Monumental architecture at Aguada Fénix and the rise of Maya civilization.

Archaeologists have traditionally thought that the development of Maya civilization was gradual, assuming that small villages began to emerge during the Middle Preclassic period (1000-350 BC; dates are calibrated throughout) along with the use of ceramics and the adoption of sedentism1. Recent finds of early ceremonial complexes are beginning to challenge this model. Here we describe an airborne lidar survey and excavations of the previously unknown site of Aguada Fénix (Tabasco, Mexico) with an artificial plateau, which measures 1,400 m in length and 10 to 15 m in height and has 9 causeways radiating out from it. We dated this construction to between 1000 and 800 BC using a Bayesian analysis of radiocarbon dates. To our knowledge, this is the oldest monumental construction ever found in the Maya area and the largest in the entire pre-Hispanic history of the region. Although the site exhibits some similarities to the earlier Olmec centre of San Lorenzo, the community of Aguada Fénix probably did not have marked social inequality comparable to that of San Lorenzo. Aguada Fénix and other ceremonial complexes of the same period suggest the importance of communal work in the initial development of Maya civilization.

Earliest isotopic evidence in the Maya region for animal management and long-distance trade at the site of Ceibal, Guatemala.

This study uses a multiisotope (carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and strontium) approach to examine early animal management in the Maya region. An analysis of faunal specimens across almost 2,000 years (1000 BC to AD 950) at the site of Ceibal, Guatemala, reveals the earliest evidence for live-traded dogs and possible captive-reared taxa in the Americas. These animals may have been procured for ceremonial functions based on their location in the monumental site core, suggesting that animal management and trade began in the Maya area to promote special events, activities that were critical in the development of state society. Isotopic evidence for animal captivity at Ceibal reveals that animal management played a greater role in Maya communities than previously believed.

High-precision radiocarbon dating of political collapse and dynastic origins at the Maya site of Ceibal, Guatemala.

The lowland Maya site of Ceibal, Guatemala, had a long history of occupation, spanning from the Middle Preclassic Period through the Terminal Classic (1000 BC to AD 950). The Ceibal-Petexbatun Archaeological Project has been conducting archaeological investigations at this site since 2005 and has obtained 154 radiocarbon dates, which represent the largest collection of radiocarbon assays from a single Maya site. The Bayesian analysis of these dates, combined with a detailed study of ceramics, allowed us to develop a high-precision chronology for Ceibal. Through this chronology, we traced the trajectories of the Preclassic collapse around AD 150-300 and the Classic collapse around AD 800-950, revealing similar patterns in the two cases. Social instability started with the intensification of warfare around 75 BC and AD 735, respectively, followed by the fall of multiple centers across the Maya lowlands around AD 150 and 810. The population of Ceibal persisted for some time in both cases, but the center eventually experienced major decline around AD 300 and 900. Despite these similarities in their diachronic trajectories, the outcomes of these collapses were different, with the former associated with the development of dynasties centered on divine rulership and the latter leading to their downfalls. The Ceibal dynasty emerged during the period of low population after the Preclassic collapse, suggesting that this dynasty was placed under the influence from, or by the direct intervention of, an external power.

Development of sedentary communities in the Maya lowlands: coexisting mobile groups and public ceremonies at Ceibal, Guatemala.

Our archaeological investigations at Ceibal, a lowland Maya site located in the Pasión region, documented that a formal ceremonial complex was built around 950 B.C. at the onset of the Middle Preclassic period, when ceramics began to be used in the Maya lowlands. Our refined chronology allowed us to trace the subsequent social changes in a resolution that had not been possible before. Many residents of Ceibal appear to have remained relatively mobile during the following centuries, living in ephemeral post-in-ground structures and frequently changing their residential localities. In other parts of the Pasión region, there may have existed more mobile populations who maintained the traditional lifestyle of the preceramic period. Although the emerging elite of Ceibal began to live in a substantial residential complex by 700 B.C., advanced sedentism with durable residences rebuilt in the same locations and burials placed under house floors was not adopted in most residential areas until 500 B.C., and did not become common until 300 B.C. or the Late Preclassic period. During the Middle Preclassic period, substantial formal ceremonial complexes appear to have been built only at a small number of important communities in the Maya lowlands, and groups with different levels of sedentism probably gathered for their constructions and for public rituals held in them. These collaborative activities likely played a central role in socially integrating diverse groups with different lifestyles and, eventually, in developing fully established sedentary communities.

Origins and spread of formal ceremonial complexes in the Olmec and Maya regions revealed by airborne lidar.

City plans symbolizing cosmologies have long been recognized as a defining element of Mesoamerican civilizations. The origins of formal spatial configurations are thus the key to understanding early civilizations in the region. Assessment of this issue, however, has been hindered by the lack of systematic studies of site plans over broad areas. Here, we report the identification of 478 formal rectangular and square complexes, probably dating from 1,050 to 400 BC, through a lidar (laser imaging, detection and ranging) survey across the Olmec region and the western Maya lowlands. Our analysis of lidar data also revealed that the earlier Olmec centre of San Lorenzo had a central rectangular space, which possibly provided the spatial template for later sites. This format was probably formalized and spread after the decline of San Lorenzo through intensive interaction across various regions. These observations highlight the legacy of San Lorenzo and the critical role of inter-regional interaction.

