Classic Maya Landscape in The Upper Usumacinta River Valley

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THE UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY
Classic Maya Landscape in the Upper Usumacinta River Valley
by
Mario M. Aliphat
A DISSERTATION
SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES
IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE
DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
DEPARTMENT OF ARCHAEOLOGY
CALGARY, ALBERTA
MAY, 1994
© Mario M. Aliphat 1994
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SUBJECT CODE
SUBJECT TERM
Subject Categories
THE HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES

COMMUNICATIONS AKD THE ARTS Psychology.....................................0525 PHILOSOPHY, RELIGION AND A n c ie n t.....................................0 5 7 9
A rchitecture....................................0 729 Reading ........................................ 0535 THEOLOGY M e d ic v o l................................. 0581
A rl H istory ......................................0377 R oligious........................................ 0 527 M o d e rn ....................................0 58 2
Philosophy...................................... 0422
C m o.no ...........................................0900 Sciences. ................................... 0714 Religion B lo c k ........................................ 0 32 8
Danco ....................... 0378 Secondary............................ 0533 A fric a n ................................. ,,,0331
General ...................................0318
Fino A r t s . ...0 35 7 Social S ocncos..............................0534 Asia, Australia and Oceonio 0 3 3 2
Biblical Studies ............0321
Information 5cionco.................... 0723 Sociology o f .................................. C340 Canadian ................................ 0 33 4
C le rg y ...................................... 0 3 1 9
Journalism ..................................... 0391 S p o cia r ................................... 0 52 9 E uropean................................. 0 3 3 5
History o f .......................... 0320
Library S c o n c e ...................... 0399 Teacher T ra inin g ........................... 0 53 0 lo lin A m erican........................0 3 3 6
Philosophy o l .......................... 0322
M a n fcommunicolions..................0708 Technology.....................................0 71 0 Theology 0469 M iddle Eastern........................0 3 3 3
Music ................................ 0413 Tosls oncTMoosuromonts............ 0288 United States........................... 0 3 3 7
Spooch Communication ...... 0459 V oca lio no l...................................... 0747 H ‘ v y of S cience.........................0 58 5
SOCIAL SCIENCES
Tnoalor ..................... 0465 Low..................................................0 3 9 8
American Studies ......................... 0323
LANGUAGE, LITERATURE AND Anthropology Political Scicnco
EDUCATION LINGUISTICS A rch a e o lo g y ........................... 0 324 G e n e ra l....................................0 61 5
C o n o ro l...................... 0515 language C u ltu ra l.................................... 0326 International lo w and
A dm inistration ...............................0 514 Gonerol .................................. 0679 Physical.................................... 0327 Relations...............................0 6 1 6
Adull and Continuing ..................0 516 A n cio n t.....................................0289 Business Administration Public A dm inistration............. 0 61 7
A g ric u ltu ra l....................................0 51 7 Recreation...................................... 0 81 4
lin g u istics ..............................0290 G e n e ra l ..................... 0 31 0
A r t ................................................... 0273 M o d e rn .........................0291 Accounting ..............................0272 Social W o r k .................................. 0 4 5 2
Bilingual and Multicultural ...........0282 Sociology
Literature Banking. ...............................0770
Business ..............................0608 G e n e ra l................ 0401 Manogomenl .......................... 0454 G e n e ra l....................................0 6 2 6
Community College .................... 0 275 C lassical.................................. 0294 M o rk c tm g ................................ 0 338 Crim inology and Penology ... 0 62 7
Curriculum arid Instruction ......... 0 72 7 Dem ography........................... 0 9 3 8
Com parative............................0295 Canodion Studies .................. 0385
Eorly Childhood . .. ................... 0518 M e d ie v a l............................ ...0 2 9 7 Ethnic ond Kaeial S tudies 0631
Economics
Elomontary 0524 Modern ................................... 0298 Individual and Family
G c n e ro l.................................. 0501
Finances . .0 2 7 7 African ....................................0316 S tudios................................. 0 62 8
Guidance and C ounseling 0519 A g ricu ltu ra l..............................0503
Am erican................................. 0591 Industrial and lab o r
Com m crceBusiness............... 0 50 5
Health ......................................... 0 6 8 0 Relations............................... 0 62 9
A s ia n ....................................... 0305 Finance .................. ,0 5 0 8
Higher ..................................... 0 74 5 Canodion [E n g lish l ............... 0 35 2 H istory................................. 0 50 9 Public and Social W c lla ro .... 0 6 3 0
History of .......................... 0 520 Canodian (French) ............... 0355 la b o r ....................................... 0 5 1 0 Social Structuro and
Homo E c o n o m ic s .............0 278 English .....................................0593 Theory ...................................0511 Development...................... 0 7 0 0
Industrial ...................................... 0521 G e rm a n ic................................ 0311 Theory a nd M ethods.............. 0 34 4
Folklore............................... 0358
Languogo and lito ra fu re .............. 0 27 9 Transportation...............................0 70 9
Latin A m e rica n ........................0312 G eography..................................... 0366
M athem atics. 0280 Middle Eastern .................... . 0315 G e ro n to lo g y......................... 0351 Urban and Regional Planning . ..0 9 9 9
Music ............................................. 0522 R om ance............................... 0313 History W om en’s Studies.......................... 0 4 5 3
Philosophy o f ..................................0998 5lovic and East European . . 0314 G e n e ra l.................................... 0570
Physical ... 0523
THE SCIENCES AND ENGINEERING

BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES G e o d o sy .........................................0370 Speech P athology................... 0 4 6 0 Engineering
A nriojlturo Geology ................... 0372 T o xicolo g y...............................0383 G e n e ra l....................................0 5 3 7
G e n e ra l.................................... 0 47 3 G eophysics ......................0373 Home Econom ics ..................0 3 8 6 A erospace ............................... 0 5 3 8
A g ro n o m y ............................... 0285 H y d ro lo g y ........................0388 A g ricu ltu ra l..............................0 53 9
Ammal Culture and M in e ra lo g y.....................................0411 PHYSICAL SCIENCES A u to m o tive ..............................0 5 4 0
N u tritio n ......................... 0 4 7 5 Paleobotany ................................ 0 34 5 B iom edical...............................0541
Anim al Pathology................... 0476 Polooocology................................. 0426
Pure Sciences
C ho m icol................................. 0 54 2
Chemistry
Food Science and Poloontology................................. 0 418 C iv il..........................................0 54 3
Technology.......................... 035 9 G e n e ral ............................0485
Potcozoology................................. 0985 Electronics and Electrical 0544
Foreshy a n d W ildlifo ...........0 47 8 P a lyn o log y ..................................... 0427 A g ricu ltu ra l..............................0 7 4 9
Heat ond Thermodynamics ...0 3 4 0
Plant C u ltu re ........................... 0 47 9 Physical G e o g ra p h y ..................... 0368 A n a ly tic a l .......................... 0486
H ydra u lic................................. 0 54 5
Physical O ceanography .............. 0415 Biochemistry ........ 0 48 7
Plant P a th o lo g y.......................0 4 8 0 Industrial ................................. 0 5 4 6
Plant P hysiology......................0 8 1 7 In o rg a n ic ..................... 0 48 8
M a rin e ..................................... 0 547
Range M a n a g e m e n t.............. 0 7 7 7 HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL Nuclear ...................................0738
Materials Science................... 0 794
W o o d Technology..................0 7 4 6 O rg a n ic ............... 0490
SCIENCES M e cha n ical..............................0 54 8
Phormoceulicol........................ 0491
Biology Environmental Sciences .0 7 6 8 M e ta llu rg y .....................0743
P hysical.................................... 0494
General ................................ 0 30 6 M ining ..................................... 0551
Health Sciences P olym er ........................ 0495
Anatomy . 0 28 7 N u c le a r....................................0 55 2
G e n e ra l....................................0566 R adiation................................. 0754
Biostatistics ........................... 0 30 8 A u d io lo g y ... 0300 Packaging ......................... 0549
B o ta n y...................................... 0 3 0 9 M athem atics.................. 0405
Petroleum ................................ 0 76 5
Chomotncropy ...................... 0992 Physics
Coll . 0379 D en tistry.................... 0567 Sanitary and M u n ic ip a l 0 55 4
E c o lo g y.................................... 0 3 2 9 G e n e ra l.................................... 0605
Education ..............................0350 System Scicnco........................ 0 79 0
Entom ology............................ 0353 A coustics................................. 0 9 8 6
Hospital M anagem ent............0769 G eotcchnoloay............................ .0 4 2 8
G onetics...................................0 36 9 Astronomy ond
Human Development ............. 0758 Operations Research.................... 0 79 6
lim n o lo g y ................................ 0 79 3 Astrophysics ................0606
Im m unology.............................0902 Plastics Technology......................0 7 9 5
M icrobiology .......................... 0 4 1 0 Atmospheric Scienco.............. 0 60 8 Textile Technology......................... 0994
Medicine and S u rg e ry 0564 Atomic ..................................... 074B
M olcculor ................................ 0 3 0 7
Mental H e a lth ....................... 0347 Electronics ond E lectricity 0607
Neuroscience ........................0 3 17
Nursing ..................................0569 PSYCHOLOGY
O ceanography........................0 4 1 6 Elementary Particles a n d G e n e ra l..........................................0621
N u tritio n .................... 0570 High Enorgy......................... 0 7 9 8
P h ysiology............................... 0 433 Bohavioral...................................... 0 38 4
Obstetrics ond Gynecology .0 3 8 0 F luidond Plosmo.....................0759
R ad ia tion ................................. 0821 C lin ic a l......................................... ,0 6 2 2
Occupational Health ana M o lc c u lo r ............. 0 60 9
Veterinary Scicnco..................0 77 8 Developmental............................... 0 62 0
Therapy ............................... 0354 N u c le a r.................................... 0 61 0
Z o o lo g y .......................0 472 E xperim ental................................. 0623
Ophtholmology .................. 0301 O p tic s .......................................0 75 2
Biophysics Industrial ..................................... 0 62 4
P athology................................ 0571 R adiation................................. 0 756
General ................... 0786 Personality...................................... 0625
Phorm ocology........................0 4 1 9 Solid S ta te ............................... 0611
M e d ic a l ........................ 0 76 0 Physiological................................. 0 98 9
Pharm acy.................................0572 Statistics.......................................... 0463
Physical T h e ra p y .................... 0382 Psychobiology............................... 0 34 9
EARTH SCIENCES Public H ealth............................0573 A p p lie d Sciences Psychometrics .......................0632
Biogeochem iitry ..................0 42 5 A ppliod M echanics.......................0 34 6 Social .......................................... 0451
R odiology.................... 0574
G eochem istry................................ 0 9 9 6 Computer S cience......................... 0984
Recreation............................... 0575
THE UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY
FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES
The undersigned certify that they have read, and recommend to
the Faculty of Graduate Studies for acceptance, a dissertation
entitled "Classic Maya Landscape in the Upper Usumacinta River
Valley," submitted by Mario M. Aliphat, in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
--'Dir. J. Scott Raymprid

^Department of Archaeology
Dr. Peter L. Mathews

Department of Archaeology
of Anthropology
tlc^kcL
Dr. Elizabeth/Graham
Department of Anthropology
York University
May 20, 1994
ii
ABSTRACT
The Usuroacinta River Basin in Chiapas, Mexico
witnessed the growth and florescence of the Classic Maya
civilization. However, the area has been relatively little
explored archaeologically in comparison to other lowland
Classic Maiya areas such as Belize and the Peten in
Guatemala. The primary objective of this thesis is to
provide a broad base of data concerning the Upper Usmacinta
River Basin on which to build a comprehensive knowledge of
the Classic Maya in this area. The data base is presented
from the perspective of landscape studies in archaeology,
which transcend the purely ecological, economical or
iconographical approaches to understanding the rise of past
civilizations.
The study area, defined hydrologically, is explored in
terms of the structural geology, the geomorphology, the
soils, and the vegetation to develop an approximation of
the physical and biotic landscapes. These data, which are
provided in the form of maps and figures, are then compared
with the location of known archaeological sites in the
Upper Usumacinta River Basin. The correlation of
settlement location with natural and biotic landscape
features provides the basis for the generation of a
iii
proposed political landscape for a specific period of
Classic Maya times.
The results of this landscape analysis support the
idea that settlement decisions are influenced by physical
and biotic landscape features. For the study area, it is
proposed that the location of sites corresponds to
landscape features which facilitate the movement of goods
and the maintenance of interaction along the Usumacinta
River in downstream travel and through geologically-defined
valleys in overland travel in the upstream direction.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This dissertation is the result of the kind help and
assistance of many people in Canada and Mexico. First I
would like to acknowledge the kind support and guidance
provided by Dr. David H. Kelley and Dr. Scott Raymond
throughout all these years. Without their help and interest
it would have been very difficult to complete this study.
In Calgary, Dr. Brian Kooyman and Dr. Peter Mathews have
always shared their friendship and their knowledge with me.
Their good humour and commitment in the field will be
always remembered. Dr. Jane Kelley and Dr. Richard Forbis
have provided a sense of purpose and gentle example during
my stay in Calgary. I have had the opportunity to share
with them unforgettable experiences in Cihuatan, El
Salvador, and Zacoalco, Mexico.
In Mexico, thanks are due to Dr. Arturo Gdmez-Pompa,
Biol. Manuel ZolS, Geog. Gerardo Garcia, Ing. Adolfo
Campos, and Biol. Josd Luis Alvarado as well as other
researchers of the Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones
Sobre Recursos Bidticos (INIREB). They provided me with
great help in the different areas of their expertise. In
the Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia (INAH) I
would like to thank Prof. Roberto Garcia Moll, Prof.
Alejandro Pastrana, Prof. Angel Garcia Cook, Prof. Josd
Luis Lorenzo, Profa. Lorena Mirambell, and Prof. Daniel
JuSrez. These archaeologists, as well as other researchers
of INAH, have provided me with critical support in my
research in La Selva Lacandona and in my work in Mexican
archaeology.
The research in Calgary was funded through a
Government of Alberta Scholarship as well as Social
Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC)
and Killam Doctoral Fellowships. My recent work in the
Usumacinta has been graciously supported by a Social
Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC)
research grant for the El Cayo Project.
I wish to thank Dr. Elizabeth Graham and Dr. Herman
Konrad for their kind interest and insightful commentaries
as members of my Examining Committee.
I want to thank my family for their support and jovial
but critical view of my life as an archaeologist: Doha Luz
Ma. FernSndez Vda. de Aliphat, my brothers Enrique and
Juan, my sisters Graciela , Raquel, and Ivonne.
Finally, I would like to thank Dr. Denise F. Brown for
her encouragement, advice, and happy outlook on life.
vi
DEDICATION
To the Mayan peoples of Mexico and Guatemala, in the
belief that the Usumacinta River will become, as it was in
the past, a river that brings them together instead of
being the border that keeps them apart.
vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
APPROVAL PAGE ii
ABSTRACT iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS v
DEDICATION vii
LIST OF TABLES xi
LIST OF FIGURES xii
LIST OF MAPS xiii
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY
1. INTRODUCTION 1
2. THEORETICAL CONTEXT 2
3. THE STUDY AREA 13
4. OBJECTIVES 14
5. METHODOLOGY 16
6. ORGANIZATION OF THE THESIS 19
CHAPTER TWO: THE PHYSICAL LANDSCAPE
1. INTRODUCTION 21
1.1 TOPOGRAPHY AND GENERAL DESCRIPTION 21
1.2 METHOD OF THE COLLECTION AND
ANALYSIS OF MATERIALS 25
2. THE STRUCTURAL GEOLOGY OF THE STUDY AREA 26
2.1 THE HISTORY OF THE GEOLOGICAL PROVINCE 26
2.2 TECTONICS: FOLDING AND FAULTING FEATURES 30
2.2.1 Folding Features 30
2.2.2 Faults 36
2.3 GEOLOGICAL STRATIGRAPHY 38
2.4 CONCLUSIONS: IMPORTANT FEATURES
OF STRUCTURAL GEOLOGY 42
3. CLIMATE AND HYDROLOGY OF THE STUDY AREA 43
3.1 CLIMATE OF UPPER USUMACINTA REGION 44
3.2 HYDROLOGY OF THE STUDY AREA 46
3.2.1 The Drainage Area 47
3.2-2 The Usumacinta River 53
4. GEOMORPHOLOGY OF THE STUDY AREA 57
4.1 LANDFORMS 57
5. CONCLUSIONS 69
CHAPTER THREE: THE BIOTIC LANDSCAPE
1. INTRODUCTION 81
2. LA SELVA LACANDONA 82
3. THE ANTHROPOGENIC FOREST 88
viii
3.1 TREE SPECIES OF THE SARCOPHAGOUS
AT PALENQUE 90
3.2 THE RAMON THESIS AND VEGETATIONAL
TRANSECTS IN YAXCHILAN 91
4. CONCLUSION 102
CHAPTER FOUR: SOILS
1. INTRODUCTION 104
2. METHODOLOGY OF PRESENT STUDY 110
3. THE SOILS OF THE UPPER USUMACINTA
RIVER BASIN 111
3.1 Soil Types in the study area 111
3.2 Soil Series in the Study area 119
4. AGRICULTURAL POTENTIAL OF SOILS AND
THEIR DISTRIBUTION IN STUDY AREA 123
5. SOILS, AGRICULTURE AND
ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES 130
CHAPTER FIVE: THE POLITICAL LANDSCAPE
1. INTRODUCTION 141
2. THEORETICAL DISCUSSION:
POLITY, TERRITORY AND BOUNDARY 143
3. SITES AND POLITIES IN THE STUDY AREA 157
3.1 SITES IN THE STUDY AREA
IN THE NATURAL CONTEXT 162
3.1.1 Piedras Negras 163
3.1.2 Yaxchilan 165
3.1.3 El Chorro 168
3.1.4 El Porvenir 169
3.1.5 Texcoco 170
3.1.6 El Cayo 170
3.1.7 El Chile 171
3.1.8 El Chicozapote 172
3.1.9 Santa Clara 172
3.1.10 Anait6 II 173
3.1.11 La Pasadita 174
3.1.12 Anaitfe I 174
3.1.13 El Tornillo 175
3.1.14 El Pato 176
3.2 DISTRIBUTION OF SITES ON THE LANDSCAPE 176
4. BOUNDARIES ON THE PHYSICAL AND
CULTURAL LANDSCAPES 185
5. CONCLUSIONS: THE POLITICAL LANDSCAPE:
NATURAL AND CULTURAL LANDSCAPE COMBINED 193
ix
CHAPTER SIX: SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
1. INTRODUCTION 201
2. FEATURES OF THE NATURAL LANDSCAPE
IN THE STUDY AREA 202
2.1 BASIC UNITS OF THE LANDSCAPE 202
2.2 FIVE KEY FEATURES OF THE NATURAL LANDSCAPE
OF THE STUDY AREA 210
2.2.1 River formation 210
2.2.2 Karstic landscape 211
2.2.3 Special materials 212
2.2.4 Agricultural and silvicultural
potential 212
2.2.5 Mosaic of environmental conditions
on the landscape 213
3. INTERPRETIVE IMPORTANCE OF THE LANDSCAPE
APPROACH: THE CULTURAL LANDSCAPE 214
4. POSSIBILITIES FOR FUTURE RESEARCH 217
BIBLIOGRAPHY 219
LIST OF TABLES
TABLE NO. 1
SOIL TYPES AND CAPABILITY CLASSIFICATIONS
FOR THE STUDY AREA 139
xi
LIST OF FIGURES
FIGURE NO. 1
SEASAT-SAR IMAGE 422 (1978): TOPOGRAPHY AND
SURFACE GEOLOGY OF THE UPPER
USUMACINTA RIVER BASIN 72
FIGURE NO. 2
GEOLOGY OF THE UPPER USUMACINTA RIVER REGION 74
FIGURE NO. 3
THE UPPER USUMACINTA RIVER REGION FAULTING
SYSTEM 75
FIGURE NO. 4
THE GRIJALVA/USUMACINTA RIVER SYSTEM 76
FIGURE NO. 5
THE HYDROLOGY OF THE UPPER USUMACINTA
RIVER BASIN 77
FIGURE NO. 6
THE UPPER USUMACINTA RIVER BASIN:
LOCATION OF THE ESCARPMENTS, RIVER
RAPIDS AND RAVINES 78
FIGURE NO. 7
UPPER USUMACINTA RIVER BASIN LAND FORMS 79
FIGURE NO. 8
SIMPLIFIED BLOCK DIAGRAM OF THE
STRUCTURAL GEOLOGY 80
FIGURE NO. 9
ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES IN THE UPPER
USUMACINTA RIVER BASIN 199
FIGURE NO. 10
RIVER, PORTAGE AND OVERLAND ROUTES IN THE
UPPER USUMACINTA RIVER BASIN 200
FIGURE NO. 11
BASIC UNITS OF LANDSCAPE ON A CROSS SECTION
OF THE UPPER USUMACINTA RIVER BASIN 218
xii
LIST OF MAPS
MAP NO. 1
THE TOPOGRAPHY OF THE UPPER USUMACINTA
RIVER BASIN
MAP NO. 2
THE VEGETATION OF THE UPPER USUMACINTA
RIVER BASIN
MAP NO. 3
THE SOILS OF THE UPPER USUMACINTA RIVER
BASIN
xiii
1
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY
1. INTRODUCTION
More than fifteen years have passed since Culbert et
al (1978) issued an urgent call for detailed environmental
studies in the Maya zone, a call which has been reiterated
on various occasions by other Maya archaeologists.
Wiseman (1978), in the same year, spoke of the need for
understanding the "present landscape" as the "analogue of
past landscapes" which corresponded to the development of
the Maya civilization. Three years later, Ashmore (1981)
stressed the need for "topographic, geological,
pedological, hydrographic, botanical and zoological data
for a given area" in addition to the archaeological data
set. In the intervening years, such information has been
generated for some parts of the Maya zone. Rice and
Puleston (1981) , for example, analyzed the natural
landscape features of the Peten area, finding that as more
is known, the endeavour of archaeological settlement
analysis in the tropical rainforest of the Maya zone
becomes increasingly complex. The present study was
designed and undertaken in the context of this recognized
need for detailed an£ complex information on the natural
2
landscape of the region which provided the context for the
emergence of the Maya civilization. The results of this
study provide a first approximation to the understanding
of the natural or physical world in an area known to
archaeologists as the Upper Usumacinta River Basin,
located in present-day Mexico and Guatemala. As a second
step in the study, the importance of this data set is
demonstrated by correlating natural landscape elements to
the distribution of known sites in this river basin within
a cultural framework of proposed political entities.
2. THEORETICAL CONTEXT
The study of the distribution of, and relationship
between, elements in an archaeological site and over a
region for many years was subsumed under the rubric of
"settlement pattern analysis". Clark (1977: 1,9) is the
first to propose a broader term to respond to a wider
focus in the study of archaeological artefacts, sites, and
landscape contexts: for Clark "spatial archaeology"
includes "settlement archaeology, site system analyses,
regional studies, territorial analyses, locational
analysis, catchment area studies, distribution mapping,
density studies, within-site and within-structure analyses
or even stratigraphic studies" all of which generate
"archaeological spatial information". This approach
accommodates research perspectives at various "levels of
resolution", from study of the relationship of "artefacts
and other artefacts over the landscape" at a micro level,
to focus on the relationship of "sites and resource
spaces" and "resource spaces with other resource spaces"
(Clark 1977:16). It is at this latter, "macro" level of
resolution that the present study proposes to identify
spaces on the landscape which, when seen in mutual
relationships, reveal information with fundamental
interpretative value to the archaeologist. This is the
spatial information which Clark (1977:5) proposes can no
longer be "intuitive" or gleaned by "eyeballing". The
importance of the spatial information found in the
relationships, and which tra ^cends the more limited focus
of settlement archaeology, is the basic assumption of this
archaeological approach, which is adopted in this study,
focussing on the landscape of the Upper Usumacinta River
Basin.
Landscape is defined in the natural sciences with
reference to soil types, slope, hydrology, topography, and
features which determine land use systems and patterns
(Committee 1993). From this wide scope of natural
environment, researchers in archaeology have most
frequently chosen the man-land relationship for study,
generating for the Maya zone, a considerable body of data
in relation to the size and distribution of the human
4
population through time, although questions still exist as
to the exact nature of the Maya agricultural activities in
the humid tropics and, by extension, the size, profile and
location of the population (Cu]bert and Rice 1990).
Specifically, soil types, as the "key problem of
agriculturists in the humid tropics", were singled out by
Sanders (Sanders & Murdy 1982) to be correlated with the
distribution of settlements, in an approach which was
subsequently tested by Ford (1986) and Fedick (1988).
While land has been identified as the prime "resource” in
the Maya zone by these authors, archaeologists have also
recognized water sources (Harrison 1981), minerals
(Shipley and Graham 1987), wild game (Hammond 1985,
Flannery 1986), and tree crops (Puleston 1982; Gomez-
Pompa, Flores and Aliphat 1990), as important "resources"
which influence the location of settlements in the Maya
zone.
The identification of "resources" for a given
society, however, implies that the researcher has detailed
knowledge of the information available to the "user" in
the context of the natural environment. Wagstaff (1987)
warns thcit the organization of information into typologies
(such as resources) is influenced by "assumptions about
meaning and significance, whether those assumptions are
clearly articulated or not". Until now, the
classification of an element of the physical world of the
Maya as a resource has been based primarily on' the
assumptions that agricultural pursuits were predominant,
that agriculturists influenced settlement decisions, and
that land was the medium most valued by these individuals.
Thus soils types and distribution, and their corresponding
agricultural potential have been an important focus.
However, soil is but one element of the natural landscape,
which, it is proposed here, should be understood and
evaluated in the total context of landscape features in
the first instance, without reference to the judgment of
this element or medium as a resource. That is, the first
step in understanding the natural context of an
archaeological society is to attempt to remove the
cultural or interpretive constraints and present that
which Ellen (1978) has termed "env onmental givens". The
natural landscape represents a certain potential to the
human inhabitants, who classify, use and modify the
natural setting to form a cultural landscape of resources,
sites, communication routes, agricultural systems, and
other sociospatial structures.
Carl Sauer was the first to identify this dual nature
of landscape. In the context of a geographical tradition
which concentrated its research interest on natural
physical forms, Sauer introduced the notion of "content"
in the landscape, which rests "in the physical qualities
of area that are significant to man and in the forms of
6
his use of the area" (Sauer 1925:325). These physical
qualities represent, for Sauer (1925:326): "the sum of all
natural resources that man has at his disposal in the
area...(i)t is beyond his power to add to them; he may
'develop' them, ignore them in part, or subtract from them
by exploitation". The physical features provide the
"materials out of which the cultural landscape is formed"
(Sauer 1925:343). Whereas archaeologists interested in
the man-land relationship have focussed principally on
soils, the geographers or Sauer's time were preoccupied
with relief, as the primary features of the landscape.
Sauer emphasizes the complexity of the landscape, of which
topography is but a single element, arguing that the
geological information is needed to understand the base
materials and structures which underlie the surface forms,
and climatic data related to the biotic aspects of the
landscape: "These matters may be significant to the
understanding of topography, soil, drainage, and mineral
distribution" (Sauer 1925: 334).
Although the two aspects of the landscape, physical
and cultural, are interdependent, they can be separated
for the purposes of analysis. As could be expected, the
physical aspects have been stressed by scientists in the
natural sciences, more than the cultural aspects, which
have fallen more into the realm of the social sciences.
Archaeology, which by definition depends primarily on
physical remains of past cultures, must exhaust the
information available in the material record which may
contribute to the understanding of cultural development.
Thus, the detailed and comprehensive knowledge of the
physical landscape on which, and by means of which,
cultures emerged and flourished is of fundamental
importance.
Some important archaeological studies have adopted
this approach. Butzer (1976, 1982, Butzer and Hansen
1968) for Nubian Egypt, ana Willey et al (1965) and
Hammond (1975, Hammond and Ashmore 1981) for the Maya zone
have related settlement pattern to natural environmental
factors and features. In his study of Lubaantun, Hammond
defines "local environmental zones" with reference to
"additional criteria such as relief, landform, land slope,
geology, soil, natural vegetation, and natural resources"
(Hammond 1975). The natural environment offered the Maya
possibilities at the same time as "imposing constraints"
to settlement and subsistence, according to Hammond
(1975). For the purposes of analysis of the interrelated
phenomena of physical and cultural factors, Willey et al
(1965) propose the separation of questions of "primary
order" and those of "secondary order" according to "level
of inference". Following this schema, the descriptive
details of the physical environment minimizing
interpretive or qualitative judgements or inferences,
8
would respond to the former; whereas attention to the
influence of this natural context in terms of social,
political, ritual or economic development would constitute
questions of "secondary order". In settlement analysis,
both types of questions are addressed, in the application
of a methodology which for Eidt (1984:13): "requires a
sophisticated knowledge of the interrelationships of human
and physical geographical factors at different scales".
Anthropologist Roy Ellen (1978) emphasizes the complexity
of the environmental factors, lamenting that his
colleagues, "many of whom are poorly informed on matters
relating to topography, climate, soils and biota", are
"insensitive" to the importance of the physical landscape.
Working in the anthropological present, Ellen proposes
that the cultural and environmental "givens" are
interrelated:
...but analysis must begin with a consideration of

