In this Book

  • Archaeology at El Perú-Waka': Ancient Maya Performances of Ritual, Memory, and Power
  • Book
  • Edited by Olivia C. Navarro-Farr and Michelle Rich
  • 2015
  • Published by: University of Arizona Press
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summary
Archaeology at El Perú-Waka’ is the first book to summarize long-term research at this major Maya site. The results of fieldwork and subsequent analyses conducted by members of the El Perú-Waka’ Regional Archaeological Project are coupled with theoretical approaches treating the topics of ritual, memory, and power as deciphered through material remains discovered at Waka’.  The book is site-centered, yet the fifteen wide-ranging contributions offer readers greater insight to the richness and complexity of Classic-period Maya culture, as well as to the ways in which archaeologists believe ancient peoples negotiated their ritual lives and comprehended their own pasts.
 
El Perú-Waka’ is an ancient Maya city located in present-day northwestern Petén, Guatemala. Rediscovered by petroleum exploration workers in the mid-1960s, it is the largest known archaeological site in the Laguna del Tigre National Park in Guatemala’s Maya Biosphere Reserve. The El Perú-Waka’ Regional Archaeological Project initiated scientific investigations in 2003, and through excavation and survey, researchers established that Waka’ was a key political and economic center well integrated into Classic-period lowland Maya civilization, and reconstructed many aspects of Maya life and ritual activity in this ancient community. The research detailed in this volume provides a wealth of new, substantive, and scientifically excavated data, which contributors approach with fresh theoretical insights. In the process, they lay out sound strategies for understanding the ritual manipulation of monuments, landscapes, buildings, objects, and memories, as well as related topics encompassing the performance and negotiation of power throughout the city’s extensive sociopolitical history.

Table of Contents

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  1. Cover
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  1. Title page, Copyright
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  1. Contents
  2. pp. v-vi
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  1. Foreword
  2. pp. vii-viii
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  1. Acknowledgments
  2. p. ix
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  1. Introduction. Ritual, Memory, and Power Among the Maya and at Classic Period El Perú-Waka’
  2. Michelle Rich, Olivia C. Navarro-Farr
  3. pp. 3-17
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  1. 1. Stelae, Buildings, and People: Reflections on Ritual in the Archaeological Record at El Perú-Waka’
  2. David A. Freidel, Héctor L. Escobedo
  3. pp. 18-33
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  1. 2. A Palimpsest Effect: The Multi-Layered Meanings of Late-to-Terminal Classic Era, Above-Floor Deposits at Structure M13-1
  2. Olivia C. Navarro-Farr, Ana Lucía Arroyave Prera
  3. pp. 34-52
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  1. 3. Royal Alliances, Ritual Behavior, and the Abandonment of the Royal Couple Building at El Perú-Waka’
  2. Mary Jane Acuña
  3. pp. 53-65
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  1. 4. The Power of the Past: Crafting Meaning at a Royal Funerary Pyramid
  2. Michelle Rich, Varinia Matute
  3. pp. 66-84
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  1. 5. Ritual and Remembrance at the Northwest Palace Complex, El Perú-Waka’
  2. David F. Lee, Jennifer C. Piehl
  3. pp. 85-101
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  1. 6. The Ballcourt Complex at El Perú
  2. Juan Carlos Meléndez
  3. pp. 102-111
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  1. 7. Ritual Narratives from El Perú-Waka’: Ceremonial Deposits in Non-Royal, Elite Contexts
  2. Keith Eppich
  3. pp. 112-133
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  1. 8. Sansamal Performance: Variability in Ritual Contexts at El Perú-Waka’
  2. Damien B. Marken
  3. pp. 134-146
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  1. 9. The Epigraphy of El Perú-Waka’
  2. Stanley P. Guenter
  3. pp. 147-166
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  1. 10. Flint for the Dead: Ritual Deposition of Production Debitage from El Perú-Waka’, Burial 39
  2. Zachary Hruby, Michelle Rich
  3. pp. 167-183
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  1. 11. The Noblewomen of Waka’: Mortuary and Osteological Insights into the Construction of Gender, Identity, and Power
  2. Jennifer C. Piehl, David F. Lee, Michelle Rich
  3. pp. 184-202
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  1. 12. Surveying Landscapes of Power and Ritual at Waka’
  2. Evangelia Tsesmeli
  3. pp. 203-219
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  1. 13. Action, Thought, and Negotiation in Ritual: A Commentary
  2. Takeshi Inomata
  3. pp. 220-227
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  1. Epilogue
  2. David A. Freidel, Héctor L. Escobedo
  3. pp. 228-230
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  1. References
  2. pp. 231-262
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  1. Contributors
  2. pp. 263-267
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  1. Index
  2. pp. 268-278
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