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.