the latter category. It must determine just how far
immutable environmental givens, distributed
spatially and temporally, can explain settlement
form. Thus, pattern generation must accord with
what is possible within the maxima and minima of
altitude distribution, or precipitation, of
temperature; the distribution of major ecological
zones, cultivable crops, topography and other major
environmental aspects of locality at any given point
in time, and over time. Only then can the more
capricious factors be adequately considered. (Ellen
1978:198)
That is, once an understanding has been reached of the
natural, physical landscape, it can be "reworked" in
9
cultural terms to understand the land "evaluation",
"culturally important natural resources", and to "generate
decision making" (Ellen 1978}.
The authors cited above have proposed that the
physical landscape underlies the cultural landscape, and
hence suggest that the researcher understand the former
before generating the latter. The present study follows
this recommendation, presenting first an approximation of
the natural context, in the seeming absence of human
activity, then to propose, within the limitation of data
on the Maya activities in the study area, an approximation
of the cultural landscape in terms of the location of
si t e s .
Focus on the physical aspects of the landscape as
providing the context for the subsistence activities of
humans, has been criticized in recent studies which
emphasize cultural contexts of meaning and symbolism in
understanding the landscapes of the present and the past.
Cosgrove (1989:63) levels criticism at that which he calls
the geographical approach to natural environment, which is
taken from the point of view of an outsider, is supposedly
objective and "scientific", and is a "term of order and
control". For Cosgrove (1989:21,27), this comes from a
Eurocentric (colonialist) attitude, in which the scene
viewed is "unchanging", frozen in time, and which
therefore makes the colonial enterprise of "control" and
10
"order" much easier. He proposes that the landscape be
taken as more than just "visible forms on the e a r t h s
surface and their composition"; that landscape include
"symbolic meaning (as) products of the human appropriation
and transformation of the environment" (Cosgrove 1989:
126 ) .
Ingold (1987:2) stresses the importance of
understanding the "organization of environmental
possibilities into a coherent system" based upon the
"project" of the individual. For the human, acting within
the context of his culture and society, the actions which
are brought to bear upon the environment will be based
upon social relations, in which predation becomes hunting,
co-operation becomes sharing, and territoriality becomes
rules of tenure (Ingold 1987:5). The landscape, for
Ingold, is the "setting for the individual's activities"
which he "confronts, and struggles to organize through the
imposition of form and meaning" (Ingold 1987:6), thus
converting the geographical niche into habitat (Ingold
1987:6). Ingold (1987:9) emphasizes the importance of
"purpose" or "consciousness" of intention in the
relationship of the human with the natural environment,
and points out that "the purposes of human agents have
their source in the intersubjective donlain, that is in the
field of social relations that lies beyond rather than
within the general field of ecological relations" (Ingold
11
1987:9). The boundaries of the social group may be as
important as the boundaries to the natural system,
according to this author (Ingold 1987:143).
Kunstadter (1972:335) emphasizes the importance of
looking at the geographical and social aspects of space
and settlement, pointing out that both types of models can
be made, although the social may be more likely to reveal
the boundaries of a social system than the geographical,
because people live and interact with and within their
natural and social environments.
Jackson (1989:3) stresses the idea of meaning in
culture, evidenced in the "way in which groups handle the
raw material of existence, codes with which meaning is
constructed, conveyed and understood". Jackson says that
culture is "socially constructed", "geographically
expressed" and "spatially constituted". The relationship
of man and the landscape is interactive, based on the
understanding and meaning of the natural setting. Schlee
(1992) refers to "ritual topography" as the landscape with
associated meanings, the "ensemble o f ...meaningful
features, and the symbolic constitution of social
identities". For the Maya zone, Clendinnen (1980) and
Hanks (1989) stress the reproduction of the Maya space and
landscape as part and parcel of the reproduction of the
society. According to Clendinnen (1980:378), after the
imposition of the colonial regime, the Maya identified
12
"generic features of their landscape through which they
were able to recreate their traditional social worlds".
Some examples of these were cenotes, caves, milpas,
villages, houses, temples, etc.
According to this cultural approach to the study of
landscape, the transformation of the physical landscape by
humans is carried out at various levels, with different
implications as to the material or concrete impact, such
as could be detected through settlement analysis by
archaeologists. Thus the man-environment relationship
could be expressed in such concrete terms as the
construction of engineered slope or water management
systems which physically modify the natural landscape, or
in the generation of a ritual topography through seasonal
movements of groups within the society (Schlee 1992) .
Study of settlement patterns cannot ignore either of these
structured and culturally generated landscapes, which
engender the "spatial constitution" of the culture.
Evidence of regional settlement pattern and
subsistence activities for the study area is scant,
although the sites with major ceremonial architecture have
been identified. In the second part of the thesis, an
approximation to one aspect of the cultural or political
landscape of the Classic Maya in this area is tested by
superimposing the cultural artefacts, the sites in the
study area, onto the physical landscape. The
13
sociopolitical organization of the sites has been proposed
in the generation of Thiessen polygons by Mathews (1988).
These are theoretical and geometric constructs based
primarily upon calculation of distance between sites. It
is difficult for the archaeologist to test whether
political units existed based upon this principle in the
past, and, further, whether the boundaries so generated
contain any validity in terms of the political landscape
of the Classic Maya. Here the definition of boundaries
between social systems is seen as based upon interaction,
as proposed by Barth (1967), Green and Perlman (1985),
among others; and, further, as existing "because of the
need to regulate and control interaction", as proposed by
Hodder (1985). Using the examples of Yaxchilan and
Piedras Negras as the two major ceremonial sites located
in the study area, and the boundaries generated by the
polygons proposed by Mathews (1988), the thesis concludes
that both the location of central ceremonial settlements
in the study area, as well as the definition of boundaries
between sociopolitical systems, are intrinsically related
to the physical landscape.
3. THE STUDY AREA
3.1 This dissertation presents the results of the
analysis of the physical landscape in the area termed the
"Upper Usumacinta", as defined by Rands (1973) as
extending "from the beginning of the Usumacinta proper, at
the junction of the Pasion and Salinas (Chixoy) Rivers to
Boca del Cerro". The Usumacinta River system drains the
highlands of Chiapas and Guatemala and runs north and
westward, forming the border between Mexico and Guatemala,
emerging in the lowlands of Chiapas and Tabasco States,
Mexico. In the Upper Usumacinta region major ceremonial
centres from the Classic Maya period were established.
However, this area, until recently covered on both the
Guatemalan and Mexican sides of the river by high tropical
forest growth, has been relatively unexplored in
archaeological terms except for the major sites of
Yaxchilan and Piedras Negras.
4. OBJECTIVES
The primary objective of this study is to provide in
the form of maps, basic natural landscape information on
the Upper Usumacinta region of the Maya zone which has
fundamental interpretive value to the archaeologist
studying this region. It is found that the physical
landscape of this area is unusual, relative to other Maya
landscapes, and that therefore the cultural landscape
which emerged in Classic Maya times would also differ from
that of other areas of the Maya zone. Therefore, the
15
second objective of this thesis is to generate the
political landscape of Yaxchilan and Piedras Negras during
the Classic Period by analyzing the interrelationship of
physical and cultural features. That is, an initial
approximation is made of the relationship between the
sites of Piedras Negras and Yaxchilan and their natural
landscapes, as well as of the relationship between these
two sites in terms of the proposed political boundary
between them and the physical landscape.
Two minor hypotheses are tested with the data
generated in this thesis. First, that the natural
landscape features which define the study area also
defined the area as a cultural space in the past. In this
regard, it is found that the northern and southern
boundaries of the Thiessen polygons defined by nearest
neighbour analysis, correspond well with the limits of the
region as defined in terms of the Usumacinta watershed.
The natural boundary created by the cordillera also
formed, according to the evidence available, a boundary of
interaction, and thus a cultural boundary, based on the
closeness of sites to this formation and therefore to each
other. The second hypothesis is that the Usumacinta River
dominates both in terms of the natural landscape and in
terms of the cultural landscape of the Classic Maya. It
is found that the most important sites in the study area
are located along the river, and that the location of
16
other sites is related to movement along the communication
artery which this river forms in the study area.
5. METHODOLOGY
This study falls into the field of landscape
archaeology as defined by Ashton and Rowley (1974:23-24),
and as such is methodologically complex. In the words of
these authors:
...if one is to fully understand the landscape, one

needs a combination of all possible disciplines.
Such an approach has been called 'total archaeology'
but 'landscape history' or 'landscape archaeology'
would possibly be more apt, for they incorporate all
aspects of the natural and man-made landscape and
their relations. We cannot pretend that it is an
easy task... The successful landscape archaeologist
needs to be a 'jack of all trades', part geographer,
botanist, archaeologist and historian as well as
possessing some elementary knowledge of engineering
techniques... Primarily the fieldworker requires an
ability to appreciate the countryside in all its
forms (Ashton and Rowley 1974:24).
This approach in Mesoamerican archaeology was first
proposed by Mexican archaeologist Pedro Armillas, who had
a strong influence in the ideas of Josfi Luis Lorenzo and
William Sanders in the early 1960s. Armillas attempted to
establish a school of landscape archaeology in Mexico in
1973, unfortunately with little follow-up. The three
basic objectives of his approach can be expressed as
follows: 1) the relationship between archaeology and the
cultural landscape with emphasis on recovery, management
17
and conservation of agricultural lands, agrarian
structures, roads and canal systems; 2) settlement
patterns and the structure of community; 3) the structure
of ecosystems (Rojas Rabiela 1991:63). In apparent
agreement with Ashton and Rowley, Armillas stressed the
need for the archaeologist to undertake field
reconnaissance. According to Mexican archaeologist Jos6
Luis Lorenzo, Armillas maintained that "archaeology should
be done with the feet, walking; that is, covering
territory which enables elements dispersed over the
landscape to be integrated by the archaeologist into an
articulated whole" (Lorenzo 1991:27).
In contrast to more conventional archaeological
methodology, excavation is not necessary in landscape
archaeology in the first instance, a fact that, according
to Ashton and Rowley, contributes to the strengths of this
approach in purely scientific terms:
One of the delights of this approach is that it is

