhattan both follow and defy rationalist constructions of

Halperin • Circulation as Placemaking 3

urban space conceptualized by urban planners and architectsand operationalized through crosswalks, streets, and build-ings. Instead, he finds that it is the collective experiences andfragments of moving people as a constantly shifting networkof pathways that intertwine to create the “urban fabric” of acity. Likewise, at the farming village of Chan Noohol, Belize,Cynthia Robin (2002) locates Classic Maya domestic placesnot only in the enduring stone foundations of residentialbuildings but also in the earth-trodden pathways, outdoorwork areas, and refuse dumps that were created out of therepetitive movements and living experiences of householdmembers as they went about their everyday activities.

While places in both of the above cases emerge throughhabitual practices and may not always be consciously rec-ognized, the spatialization of movement may also take onhighly ritualized and officially sanctioned manifestations. Sa-cred Australian Aboriginal places, for instance, are delimitedthrough the mobile spatial field of ritual practitioners whotravel to sacred rock outcrops and highly charged mythi-cal places (Munn 1996). Aboriginal Law prohibits excludedparticipants (i.e., those of particular genders, ages, kin re-lations, etc.) from not only visiting these locales but frompassing the roads and pathways used in the ritual circuits.2 Inthis sense, sacred places are embodied by both ritual prac-titioners who travel along the ritual pathways and nonritualpractitioners whose bodily movements must actively avoidsuch pathways and locales. As discussed further below, colo-nial and contemporary Maya designations of place are oftenformalized through ritual processions or circuits in whichofferings are made at the center and in counterclockwisemovements to the four corners of a given space. These ritualcircuits help produce and delineate multiple types of places,including domestic residences, fields, villages, and politicalterritories (Garcıa-Zambrano 1994; Hanks 1990; Hill 1996;Vogt 1993).

Mobile bodies and things have taken on greater reso-nance recently as the seemingly ever-increasing movementsof people, media, and finances cross national borders andspur scholarly tropes of globalization in which the isomor-phism of political territory, national sovereignty, and peo-ple is called into question (Appadurai 1995). Studies ondiaspora, travel, and migration underscore that human loca-tion is constituted as much by displacement as by stasis andthat dislocation is a fundamental component of social under-standings of community formation (Bender 2001; Clifford1997). While my focus in the case examples below is notso much on identifying patterns of long-distance migration,discussions of dislocation are useful for thinking about howthe movements of people and objects continuously decen-ter boundaries—whether of national borders or of ancientsettlements—in the creation of new connections and newsenses of place.

Unlike cultural anthropological studies, which tend toprivilege the body (and the mind) over small portable ob-jects, archaeological research privileges the material worldof objects in addition to bodily remains and residues. Because

portable goods rarely move themselves, their movements areindexical of people’s movements. Archaeological studies oftrade and exchange, in particular, investigate how goodsflow between regions, communities, and different sorts ofpeople (Bauer and Agbe-Davies 2010; Renfrew 1975). Assuch, moving objects denote fleeting links between peopleas well as between places in relational networks. Even whenobjects are moved through a market system, their move-ments and the networks they help produce always havepolitical and social implications. For instance, in a study ofutilitarian pots produced by 18th-century Caribbean slavepopulations, Mark Hauser (2011) found that slaves of Britishisland colonies regularly exchanged utilitarian vessels withslaves and nonslaves from neighboring French colonies, aphenomenon that challenged British political-economic au-tonomy and officially sanctioned senses of colonial place.

Not only do moving objects provide rough maps ofwhere people or networks of people have moved and inter-acted with one another to form new conceptions of place,they can also serve as the material symbols of the “original”owners or producers of such goods and the relationshipscemented between them and their recipients, sometimes inongoing linked chains (Mauss 1990; Weiner 1992). Objectsmay signify particular events, linking past memories with themaking of new ones, or they may signify places of “origins”and, through their dislocation from these places, produceconnections between them (Helms 1993; Overholtzer andStoner 2011). Souvenirs, for example, are objectified im-ages of exotic or distant places that only become realizedas such when they circulate beyond their source of ori-gin. Portable objects do not merely connect people, events(time), or places but, in the process of connecting, recon-stitute them as their meanings and memories take on newexpressions through shifting juxtapositions of people, things,and landscapes. In this sense, the movement of objects hasthe potential to identify place both in spatial–territorial andsocially meaningful terms. While various types of places maybe considered, I focus here on the Late Classic Maya polity.

LATE CLASSIC MAYA POLITIES: ABSOLUTESPACES AND RELATIONAL PLACESWhile historical understandings of polities often focus on po-litically prominent people, archaeological interpretations ofpolities often concentrate on the geographical, monumental,and settlement composition of a governing body and its pre-sumed region of influence. The dynamics of ancient polities,however, may be better understood in terms of both peopleand geographical–territorial domains. As such, polities canbe conceived not only in terms of absolute space—that is,as a series of contiguous or separate locations—but also asrelational places comprising networked relations betweenpeople and between people and places (Campbell 2009;Schortman and Ashmore 2012; A. Smith 2003; M. Smith2005). In other words, polities may be seen as both absolute(“bounded”) entities and a series of relationships manifestedwithin and extended beyond such entities. Thus, attention


given to, on the one hand, relatively fixed features in thelandscape and, on the other hand, potentially mobile things(e.g., people and the things they take with them or ex-change with others) helps provide a richer understandingof such polities as both territorial units and relationshipsbetween people.

In fact, Colonial and Pre-Columbian linguistic datasuggest that Maya polities were conceived of as bothterritorial–geographic domains and groups of people. Forexample, during the 16th century, Yucatecan polities werecalled cuchacabal, translated as “territory, “jurisdiction,”province,” region,” and “all the subjects of one ruler.”Cuch refers to “responsibility,” “the load on one’s back,” or“people one controls as subjects,” indicating not only thatpolities had a spatial dimension on the landscape but also thatthey were composed of people and what people did in termsof obligations and responsibilities (Marcus 1993:117–118).Among 16th-century Quiche Maya speakers, vinak literallymeant “people,” but the term was also used to refer toQuiche and Cakchiquel polities with territorial extents (Hill1996:63–64).

