POSTCLASSIC POPULATION AGGREGATION, URBAN DIET, AND GENETIC DIVERSITY AT THE POLITICAL CAPITAL OF MAYAPÁN
Open Access
- Author:
- George, Richard James
- Graduate Program:
- Anthropology
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- January 26, 2020
- Committee Members:
- Douglas J. Kennett, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
Douglas J. Kennett, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
George H Perry, Committee Member
Jose Mariano Capriles Flores, Committee Member
Matthew Bennett Restall, Outside Member
Sarah B. McClure, Special Member
Timothy Michael Ryan, Program Head/Chair - Keywords:
- Archaeology
ancient DNA
Urban diet
Migration structure
population structure
Postclassic Maya - Abstract:
- The ancient capital of Mayapán was the last major urban settlement in the Northern Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico during the 12th – 15th centuries prior to contact with the Spanish. After the disintegration of Terminal Classic regional centers by the 12th century, Mayapán (1100–1450 CE) emerged as the most dominant polity and economic entity in the Maya region. It is believed that the city was established by political rivals and served as the regional seat of governance and commerce, connecting confederated towns and territories across peninsular Yucatan, and as far as central Mexico and Honduras until its abandonment in the context of warfare, civil conflicts and factional competition. Though urban development during the 12th and 13th centuries indicate that large numbers of people were drawn to the fortified cityscape, and primary sources suggest lineage-heads facilitated the movement of people, commodities, and agricultural resources into the highly nucleated urban environment, the extent that the demographic structure, socioeconomic dynamics, and population history changed within the urban capital remains unknown. This dissertation explores the process of urbanization in the Maya region and tests the hypothesis that political cycling impacted different facets of demographic structure. Through strontium isotope ratios from human enamel (n=58), stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes from bone collagen (n=191), and complete mitochondrial DNA analysis (n=23), this research demonstrates 1) continuity in the migration structure across all temporal periods, 2) stability in diets of elites and commoners but temporal variation in the diets of casualties, and 3) high mitogenome diversity within the A2 and C1 haplogroups. The strontium analysis reveals high levels of regional immigration and low levels of emigration from locations outside the Northern Yucatan. It does not support a demographic scenario of increased foreign immigration or diversification. The stable isotope analysis shows no statistical difference in the diets of elites and commoners. The lack of status differentiation between the diets indicates that urban residents maintained a subsistence economy high in the consumption of maize-based foods, maize-fed fauna, and wild terrestrial animals, despite increased levels of social and environmental stress within the population. The results do shed light on the dietary patterns of casualties and suggest victims accessed different subsistence networks than the general population. Archaeogenomic analysis found that burials in the monumental center consisted of multiple maternal lineages with the exception of one burial context with an identical haplotype. The maternal diversity of the sample suggests that the maternal gene pool at Mayapán shared genetic affinities with multiple premodern and modern Maya communities.