essentially non-destructive, and a considerable
amount of evidence can be quickly collected. Unlike
an excavation, a piece of landscape fieldwork is
open to repetition, reappraisal or modification, and
most of the evidence normally remains available for
reassessment" (Ashton and Rowley 1974:23).
The speed with which evidence is collected is closely
related to the amount of official and reliable information
available from diverse sources; and "quickly" gathering
data in Europe is not paralleled by the data gathering
18
processes in the Upper Usumacinta River Basin, for which
little landscape research had been done previous to the
present study.
As a first step in this research, materials published
in different form and forums by scientists in distinct
fields were reviewed in order to begin their organization
in a concise and accessible format for archaeologists.
Analysis of aerial photography was undertaken for
vegetational, soils and geomorphological interpretation,
where previous studies did not exist. In addition, field
testing and data collection was undertaken in the study
area in order to generate the soils and vegetation
profiles and to verify the cartographic information, which
is presented in the subsequent chapters. Specific
methodological details will be included at the beginning
of each chapter, as relevant to the data collection,
verification, and analysis under each theme.
The research was carried out over a period of years
during which the quality and quantity of available
information on the natural environment of the study area
increased notably. However, due to the fact that the
study area falls into two different countries, and that
researchers from still other national origins undertake
work in the area and publish their results elsewhere, the
search for the required materials was labourious. The
virtual inaccessibility of the region, in both countries,
19
as well as the low density of population and extractive
economic activities which characterize the area, are
reflected in a low level of official and non-official
research interest and a resulting paucity of scientific
data on the area. It is a contrast that this zone, which
is considered politically, economically and socially
marginal by both the Guatemalan and Mexican governments
and people, was a key location during th> Classic Maya
period. The river, which is now a "natural landscape"
divide between the two countries, was a "natural
landscape" regional tie in the Classic Period, as will be
demonstrated below. Thus landscapes are indeed culturally
bound.
6. ORGANIZATION OF THE THESIS
Chapter Two introduces the natural landscape of the
study area. The study area has been defined as the Upper
Usumacinta River Valley, delimited by the watershed. This
chapter begins with a discussion of the geology of the
study. The hydrology and climate of the area are then
discussed with particular emphasis on the river system.
The third section of this chapter presents the
geomorphology of the most important landforms of the study
area. This information is interpreted in terms of the
conformation of the river valley itself, in terms of the
20
parental materials and forces that come into play in the
formation of the biotic landscape. Chapter Three presents
the distribution of the vegetation types in the study
area. These data, based upon the contemporary analogue,
provide the preliminary understanding of the natural
biotic setting. It is found that the vegetational mosaic
has provided a complex heterogeneity in the zone.
Particular attention is paid to the arboreal species, as
indicators of age and stability of the ecological forest
biome. In addition, the tree species of the zone today
are shown to be similar to those of the Classic Maya
times. Based upon the information and profiles provided
in the preceding chapters, Chapter Four presents the
present-day soil distribution in the study area. The soil
types are discussed in terms of agricultural potential and
limitations, providing a basis from which to interpret the
productive potential available to the Classic Maya.
Chapter Five presents the results of the combination of
the two data sets: the natural environment, and the
cultural environment of the Classic Maya period, to
propose a model of the political landscape.
21
CHAPTER TWO: THE PHYSICAL LANDSCAPE
1. INTRODUCTION TO THE NATURAL LANDSCAPE
1.1 TOPOGRAPHY AND GENERAL DESCRIPTION
The Upper Usumacinta River region is characterized by
a hilly terrain covered with dense tropical rainforest.
The river itself seems to wind through the rainforest. At
times it is wide, but often it rushes through narrow
canyons (encajonados). The topographical map of the study
area is presented as Map No. 1, on which it can be
observed that just below the confluence of the arroyo El
Chorro, the Usumacinta talweg crosses the 100 meter above
sea level contour line, falling to 60 meters above sea
level at the western extreme of the Upper Usumacinta River
Basin at the confluence of the Budsilja River. There are
a number of islands and rapids along the river in this
Basin, such as Isleta No te Metas, Isleta Grande,
Encajonado Gonzalez, Isleta Agua Azul, Raudal Anaite
Rapids, Raudal El Chicozapote Rapids, and Isla El Cayo.
The north and south sides of the basin are demarcated
by mountain ranges. The north range is the first of a
chain of such mountain ranges which builds up to the
Chiapas highlands. In the study area, the range is called
Sierra de Lacandon in which the highest altitude is about
500 meters above sea level. It is 75 kilometers in length
from northwest to southeast, ending in the lowlands of
Laguna Mendoza in Guatemala. It presents a formidable
natural barrier between the study area and the Peten,
measuring 20 kilometers across. To the south, the sierra
de la Cojolita rises to a maximum altitude of 700 meters
above sea level. It is about 70 kilometers in length and
6 kilometers in width. As will be explained below, the
Sierra de la Cojolita is characterized by a natural pass
which connects the Upper Usumacinta Basin with a parallel
smaller basin to the south, which is named the Lacanja
Basin, in which is located the major archaeological site
of Bonampak.
Running parallel to, and between, the river and
mountain ranges on both sides of the river, are found
relatively flat lands on which occur marshes, swamps,
streams, rivers, lakes, and rolling hills. The most
important of these are named features. These include the
lakes: Texcoco, Laguna Lacandon, La Pasadita, Laguneta
Poza Azul, Santa Maria, La Gardunza and Laguna Mendoza at
the extreme east corner of the study area, all located in
Guatemala, and Santa Clara Lake on the Mexican side. The
rivers that drain the flat areas are: Rio El Macabilero,
Arroyo Yaxchilan, and Arroyo El Chorro on the Guatemalan
23
side, and Arroyo Anait£, Arroyo Agua Azul and Arroyo El
Macho on the Mexican side. There is a number of poorly
drained wetlands in this area, such as Pantano Lacandon,
Pantano la Pasadita, Pantano Campo Verde, Pantano la Vaca,
Pantano Pejelagarto, and Aguada Seca to the north of the
river in Guatemala. There are also wetlands associated
with the slow-flowing Arroyo Anaite and Arroyo Agua Azul
characterized by wetland vegetation {bajo) on the southern
side of the river in Mexico.
At present, there are very few established human
settlements in the area, which is, however, experiencing a
process of recolonization. The most important settlements
are Frontera Corozal, in Mexico, and Bethel, in Guatemala.
Other permanent populations are associated with the
private ranches of Santa Clara and El Desempeno. In
addition, recently formed ejido based settlements of new
colonizers have proliferated on the Mexican side of the
river, but have not yet appeared on an official map of the
area. An example is Arroyo Jerusalem, downriver from El
Cayo archaeological site which is located on the river
banks within the private ranch of El Desempeno. Yaxchilan
is the only archaeological site in the study area open to
the public with permanent staff from Mexico's Instituto
Nacional de Antropologia e Historia.
There is only one road on the Guatemalan side of the
river within the study area. On the western bank, the
24
Mexican government has recently built a road which links
Frontera Corozal with Chancala and Palenque in lowland
Chiapas, and Benemerito in Marquez de Comillas across the
Lacantun River. This road was finished in 1985, and is
called the "carretera fronteriza" or border road, in
reference to its probable use in patrolling this frontier
area. The site of Yaxchilan is reached by river or by
plane, as is the case of El Cayo. The local population
uses a network of paths and trails to travel from
settlement to settlement, and to reach the road along
which they can travel to regional centres such as
Palenque. The Guatemalan side of the study area,
including the archaeological site of Piedras Negras, is
reached only by river.
The topographical map of the study area was
elaborated on the basis of official government maps, scale
1:50,000, available from the Instituto Nacional de
Estadistica, Geografia, e Informatica (INEGI) in Mexico
and the Instituto Geografico Nacional (IGN) of Guatemala.
This chapter will examine the geological origins and
geomorphological processes which underlie this topography.
25
1.2 METHOD OF THE COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS OF MATERIALS
In order to develop the maps of geology, hydrology
and geomorphology, first a detailed review of available
published and unpublished literature and cartographic
material was undertaken to synthesize the information
available for the study area. Photointerpretation was
undertaken of the major structural and geological features
in aerial photographs of 1:40,000 (Fotometria y Servicios
Profesionales 1982) . This information was transferred to
1:50,000 scale maps, for detailed analysis. Finally, the
cartographic material was transferred to a 1:200,000 scale
to produce general working maps. Satellite imagery proved
invaluable in this analysis, in particular the Synthetic
Aperture Radar (SAR) image from 1978, which have a swath
width of 100 km and a spatial resolution of 25 meters
(NOAA 1978). The image was taken from the SEASAT
satellite. The importance of this image is that it
provides a view of the earth surface without any cloud or
vegetation cover. The structural geology of the entire
region can be seen and analyzed using this material (see
Figure No. 1).
Fieldwork was carried out during numerous visits to
different areas of the Upper Usumacinta River Basin. Two
of these were river trips, during which observations were
made of geological structures, and the location of rapids,
streams, islands, and natural ports. The area was
overflown on various occasions in small airplanes and
helicopters. This air reconnaissance permitted the
detailed observation and rectification of features, in
particular for the Guatemalan side for which comparatively
less detail was available due to the lack of complete
coverage of aerial photographic material.
2. THE STRUCTURAL GEOLOGY OF THE STUDY AREA
The relief and topographic features of the study area
are the reflection of tectonic activity upon the major
forms of sedimentary rocks that characterize the area. In
this section, the history of the geological region is
summarized and the folding and faulting systems which are
the main features of the landscape are analyzed in terms
of the local geological stratigraphy.
2.1 THE HISTORY OF THE GEOLOGICAL PROVINCE
The most important geological features of northern
Central America, according to Weyl (1980:53) include
structures from the Palaeozoic basement, as well as from
the sedimentary upper Palaeozoic, from the Mesozoic and
from the Cenozoic. Two large geotectonic cycles have
become evident. However, given the complexity of several
deformations which the region has experienced, it is not
possible to date many of the structures firmly, according
to Weyl. During the Palaeozoic, the geosyncline of
northern Central America was formed {Vinson 1962).
Metamorphic and sedimentary rocks of the early Palaeozoic
to the Permian are represented in some of the ancient
geological features of Central America, found in the
Sierra Madre del Sur in the State of Chiapas. According
to Dickson (1955), the Maya Mountains present a well-
defined Palaeozoic stratum associated with the Palaeozoic
geosyncline already mentioned. During the middle
Palaeozoic, all of these early sediments were deformed by
intrusive plutonic activity corresponding to the Acadian
orogenesis of North America. For Chiapas, according to
Guzman and Cserna (1963), this metamorphic complex dates
to the Middle Palaeozoic.
The rocks of the Palaeozoic geosyncline of northern
Central America were eroded and deformed forming a
sequence of discordant deposits of clastic rocks during
the Late Carboniferous. During the Permian, a series of
limestones and shales were deposited in different sites of
Chiapas (Lopez Ramos 1974). The Palaeozoic geosyncline of
Central America suffered new deformations produced by
another orogenetic activity in Late Palaeozoic times.
During the Triassic, all of northern Central America was
uplifted and remained above sea level. The Early Jurassic
witnessed the enlargement of the Gulf of Mexico as the
Yucatan Platform rotated colliding with the North American
Plate, forming what is today Chiapas and Guatemala, thus
folding the sediments of the Palaeozoic geosyncline.
According to Viniegra-Osorio (1971), during the Middle
Jurassic environmental conditions permitted the deposition
of evaporites and salts in the area of present day western
Guatemala and eastern Chiapas (Weyl 1980:44). Dillon et
al (1988:42) have studied the salt sources of Salinas-
Chixoy at Salinas de los Nueve Cerros site, calculating
that "possibly as much as 18,000 to 24,000 metric tons of
salt could have been produced [in Classic Maya times] at
Nueve Cerros annually by the solar evaporation method
a lone".
For the Late Jurassic, the Todos los Santos Formation
in eastern Guatemala represents sandstones, conglomerates
and shales mixed with volcanic ash (Vinson 1962). This
signals the beginning of volcanic activity in Guatemala
that affected the composition of the sedimentary rocks of
northern Guatemala. At the end of the Late Jurassic, a
Mesozoic geosyncline develops which has been called the
Chiapas-Guatemala Geosyncline by Vinson (1962). Here, the
depositional environment of the sedimentary rocks was
strongly affected by the Yucatan Platform to the northeast
and the Chiapas Massif to the southwest which established
29
the pattern of sedimentation from the Cretaceous to the
Palaeocene.
The most important orogenesis of the Upper Mesozoic
is represented by the appearance of a geosyncline trough
which ran through northern Central America and underwent
violent orogenesis in the Upper Cretaceous (Wilson 1974,
Weyl 1980). This geosyncline trough was produced by the
elongation of the Cayman trench and the collision of the
North American and Caribbean Plates in the region of the
Motagua Fault zone (Weyl 1980:42). During the Middle and
Upper Cretaceous, the depositional environment of the area
was represented by a shallow sea which covered all of the
Yucatan Peninsula. During these periods, the limestones
of the Sierra Madre Formation were deposited. At the end
of the Upper Cretaceous, the North American Plate thrust
over the Pacific and Farallon Plates. This action
produced a regression creating a depositional environment
characterized by turbidity that is reflected in the clayey
limestones of the Palaeocene.
During the Palaeocene a major uplift caused by the
collision of continental plates resulted in the Laramide
orogen which is represented by the sediments of the Middle
Eocene in the El Bosque Formation. The Middle Miocene
witnessed the thrusting of the Cocos Plate over the North
American Plate, producing the Cascadian orogenesis which
was reflected by a rapid regression of the seas to the
30
north and northwest, and the subsequent erosion of the
Chiapas highlands depositing sediments in what is now the
coastal plain of Tabasco.
The Mesozoic transgression deposited Cretaceous
strata almost 3000 meters thick on the Yucatan Platform
which are represented by evaporites and tuffitic
limestones for the Lower Cretaceous and by alternating
layers of limestones, dolomites and anhydrites for the
Middle and Upper Cretaceous (Weyl 1980:44). Vinson (1962)
proposes a Mesozoic/Canozoic basin, which he names
Chapayal Basin, and which he subdivides into the Yucatan
Platform, the La Libertad Arch, the Chapayal Trough, and
the Amatique Embayment. The southern edge of the Chapayal
basin and trough has the form of an inverted arch, the
eastern arm of which subsequently dictates the orientation
of the geological structures of Belize (SW-NE), and the
western arm of which determines the orientation of the
structures within the study area (SE-NW) (Weyl 1980:47).
2.2 TECTONICS: FOLDING AND FAULTING FEATURES
2.2.1 Folding Features
The tectonic activity in the study area can be
observed on the landscape in the form of positive and
negative features of the relief, that is to say, mountain
chains or anticlines, and structural valleys or synclines.
31
These form the system of folds. Anticlines can be defined
as the folding of the layers of rocks upward, the most
ancient rocks forming the central nucleus. Synclines are
the folding of layers of rock downward, forming
depressions in which the central nucleus will be composed
of the youngest rocks.
The fold system in the study area shows a distinct
orientation that runs from the northwest to the southeast,
as can be seen in Figure No. 2. The anticlines have
formed the mountain ranges which define the study area to
the north-northeast and to the south-southwest. As
mentioned earlier, the Sierra del Lacandon range is the
first topographic feature that delimits the Yucatan
Platform. It separates the Peten proper from the Lacandon
rainforest, and is located on the Lacandon Anticline. The
Sierra La Cojolita which delimits the study area to the
southwest, is also an anticline: the Bonampak Anticline.
This feature is described in detail by Romero Morales
(1977) as a recumbent structure with the
northwest/southeast orientation characteristic of the
region. The Bonampak Anticline is cut by several
transcurrent faults perpendicular to its axis, and which
are reflected on the landscape by gaps in the Sierra de la
Cojolita. These gaps provide natural passes for the
movement of goods and people between the area of the
archaeological site of Bonampak, and the study area. The
32
newly constructed road through this area takes advantage
of one of these natural passes. The Bonampak Anticline
measures approximately 90 kilometers in length and 7 to 9
kilometers in width. The faults which cross this
anticline divide it into three blocks, the main one of
which presents an orientation of 3 3 degrees west of north.
Within the study area, the centrally located
Usumacinta Anticline is not as elevated as the former two,
but is of fundamental importance, as it is the structural
base of the river course. This river course is peculiar
in that its talweg is located along the faulted core of
the anticline. It would be expected that a river will
follow the structural valleys represented by a syncline.
However, the Upper Usumacinta River Valley occupies an
anticline, the axis of which has been heavily downcut by
the action of the river, in an opportunistic erosion of
the faults and fractions present in the core of this
anticline. The river is, in effect, trapped in the core
of this structural feature and will cause deep erosion in
a rectilinear pattern, rather than in the sideways pattern
which characterizes other major sized rivers in the
formation of sinuous or meandering river valleys. The
Usumacinta Anticline is segmented in several sections by
the action of transcurrent faults.
Two other anticlines are important for understanding
the topography of the region within which the study area
falls. The first of these, the La Linea Anticline
represents the point at which the Usumacinta River leaves
the Usumacinta Anticline, cutting through several folds on
a rapid decline to the coastal plain. The Boca del Cerro
Anticline represents the first range of mountains which
separates the Tabasco gulf coastal plain from the Upper
Usumacinta River Valley. It is cutting through this
anticline that the River shoots downward into the coastal
lowlands, through the famous Boca del Cerro Canyon. This
area has been studied by geologists who can observe from
this unique point, the stratification of the rocks and
sediments as exposed' along the edges of the canyon by the
action of the river.The results of the studies of this
canyon have provided the basis for the understanding of
the sedimentary rock formations of the whole region,
including the study area.
The negative topographic features of the landscape in
the study area are synclines. Of five such folds in the
area, the three most important are: the Santa Clara
Syncline, the La Linea Syncline, and the Lagunas Azules
Syncline (Figure No. 2). The most conspicuous continuous
landscape feature in the study area (over 100 km in
length) is the Santa Clara Syncline, represented on the
landscape by a series of intermontane and structural
valleys to the south of the Usumacinta River. The Santa
Clara Syncline is also responsible for the two major
34
karstic depressions in the study area: the Santo Domingo
pocket and the Santa Clara Lake. The latter is one of the
largest permanent water bodies in the study area, which is
a karstic environment characterized by sinkholes, dolines,
and uvalas. Its orientation, 49 degrees west of north, is
typical of the orientation of the regional folding system.
This is a capture area for the deposition of sediments
from the higher lands of the anticlines, thus it presents
alluvial quaternary sediments. At the eastern extremity
of the study area, this syncline is characterized by a
widening of the structural plain associated with an
ancient geosynclinal trough first described by Vinson
(1962) and named the Chapayal lowlands. Due to the
peculiarities of the topography associated with this
feature, the Santa Clara Syncline has become, in effect,
the highway for the present-day colonization of the
Lacandon Rainforest. It is important to note, however,
that neither of the major ceremonial sites in the study
area is located along this syncline, which is
characterized by a series of important secondary
archaeological sites. The relationship between these
sites, the major ceremonial sites, and the Usumacinta
River, will be discussed in a later section.
The second most important syncline in the study area
is the La Linea Syncline, north of the Usumacinta River.
This syncline begins, at its westernmost point, at the
banks of the Usumacinta at a point at which this river is
cutting northward through the anticline, as described
earlier. The La Linea Syncline then runs eastward,
following the same orientation as the Santa Clara
Syncline, ending at the eastern extremity of the study
area. The syncline is broken by three faults, beginning
at the west as an intermontane valley, and ending in the
east as a structural plain. The natural topography which
emerges from this structure provides, in the western
segment, a relatively flat valley of about 25 kilometers
in length, beginning and ending at the edge of the
Usumacinta River. It is important to note that the sites
of El Triunfo and Piedras Negras are associated with the
eastern end of this intermontane valley. The relationship
of this valley, the Usumacinta River, and the movement of
goods and people in prehispanic times will be discussed in
a later section. From this point onward to the east, the
syncline runs north of the river, parallel to the Santa
Clara syncline but wider than the valley associated with
this latter syncline. It is therefore associated with
lower and less well drained areas. Directly north of the
Santa Clara Lake, there is a break in the La Linea
Syncline at which point the La Pasadita Lake and
associated marshland are located. The archaeological site
of La Pasadita is also located at this junction. From
this point eastward the La Linea Syncline is associated
36
with the Lagunas Azules Syncline running parallel to the
north. The association of these two synclines produces a
widening of the structural plain which becomes still lower
and less well drained than the central portion. This
marks the eastern edge of the study area, although the
wetlands continue towards the Rio La Pasion drainage
system.
2.2.2 Faults
The system of faults and the pattern of folds produce
the "deep structure" of the natural landscape. As
mentioned above, some of the faults cause breaks in the
folds, segmentation and escarpments. Faults also
represent dynamic tectonic forces. When parallel to the
anticlinorum, they cause fractures along the axis of major
tension of the folding systems. When perpendicular to the
folding systems, the faults cause transcurrent movement of
geological blocks and the respective displacement into
what are referred to as "segments".
In the study area, the orientation of the faults
cluster into two major groups: those parallel to the
orientation of the folds described above; and those which
intersect the folding systems. Figure No. 3 illustrates
the orientation and length of the 13 most important faults
which are observed in the study area. Faults in Group A
follow the orientation of the folds, whereas faults in
37
Group B are transcurrent and represent displacement of
geological blocks.
The major normal and inverse faults, Group A faults,
in the study area are the Lacandon Fault, the La Pita
Fault, the Lagunas Azules Fault, the Santa Margarita
Fault, the La Linea Fault, the Budsilja Fault, and the
Bonampak Fault. They are all parallel to the folding
system following the same northwest/southeast orientation.
In some places, when associated with recumbent anticlines,
they present escarpments and cliffs. This association at
the north and south extremes of the study area,
exaggerates the natural barrier of the anticlinal sierras
forming topographical obstacles to movements beyond or
into the Upper Usumacinta River Valley.
The second general category of faults in the study
area are transcurrent faults, represented by the Piedras
Negras Fault, the El Cayo Fault, the El Chile Fault, the
Anaite Fault, the Yaxchilan I, and the Yaxchilan II
Faults. As the names indicate, an archaeological site is
found at some point along each of these faults. These
sites are also associated with the Usumacinta River,
which, as described earlier, follows the anticline except
at points at which the river jogs due to the displacement
action produced by a transcurrent fault. Therefore, the
River itself, the zig-zag form of the river, and the
location of archaeological sites, are all related to the
38
folding and faulting systems. The major archaeological
site of Yaxchilan, located at an omega-shaped turn in the
river, sometimes misinterpreted as a meander, in fact is a
geological block, fractured and displaced not by the river
action but rather by tectonic forces.
2.3 GEOLOGICAL STRATIGRAPHY
The bulk of the scientific research on the geological
stratigraphy of the study area has been based on the
economic interest in oil-bearing formations, on the one
hand, and more recently, on the possible damming of the
Upper Usumacinta River for hydroelectric purposes (Arvizu
and Davila 1987, Dengo 1968, Lopez Ramos 1974, Romero
Morales 1977, Steele 1985, Vinson 1962, Waite 1985, Weyl
1980). Nevertheless, one of the most ancient formations
in the region was first identified by Bose (1905) at the
beginning of the century as the Sierra Madre Limestone.
This represents a gray mudstone of thin stratigraphy.
Within the regional context of the study area, this
formation has only been observed in the lower levels of
the Boca del Cerro Canyon. It is not observed in the
study area proper, either in cuts or at the surface. It
can be extrapolated from the observations of its presence
in the stratigraphy of the Boca del Cerro, that it
underlies the region forming the cores of the anticlines.
39
The Sierra Madre formation has been dated to the Middle
Cretaceous (Steele 1985, Waite 1985). The petrological
studies of these limestones have revealed bentonic fauna
which suggest a depositional environment represented by
the development of a platform related to relatively deep
waters. This formation has been correlated with the Coban
formation in Guatemala and the Cantela formation of
Chiapas (Vinson 1962: 431; Steele 1985: 16).
Directly overlying the Sierra Madre formation is that
which recently has been defined as the Boca del Cerro
Formation (Arvizu and Brizuela 1982). This formation is
980 meters deep at the Boca del Cerro Canyon. It consists
of sedimentary breccias with massive strata and
intercalations of dolomites and limestones. Two
components of this formation have been defined: The
oldest is represented by a massive and highly karstic
breccia. The depth of this lower component is 780 meters.
The more recent component is made up of limestones and
dolomites, the thickness of which is 200 meters. The age
of the Boca del Cerro Formation is Upper Cretaceous. The
lower component of this formation is exposed along the
Bonampak anticline where the younger component has been
eroded away. It is the same case for the La Pita
Anticline, in the north-central part of the study area.
The younger component of this formation is prevalent on
all of the anticlines, and along the lower slopes of the
40
La Pita and Bonampak anticlines. This is the stratum
which is exposed along the entire length of the Usumacinta
Anticline which, as mentioned above, is lower than the
Bonampak and La Pita/Lacandon anticlines. This formation
when exposed presents a hummocky surface with mounds
(mogotes) which reveals marked karstic action upon the
limestones and is therefore easily identifiable in the
field.
The presence of nodules of flint characterizes the
Boca del Cerro Formation in a context of medium-sized
dolomitic limestones that presence massive stratification.
Where outcrops of this formation occur on the natural
landscape, along the eroded hill and mountain tops, the
flint nodules would be available at the surface. This is
also true along the river bank where the downcutting
action of the river has exposed the upper layers of this
formation which is part of the core of the Usumacinta
Anticline. Rathje et al (1978:152) characterize the Upper
Usumacinta River Basin as a possible important source of
semi-crystalline limestones in the Classic Period.
Above the Boca del Cerro formation is the Tenosique
Formation, characterized by clayey limestones, marls, and
marly dolomites. It has been divided into three
components: the two lower ones are of Palaeocene age, and
the upper one of Eocene age, from the Tertiary. The
Tenosique Formation characterizes the synclines of the
41
study area, present in a narrow pattern along the surface
of the Santa Clara Syncline and in an uninterrupted, wide
pattern along and between the La Linea and Lagunas Azules
synclines. This is the most represented surface formation
in the study area. It is important to stress that this is
a Tertiary formation, and has no traces of any alluvial
deposition which might have been expected in the presence
of a river system the size and volume of that of the Upper
Usumacinta. However, this is not a river valley in the
conventional sense, as pointed out earlier. These
peculiarities of the geology of this region are
fundamental to the understanding of the natural and
cultural landscapes of the study area.
The Tenosique Formation is overlain in part of the
study area by the El Bosque Formation. This formation is
widely present in Chiapas and represents granular deposits
of Tertiary age, which reach 800 meters in some places.
This is formed by accumulations of gravels, clays and
silts, which are reddish and brownish in colour, in
contrast to the white and cream colours of the limestones.
In the study area, this formation can be found only in the
eastern extreme of Santa Clara syncline, on the structural
plain.
In Boca del Cerro, the Tulija Formation is observed
above the El Bosque Formation, although the former is not
represented in the study area. The Tulija Formation is
42
composed of deposits of Miocene age (Tertiary), made up
mainly of calcareous sandstones. It is located to the
northwest of the study area, along the north edge of the
Boca del Cerro anticline.
A final important surface formation in the study area
is the Alluvial Formation of Quaternary Age. This more
recent deposit is characterized by accumulated sediments
in low areas of the synclines, particularly in the
intermontane valleys as well as in some of the karstic
pockets (poljes) such as El Diamante, Santa Clara and the
El Cayo pockets. In these places one expects to observe
the development of moderately deep soils.
2.4 CONCLUSIONS: IMPORTANT FEATURES OF STRUCTURAL
GEOLOGY:
The system of folds and faults described above
provided the structural mesh which explains the zig-zag
form of the course of the river. The different types of
limestones and other sedimentary rocks provided very
strong evidence of the depositional environments and age
of these sediments, which are, in the final analysis, the
parent materials for the soils and other natural resources
in the study area. In terms of archaeological sourcing,
it is important to note the presence of nodules of flint,
available at the surface in some areas of the Upper
Usumacinta River Basin. These flint sources may have been
used for tool-making in archaeological times. The study
of the geological formations is also of great importance
for the location of quarries for the extraction of
limestone slabs used for monuments and buildings in the
Classic Maya times. More detailed studies are necessary
to establish the clay deposits used in ancient times for
the manufacture of locally-produced ceramics. The basic
geological study presented here provides the "geological
environment" from which these sourcing studies can be
designed and undertaken.
After the effects of folding and faulting, weathering
is the most important process affecting the sedimentary
rocks of the different structures described above.
3. CLIMATE AND HYDROLOGY OF THE STUDY AREA
Climate (temperature and precipitation) influences
the formation of the karstic landscape by processes of
dissolution of limestones. These become forces which form
and transform the natural landscape which has been
described in the previous section. Precipitation finds
its drainage over this landscape through systems of lakes,
streams, rivers and so on, which are described here as the
hydrology system. In this section, it will be shown that
the Usumacinta River prevails in the region as the most
44
important dynamic feature of the landscape, and that which
in the first instance defines the limits of the study area
for the following sections.
3.1 CLIMATE OF UPPER USUMACINTA REGION
The general climate of the Upper Usumacinta River
region is tropical, that is, it is characterized by high
temperatures and high precipitation. There are very few
meteorological stations in the region, given its isolation
and difficulty of access. Therefore, the weather regime
is extrapolated from data obtained at stations adjacent to
the region. The mean annual temperature is consistently
above 2 4 °c; and the annual precipitation ranges from 1,000
to 3,500 mm over the entire Upper Usumacinta Basin, the
annual mean being 2,200 mm. West et al (1969:5) term this
climate: "humid tropics".
There are two meteorological stations in the study
area: the Yaxchilan Station and the Agua Azul station,
both located along the Usumacinta River. According to
nine years of readings at these two stations, the average
temperature in the Upper Usumacinta River Basin is 25.55°C
(Orellana 1978: Appendix). The maximum and minimum
temperatures reported at the Agua Azul station are 38.3°C
and 20. 7 ° c ; and at the Yaxchilan station are 36.3°C and
16.2°C, respectively. The average daily maximum
45
temperatures at both stations was 30°C, while the average
minimum daily temperature was 20-21°C. As expected for a
tropical region, there were no reports of hail nor of
frost.
Precipitation is seasonal, falling primarily in the
summer months of May through September during which time
the maximum rainfall (400 mm per month) shows a double
peaked distribution with a drier period or canlcula in the
months of July and August. February and March are the
driest months with rainfall of under 40 mm on average.
According the nine years of readings reported by Orellana
(1978: Appendix), the average precipitation in the region
according to the reports of the two meteorological
stations mentioned above is 1,963.8 mm. Fewer than 10
days per year are reported to be free of rainfall. At the
Yaxchilan station, 151 days per year are reported as
cloudy, 81 as semi-cloudy and 158 days as reporting mist
or fog. The evapotranspiration rate reported for Agua
Azul is 1,469 mm. These data illustrate the extreme hot
and humid conditions which characterize this region.
According to the Koeppen weather classification
modified by Garcia (1973), there are two climatic regimes
in the Upper Usumacinta River Basin. These are
Am(f)w"(i')g for Agua Azul and Aw2"i for Yaxchilan
(Orellana 1978). Am signifies summer rains with a
lessening of rainfall in the Spring (W”) , the temperature
46
range (i) is described as isothermic with a variability of
ass than 5°. This pattern of temperatures is that which
is conventionally called Ganges type, characterized by the
maximum annual temperatures falling in the period
preceding the summer solstice, indicated by (g ) in the
Koeppen classification.
The easterly winds are very important climatic
factors in this region. They bring tropical storms and
hurricanes into the study area, which are responsible for
80% of the precipitation (Coria 1985) . These winds are
prevalent during the summer and autumn months. West et al
(1969:12) report a tropical storm/hurricane crossing the
study area on 20 September 1941. The importance of such
dramatic weather systems for the Maya has been studied by
Konrad (1991), who proposes that hurricane cycles were
detected by the ancient Maya and had a fundamental impact
on the Maya subsistence system and culture. The norte is
a moderately humid winter storm which originates in Canada
and the United States and moves southward across the Gulf
Coast. These climatic systems are felt in the study area
between December and April.
3.2 HYDROLOGY OF THE STUDY AREA
In the above sections, the topographical, geological
and climatic regimes at a regional scale have been
47
discussed. This material provides the data necessary for
understanding the Upper Usumacinta River Basin in its
wider regional context. However, the unit of study for
the present analysis is a more limited area defined as the
Upper Basin of the Usumacinta River,* that is to say,
defined on the basis of the watershed. As indicated in
the discussion of the geological context, and as will be
discussed in the details of the political landscape, the
watershed limits in the natural landscape also correspond
to some extent with the limits of the cultural landscape,
especially with reference to the northern and southern
limits (the sierras)-. Furthermore, not only does the
Usumacinta River represent the most prominent hydrological
feature on the natural landscape, but it will be proposed
in a later section that this river also provided the axis
for communication between the major ceremonial sites in
the study area during prehisp?nic times, and therefore,
again, was prominent and central in terms of the cultural
landscape.
3.2.1 The Drainage Area
The Grijalva/Usumacinta River system is the most
important hydrological system of Middle America, given its
annual discharge and catchment area (see Figure No. 4, at
end of chapter). According to Tamayo and West (1964:120),
the total catchment area measures 121,930 km2 with a mean
48
annual discharge of 105,2 00 million m3. This represents
60% of the total water discharged into the southern Gulf
of Mexico. The total drainage basin of this system covers
most of the states of Chiapas and Tabasco, and a small
part of the State of Campeche in Mexico, as well as the
western Peten and Alta Verapaz in Guatemala. That is to
say, all of the water runoff from this enormous area
drains into the southern Gulf of Mexico. Of this area,
the Usumacinta system drains an area of 63,804 km2 (West
et al 1969:19) with an annual discharge measured at the
Boca del Cerro Canyon of 55,832 million m3. This does not
include the runoff accumulated in this river as it travels
through the Tabasco plain.
The Upper Usumacinta River Basin was defined by Rands
(1973:169) as the sector of the River between the junction
of the Pasi6n and Salinas/Chixoy Rivers and the Boca del
Cerro Canyon. However, in terms of watershed and drainage
systems, the Upper Usumacinta River Basin begins at the
junction of the Rio Lacantun and Rio de la Pasidn, which
is where the Usumacinta proper begins. Map No.l shows the
Upper Usumacinta River Basin indicating the limits of the
watershed which define the study area for the purposes of
the present work with the topographical context. Watershed
is that line which unites the highest points on the relief
between two fluvial currents or two hydrological basins
(Lugo Hubp 1989:72). This is a dynamic regional
definition given the fact that tectonics and erosion
constantly modify the surface relief of a given area.
This minor drainage basin has been chosen as the
definitional parameter for the study area because a river
basin defined by its watershed can be considered as a unit
of study as a device to organize different features of the
natural landscape. Due to its dynamic properties, water
drainage naturally divides one given region f r , another.
At this level of analysis, the cultural importance of this
landscape property is not usually taken into
consideration.
To determine the Upper Usumacinta River Basin as the
study area, first, a line was drawn connecting all of the
highest points of the Sierra de Lacandon to the north and
Sierra de la Cojolita to the south. To close the study
area to the east, the drainage of the Usumacinta River
proper was considered as separate from that of the Pasion
River system; thus the study area is delimited at the
confluence of these rivers, which imply their own drainage
basins. This implies that the Arroyo El Chorro and El
Macho stream fall within the study area, but the Lacantun,
Pasidn, Chixoy and Izcan basins are excluded. To the
west, the study area is arbitrarily delimited at the point
at which the Usumacinta Anticline ends separating itself
from the Lacantun Syncline. This leaves the Budsilja,
Chocolja-Chancala, and Nespa Rivers, which drain the
50
intermontane valleys associated with this and other
synclines to the west, outside of the study area. Thus a
finite and relatively small geographical unit of study was
defined, in which studies of the natural landscape were
considered to be meaningful and feasible, as well as
corresponding to a cultural reality as indicated by the
location of the major ceremonial sites in this area. The
study area measured approximately 3,800 k m 2 .
As indicated earlier, the study area experiences
major annual precipitation which will be reflected in a
complex fluvial network of runoff through and around the
geological structures described as faults and folds. This
can be understood as a dynamic channel making process
which carves out the natural landscape. In the karstic
environment of the study area, underground runoff is also
an important element of the drainage system that is
reflected in the presence of characteristic features of a
karstic landscape such as karstic depressions (p o l j e s) and
sinkholes of different sizes (dolines and u v a l a s ) .
However, this underground system cannot easily be mapped.
The surface drainage network for the study area is
depicted on Figure No. 5. In addition to mapping the
runoff network, an analysis was made of the runoff system
itself according to the rank order analysis proposed by
Horton (1945) and Strahler (1952, 1957). This technique
of analysis departs from the basic premise that the rank
51
order of streams is a reflection of the evolutionary
processes of the relief. The streams and rivers vary
significantly from small ephemeral tributaries and
headwater ravines to perennial rivers associated with
structural and karstic valleys and lowlands with well
developed floodplains. To evaluate this variability
systematically, the streams and rivers have been rank
ordered. This technique assigns segments of streams to
ordinal classes, depending on the number of tributaries
that enter them upstream. In this way, all headwater
streams are give a rank order of 1, as they do not have
tributaries. When the first order streams merge, they
form a second order stream, and so on through the fluvial
system. Values change only at the confluences of the
streams with identical ranks (Lugo Hubp 1988, and Weide
and Weide 1973). Those streams of the first rank order
are the younger ones reflecting the incipient formation of
valleys. Those of greater rank order reflect the older
phases of the development of the fluvial network, as well
as being indicators of structures over which the valley
has developed: anticlines, fissures, faults, etc. (Lugo
Hubp 1988:37).
The Upper Usumacinta main stream originates at the
confluence of the Pasion/Chixoy and Lacantun rivers.
These two main tributaries have a rank order of 8 and 6,
respectively. The U p p e r Usumacinta main stream has a rank
52
order of 8, from this point until it merges with the
Grijalva River at the Tres Brasos confluence on the
Tabasco Coastal plain. There are no rivers in the study
area with a rank of 7. The Budsilja is the only river
which ranks 5, but is just outside of the study area, and
drains a separate intermontane valley, as mentioned
earlier. This is also the case for three of the four
rivers ranked 4: the Nospa, the Chancala, the San Marcos
rivers. Within the study area proper, therefore, the
Usumacinta, with a ranking of 8, is followed in category
by a single river of rank 4, the Anaitfe River, which
clearly illustrates the primordial importance Cf this
waterway within the area of study. This river is
centrally located in the study area, draining into the
south bank of the Usumacinta river; however, it is
shallow, marked by swamps, and not easily navigable at
this time.
There are 13 streams with a rank of 3 in the study
area, including the Macabilero, across from El Cayo
Island, the Arroyo Yaxchilan, across the river from the
site of the same name, and Rio Agua Azul, near the town of
Frontera Corozal, the most important human settlement in
the study area at the present time. Strea. i in the first
and second ranks are intermittent, and number
approximately 77 in the study area.
This analysis provides data to support the argument
that the hilly terrain with karstic hummocks, which has
developed on the Usumacinta Anticline, downstream from
Yaxchilan, is drained by a series of numerous streams of
the second and third rank order. The number of streams
upriver from Yaxchilan are few, and their ranks are 3 and
2. While these few streams drain a wide structural plain,
their rank expresses a deficient drainage pattern which is
characterized by surface wetlands and swamps. This is not
the case for the area upstream from Yaxchilan. This
dichotomy of drainage is the expression of two different
types of relief, which corresponds to two distinct
physiographic regions within the study area. Vinson
(1962:428) has called these two large physiographic
regions parts of which are represented here: the Folded
and Faulted Mountains of Northern Chiapas, and the
Chapayal Lowlands of Western Peten and the Marquez de
Comillas.
3.2.2 The Usumacinta River
In Figure No. 6, the river itself has been isolated
for analytical purposes. In this presentation the
different manifestation of the river in the two
physiographic regions mentioned above is clear. Upriver
from Yaxchilan, the river channel is not characterized by
a gorge with steep escarpments, whereas this is the case
54
downstream from the omega. It is also important to note
that upriver from Yaxchilan, the river does not follow the
Usumacinta Anticline, which further explains the
morphological distinction in these two segments of the
river within the study area.
Structurally the Usumacinta River is an opportunistic
subsequent current that has eroded the heavily faulted
core of the Usumacinta Anticline, becoming a consequent
current at the moment that it cuts diagonally through the
anticlines beyond the La Linea Anticline (Guerra Pena
1980). The river is highly dynamic in terms of the
variation in the amount of water which is carried through
the annual cycle. As may be expected in light of the
extremely high seasonal precipitation in the region, the
level of the river also varies markedly throughout the
year, with impressive changes in height even over shorter
periods, such as a matter of hours. According to data
available from 1983, the river varied in height at
Yaxchilan between 85 and 100 meters above sea level, and
at El Desempeno between 61 and 81 meters above sea level
(Arvizu and Davila 1987) . The radical changes in the
level of the river are a reflection of the fact that this
river does not have a flood plain, which would normally
absorb some of the flow at peak periods. It is important
to note that the archaeological sites which have been
located along this river are situated above the highest
55
elevation of the river, thus never experiencing flooding
by the rushing waters of this waterway. This contrasts
with the situation in Belize, for example, where
archaeologists have noted that sites are never located
near the river edge, but instead are normally found up to
1 kilometer away from the river course due to the threat
of flooding (Hammond 1974a) .
The total discharge measured at the Boca del Cerro
Canyon for 1983 was 55,606 million m3, the lowest
discharge reported for May and the highest for early
October. According to the data provided by the Secretaria
de Recursos Hidraulicos, between 1959 and 1969, the river
reached its highest point most frequently during the
months of September, October or November; and its lowest
point during the month of May, most frequently (Secretaria
de Recursos Hidraulicos 1975).
These fluctuations in the river flow influence the
possibilities of travel along the river, especially with
reference to the rapids. Seven rapids have been located
along the Upper Usumacinta River in the study area. Maler
(1903) during his travels through the region was the first
to report the danger and difficulties of upriver travel
due to these rapids. Blom (Blom and Duby 1957) mapped for
the first time the locations and names of the major rapids
along the Usumacinta. The rapids were also of great
concern to the 19th and early 20th century mahogany
56
extractors, who reported difficulties in moving people,
machinery and the wood itself due tc the violent waters
and the need to portage overland through the tropical
forests (De Vos 1988, Gonzalez Palacio 1983). Five of the
seven rapids in the study area are downriver from
Yaxchilan.
It is important to note that the rapids correspond to
the cutting of the axis of the Usumacinta Anticline by
transcurrent faults, and are therefore closely related to
the zig-zag pattern of the main channel of the river as it
flows through the broken structural blocks.
One of the characteristic features of karstic
hydrology is the presence of natural springs in lower
geological strata. Due to the radical escarpments along
the river channel, which has cut down through various
geological strata, these springs can be observed along the
sides of the river gorge and escarpments. These springs
are also associated with the system of transversal faults
which occur, frequently cutting perpendicularly along the
axis of the anticline.
57
4. GEOMORPHOLOGY OF THE STUDY AREA
4.1 LANDFORMS
The relief of the Upper Usumacinta Basin is the
result of the endogenous processual activity of the
deformation of Mezosoic and Tertiary sediments in the form
of upland plateaus, escarpments and slopes on the one
hand, and lowlands in the form of valleys and plains, on
the other. The morphological analysis of the landforms
reveals some of the geological structures discussed in the
previous section. The landforms can be grouped into two
main categories: those pertaining to the uplands, located
on the mountainous systems represented by folding
structures or anticlines; and the intermontane and
structural lowlands or synclines. Wetlands are also
present in the form of marshes (b a j o s ), lake margins
(sibales), and lakes. The most outstanding features of
the relief in the study are presented on Figure No. 7 and
will be described in this section. These have been
defined through the analysis of aerial photography (scales
1:20,000, 1:40,000, and 1:70,000), Mexican and Guatemalan
topographic maps (scales 1:50,000), and satellite imagery
(LANDSAT bands 4 and 5, and Radar SEAT).
The peculiar conditions of the Maya lowlands have
given rise to the development of one of the most extensive
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission
58
karstic landscapes in Middle America and, in fact, on the
continent (West 1964). Humidity, temperature, limestones,
faulting and folding, and underground water drainage have
combined to produce a high level of morphogenetic activity
(Wilhelmy 1981:73), and a characteristically very active
karst.
Other karstic landscapes have been studied in Middle
America, including Jamaica (Sweeting 1964), Cuba and
Puerto Rico (Sweeting 1972), Tabasco and Chiapas
(Gerstenhauer 1960, 1966, Mulleried 1957:76) and Yucatan
(Siemens 1978, Le Grand 1973). Nevertheless, the karstic
landscape of the lowland Maya area has not been
intensively studied.
The expression of geological structures in
topographic relief is a basic object of study for
geomorphologists, as they are conditioned by various
factors including exogenous processes, lithology, growth
of structures, erosion and accumulation, etc. One of the
most important exogenous processes in the region of study
is the process of karstification. This is prompted by the
existence of underground water which acts as an agent in
the dissolution of calcareous rocks in an environment
characterized by a positive hydric balance. The resulting
forms of relief include sinkholes of various sizes
(uvalas, dolines) , karstic depressions or valleys
(p olj e s ), caverns and caves.
59
The underlying morphologic processes and dynamics
have led to the emergence of the different landforms in
the study area. Karstic dynamics and tectonic processes
predominate in these processes which determine subsurface
and surface configurations. Based on the study of surface
characteristics of the Upper Usumacinta River Basin nine
basic landform units are proposed:
1) Karstic Plateau
2) Karstic Upland with Hummocks
3) Escarpment (slope of > 15° and < 30° )
4) Slopes (between 6° and 15° )
5) Karstic Intermontane Valleys
6) Structural Plains
7) Bajos
8) Sibal, and
9) Lakes.
The Karstic Plateau is represented by semiflat
landforms (mesetas) which are present on the top edges of
folded structures (anticlines). They comprise limestones
and dolomitic limestones. These landforms are present in
a stepped continuum from the Sierra del Lacandon 400
metres above sea level (masl) to the Highlands of Chiapas.
In the study are, the crest of the Bonampak anticline is
expressed as a typical Karstic Plateau (600 m a s l ) , with
the presence of dolines and uvalas, both of which are
karstic depressions caused by the dissolution of the
60
limestone at the apex of a place of major pressure in the
process of tectonic folding. The subsurface drainage is
mostly underground infiltration and deep karstic dynamics
dominate. This landform represents a staole morphodynamic
medium. In the region of study, the continuity of the
crest of the Bonampak cnticline and its Karstic Plateau is
broken by the Yaxchilan Fault forming a natural pass from
the Lacanja (Bonampak) Valley into the Upper Usumacinta
River Basin. The plateau presents a number of sizeable
uvalas (measuring more than 1 kilometer in length).
The Karstic Uplands with Hummocks are karstic
plateaus with a hilly topography, referred to as hummocks,
characterized by a varied symmetry and height and
separated by small valleys. There were developed during
major Tertiary foldings, forming the anticlines of La Pita
(Lacandon), the anticline Usumacinta, and the anticline
Bonampak. This relief has been formed on limestones,
dolomitic limestones and dolomites. The genesis of this
relief is based on the dissolution of the calcareous rocks
of the upland anticline crests by the infiltration of
water through faults and fissures. The slow drainage
associated with the high humidity, high temperatures and
abundance of organic matter which characterizes the study
area, favours the formation of valleys. The hummocks or
steep-sided limestone hills ("mogotes” , tower karst, etc.)
so characteristic of tropical karstic landscapes are the
61
remaining evidence of differential erosion. Processes of
evapotranspiration on the developing hummocks harden their
structure through the formation of carbonates, while the
valleys between become deeper.
The drainage in the uplands is superficial,
intermittent, and unintegrated with great frequency of
channels. The morphodynamics are characterized by strong
fluvial activity over the hummocks and hills resulting in
deluvio-coluvial deposition in the small intervening
valleys. These landforms present a conditioned stability
with intermittent events of accumulation and erosion
according to the exposure of the land surface. In the
study area, the Karstic Uplands with Hummocks are the most
common upland relief, covering almost all of the Sierra de
Lacandon range, the Usumacinta Anticline, the Bonampak
Anticline as well as minor folding systems that form the
hilly country at the sources of the Agua Azul River and
the El Chorro Region (Garcia G. and Lugo H. 1993, Llopis
Llado 1977). In stereoscopic aerial photography the land
surface is seen as "pitted11 and highly irregular, given
the profusion of small valleys and hills. Erosion is seen
in some sectors, thinning of forest caused by recent human
activity. Drainage presents a high degree of structural
control on faults and fractures. In general terms,
surface drainage presents an incipient stream network of
the 1st and 2nd rank order. That is, the tributary
62
streams are very reduced in size and number. Many of the
streams disappear into sinkholes or absorption wells and
thus do not contribute to the water volume of the
principal drainage channels.
The lithology of this geomorphic zone is primarily
limestones of the Upper Cretaceous (Upper Boca del Cerro
Formation and Lower Boca del Cerro Formation, equivalent
to the Sepur formation in Guatemala)(Vinson 1962, Dengo
1968, Arvizu and Brizuela 1982, Arvizu and Davila 1987).
The Lower Boca de Cerro Formation presents distinctive
flint modules that help identify this aspect of the Boca
de Cerro Formation.
The uplands present another form of relief called the
"cordillera slopes". These can be of two types, in the
study area: Slopes, with an inclination of between 6 and
15 degrees, and those with a greater degree of slope,
called Escarpments.
Well developed Slopes are located on the eastern face
of the Bonampak Anticline, in some hummocky country of the
Usumacinta Anticline, and to a much lesser degree in the
section of the Lacandon range which falls in the study
area. These slopes vary from rolling hill country at the
sources of the Anait§ River, to a moderate but well-
developed slope in the extended eastern "lip" of the
Bonampak Anticline, the northern sector of Santa Clara
Lake and some parts of the hummocky country in the
63
Usumacinta anticline. This relief comprises the side
slopes on the Cretaceous limestones of the Sierra de la
Cojolita and other ranges in the region and represents a
well-defined contrast to, and delimitation of, the flat
lowlands of the intermontane valleys and structural
plains. The drainage when superficial is intermittent; a
well-developed underground drainage is characteristic as
this landform represents the internal "sides” of the river
basin with a structural slope. The morphodynamics are
represented by a coincidence of fluvial and karstic
processes with varying intensities and frequencies; thus
it can be said that this landform represents a conditioned
and intermittent stability (penestability).
The Escarpment comprises relief with steep or abrupt
slopes (greater than 15°). In the Sierra del Lacandon
(outside of the study area and the Usumacinta River Basin)
and in the Sierra of Cojolita important escarpments are
found. In the Boca del Cerro Anticline there are three
long escarpments along geological faults: the Lacandon
Fault, the Bonampak Fault and the Santa Margarita Fault.
Similar structures, but of lesser dimensions, are
represented in the escarpment of the El Chorro Fault, at
the southern extreme of the study area, and in some of the
isolated secondary anticlines parallel to the main
geological and structural features.
64
The most important Escarpments in the study area are
located along the Usumacinta River channel. Here, the
river runs through a series of canyon-like structures
(encajonados) which have been formed by the deep cutting
action of the river along the axis of the Usumacinta
anticline. This is a most peculiar feature. The slope of
the escarpments along the river presents a steepness of 5
to 15 degrees on both sides of the river, in many places.
The talweg or main channel of the Usumacinta River at many
places occupies the anticline axis itself. This can be
corroborated with the direction and angle of tilt (the dip
and strike) of the distinct geological formations. In the
majority of the cases, the tilt is divergent and
perpendicular to the river's main channel direction, which
is direct evidence that the channel was formed on the
anticline axis. The river then cut deeply into the
geological formations causing the steep slopes of the
e ncajonados.
The steep angle of the slope will influence the
drainage, which presents rapid superficial runoff in the
form of rushing torrents in the Escarpment landforms. The
morphological dynamics are strongly influenced by
gravitational forces, which together with the drainage
characteristics, cause alluvium to accumulate in valleys
and plains. This is then transported by the Usumacinta
65
River to the southern Gulf of Mexico coastal plain, in the
region known as the Lower Usumacinta River Basin.
On Figure No. 6, the main escarpments of the Upper
Usumacinta River are plotted. This analysis revealed that
there are five major segments of the river which run
through steep-sloped canyons. This represents over 50% of
the length of the river course as it flows through the
study area. Although these escarpments do not represent a
significant area as measured in square kilometers, they
can be seen as significant in terms of their role in the
definition of the riverine landscape. This natural
landscape feature will be shown to have importance in
archaeological terms in a later chapter of this
dissertation. The Sierra del Lacandon, a?.so part of the
Karstic Uplands, presents a continuous hilly landform, and
escarpments, such as those found in the Usumacinta
anticlines, and slopes, such as those found in the
Bonampak anticlines are absent.
The Uplands formation forms a series of cordilleras
which delimit the lowland plains in the study area,
fo * ing the same NW-SE orientation. In accordance with
their geological structure and genesis, the lowlands can
be described as 1) Karstic Intermontane Valleys and 2)
Structural Plains as found in the southeastern extreme of
the study area. The lowlands also contain a series of
basins of an accumulative nature where surface water
66
runoff and sediments have formed poljes (karstic pockets),
lakes, and wetlands (Jbajos and sibales) .
The Karstic and Intermontane valleys are represented
in the study area by extensive regions of flat relief,
intercalated between the mountain ranges. They normally
are located in the synclines of the valleys formed by the
folding of the mountain ranges. Their most important
characteristic for the purposes of study is their
location, between the cordillera or anticlines, their
orientation (parallel to the karstic ranges) and their
dimensions (long and narrow). The karstic valleys have
been formed through processes of the dissolution of
Cretaceous limestones. They are very active karstic
features which are deepened and widened over time by
karstic action, resulting from the interaction of climate,
precipitation, and drainage on the limestone surfaces.
The most important karstic valleys in the study area are
the El Cayo pocket, Santa Clara Lake area, and the
Budsilja Valley. The El Cayo pocket is located within the
Usumacinta anticline, where the action of the River
through time has precipitated karstic action which has
"carved" the pocket. The Santa Clara sub-basin and the
Budsilja Valley are located in the Santa Clara syncline,
with superficial Quaternary Deposits over Tertiary
mudstones and sandstones.
67
The karstic valleys, which are interesting features
at the local level, are minor landforms within the
regional Intermontane Valley system. The latter is
represented in the study area by flat relief surfaces
produced by "negative" forces of relief formed by tectonic
folding. The intermontane and karstic valleys are formed
on the synclines of "valleys" located between the
anticline structures or mountain ranges. The valleys
normally present different kinds of sediments and parental
rocks. Almost all of the synclines are characterized by
the presence of deposits of sedimentary rocks of terrigene
origin, limestones rich in clays, marls, dolomitic marls,
and mudstones of Paleocene-Eocene age. Alluvial
(Quaternary) deposits are present in some of the rivers
that feed into the Usumacinta River. These are minor
features associated with Karstic Easins and rivers (such
as the Agua Azul River Valley) and parts of the Arroyo
Yaxchilan. To the northwest, the intermontane valleys
located in the Santa Clara and El Retiro synclines present
extensive surface deposits of alluvium along the Chocolja
and Chancala River valleys. These valleys present a
developed surface runoff in the form of permanent and
semipermanent streams and creeks; nevertheless, the
principal talwegs and structuring is controlled by
geological features of the region.
68
Some of the streams have established tributary
systems, including Arroyo Anaitfe, Budsilja River, and the
Chancala, Nospa and Chocolja {Rank order 4 and 5,
respectively). However, the majority of the streams are
of the 1 and 2nd order, that is, with no tributary
development. Underground karstic drainage is also present
in this landform type. The morphodynamics are represented
by deep karstic evolution, a product of infiltration
dissolution in stable geomorphological environments in the
Karstic Valleys. The Intermontane Valleys developed in
Tertiary mudstones and sandstones present surface fluvial
dissection without karstic evolution on stable
geomorphological forms. Wetlands in the form of marshes,
swamps, bajos and sibales are present in these valleys,
and they represent surfaces of lacustrine accumulation of
recent age. The most important Intermontane Valleys in
the study area are those located on the Laguna Azules, La
Linea, and Bonampak synclines.
The Structural Plain landform feature is represented
by a wide valley with flat relief, found in the
southeastern sector of the study area. It contains a
number of lakes and bajos such as Laguna Maya, Pantano la
Vaca, and Laguna El Chorro. Rio Agua Azul, Arroyo
Yaxchilan and Arroyo El Chorro drain the region into the
Usumacinta River. The secondary anticlines of the El
Tornillo and El Chorro region separate the northern valley
(on the right bank of the river) with Laguna Mendoza from
the Agua Azul sector.
The valleys are formed of Tertiary sedimentary rocks,
mudstones, and sandstones. The morphodynamics are similar
to those of the Intermontane Valleys, with superficial
fluvial dissection. Drainage is represented by permanent
streams without tributary development (l, 2 and 3rd rank
order t y p e s ) . The drainage is controlled by the
geological structures. Toward the southwest extreme of
the study area, these Structural Plains are linked to the
Pasion-Chixoy River Valley and to the Lacantun flood plain
and Marquez de Comillas alluvial plains.
It is interesting to note that in the study area
alluvial plains are not present, nor are fluvial valleys
or any landform feature characteristic of meandering
tropical river systems. The geologically and structurally
controlled drainage and the location of the talweg of the
Usumacinta River coincide with the Usumacinta anticline,
forming a unique landscape moiphology.
5. CONCLUSIONS
The different aspects of the landscape of the Upper
Usumacinta River Basin can be synthesized in a simplified
Block Diagram of a representative section taken from the
middle of the study area. In the Block Diagram presented
70
as Figure No. 8, the folding and faulting process of the
Cretaceous limestones by exogenous geological forces is
illustrated. The diagram clearly shows how the structural
configuration of the Basin is dictated by the
northwest/southeast oriented folded structures called
anticlines, and in addition, how the transcurrent. faulting
has shifted entire geological blocks producing a zig-zag
pattern along the "spine" of the anticlines, which are
manifested on the landscape as raised or high areas. As
described above and shown on this diagram, the Usumacinta
River has captured the fractured system produced on the
axis of major pressure on the Usumacinta Anticline. The
karstic landscape has evolved through the processes of
weathering of the sedimentary rocks in an area
characterized by a hot and humid tropical climatic regime.
The tertiary deposits are located on the synclines
forming the basis of structural plains and intermontane
valleys. These features present different drainage
characteristics, depending upon their geological history.
In the Block Diagram, Santa Clara Lake is shown within a
karstic depression that has developed in an intermontane
valley. This can be seen as an example of the forces of
hydrology and climate and their differential effects on
the karst.
Geologically speaking, the entire region represents a
modified sedimentary rock surface, rich in limestones.
71
These materials comprise the parental rock basis from
which different kinds of soils have developed under a
tropical forested region. In the next chapter, the biotic
landscape as represented by the vegetation cover, will be
described. This information, together with the
geological, geomorphological and hydrological information
provided in this chapter, is critical in understanding the
soil development, characteristics and distribution in the
study area.
i
FIGURE NO. 1 THE USUMACINTA RIVER BASIN AREA