Classic period emblem glyphs, one of the most impor-tant hieroglyphic expressions for understanding Maya poli-ties, also reveal blurred conceptions of political people andgeographical places. While often treated as political territo-ries, emblem glyphs may be more precisely understood asroyal titles held by Maya kings that include a main sign in-terpreted as a political unit (Stuart and Houston 1994:3–7).These royal titles and political designations both were tiedto and transcended particular geographical locations. Forinstance, elite women who changed residency to live in andmarry men from distant polities retained their royal titles oftheir natal polities. The same emblem glyph could be heldby multiple rulers from different and sometimes antagonisticpolitical capitals, such as Tikal and Dos Pilas. At the sametime, the main sign of some emblem glyphs may share ele-ments with toponyms (glyphic place names), indicating thatsome political units were indeed associated with particularplaces (Stuart and Houston 1994: 9; Tokovinine and Zender2012:31–35). Thus, the relationships between territorial-and people-based understandings of polities were likely notonly correlated but dynamic. While occupation at a partic-ular site or within a particular territory may have helpeddictate the identities of its occupants, the movements, laborobligations, and interactions of political elites and commonpeople alike may have affected how political territories werestructured and conceived.

Although the Late Classic Maya political landscape wascomposed of multiple, competing polities, scholars havelong debated their size, structure, and relationships witheach other (Adams and Jones 1981; Chase and Chase 1996;Fox et al. 1996; Marcus 1993). Some scholars argue that theSouthern Maya Lowlands was dominated by a few central-ized, regional polities that had four-tier settlement hierar-chies, centralized control over public works, relatively largebureaucracies, and spatial domains that covered as much as

between two- and twelve-thousand square kilometers.3 Cap-ital centers, such as Tikal and Calakmul, and their paramountrulers (k’uhul ajaw) are thought to have controlled smallerprovincial polities, including those with their own emblemglyphs (Figure 1). This control is debated, and those whofavor more decentralized models argue that regional politycapitals did not significantly influence the political and eco-nomic lives of people in smaller polities and instead that eachpolity was relatively autonomous from one another. Oth-ers have suggested that paramount elites may have sharedpolitical-ritual roles with smaller polities in a rotating systemthrough time and space (Rice 2004). Likewise, centralizedand decentralized polities may have coexisted, such as pow-erful, centralized polities in the Peten and many smaller de-centralized centers in northern and western Belize (LeCountand Yaeger 2010).

These political models evoke both absolute spaces andrelational places, exposing different aspects of a polity’speople–territory dynamic. Settlement rankings of closelylocated sites (based on number of buildings, courtyards,and inferred population sizes, number of monuments, con-struction volume, etc.) reveal possible relationships of dom-inance and subordinance in absolute space but with eachpolity as bounded and generally contiguous with one an-other. For example, compared to the large regional cap-ital of Tikal, the site of Motul de San Jose is considereda relatively small provincial capital because its ceremonialcore area is only approximately 1.4 square kilometers, witha total of 230 structures (Figure 2; see Foias and Emery2012). Settlement data do not always explicate how thoserelationships unfolded nor how political relations with non-contiguous polities were forged (or avoided). What wasMotul de San Jose’s relationship to Tikal? Moreover, towhat extent were smaller or similarly sized centers lo-cated near Motul de San Jose incorporated into or affiliatedwith it?

With the continued decipherment of hieroglyphic texts,written sources have helped elucidate political alliances andconflicts between elite personages from different politiesthat chart the historic rises and falls of polities through time.These records tend to focus on networked relations betweenpeople rather than the delineation of absolute spaces in theform of territorial limits. In the case of Motul de San Jose,few monuments have been recorded at the site, many ofwhich are too eroded to identify the texts. Nonetheless,these fragmentary data in combination with textual sourcesfrom polychrome pottery and from monuments at othersites indicate that Motul de San Jose was the capital (or per-haps one of several capitals) of the Ik’ polity. Motul de SanJose’s Stela 1 records the Ik’ ruler Yeh Te’ K’inich accedingto office and presiding over a period ending ceremony at thebeginning of the eighth century, although he does so underthe auspices of Tikal ruler Jasaw Chan K’awiil (Martin andGrube 2000:45–46). Like the Ik’ polity, other prominentcenters along the chain of lakes just south of Tikal, suchas Zacpeten, Ixlu, and Yaxha, were either subordinate to


FIGURE 1. Map of the Maya area with selected sites mentioned in the text.

Tikal at one point or another during the Late Classic period(ca. 600–900 C.E.) or possessed civic-ceremonial architec-ture that aligned with those from Tikal (Martin and Grube2000:49; Rice 2004:144–167).

Textual sources, however, were primarily written byelites from only the most dominant of Maya polities. Assuch, they often fail to discuss political developments withor between lower-level political centers or from the per-spective of less-powerful political participants. Likewise,they are often silent on the spatiality of political places. Evenin regard to toponyms, we do not know the size of suchplaces, the villages that may have been associated with them,and the relationships between its constituting parts. In con-trast, the material record outlines relational political do-mains in spatial terms and highlights the social connectionsbetween people and between people, things, and landscapes.

ELABORATE POLYCHROME VESSELS: ELITEINTERACTIONS IN THE PRODUCTIONOF RELATIONAL POLITICAL PLACESDrawing on the work of Dorie Reents-Budet, RonaldBishop, and others on the stylistic and chemical analysis of

polychrome vessels, one of the ways to assess the relationalplacemaking of the Ik’ polity is to examine the productionand circulation of elaborate polychrome vessels (Foias andBishop 2007; Just 2012; Reents-Budet 1994; Reents-Budetet al. 2012). Elaborate polychrome vessels with hieroglyphictexts and figural scenes were part and parcel of politicalalliances and relations of debt similar to those involvingother types of prestige goods. As such, they reveal relativelynoncontiguous, relational political spheres between politicalcapitals and between elite personages.

