Paul Graf

Religious Spaces in Classic Maya Lowland Communities: A Material Culture Approach to Rural Integration and Dependency

Integration in complex societies usually involves asymmetrical dependencies. People who are fully integrated into a community are confronted with constraints and assimilation, often based on secular moral principles, religious or ideological rules. The study of integration in an archaeological context is usually carried out by searching for spatial markers of territoriality and similarities in artifacts, architecture and symbols. However, this is a particular challenge at local level and in non-elite contexts where function dominates style and traces of expressions of individual or assimilated identities are more difficult to discern.

In the Classic Maya Lowlands, settlement densities vary internally and territorial boundaries are rarely visible in the material record. Traditional models oversimplify settlement patterns by divisions into urban and rural, elite and commoners, core and periphery, etc., and ignore the heterogeneity of social and architectural compositions of Maya sites and the agency of rural households. This is particularly evident in the major labor efforts undertaken in hinterland zones, such as large-scale landscape modifications and architectural complexes, including what are referred to here as isolated monumental compounds (IMC). Although commonly found in the archaeological landscape of Maya Lowland sites, this feature has received little attention to date. I propose that IMC served as strategic precincts for rural integration by providing a public and sacred space for attending large-scale events of cosmic importance.

This project develops a new approach for identifying integrative mechanisms in the archaeological record, focusing on the presence of public and ritual features embedded in the architecture and infrastructure of Maya sites. This approach will be employed in a comparative analysis of IMC at multiple sites across the Central Maya Lowlands, including the Cerro Maax complex in the western periphery of Tzikin Tzakan, Petén, Guatemala, which has previously been analyzed in the context of my doctoral project. The findings will contribute to a more nuanced understanding of rural social organization, dependencies, and dynamics of power and ideology in the Classic Maya society.

since 2025
Postdoctoral Researcher, Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies, University of Bonn, Germany

2020–2024
Several Field Research Abroad, Petén, Guatemala

2019–2024                
Doctoral Student in Anthropology of the Americas, University of Bonn, Germany

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

2019–2025                
Research Associate, Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies, University of Bonn, Germany

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

2023
Organizational Committee of the 28th European Maya Conference 2023 "Regionalism and Unity: Exploring Intracultural Variation and Commonality in the Maya Region," University of Bonn

since 2019       
Member of the Editorial Committee of the Mexicon Journal

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

• 2024. "Exploración arqueológica en la periferia oeste de Tzikin Tzakan." Conferencia magistral in the Teatro municipal Valentín del Valle Góngora, Flores, Petén, Guatemala

• 2024. [with Marie Botzet] "Los petroglifos del este de Petén, Guatemala: Ejemplos de Tzikin Tzakan y Yaxha y las implicaciones sobre su significado y su papel a nivel regional." Coloquio Guatemalteco de Arte Rupestre, Escuela de Historia de la Universidad de San Carlos, Guatemala
  
• 2024. "Servicios rurales para la integración en comunidades mayas clásicas: Un nuevo enfoque para conjuntos monumentales aislados a partir del ejemplo del complejo Cerro Maax en la periferia oeste de Tzikin Tzakan, Petén, Guatemala." XXXVII Simposio de Investigaciones Arqueológicas, Guatemala, Museo de Arqueología y Etnología, Guatemala
• 2024. "Asymmetrical Dependency in the Context of Resource Control and its Impact on the Social System in Premodern Societies: The Case of the Southern Maya Lowlands." XXV Mesoamerikanistik-Tagung, University of Bonn
• 2023. "Hinterland monumentality at Tzikin Tzakan, Petén, Guatemala: Questioning Core-Periphery Dichotomies in a Classic Maya Community." International conference Monumentality in Southern Central America: Complexity, Inequality, Dependency?, Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies
• 2023. "A GIS approach to the archaeological study of asymmetrical dependency based on essential resources: the case of the Southern Maya Lowlands." International conference Archaeologies of Dependency in Latin America, Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies
• 2023. "Los sistemas hidrológicos de Tzikin Tzakan, Petén, Guatemala: nuevas implicaciones a partir de modelos digitales de fotogrametría con drones." XXXVI Simposio de Investigaciones Arqueológicas, Guatemala, Online
• 2023. "Los petroglifos de Tzikin Tzakan: Implicaciones sobre su papel suprarregional y los contactos interétnicos." XII Congreso Internacional de Mayistas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México D.F.
• 2023. "Essential resources and social change in the southern Maya lowlands from the Classic period to the present: an ethnoarchaeological approach." Kiel Conference: Scales of Social, Environmental and Cultural Change in Past Societies, Kiel, Germany
• 2023. "Landscape Modification as Domination: Case Studies of Spatial Dependency and Human-Environment Relationships in the Maya Area and Beyond." Workshop Ecological Inter/Dependencies: Strong Asymmetrical Relations and More-than-Human Worlds, Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies
• 2022. "The Maya under the surface: An integrated approach for the detection of invisible settlements in the peripheries of Tamarindito and Tzikin Tzakan in Petén, Guatemala." 27th European Maya Conference, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland
• 2022. "Opio del pueblo: El acceso a recursos morales en la comunidad Clásica tardía de Tzikin Tzakan, Petén, Guatemala." XXXV Simposio de Investigaciones Arqueológicas, Guatemala, Museo de Arqueología y Etnología, Guatemala
• 2022. "Necessity, Control and Asymmetrical Dependency in the Social System of Classic Maya Communities: A Spatial Approach." International Symposium Captivity, Slavery and Forced Labor: Examining Maya Asymmetrical Dependencies in the Longue Durée, 300BCE–2022CE, Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies
• 2021. "Dependencias asimétricas en la sociedad maya clásica: Un estudio arqueológico ambiental del control de los recursos esenciales en la periferia de Tzikin Tzakan." XXXIV Simposio de Investigaciones Arqueológicas, Guatemala, Online
• 2019. "Modelado digital GIS para la investigación etnoarqueológica de la distribución espacial de los recursos forestales en las ciudades mayas precolombinas del centro-este del Petén." XXXIII Simposio de Investigaciones Arqueológicas, Guatemala, Museo de Arqueología y Etnología, Guatemala
• 2019. "El impacto de la explotación forestal en la casa maya en espacios urbanos mayas clásicos – Un enfoque geo-etnobotánico en el centro-este de Petén, Guatemala." XI Congreso Internacional de Mayistas, Universidad de Quintana Roo, Chetumal, Mexico
• 2019. "Casas tradicionales y la Reserva de la Biosfera Maya – Como la burocracia ambiental amenaza el patrimonio cultural." International conference Organizational Committee of the international conference "Future today / yesterday / tomorrow: Visions of Future(s) in the Americas," University of Bonn, Germany

