Classic Maya Material Worlds: Using Cultural Models to Transform Archaeological Practice and Interpretation (WGF - Post PhD Research Grant)
Creators: name: Jackson, Sarah
Publisher: name: (:unav)
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Central America
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/geographic-keyword/24558/central-america
subject: Maya
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/geographic-keyword/76048/maya
subject: Mexico and Central America
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/geographic-keyword/85621/mexico-and-central-america
subject: Belize
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/geographic-keyword/76056/belize
subject: Classic Period
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/temporal-keyword/125/classic-period
subject: hieroglyphic texts
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/other-keyword/166959/hieroglyphic-texts
subject: Iconography
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/other-keyword/10526/iconography
subject: object agency
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/other-keyword/166958/object-agency
subject: Archaeology
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/other-keyword/7074/archaeology
subject: Post-PhD Research Grant
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/other-keyword/166868/post-phd-research-grant
subject: Indigenous Perspectives
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/other-keyword/155026/indigenous-perspectives
subject: Materiality
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/other-keyword/141736/materiality
subject: archaeological practice
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/other-keyword/142437/archaeological-practice
subject: digital humanities
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/other-keyword/143126/digital-humanities
subject: Paperless archaeology
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/other-keyword/156300/paperless-archaeology
subject: reflexive archaeology
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/other-keyword/154313/reflexive-archaeology
subject: Artifact Life History
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/other-keyword/45148/artifact-life-history
subject: Archaeological Overview
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/investigation-type/1/archaeological-overview

description: This resource is an application for the Post PhD Research Grant from the Wenner-Gren Foundation. This project investigated how Classic Maya individuals understood the objects that archaeologists characterize as 'artifacts,' and applied this Maya material perspective to modern archaeological practices in order to transform how we interpret excavations at Classic Maya sites. To accomplish this, the project focused on three activities: reconstructing elements of a Classic Maya perspective on the material world (including characteristics that Maya people used to describe objects, indicators of special objects exhibiting elements of personhood, and examination of what 'counts' as an artifact); building a digital recording system that accommodates standard archaeological documentation of excavation and documentation that reflected Maya understandings of objects; and using this recording system during an excavation season at the site of Say Kah, Belize. Using this system facilitated examination of different characterizations of artifacts (impacting recognition of spatial distributions and activity areas), prepared project members to interpret materials differently (e.g., recognizing certain artifacts as ritually important, but also as candidates for personhood), and prompted excavators to discuss and record information about object contexts in a more inclusive fashion. The contributions of the project were both theoretical, yielding new insight into a particular culture's ideas about the material world, and applied, impacting how artifacts are interpreted.