Scholars have suggested that Motul de San Jose was oneof the centers for the production of Ik’ style polychromevases and small dishes. The Ik’ style is known largely from acorpus of unprovenienced vessels (n = +45) characterizedby traits such as black rim bands with interior black scallopeddesigns, pictorial scenes that include male performers inelaborate “X-ray” costumes and masks, pink hieroglyphictexts outlined in either red or black, and texts that recordelite personages from the Ik’ polity (Figure 3). Chemicalanalysis of these vessels through instrumental neutron acti-vation analysis (INAA) reveals that their paste compositionsbelong to the same paste groups as those of pottery


FIGURE 2. Map of Motul de San Jose showing site core and extended northern and eastern settlement zones. (Map courtesy of Motul de San Jose

Archaeological Project)

recovered from Motul de San Jose, thus suggesting that thesevessels were produced in or near Motul de San Jose. INAAidentifies the major, minor, and trace elements of ceramicpaste compositions through the excitement of nuclei of ele-ments in a sample through neutron activation and subsequentmeasurement of the emission of gamma rays that occur dur-ing isotopic decay of element nuclei (Bishop et al. 1982;Neff 2000). INAA paste groups are identified through mul-tivariate cluster and principal components analyses and arecompared to a ceramic paste database of over 30,000 samplesfrom all over the Maya area (Bishop et al. 1982; Neff 2000).

In addition to the paste composition data, archaeologi-cal excavations at the northern edge of Motul de San Jose’sroyal palace has uncovered evidence for the production ofIk’ style polychrome vessels, simple polychrome vessels,and ceramic figurines (Halperin and Foias 2010, 2012). Al-though evidence for pottery production is extremely rare inthe Maya area, these excavations located the debris from apottery-production workshop or workshops within a large

secondary midden of the palace. This debris included ce-ramic vessel wasters (vessels cracked, spalled, and warpedduring the process of production), unfinished vessels, pos-sible ceramic production tools (burnishers and polishers forsmoothing vessels, bone tools with red paint on their distalends), paint pots, a figurine mold and multiple identical fig-urines produced from the same mold, burnt clay, and largequantities of ash. The chemical composition of the ceramicwasters also belonged to the same paste groups as thoseof many of the unprovenienced Ik’ style vessels, furthersuggesting that Motul de San Jose was one of the placeswhere Ik’ style vessels were produced.4

Despite the fact that the large majority of Ik’ style ves-sels are unprovenienced, some Motul de San Jose region–produced polychrome vessels (pottery chemically sourcedto the Motul de San Jose region) and Ik’ style vessels (potterybelonging to the Ik’ style but whose chemical compositionsare not yet known) have been found archaeologically fromvarious sites across the Southern Maya Lowlands (Figure 4).


FIGURE 3. Ik’ style vessels: (a) rollout photo of cylinder vase excavated from child burial at the site of Tayasal (T7B-3, T104) (K2707 C©Justin Kerr);

(b) rollout photo of unprovenienced cylinder vase chemically sourced to the Motul de San Jose region (K1439 C©Justin Kerr).

Such finds point to ways in which Ik’ polity elites networkedwith peoples both inside and outside their polity and speakof Motul de San Jose as a relational place socially and polit-ically produced through its interactions with other politicalcapitals. It is through these interactions that the Ik’ polityidentity formed, acquiring and reacquiring its spatial com-position and political significance over time. Although theseexamples only represent a small proportion of the total ves-sels that likely circulated from the Motul de San Jose regionto other domains, the circulation of such vessels both paral-lels and reveals additional insights to those provided by thetextual sources on the Ik’ polity.

For example, extensive archaeological research fromthe sites of Dos Pilas, Aguateca, Arroyo de Piedra, Seibal,and Tamarindito in the Petexbatun region of Guatemala hasuncovered at least nine Motul de San Jose region–producedvessels from royal burials, palace middens, and cave con-texts (Foias and Bishop 2007; Reents-Budet et al. 2012:83).The movement of eighth-century vessels between the Ik’polity and prominent centers in the Petexbatun region cor-roborate ties claimed in textual sources, such as the defeat

of an Ik’ ruler in 745 CE by Dos Pilas ruler, K’awiil ChanK’inich (Martin and Grube 2000:62). They also underscorethe growing relations Ik’ rulers had with polities outside ofTikal’s purview. At the same time, the movement of vesselsspeaks of possible political relations not specified in knownwritten sources. For example, an Ik’ style vessel was exca-vated from a burial of an elite child (T7B-3, T104) at thesite of Tayasal (Chase 1985:197; see esp. Figure 3a). As ex-plored further below, it would not be surprising if Tayasalwas part of or allied with the Ik’ polity because Tayasal islocated less than 14 kilometers away from Motul de SanJose.

Written texts alone, however, do not serve as tangi-ble, material links between people and between places. It islikely that many of these elaborate polychrome vessels wereinalienable possessions, items socially and symbolically tiedto particular people and places even if gifted to other parties(Mauss 1990; Weiner 1992). Maya divine kings and perhapssome of the nobility patronized these vessels, with the pa-trons of vessels inscribed on the rim text and in some casespainted within vessel scenes of royal court interactions and


FIGURE 4. Distribution of sites where Motul de San Jose region–produced and Ik’ style vessels have been archaeologically excavated (data from Foias and

Bishop 2007, Reents-Budet et al. 2007, and Reents-Budet et al. 2012; does not include more recent unpublished chemical results of other Peten sites).

public political performances (see Figure 3). Such materialties between things and people need not have been so literal,as use of the vessel as a component in feasting rituals alsowould have served as a means to sensually tie the vessel to itsowner or any other individual who sipped or ate the vessels’contents. Textual sources, iconographic data, and chemicalresidue studies indicate, for example, that polychrome vaseswere used for holding cacao, a coveted beverage consumedduring ceremonial occasions (McNeil 2009). Likewise, thevessels would have also been associated with the times andplaces where such feasting occurred, such as within royaland noble residential courtyards. As mentioned, Ik’ stylevessels have been found in royal palace and noble residentialmiddens in addition to burials and ritual contexts such ascaves.