• 2023. Moderation of the panel "Regional Aspects in Classic Maya Architecture and Settlement Patterns," 28th European Maya Conference, University of Bonn, Germany
• 2023. Moderation of Panel IV at the international conference Archaeologies of Dependency in Latin America, Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies
• 2021. Moderation of a panel at the international conference "Embodied Dependencies," Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies
• 2019. Co-Moderation of the panel "Una mirada al futuro," International Conference "Future today / yesterday / tomorrow: Visions of Future(s) in the Americas," University of Bonn, Germany

• 2024. "Exploración arqueológica en la periferia oeste de Tzikin Tzakan: Un resumen de los resultados de 2020–2024," public talk about the Tzikin Tzakan Archaeological Project in the caserío Vuelta Grande, Petén, Guatemala
• 2021. "Proyecto Arqueológico Tzikin Tzakan - Temporada 2021: Reconocimiento de asentamientos en la periferia occidental de Tzikin Tzakan," public talk about the Tzikin Tzakan Archaeological Project in the caserío Vuelta Grande, Petén, Guatemala
• 2020. "Casas de palma en el antiguo centro urbano de Tikal: Un modelo geodigital para investigar el acceso a un recurso invisible," public talk about the Geoethnobotanical Project Yaxha 2018 in the aldea La Máquina, Petén, Guatemala

Academic Publications

• Forthcoming. "Landscape Modification as Domination: Pre-Hispanic Human-Environment Relationships in the Southern Maya Lowlands." In Ecological Inter/Dependencies: Strong Asymmetrical Relations and More-than-Human Worlds, edited by J. Leetsch und Z. Gökce. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter.
• 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," edited by N. Grube and J. 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.
• 2024. With M. Botzet. "Meeting on the Mountain: A Petroglyph in Tzikin Tzakan, Petén, Guatemala." In Mexicon 46(5):97–100.
• 2024. "Un enfoque espacial para el estudio arqueológico de las relaciones de dependencia asimétrica basada en recursos esenciales: el caso de las tierras bajas mayas del sur." In PUCP 34: 14–35. Open access
• 2024. "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 B. Arroyo, L. Méndez Salinas and G. Ajú Álvarez, 171–182. Guatemala: Asociación Tikal.
• 2023. With D. Auziņa, M. Kolbenstetter, E. Egberts, L. Cabrera, and H. Torres. Pre-Colonial Communities’ Resource Access in Kukra Hill: 2022 archaeological field season, final report, Material Analysis. Managua: Instituto Nicaragüense de Cultura.
• 2023. With M. Eberl. "Reconocimiento y mapeo del área de Tzikin Tzakan." In Proyecto Arqueológico Tzikin Tzakan: Temporada de Campo, 2023, Informe Final, edited by M. Eberl and C.M. Vela de Bellamy, 26–38. Guatemala: Instituto de Antropología e Historia de Guatemala.
• 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 B. Arroyo, L. Méndez Salinas, and G. Ajú Álvarez, 809–824. Guatemala: Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología.
• 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 M. Eberl und M. de León Antillón, 37–82. Guatemala: Instituto de Antropología e Historia de Guatemala.
• 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 
• 2022. With M. de León Antillón and O. Schwendener. "Mapa de Tzikin Tzakan." In Informe Anual del Proyecto Arqueológico Tzikin Tzakan: Primera Temporada, Año 2021, edited by M. Eberl and C.M. Vela de Bellamy, 30–78. 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.
• 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.

Multimedia Publications

• 2022. "Julb'e'en - Un documental etnográfico de la tradición maya de cubrir techos de palma." Video documentary about the practice of roofing in traditional Maya house construction in the central-east Petén, Guatemala, German version. Online.
• 2022. "Julb'e'en - Un documental etnográfico de la tradición maya de cubrir techos de palma." Video documentary about the practice of roofing in traditional Maya house construction in the central-east Petén, Guatemala, Spanish version. Online.
• 2021. "Entre el Subín y la Pirámide - Diary of a conductivity survey for Maya archaeology ('The Blue Rose')." Video documentary about a geophysical prospection 2021 in the western periphery of the archaeological site Tzikin Tzakan with an EM38-MK2. Online.