Articles by David Mixter
Archaeological Papers of the American Anthropological Association , 2024
In this paper, we review current understandings of anthropogenic field systems, focusing on trend... more In this paper, we review current understandings of anthropogenic field systems, focusing on trends and variations in the chronology of field construction, use, and in some cases, abandonment, as well as labor organization of agrarian production across the Lake Titicaca Basin. These trends indicate that agricultural intensification increased both during the political centralization of the Tiwanaku state and during periods of political fragmentation. In contrast to prior work on fields in the region, we argue that there was no single cultural, environmental, or historical impetus that ignited the construction of any particular field type. Additionally, we present the results of pedestrian survey of terraces carried out in 2018 in the northern Lake Titicaca Basin. While there were regional commonalities across survey areas in the masonry design of terrace risers, presence of pathways and radiating walls separating vertical tracts of terraces, and a general absence of irrigation, we found deviations from each of these trends in individual terrace complexes. While preliminary evidence indicates that more terraces were built or cultivated during the Late Intermediate period (1100–1450 CE) than in other time periods in the northern Titicaca basin, some terraces were likely built earlier. Our findings point to the multiplicity of strategies that ancient farmers employed in the varied ecological settings of the Lake Titicaca basin under diverse sociopolitical programs. This contrasts with previous research on agrarian field systems, which is mostly single-sited and tends to emphasize individual strategies over the quiver of agrarian options available to Andean farmers.
Osteobiographies in Mesoamerica, 2024
Excavating houses at archaeological sites gives us a chance to think about what it would be like ... more Excavating houses at archaeological sites gives us a chance to think about what it would be like to live in a different place and time. Yet we still talk about artifacts and dates more than people's lived experiences. Osteobiographies offer us a way to reconstruct a person's life or even the lives of their pets (Castro et al. 2017; Cerezo-Román et al. 2021; Tourginy et al. 2016) and share these stories in a way the reader can relate to (Boutin 2019; Hosek and Robb 2019). Crafting the narratives also provides room for archaeologists to reflect on how we make sense of what we find as we excavate, work in the laboratory, and begin the process of collaboratively writing down our interpretations (Hosek 2016). The osteobiography concept also serves to create biographies of artifacts (see chapter 17, this volume) and places that Mesoamerican peoples viewed as living or animate, like buildings or mountains (Brown 2004). Some of these places were animated by ancestors, especially burial spaces that contained both the physical remains of a person and the spiritual remains of the deceased. The Classic period Maya (AD 250-900) often buried their dead in residential settings that they used repeatedly to perform funerary rites meant to transition the deceased into an ancestor (see chapter 9, this volume). These pages tell the story of one burial place at the archaeological site of Actuncan, Belize, in the eastern Maya Lowlands. Group 1 was a household that was occupied for centuries, and its residents used the patio to bury their dead. The earliest graves had offerings and well-constructed crypts, but later burials were repeatedly disturbed as gravediggers dislodged the bones and
Research Reports in Belizean Archaeology, 2023
For the Maya, the Late Preclassic period was a time of growth and consolidation; populations boom... more For the Maya, the Late Preclassic period was a time of growth and consolidation; populations boomed and a common set of cultural ideas spread across the Maya Lowlands. This process is evident in the widespread presence of Chicanel Horizon ceramics, the dispersal of a unified Late Preclassic figural style found on mural and carved monuments, and the construction of a common set of architectural forms including canonical Triadic Groups. In the lower Mopan River Valley, the adoption of these ideas is evident in the rapid growth of the major center of Actuncan, Belize, which contains each of these cultural forms. This presentation reports on several years of preliminary research by the Actuncan Archaeological Project into the site's triadic temple group. The authors have undertaken original documentation of the site's extensive looters' tunnels and trenches, two seasons of original excavations, and archival work to recover original notes and drawings from research by James McGovern under the auspices of the Xunantunich Archaeological Project during the 1990s. Drawing on these data, we present initial interpretations of the sequence of construction of Structure 4, the largest and central pyramid of Actuncan's Triadic Group. This includes evidence for eleven major construction phases, which are described in detail. We contextualize these findings by explaining our observations of regional trends in Triadic Group construction, which drive our ongoing research.