Feasting, however, was about not just the hosts but alsothe guests, and these ceremonial occasions often cementedkey social ties, such as marriages and other royal and noble al-liances. Lisa LeCount (2001) and Antonia Foias (2002) havesuggested, based on ethnohistoric data, that elaborate poly-chrome vessels were gifted to guests during such politicalceremonies. In fact, none of the archaeologically excavatedIk’ style vessels from burials were found in the burials oftheir patrons, indicating that they were indeed gifted or ex-changed hands over their life histories. These scholars argue,drawing on the work of Marcel Mauss (1990), that potterywas used as political “currency”—such that its gifting cre-ated not only alliances but also relations of debt whereinthe receiver was obligated to be in service to and repay thegiver. Such gifting practices may explain why no Motul deSan Jose–produced or Ik’ style vessels have yet to be foundat Tikal, as the larger and more monumental center of Tikal

may have only put itself in a position to give vessels (Reents-Budet et al. 2008). Indeed, some polychrome vessels and,as detailed further below, some ceramic figurines excavatedfrom Motul de San Jose have been chemically sourced to theTikal zone.

Other mechanisms for vessel circulation may includethe migration of royal personages to more distant palaces.Written sources indicate that women married into new royalfamilies and that young elite men were sent to live in distantroyal courts (Houston 2009). They may have taken theirfamily possessions with them, which may have denoted notonly status and rank but also their places of origin. Whethergifted, brought, or even stolen, persons’ and objects’ dislo-cation from their origins would have produced new sensesof place, admixtures of local and distant. While elaboratepolychrome vessels provide some indication of the inter-mingling of political capitals and royal courts as relationalplaces, what can we say of the “voids” beyond the elite?

CERAMIC FIGURINES: PLACEMAKING BEYONDTHE ELITECeramic Figurines as Symbols of Public PlacesThe circulation of ceramic figurines provides some evidencefor the linking of both commoner and elite households topolity centers and to each other as part of a process of polityplacemaking. During the Late Classic period, hand-sizedmolded ceramic figurines often functioned as ocarinas (windinstruments) and were likely used by men, women, andchildren in the context of household ritual, entertainment,and play, and possibly as informal instruments or noisemak-ers during large-scale ceremonies (Halperin 2012, 2014;Triadan 2007; Willey 1972). Molded or partly molded


FIGURE 5. Molded ceramic figurine ocarinas: (a) ritual clown “Fat Man” with fan in right hand, Nixtun Ch’ich’ (NC118; front, profile, back); (b) female

with large ceremonial headdress (H4), Motul de San Jose (MSJ2A-40–5–9c); (c) ruler with large ceremonial headdress (H9), Trinidad (TRI10D-3–3a);

(d) lower torso of ballplayer in striking pose, Motul de San Jose (MSJ2A-40–4–1d); (e) seated ruler with large ceremonial headdress (H9), Motul de San

Jose (MSJ2A-3–11–1d); (f) musician with handheld drum and rattle, Motul de San Jose (MSJ2A-5–7–2). (All photos by author)


figurines tend to have a relatively widespread distributionwithin both commoner and elite households, settlementcores and rural villages, and occasionally as part of ceremo-nial midden deposits found adjacent to public architecture.Their most common form of deposition in all of these con-texts is in fragmentary form as part of middens (Halperin2012, 2014; Triadan 2007; Willey 1972).

Many figurines provided caricatures of and commen-taries on public social life; in this sense, ceramic figurinesmay have served, in part, as the reimaginings of public col-lective life. They include ball players, seated rulers in cere-monial gear, female travelers or market women, musicians,masked performers, and ritual clowns (Figure 5). For ex-ample, my analysis of figurine headdresses from figurinecollections throughout the Peten Lakes region reveals thatthe two most common headdress themes are ruler head-dresses, identified by a deity mask surrounded by largefan-shaped feather plumes, and broad-brimmed hats, head-dresses associated with merchants, marketing, and travelingmen and women (Halperin 2014; Taube 1992:79–88; seeFigures 5c, 5e, 6, Table 1).5 These two headdresses makereference to political and public social activities. The bulkysizes of the ruler headdresses would have been inappropri-ate for more intimate interactions and are identical to thoseworn by rulers on monuments commemorating accessionand period-ending ceremonies. In turn, the broad-brimmedhat would have been inappropriate for residential interiors.A recently discovered mural from the site of Calamkul, forexample, depicts many nontitled women and men in broad-brimmed hats in a scene of public social drinking, eating,and exchanging of goods as part of a market or festive occa-sion (Carrasco Vargas et al. 2009). In the household, thesefigurines may have been animated as musical instruments,served as catalysts for oral narratives, or facilitated connec-tions to supernatural realms, replaying and reworking themeanings and memories of collective political and social lifeon a more intimate scale.

Most households in the Motul de San Jose region andother sites from Peten, Guatemala, did not produce theirown figurines. They likely acquired them through some typeof market or centralized distribution system (Halperin et al.2009). Although figurines likely had multiple life historiesof movement, I argue that two important nodes of thesemovements were centrally located plazas or markets, wherefigurines may have been acquired and occasionally played asinstruments, and household contexts, where figurines weremost commonly animated, used, and ultimately discarded.Pre-Columbian markets were intimately intertwined withstate pomp as presumed market places are located adjacentto civic-ceremonial architecture (Dahlin et al. 2010; Jones1999), and Colonial period documents indicate that some ofthe largest market fairs were timed to coincide with state-sponsored ceremonial events (Farriss 1984; Roys 1972). Assuch, figurines may have not only helped conjure ideas ofpolitical place through their iconography but also served

as material tokens of one’s actual experiences at period-ending ceremonies, markets, and other commemorativeevents.

