UC Riverside

This dissertation examines La Milpa North, an ancient Maya hilltop palatial compound built and occupied in the Late to Terminal Classic periods (ca. A.D. 600-950). Previously, several scholars proposed that this site is the northern node of a network of secondary centers arranged in a quadripartite pattern around the civic center of La Milpa intended to reflect the shape and function of a four-sided and three-tiered Maya cosmos. Through archaeological investigation, this project evaluates assertions of cosmological significance at La Milpa North. In so doing, this project aims to contribute to ongoing anthropological dialogues regarding our ability to detect and interpret meanings encoded in archaeological landscapes inscribed by the ideological and practical needs of ancient peoples. To address questions of intentionality and meaning in the built environment, this project adopts a biography of place approach. Though by nature incomplete and subject to revision, a biography of place endeavors to reconstruct a diachronic narrative of the construction, use, and modification of space while simultaneously exploring the experiences, meanings, and senses of place of ancient social actors. Through this lens, La Milpa North is conceptualized as a multivalent place with which a diverse array of ancient individuals formed complex relationships and, in processes contingent on historical material circumstances, imbued landscapes with meanings.

In building a biography of place, this dissertation employs various analytical and theoretical frameworks to partially reconstruct aspects of the relationships that individuals formed with La Milpa North. Recognizing that numerous social, political, and economic contingencies structure relationships individuals build and maintain with places, this project situates the built environment and artefactual assemblages within broader local, regional, and interregional processes of social transformation. A long history of research in the Maya Lowlands, as well as the Three Rivers Region in which La Milpa North is located, provides excellent context and numerous analogous examples to further this effort. In addition, practice theory, political and ritual economy perspectives, and social landscape approaches are used to construct an interpretive framework for the archaeological data generated by this project so as to enable an understanding of the recursive processes involved in the production and reproduction of individuals, communities, ideologies, and social landscapes. Finally, to access elements of the embodied experiences of ancient peoples, this project utilizes digital reconstructions of the built environment to recreate experiences of moving through and interacting with the site prior to its abandonment. Together, these methods and theoretical perspectives contribute to a reconstruction of the dynamic form, function, and possible meanings encoded into the built environment of La Milpa North.

In testing the hypothesis that La Milpa North is a node within a representation of the cosmos, I find additional lines of evidence to support previous interpretations, though several refinements are proposed. In addition, this research unearths deep articulations between cosmological beliefs, social relations, political power, and economic practices. As a ceremonial complex, administrative center, and the residence of a high-ranking non-royal elite household situated in a cosmologically significant location on the social landscape of a major polity, the architecture and assemblages of La Milpa North reflected and embodied the practical needs and ideological concerns of its builders, occupants, and surrounding community. It therefore provides a lens into the spatial, economic, and political practices of ancient Maya, and serves as a means to engage with broader anthropological dialogues regarding the role of systems of belief and ideology in shaping archaeological landscapes and our ability to perceive intentionality within ancient contexts.