The Maya Preclassic to Classic transition observed through faunal trends from Ceibal, Guatemala.

It is well known that the development of the ancient Maya civilization had significant and long-lasting impacts on the environment. This study assesses a large collection of faunal remains (>35,000 specimens) recovered over a span of several kilometers in and around the archaeological site of Ceibal, Guatemala, in order to determine whether the composition of animal resources was continuous throughout the site's history between 1000 BC and AD 1200, or whether there were any changes that could be attributed to sociopolitical or environmental causes. Results show a steep uniform decline in the number of freshwater mollusks across the site that occurred during the Preclassic to Classic transition, when large region-wide political changes, including the development of more complex and centralized political organization, took place throughout the Maya region. Evidence of species introductions (e.g., turkeys from central Mexico and possibly the Dermatemys river turtle from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec) and variations in resource exchange (e.g. marine shells) over time indicate that Ceibal was one of likely many communities involved in long-distance animal exchange networks. The results of the faunal analysis at Ceibal show how the ancient Maya had a complex and ever-changing relationship with the local wildlife, with outcomes that can still be observed in the environment today.

Artificial plateau construction during the Preclassic period at the Maya site of Ceibal, Guatemala.

Investigations at the Maya site of Ceibal, Guatemala, documented an artificial plateau, measuring 600 x 340 m in horizontal dimensions and 6 to 15 m in height. Unlike highly visible pyramids, such horizontally extensive constructions covered by the rainforest are difficult to recognize on the ground, but airborne laser scanning (LiDAR) revealed its planned form. Excavations carried out over many years provided data on its construction sequence, fill volumes, and labor investments. The initial construction of the plateau occurred around 950 B.C. when a formal ceremonial complex was built in its center. This was the period when the inhabitants of the Maya lowlands were adopting a new way of life with greater reliance on maize agriculture, full sedentism, and ceramic use. The inhabitants of areas surrounding Ceibal, who retained certain levels of residential mobility, probably participated in the construction of the plateau. In this regard, the Ceibal plateau is comparable to monumental constructions that emerged before or during the transition to agriculture or sedentism in other parts of the world. The data from Ceibal compel researchers to examine the social implications of monumental constructions in the Maya lowlands before the establishment of centralized polities with hereditary rulers. Unlike pyramids, where access to the summits may have been limited to privileged individuals, the horizontal monumentality of the plateau was probably more conducive to inclusive interaction. The Ceibal plateau continued to be built up during the Preclassic period (1000 B.C.-A.D. 175), and its fill volume substantially surpassed those of pyramids. Large-scale construction projects likely promoted organizational and managerial innovations among participants, which may have set the stage for later administrative centralization.

Archaeological application of airborne LiDAR to examine social changes in the Ceibal region of the Maya lowlands.

Although the application of LiDAR has made significant contributions to archaeology, LiDAR only provides a synchronic view of the current topography. An important challenge for researchers is to extract diachronic information over typically extensive LiDAR-surveyed areas in an efficient manner. By applying an architectural chronology obtained from intensive excavations at the site center and by complementing it with surface collection and test excavations in peripheral zones, we analyze LiDAR data over an area of 470 km2 to trace social changes through time in the Ceibal region, Guatemala, of the Maya lowlands. We refine estimates of structure counts and populations by applying commission and omission error rates calculated from the results of ground-truthing. Although the results of our study need to be tested and refined with additional research in the future, they provide an initial understanding of social processes over a wide area. Ceibal appears to have served as the only ceremonial complex in the region during the transition to sedentism at the beginning of the Middle Preclassic period (c. 1000 BC). As a more sedentary way of life was accepted during the late part of the Middle Preclassic period and the initial Late Preclassic period (600-300 BC), more ceremonial assemblages were constructed outside the Ceibal center, possibly symbolizing the local groups' claim to surrounding agricultural lands. From the middle Late Preclassic to the initial Early Classic period (300 BC-AD 300), a significant number of pyramidal complexes were probably built. Their high concentration in the Ceibal center probably reflects increasing political centralization. After a demographic decline during the rest of the Early Classic period, the population in the Ceibal region reached the highest level during the Late and Terminal Classic periods, when dynastic rule was well established (AD 600-950).

Early ceremonial constructions at Ceibal, Guatemala, and the origins of lowland Maya civilization.

The spread of plaza-pyramid complexes across southern Mesoamerica during the early Middle Preclassic period (1000 to 700 BCE) provides critical information regarding the origins of lowland Maya civilization and the role of the Gulf Coast Olmec. Recent excavations at the Maya site of Ceibal, Guatemala, documented the growth of a formal ceremonial space into a plaza-pyramid complex that predated comparable buildings at other lowland Maya sites and major occupations at the Olmec center of La Venta. The development of lowland Maya civilization did not result from one-directional influence from La Venta, but from interregional interactions, involving groups in the southwestern Maya lowlands, Chiapas, the Pacific Coast, and the southern Gulf Coast.