Regional Polity PlacemakingIn addition to the imagined or real places ceramic fig-urines helped to invoke, the circulation of figurines alsounderscored the spatial dimensions of household connec-tions formed as household members moved or exchangedgoods in their neighborhoods and public plaza spaces. Inthe case of the Motul de San Jose region, I suggest that thecirculation of figurines helped produce both provincial andregional political places.

On the level of the regional polity, my coauthored study(Halperin et al. 2009) of 2,767 Late Classic figurines indi-cates that some figurines from Tikal were exported to theMotul de San Jose region. Most of the securely dated fig-urines fall within the Tepeu 2 and 3 phases of the LateClassic period (ca. 700–900 C.E.). This study included mi-croscopic (100x handheld microscope; 100% of sample),petrographic (mineral analysis conducted using polarizedlight microscopy; n = 62), and INAA chemical paste analy-sis of figurines (n = 104) from Motul de San Jose and smallersettlement sites nearby, including the secondary centers ofAkte, Chachaklu’um, and Trinidad de Nosotros (hereafterreferred to as Trinidad), and the tertiary centers of Chakokotand Buenavista (Figure 7). The chemical analysis found that15.5 percent of the figurines matched chemical paste groupsfrom pottery recovered in and around the large urban cen-ter of Tikal.6 The Tikal figurine imports were excavatedfrom primary and secondary middens located in commoneras well as middle-status and elite household groups in theMotul de San Jose region. They were recovered from thetertiary-level settlement of Buenavista as well as from publicceremonial and elite residential contexts at Motul de SanJose and the secondary center of Trinidad. Thus, the im-ports do not reflect only elite–elite exchanges, such as thoseinvolving Ik’ style vessels.

These finds indicate that despite Motul de San Jose’s elitepolitical ties to multiple capitals outside of Tikal’s purviewduring the last half of the eighth century, Tikal continuedto exert regional influence on Motul de San Jose during thistime. Tikal figurines may have been acquired directly byMotul de San Jose region residents who traveled to Tikalor through local distribution systems in which Tikal fig-urines were exported to Motul de San Jose or other nearbycenters and distributed from central markets or public cere-monial zones from there. Either way, the Tikal imports aresuggestive of relatively ordinary and broad-based webs ofmovement rather than solely those of the royal elite. Thesedistributions may not have been overtly political, but theyinformed where and to which political centers peoples werecommonly affiliated, visited, conducted business, and reliedupon for networking.


FIGURE 6. Two of the most common figurine headdresses in the Peten Lakes region: (a) ruler headdress (War Serpent, H9), Nixtun Ch’ich’ (NC003);

(b) ruler headdress (War Serpent, H9), Motul de San Jose (MSJ15A-34–2–3a); (c) ruler headdress (War Serpent, H9), Nixtun Ch’ich’ (NC119); (d)

ruler headdress (War Serpent, H9), Chakokot (CHT44E-14–3–1a); (e) ruler headdress (War Serpent, H9), Motul de San Jose (MSJ2A-1–7–1); (f)

ruler headdress (War Serpent, H9), Tayasal (TY169); (g) broad-brimmed hat (H3), San Clemente (SCFC014); (h) broad-brimmed hat (H3), Nakum

(NKFC221); (i) broad-brimmed hat (H3) on female body, Motul de San Jose (MSJ2A-5–6–15n); (j) broad-brimmed hat fragment (H3), Zacpeten (ZP008;

Lot9084); (k) broad-brimmed hat fragment (H3), Nixtun Ch’ich’ (NC082). (Note: a and b, and d and e, are made from the same mold or set of molds;

all photos by author)


Table 1. Late Classic Figurine Headdresses from the Peten Lakes Regiona

Headdress code n % % (without H)

Broad-brimmed hat H3 108 19.82 23.74Ruler headdress, fan-shaped feather plumes with mask H9 101 18.53 22.20Two feather sprays at ears H4 32 5.87 7.03Unidentified feather headdress H17 34 6.24 7.47Cloth or paper head wrap, tie in front H2 24 4.40 5.27Cone-shaped with tassels on top H12 18 3.30 3.96Animal headdress (no feathers) H11 35 6.42 7.69Single thin headband H6 28 5.14 6.15Cloth head wrap, band in front H1 11 2.02 2.42Cone-shaped with tassels along sides H7 11 2.02 2.42Thick headband H5 9 1.65 1.98Goggle-eyes with stiff paper/feathered headdress H13 6 1.10 1.32Twisted cloth H15 5 0.92 1.10Other misc. types (includes helmets & masks) H19 16 2.94 3.52Rounded headdress, made with stiff cloth? H10 3 0.55 0.66Short-brimmed hat H16 5 0.92 1.10Cylinder-shaped with feathers H14 1 0.18 0.22Removable headdress/mask H21 3 0.55 0.66Cloth wrap, two tassels hanging to the sides H22 2 0.37 0.44Cloth head wrap with beads/ornaments H20 2 0.37 0.44Cone-shaped head or headdress H8 1 0.18 0.22Eroded, fragmentary, unidentified H 90 16.51Total 545 100 100

aHeaddresses comprise only a proportion of figurine counts; figurines included in this analysis comprise collections from the Motul de San Jose region (n = 2,767; MSJ, TRI, CHA,ATE, TBV, CHT) and from Nixtun Ch’ich’, Tayasal (2009–2010 excavations), Flores, Ixlu, Zacpeten, San Clemente, Yaxha, Topoxte, and Nakum (n = 1,016).Note: Conical applique parts previously considered headdresses (H8) from the Motul de San Jose region were omitted here because many may be censer spikes.

