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The application of lidar remote-sensing technology has revolutionized the practice of settlement and landscape archaeology, perhaps nowhere more so than in the Maya lowlands. This contribution presents a substantial lidar dataset from the Puuc region of Yucatan, Mexico, a cultural subregion of the ancient Maya and a distinct physiographic zone within the Yucatan peninsula. Despite the high density of known sites, no large site has been fully surveyed, and little is known about intersite demography. Lidar technology allows determination of settlement distribution for the first time, showing that population was elevated but nucleated, although without any evidence of defensive features. Population estimates suggest a region among the most densely settled within the Maya lowlands, though hinterland levels are modest. Lacking natural bodies of surface water, the ancient Puuc inhabitants relied upon various storage technologies, primarily chultuns (cisterns) and aguadas (natural or modified reservoirs for potable water). Both are visible in the lidar imagery, allowing calculation of aguada capacities by means of GIS software. The imagery also demonstrates an intensive and widespread stone working industry. Ovens visible in the imagery were probably used for the production of lime, used for construction purposes and perhaps also as a softening agent for maize. Quarries can also be discerned, including in some cases substantial portions of entire hills. With respect to agriculture, terrain classification permits identification of patches of prime cultivable land and calculation of their extents. Lidar imagery also provides the first unequivocal evidence for terracing in the Puuc, indeed in all northern Yucatan. Finally, several types of civic architecture and architectural complexes are visible, including four large acropolises probably dating to the Middle Formative period (700–450 B.C.). Later instances of civic architecture include numerous Early Puuc Civic Complexes, suggesting a common form of civic organization at the beginning of the Late Classic demographic surge, (A.D. 600–750).

Teams from the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH) and the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) have put forth a new chronology for Chichen Itza that challenges recent scholarly opinion favoring a date of roughly a.d. 800/850–1000/1050 for the so-called “Toltec” or Modified Florescent occupation. The new chronology instead argues for the placement of this occupation between a.d. 950–1150, a span favored by scholars prior to the 1970s. This paper presents a critique of the ceramic, radiocarbon, and stratigraphic foundations of these arguments, arguing that, on present evidence, Chichen Itza experienced a tenth-century florescence. Although the site may very well have been occupied into the next century, at present we have no absolute dates after a.d. 1000 and no evidence for later monumental construction. Furthermore, arguments for a proposed hiatus or discontinuity at the onset of the Modified Florescent period are rejected in favor of a model of continued development of Toltec ideas from the late ninth century onward.

Settlement scaling theory predicts that higher site densities lead to increased social interactions that, in turn, boost productivity. The scaling relationship between population and land area holds for several ancient societies, but as demonstrated by the sample of 48 sites in this study, it does not hold for the Northern Maya Lowlands. Removing smaller sites from the sample brings the results closer to scaling expectations. We argue that applications of scaling theory benefit by considering social interaction as a product not only of proximity but also of daily life and spatial layouts.

This paper reexamines the art and architecture of the Upper Temple of the Jaguars, Chichen Itza, in light of new unpublished digital images of Adela Breton's copies of the murals. Following discussion of the construction date of the building and previous interpretations of the murals, examination of costume, setting, and house form suggests that rather than depicting mythic or symbolic episodes, these murals illustrate actual military encounters between Chichen and its enemies. The occasion for their production seems to be the utilization of the Upper Temple of the Jaguars by a specific sector of Chichen Itza's military, perhaps for rites of investiture. This sector is argued to have been associated with the Cloud Serpent, either as the title of its leader or as a patron deity, and the structure itself is perhaps related to later Nahua buildings associated with penitential rites involving warfare and investiture.

This paper argues that what we and others have termed a “cult of Quetzalcoatl” is more properly viewed as a set of imagery, beliefs, and practices associated with an ideology of leadership. Examination of the architecture and iconography of Chichen Itza and related sites with feathered serpent iconography suggests that these practices were similarly structured and played a similar role in many of Mesoamerica's Tollans, specifically in the investiture of client elites. Many of the structures of the Gran Nivelación of Chichen Itza, particularly the Great Ballcourt, were the loci of such rituals of investiture, especially its military aspect. This common ritual structure supports the idea that Quetzalcoatl may have been central to institutions unifying Mesoamerica from the time of Teotihuacan onward, if not earlier.

Maya Worldviews at Conquest examines Maya culture and social life just prior to contact and the effect the subsequent Spanish conquest, as well as contact with other Mesoamerican cultures, had on the Maya worldview.   Focusing on the Postclassic and Colonial periods, Maya Worldviews at Conquest provides a regional investigation of archaeological and epigraphic evidence of Maya ideology, landscape, historical consciousness, ritual practices, and religious symbolism before and during the Spanish conquest. Through careful investigation, the volume focuses on the impact of conversion, hybridization, resistance, and revitalization on the Mayans' understanding of their world and their place in it.   The volume also addresses the issue of anthropologists unconsciously projecting their modern worldviews on the culture under investigation. Thus, the book critically defines and strengthens the use of worldviews in the scholarly literature regardless of the culture studied, making it of value not only to Maya scholars but also to those interested in the anthropologist's projection of worldview on other cultures in general.