3EASAT-SAR IMAGE NO. 422 (1978). EP EL PETEN,
GUATEMALA, SL, SELVA LACANDONA, MEXICO,
U R. USUMACINTA, L R. LACANTUN, S R. SALINAS,
P R. PASION
S 3
* -. < ^ ; i
PASADITA
«s «*. t. SAHTA CLAPA
x. I0O5UA
v —J'-w x
s JBB»A
73
/">
I .V v
..
-S -A. \
& - V..
f f l
j SHM &■
Yt, f p j u hm o o ^ii
5?0 CMPO V t X D S ] \
r t o T U ia
a o ia ifc tiK
KACBO f / J I O K SBLZBA3
rA X C B IL M
IDITA
T & z y
10 k m
MAP NO. 1 THE TOPOGRAPHY OF THE UPPER

USUMACINTA RIVER BASIN
Tanotiqu*
from Dengo 1968, A rvizu and DAv

and p h o to in te rp re ta tio n , analys
74
!^2EEKE3"
V/A*h~H8 IsM3
| 5 Q I C ..ji 5
FIGURE NO. 2 GEOLOGY OF THE UPPER

USUMACINTA RIVER
REGION
1. QUATERNARY; 2. TERTIARY
(MIOCENE); 3. TERTIARY (EOCENE);
4. TERTIARY (PALEOCENE-EOCENE);
5. UPPER CRETACEOUS (Boca del
Cerro Formation, Upper Component);
6. UPPER CRETA- CEOUS (Boca del
Cerro, Lower Component);
7. ANTICLINE; 8. SYNCLINE;
9. TRANSCURRENT FAULT; 10. NORMAL
FAULT; 11. FAULT; 12. DOLINES;
13. RIVER; 14. LAKES;
15. INTERNATIONAL BOUNDARY;
A. SANTA CLARA SYNCLINE; B. LA
ii^!!S!S!S!!!S!S!!!!:!S£:S!S LINEA SYNCLINE; C. LAGS. AZULES
id D 4vila 1987, A rvizu and B rizuela 1982, and I6pez Ramos 1974 SYNCLINE; D. BONAMPAK ? ’T I CLINE;
ina ly s is o f SAR imagery and f ie ld reconnaissance in the Zone E. USUMACINTA ANTICLINE; F. LAGS.
AZULES ANTICLINE; G. BOCA DEL
CERRO ANTICLINE; H. EL LACANDON
ANTICLINE
0 5 10 k m
FIGURE NO. 3 FAULTING SYSTEM

A. NORMAL AND INVERSE FAULTS; B. TRANSCURRENT
FAULTS
76
GULF OF
MEXICO
PACIFIC
OCEAN
100km
FIGURE NO. 4 THE GRIJALVA-USUMACINTA RIVER

SYSTEM
1. USUMACINTA BASIN; 2. GRIJALVA BASIN; A R EA
3. TONALA BASIN; 4. SIERRA BASIN; 5. CHILAPA
BASIN; 6. DELTA.
(Adapted from West et al 1969, fig. 8)
: ei x<jir° rjfS i
R. Budsilja
77
Aguada Seca
A. El Chorro
R- de la Fusion
A.Macabilero
R. Lacanhm
Caribe
I' Sta, Clara 1
FIGURE NO. 5 THE HYDROLOGY OF THE UPPER

RANK ORDERED STREAMS
1 0
*53
«S3
•DEI
»CZ3
f r
10 km
78
■■r ••
c
/
FIGURE NO. 6 UPPER USUMACINTA RIVER BASIN:

LOCATION OF ESCARPMENTS, RAPIDS, AND RAVINES
1. ESCARPMENTS; 2. RAPIDS; 3. ISLANDS;
4. STREAMS; 5. RAVINES; 6. LAKES;
7. SPRINGS
Reproduced
with permission
of the copyright owner.
2
CO r
l-
.-
.l
•tH
CD l
op^
l
Further reproduction
(l
prohibited
h
without permission.
FIGURE NO. 7 UPPER USUMACINTA RIVER BASIN

LANDFORMS
UPLANDS: 1. KARSTIC PLATEAU; 2. KARSTIC
UPLANDS WITH HUMMOCKS; 3. ESCARPMENTS;
4. SLOPES. LOWLANDS: 5. STRUCTURAL PLAIN;
6. KARSTIC INTERMONTANE VALLEYS. WETLANDS:
7. BAJO; 8. SIBAL; 9. LAKES; 10. STREAMS
80
A B C D F
FIGURE NO. 8 BLOCK DIAGRAM OF STRUCTURAL

GEOLOGY
1. CRETACEOUS LIMESTONES; 2. TERTIARY SHALES,
MUDSTONES, AND SANDSTONES; 3. JURASSIC
DEPOSITS; 4. TRANSCURRENT FAULT; 5. NORMAL
FAULT; 6. UVALAS AND DOLINES; A. EL CEDRO
ANTICLINE; B. LACANHA SYNCLINE; C. BONAMPAK
ANTICLINE; D. SANTA CLARA SYNCLINE; E. SANTA
CLARA LAKE? F. USUMACINTA ANTICLINE;
G. USUMACINTA RIVER
81
CHAPTER THREE: THE BIOTIC LANDSCAPE
1. INTRODUCTION
The complexity and grandeur of the tropical forest
cover in the study area is apparent even to the untrained
eye. A preliminary botanical survey of the Selva
Lacandona carried out by members of the Instituto Nacional
de Investigaciones sobre Recursos Bioticos in Mexico in
the late 1970s confirmed this observation. About 180
species belonging to 81 families were collected and
identified (Calzada and Valdivia 1979:149-162). A more
recent study by the Instituto de Biologia of the
Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico has identified
over 92 families and 472 plant species from a single
hectare of tropical rainforest in the region of Bonampak
(Meave del Castillo 1990). This is one of the areas of
highest biodiversity in Mexico, and one where the remains
of a climax tropical rainforest can still be found. In
this chapter, a first approximation to the vegetation of
the study area is put forward. This vegetation is the key
segment of the biotic landscape, which forms an integral
part of the total natural landscape of the zone.
82
2. LA SELVA LACANDONA
According to Rzedowski (1978), the Selva Lacandona
is located in the Costa del Golfo de Mexico floristic
province. In his phytogeographical classification of
Chiapas, Breedlove (1973:152) situates the Selva Lacandona
in the Eastern Highlands of Chiapas, noting that the
vegetational communities of this region are continuous
with the Peten in Guatemala studied by Lundell (1937), and
that many species are endemic (Breedlove 1973:153).
The vegetation of the area was first described by
Miranda (1952) in a study of the vegetation of Chiapas.
In this study and others (e.g. Miranda 1961), vegetational
communities were first differentiated for the region.
Pennington and Sarukhan (1968) first describe a number of
arboreal species belonging to different communities
located in the Selva Lacandona.
The tropical rainforest was once proposed as a climax
plant community that in the Americas has developed only in
some localities of the Amazon River Basin (Beard 1944).
Nevertheless, according to Breedlove (1973:155), tropical
forest does occur in North America, particularly, in his
words:
83
Only in a few locations in the valleys bordering the
Rio Usumacinta...(where) the forest is three-storied
with the uppermost story composed of trees with
straight, unbranched, buttressed trunks rising as
much as 50-60 m from the forest floor. The second
story forms a continuous canopy and is between 25
and 40 m tall. The third story is composed of
branched small trees from 10 to 20 m tall. Small
shrubs and herbaceous cover are practically absent
and epiphytes are only in the upper stories.
The climax state of the Lacandon forest is very
similar to that of the Peten, as defined by Lundell
(1937). It is characterized by the arrangement of three
mature tree stories or canopies.
The high canopy is formed by the following species:
Swietenia macrophylla Achras zapota
Cedrela odorata Brosimum alicastrum
Terminalia amazonia Dialium guianense
Gutteria anomala Ceiba sp.
Licania platypus Aspidosperma sp.
Pouteria sapota Calophyllum sp.
Spondias mombin
The mid stratum is usually formed by species similar to
those of the high canopy, plus other species well adapted
to this stratum, such as:
Quaribea funebris Casearia nitida
Bursera simaruba Rheedia edulis
AIchornea latifolia Nectandra sp.
Protium copal Loncbocarpus guatemalensis
Stemmadenia sp. Pterocarpus bayesii
Tabernaemontana sp. Swartzia cubensis
84
Cordia alliodora Cymbopetalum penduliflorum
Sapium sp.
The lower stratum includes species adapted to shade
conditions such as Cannacea, Chamaedora s p . , Piper sp.,
Malpighiacea, and other small species. On the river banks
and lake shores, a peculiar bank association is present,
including:
Pseudobombax sp. Bursera simaruba
Lonchocarpus sp. Dracaena americana
Quararibea funebris Sterculia apetala
Talauma mexicana Trophis racenosa
Ficus sp. Vochysia hondurensis
Pachira aquatica
Palmares are also present in the Lacandon Rainforest,
intimately related to the high canopy association. Some
of the most important are Acrocomia mexicana, Chamaedora
s p . , and Orbignya guacuyule.
The secondary forest (Acahuales) is an association in
development, directly related to the clearing of the
forest by man for agricultural production or timber and
precious wood exploitation. The most common species of
this association are:
Schizolobium parabibum Carica papaya
Cecropia sp. Acalypha laxiflora
Ochroma lagopus Solanum sp.
85
Trema micrantha Piper amalago
Heliocarpus donnell-smithii Cestrum nocturnum
Luchea speciosa Guazuma ulmifolia
Amaranthus hybridus Bixa orellana
The vegetation map of the Upper Usumacinta River
Basin (Map 2), is based on the original work carried out
in the elaboration of the Mapa Forestal del Estudio
Dasondmico de Triplay de Palenque in 1976. This study was
coordinated by Ing. Armando Cuevas, and was oriented
towards understanding the agroforestry potential in terms
of forest exploitation of the Lacandon Forest in Mexico
(Cuevas n d ) . The original aerial photographs of the study
were obtained from Ing. Cuevas for the Upper Usumacinta
River Basin (scale 1:20,000), and were analyzed to
replicate the photointerpretation undertaken by that
group. The different types of forest cover were
identified primarily by the height of the canopy, from
which three different height categories were developed.
1. Selva Alta: Height greater than 25 meters
2. Selva Mediana: Height between 15-25 meters
3. Selva Baja: Height less than 15 meters
In addition, there are two vegetation types in which one
species dominates:
86
1. S i b a l : on the shores of lakes, characterized by
the dominance of Gramineae cover (Cladium jamaicense
predominating);
2. Jimbal: lowland areas subject to flooding; also
characterized by Gramineae, particularly a bamboo-related
species, Guadua aculeata.
A final category was established for those areas which
appear to have been cleared and burned, and for which no
natural vegetation interpretation can be advanced. These
are called Quemada.tes.
On this map, the activity of modern man can also be
discerned in the grasslands, and the secondary forest
growth (acahual). A bajo formation is also present,
associated with a Selva Baja (Subperennifolia) in wetland
areas.
The map does not show the presence of Palm
communities, such as Corozo palm (Scheelea liebmanii)
mixed with Selvas Altas and Medianas near river shores.
To establish the vegetation coverage for the
Guatemalan side of the Usumacinta River, aerial
photographs (1:40,000) were used for about 70% of the
total area. The sector for which aerial photographic
coverage was not available was the southeast part of the
study area (Laguna Mendoza, Pantano Pejelagarto and
Pantano La V a c a ) . For the latter two, satellite imagery
was used to reconstruct an approximation of the forest
87
cover, but this was not possible for the vicinity of
Laguna Mendoza. Due to these practical limitations,
calculations of the percentage of vegetation cover in the
study area are based upon the information from the Mexican
side, where the data are more complete and reliable. All
of the material generated in the photointerpretation was
transferred to maps (1:50,000) using a Sketchmaster to
rectify the flight angles. Areas were measured in the
1:50,000 maps with a Polar Compensation Planimeter with an
optical tracer.
As represented by the arboreal vegetation on the
Mexican side of the study area, the distribution of
vegetation types is approximately as follows. The
majority of the area (86%) is covered with Selva Mediana.
This is followed in importance by Selva Alta, with about
4%. Selva Baja and Bajos vegetation are represented with
approximately 2.7% each. Pastizal grasslands (1.2%) and
Jimbal (1.2%) hypes are little represented. Under 1% of
the area is covered with vegetation types Acahual (.7%)
and Sibal (.5%). The rest of the area is water (lakes,
aguadas and ri v e r ) .
It is interesting to note that the greatest expanse
of Selva Alta is on the Guatemalan side of the study area,
in the area between La Pasadita ant Yaxchilan. Selva Alta
is also found in a very limited patch at the site of
Piedras Negras. The wetlands drained by Arroyo Yaxchilan,
88
the Arroyo Anait6 and Arroyo Agua Azul present
associations of Selva Baja and Jimbal, which seriously
restrict penetration or crossing by humans or wild
animals. The vegetation associated with the Lakes in the
study area is Sibales, represented by the Cladium
jamaicense which is known as Sibal, mixed with Sagittaria
l a n d f o l i a , Eleochalis interstincta, and Nympbaea a mpla.
The vegetation map presented here does not
necessarily represent present conditions of the vegetation
cover in the study area. The Mexican side of the
Usumacinta River has been experiencing a process of rapid
colonization by milpa agriculturalists and cattle
ranchers. This has precipitated a drastic drop in the
arboreal coverage and an increase in the expanses of
Pastizales, Acahuales and Quemadales. A conscious attempt
was made in the present study to obtain early aerial
coverage which would reflect a minimum of this type of
human exploitation of the biotic landscape. However, this
does not suggest that the Maya of Classic times did not
have an important impact on the forest.
3. THE ANTHROPOGENIC FOREST
The use of the forest by the Maya included
management, protection, cultivation and probably
domestication of tree species. The complexity of
89
silviculture as practiced by the ancient Maya is not well
understood. Even present day forest and tree management
by the Maya has only recently been studied. It is clear
that scientists from temperate regions have had difficulty
grasping the complexity of the vegetation of the tropical
forests of the Maya region. Understanding the plethora of
management practices and uses of tropical arboreal species
by the cultures of the region at present and in the past
is a problem of even greater magnitude. Lundell (1937)
was the first to recognize the importance of human actions
in the formation and construction of the forests. More
recently, Barrera Marin focussed on ethnobotanical aspects
of the Maya in Yucatan (Barrera et al 1977), and Gomez-
Pompa, a specialist in tropical ecology of the Maya zone
(Gomez-Pompa 1987) has successfully trained a generation
of scientists who have generated seminal studies of Maya
silviculture, although the work has just begun (e.g.
Sanchez 1993 and Herrera 1994). A recent flurry of
interest in trees for the Classic Maya was sparked by the
publication of a book entitled "A Forest of Kings" (Scheie
and Freidel 1990) in which the authors suggest that the
Maya stelae were identified by the ancient Maya as trees.
In the following section, tree species which have been
shown to be of particular importance to the Classic Maya
will be highlighted.
90
3.1 TREE SPECIES ON THE SARCOPHAGOUS AT PALENQUE
The sarcophagous at Palenque is found inside the
Temple of the Inscriptions, and contains the remains of
Pakal the Great who died in 683 A.D. Much discussion has
centred around the sarcophagous lid which represents the
apotheosis of Lord Pakal in his fall into the open jaws of
the underworld. Less attention has been paid to the bas
reliefs on the sides of the sarcophagous on which the
parents and ancestors of Lord Pakal are depicted.
Here, each personage is associated with a tree form
which emerges from an earth band. The presence of glyph
T 8 7 , identified by Thompson as the phonetic particle "TE"
or "CHE" (Thompson 1962), the Mayan word for tree,
confirms the identification of these as woody plants. At
the apex of each of the plant forms, a carefully crafted
flower is depicted. Along the trunks of the plants five
different kinds of fruits are depicted. Examination was
first made of the taxonomic characteristics of the fruits
by Ruz Lhuillier and Miranda (Ruz Lhuillier 1958), who
propose an identification of two as Acrocomia sp. and
Persea sp. Kexley (1976) proposes the identification of
another as TheoJbroma cacao from Maya codex
representations. A fourth identification was made by
Robicsek and Hales (1981) as Crescentia sp. from
representations on Maya vessels. Using purely botanical
91
taxonomic criteria, it is proposed here that the fifth
species is Pimenta dioca, based upon the nature of the
small fruits, clustered in groups of three, with the
remains of the florescence attached to the fruit.
All of these are important economic tree species for
the Maya, as indicated by the archaeological,
ethnohistorical and ethnographic records. The importance
of their presence on the sarcophagous of Palenque is that
avocado, cacao, gourds, cocoyol palm and allspice comprise
what may be considered to be a tree complex of the five
species most commonly occurring in lowland Maya home
gardens today. This implies that their importance for the
Maya of Classic times was of such magnitude that they are
represented in the burial monument of one of the most
notable rulers of the Maya realm.
3.2 THE RAMON THESIS AND VEGETATIONAL TRANSECTS IN
YAXCHILAN
Ramon, or Brosimum alicastrum, is a frequently
occurring tree species in the greater Peten rainforest, as
well as occurring commonly in the home gardens of the
present day lowland Maya. The possibility that this
abundant tree species was used as an economic species by
the ancient Maya is suggestive (Lundell 1937). In fact,
it does produce great quantities of a nut, which has been
92
reported as edible. This possibility has generated debate
in the literature among Maya scholars.
Archaeologist Dennis Puleston was the first to test
this proposal. A vegetational transect of the presence of
Brosimum alicastrum was carried out by Puleston (1973) in
Tikal, Guatemala with the following characteristics: It
was a transect of 12 kilometers with a width of 100 meters
to study architectural features. In the vegetational
transect all examples of Brosimum alicastrum of 2 inch
(5.1 cm.) diameter or more were counted. Puleston located
1985 individuals in the vegetational transect and 7 39
structures in the settlement transect, which measured 500
m. x 12 km.). According to Puleston, the distribution of
these two elements correlates positively, that is, where
there are more architectural features, more ramon is found
(Puleston 1973:50). Later he examines the presence of
chultunes associated with ramones, and proposes that
chultunes were underground storage chambers. From this
basic information, the average number of ramon trees of at
least 5.1 cm. in diameter per hectare is calculated to be
16.5 trees. However, Puleston's study does not provide
information about the overall structure and diversity of
the rainforest in Tikal, in the context of which the ramon
trees are developing.
In another study, Folan and his research team studied
tree species in the Classic Maya site of Coba, located in
the Mexican state of Quintana Roo in the northern Yucatan
Peninsula (Folan et al 1979). Analysis of the
distribution of the arboreal vegetation revealed a
bifurcation of the site: one sector located in the north
part between Sacbeob 3 and 27, and the other sector in the
south, between Sacbeob 15 and 18, with the Coba group in
the center. Working out at right angles from the SacJbeob,
Folan et al (1979) carried out eight transects in the
north, and seven in the south. At the same time, this
group calculated the distribution of habitational
platforms, in a similar way to Puleston but
differentiating between what they termed structures of the
•'elite" and those of the "common people", based on the
presence or absence of the Maya arch. It is interesting
to note that the Coba study included 16 tree species which
are culturally important in terms of their fruit, fibres,
or bark. Along the transect 3752 individuals were counted
(or 3579, Folan et al 1979:679) of which 1769 were
present in the southern sector. An important presence of
Ramon was noted in both sectors, with a 34% percent
occurrence in the north, compared to 34% in the south,
relative to the overall tree species count (1446 trees of
the 3752). on the basis of this information, Folan et al
propose the hypothesis that there exists a high
correlation between settlement type and some tree species
which reflects the concentric circles of social
94
organization and settlements originally reported by Landa
in the XVI Century. However, this study does not provide
basic data regarding the overall structure of the
rainforest in this area, such as number of individual
trees per area and diversity of tree species, nor class of
individuals by area and diversity, nor is it clear which
classes of individuals were counted in the study, that is,
their size, height, age, etc. The results simply indicate
a high count of ramon trees in the Coba area.
The fruit of the ramon tree can be ground into a meal
and made into a tortilla-like bread, and has been used as
a corn substitute in time of famine, according to
ethnohistorical and ethnographic data (Pulest i 1968).
Analysis of the nutritional content of ramon indicates
that, indeed, it could serve as a staple in place of
maize. Puleston's study in Tikal was based on the
hypothesis that pressures on corn production correlate
with population pressures, and that ramon became, at a
given moment, a basic dietary item. The number of ramon
trees in the vicinity of the site, and its correlation
with habitational elements, led Puleston to confirm his
hypothesis and propose the intensive management of this
tree species and the harvesting and storing of its fruit.
Based on these results, that is, the presence of ramon in
Tikal, the ramon fruit became, for some, the food item
95
which permitted the development of the Maya civilization
(Puleston 1973).
The work of Folan and his team in Coba follows this
same line of thinking, and thus also focussed on the
number of ramon trees present in the site, with the
additional correlation of ramon and other economic tree
species with social strata. It is interesting to note
with regard to this study that the present-day inhabitants
of the zone also correlate tree species with human
activity and occupations in the past, and the presence of
some of the species examined by Folan's team have become
indicators of, for example, abandoned chiclero camps.
Generally speaking, the scientific study of tree
species in ancient Maya subsistence studies follows two
paths. Archaeologists have focussed on the tree count of
certain species in order to reconstruct the impact of
human activities on the rainforest in the past, and to
propose cultural importance and management of these
species. The weakness of this methodological approach is
found in the absence of a standard sample area. In the
Puleston study, reference is even made to both hectares
and acres, and no information is given as to the number of
ramon in a specific area. Folan uses circular sample
areas, and does not define minimum diameters of the trees
counted. Finally, archaeologists have not provided the
comparative count of other tree species, in order to
96
provide an idea of the overall structure of the forest in
the area under study.
A second approach to the study of tree species has
been to calculate biomass, on the basis of basal area of
the species, in order to understand the ecology of t i
forest. The ecologists who use this approach may in lude
the impact of human activity in the forest as simply one
additional variable, not subject to special scientific
treatment.
It is proposed that the combination of these two
approaches may lead to the maximizing of the information
available on tree counts, providing interpretative data on
the ecological context of the forest, as well as the
possibility of projecting the impact of human action in
the past. This approach has been applied to the analysis
of data generated by the Estudio Dasondmico of the
Lacandon Rainforest carried out between 1974 and 1976
under the direction of Ing. Armando Cuevas. This survey,
which was originally designed to provide the basis for a
controlled exploitation of the forest resources of the
rainforest, was undertaken through the extensive sampling
of the area based on the establishment of base camps from
which radiated well defined sample transects.
Using this data set, and in consideration of the
previous studies of ramon trees mentioned above, a close
look was taken at the site of Yaxchilan located in the
97
Upper Usumacinta River Basin. The sample areas of one
hectare are in the form of transects measuring 500 meters
in length with a width of 20 meters. In each strip the
trees were measured in sub-sample areas as follows:
1) In the entire transect, of 10,000 m", all trees with a
diameter of 30 cm or more were included. The data for each
tree includes diameter, height and condition of trunk,
visible damage, species (32 possibilities) or general wood
category. Included in the general wood category was
commercial hardwood (23 possible species), commercial
softwood (11 possible species), and others (43 possible
s peci e s ) .
2) The second sample, taken within this overall transect
area, measured 125 meters by 20 meters or 2500 m". Trees
with a diameter of 15 cm or more were measured and the
same observations were taken as in complete transect.
3) The third sub-sample area measured 50 meters by 20
meters or 1000 m". All trees and saplings were counted and
the same observations were taken as in the complete
transect. Conditions of the natural environment were
registered, including altitude, sun exposure, slope,
vegetation type, color and texture of soils, physiography,
visible tree damage, etc.
In Yaxchilan, two transects were undertaken: one
running from the neck of the omega-shaped formation in
which the site is found, to the site itself; and the other
98
running from the neck away from the site. The first
measures 3.5 kilometers, with 7 continuous sample areas of
1 hectare, passing through medium height rainforest on
sloped and in hilly terrain, in the immediate vicinity of
the archaeological site. The second measures 7.5 km. with
15 hectares of sample area, passing through medium height
rainforest on sloped terrain, to hilly terrain, arriving
at medium height rainforest on valley floor, then to low
rainforest on valley floor, and finally medium height
rainforest on valley floor, at the end of the transect.
Combining the two transects provides a single line running
from the rainforest, the last sample site on the second
transect, to the archaeological site, which is the last
sample site on the first transect.
In terms of the overall occurrence of tree species
for the eastern Lacandon Rainforest, an area of 193,323
ha. in total, which represents 1243 sample sites, ramon
(Brosimum alicastrum) can be seen to be the most important
in terms of presence. Ramon is registered as present in
85% of these sites, followed by Canshan (Terminalia
amazonia) with presence in 84% of the sample sites,
Guapaque (Dialium guianense) with 82%, and Cedrillo
(Guarea glabra) with 72%.
In the Yaxchilan transect, ramon is present in all
22 of the sample sites; Chicozapote (Achras zapota) in 95%
of the sites, Jobo (Spondias m.) in 77% and Chacabuante
99
(Sicklngia salvadorensis) in 73%. Comparing these data
with those of the overall context mentioned above, it can
be seen that Brosimum sp. appears as dominant in all
sites. However, in terms of the occurrence of the next
two most predominant species, there is no correspondence
between the overall sample and the Yaxchilan case. In
Yaxchilan, Chicozapote and Spondias follow ramon in
presence; wherease in the overall eastern rainforest,
ramon is followed by Canshan, Guapague and Cedrillo.
Looking at the incidence of ramon in the Yaxchilan
sample in terms of the number of individuals per hectare,
the average number of ramon per hectare is 57.5
individuals. Comparing this number with the total number
of trees, which ranges between 7 00 and 1000 individuals,
averaging 845.45 trees, ramon represents only 6.8% of the
trees in number, although it is the predominant tree
species in terms of presence/absence.
In terms of biomass of ramon in the rainforest,
measured by basal area, it can be seen that the average
basal area per hectare considering all trees is 31.9 m 2 ,
of which the average for ramon is 3.72 m 2 or 11.8% of the
total, on average. This number compares favourably with
poother rainforests studied in Mesoamerica, in which the
average basal area is 30-40m2 . This includes data for the
Los Tuxtlas rainforest, studied by Sarukhan (1968). The
biomass index for ramon is high, at 11.8%, and reflects
100
the high number of individuals per hectare (6 8% of total
individuals). This provides a simple idea of the
significance of this tree species in terms of the total
arboreal biomass of the forest.
It is interesting to compare these figures with those
of Puleston for Tikal, although he reports only number of
individuals with no reference to basal areas. There is a
significant difference in the averages suggested by
Puleston's data, and those observed in Yaxchilan. In
Tikal, there are 16.5 ramon per hectare (based on the
measurement of trees of 5.1 cm [at chest height] or
larger), whereas in the Yaxchilan transectan average of
57.54 ramones are reported per hectare, on average. The
standard deviation in our transect is 27, that is to say,
in 68% of the cases between 30 and 84 individuals will be
found. The Tikal results would therefore fall 1.5 z-
scores below the average for Yaxchilan, at the extreme
edge of the normal curve. This suggests that the number
of ramon per hectare in the two sites differs, and many
more are found in Yaxchilan. However, in the Yaxchilan
example, no correlation exists between proximity to the
archaeological site and number of ramon individuals found.
In fact, there is a fall in the number and basal area of
ramon in the second to last and last sample sites of the
transect1
101
In the case of Coba, a great number of ramon tress
are reported, but little can be said comparatively with
the material for Yaxchilan, since the data are more
descriptive than analytical. The ecological relationship
of this species with others, or the significance and
location of its presence, is not reported.
In conclusion, the distribution of ramon in the
rainforest is not uniform, as is reported by Puleston for
Tikal. However, analyzing the presence of ramon in the
context of other tree species in the rainforest and
overall biomass reveals the importance of evaluating
ecological factors intrinsic to the species itself, in
terms of the size and composition of the rainforest in
which it is developing, as evidenced in the transects
studied. Puleston proposes that the distribution of ramon
in the Tikal archaeological site is the vestige of ancient
agricultural activities, reflecting the management of, and
dietary dependence on, this species. In terms of the data
for Yaxchilan, this proposal can be seriously questioned.
The counter-hypothesis which emerges from this study is
that the high incidence of ramon reflects the halting of
agricultural activities in an area, and the process
involved in the return of rainforest vegetation.
102
4. CONCLUSION
The biotic landscape of the study area is dominated
by arboreal vegetation. The importance of the diversity
of flora and fauna in this area is poorly understood in
the present, and less well understood for the past.
However, it is clear that the biomass represented by this
biotic landscape is determinant in the cycle of life of
the tropical rainforest. In order to develop an
understanding of the conditions of ancient times, an
analogue of the present configuration of the biotic
landscape must be carefully developed. The great
diversity of plant life, in which the species are
distributed widely, often in vegetational mosaics, over
the landscape demands extensive landscape studies with the
pertinent techniques in order to avoid generalizations and
data sets which do not have comparative value.
MAP NO. 2 THE VEGETATION OF UPPER USUMACINTA
RIVER BASIN
Mi SELVA ALTA; £M SELVA MED IANA;
[-«;,] SELVA BAJA; I W 1 BAJO; Ml JIMBAL;
|-- 1 QUEMADAL; M i ACAHUAL; M l SIBAL;
[ ] AGRICULTURE - PASTURES; Ml WATER
104
CHAPTER FOUR: SOILS
1. INTRODUCTION
Soil surveys of the Maya southern lowlands are few.
Good material exists only for Belize {Birchall and Jenkin
1979, Fedick 1988, Wright et al 1959). General
information is available for the Peten, Guatemala
(Simmons, Tarano and Pinto 1959). However, no
comprehensive study has been done for the Maya lowlands in
the Mexican states of Chiapas, Tabasco, (southern)
Campeche, and Quintana Roo. As a result of this inbalance
in the information available, emphasis has been placed,
inadvertently, on the importance of agriculture and
agricultural techniques in the former area, with much less
importance given in the literature and in scientific study
to the latter areas. In this chapter, a first
approximation to the soils of the Upper Usumacinta River
Basin is presented which may serve as a basis for
understanding the agricultural capacity of the area and
the management and conservation techniques which the Maya
of Classic times may have used. The interpretation of
soil potential in terms of the agricultural technology and
knowledge package of the Maya provides the basis of the
105
understanding of a cultural landscape of resources and
productive potential for the present and ancient Maya.
The karstic and orogenic characterics of the Peten,
together with its variable topography, have produced a
number of soil types or zones. In the Selva Lacandona, an
intensive study has not been undertaken, but Calzada and
Valdivia (1979:151) mention the following types of soil:
"...los acusol humicos mas regosol eutrico, los acusol
humicos mSs rendzina y los acusol gleyco mSs luvisol
gleyco". According to the results of this study, the
first two types occur in the mountainous areas, and the
third is found primarily around the Usumacinta River
itself.
For the Guatemala side of the river, more precise
data are available from the reports of Simmons, Tarano and
Pinto (1959:572) and Bak (1977). The former provide the
first description of the soils of Guatemala. For the
Peten area they find that the area is characterized
primarily by "forest soils" based on three basic
conditions: 1) deep soils, well-drained,* 2) shallow soils,
well-drained; and 3) deep soils, poorly drained, and with
small pockets of "savanna soils". Sanders (1977) working
with this typology, added a fertility factor, as follows:
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Series Fertility Description
1. Deep, well drained:
Quinil moderate moder. friable clay

