Paul Graf

Asymmetrical Dependency in the Context of Resource Control and its Impact on the Social System in Premodern Tropical Societies: The Case of the Southern Maya Lowlands

Premodern societies in tropical environments lived under extreme conditions that affected their subsistence strategies and their social structure. In Classic Maya society in the southern lowlands of the Yucatan peninsula, this contributed to the creation of strong power imbalances between different social groups. But how did these relationships manifest themselves in asymmetrical dependencies? In this thesis, essential resources are considered as bodies of dependency or commodified fetishes that influenced settlement patterns, the social system and the political economy. To examine these resource-driven mechanisms, I propose two concepts or theories of asymmetrical dependency: Resource-based dependency refers to unbalanced power relations based on the control of essential resources; Concealed dependency looks from a neo-Marxist perspective and assumes an integrated community based on moral codes and religious symbols that conceal unbalanced power relations as necessities. I use a multidisciplinary methodology with different approaches from environmental archaeology, geodigital archaeology, ethnoarchaeology and ethnohistory. Archaeological fieldwork is conducted at Tzikin Tzakan and Tamarindito in the Petén region of Guatemala. Remote-sensing and ground-truthing techniques are used to create a representative archaeological sample of resource zones, transport routes and residential areas, in order to draw their spatial connection by GIS analyses and to get a strong basis for reconstructing premodern social differences and asymmetrical dependency relations.

since 2019                  
Doctoral Student in Anthropology of the Americas, University of Bonn

2018                             
Field Research Abroad, Petén, Guatemala

2016–2019                 
M.A. in Anthropology of the Americas, University of Bonn, Germany

2013–2016                
B.A. Ancient American Studies and Ethnology, University of Bonn, Germany

since 2019                  
Research Associate at Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies

2019                             
Student Assistant for IT, Department of Anthropology of the Americas, University of Bonn, Germany

2017–2019                 
Student Assistant in the International Research Project "The Theologia Indorum:  A Critical Translation of Friar Domingo de Vico's Theology for and of the Maya," University of Bonn, Germany

since 2019       
Member of the Editorial Committee of the Journal "Mexicon: The Journal of Mesoamerican Studies"

2019                             
Organizational Committee of the International Conference "Future Today / Yesterday / Tomorrow: Visions of Future(s) in the Americas"

December 2023                   
Co-organizer of the international conference 28th European Maya Conference "Regionalism and Unity: Exploring Intracultural Variation and Commonality in the Maya Region," Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, Germany

September 2023                    
Moderator of a panel in the international conference "Archaeologies of Dependency in Latin America," Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies, Bonn, Germany

September 2021                    
Moderator of a panel in the international conference "Embodied Dependencies," Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies, Bonn, Germany

June 2019                    
Organizer and co-moderator of the student panel "Una mirada al futuro" the international conference "Future Today / Yesterday / Tomorrow: Visions of Future(s) in the Americas," Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, Germany

June 2019                    
Co-organizer of the international conference "Future Today / Yesterday / Tomorrow: Visions of Future(s) in the Americas," Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, Germany

December 2015                   
Assistant of the Organizing Committee of the international conference 20th European Maya Conference "The Maya in a Digital World," Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, Germany

Articles

• 2022. "Evaluación multiperspectiva de las palmas de Sabal y otras plantas posiblemente utilizadas como material de techado por los antiguos mayas en las tierras bajas centrales." In Estudios de Cultura Maya 59: 37–83. Open access 

Chapters

• Forthcoming. "Hidrología e hidráulica en Tzikin Tzakan, Petén, Guatemala: nuevas implicaciones a partir de modelos digitales de fotogrametría con drones." In XXXVI Simposio de Investigaciones Arqueológicas en Guatemala, 2023, edited by Barbara Arroyo, Luis Méndez Salinas, and Gloria Ajú Álvarez. Guatemala: Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología.
• Forthcoming. "Necessity, Control and Asymmetrical Dependency in the Social System of Classic Maya Communities: A Spatial Approach." In International Symposium "Captivity, Slavery and Forced Labor: Examining Maya Asymmetrical Dependencies in the Longue Durée, 300BCE-2022CE," 2022, edited by Nikolai Grube and John F. Chuchiak IV. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter.
• Forthcoming. "The Impact of Forest Exploitation on the Vernacular House in Urban Spaces of the Classic Maya: A Geo-ethnobotanical Approach in Central-eastern Petén, Guatemala." In British Archaeological Reports.
• 2023. ""Opio del pueblo': el acceso a recursos morales en la comunidad Clásica Tardía de Tzikin Tzakan, Petén, Guatemala." In XXXV Simposio de Investigaciones Arqueológicas en Guatemala, 2022, edited by Barbara Arroyo, Luis Méndez Salinas, and Gloria Ajú Álvarez, 809–824. Guatemala: Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología. 
• 2020. "Modelado digital GIS para la investigación etnoarqueológica de la distribución espacial de los recursos forestales en las ciudades mayas precolombinas del centro-este de Petén." In XXXIII Simposio de Investigaciones Arqueológicas en Guatemala, 2019, edited by Barbara Arroyo, Luis Méndez Salinas, and Luis Paiz, 379–391. Guatemala: Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología.

Field Reports

• 2023. With Markus Eberl. "Reconocimiento y mapeo del área de Tzikin Tzakan." In Proyecto Arqueológico Tzikin Tzakan: Temporada de Campo, 2023, Informe Final, edited by Markus Eberl and Claudia M. Vela de Bellamy, 26–38. Guatemala: Instituto de Antropología e Historia de Guatemala. 
• 2022. Informe Anual del Proyecto Arqueológico Tzikin Tzakan: Primera Temporada, Año 2021, edited by Markus Eberl, and Claudia M. Vela de Bellamy. Guatemala: Instituto de Antropología e Historia de Guatemala.
• 2022. With Mónica de León Antillón and Omar Schwendener. "Mapa de Tzikin Tzakan." In Informe Anual del Proyecto Arqueológico Tzikin Tzakan: Primera Temporada, Año 2021, edited by Markus Eberl and Claudia M. Vela de Bellamy, 30–78. Guatemala: Instituto de Antropología e Historia de Guatemala. 
• 2022. "Excavaciones en la periferia de Tzikin Tzakan: Operaciones 2, 9 y 12." In Proyecto Arqueológico Tzikin Tzakan y Tamarindito. Informe No. 2: Resultados de la Segunda Temporada de Investigación, edited by Markus Eberl and Mónica de León Antillón, 37–82. Guatemala: Instituto de Antropología e Historia de Guatemala.