San Diego County Archaeological Society
General meetings are held on the 4th Tues. of each month, except December (and summer months) at 7:30 pm.
Come early to make time to check out the Sales table...and items up for raffle.
November 22 (Tuesday), 7:30 p.m.
Los Peñasquitos
Presenter: Erin Blankenship-Sefczek
Title: Status and the “lower” class: A bio-cultural examination of the non-elite Maya of Guerra, Belize.
The non-elite segment of the ancient Maya civilization has long been considered a homogenous social stratum. However, recent studies have begun to reveal the truly complicated, hierarchical nature of this social group. This study takes a bio-cultural approach to the skeletal and archaeological material of the 23 Classic period (AD 200-900) non-elite individuals recovered from rural Guerra, located outside the urban center of Buenavista del Cayo in the western Belize Valley. Previous skeletal analyses have been done on the royal elite individuals (Mitchell, 2006) and the sub-elite individuals (Black, 2007) of Benavista, concluding that the two groups were not biologically related. In order to better understand the social construction and relationships present during the Classic period at this site, the major question of this study centers on whether the low-status individuals of Guerra share biological affinity with the high status sub-elite individuals. An analysis of mortuary practice, skeletal indicators of health, and genetic markers reveals the complicated, hierarchical organization of this non-elite community and its relationship to the residents of the adjacent urban center. Overall health, dental pathology and indicators of childhood stressors conveys that within the western Belize Valley there were social inequalities when it came to access to certain resources. Statistical analyses of hereditary dental traits and dental metrics show Guerra shares more biological affinity within itself than to the high status sub-elites of Archangel-Angel residing in Buenavista. However, results indicate these two communities do share distant affinity. A fictive kinship tie between Guerra and the ruling elites of Buenavista-Cahal Pech is highly probable based on associated cultural materials. The evidence suggests the structure, organization, and membership of this Maya community was based primarily on biological affinity.
This study was partially funded by the Al Sonek Memorial Scholarship and the Norton Allen Scholarship.
You can join the speaker and our 1st VP Tim Gross for dinner at 6 pm Pat & Oscars in the Mira Mesa Market Center area - 10673 Westview Parkway (by the Edwards Mira Mesa 18); west of I-15 & south of Mira Mesa Blvd.