Palaeolandscapes in Archaeology: Lessons for the Past and Future, 2022
The first thing you notice are the cows. Glassy-eyed, they stand and lay, chewing on cow grass ch... more The first thing you notice are the cows. Glassy-eyed, they stand and lay, chewing on cow grass chosen for its nutritional value or relaxing in the shade of the occasional palm tree standing solitary over broad grassy fields. Here we come up the hill, heading to work. Archaeologists in heavy work boots tromp along the paths through the grass etched by the cows' daily migrations (Figure 7.1). Our route is determined by theirs. Cow heads perk up, now standing at attention and staring at these outsiders from beyond the fence. Intruders in their home. The cows gather, some shuffling, others moving more quickly as they form their herd. Now they are off. Sprinting together, the herd wheels around trampling the earth, crushing grass, and compacting clay. Hopefully, they stay off the ancient mounds-the now well-flattened remains of long-abandoned Maya houses-this time. Today in western Belize, the cows form the landscape (Figure 7.2). For locals in the rural landowning class, herds kept for dairy and beef underpin some household livelihoods (Robinson 1985). Because of the local and international demand for beef, those with substantial land around their homesteads are able to leverage the land into an economically sustainable living. To do so, landowners cut down the forest and replace traditional milpa agriculture with fields of imported grasses. The cows then compact the land, pressing down the clay alluvium and flattening the microtopography formed by ancient Maya mounds as they kick and dislodge stones that once formed platform edges. As humans frequently do, these modern ranchers are leveraging the resources around their homes for economic stability. They reshape the land around their homes, building a landscape that suits their needs and aspirations. The continued success of the choices they make anchors the financial stability of the household and determines its resilience. Yet, by virtue of having land to shape into a sustaining landscape, these farmers have greater potential to secure their livelihoods. Many of our young friends who live landless in Belize's towns talk about the need to acquire land where they can build a house and milpa, securing stability for their future. Without land, they are dependent on the poor job market and expensive food prices at the market. With land, they have corn
The Mayanist, 2022
The Terminal Classic period in the Maya Lowlands, known colloquially as the Maya collapse, was a ... more The Terminal Classic period in the Maya Lowlands, known colloquially as the Maya collapse, was a period of political fragmentation and social upheaval. At the same time, some local communities, such as at Actuncan in western Belize, were experimenting with new political organizations that were no longer led by Classic period style divine rulers. This transformation produced an ideological crisis because Classic period rulers had positioned themselves as key conduits between the Maya and the gods that controlled the natural cycles. In this article, I report on how the community at Actuncan created a new ritual center within the ruins of an old Preclassic triadic pyramid group as the community built a post-royal political system.
Community Resilience and Urban Planning during the Ninth-Century Maya Collapse: A Case Study from Actuncan, Belize, 2019
To remain in place in the immediate aftermath of the ninth-century Maya collapse, Maya groups emp... more To remain in place in the immediate aftermath of the ninth-century Maya collapse, Maya groups employed various resilient strategies. In the absence of divine rulers, groups needed to renegotiate their forms of political authority and to reconsider the legitimizing role of religious institutions. This kind of negotiation happened first at the local level, where individual communities developed varied political and ideological solutions. At the community of Actuncan, located in the lower Mopan River valley of Belize, reorganization took place within the remains of a monumental urban centre built 1000 years before by the site's early rulers. I report on the changing configuration and use of Actuncan's urban landscape during the process of reorganization. These modifications included the construction of a new centre for political gatherings, the dismantling of old administrative buildings constructed by holy lords and the reuse of the site's oldest ritual space. These developments split the city into distinct civic and ritual zones, paralleling the adoption of a new shared rule divorced from cosmological underpinnings. This case study provides an example of how broader societal resilience relies on adaptation at the local level.