Provincial Polity PlacemakingThe regional circulation of Tikal figurines occurred simul-taneously with more localized figurine movements. Theselocalized figurine movements, identified through local fig-urine production and distribution networks, were central tothe making of political provinces. The combined chemical,petrographic, and microscopic paste analyses revealed thatlocal pastes included red (labeled A&B and falling in the2.5YR and 5YR hue categories in the Munsell color scheme)ash-inclusion ware and tan (labeled C&E and falling in the7.5YR and 10YR hue categories in the Munsell color scheme)ash-inclusion ware figurines. While the presence of ash andcolor variations were identifiable in both the petrographicand microscopic analyses, the INAA analysis revealed thatthe red pastes possessed higher iron concentrations than thetan pastes, substantiating the major differences betweenthe pastes on a chemical level. While the local sourcing of thefigurines was based, in part, on the criterion of abundance,the idea that the most abundant products are produced clos-est to the source, a clay sample taken from halfway betweenMotul de San Jose and Trinidad also matched the chemical

composition of the local red ash-inclusion figurines in theINAA analysis.

Newly reported here is a study of over 1,016 ceramicfigurines from multiple sites in the Peten Lakes region thatprovides a broader regional understanding of the area whencombined with the previous study. It reveals that the red ash-inclusion figurines are more highly concentrated among sitesat the western side of Lake Peten Itza (Figure 8, Table 2). Thestudy included figurines from Nixtun Ch’ich’, Ixlu, Flores(Nojpeten), Tayasal, San Clemente, Nakum, Topoxte, andYaxha. Analysis consisted of microscopic (100x handheldmicroscope; 100 percent of sample) and visual inspection(with the naked eye) of figurine pastes. Western Lake Pe-ten Itza sites also shared some figurine imagery not foundin the eastern lakes region. For example, figurines of theMaya wind god, ik’ k’uh, identified by his buccal duck maskand flower at the center of his headdress, have only beenrecovered from the sites of Motul de San Jose (n = 3),Nixtun-Ch’ich’ (n = 1), and a surface collection zone nearTrinidad (n = 1) (see Figure 9). While there is currently notenough evidence to suggest that the wind god was a patron


FIGURE 7. Map of Tikal and Peten Lakes sites showing regional settlement hierarchy marked by sizes of triangles.

FIGURE 8. Distribution of local red-pasted ceramic figurines: (above) graph of paste type percentages; (below) map of the Peten Lakes region showing

sites with Late-Terminal Classic figurine collections containing 50 percent or more red-pasted figurines (A and B pastes) and sites with 50 percent or more

tan-pasted figurines (C and E pastes). Chachaaklu’um omitted here due to small sample sizes (n =< 8).


Table 2. Late Classic Paste Types by Site

Red to reddish yellow Pink to very pale brown Misc.

A & B % C & E % Othera % Total

Nixtun Ch’ich’ 84 66.1 32 25.2 11 8.7 127Flores 10 62.5 6 32.5 0 0.0 16Tayasal 125 67.2 46 24.7 15 8.1 186Buenavista 40 64.5 14 22.6 8 12.9 62Motul de San Jose 1588 70.4 544 24.1 124 5.5 2256Chakokot 73 79.3 14 15.2 5 5.4 92Trinidad de Nosotros 141 47.5 137 46.1 19 6.4 297Ixlu 8 9.3 62 72.1 16 18.6 86Zacpeten 3 9.4 25 78.1 4 12.5 32San Clemente 31 9.0 286 82.9 28 8.1 345Nakum 6 1.8 318 97.5 2 0.6 326Topoxte 3 8.1 25 67.6 9 24.3 37Yaxha 6 12.8 35 74.5 6 12.8 47

aOther ware types include imitation fine gray, fine orange, unidentified/burnt, non–ash tempered wares, and other miscellaneous wares. A large proportion of Nakum figurineswere recently burnt from a fire in the bodega and are not included in the totals.

deity of the Ik’ polity, it is noteworthy that the toponymassociated with Motul de San Jose, Ik’a’, is read as “windywater,” and the main sign of the Ik’ emblem glyph containsthe logogram Ik’ (Tokovinine and Zender 2012; cf. Stuartand Houston 1994:28, n. 7).

The red paste figurine distributions denote relationshipsthat were likely part of more provincial aspects of the Ik’polity. Motul de San Jose’s ties with surrounding centers,such as Chakokot, Buenavista, and Trinidad, are not surpris-ing because they surround Motul de San Jose and are smallerin size and monumental expression. In terms of settlementpattern hierarchies, it is this immediate region that is oftenconsidered politically bound to the capital center. The link-ages between Motul de San Jose and relatively similar-sizedcenters, such as Nixtun Ch’ich’ and Tayasal, however, arenot as self-evident because the scale of their monumental ar-chitecture and the sizes of outlying settlement suggest that,in absolute spatial terms, they were separate entities andby extension, may have had relatively autonomous politicaleconomies from one another.7 It may not be so uncommon,however, for polities to contain multiple centers of gravity asa result of political domination or incorporation, power shar-ing, economic integration, or the transfer of power from onecenter to another over time, such as Dos Pilas and Aguateca(Foias and Bishop 2007; Mathews and Willey 1991; Rice2004).

Interestingly, the relational understanding of the Ik’polity along the western side of Lake Peten Itza foreshadowssimilar spatial relations of the Itza Maya polity during thePostclassic and Contact periods (ca. 1200–1697 C.E.; seeJones 1998; Rice and Rice 2009). During these time periods,the Itza Maya peoples, an ethnolinguistic group, occupied the

western and southern side of Lake Peten Itza (Figure 10).Recent archaeological research reveals that Postclassic ar-chitectural and ceramic patterns parallel ethnohistoricallyknown territories of the Itza and Kowoj polities to the westand east of Peten Itza, respectively (Cecil and Neff 2006;Pugh 2003).