Sebol moderate friable clay loam
Sotz moderate friable clay
Shallow soils, well-drained
Cuxu high plastic clay

Chacalte high friable clay
Guapaca moderate friable clay
Ixbobo moderate m o d e r .friable clay
Jol ja high plastic clay
Sacluc high m o d e r .friable clay
Yaxa high m o d e r .friable clay
Deep soils, poorly drained
Usumacinta high m o d e r .friable clay
Knowledge of soil characteristics and potential, of
course, is of fundamental importance to the local farmer.
The first classifications reported for local inhabitants
of the Lacandon zone identify seven soils types (Baer and
Merrifield 1971; Nations and Nigh 1980), as follows:
sak white soils

k'an yellow soils
sa'm sandy soils
k'an clay
chak red soils
ek' black soils
k'ank'an yellow bitter soils
The first four are rejected in site selection for
agricultural fields by the Lacandon, and the last three
107
(red, black and yellow bitter) are preferentially selected
for the milpa. The Lacandon also use tree species as
indicators of soil conditions, preferring to cut milpas in
areas where Brosimum sp., Trophis mexicana and Ceiba sp.
abound. These indicate rich, well-drained soils. The
presence of Xate palm (Chamaedora sp.) indicates for the
Lacandon that the area has "cool" or moist, soft,
productive soils. Areas in which mahogany (Swetenia
macrophylla) and tropical cedar (Cedrela sp.) abound are
judged as too wet for optimal milpa production.
At the present time, parts of the study area are
occupied by Choi Maya colonizers. In 1993, structured
interviews were undertaken with a Choi elder of the
settlement of El Desempeno, Chiapas, Mexico to reach a
first approximation of the soil and landscape typologies
of this group. The informant distinguished six primary
soil types:
hi'lum sandy soil

o'kol muddy soil
ik'al lum black soil
chichik' lum red soil
ik'al chichik' lum reddish black soil
tzutzu 2u .71 high, dry and hard soils
The decision to clear a milpa area is also influenced by
the slope of an area, and the informant identified four
important categories:
108
ti h a ' river shore

hotil flat area
buhtchil hilly
witz mountainous, high areas
A third important criterion in judging soils, according to
the informant, is moisture content or retention, for which
he identified: wet lands, semi-wet lands, and dry lands.
On the whole, the best lands are those in which "any crop"
can be planted, and for the El Desempeno area these are
the lands which are at the river edge or on the flat areas
just beyond the river. Here the soils are damp, even in
the dry season when the top layer becomes dry and hard but
be^ -v the surface there is retention of moisture. These
are judged as "meaty" or fertile soils. Near the river
banks the soils are seen as "soft", including sandy soils,
muddy soils, and black soils, in order of preference.
Hilly areas are also sown. The high hills are
characterized by red soil, and the low hills by reddish
black soils. The slope allows for a certain natural
regulation of humidity especially for the cultivation of
beans, which do not respond well to a high degree of
humidity, according to the informant.
The most detailed mapping of soils in the study area
was undertaken by Bak in 1977 for a sample area on the
Guatemalan side of the Usumacinta River in response to the
need of the Camoapan Cooperative to evaluate agricultural
potential of their land base. The results of Bak parallel
109
the soil descriptions provided by the Choi informant, in
terms of the terrain, colour, and humidity content of the
soils in the area. However, no previous study has
undertaken the mapping and classification of soil types
and series for the hydrological basin, as presented in
this preliminary soil study.
From 1985 to 1988, the Instituto Nacional de
Investigaciones sobre Recursos Bidticos in Mexico carried
out a preliminary soil survey of the Montes Azules
Biosphere Reserve in the Lacandon Rainforest of Chiapas.
As part of this study, a series of profiles were described
in the Upper Usumacinta River Basin from the Bonampak
Anticline proper to the settlement of Corozal on the banks
of the Usumacinta River and from the road that links
Corozal with the town of Benemerito at the junction of the
Lacantun and Usumacinta rivers. This survey was
undertaken by Gerardo Garcia, Adolfo Campos, and the
present author. The data provided here regarding the
soils of the Mexican side of the Upper Usumacinta Basin
are based on this field study and unpublished reports.
Soils are not the only factor which determines
agricultural potential and yields, however. According to
Casco Montoya (1984), in a recent general study of the
Lacandon soils on a large scale, management systems,
biotechnology, skills and local or indigenous knowledge
110
combine with soils and water availability to determine the
fertility or potential of an area.
2. METHODOLOGY OF PRESENT STUDY
The data for this chapter were developed initially on
the basis of these previous studies. In addition,
photointerpretation was undertaken from aerial
photographs, scale 1:70,000 from 1974 (DETENAL) available
from INEGI for the Mexican side of the Usumacinta River
but with partial coverage of the Guatemalan side.
Additional detail emerged from the photointerpretation of
material from 1982, at a scale of 1:40,000 (Fotometria y
Servicio Profesionales 1982), also for the Mexican side of
the river but with coverage of the border area in
Guatemala. The extreme northeast of the southern area,
which is not visible in the photographic material
available, was rectified with analysis of satellite
imagery.
As mentioned, field data were gathered between 1985
to 1988 which allowed for comparability between the soil
data provided by Bak for the sample area of the Guatemala
side with the situation on the Mexican side of the river.
Cn the basis of this, a soil map was developed at a scale
of 1:50,000 which allowed for the distinction of small
pockets of soil types. This was then transferred to the
Ill
1:200,000 presentation which is analyzed here (see Hap No.
3) •
Two classification systems for soils are
conventionally used by soil scientists: the US Department
of Agriculture classification (Klingebiel and Montgomery
1961); and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the
United Nations classification system (FAO 1976). The
latter classification system was chosen for this study
because it is the one most commonly used in Mexico.
3. THE SOILS OF THE UPPER USUMACINTA RIVER BASIN
3.1 SOIL TYPES IN THE STUDY AREA
Soil formation and distribution are the product of
dynamic processes which play upon the geological
formations and parental materials within the topographical
or morphological context of the natural environment.
Climate, that is, temperature and precipitation,
conditions these processes of soil formation through
dissolution and leaching actions. The hydrological system
in a region also influences the movement and formation of
soils as well as their drainage characteristics. Finally,
vegetation produces organic material which enriches the
surface soil horizons, within the context of the
previously mentioned variables of the natural landscape
112
formation. These variables have been examined and mapped
in the previous sections of this thesis. Living organisms
other than vegetation also will form part of the cycle in
the breakdown of matter. The spatial context of soil
formation is the major focus, although temporality is also
an important factor. In geological terms, the soils of
this region are relatively young; and, it is generally
accepted that the present analogue of the biotic and
physical conditions in the study area does not depart
significantly from those of the archaeological past
(Fedick 1988:115; Wiseman 1978).
The variability of the natural conditions in a given
region will produce a complex mosaic of soil conditions,
which can be grouped for analytical purposes into types,
and the types into series, according to their intrinsic
properties.
Eleven soil types predominate in the study area, as
follows:
i. Rendzina: This soil type is characterized by a maximum
depth of 50 cm. In the A1 horizon, it is normally dark in
colour and rich in organic matter which is in different
stages of decomposition. The pH values tend to be basic.
This is a loamy (franco) soil. The structure is blocky
(grumosa fina) with a friable consistency and fine pores.
A C horizon of parent materials, in this case calcareous
113
rocks, appears around 50 cm, in depth. These soils are
found on surfaces with deep slopes of between 25% and 45%,
These are soils of initially high fertility, the
productivity of which diminishes rapidly after two or
three years of cultivation following which the plots
optimally are abandoned and fallowed for at least 15 years
ii. Lithosol: This soil type in the study area exhibits
an extremely shallow (not over 20 cm) horizon with an A/C
or A/R type of profile localized in the highest ground on
a hilly terrain. This soil is dark reddish-brown, clayey
loam, with a high presence of organic matter and a blocky
and subangular structure, friable, with a well defined
lower limit. The pH value is 6.3, or almost neutral. Here
this soil type is characterized by a slope of greater than
25%. The nutrient content of this thin soil is high.
iii. Gleyic fluvisol: These are deep soils, of greyish
brown colour with well-defined A4 horizons. The parental
material is found at the C horizon, at a depth of at least
175 cm. It is characterized by a pH value of 6.5,
approximately neutral. It has a fine texture in the
surface horizons; the structure is subangular, blocky and
friable. In the deep horizons, there is evidence of the
loss of permeabilty with a dense structure and with the
presence of oxidation mottles which indicate water
114
saturation during soi •» months of the year. At the lower
slopes of the terrain, closer to the river, the
gleysiation phenomenon is evident on the surface horizons.
The slope is 2-3%. These are very fertile soils, given
their high nutrient content.
iv. Chromic luvisol: These soils are located in flat
areas and depressions in the hummocky upland formations.
They are well-developed, deep soils of high fertility.
The pH values are not higher than 5.5. Reddish-brown in
colour, these soils are medium and fine texture. They are
not rich in organic matter. These are very interesting
and little understood soils in a region in which soil
development is incipient, as in the case of rendzinas, or
absent, as in the case of lithosols. Although these soils
are found in flat areas, they do not form a contiguous or
large surface area, but rather are located in pockets on
the hilly karstic landscape.
v. Calcic cambisol: Found on moderate slopes, these soils
are brownish, medium-grained, and moderately deep (100
cm). The parent materials are associated with calcareous
sandstones. It presents a pH of 7 or greater, with a high
calcium content. They are moderately fertile soils,
limited by the presence of calcium which blocks the
absorption of phosphorous.
vi. Gleyic cambisol: These soils occur in flat terrain in
the study area, presenting moderate to slow drainage.
They are deep soils, up to three meters in depth. The A,
B and R horizons are well-defined by colour, running from
reddish-brown to red. A distinct C horizon is absent.
The soil has a friable consistency with a moderately
developed structure. The surface horizon is high in
organic matter, but the organic content drops radically
with depth. The R horizon is at 250 cm or greater. These
are clayey soils with a structure which is blocky and
subangular. The clay content increases with depth. The
pH value is from 5.2 to 6.1. In the A and B horizons
there are abundant concretions of Fe and Mn. The number
of Fe and Mn concretions is important, as they represent
up to 25% of the soil, clearly marking the upper limit of
water saturation. The fertility of these soils is closely
related to the forest cover, which provides organic
material and microclimatic conditions which protect the
soil. However, agricultural productivity drops over a
period and misuse can lead to permanent infertility due to
compaction and increased structural density. This area
may be appropriate for tree crops, such as cacao, which
would maintain the equilibrium of the organic matter
content and texture of the soils.
116
vii. Gleyic luvisol: These soils present characteristics
very similar to those of gleyic cambisols.
viii. Humic gleysol: These soils present a profile with
three well-defined horizons: an upper A1 horizon from 0-10
cm in depth, black in colour, clayey, with a high content
of organic matter and a fine blocky subangular structure,
friable and weak; a B horizon from 10-40 cm in depth, dark
olive-grey colour, clayey, with concretions of Fe and Mn
of medium and fine-size, and a plastic and adherent
texture; and a B/C horizon from 40-125 cm in depth, olive
in colour, clayey, with a dense texture and abundant
concretions of Fe and Mn, and a plastic and adherent
texture. On the surface horizons, the organic matter
content is very high. The pH is 6.4 to 8, tending toward
acidity. The first horizon is very rich in nutrients, but
the deeper two profiles are very poor. The clays in these
soils are of the vermiculite type. The water saturation
causes the gley horizons of grey colour to form through
the chemical reduction of the Fe compounds. In the dry
season, there is a fluctuation in water saturation levels
as a result of which this zone presents signs of oxidation
and reduction, evidenced by mottling. These soils
require artificial drainage in order to prepare them for
agricultural use. They are difficult to work due to the
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high content of expandable clays and the reduction of the
soil porosity.
ix. Plintic luvisol: These soils are found on level areas
in the study area. They are finely textured with an
accumulation of clays in B horizon with a base saturation
of 35% with a pH not less than 5.5. They vary from reddish
brown to reddish in colour. The B horizon is
characterized by an accumulation of Fe oxides which form
concretions of great size, up to 5 cm in diameter. These
are fertile soils, the major limitation being the
thickness and depth of the Fe oxide accumulations in the B
horizon.
x. Ferrosol and Nitosol: These are red soils, well-
drained and deep. They have two manifestations in the
study area, distinguished by the presence of rock outcrops
which influence the depth, topography and location of
these soils. In areas with outcroppings, the rocky
surface covers up to 50% of the area. The topography
varies from flat to an undulating surface with up to 10%
slope. The pH value runs between 6.9 and 7.2. The colour
is dark brownish red, loamy clay, with a high content of
organic matter in the surface horizons. Although the
organic matter decreases with depth, the deep horizons
still are able to maintain up to 2% content of organic
118
matter. These soils are characterized by a weak granular
structure, friable. A and B horizons are well-defined;
the parental material is found at about 50 cm depth. The
Fe content is high (10%). These soils have good drainage.
The principal limitations of these soils are the rock
outcroppings, and low levels of fertility in the lower
h or i z o n s .
xi. Ferralic cambisol and ferralic luvisol: Predominantly
red in colour with three well-defined horizons, these
soils are found on flat terrain with a slight NW-SE slope.
They are deep, up to 12 0 cm, lacking a C horizon. The A1
surface horizon is silty clay with a high content of
organic matter and a finely granular structure, weak and
friable. The colour is dark brownish-red. The A3 horizon
is dark red, clayey with a low organic matter content, and
a structure which is blocky subangular, friable and with a
small number of concretions of Fe and Mn. The B horizon
is dark red, clayey and thick (85 cm in d e p t h ) . The pH is
6.7 to 6.9. In general terms, the thickness of these
soils is variable, from 80 to 300 cm. The content of
organic matter is a parameter for differentiating the
strata of the profile. There are no apparent obstacles for
the penetration of roots. The clay content reduces the
availability of water to the roots of the plants;
therefore, these soils cannot be sown until this
119
limitation is overcome with the establishment of the rainy
season. This limitation, and the tendency to compaction,
means that these soils require care in management for
agriculture. This soil type in the study area has good
drainage and there are no signs of hydromorphism, but this
apparent good drainage can lead to leaching. The reddish
colours are attributed to the presence of Fe compounds
(hematite). These are not highly fertile soils. As in
the case of other soil types in this area, the fertility
depends on the organic content, which is concentrated on
the surface and is closely related to the vegetational
cover.
3.2 SOIL SERIES IN THE STUDY AREA
Once the major soil types present in the study area
were identified and described, based upon field research,
photointerpretation and previous work in the area (Bak
1977), preliminary soil series for the study area were
developed following Bak's series for the Cooperativa
Camoatan. The development of series is undertaken in soil
studies on the basis of similarities in soil profile
characteristics. This allows for the identification of
soil groupings in areas large enough to appear on a map,
and small enough to be reliable. It is interesting to
note that the geomorphological conditions, parent
120
materials, climate and hydrological factors of the Upper
Usumacinta River Basin permit the proposal of soil series
with a great degree of confidence.
Eight series are proposed for the study area, as
follows:
I. Lacandon Series (Rendzina, Lithosol, and Chromic
luvisol). This series is characterized by shallow soils,
that is to say, with minimal soil development (rendzinas),
or with no soil development (lithosols). They occupy
areas of uneven topography on hills and hillsides with
marked slopes. The depressions between the hills are
characterized by Cromic luvisols.
II. Usumacinta Series (Gleyic fluvisol). This series is
characterized by soils found along the shores of the
Usumacinta River. They consist of deep alluvial soils
with drainage problems, gently sloped.
III. La Pasadita I (Humic gleysol, Gleyic luvisol, Plintic
luvisol, drained by streams). This series has very dense
and deep soils, characterized by poor drainage and the
presence of the phenomenon of gleysiation.
IV. La Pasadita II (Humic gleysol, Gleyic luvisol, Plintic
luvisol, in a closed karstic depression). This series is
121
the same as Pasadita I, occurring in depressions which are
not connected to any stream system.
V. Chequique I (Ferrosol and Nitosol, d e e p ) . This series
is characterized by deep, red soils with good drainage on
level ground
VI. Chequique II (Ferrosol and Nitosol, rocky). This
series is the same as Chequique I series, but with rocky
outcroppings covering more than 50% of the area. This
series is found in gently sloping to sloped areas.
VII. Yaxchilan (Gleyic luvisol, Gleyic cambisol) This
series is composed of deep red soils, with high clay
content, located on level ground with minor undulation.
It has deficient drainage and the presence of a soil
horizon of pseudo-gley.
VIII. Menche (Ferralic cambisol, Ferralic luvisol) This
series is characterized by deep red soils with a high clay
content, found on level ground with minor undulations. It
has good drainage.