E-Groups were among the first monumental spaces constructed in Preclassic Maya centers and served... more E-Groups were among the first monumental spaces constructed in Preclassic Maya centers and served as important venues for negotiating social interactions and political integration among newly settled peoples. The activities and beliefs associated with these ritual complexes were integral in shaping Preclassic societies and later reorganizing them in the Classic period. Because Preclassic E-Groups persisted on the landscape over long periods of time, understanding the structure of and changes in activities occurring within them becomes critical for understanding large-scale change in not only ideology, but also social and political practice. Geochemical analysis of occupation surfaces offers a means for supplementing data from punctuated archaeological remains with microscopic residues from recurring or cyclical ritual activity occurring within such complexes. In this chapter, we present archaeological and geochemical data from five sequential occupation surfaces from an E-Group complex at the site of Actuncan, Belize, spanning the Late and Terminal Preclassic Periods (300 BC-AD 250). Results indicate persistent use of food and drink in conjunction with intermittent symbolic deposits, which, though showing gradual shifts over time, did not give way to exclusionary displays of authority.
In contrast to the longstanding focus on the 9th century political and demographic collapse in th... more In contrast to the longstanding focus on the 9th century political and demographic collapse in the southern Maya Lowlands, little attention has focused on the strategies of remnant groups in the immediate aftermath of this collapse. In the absence of divine kings, individual communities first negotiated new forms of political authority and legitimacy at the local level. One such community was located at the site of Actuncan in the lower Mopan River Valley of western Belize. In contrast to this regional trend, the population of Actuncan's site core remained steady throughout the Terminal Classic period (A.D. 780 to 1000). Terminal Classic political life at the site is marked by the construction of a large public platform (Group 4) placed in the middle of the site's Classic period core. In this paper, I compare Group 4 to Actuncan's Late Classic noble palace using three criteria: access; each space's potential to be used for state performance; and daily use. During the Terminal Classic period, the open architectural form and evidence for public events at Group 4 indicate a shift from the exclusionary power strategies that took place in the Late Classic palace to more integrative practices after the collapse of divine kingship.
Drawing on a case study from the Maya site of Actuncan, Belize, this article presents collective ... more Drawing on a case study from the Maya site of Actuncan, Belize, this article presents collective remembering as a way to conceptualize the relational construction of memory by ancient societies. Emphasizing the process of remembering allows archaeologists to investigate how memory divides as well as unites. Over time, the interactions between humans and between humans and their landscape that take place as part of everyday life produce memories of the past that are inaccurate and inconsistent between individuals. In particular, people who interact frequently, either due to geographic proximity or similarity in socioeconomic status, tend to form mnemonic communities—communities based on a similar understanding of the past—that may serve as identity markers differentiating them from other groups. At Actuncan, the community's past was collectively remembered across times of prosperity and subju-gation. First, the site was a Late and Terminal Preclassic seat of an early divine king who built a monumental ceremonial center. Second, when the site was subjugated during the Early and Late Classic periods, the ceremonial center fell out of use, but the site's commoner households remained continuously occupied. Finally, in the Terminal Classic period, the site's residents reestablished Actuncan as a local seat of authority following the Classic Maya collapse. The community's use of the Preclassic monumental core during the Terminal Classic period indicates that the memory of the site's Preclassic apogee served to legitimize their Terminal Classic authority. However, the Preclassic past was remembered in a manner consistent with contemporaneous cultural forms and the site's recent past of subjugation.