Although various dynastic, ecological, and settlementchanges occurred between the Classic and Postclassic pe-riods, recent research suggests that Lake Peten Itza mayhave served as an enduring homeland for some Itza Mayapeoples (Boot 2005; Schele and Mathews 1998:201–204).Epigraphic and ethnohistoric evidence indicates that at theend of the Late Classic some of the Itza Maya, perhaps someof whom were once affiliated with the Ik’ polity, migratedfrom Lake Peten Itza to Chichen Itza in northern Yucatan,while later in the Postclassic period, Itza Maya peoples fromnorthern Yucatan returned to Lake Peten Itza. Despite suchlarge-scale dislocations, it is possible that the Itza Maya drewheavily on landmark features, such as the lake itself, to struc-ture its geographic location and its political identity.

DISCUSSIONWhile landmark features and built landscapes often have anenduring quality, the production of places also involves thefleeting movements of people and things. The circulation ofsmall, portable objects speak, in particular, to the ways inwhich objects cement ties between not only the people whoproduced, exchanged, or brought such objects but also be-tween noncontiguous parts of the landscape, such as betweenpublic ceremonial spaces and households, between royalhouseholds from different polities, and between provincial


FIGURE 9. Wind deities: (a) Nixtun Ch’ich’ figurine, (NC002); (b) detail from Yaxchilan Hieroglyphic Stair, Panel 10, Temple 33 (after Freidel et al.

1993: figure 8.4b); (c) Motul de San Jose figurine (MSJ40–5–4-a); (d) Motul de San Jose figurine (MSJ2A-5–6–16a); (e) Motul de San Jose figurine

(MSJ2A-5–6–16b). (All figurine drawings by Luis F. Luin)

and regional capitals. The making of such places, like the rela-tionships between people, may be further reinforced throughrepetitive movements and exchanges wherein loosely relatedplaces become conceptually and materially more prominentover time.

Ancient polities were as much about the conflicting andcollaborative relationships between people as the materiallandmarks, territories, and settlement locations they created(and which in turn created them). Attention to portable ob-jects helps underscore the dynamic nature of placemakingthat includes both territorial understandings of place as wellas the relationships and movements of people. Archaeo-logical interpretations of artifacts, however, also run therisk of too closely equating such pieces with the people,polity, or culture under investigation—hence the common

phrase, “pots are not people.” For example, the distributionof red paste figurines should not be treated unambiguouslyas the members of or spatial extent of the Ik’ polity but,rather, as indicative of a series of relationships (e.g., ex-change networks that included both elite and commoners)and experiences (e.g., possible common participation at fes-tival markets, large-scale political ceremonies) that helpedshape the Ik’ polity on a broad-scale level during the LateClassic period.

Perhaps more significant in challenging static, boundednotions of place, however, is the juxtaposition of differentcirculation spheres in relation to each other and to set-tlements. Such juxtapositions highlight the multiscalar andrelational nature of polities. For example, provincial polityrelations were maintained alongside and perhaps in tension


FIGURE 10. Contact period geopolitical territories in the Peten Lakes region (redrawn by author after Rice and Rice 2009: map 1.4).

with those on the regional polity level, such as betweenMotul de San Jose region sites and Tikal as indicated by fig-urine and ceramic imports from Tikal to the Motul de SanJose region. Ik’ provincial interactions were not limited tohierarchical relationships between Motul de San Jose and itssmaller satellite centers; they also occurred between Mo-tul de San Jose and relatively similar-sized political centers,such as Nixtun Ch’ich’ and Tayasal. Likewise, elite-focusedpolitical alliances with more distant capitals, as identified bycertain rare elaborate polychrome vessels, indicate that Ik’political ties were maintained outside the framework of thecentralized regional polity formation dominated by Tikal.In this sense, the circulation spheres are not always neatlynested in a simple hierarchy of interaction. Rather, theyshowcase from a material culture perspective the ways inwhich polities maintained multiple, sometimes conflicting,relationships.

It is also important to keep in mind that the circulation ofpeople and things does not necessarily coincide with officiallysanctioned delineations of place, and it is within this tensionbetween following and defying normative pathways that suchdynamism of place occurs. Similar to African slaves’ mar-ket exchange of utilitarian vessels that defied British colonialboundaries (Hauser 2011), the circulation of figurines orvessels may not have completely paralleled official promul-gations of the Ik’ polity. As mentioned earlier, one of theways Contact period Maya political territories were formallyproduced was through ritual circulation (Garcıa-Zambrano1994; Hill 1996; Reese-Taylor 2002). During key cere-monial occasions, such as period endings, political-religiousofficials would lead processions to circulate and make of-ferings at the center and boundaries of a given territory.In contrast, the spatial contours of the ceramic figurine andvessel distributions represent a palimpsest of many fleetingmovements of people and things. As De Certeau argues forthe urban configurations produced by his New York Citywalkers, such accumulated movements are “urban ‘texts’they write without being able to read” (1984:93). Indeed,the discarded and deposited ceramic objects under investi-gation here were accumulations of fleeting movements that

likely occurred over a span of a century and a half. Thoseresponsible for the circulation of some vessels and figurineswere not necessarily aware of the entire spatial extent oftheir cumulative distributions.

Unlike De Certeau’s walkers, however, there is a cer-tain power of material culture to symbolize and memori-alize, and in doing so they help create social and materialwebs that spanned spaces not readily seen and temporalmoments already past. In this sense, portable objects mayhave counteracted, to some degree, these many passing andfragmented moments in their material embodiment of par-ticular peoples, events, and locations. Figurine ocarinas,which were likely distributed and perhaps informally playedat large political centers during festival fairs or ceremonialoccasions, may have memorialized one’s experience at suchevents. In addition, through their iconography they helpedconjure conceptions of political places through the depic-tion of ruling elites, public pomp, ceremony, and travelingor market women, which allowed even those who may nothave attended such events or traveled to such centers to par-ticipate in the conceptual making of political places. In turn,polychrome vessels embodied the ruling elite patrons andartists responsible for their production and visually featuredon their painted surfaces. Their gifting and movement be-tween political capitals, and more specifically between royalcourts, cemented political alliances and obligations over thevessels’ life history.