2
The study area measures approximately 3,800 km . Of
this total area, the distribution of the soil series is as
follows:
122
LACANDON SERIES 1,423.6 km2 37.4%
USUMACINTA 23.9 km2 0.6%
LA PASADITA I 226.6 k m 2 5.9%
LA PASADITA II 201.9 km2 5.2%
CHEQUIQUE I 280.2 k m 2 7.3%
CHEQUIQUE II 429.9 km2 11.3%
YAXCHILAN 732.9 k m 2 19.2%
MENCHE 4 55.4 k m 2 11.9%
It is important to note that over 1/3 of the study
area is represented by the Lacandon Series which is
characterized by shallow but fertile and well drained
soils. These soils are reported by Brady (1974) as soils
with intrinsic high fertility, on which agricultural
yields are very high even in rainfed areas. Fedick
(1988:229) points out that this fact has been ignored or
misunderstood by specialists in tropical areas, and, in
fact, led to the thesis proposed by Meggers that the Maya
lowland environment was extremely limited in terms of
agricultural production and development. Fedick maintains
that the characteristics of these soils in the Maya zone
are, on the contrary, extremely favourable to agriculture.
It is interesting to note that Simmons, Tarano and Pinto
(1959) report that 46.3% of the Peten soils, are shallow
and well-drained soils, probably of this type. Their
123
study area included the Guatemalan portion of the Upper
Usumacinta River Basin.
The Usumacinta Series, which represents a scant
proportion of the soils in the study area, is composed of
soils which are naturally fertilized annually by the silts
from the river. As mentioned earlier, however, this river
has not developed an alluvial floodplain; and therefore
the explanation for the small representation of this
series is found in the unique structural characteristics
of the river in the study area.
4. AGRICULTURAL POTENTIAL OF SOILS AND THEIR DISTRIBUTION
IN STUDY AREA
In Mesoamerican archaeology, it has been generally
accepted that the tropical forest biome represents a
limiting environment for the emergence of state
organization, true urban centres and, thus, civilization
(Meggers 1954, Palerm and Wolf 1957; Sanders and Price
1968). Some scholars still adhere to the interpretation
of the Classic Maya as having had a political structure
identified as "high chiefdom" (Sanders and Price 1968).
Underlying this tenet is the assumption that the support
base of societies occupying the tropical lowlands of
Mesoamerica was swidden agriculture, an extensive system
of cultivation which tends to maintain a minimum of 4
124
years fallow period for each year of cultivation. In the
initial simplistic argument, this agricultural system
requires much land and, thus, leads to low population
densities (Wolf 1966). Tolstoy (1969) has argued that to
equate lack of "true" urban centres with lack of state
organization shifts the argument of the nature of Maya
tropical civilization to a methodological cul-de-sac. His
position has been virtually confirmed by increasing
evidence emerging from the Maya lowlands, supporting the
notion that the ancient Maya participated in a high order
of urban-level activities in their tropical cities, which
included dynastic consolidation, state alliances, and wars
of conquest and the implied tributary relationships
between diverse centres (Adams and Jones 1981). Not
surprisingly, therefore, the "swidden thesis" has recently
been seriously challenged by a new generation of
Mesoamerican scholars (see Harrison and Turner 1978).
From the renewed and now interdisciplinary focus on
lowland subsistence activities, has emerged the
recognition and description of so-called "intensive"
agricultural systems which are available to the
inhabitants of tropical America in general (Denevan 1970,
Parsons 1969), and for the Mesoamerican lowlands in
particular (Coe 1968; Puleston 1968; Puleston 1977; Turner
1974, Turner and Harrison 1978; Wiseman 1978). Relics of
agricultural terraces and raised fields have been
discovered and partially surveyed, revealing a new picture
of the reasons for the location of Maya sites (Adams
1980). This picture includes access to swamps or "bajo"
areas in which raised-field agriculture could have been
carried out; and access to hilly country in which
terracing could have been used as a means to intensify
agricultural production. As seen in a previous section
and following from Lunde.ll (1937) and Puleston's work
(1968) on the breadnut or ramon tree as a staple crop for
the ancient Maya, it has been proposed that, in addition
to agricultural activities, the Maya carried out
productive and ingenious manipulation of tropical
rainforest tree species, in what is now called
"agroforestry" (Wiseman 1978:88). Gomez-Pompa's proposal
of the protected areas within the forest for tree
management, called pet k'ot, follows this line of
reasoning (Gomez Pompa 1987). The importance of cacao in
the Maya culture and its microclimatic and natural
environmental requirements, provide further evidence of
tree and forest management. The artificial rainforest
which would result from this management could have
provided the Maya with a significant portion of their
wealth as well as their diet (Millon 1955).
The essence of the swidden, terracing, raised fields,
agroforestry, and acahual systems in the human management
of tropical forests such as the study area is the
126
manipulation of the natural environment, including
topographical, biological and hydrological givens, to
improve the conditions for cultigens. Part of this
manipulation is the management of water, moisture, slope,
shade, temperature and biomass production which
intrinsically affect soil development and maintenance.
Therefore, in order to reconstruct past agricultural
activities and potentials or to project such productivity
into the future, the scientist requires basic knowledge of
the natural environment in combination with the
technological package and knowledge systems available to
the local inhabitants in their exploitation and
modification of the natural landscape. Thus the natural
environment of flora, fauna, and landforms is transformed
into the cultural landscape of agricultural potential and
resources.
In the study area, the scientific knowledge now
available regarding the agricultural techniques and
cultigens of the ancient Maya permits the generation of a
model of the cultural landscape based upon the soils,
topography and other natural conditions discussed above.
It is now known that hilly areas with erosion potential
were managed in some parts of the Maya zone through
terracing; just as excess humidity and water was managed
through the construction of raised field and drainage
systems. On the basis of this information, the
127
agricultural potential of these natural systems as
recognized by the Maya can be proposed.
The most important recent interpretive study of soils
in the Maya area and their relationship with agricultural
and other productive activities is that of Fedick (1988).
Working in the River area of Belize, Fedick proposes a
soil capability classification based on Klingebiel and
Montgomery (1961), from which he develops a comparative
model of land potential for three areas of the Maya zone.
In the following section, the methodology of Fedick is
used in the organization and analysis of the soils
material for the Upper Usumacinta Basin in order to
propose parameters for the study area which are comparable
to the Belize and Peten areas.
Following Fedick (1988) and Klingebiel and Montgomery
(1961), the soil types for the study area were ranked
according to "capability classes" along the parameters of
"limiting factors": effective root zone (depth), erosion
risk (slope), workability, drainage and fertility. From
this analytical ranking system derives a score which
renders comparable soils of different areas depending upon
water, slope, texture and depth characteristics.
Therefore, a naturally fertile soil with erosion problems
may fall into the same rank as a less fertile soil with
good drainage. In addition, the Capability Classes are
not simply based upon the agricultural productivity
128
potential of the soils, but include an observation
regarding which type of soil management may be applied to
the soil type to increase its agricultural capability or
to eliminate the negative effects of a single property,
such as excess water. As such, therefore, the
Classification I indicates optimum conditions, with no or
few limiting factors, and indicates a soil appropriate for
all crops with no special management required;
Classification II will require "moderate conservation
practices" in order to ameliorate the negative factors;
Classification III will be useful for a more limited range
of plants and requires management practices;
Classification IV presents "very severe limitations" in
terms of cultigens and "careful management"; whereas
Classification V soils are unsuitable for agriculture
unless subject to "major reclamation or conservation
practices". The latter would include the agricultural
techniques and methods used by the Maya and mentioned
above. The results of this ranking are presented in Table
1 .
An important aspect of the upland soils called
Rendzinas is the presence of pockets of soils located in
the bottomlands of the hummocky karstic landscape
represented in the Lacandon Series. These pockets are
characterized by Chromic luvisols. As indicated by the
rank orders of soils and their Capability Classification,
129
these soils represent the best natural agricultural medium
in the study area.
At the top of the hummocks, the Lithosols are found
which, as indicated by the Capability Classification, are
limited by their minimal depth, and therefore score 12,
falling within CC III. Two soil types in the study area
are severely limited by their water and drainage
characteristics: Humic gleysols and Plintic luvisols.
These soils score 17 and 18, respectively, falling into CC
V, indicating their incapacity to support crops without
major engineering projects for their reclamation. Areas
in which these soils are found would be prime areas to
expect evidence of raised field agriculture or lattices of
drainage canals and ditches.
All other seven soil types which are found in the
study area score 8-10 placing them in CC II: that is, with
possible moderate problems of depth, erosion, humidity or
workability and the need for some conservation
considerations.
Following this method, the soils series found in the
study area were also ranked, according to the score of the
most prevalent soil type represented in the series. This
analysis produced the following results:
130
SCORE CC
LACANDON SERIES (RENDZINA) 10 II
USUMACINTA SERIES (GLEYIC FLUVISOL) 8 II
LA PASADITA SERIES (HUMIC GLEYSOL) 17 V
CHEQUIQUE I (FERROSOL) 10 II
CHEQUIQUE II (FERROSOL) 10 II
YAXCHILAN (GLEYIC LUVISOL) 8 II
MENCHE (FERRALIC CAMBISOL) 9 II
As expected, most of the soil series follow the
results of the soil types, in that their Capability
Classification is II, which indicates that, while they are
not the optimum soil, they are very good soils which may
suffer minor limitations. Only the La Pasadita Series are
severely limited soils, in this case by water, requiring
major modification in order to be appropriate for
cultivation.
5. SOILS, AGRICULTURE AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES
Soils become manifest on the landscape primarily in
terms of their association with topography and vegetation.
In the tropical forests where vegetation is exuberant, the
properties of the soils described in the preceding
paragraphs will be immediately reflected in the natural
131
vegetation and possibilities for human use and management.
For the Belize and Peten areas, Fedick (1988) proposes a
grouping of natural environments which are generated by
combining Capability Classifications, and which "results
in the creation of more general land resource categories
that can be applied to the less detailed land resource
data available from other areas of the Central Maya
lowlands" (Fedick 1988:226). Fedick applies this analysis
to three regions of the Maya lowlands which were important
in Classic times: Northern Belize, the Belize River Area,
and the Tikal Core Area. The broad units of landscape
proposed by Fedick are 1) Well-drained Uplands; 2) Slow-
drained Lowlands; 3) Riverine Associated Swamps; and 4)
Closed Depression Swamps. These categories take into
consideration the karstic conditions which characterize
the southern Maya lowlands. They can also be considered
as the basic units of description of the agrarian
landscape which typifies this region.
According to Fedick's analysis, the proportions of
the four land resource types differs greatly among his
three regions, as can be seen in the following table:
Landscape Units: 1 2 3 4
Northern Belize 15% 74% 8% 3%
Belize River Area 39% 56% 0% 3%
Tikal Core Area 49% 25% 0% 26%
132
The high proportion of type 2 landscape (Slow-drained
lowlands) in the first two areas is related to the
riverine environment, whereas Tikal is associated with an
endorreic basin with internal drainage, which explains why
26% of the region is characterized by a type 4 landscape
(Closed Depression Swamps). The width of the river valley
is reflected in type 3 (Riverine Associated Swamps) which
are present in the wide river association of Northern
Belize, but absent in the restricted river valley of the
Upper Belize River. Evidently, therefore, the
agricultural crops and activities, and related management
practices and engineering projects used by the Maya in
ancient times could be expected to differ among the three
regions.
Fedick investigates the relationship between the
location of human settlement through time and these
different agrarian landscape types. He focusses in
particular on the relationship between riverine and swampy
areas and major archaeological settlements, concluding
that the ancient Maya were much more inclined to establish
their settlements on hilly, well-drained areas than in
riverine or swamp areas. However, a relationship between
the sites and proximity to these water sources and poorly
drained soils is established. That is, the sites were
established on well-drained uplands but tend to be near
133
the edge of less well-drained areas, rivers or lakes.
This was observed by Adams (1980) and more recently
confirmed for the Central Maya lowlands by Pope and Dahlin
(1989). In the case of Northern Belize, the sites are
located approximately 1 km inland from the river banks,
apparently due to the risk of flooding along the alluvial
plains. In the case of the Tikal Core Area, the sites are
correlated with the edges of the swamps.
In the Upper Usumacinta River Basin, the distribution
of the four general landscape categories as proposed by
Fedick is as follows:
Landscape Units: 1 2 3 4
Upper Usumacinta 69% 19% 6% 6%
This profile differs yet again from the three examined by
Fedick, presenting the interesting notion that each of
these areas in which Classic Maya Civilization flourished
was characterized by quite distinct agrarian landscapes
within the range of tropical karstic environments. In the
case of the study area, it is important to note, again,
that the high proportion of Well-Drained Uplands indicates
an environment favourable to agricultural activities which
require fewer modifications than that represented in the
other three cases. However, the agrarian landscape is
really a mosaic of various localized natural conditions,
134
related to slope, parent materials, climate and
microclimate, vegetation, drainage, etc. Of course, the
interpretation of these differences is relative to the
biotechnological and labour requirements and availability
as reflected in sociopolitical complexity of each area
through time. That is, these judgements are made within
the context of our present knowledge of Maya agricultural
practices. In the study area, the predominance of hilly
terrain would lead the archaeologist to expect management
techniques related to control of slope, usually terracing
techniques, as pointed out by Turner (1978:179) in
relation to intensive agricultural techniques. The only
evidence of terracing in the study area has been reported
for Santo Domingo, where ancient terraces were recently
recultivated by present inhabitants who found great
improvements in the agricultural productivity (Lobato 1981
and personal communication).
The sites of Piedras Negras and Yaxchilan (Figure No.
9) are the most important in terms of ceremonial
architecture and documented dynastic history in the study
area. El Chorro is a minor ceremonial centre, of which
little is known. La Pasadita and El Cayo are also
important Maya sites in the study area. As would be
expected from previous studies and as discussed above,
these sites are all related to waterways or poorly drained
areas. Both Yaxchilan and Piedras Negras are located on
135
the banks of the Usumacinta River. In the virtual absence
of an alluvial floodplain, they were constructed along the
edge of the anticline through which the river has cut its
course. El Cayo is also located on the banks of this
river, on a minor karstic depression cut by the river. La
Pasadita, on the other hand, is situated on the edges of a
poorly drained area, as is El Chorro.
In the case of the study area, location near water
and poorly drained areas may imply different forces at
play. That is, poorly drained areas may be seen in terms
of their strengths and weaknesses for cultivation. The
Usumacinta River, lacking a floodplain, does not represent
agricultural potential, in contrast to the case of Seibal
and other Rio de la Pasion sites located to the east of
the study area. It is therefore important to examine the
soils found in the vicinity of the sites of Yaxchilan and
Piedras Negras in terms of their agricultural capability.
Although this will be discussed in more detail in the
following chapter, it can be seen on the preliminary soil
map provided here that the soils in the vicinity of these
two sites are rather typical of the region as a whole:
well-drained upland forest soils. Neither site is located
near an exceptional soil type in terms of agricultural
productivity. Indeed, the only soils of the floodplain
type (Usumacinta Series) are located immediately across
the river from Yaxchilan, but the total area of this soil
136
type is less than 550 ha. To suggest that the city of
Yaxchilan was situated solely due to its proximity to this
small area would be tenuous at best. Therefore, the
location of Piedras Negras and Yaxchilan correlates highly
with the river, and does not correlate highly with
proximity to any significant availability of a particular
soil type or series in the study area.
The sites of La Pasadita and Anaite II are clearly
located on the edges of swampy or poorly drained areas, in
the former case, in association with La Pasadita Lake, and
in the latter with Santa Clara Lake. This provides that,
for Santa Clara, the'site is situated on well drained
uplands but in immediate proximity to soils of the
Yaxchilan series, characterized by deep but poorly drained
soils. In the case of La Pasadita, while the site was
established on well-drained uplands of the Menche Series,
characterized by red, deep, well-drained soils, nearby is
a 13 km2 area of La Pasadita II Series characterized by
swamp and waterlogged soils. Both of these important
sites have access to wetlands and to clear water sources,
perhaps an important source of potable water. The
possibility that the inhabitants of these sites managed
the wetlands to improve agricultural potential has not
been investigated. Siemens and Puleston (1972) report
finding through aerial photograph analysis vestiges of
137
raised fields at the edge of Santa Clara but field
examination did not confirm this finding.
El Chorro is situated at the eastern extreme of the
study area, in the widening structural plain through which
flows the Rio de la Pasidn, outside of the study area. It
was constructed, in effect, at the natural border between
the Upper Usumacinta River Basin proper and the La Pasion
River flood plain, on the El Chorro River which flows into
the Usumacinta River. El Chorro is located in the well-
drained uplands which control the riverine-associated
drained wetlands (swamps) and slowly drained lowlands.
Unlike the rest of the study area, more than half of the
area surrounding El Chorro is wetlands.
The correlation of natural environmental features and
human settlement location involves many complex factors.
As illustrated in this chapter, soil types and series in
the understanding of the natural landscape must be
interpreted in the context of the local culture and its
motivations, technology and sociopolitical complexity.
This effectively results in the generation of another,
culturally relevant landscape with human-managed soils.
One of the greatest surprises in the study of tropical
soils has been the discovery of the presence of wide areas
of human managed soils, recently typified as "anthrosols"
(Roosevelt 1990 and Smith 1980 in Amazonia; Graham 1993
for the Maya a r e a ) . In this chapter, the combination of
138
raw soil data, their classification and mapping, with
information regarding the subsistence activities and
technologies of the Maya, aid in understanding the
environmental potential and agricultural "resources"
represented in the area. It has been illustrated here
that the Upper Usumacinta River Basin is different from
the Tikal Core and the Northern Belize and Belize River
areas. It is clear that the peculiarities of the
Usumacinta River as part of the natural landscape
influence the settlement decisions of local inhabitants in
different ways than in the case of other river valleys of
the study area, both in the past and the present.
139
TABLE NO. 1 SOIL TYPES AND CAPABILITY CLASSIFICATIONS FOR THE STUDY AREA
SOIL CLASSIFICATION MATRIX
CC* A B C D E TTL
I Chromic Luvisol 1 1 1 1 1 5
II Gleyic Fluvisol 1 1 3 2 1 8
II Gleyic Cambisol 1 1 3 2 1 8
II Gleyic Luvisol 1 1 3 2 1 a
II Calcic Cambisol 2 2 1 2 2 9
II Ferralic Cambisol 1 2 3 1 2 9
II Rendzinas 3 4 1 1 3 10
II Ferrosol and Nitosol 3 2 1 1 3 10
III Lithosol 4 4 2 1 1 12
V Humic Gleysol 4 1 4 4 4 17
V Plintic Luvisol 4 1 4 4 4 17
•Capability Classes
A. Root zone B. Erosion

1. > 75 cm 1 . < 5%
2. 50-75 cm 2. 5- 15%
3. 25-49 cm 3. 16-25%
4. < 25cm 4. > 25%
C. Workability D. Drainage
1. Loam-Clay Loam 1. Well-drained
2. Stony Clay Loam 2. Moderately well-drained
3. Clay Loam, Clay, Silty Clay 3. Imperfectly to Poorly
Drained
4. Heavy Clay 4. Poorly to Very Poorly
Drained
E. Fertility
1. High Fertility
2. Moderate Fertility
3. Low Fertility
4. Infertile
Ch
Ch Ch
140
ip
Ch
Ch
Ch
LP
Ch
MAP NO. 3 THE SOILS OF UPPER USUMACINTA RIVER

BASIN
L. LACANDON SERIES; U. USUMACINTA SERIES;
C. CHEQUIQUE I SERIES; Ch. CHEQUIQUE II
SERIES; LP. LA PASADITA I SERIES; P. LA
PASADITA II SERIES; M. MENCHE SERIES;
Y. YAXCHILAN SERIES
141
CHAPTER FIVE: THE POLITICAL LANDSCAPE
1. INTRODUCTION
In this chapter, the information provided in the
previous section is combined with archaeological findings
in the study area, in the context of political spaces. In
focussing on site distribution in the Upper Usumacinta
River region, this analysis falls quite clearly into
settlement pattern studies in archaeology. However, in
the definition of political spaces for the Classic Maya of
this area, a cultural landscape is proposed as emerging
from the natural environment but based upon concepts of
territory, boundary and polity, which are spatial terms of
relationship which transcend settlement studies and may
perhaps best be seen in terms of Clark's spatial
archaeology (Clark 1977:9), or landscape archaeology
(Ashton and Rowlye 1974; Hodges 1987). It is proposed
here that the landscape of polities, witnessed by
locational group definition and maintenance, was a
fundamental part of the cultural landscape of the Maya,
and is reflected in the iconography of emblem glyphs and
texts confirming political contacts between sites in the
area (Mathews 1988).
142
The first part of this chapter presents a summary of
key ideas concerning settlement and political
organization- According to the literature reviewed, there
will often be an interplay between the definition of a
political /administrative/ ceremonial centre and the
establishment of outlying territorial boundaries of the
polity. These political and social factors will be
related to two aspects of the physical landscape: resource
areas and natural communication channels. The corollary
is that settlement pattern will also be influenced by
areas void of economic interest to the culture and natural
barriers to communication, such as mountain ranges. These
factors are tested in the study area. That is, it is
hypothesized that the natural landscape features which
define the study area also defined the area as a cultural
space in the past. It is further hypothesized that the
Usumacinta River dominates both in terms of the natural
landscape and in terms of the cultural landscape of the
Classic Maya. The second part of this chapter presents
the data from the study area which is then used to test
these ideas and to present an approximation to the
political landscape of the Classic Maya in this area.
143
2. THEORETICAL DISCUSSION: POLITY, TERRITORY AND BOUNDARY
Political geography has been defined as "areal
dimensions and patterns" of political phenomena, which can
be gleaned by the study of "location, distance, space,
distribution, configuration" of sites and actions on the
landscape (Sprout 1968:116). Renfrew (1977:89) adds
processual and social organizational factors to these
elements, stressing the "operational features" of a
society which reflect level of sociopolitical complexity
and which can be detected in "spatial patterning". In his
seminal article on political units and social groups,
Renfrew proposes that the heterogeneity of groups which
develops with an increase in social complexity can be
observed in "the spatial arrangement of society" (Renfrew
1977:99). Central places, therefore, reflect not only the
existence of related non-central places, that is, as parts
of a hierarchy of sites, but also the consolidation of
groups, administration of resources, and a region or
territory. According to Renfrew (1977:100): "it is
difficult to point to permanent central places with a
permanent population which do not, in fact, exercise a
central administrative authority over the territory which
they ser v e " .
The effective polity, the highest order social unit,
may be identified by the scale and distribution of
central places. In the stratified ordering of
cellular territories, the individual person has
allegiance at a number of levels - the basic group
(the community), to the local region focussed on its
main town, and to the higher order realm comprised
of several regions, focussed upon its capital. He
is a member of each, but he is a citizen of the
highest order polity. For it is the central
organization of this polity, usually its central
person, who wields supreme power. (Renfrew 1977:105)
In an attempt to test some of these ideas further,
Renfrew and Level (1979) developed a model of •'dominance"
in which a "territorial area" is generated for each centre
depending on its size and "sphere of influence" calculated
by distance. Unfortunately, the model does not explore
the nature or social definition of the "territory",
instead taking the "territorial jurisdiction" of polities
as a given. Cherry and Renfrew (1936:157) later take this
aspect of "territory" as the primary definitional
parameter of polity, which, for them, is "a spatially
well-defined entity". The power exercised by a state as a
"territorial unit" is not uniform, however, according to
Cherry (1987:152). Distance from the centre, defined in
terms of facility of movement (which generates what Cherry
calls "time geography"), will determine a "control span"
which, in turn, determines the state's policies directed
toward control. Outlying areas, according to this
proposal, are best maintained "in a continual condition of
ecological instability and political dependence" (Cherry
1987:160). Cherry proposes that the state will develop
145
strategies to ameliorate the distance/control span
problem, which may run from developing "well-engineered
and carefully maintained road systems" (Cherry 1987:166);
to ensuring "loyalty to the centre among local elites or
government officials located in provinces" through such
actions as spying, the boarding of noble children from the
outlying areas in the centre, and "royal or dynastic
intermarriages linking political centres of primary and
secondary importance"; to alternatively developing an
"iconography of power" in which the key symbols emanate
from the centre (Cherry 1987:166,168).
An important aspect of the polity concept is the idea
of territory. The arguments of Cherry and Renfrew apply
to a main central settlement and the social and political
groups and institutions housed within it. This is based
upon Renfrew's proposal that settlement systems are
"cellular" and hierarchical, implicit in which is the idea
that the social parameters characteristic of one rank of
settlement are not necessarily the same as those of
another. Singh (1975:71) identifies in India a "three-
tier settlement pattern" in which only the high ranked
village or "goan" is a "territorial as well as settlement
unit" underwritten by a "corporate political group".
These ideas contrast with a frequent use of the term
territorial to refer to an "area habitually exploited"
(Stone 1991), "resource area" (Casimir 1992), or a "site
146
exploitation" zone (Hammond 1975). This use of the term
is applied without reference to the consolidation of a
feeling of space or power over space by means of a social
group? that is, without the parameter of the cultural or
political determination of a space as a territory.
For Hammond, the site exploitation area is dependent
upon economic activities of the human inhabitants, is
intrinsically related to and defined in terms of distance
from the habitational area, and is irregularly shaped in
response to "factors including soils, relief, drainage,
access, aspect, the presence of adjoining territories, and
even by the form of the settlement area" (Hammond
1975:93). Ford (1986) stresses that for the Classic Maya
the decision for the establishment of a settlement was
based upon availability of resources as the primordial
determinant, proposing the following steps in the process
of settlement and growth: 1) the finding of good land for
agriculture and establish a settlement, 2) population and
population density increase, 3) administration needed to
handle the scale of the settlement, 4) complex central
sites emerge. Two theoretical currents develop from this
approach, however. The first relates to whether all
settlements are established in relation to the
availability of natural resources in their immediate
vicinity; and the second, to the nature of the
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission
147
relationship between settlements, land, boundaries of
land, and territory.
As mentioned in an earlier section of this
dissertation, Eidt (1984:2) establishes that there is a
complex relationship between what he terms "human
geofactors" and "physical geofactors", emphasizing that
the archaeologists strive for a complete knowledge of both
and their interdependence in order to understand
settlement patterns. One of the principles developed by
Eidt for understanding settlement pattern is that: "the
less complicated the economic geofactors, the simpler the
settlement, and the closer the link between settlement and
natural landscape features" (Eidt 1984:3). Complexity
emerges from "settlement development" through time, and
concomitantly the factors influencing settlement become
more varied. Hammond (1975) found this true for the Maya
zone of Belize, where he contrasts "tactical" and
"strategic" influences on settlement location. The first
refer to those "local and environmental factors" which
influence the decision to establish a first settlement in
a zone. The strategic factors are linked to relationships
between settlements, often "extralocal", and will enter
into the establishment and definition of centres: that
is, in some cases tactical factors will predominate,
whereas in others the "strategic location dominates
tactical siting" (Hammond 1974:317). In his analysis of
148
Lubaantun, Hammond demonstrates that the location was
determined both in consideration of the location of
natural resources as well as in the location of
communication routes. Lubaantun, for Hammond, is
optimally located in terms of a balance between tactical
and strategic considerations (Hammond 1975:115). It is
interesting to note here the fact that, according to
Hammond, Lubaantun cannot be ranked as an overarching
ceremonial centre in the lowland Maya zone; and it may be
expected that, on the continuum of locational decisions,
such major centres would be located in terms of strategic
variables and not local resource availability. This idea
is developed by Lowe (1985:156) who proposes for the
Classic Maya that while "regional clustering" in the area
was associated with access to resources and "environmental
heterogeneity", the ceremonial sites were not always
located in association with "desirable soil types".
According to Lowe (1985:156), such sites tend to be
located on "soil boundaries - a fact that is consistent
with the concept of the ceremonial center as a
redistributive focus for a diversified subsistence
system".
Control of natural resources or "resource areas"
(Ellen 1982, Rice 1976) is referred to as "appropriation"
or "tenure" and varies in accordance with the rules of
access and restriction of each social group and society.
149
In general, however, tenure is a way in which "persons
exert claims over resources dispersed in space" (Ingold
1987:133). Slash and burn agriculture, which is
characterize ' by a temporary appropriation of a small
forested parcel for cultivation, is often associated with
extensive agricultural techniques and group-level land
tenure; whereas in contrast, intensive systems are more
frequently associated with permanent and individual tenure
of resources (Netting 1987, Brown, Brookfield and Grau
1990). This is seen in terms of "dimensional fields in
the appropriation of space" by Schlee (1992) who proposes
that the form of appropriation will vary from society to
society depending on the definition and use of "resources"
(Schlee 1992:124). According to Schlee, a one dimensional
extension implies a linear conception in which the "realm"
is defined by the center of power, rather than by
boundaries. Agricultural societies should be
characterized by two dimensional fields in which surface
areas are bounded. The combination of such surface areas,
their relationship to places and path networks, and the
social groups and institutions which define the rules of
appropriation, is referred to by Ingold (1987: 157) as
"land".
In understanding the organization and development of
settlements, "land" in this sense will not necessarily
underlie the logic of settlement formation in all cases.
According to the arguments presented above, there are at
least two contrastive types of settlements: those which
are closely related to a resource base, and those which
act as centres without necessarily a close immediate
geographical tie to a single resource base. In the case
of the former, the resource base is often related to
agricultural potential (usually referred to as land) and
related to appropriation through tenure. The strategic
strength of the latter is related to such factors as inter
and intra-regional ties and dominance over a political
space or "realm" (Hammond 1975). This brings into play
the concept of "territory" in the consolidation of a
culturally defined space projected onto the natural
landscape. At least two possibilities exist for the
consolidation of this political space. First, that the
centre dominates other smaller centres, each of which has
a land base. This has been referred to by Ingold (1987)
as the case in which the sites have land, and the
territory which is controlled comprises sites with
boundaries of tenure. The second possibility is that the
major centre dominates over a bounded region in which
sites are located; that is, the land has sites and the
territory has a boundary. These two perspectives or
scenarios may in fact represent conflicting political
strategies at play in the process of formation and
consolidation of a polity. Two definitional factors enter
151
into this dichotomy. First, the role, definition,
location, and profile of the overarching centre of the
region must be defined. Second, the "dimensionality" of
the region must be analyzed in terms of linear connections
between surfaces as opposed to two dimensional bounded
spaces defined by perimeters.
For Lowe (1985) the political entities in Mesoamerica
were "city states":
...the Classic Maya formed basically the same kind

of political entity as ancient Mesopotamia and
Classical Greece - that of a system of states,
fragmented politically but unified by common
cosmology, religion, system of writing, elite
culture, and congruent organizing principles. By
implication, therefore, a network model, or
alternatively, one dealing with populations of
ceremonial centers, appears to be the best
representation of Maya society. (Lowe 1985:180)
Lowe further proposes that there were opposing forces at
work which influenced the location of sites on the natural
landscape. Here, Lowe seems to present a proposal which
combines elements of the tactical-strategic proposal of
Hammond with the centre-boundary dialectic mentioned
above:
Analysis of nearest-neighbor distance suggests that

deviations from randomness tended to occur mainly
through a net repulsion between ceremonial centres
(presumably created by sites in their competition
for nonoverlapping sustaining ar e a s ) , but also that
a net attraction operated, so that, particularly in
the core region, efficiency in packing resulted; as
a consequence, no sustaining area was very large,
and cooperative interchange as well as competition
between sites was induced. (Lowe 1985:157)
152
In summary, the sites and their land were dispersed, at
the same time as they were centralized through dependence
on the centre. With regard to the role of a central
settlement in the definition of a political unit, Shils
(1973) proposes that a territory can only be defined by a
centre; and further than the emergence of such a centre
represents the demise of the lineage as the primary
integrating motive. Shils associates this change in
sociopolitical complexity to the emergence of the state
which is defined by the territory, in agreement with the
notions of Cherry and Renfrew (1987) described above.
Further, Shils stresses the importance of the name of the
territory, which is often taken from the name of the
centre, and which is particularly significant when it is
then used to refer to the members of that society. This
focus on the centre as a defining feature is seen in the
"island" proposal of Sabloff (1986) for the Maya zone.
According to this author:
... a number of more or less equal, semi-autonomous

centers arose. In other words, the relatively
homogeneous environment allowed the major centers,
along with their hinterlands, to act like islands
with.regular trails connecting them, just as regular
sea-lanes linked the Aegean islands. Like islands,
the centers and their hinterlands vary greatly in
s i z e . ..
This proposition is contradictory to the emphasis on
environmental heterogeneity, variety of subsistence
activities, diversity of intensive methods of agriculture,
and inherent interregional dependence proposed by Lowe
(1985) for the Classic Maya. In accordance with the
Sabloff proposal, the ties of interaction would be
expected to be linear or one-dimensional (Schlee 1992),
linking centres; that is, in a type of interaction
mediated by the centre. The territory over which the
centre dominated would be defined by links into the
centre, and therefore could be expected to be
characterized by linked sites each with its own resources
and tenured surfaces. Here also it would follow that
distance from the centre would be negatively correlated
with strength of political association, dissolving into
relative lack of domination after a certain distance. The
boundaries would thus be defined by default, not by
specific delineation. This approximates the "realm" of
Hammond for Lubaantun in the lowland Maya area, which he
defines as a region of control around a single ceremonial
centre and "presumably the main focus of administrative
and religious activities" (Hammond 1975).
The politically or socially defined space which is
characterized by definition of perimeter boundaries is
that which is more commonly referred to as a "territory"
(Casimir 1992, Ingold 1987, Singh 1975, scheflen 1976,
Schlee 1992). Here it is behaviour which marks the
boundary of a sociospatial unit, according to Scheflen
(1976), and which features: 1) specific boundary behaviour
154
2) defense of types of interaction at the edge and
treatment of outsiders, and 3) special places within the
territory which differentiate the space. De Atley (1984)
stresses the "interactive processes" which define the
boundaries of a "cultural unit": "boundary processes
depend on the integrative and organizational aspect of the
central group" (de Atley 198~4:3). This approach is
followed by Green and Perlman (1985:4)) who define
boundary according to the "interactions that occur at
these societal edges". Boundaries of a system are most
easily detected when they are threatened. Wolf (1964) and
Barth (1967) point out the importance of understanding
boundary maintenance strategies, the defense of the system
against outsiders, to understand who and what comprise the
social system, and if there is a geographical correlate.
Boundaries for Stone (1964:818) are based upon
distinctions which are meaningful to a population, and
which influence in the "governing of social behavior".
Thus the expression of politically bounded units will
reflect elements meaningful to at least a powerful subset
of the population.
In s r ary, a territorial boundary will both mark the
space within which a political system is dominant and the
division point between those who belong and those who do
not. The definition of a physical territorial boundary
represents the geographical control of interaction, and
155
Hodder (1985) proposes that the very existence of such a
border represents the desire to regulate interaction.
However, the boundary also testifies to the existence of
interaction, thus does not imply a closed social system.
The boundary is therefore defined as "a zone of low
interaction not a zone of NO interaction*' (Justeson and
Hampson 1985). The boundary serves to mediate the
exchange of "matter, energy and information" (Justeson and
Hampson 1985). Furthermore, Kristoff (1969) proposes that
the very existence of boundaries rests on the fact that
two systems coexist side by sidii with different "goals and
ideology".
An important aspect of the boundaries between systems
as defined by interaction is that the interaction that
defines them is not uniform in time and space, thus the
boundary itself is not uniform (Justeson and Hampson
1985). Ratzel (1969:22-24) pointed this fact out early in
the century, noting that political boundaries are most
frequently established by "spots" on the landscape (not
dotted lines on a map!), usually in the form of
settlements which are built at places which have "value";
that is, with a culturally-defined advantage. The
settlement decision is based upon parameters which could
include special agricultural potential, access to other
raw material, or proximity to another natural/cultural
phenomenon, perhaps a land or water route. It is to be
156
expected that interaction and the resulting boundaries of
the territories will correspond to factors of the physical
environment, such as will impede or facilitate movement of
goods, individuals, or information. In addition the
nature of, and means of, mediating the interaction will
respond to such conditions and will reveal information
about the exact nature of the territorial boundary.
Trinkaus (1987:240) emphasizes the need to understand the
types of interaction and, in addition, "interpretation of
present day spatial patterns requires information on the
forms of organization which support them..." in order to
determine those types of interaction which are "bounded by
central institutions or decision-makers". Here, Trinkaus
makes indirect reference to the complexity of the
sociopolitical structure and its influence on interaction
processes and the definition of a political unit (Trinkaus
1984). It is to be expected that this would be reflected
in the physical location of sites on the landscape, their
ranking, and their role in the interaction process.
Differential contacts and interaction will be closely
related to routes of communication, the "time geography"
proposed by Cherry (1987), along which physical movement
is facilitated precipitating theoretical "spikes" along
the border (Justeson and Hampson 1985). In his analysis
of river settlement, Flannery (1976) proposes that towns
were founded as ports or as crossing points, thus
157
reinfurcing the notion that the river as a communications
channel was influencing locational decisions. Although
not located on a river, the site of Lubaantun was situated
in the centre of a "complex network of communications,
integrating complementary resources from a range of
environmental zones" (Hammond 1975). Unfortunately,
little analytical material is available on sea and river
communications in early times (Ashton 1985:163); however,
rivers as routes of transportation imply "the
communication of information and may represent a transfer
of people, goods or services...a transaction" (Soja
1969:232). According to Soja (1969), the direction,
intensity and persistence of these flows are directly
related to territorial integration and boundary
definition. It is important to note here, however, the
question of balance in such transactions between units,
particularly in the case of river transport where
downstream and upstream movements are qualitatively and
quantitatively different.
3. SITES AND POLITIES IN THE STUDY AREA
The studies surveyed in the previous section have
pointed out the importance of understanding not only the
relationship among sites of different types, and among
sites of a similar rank; but also the relationship between
158
sites and physical features of the natural environment
which include resource areas and passages or barriers to
communication. These factors will be expected to come
into play in the definition of political entities.
The first step in understanding the political
organization of the Classic Maya area has been the
arrangement of the sites into a ranked hierarchy. In the
absence of population data, attempts are made to order
sites in terms of their political, economic or ceremonial
importance. This was undertaken by Marcus (197 6), who
identified regional capitals ("primary centers"),
secondary and tertiary centers with reference to the
iconographic record and emblem glyphs. Marcus concludes
that "x*egional capitals are at once discrete units, but
they also act as agents of great interaction with
dependent centers in their R e g i o n ' and with other
capitals outside their loosely-tied region" (Marcus
1976:47). Adams (1980, Adams and Jones 1981) developed a
more easily quantifiable formula for ranking sites in the
Maya zone. This calculation is based upon number of
courtyard units in a site combined with assessment of the
volume of construction at the site. Adams finds that all
the largest sites are located in association with swamps,
proposing that orientation towards swamps be taken into
account in calculation of polity size (Adams 1980:211).
Thus for Tikal he generates an area measuring 3,848 km2
159
which translates into the possibility of 10,400 ha of
drained fields, and a rough calculation of 104,000 people,
based upon the following:
A day's travel by canoe through the swamps, or a