Rites of investiture are critical opportunities for demonstrating, or at least simulating, the orderly and legitimate transfer of power. Sanctioned by precedent and often by a state religion, and incorporating symbols and ritual objects of the highest importance, they are moments of peak political drama for which a substantial audience is required. Although such rituals often have a hidden, esoteric component, as classic rites of passage it is almost inconceivable that they might dispense with revealed stages during which the newly invested lord emerges to the acclaim of his or her subjects. For while such ceremonies mark the assumption of

Continuing analysis of the site of Chichen Itza suggests that its construction dates primarily to the Late Classic period, ca. A.D. 700–1000, rather than the Early Postclassic. This paper examines the implications of this redating for the well-known \"Toltec\" problem. Since Chichen largely antedated Tollan-phase Tula, we conclude that what is usually identified as Toltec imagery in fact dates to an earlier Epiclassic horizon extending from Morelos and Puebla to the Gulf Coast and Yucatan. Chichen Itza, we suggest, was the eastern node in a network of shrine centers dedicated primarily to Quetzalcoatl/Kukulcan. This network transcended political boundaries and included such sites as Cholula, Cacaxtla, El Tajín, Xochicalco, and ultimately Tula. The Quetzalcoatl cult is manifested by a specific complex of traits and seems to have expanded militarily with messianic vigor. Pilgrimage was also an important activity at these centers. This cult axis apparently continued into the Postclassic period, and was responsible for the distribution of the Mixteca-Puebla art style. In Yucatan, Mayapan would seem to have assumed Chichen's position as the major Yucatecan node, although accompanied by several new shrines along the Caribbean coast. El contínuo análisis de Chichen Itza sugiere que su construcción está fechada primeramente al período clásico tardío, aproximadamente 700–1000 d.C., en vez del postclásico temprano. Este trabajo examina las implicaciones de esta marcación temporal para el muy conocido problema \"tolteca.\" Ya que la ocupación de Chichen fue en mayor parte anterior a la fase Tollan de Tula, concluimos que lo que es usualmente indentificado como iconografía tolteca en Chichen de hecho se fecha en el horizonte epiclásico, extendiéndose desde Morelos y Puebla hasta las costas del Golfo y Yucatán. Chichen Itza, sugerimos, fue la estación occidental en una cadena de templos dedicados principalmente a Quetzalcoatl/Kukulcan. Esta cadena trasciende las fronteras políticas e incluye sitios como Cholula, Cacaxtla, El Tajín, Xochicalco y por último, Tula. El culto de Quetzalcoatl está manifestado por un complejo específico de rasgos y parece haberse expandido militarmente con vigor mesiánico. El peregrinaje fue también una actividad importante en estos centros. El eje de este culto aparentamente continuó hasta el período postclásico y fue responsable para la distribución del estilo artístico mixteca-puebla. En Yucatán, Mayapán parecería haber asumido la posición de Chichen como la más importante estación yucateca, aunque acompañada de algunos nuevos templos a lo largo de la costa del Caribe.

Memory—the specifics of name, place, time, and deed—is critical to the establishment of self and community, and it is thus not surprising that each of these aspects was systematically subverted by Spanish colonial policy. Most infamous are the auto de fé’s, which attempted to root out the religious underpinnings of collective identity, and the policies of relocating and reducing native communities, but also important were the wholesale renaming of the populace and the landscape, the replacement of the native system of timekeeping with that of the Christian, and the substitution of new conventions of formal discourse for old.

Continuing analysis of the site of Chichen Itza suggests that its construction dates primarily to the Late Classic period, ca. a.d. 700–1000, rather than the Early Postclassic. This paper examines the implications of this redating for the well-known “Toltec” problem. Since Chichen largely antedated Tollan-phase Tula, we conclude that what is usually identified as Toltec imagery in fact dates to an earlier Epiclassic horizon extending from Morelos and Puebla to the Gulf Coast and Yucatan. Chichen Itza, we suggest, was the eastern node in a network of shrine centers dedicated primarily to Quetzalcoatl/Kukulcan. This network transcended political boundaries and included such sites as Cholula, Cacaxtla, El TajIn, Xochicalco, and ultimately Tula. The Quetzalcoatl cult is manifested by a specific complex of traits and seems to have expanded militarily with messianic vigor. Pilgrimage was also an important activity at these centers. This cult axis apparently continued into the Postclassic period, and was responsible for the distribution of the Mixteca-Puebla art style. In Yucatan, Mayapan would seem to have assumed Chichen's position as the major Yucatecan node, although accompanied by several new shrines along the Caribbean coast.