Over the past few decades, archaeologists have increasingly viewed collective memory as critical ... more Over the past few decades, archaeologists have increasingly viewed collective memory as critical to the establishment and legitimation of power relations. For societies in the past and present, collective memory can be drawn on to clarify group identity, justify or subvert hierarchies, invent traditions, and define behaviors. The contributors to this special issue focus on the process of remembering, how it produced multiple archaeologically visible understandings of the past, and how these viewpoints impacted power-laden social negotiations. To better elucidate this process, this introduction situates the concept of collective remembering within recent materialist frameworks that emphasize the integration of human and nonhuman actors into webs of interaction. We suggest that by viewing collective memory from the standpoint of interactions, multiple viewpoints can be recognized. We argue in turn that accounting for the diverse actors invested in memory production provides archaeologists a means to delineate how the past becomes a site of contested values that social groups are constantly reworking to define membership, justify social hierarchy, and validate resistance.
This report describes the results of a geochemical analysis using a mild acid extraction and indu... more This report describes the results of a geochemical analysis using a mild acid extraction and inductively coupled plasma-mass spectroscopy of 198 samples from plaster surfaces at the palace complex at Actuncan, a prehispanic Maya city located in a karst landscape of western Belize. Archeologists working in the Maya region of Central America often refer to many different kinds of building complexes as “palaces” without a clear understanding of how they functioned. Often, the rooms inside these structures are devoid of features and artifacts, making it difficult to infer how they were used. Geochemical characterization of inorganic residues on plaster floors as a means of prospecting for activity areas is therefore critical for studying the function and meaning of ancient Maya palaces. At Actuncan, due to the high degree of preservation of many of the floors, overlying plaster surfaces were able to be sampled, thus informing not only how the buildings were used, but how their uses changed over time. Multivariate quantitative modeling and spatial interpolation of the chemical data demonstrate that a variety of domestic, ritual, and possibly administrative activities took place in the palace complex, a finding that challenges previous assessments of palaces as primarily royal residential compounds.
Across the Maya Lowlands, dedication ritual served a vital role in endowing public and private st... more Across the Maya Lowlands, dedication ritual served a vital role in endowing public and private structures with meaning and function. Through ritual, structures acquired the soul-force, or k’ulel, necessary to sustain activity within their walls. However, we suggest that ritual could also actively reinvent places within the cultural landscape. In fact, many structures live several ritual lives: the first associated with their original intended function, and subsequent ones associated with changes in their occupational history, particularly after they are abandoned. As such, the cultural landscape of a Maya city is constantly cast and recast as the cultural associations of its constituent parts are actively modified through ritual. The resignification of past cultural landscapes may be seen archaeologically in the adoption of new ritual patterns within old structures, aimed at challenging or extending meanings of durable structures within a shared language of ritual. Analyses of structure histories and veneration practices from three areas of the site of Actuncan, including an elite residential structure, a palace compound, and the plaza of the triadic temple group, elucidate how changing veneration practices modify Actuncan’s cultural landscape from Classic period rule of divine kings to the post-royal occupation of the Terminal Classic period.
Research during the 1990s by the Xunantunich Archaeological Project found that Mopan River Valley... more Research during the 1990s by the Xunantunich Archaeological Project found that Mopan River Valley populations experienced a relatively rapid decline during the ninth century in association with the collapse of Classic Maya polities. Recent research by the Actuncan Archaeological Project indicates a locally different demographic pattern. Rather than a slow abandonment, Actuncan’s urban households continued to grow during the Terminal Classic period. This paper reports on the patterns of architectural modifications within three households at Actuncan during the Late and Terminal Classic periods and their possible implications for shifting social and political power structures within the Mopan Valley region.