day's travel on foot, can be used for the criteria.
The calculated maximum day's travel by either mode
is about 35 km. (Adams 1980:211)
Unfortunately, this criterion does not emerge from the
cultural record, as Marcus maintained that her hierarchy
did, nor can he reconfirm this radial area on the natural
landscape through another data source. In a later article
with Jones (Adams and Jones 1981) the settlements are
ordered as first, second, third, or fourth order centres
according to number of courtyards. The authors then
generate a logarithmic graph based on the size of the site
and its corresponding rank. The distribution thus
produced indicates "primate" or "plural" distributions.
The first of these is "a distribution in which there is a
single place of great size and a number of small places",
and the latter is "a distribution with several large
places of nearly equal size, and a paucity of smaller
places" (Adams and Jones 1981:310).
Bray (1983) introduces a notion of doubt in the use
of rank sizes for sites in the Maya area as compared to
the central highlands of Mesoamerica: "one is left with
the impression that Classic Maya polities and marketing
systems were smaller in scale, less centralized, and less
160
tightly structured than those of Classic Teotihuacan"
(Bray 1983:178). Bray does suggest (albeit indirectly)
that the archaeologist attempt to define survey areas
which have meaning in economic and cultural terms for the
culture studied. Trinkaus (1984) also expresses a
skepticism with the use of ’'artefacts and features
associated with state activities", such as would be the
case with emblem glyphs and ceremonial iconography,
suggesting that these elements "form an iconography of
power which is subject to manipulation" (Trinkaus
1984:36).
Mathews is the only archaeologist to have ranked the
sites in the study area, as a first step in the
application of the nearest neighbour concept for the
generation of hypothetical political regions, called
"Thiessen Polygons" (Mathews 1988). The polygon lines
define the space closest to each centre. According to
Haggett (1967:248), it can be assumed that a major centre
will dominate all the area that lies closest to it.
Distance measurements therefore are assumed to underlie
the calculation of the dominated territory. The polygons
are calculated in the following sequence: " (i) lines are
drawn joining a given centre to each adjacent centre (ii)
each of these inter-centre lines is bisected to give the
midpoint of the line; (iii) from the midpoint of the line
a boundary line is drawn at right angles to the original
i
161
inter-centre line to give a series of polygons” (Haggett
1967:247). Mathews calculated such polygons for various
time periods of the Classic Maya within the study area,
depending on the emergence or decline of ceremonial
centres and their presumed importance in the generation of
polities, based primarily on epigraphic material. It is
proposed here to compare the polygon generated by Mathews
for the year 9.13.0.0.0 with the landscape and site
distribution information to elucidate its possible
validity in terms of the perception and function of the
political landscape of the time.
A nearest neighbour formula was developed by
geographers to identify statistically the spatial pattern
of sites on the landscape. With this formula, the actual
distribution of sites on the landscape within a defined
area is compared against a statistically generated measure
of the random distribution of sites in the same area to
produce an "r-scale” indicating degree of dispersion,
randomness, or clustering of sites in a region (Adams and
Jones 1981:316). As the distribution of sites is
associated with the landscape, either in terms of channels
of communication or natural resource areas, as discussed
in an earlier section, the hypothesis for the generation
of the nearest neighbour statistic for the study area was
that settlement would tend toward aggregation with respect
to natural landscape features.
162
Ranking, measuring and studying the distribution of
sites in the study area is limited by the data set
available. It is for this reason that the scope of the
following section is limited to comparing a proposed
cultural landscape with information regarding the physical
landscape in the region to generate a preliminary model of
the political landscape in the study area at a certain
time period. The results of this analysis are expressed
primarily in terms of further hypotheses for study and
field testing with regard to the nature and "function" of
the settlements which have been identified for the region,
as well as with reference to the need for a more detailed
survey of settlement in the region which would identify
smaller "ranked" sites.
3.1 SITES IN THE STUDY AREA IN THE NATURAL CONTEXT
There are fourteen archaeological sites reported for
the study area (Figure No. 9). Of these, three are major
sites in that they are characterized by monumental
architecture: Piedras Negras, Yaxchilan and El Chorro.
The remaining reported sites are little known, although
archaeological work is presently in progress at El Cayo.
For this reason, exact longitude and latitude positions
are not given here, as the location of the smaller sites
has not been reconfirmed. An arbitrary 5 km radius was
163
defined as the area within the immediate "vicinity" of a
site, in order to describe the setting in more detail,
with regard to soils and vegetation. However, these are
rough estimates and do not pretend to serve as a basis for
calculating economic potential.
3.1.1 Piedras Negras:
The site of Piedras Negras is located on the eastern
or Guatemalan side of the Usumacinta River about 50 km
from Yaxchilan and 180 km "as the crow flies" from Tikal.
Its coordinates are 17°10' North and 91°15'34" West. This
site was first studied by Maler (1903). A team led by
Mason and Satterthwaite from the University Museum of the
University of Pennsylvania excavated the site from 1931 to
1939. The earliest dated monument from the site is dated
9.4.3.0.17, during the Early Classic Period (Mathews
1985). The latest monument has the date: 9.16.5.0.0 (725
A.D.)(Rands 1973). It has one of the best known dynastic
sequences established by Proskouriakoff (1960). This site
was considered a second order site by Adams and Jones
(1981), with the presence of 11 courtyards. This is a
massive site, with numerous examples of monumental
architecture , stelae, altars and lintels. The ceramic
sequence has been established by Holley (1983).
The altitude of the site ranges from about 100 to 160
meters above sea level. It is on a bend in the Usumacinta
164
River, downstream from a series of minor rapids. In front
of the site, the river measures about 150 meters in width.
On either side of the site there are natural ravines which
may have served as ports for disembarkation in the past,
as they do at present, although directly in front of the
site itself towards the river there is an high embankment.
That is, the site is located on an escarpment, and on
karstic upland with hummocks. The surface is
characterized by the presence of the Upper Boca del Cerro
Formation. The site is located on a fracture, and on the
site itself are found streams. The prevalent soil type
within an arbitrary 5 km radius of the site, on both sides
of the river is Rendzina of the Lacandon Series, with
about 30% falling in Yaxchilan Series (10%), Chequique II
(10%), and Menche Series (10%). Generally, the landscape
is very abrupt. The vegetation in the immediate vicinity
of the site (5 km radius) is predominantly (90%) Selva
Mediana type, with some patches of Selva Baja along the
ravines and two small patches of Selva Alta. At present,
the site itself is located in Selva Alta. The Mexican
side is very affected today by guemadales, acahuales and
milpa agricultural plots.
This site has an emblem glyph. According to Mathews
(1988:409), Piedras Negras has links during the Classic
Period with Yaxchilan, Bonampak, Lacanja, Pomona, and
possibly with Chichen Itza. There is evidence of raiding
165
to Pomona (Mathews 1988:410). It has recorded royal
visits from Tikal, Yaxchilan, Bonampak and Lacanja. The
nearest reported site to Piedras Negras is El Porvenir at
an approximate straight line distance of 2.8 km.
3.1.2 Yaxchilan:
The site of Yaxchilan is located on an omega-shaped
bend in the Usumacinta River on the west bank or Mexican
side of the river at 16°53'56" North and 90°58/18" West .
The discovery and early archaeological work at this site
has been summarized by Mathews (1988:23-34). It has most
recently been excavated by Roberto Garcia Moll and Daniel
Ju&rez of the Instituto Nacional de Antropologla e
Historia of Mexico since the 1970s (Garcia Moll 1990).
The earliest dated monument is stela 27 at 9.4.0.0.0
(Mathews 1988:68), and the latest according to Mathews
(1988:20) is 9.18.17.13.14 (A.D. 808). Yaxchilan has a
well established royal dynasty (Mathews 1988;
Proskouriakoff 1963, 1964). It is reported as a second
order site by Adams and Jones (1981) with 15 courtyards.
This is a massive site with abundant monumental
architecture, stelae, altars and lintels.
The site is located on the banks of the Usumacinta
River at an altitude range of 104-215 meters above sea
level. The almost circular bend in the Usumacinta River
at this point forms an omega-shaped area surrounded almost
166
on all sides by the river, which measures approximately
3.5 km across. The "neck" of the omega measures
approximately 500 m across. This is a complex faulted
block framed by a transverse fault to the east that has
cut the axis of the Usumacinta Anticline and shifted the
block eastward by approximately 2.5 km. This means that
theie is a radical drop to the river along almost all of
the omega. In front of the site, on the Guatemalan side
of the river, there is a minor strip of riverine deposits.
The surface is characterized by Upper Boca del Cerro
Formation and, on the neck of the omega, there is an
exposed Lower Boca del cerro Formation caused by the
transcurrent faulting. This formation is characterized by
the presence of flint nodules which may have been an easy
and immediate source of raw material for the site.
The soils found within an arbitrarily defined 5 km
radius of the site are predominantly (60%) well-draii. J
upland soils of the Lacandon Series, with the presence of
lowland, poorly drained Yaxchilan Series and La Pasadita I
Series (30%), and smaller areas of Chequique I Series
(10%). The site, therefore, has access to Gleyic
Fluvisols deposited annually by the river and very rare
within the study area. However, as pointed out earlier,
the small area of this soil type suggests that this would
not be a resource of great political or economic
significance to a site the size of Yaxchilan.
167
Within the 5 km radius, Yaxchilan is associated with
Selva Mediana (70%), with a smaller area to the north of
Selva Alta (10%) which is part of the largest continuous
expanse of Selva Alta in the study area. There is also a
patch of wetland vegetation represented by Selva Baja and
Jimbales (20% of area within the 5 km radius). In
contrast to Piedras Negras, this site has wetlands in the
immediate vicinity.
This site has an emblem glyph. During the Classic
period, it was linked to Calakmul, Motul de San Jose,
Altar de Sacrificios, Dos Pilas, Bonampak, Lacanha,
Palenque and Piedras Negras (Mathews 1988:409). Mathews
(1988:410) reports raiding from Dos Pilas and to Lacanha
from Yaxchilan; as well as recorded dynastic marriages
with Calakmul, Motul de San Jose and Bonampak. According
to data presently available, royal visits were received at
Yaxchilan from Calakmul, Tikal, Piedras Negras and
Bonampak, and visits were made to Piedras Negras, Altar de
Sacrificios, and Bonampak (Mathews 1988:412). It is
interesting to note that people from Yaxchilan went
downriver on visits as far as Piedras Negras, as well as
visiting upriver as far as Altar de Sacrificios. The
nearest known site to Yaxchilan is Anaite I, a site on the
banks of the Usumacinta downriver from Yaxchilan at a
distance of approximately 12.6 kilometers.
168
3.1.3 El Chorro:
El Chorro is a little studied site located close to
the bend of El Chorro Arroyo, about 12 kilometers from the
Usumacinta River. Mathews (1988) considers this site
important enough in the 9.13.0.0.0 period to ascribe it a
polygon (polity). It is near the site of Itzan another
important site on the La Pasi6n River Basin. In terms of
site interaction, Mathews (1988:409) reports contact with
Dos Pilas, Itzan, and Altar de Sacrificios. There is
evidence of a royal marriage between this site and Dos
Pilas, and raiding is registered from the site of Aguateca
(Mathews 1988: 411). This illustrates that the site of El
Chorro maintained more close contact with sites outside of
the study area to the southeast than with sites in the
study area. It is for this reason and due to lack of
further data on this site that in the following section
the proposed political landscape model is developed only
for the two sites of Yaxchilan and Piedras Negras in the
study area.
El Chorro is perched at an altitude of approximately
200 meters above sea level, on the Karstic Uplands with
Hummocks facing toward the Structural Plain of the
southeast. The soils within an arbitrarily defined 5 km
radius are as follows: La Pasadita I (50% of a r e a ) ;
Chequique I uplands (approximately 17%), the rest falling
outside of the study area. In terms of vegetation, the
169
area is dominated by Selva Mediana, with Selva Baja and
Sibales in the wetlands. El Chorro has more poorly
drained wetlands than the other two major sites in the
study area. However, the full implication of this cannot
be understood without further archaeological research.
The nearest site to El Chorro is El Pato, at an
approximate distance of 3.6 km.
3.1.4 El Porvenir:
Little is known about this site, which is marked on
the official government map of Guatemala (IGN 1971, Map
2169 IX, Scale 1:50,000) and is mentioned by Rice and
Puleston (1981) as site IGN I. It is located on the
Usumacinta River at a point at which the river widens
downstream from Piedras Negras. El Porvenir is located in
an Intermontane Valley which begins at the banks of the
river, running inland. This is a natural port suitable
for disembarkation. About 15% of the soil« in the
immediate vicinity of this site are of the Yaxchilan
Series, and the rest (85%) are well-drained upland soils
of the Lacandon Series. This site is surrounded by Selva
Mediana. The archaeological site closest to El Porvenir
is Piedras Negras at a distance of approximately 2.8 km.
170
3.1.5 Texcoco
This site is not located on the banks of the
Usumacinta, but is inland, approximately 8 km away from
the river. The site is close to the Laguneta Texcoco on
the contact between the Karstic Uplands with Hummocks and
the Karstic Intermontane Valleys. Texcoco is in a
Tertiary formation. About half of the soils in the
vicinity of Texcoco are Lacandon Series, upland soils, the
rest comprised of Yaxchilan Series (15%), Chequique I
(15%), and Chequique II (20%). The vegetation in the
vicinity of this site is predominantly Selva Mediana with
a strip of Selva Alta, and 10-15% Bajo, Selva Baja and
Jimbal. The nearest known site to Texcoco is El Cayo at
an approximate distance of 10 km.
3.1.6 El Cayo
El Cayo is located on the banks of the Usumacinta
River in a Karstic Depression associated with the Karstic
Intermontane Valleys and surrounded by Escarpments and
Karstic Uplands with Hummocks. It is characterized by
deep Quaternary deposits, surrounded by the Cretaceous
limestones of the Upper Boca del Cerro Hills. The El
Cayo pocket (karstic depression) allows the surface
exposure of the deeper strata of the Boca del Cerro
Formation along the transcurrent fault. These deeper
deposits are rich in nodules of flint and are well
171
localized on the Mexican shores of the Usumacinta River.
In an arbitrary 5 km radius surrounding the site of El
Cayo, the following preliminary observations can be made
about the soils: Upland soils of the Lacandon Series
predominate (70%), with patches of Menche Series (15%),
and the rest made up of soils with drainage problems of
the La Pasadita II and Yaxchilan Series. The vegetation
is predominantly Selva Mediana, with the occurrence of
Selva Alta (15%) and Selva Mediana with Jimbales (30%).
In the El Cayo pocket, there are introduced grasslands,
aca hua le s , and milpas. El Chile and Anaite II are sites
which are approximately equidistant to El Cayo, at around
9 km.
3.1.7 El Chile
El Chile is located on the banks of the Usumacinta
River. This site is located on the Escarpment associated
with Karstic Uplands with Hummocks. It is situated on the
Upper Cretaceous limestones of the Upper Boca del Cerro
Formation, on a transcurrent fault which has shifted the
block eastward. In the vicinity of this site, the soils
are characterized by well-drained upland soils of the
Lacandon Series (80%), with occurrence of Yaxchilan Series
and the wetlands associated with the Santa Clara Lake.
Selva Mediana predominates (60-70%) in the vicinity of the
site, with patches of Selva Alta (10%), and a complex
172
mosaic of acahuales, pastizales (grasslands), J i mba les,
and Selva Baja. The nearest known archaeological site to
El Chile is El Chico.apote at a distance of about 4 km.
3.1.8 El Chicozapote
El Chicozapote Is located on the banks of the
Usumacinta River, at the edge of an Escarpment associated
with Karstic Uplands with Hummocks. This site is located
on the Upper Cretaceous limestones of the Upper Boca del
Cerro Formation. Half of the soils in the vicinity of
this site are of the Yaxchilan series, approximately 35%
are the upland soils of the Lacandon Series, and the
remaining are of the Chequique II Series. Selva Alta is
found near this site (35%), as well as a complex mosaic of
vegetation types (25%) and Selva Mediana (40%). The
nearest archaeological site to El Chicozapote is El Chile
at an approximate distance of 4 km, however, the river
between these two points narrows, creating dangerous
rapids which restrict travel on this waterway.
3.1.9 Santa Clara
Santa Clara is found on the contact area between the
slopes of the Karstic Intermontane Valleys and Karstic
Uplands with Hummocks, close to the Santa Clara Lake.
This site was established on the geological contact
between the Upper Boca del Cerro Formation and the
173
Tertiary rocks from the Santa Clara Anticline. The soils
within the arbitrary 5 km radius of this sites are evenly
divided between the upland soils of the Lacandon Series
and Yaxchilan Series lowland soils (40%) with the basin of
the Santa Clara Lake. About 60% of the vegetation around
this site is Selva Mediana, the remaining is a complex
mosaic of vegetation types. The nearest archaeological
site to Santa Clara is Anaite II at an approximate
distance of 4.8 km.
3.1.10 Anaite II
Anaite II is not located on the Usumacinta River. On
the slopes of the Karstic Uplands with Hummocks, this site
is in the geological contact zone between the Upper Boca
del Cerro Formation and the Tertiary Tenosique formation.
Approximately 75% of the soils around this site are the
upland soils of the Lacandon Series, and the remaining
soils are of the Yaxchilan Series with the marshes of the
Santa Clara Lake. Selva Mediana predominates in the area
surrounding this site (70%), with a complex mosaic of
vegetation types (25%) and patches of Selva Alta (5%).
The nearest site to Anaite II is Santa Clara at a distance
of approximately 4.8 km.
174
3.1.11 La Pasadita
La Pasadita was founded on high ground, inland from
the river, in the Karstic Intermontane Valley near the
Laguneta la Pasadita. This site is located on the La
Linea Syncline close to a depression formed by a
transverse fault in which the lake is located. It is on
the Tertiary sedimentary rocks of the Tenosique
Formation. Approximately 10% of the soils in the vicinity
of this site are upland soils of the Lacandon Series; 40%
are soils of the Menche Series; 15% of the very poorly
drained La Pasadita II Series; 20% of the Chequique II
Series; and 15% of the Chequique I Series. In terms of
vegetation, Selva Mediana represents approximately 20%,
Selva Baja in association with Selva Mediana represents an
additional 15%, the major part of the area is covered with
Selva Alta (65%). The nearest archaeological site to La
Pasadita is El Chicozapote, at an approximate distance of
7.6 km
3.1.12 Anaite I
This site is located on the river, in a place where
the river cuts the Karstic Intermontane Valley drained by
the Arroyo Anaite. This site is found on Quaternary
Deposits that have been shifted by a transcurrent fault
that permits the river to come close to the Intermontane
Valley. Within the arbitrarily defined 5 km radius
175
surrounding this site, approximately 28% of the soils are
of the lowland Yaxchilan Series, and the remaining are
upland soils of the Lacandon Series. The vegetation in
the vicinity of this site can be characterized as follows:
Selva Alta (15%), a complex mosaic of Jimbal, Bajo, and
Acahual vegetation (15%), the remainder is Selva Mediana
(70%). El Chicozapote is the nearest known site to Anaite
I at a distance of around 9.4 km, however, between these
two sites connected along the river, there are two rapids.
3.1.13 El Tornillo
This site is situated on the river at a point at
which it cuts into the structural Plain, in a region
drained by the Arroyo Agua Azul. It is located on the
river, at the geological contact point between the
Tertiary deposits of the Tenosique Formation and the
Quaternary Deposits where the axis of the La Linea
Syncline crosses the river into Mexico. In the immediate
vicinity of this site (5 km r adius), the following
preliminary soil observations can be made: 40% are soils
of the Chequique I Series; 15% Chequique II; 10% Yaxchilan
Series; 7% Usumacinta Series; 18% upland soils of the
Lacandon Series; and 10% of the Menche Series. In terms
of vegetation, 30% is a complex mosaic of Bajo, Jimbal,
and Selva Mediana; 8% S i b a l ; 18% a complex mosaic of
Quemadal, Pastizal, Acahual vegetation types;
176
predominating Selva Mediana (approximately 44%) . The
nearest site is Yaxchilan at 16 km.
3.1.14 El Pato
This site is located 2 00 meters above sea level. It
is on the high grounds of the Karstic Uplands with
Hummocks, on the north side of the Arroyo El Chorro that
drains the Structural Plain on the Guatemalan side. The
soils around the site (5 km radius) are characterized as
follows: 40% La Pasadita I Series; 22% Chequique I
Series; 5% of the upland soils of the Lacandon Series; 15%
Yaxchilan Series; and 18% Menche Series. Selva Mediana
predominates in terms of vegetation, with a small amount
of Selva Baja-Sibal association (10%). The nearest
neighbour is El Chorro at an approximate distance of 3.9
km.
3.2 DISTRIBUTION OF SITES ON THE LANDSCAPE
The known archaeological sites in the study area are
not randomly distributed on the landscape. Eight of the
14 sites are located directly on the banks of the
Usumacinta River. To translate this into numerical form,
a nearest neighbour calculation was generated for the
sites, based on Adams and Jones (1981). Based on the
distances mentioned in the preceding section, the
177
resultant R figure is .83. A score of 1 indicates random
distribution, greater than one, uniform distribution, and
less than one, aggregation (0 representing total
aggregation in a single point). Therefore, the figure for
the study area suggests a movement toward aggregation.
According to Adams and Jones (1981:315) "an aggregate
pattern reflects either a strongly localized resource base
or extraregional influence which has focussed upon a
particular location because of its strategic, trade, or
market position". This contrasts with the dispersed
patterns which these authors suggest reflect a "spatially
uniform resource base". The data presented above does
not support the notion of a highly diverse resource base
in the study area, however the movement is not toward
dispersion over a relatively uniform or evenly distributed
resource base. This is related to the river as a prime
location for sites, thus their aggregation along this
water course. Even though our survey information for this
region is not complete, we would not expect the addition
of new sites to change the R score significantly.
If indeed the river is a prime influence in the
decision for site location in the study area, why are
there important sites located away from the river?
The river provided in the past, as in the present,
the primary route of communication: goods, people and
idea exchange for the study area and probably beyond.
178
Kelley (1976:234-5) presents an analysis of the canoe
texts from the Tikal carved bones, proposing that the
glyphic representations are an action verb relating to
canoe travel. In Lintel 3 of Piedras Negras, the canoe
verb (12) appears on a monument which refers to a eminent
visitor from Yaxchilan. According to Proskouriakoff, this
is the representation of a river trip taken by this
individual downstream from Yaxchilan to Piedras Negras
(Marcus 1976:85) However, the Usumacinta is not a wide,
slow-flowing easily navigable river; instead it is a
voluminous river with enormous seasonal fluctuations in
level and currents, as well as geologically controlled
rapids. On this river, travel downstream is problematic
in several sections. Upstream travel, in particular with
vessels which are loaded down, is a more difficult and
risky endeavour, if at all possible. Portaging is the
conventional option where river traffic is restricted due
to such natural phenomena. Portaging involves carrying
the goods and vessels overland, usually to avoid
impassable sections of a river. However, even land travel
in the tropical rainforest karstic landscape of the study
area is limited by natural topographical and environmental
barriers.
C?.ose examination of the sites located away from the
Usumacinta River shows their correlation with Intermontane
Valley formations which would provide natural flat
179
passages through the landscape relative to the hummocky or
rocky formations which also characterize the study area
(see Figure No. 10). Texcoco and La Pasadita on the
Guatemalan side of the Usumacinta are both located in an
Intermontane Valley which begins at Piedras Negras.
Similarly, Santa Clara and Anaite II are located in the
Intermontane Valleys which run parallel to the river to
the west. It is therefore suggested that travel from
Yaxchilan to Piedras Negras was facilitated along the
river, while travel from Piedras Negras to Yaxchilan was
facilitated by overland travel or by portaging. Overland
travel has been little studied in the Maya lowlands. In
one of few studies, Hammond (1978:24) follows the route of
present day traders from Coban to southern Belize, through
a mountain pass, down into a river basin, and along the
flanks of the Maya Mountains, which "is the most direct
and efficient way of reaching the Manche Choi territory".
The predominance of portage and overland routes in
the study area in Classic times is further confirmed by
the location of portage sites at natural ports along the
river. Downriver from Yaxchilan, travel is made difficult
or impossible by the rapids mentioned earlier between the
sites of El Chicozapote and El Chile. It is proposed that
these sites were established at the points at which the
travellers left the river to begin the portage. It is
important to recall that this river is characterized by
180
the predominance of steep escarpments which prevent
beaching. However, at El Chicozapote there is a small
natural beach, suitable for disembarkment and
overnighting. From here, the river takes a turn in a
transcurrent fault. However, portaging is facilitated by
a relatively flat area which is the edge of the Usumacinta
Anticline, and which runs exactly from El Chicozapote to
the banks of the Usumacinta at the archaeological site of
El Chile, located downstream from the rapids. This is the
only place at which a portage may be necessary along the
river between Yaxchilan and Piedras Negras in travel
downstream. These two sites, therefore, are not only
located on the banks of the river, but are strategically
located in terms of the possibility to beach a river
craft, avoid dangerous rapids, and find a favourable
portage route. Once the traveller has returned to the
river, the next and only beach before Piedras Negras is
found at the Island of El Cayo. This natural port on the
river offers the optimum conditions for stopping. From
this point, Piedras Negras is approximately 4 hours
further down river.
Movement between Piedras Negras and Yaxchilan is a
much more complicated challenge, if river travel is
chosen. But a relatively straight and flat overland route
does exist along the Intermontane Valley system which
begins at this site and runs parallel to the river along
181
the La Linea Syncline ending at Yaxchilan. That is, a
single geomorphological feature connects the sites of
Piedras Negras and Yaxchilan, providing a relatively even
topography for overland travel. It is along this
Intermontane Valley system that the sites of Texcoco and
La Pasadita are located. It is proposed here, that they
are sites established along the alternate communication
route between Yaxchilan and Piedras Negras, in response to
the difficulties of upstream river travel. It is
important to note that both of these sites are associated
with fresh clear water sources, which may have been
important to travellers. Very rough estimates of overland
travel along this route suggest that it could be covered
in 22 hours (distance of 22 leagues in local terms). This
compares with the rough estimate of 17 hours for
downstream travel between Yaxchilan and Piedras Negras.
Of course, this is without consideration of loads.
The upriver route would require portaging at more
places along the river than in the downriver voyage. At
present, the leg of travel between Piedras Negras and El
Cayo is covered by foot by local inhabitants, although
this portion of the river is navigable upstream in a boat
with a motor. From El Cayo, the river is navigable
upstream to El Chile, where, once again, the river was
probably abandoned for the portage option. Rather than
portaging to El Chicozapote, movement upriver would more
182
likely have involved portaging to another place on the
river above two other rapids which would hinder upriver
boat travel. At the spot at which the river abuts the
Intermontane Valley, a natural port developed. This is
also the Intermontane Valley formed by the Santa Clara
Syncline along which the traveller would be portaging.
This "natural" spot for return to the river is where the
site of Anaite II is located. From this place, upriver
travel is possible to Yaxchilan in approximately 5 hours.
Very preliminary estimates of the total trip would be 25
hours, without consideration of loads. For this portion
of the study area, it is therefore proposed that movement
upstream differs from movement downstream, and that sites
were established in consideration of these movements.
Santley (1986:226) uses the concept of "circuit graph" to
represent this type of communications system in a network
which "has one or more loops, such that movement in one
direction permits transit to one's point of departure".
The river alone would represent a linear or "path"
structure.
A test of this proposal can be undertaken with the
Yaxchilan to Arroyo El Chorro route in the study area.
Upriver from Yaxchilan the possibility exists for
navigation in both directions with minor problems to be
experienced only in Encajonado Gonzalez. This is due to
the geomorphological characteristics of the river course
183
at this point, described in an earlier section. Note that
the only reported site for this section of the study area
is El Tornillo, located on the banks of the river, and
Arroyo El Chorro from which the traveller could travel on
to El Chorro or leave the study area. That is, there is
no need for portage, and correspondingly there are
apparently no important sites located away from the river
itself.
The data provided in this section serve to propose an
explanation for the location of the sites in the study
area. It is interesting to note that the location of
sites in this area correlates highly with the river and
river communications. The sites situated away from the
river also correlate with the location of fresh water
sources. However, on the basis of this preliminary survey
of the natural landscape of this area, it cannot be shown
that the location of sites as a group correlates highly
with any particular resource of the natural environment,
such as soils. The primary interest in the establishment
of these sites seems to have been the facilitation of
communication along and parallel to the river.
Yaxchilan and Piedras Negras are not, however,
randomly located along the river. Instead, Yaxchilan is
located exactly above the section of rapids at a place
whore the Intermontane Valley system facilitates overland
travel along the Basin. This is a place at which the
184
possibilities of river travel change radically, compared
to the conditions upriver from Yaxchilan towards Arroyo El
Chorro. Yaxchilan is therefore strategically located in
terms of the features of the natural environment related
to travel and communications in the Basin. In the same
way, Piedras Negras is located in a strategic place in
terms of the natural environment and its impact on the
movement of people and goods. Within the study area
itself, Piedras Negras represents the place at which a
series of rapids ends, as well as the exact place at which
the Intermontane Valley system which reaches Yaxchilan
begins, providing immediate access to, and probable
control of, the overland upriver communications as well as
downriver movements. That is, both Piedras Negras and
Yaxchilan are located at points which would allow control
both of downriver communications and of upriver portage
and overland communications. Furthermore, at Yaxchilan
the conditions of the river change relative to upriver
communications which are deemed less problematic for
travel and communications. Similarly, Piedras Negras is
at a point at which downriver travel out of the study area
is virtually impossible due to the San Jose and the San
Josecito Rapids. Therefore, river travel would
effectively end at this site, for. those travelling beyond
the study area, for example, to the coastal plain.
Overland routes, therefore, become a critical issue. The
185
El Porvenir site is located at the entrance to an
Intermontane Valley system that '-'ill link the Piedras
Negras polity with places like Palenque and Pomona.
On the basis of this correlation between natural
landscape phenomena and human occupation of the landscape
as evidenced through the location of archaeological sites,
it is proposed that the naturally formed Upper Usumacinta
River Basin was fundamentally important in the cultural
landscape of the Classic Maya, and that the natural
"funnel*1 through the area provided by the Intermontane
Valley system was in fact used as an overland
communication route. This settlement pattern was based on
both "tactical" and "strategic" factors, in the definition
of Hammond (1975).
4. BOUNDARIES ON THE PHYSICAL AND CULTURAL LANDSCAPES
Hammond's "strategic" factors imply extralocal and
political reasoning, which introduces to this proposal the
ideas of control of resources or of a region (Renfrew
1977). Focussing on the two main ceremonial sites in the
study area, Yaxchilan and Piedras Negras, and their
hinterland, it can be seen that they can be quantitatively
proposed as central places in relation to the other lower
ranked sites, such as El Chile, El Chicozapote, Anaite I,
Anaite II, Santa Clara, La Pasadita, Texcoco and El
186
Porvenir. Following Renfrew (1977) it could'be
postulated that these two sites "exercise a central
administrative authority over the territory which they
serve", that is, that they form polities. The central
places have been assumed to be the large monumental cities
such as Yaxchilan and Piedras Negras in Mesoamerican
archaeology, which would provide the central settlements
which define the political units, in the process of
increasing sociopolitical complexity proposed by Shils
(1973). However, the political importance of the centre
rests in part on its "sphere of influence" or "territorial
area", according t o ’Renfrew and Level (1979). In
contrast, Lowe (1985) seems to suggest that territorial
consolidation and boundary establishment was poorly
developed in Mesoamerica.
Mathews (1988) generated Thiessen polygons for the
study area, as mentioned earlier, although the landscape
issues involved were beyond the scope of his study. For
the date 9.13.0.0.0, he proposed three polities in the
Upper Usumacinta River Basin, around the centres of
Piedras Negras, Yaxchilan, and El Chorro. That is, three
separate political entities were operating in this single
hydrological basin at that time. According to the
theoretical projection of boundaries, it can be observed
that, whereas the projected polity boundaries to the
northeast of the river follow the natural boundaries of
187
the sierra, there are no natural or physical landscape
boundaries to help define or reinforce the polity
boundaries along the river valley itself. It is important
to note, therefore, that if political territorial limits
existed between Piedras Negras and Yaxchilan, and between
Yaxchilan and El Chorro, they were projected onto a
natural landscape which did not have a corresponding
physical division. In fact, apart from the river,
according to the preliminary information provided here,
there are no notable differences in terms of natural
resources within the study area between the sites of
Piedras Negras and Yaxchilp.i, For example, analysis of
the distribution of landscape types (following Fedick 1988
see Chapter 4) in the polygons reveals the following types
in association with the two major sites:
Yaxchilan Piedras Negras
Well drained Uplands 73.68% 75.66%
Slow drained Lowlands 16.31 20.48
Riverine associated
swamps 4.56 0
Closed depression swamps 4.56 2.9 2
These figures clearly support the notion that the natural
landscape within each of the polygons is highly comparable
188
and "balanced". It is the river and communications which
have influenced the locational decision in both cases.
The Usumacinta River, which is presently used as a natural
landscape feature to define the political territorial
division between two countries, was not used as such a
division in the Classic Period, but instead was a main
artery for the contact and communication between the
political entities. It is curious to note with relation
to this that the site of Yaxchilan is located on the
opposite bank of the Usumacinta River from the site of
Piedras Negras. The evidence presented here would suggest
a natural landscape rather than a political reason for
this particularity.
The existence of centres is confirmed by the
existence of less important sites in their hinterland.
However, the existence of such places does not necessarily
prove that the territorial consolidation of a state was
extensive. That is, the existence of a territory over
which dominance was exercised by a central place does not
necessarily prove that an established boundary existed
between one territory and the next. According to this
line of reasoning, a polity needs a territory but not
necessarily a territorial boundary. Focussing on
Yaxchilan and Piedras Negras as proposed neighbouring
polities, the projected boundary between these two
entities is represented on Figure No. 9. As discussed
189
above, the existence of boundaries between political
entities is most commonly expressed by spots or places,
rather than continuous linear manifestations (such as the
Wall of China)(Ratzel 1969).
Examination of the projected and theoretical polygons
of Yaxchilan and Piedras Negras, it is interesting to note
that the ten known sites located in this subregion of the
study area are evenly distributed between the two
polygons, with El Porvenir, Texcoco, El Cayo, El Chile and
Anaite II falling into the Piedras Negras polygon; and La
Pasadita, El Chicozapote, Anaite I, Santa Clara, and El
Tornillo falling into the Yaxchilan polygon. Future
research may reveal whether this is an indication of
balance of power between two polities.
Furthermore, these sites within the two projected
polygons seem to be positioned, at least in the case of
five of the sites, in pairs. That is, on a possible
southwestern overland route, Anaite II is located at
distance of 4.8 km from Santa Clara, its nearest
neighbour. The sites are on opposing sides of the
projected boundary. This is also the case of El Chile and
El Chicozapote, each others' nearest neighbour at an
approximate distance of 4 kilometers. The projected
polygon results in the positioning of each site in a
different polity: El Chile within the polygon of Piedras
Negras, and El Chicozapote within the polygon of
190
Yaxchilan. La Pasadita on the northeast side of the river
is also situated relatively near the projected border on
the Yaxchilan side.
Evidence is still accumulating from the glyphic
record of Classic Maya times regarding the possible types
of affiliation and ties between sites. In terms of the
proposal of polities for Yaxchilan and Piedras Negras and
their subordinate sites, there is some indication that the
political affiliations suggested in the preceding
paragraph were, in fact, true at some moment during the
Classic Period. Scheie and Friedel (1990:302) present
drawings of three Lintels from La Pasadita in which there
is clearly a relationship of political affiliation between
this site and Yaxchilan. In Linte:. 1, Lord Bird Jaguar
(title of Ahaw ) is in La Pasadita taking a captive with
the help of Local Lord Tilot (title of Sahal) of La
Pasadita. In Lintel 2, Lord Bird Jaguar scatters blood
with Local Lord Tilot at a period ending ceremony at
9.16.15.0.0. In Lintel 3, the Local Lord Tilot is paying
homage to Lord Chelte, successor (or heir) of Bird Jaguar.
This indicates that the Sahal from La Pasadita was
subordinate to the Ahaw of Yaxchilan, and that they are
allies in war and captives, that they are associated in
ceremonies of period endings, and that the Sahal pays
allegiance to the heir of the Yaxchilan dynasty. The
central political authority and control is dependent upon
191
the formal acknowledgement and acceptance by the
periphery, represented in the study area by the minor
level sites. These lintels provide strong evidence that
La Pasadita was part of the political system of Yaxchilan.
Cherry (1987:168) discusses the legitimization of the
state through the use of the "iconography of power", and
further concurs that such "conventionalized symbolic
systems" can "tell us much about the organization of power
in the past".
To establish the political tie between El Cayo and
Piedras Negras, the following evidence is available.
Piedras Negras is represented by its emblem glyph on
Relief Panel 1 and Lintel 1 monuments from El Cayo. The
El Cayo dynasty is represented by Sahal Uay K'uti on Panel
1 dated 9.17.1.5.8. This lord presents himself as a local
lord subordinate to Piedras Negras. Again, this evidence
supports the affiliation of this site to Piedras Negras,
as would be expected by the border generated artificially
by Mathews for the polities. It is important to note,
however, that the polities in this area were not stable
during the whole Classic Period. Mathews proposes that
there may have been two "buffer" polities between
Yaxchilan and Piedras Negras with dynastic and ritual
connections to both of these sites. One of these sites
was possibly "Jaguar Hill" and the other "Serpent
192
Segment", although neither has been associated witn a
known site in the area (Mathews 1988:379).
The location of these sites, therefore, is seemingly
in relationship with a border which somehow corresponds to
the border generated theoretically by the Thiessen
polygon. This supports the idea cf a territorial base of
the Yaxchilan and Piedras Negras polities, for if they
were composed of a conglomerate of sites each with their
own land base, as discussed by Ingold (1987), then the
locational decision would be expected to be based more
upon "tactical" or pragmatic subsistence parameters.
Here, however, the evidence indicates that there were
strategic reasons for the settlement locations, relating
to dependence upon the definition of the centre. It is
hypothesized that these sites were established along a
border of a polity, as points of control of the
communication into each other's realm. It is further
hypothesized that they are located in terms of "distance"
and "time geography", proposed by Cherry (1987) as an
important aspect of the state's control span problem.
This being the case, the state would be most concerned
with control at the places of easiest permeability into
their territory. For the study area, this would be along
the easiest travel and contact routes, that is, along the
river and the proposed overland routes. That is to say,
this hypothesis obtains that the sites which are paired,
193
including La Pasadita and perhaps Texcoco, represent
poin+'s of control and mediation of interaction on the
border between two systems exactly at those points where
there are no natural or physical landscape features which
would impede contact. Therefore, this would appear to be
a system in which a major centre dominates over a bounded
region, a real political territory within which lower
ranking sites are located, defined and supported by social
and political institutions emanating from the predominant
centre .
5. CONCLUSIONS: THE! POLITICAL LANDSCAPE: NATURAL AND
CULTURAL LANDSCAPE COMBINED
Yaxchilan and Piedras Negras according to the
evidence provided above, were located because of their
strategic location. This would be the "value" proposed by
Ratzel (1969), which Hammond (1975) divides into two
general types: strategic and tactical. Hammond proposes
that for first level centres the strategic reasons would
predominate over the tactical, or pragmatic availability
of resources in the immediate vicinity of the sites.
Middle level sites, for Hammond, would be established
according to a mix of these two factors, while the
decision for the establishment of smaller settlements
194
would be clearly influenced by the "tactical" (Hammond
1975).
Hammond's reasoning seems to apply not only for the
first level sites of Yaxchilan and Piedras Negras. The
sites of La Pasadita and Santa Clara, second level sites
in the study area, are located strategically along the
Intermontane Valleys where overland travel could have
occurred; but also in association with wetlands. Should
intensive agricultural techniques for the use of these
areas be proven for this area in future research (in
short, when our understanding of the resource definition
and use of these areas in Classic times is more complete)
then this may have represented a decision also based upon
"tactical" reasoning. Certainly, both sites are also
associated with clear fresh water sources. Similarly, the
second level site of El Cayo is strategically located on
one of the best and widest ports/natural beaches on the
Upper Usumacinta; and tactically located on the El Cayo
pocket of soils. In fact, El Cayo presents a test case
for the argument that Yaxchilan and Piedras Negras were
the "most" strategic centres in the study area, and
therefore became or were established as the centres.
El Cayo is "very" strategic in terms of 1) its
location on the river, as in the case of Yaxchilan and
Piedras Negras; 2) at a natural port or beach, even more
favourable for desembarkation than the r ises of Yaxchilan
195
and Piedras Negras; 3) at a point along both the
downstream and the upstream/portage route to Yaxchilan and
Piedras Negras. However, it is not in a location from
which entrance into the basin can be mediated, as is the
case of Yaxchilan and Piedras Negras, which, in addition,
are located at either end of a system of Intermontane
Valleys in addition to their location on the river. Here,
the site of El Cayo differs qualitatively in strategic
terms from the case of Yaxchilan and Piedras Negras. In
sum, its location on the river is relatively less
important in strategic terms than these latter sites, and
this may explain why this site, while very important, did
not reach first rank category in the study area.
Why would the polygons which are generated on the
basis of nearest neighbour calculations for major centres
tend to correspond in the case of Yaxchilan and Piedras
Negras with the existence of real political boundaries in
the Classic Period? A correspondence would exist only if
the actual spacing of the ancient polities fit the
expected spacing, taking into consideration all the
potentials and restrictions at play in the Usumacinta
River landscape. This idea supports the general thesis
proposed here that movement over the landscape and
communications on the river and overland, were a)
determinant in the establishment of the major centres and
2) influential in the establishment of the minor centres.
196
That is, in the true economic geographical sense, movement
becomes distance, and minimizing distance time (and the
generation of time geography) corresponds with finding the
nearest, closest and topographically (or river related)
best route. Therefore, in the predominance of interaction
and communications, the logic of the Classic Maya in the
Upper Usumacinta Basin would have corresponded to
Thiessen's logic. The border points of permeability would
correspond to the distance/time factor, and the natural
environment would be redefined as the cultural landscape.
The apparent correspondence between the halfway points
between Yaxchilan and Piedras Negras generated by the
polygon and as evidenced by the location of the sites,
further supports the idea that the natural landscape in
both polygons does not differ radically, and that there is
an element of "balance", politically, at a certain point
in time between these two polities.
This chapter has presented a proposal for the
political landscape of the Upper Usumacinta River Basin at
a particular point in time. In this analysis, the
polities of Yaxchilan and Piedras Negras are situated on
the natural landscape, but have "humanized" this landscape
through use and meaning. The polity as seen by Cherry
(1987:167) is "exploiting a socio-political, as well as an
environmental and economic, landscape". Thus the natural
landscape is recast in political terms in light of the
197
relationships and interactions which define, formulate,
and maintain the competing polities. The interactions are
patterned on this landscape, in terms of organizational
principles such as links, connections and centrality
(Weeks 1983). Travel is proposed to be a basic mechanism
and "content" of contact between the polities, although
the exact mechanism of the interactions is unexplored in
this thesis. Cherry and Renfrew (1986) emphasize the
importance of travel in state and polity definition and
development, and the need to understand the symbolic
structures of these sociopolitical entities.
Although based in a fundamental way on the
environmental context of the sociopolitical unit, this
line of analysis departs in important ways from the more
conventional ecological approach to understanding
settlement patterning. Landscape is examined from a
broader perspective than productive potential and resource
base. The ecological approach has directed much research
in the lowland Maya zone, focussing on such questions as
"land use potential" (Sanders and Murdy 1982) and "the
internal variability in the nature and abundance of
resources" (Hammond and Ashmore 1981). As more complete
data sets are available, the research interests can become
more refined in an attempt to understand that which Ellen
(1982) has called the "environmentally significant
decision making". To project this into the past, it is
198
necessary to know which aspects of the natural landscape
were considered resources, as locally-defined and based on
use and value. This study proposes to contribute to this
data set in order to advance the research base for
understanding the emergence of the Classic Maya
civilization in the Upper Usumacinta River Basin.
199
Wl
UPPER USUMACINTA RIVER BASIN

