Living together : hierarchy, filiation and alliance in Classic Lowland Maya residential groups (La Joyanca, Northwest Peten, Guatemala, and Rio Bec, Southern Campeche, Mexico)

 

Dr. Charlotte Arnauld, Research Director, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Paris, France
 

Abstract:
How can we interpret data on Classic Maya residential patterns (palaces and commoner housing as well) beyond the familiar assumptions about filiation and economic adaptation ? We postulate that we have much to gain in exploring the specific ways people were « living together », i.e. the coresidence concept, in the Maya societies conceived as ranked societies and « house societies» (Levi-Strauss). This means that the residential patterns must be understood beyond kinship rules and economic organisation, as part of long-term strategies designed by the inhabitants to integrate their social unit into the politico-religious system of their city (or polity). Residential patterns of the Rio Bec zone, where we have been carrying out a research project since 2002, offer well-defined, innovative architectural solutions, which can be compared to more familiar residential formulas known in the Central Lowlands, especially in the La Joyanca site investigated from 1999 to 2003. The comparison is instructive and may open new perspectives, although at the level of preliminary results of an on-going research.