Mortuary practices provide unique insight into key aspects of life. The Classic Maya interred, an... more Mortuary practices provide unique insight into key aspects of life. The Classic Maya interred, and sometimes moved, their ancestors to provide a connection to important places on the landscape, such as caves, public ceremonial spaces, and especially their homes. Burials of select individuals marked important events connected to constructed places, such as terminating use of rooms and buildings, or dedicating and ensouling newly renovated architecture. Excavations during seven field seasons between 2001 and 2013 have identified more than 18 burials at Actuncan, resulting in a burial population of at least 26 individuals ranging in age from perinatal to middle-aged adult. We present an overview of burial practices at the site, which include repeated use of specific residential locations as burial grounds. As in most Belize Valley centers, the dead were most commonly buried in an extended, prone body position with a southern orientation. However, one individual in a Late Classic burial was placed in a seated position. We analyze this burial and discuss its significance in the context of other seated interments in the Maya lowlands and burial practices at Actuncan.
In ancient Mesoamerica, some long-occupied centers cycled through periods of prominence, decline,... more In ancient Mesoamerica, some long-occupied centers cycled through periods of prominence, decline, and resurgence. Actuncan was one such center. It rose to prominence in the upper Belize River valley during the Terminal Preclassic period, declined in the Early Classic period, and resurged again during the Terminal Classic period. We suggest Actuncan's position on the landscape and the collective memory of its past were a source of social capital for political leaders and dissidents alike to manipulate, making the site a powerful agent of change. This manipulation can be seen in the reworking
This report describes the results of a geochemical analysis using a mild acid extraction and indu... more This report describes the results of a geochemical analysis using a mild acid extraction and inductively coupled plasma-mass spectroscopy of 198 samples from plaster surfaces at the palace complex at Actuncan, a prehispanic Maya city located in a karst landscape of western Belize. Archeologists working in the Maya region of Central America often refer to many different kinds of building complexes as " palaces " without a clear understanding of how they functioned. Often, the rooms inside these structures are devoid of features and artifacts, making it difficult to infer how they were used. Geochemical characterization of inorganic residues on plaster floors as a means of prospecting for activity areas is therefore critical for studying the function and meaning of ancient Maya palaces. At Actuncan, due to the high degree of preservation of many of the floors, overlying plaster surfaces were able to be sampled, thus informing not only how the buildings were used, but how their uses changed over time. Multivariate quantitative modeling and spatial interpolation of the chemical data demonstrate that a variety of domestic, ritual, and possibly administrative activities took place in the palace complex, a finding that challenges previous assessments of palaces as primarily royal residential compounds.
Research during the 1990s by the Xunantunich Archaeological Project found that Mopan River Valley... more Research during the 1990s by the Xunantunich Archaeological Project found that Mopan River Valley populations experienced a relatively rapid decline during the ninth century in association with the collapse of Classic Maya polities. Recent research by the Actuncan Archaeological Project indicates a locally different demographic pattern. Rather than a slow abandonment, Actuncan's urban households continued to grow during the Terminal Classic period. This paper reports on the patterns of architectural modifications within three households at Actuncan during the Late and Terminal Classic periods and their possible implications for shifting social and political power structures within the Mopan Valley region.
Across the Maya Lowlands, dedication ritual served a vital role in endowing public and private st... more Across the Maya Lowlands, dedication ritual served a vital role in endowing public and private structures with meaning and function. Through ritual, structures acquired the soul-force, or k'ulel, necessary to sustain activity within their walls. However, we suggest that ritual could also actively reinvent places within the cultural landscape. In fact, many structures live several ritual lives: the first associated with their original intended function, and subsequent ones associated with changes in their occupational history, particularly after they are abandoned. As such, the cultural landscape of a Maya city is constantly cast and recast as the cultural associations of its constituent parts are actively modified through ritual. The resignification of past cultural landscapes may be seen archaeologically in the adoption of new ritual patterns within old structures, aimed at challenging or extending meanings of durable structures within a shared language of ritual. Analyses of structure histories and veneration practices from three areas of the site of Actuncan, including an elite residential structure, a palace compound, and the plaza of the triadic temple group, elucidate how changing veneration practices modify Actuncan's cultural landscape from Classic period rule of divine kings to the post-royal occupation of the Terminal Classic period.
Dissertation by David Mixter
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Articles by David Mixter
Dissertation by David Mixter