CONCLUSIONLocating social understandings of place involves not onlyidentifying physical attributes on the landscape but also ex-amining the relationships of these attributes as constitutedthrough social practices, both ordinary and extraordinary.The circulation of Late Classic Maya portable objects high-lights the active yet fleeting production of places that likelyhelped form while simultaneously defy official understand-ings of polities proclaimed in writing and formal rituals. Iargue that locally produced ceramic figurines from sites atthe western edge of Lake Peten Itza helped mediate provin-cial senses of place through the travel to, experiences at, and


conceptions of public ceremonial centers. They also givesome spatial understanding of the intensity of Ik’ polity inter-actions involving the participation of both elite and commonpeoples. Such provincial relations were entangled, at leastduring particular temporal periods, with regional politicalrelations ceremoniously declared on stone monuments andreinforced through the movements of and experiences sur-rounding Tikal figurines and vessels brought to the Motul deSan Jose region. On an even broader scale, the circulationof elaborate polychrome vessels reveals both official and lessexposed webs of elite interpolity networks that comprise theMaya Lowland political landscape of elite alliances createdthrough gifting and feasting. Together, the different casestudies expose the ways in which moving objects concep-tually and spatially shaped relational and dynamic politicalplaces.

Christina T. Halperin Departments of Art and Archaeology,

Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544; [email protected]

NOTESAcknowledgments. Earlier drafts of this article were presentedat a talk given at the Society of Fellows at Princeton University inMarch 2012 and a session entitled “Art Makes Society” organizedby John Robb and Elizabeth DeMarrais at the Society for AmericanArchaeology Meetings in April 2012. I thank participants of thesemeetings for their helpful and stimulating comments. Special thanksto Wendy Ashmore, Antonia Foias, Bryan Just, Matthew McCarty,Prudence Rice, and several anonymous reviewers for providing com-ments on an earlier written draft. I am, of course, responsible for allerrors or inconsistencies. The author’s field and laboratory researchin the Peten Lakes region have been generously funded by a FulbrightIIE, National Science Foundation Dissertation Improvement Grant(No. 0524955); a FAMSI Research Grant (No. 05045), Universityof California, Riverside; an American Philosophical Society FranklinResearch Grant; and Princeton University. Figurine analyses wereundertaken under the auspices of many archaeological projects. Iam very grateful for the permission and support of Antonia Foias andKitty Emery from the Proyecto Arqueologico Motul de San Jose; Pru-dence Rice and Mirim Salas from the Proyecto Arqueologico Itza delPeten (PAIP) and Proyecto Maya Colonial (PMC); Tim Pugh fromthe Proyecto Arqueologico Tayasal; Mario Enrique Zetina Aldanafrom the Rescate Arqueologico de Isla de Flores Phase I; YovannyHernandez from the Rescate Arqueologico de Isla de Flores PhaseII; Vilma Fialko, Daniel E. Aquino, and Walter Schwendener fromthe Instituto de Antropologıa e Historia en Guatemala (IDEAH); theProyecto Proteccion de Sitios Arqueologicos en Peten (PROSIAPE-TEN); and the Proyecto Yaxha Banco Internacional de Desarrollo(BID).

1. Likewise, Low argues that bodies are neglected in spatial analysesdue to the difficulties in untangling their simultaneous subjectiveand objective natures. As an alternative, she puts forth the notionof “embodied space, the location where human experience andconsciousness takes on material and spatial form” (2009:26).

2. Interestingly, national laws or “whitefella’s laws” protecting Abo-riginal sacred places through “sacred site” legislation delineatesthese places through fences and written signs rather than move-ment (Munn 1996:449–450).

3. When I refer to “regional places” here, I mean those involvingcentralized political formations wherein the dominance of capitalcenter or polity is expressed in relation to smaller subordinatepolities. In turn, such subordinate polities are referred to as“provincial polities.”

4. It is likely that pottery was both formed and painted in the samegeneral context. The ceramic workshop debris from Motul deSan Jose combine clay forming and painting tools, suggesting thatthe formation of the pots occurred at the same site, if not thesame workshop, as the painting of the pots. Reents-Budet et al.(1994:219) argue that if pottery painters and artisans forming thevessels were separate individuals, they would have had to workclosely together because bisque ware often suffers damage whenhandled and transported over significant distances and becausevessel pastes and slip paints should be made with the same claysto prevent errors and inconsistencies in both the application ofthe paints and the firing of the finished products.

5. While not all figurines possessed headdresses, they provide asingle line of evidence to assess figurine social identities since thehead for Mesoamerican cultures was the most important signifierof social self.

6. This percentage reflects only figurines chemically sampled andassigned a paste group (n = 84). When samples unassigned topaste groups (chemical outliers) are included (n = 104), 13percent of the sample was imported from the Tikal area.

7. While no known stela monuments have been recovered and onlypreliminary research at the site of Nixtun Ch’ich’ has been con-ducted thus far, the site is larger than Motul de San Jose as itpossesses a dense site core of two square kilometers, which con-tains multiple pyramid complexes and two palace acropolis (Riceet al. 2007:4–5). Tayasal’s total settlement (its site core andsurrounding settlement) is about two square kilometers in size.Tayasal’s monumentality is similar to Motul de San Jose in thatboth sites possess a single large Late Classic palace acropolis, sev-eral pyramid complexes, and a handful of Late Classic stone mon-uments (Barrios 2010; Chase 1983:355–359; Morley 1938:426–429). Because Tayasal’s Classic period stone monuments clustertoward the end of the Late Classic, the site’s proclaimed po-litical importance may have increased as Motul de San Jose’swaned.

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Circulation as Place-making: Late Classic Polities and Portable Objects (2014)

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