1. PIEDRAS NEGRAS; 2. YAXCHILAN;
3. EL CHORRO; 4. EL PORVENIR; 5. TEXCOCO;
6. EL CAYO; 7. EL CHILE; 8. EL CHICOZAPOTE;
9. SANTA CLARA; 10. ANAITE II; 11. LA PASA
DITA; 12. ANAITE I; 13. EL TORNILLO;
14. EL PATO
Reproduced
with permission
of the copyright owner.
■“ • A m
• •>..
Ik.
Further reproduction
prohibited without permission.
^ UPRIVER
D O W N R IV E R
-4V, ETrw*^:
FIGURE NO. 10 RIVER, PORTAGE AND OVERLAND

ROUTES IN THE UPPER USUMACINTA ro
o
RIVER BASIN o
201
CHAPTER SIX: SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
1. INTRODUCTION
This thesis adopts the landscape approach to
archaeological investigation advancing a first
approximation to the natural landscape of the Upper
Usumacinta River Basin in Maya zone of Mesoamerica. The
natural environment is seen as providing the "setting1' for
the Maya culture of the past and the present, although
this landscape is interpreted, modified, and transformed
in an interactive relationship with humans. Thus natural
processes and cultural activities combine in space and in
time, and from this emerges the ever-changing cultural
landscape.
The importance of this approach in the study area can
be understood in terms of the goal of the Maya
archaeologist to understand, generalize and predict
spatial and cultural actions in the past, and therefore
his need for a complete data set on a regional scale from
which to develop hypotheses and interpret research results
of fine-grained and site-specific projects. Such
generalizations cannot be made in the absence of good
quality regional or broad-scale contextual data. This
202
thesis represents the first step in providing this kind of
material for a region which has been considered, until
now, marginal within the "heartland" of the lowland Maya
civilization of Classic times. In fact, using the
material provided here as an interpretive base, the nature
or veracity of this claim of "marginality" can begin to be
tested.
2. FEATURES OF THE NATURAL LANDSCAPE IN THE STUDY AREA
2.1 BASIC UNITS OF THE LANDSCAPE:
Figure 11 presents a cross section of the landscape
of the study area passing from the Bonampak Anticline
(Sierra de la Cojolita) in the south to the Lacandon
Anticline (Sierra del Lacandon) in the north. This
landscape transect was developed based upon the
geological, geomorphological, topographical, vegetational
and soils data presented in the previous chapters. It
runs for approximately 50 km in a 7° East of North
direction, passing through the neck of the Yaxchilan omega
block formation at approximately the halfway point in the
study area. By means of this diagram, basic units of
landscape for the study area are illustrated, combining
the various natural landscape features examined in this
thesis. This comprises an initial first approximation to
203
the natural landscape of the Upper Usumacinta River Basin
at a scale which allows future generalizations within the
study area, the contextualization of fine grained
landscape and ecological studies in this area, and their
comparison with other parts of the Maya zone and beyond.
These basic units of landscape can be seen as describing
the natural "setting" in which the Maya culture of Classic
times thrived, transforming and interpreting these natural
features and potentials in terms of their "cultural
project" in which environmental possibilities are
organized into systems with form, meaning and purpose
(Ingold 1987:2).
Eight basic units of landscape are proposed for the
understanding of the natural setting of the study area,
and are illustrated in the cross section diagram. Each is
defined by its characteristics which reflect the
combination of topographical form, parent materials,
vegetation and related soils and drainage conditions. In
addition, these units of landscape are proposed as those
which may have most reflected the typology of the natural
setting by the Maya of Classic Times. Present-day Choi
classifications of the natural landscape in the study
area, which apparently take into consideration the same
parameters as this schema, are included in parentheses.
This grouping or classification of natural features to
generate "units of landscape" therefore represents a
204
second level of inference, combining features to provide
categories of natural landscape which may approximate
those which influenced the settlement, subsistence, or
political decisions and actions of the Maya of the past.
The proposed units are:
I. Sierra plateau (Witz): Selva Alta is found in this
unit of landscape, in association with peculiar edaphic
conditions which may render this area of agricultural
importance, despite the fact that it is characterized by
shallow Lithosols and Rendzinas. The latter soils more
commonly support Selva Mediana. These areas are on the
crests of the high anticlines, where surface lithology
features the lower Boca del Cerro Formation with its
nodules of chert. Karstic sinkholes (dolines and uvalas)
are found along the axes of high tectonic tension along
the anticline. No archaeological sites have been reported
to date in this landscape unit. Any sites located in the
future would be expected to be associated with extractive
activities rather than permanent agricultural settlement.
II. Sierra slopes (Buhtchil): This basic unit of
landscape features irregular terrain marked by small steep
valleys, escarpments, slopes and hilltops which restrict
easy movements over the landscape as well as limiting
agricultural activities of scale. The topography is
205
caused by faulting and secondary folds. Overall, this
unit is typified by Selva Mediana vegetation on Rendzinas
and Cambisols. The steep sloped topography in this
landscape type renders the area prone to erosion if
cleared, thus can be considered relatively fragile. These
are areas presently cleared and cultivated by recent
colonists using the slash-and-burn method. In the absence
of terracing, they are being exposed to leaching,
weathering and erosion. The archaeological sites found to
date which are located in this landscape unit are
associated with agricultural terraces (Santo Domingo), or
are in immediate proximity to the flat, valley areas of
Landscape Unit III (Bonampak, Anaite II, Santa Clara,
Anaitfe I, and perhaps La Pasadita within the study area).
This landscape unit may have offered primary potential for
upland silviculture.
III. Valley bottom (Ho til): This landscape unit in the
transect is crossed by the Arroyo Anaite. It is important
to note that the Arroyo Anaite follows the Syncline Santa
Clara, and therefore this is not a river valley in the
conventional sense as having been formed by the action of
the river. Although this area is more uniform in
topography than landscape type II, it is characterized by
pockets of soil and drainage conditions which support
varied vegetational communities, such as Selva Alta, Selva
206
Mediana, Selva Baja, and associations with Jimbal in
poorly drained conditions. The Tenosique Formation of the
Tertiary is exposed in this unit of landscape, with shales
and sandstones. Alluvial Quaternary deposits are also
present in the valley bottoms. This is expressed on the
landscape in pockets of soil conditions, vegetation, etc.
and related fine-grained landscape diversity. As
mentioned above, archaeological sites with monumental
architecture have not been found directly upon this
landscape unit in the study area (although in immediate
proximity to this t y p e ) , with the exception of El cayo and
El Porvenir, where valley bottom landscape unit type and
river bank association are combined providing "strategic"
reasons for the settlement location. This landscape type
is characterized by deep soils, and drainage problems of
varying severity, in some cases associated with flooding
related to backup from the Usumacinta River along the
arroyos.
IV. Hilly country: This landscape unit along the
transect is associated with the Usumacinta Anticline which
has produced a series of hills and hummocky country on
both sides of the Usumacinta River. A fairly uniform
Selva Mediana is found on this landscape unit which has
Rendzina soils of the Lacandon Series. Minor pockets of
Selva Alta are found. This unit is distinguished from
207
Landscape Unit II by the erosion characteristics which
here produced a hummocky topography of smaller hills as
water drained into dissolution basins, rather than general
runoff from a Sierra, as is the case of II. Yaxchilan and
Piedras Negras are located on this landscape unit,
although in both cases they are associated with the
Usumacinta River also; as is the case of El Chile and El
Chicozapote.
V. Escarpment: Due to its radical topographical
condition, the escarpment presents fragile edaphic
conditions, sparse and precarious vegetation. In the
transect presented here, escarpment is associated with the
eroded river course, although escarpments are also present
in the study area along faults in hilly country and the
sierras. Yaxchilan and Piedras Negras both present cases
of human modification of the upper escarpment into
architectural terraces.
VI. River and riverbank (Ti h a ) : The Usumacinta River is
of fundamental importance in the natural landscape and the
ongoing process of its formation in the study area. As
illustrated, it is also important for movement of goods,
ideas and humans into and through the study area. The
river at present, and probably in the past, provides food
resources. Although an alluvial plain is not predominant,
208
due to the river's geomorphological association, there
are very small areas of alluvial deposits in the form of
fluvisols. One such pocket is located directly across the
river from the site of Yaxchilan. As mentioned earlier,
El Cayo is also associated with such a riverbank and
island. Finally, the river and riverbank associations
were important for determining the location of natural
ports, such as El Chile and El Chicozapote in the study
area.
VII. Wetlands (Okol): The wetlands do not present a
singular landscape unit, but can be differentiated
according to their drainage characteristics. Some
wetlands are slowly drained, some are riverine associated
and some occur in closed depressions, as found by Fedick
(1988) for other parts of the Maya lowlands. The
vegetational association is Selva Baja and Ji mb a l e s, with
Sibales present where drainage is poor or in areas of
stagnant water. Along the transect on the Guatemalan side
of the Usumacinta River, close to the Hilly Country, there
is a wetland drained by the Arroyo Yaxchilan. This is a
riverine associated swamp characterized by Gleysols of the
Yaxchilan Series. In order to support agricultural use,
it is probable that this area would require a major
reclamation project. To date, no evidence of such
engineering has been found in the study area. In
209
addition, and as is to be expected from the previous
research in the lowland Maya area, no archaeological sites
have been reported for wetlands areas, although Adams and
Jones (1981) report having detected through SAR imagery
extensive canal networks in the wetlands area located
immediately to the southeast of the transect, around
Laguna Mendoza. Pope and Dahlin (1989) question the
possibility of detecting such agricultural systems from
SAR imagery. This debate exemplifies the pressing need
for archaeological field reconnaissance within the study
area, to bring arguments such as this "down to earth"
within the context of the natural and cultural landscapes.
VIII. Wide Valley: This unit of landscape is associated
with Selva Baja and Jimbal association, with Selva Mediana
and pockets of Selva A l t a . It is a much more extensive
unit than is the case of Landscape Unit III, as it
coincides with the Structural Plain geomorphological
formation. This unit of landscape is more frequently not
drained into the Usumacinta by an Arroyo, causing
saturation of the soils. Tertiary shales and sandstones
of the Tenosique formation provide the parent materials.
No archaeological sites have been found located upon this
unit of landscape, although sites such as La Pasadita, El
Chorro, and El Pato are located on the uplands in
210
immediate proximity, seemingly "overlooking" this
landscape unit.
2.2 FIVE KEY FEATURES OF THE NATURAL LANDSCAPE OF THE
STUDY AREA
Five features predominate for the understanding of
the natural and cultural landscapes of the study area.
These are: the nature of the Usumacinta River itself as it
flows through the study area; the weathering processes on
the limestone which produces a peculiar karstic
topography; the location of special materials which were
known to have been important during Classic Maya times,
such as fine-grained limestone for monuments and
buildings, chert for cutting tools, salt, and clay
deposits for ceramics; the agricultural and silvicultural
potential of the region; and finally, the complex mosaic
of the natural landscape produced by the conditions
described in the preceding sections.
2.2.1 River formation: As is clearly observable in
Figure 11, the Usumacinta River does not run through a
conventional river valley. Instead, there are parallel
valleys on either side of the river. The rivercourse is
cutting down through the axis of a geological structure.
This means that it runs a narrow course often cutting
211
through gorges and canyons; that it will never form a wide
alluvial plain; that seasonal flooding will occur only in
riverine associated swamp areas which are located away
from the river and linked by a series of small arroyos;
that the river's current will be formidable; that it is
characterized by a series of difficult rapids; that the
lack of riverbanks limit the location of portage sites;
and that travel upriver is difficult or impossible in all
seasons.
2.2.2 Karstic landscape: The karstic landscape is
characterized by differential erosion and chemical
dissolution of the parental materials. In the study area,
high temperatures and rainfall combine with the limestone
base in the context of geological structures to produce a
myriad of different topographical manifestations, which
include massive escarpments, sierra formations, wide
structural valleys on the one hand, as well as pocked and
irregular surfaces and sinkholes, on the other. The
result is a landscape which, while sharing a geological
origin with the Yucatan Peninsula and the Peten, bears
little resemblance to these in terms of the diversity of
the landscape. Furthermore, the processes involved in
this landscape formation are extremely dynamic and
sensitive to changes in humidity, vegetation cover, and
micro-climatic conditions.
212
2.2.3 Special materials: The geological processes which
have determined the general relief in the study area, have
also produced a surface lithology in which older
formations are exposed due to faulting, folding and
erosion processes. This results in the availability on or
close to the surface of localized materials. This study
has detected chert, salts, and fine limestones associated
with different geological formations. Archaeological
evidence from this and other parts of the lowland Maya
area indicate that these materials were indeed "resources"
or valued minerals in Classic Maya times. Further
research may detect other "resources" as well as quarries
and salt making stations within the study area.
2.2.4 Agricultural and silvicultural potential: The
identification of agricultural and silvicultural potential
for the study area depends to a great extent on further
archaeological testing. However, this study has
illustrated the close link between soil formation,
vegetation cover and topography. Recent consideration of
the past and present use of silviculture by the Maya has
introduced an additional element of complexity in
understanding the management and sustainability of
agroecosystems in the Maya zone, particularly in areas
characterized by the exuberance of the tropical
213
rainforest. As has been shown above, the arboreal element
is predominant in the natural landscape context, and
evidence suggests that for the Maya agriculturalist this
factor predominates today as it predominated in the past.
2.2.5 Mosaic of environmental conditions on the
landscape. The study area has been perceived by some as a
relatively homogeneous and uniform landscape. However,
the present study has revealed that, in fact, the Upper
Usumacinta River Basin is better characterized as a mosaic
of different units of landscape. That is, although this
study has been undertaken at a large, regional scale,
pockets of very specific environmental conditions have
been detected and illustrated on the maps and figures.
This factor would have greatly influenced the diversity
and extent of economic activities and potential for the
Classic Maya inhabitants. Therefore, as a result of the
data presented here, it can be seen that past
generalizations regarding economic activities, resources,
and human settlement locations for the study area have
been poorly informed in terms of the specifics of this
region.
214
3. INTERPRETIVE IMPORTANCE OF THE LANDSCAPE APPROACH: THE
CULTURAL LANDSCAPE
As mentioned at the outset of this study, Carl Sauer
(1925:343) proposed in the 1920s the idea that humans form
a new "cultural" landscape out of the materials which they
find available in the physical landscape. The raw
materials available may be used and developed, attributed
a "meaning", or ignored, depending on cultural "purpose"
(Ingold 1987:2) . The material becomes a resource through
this meaning and conceptualization, just as the natural
landscape becomes a meaningful, cultural landscape. A
first step in approximating the cultural landscape is to
understand the "environmental givens" provided by the
natural landscape (Ellen 197 8). A first attempt at this
has been provided in the present study for the Upper
Usumacinta River Basin. Combining this information with
that available for the Classic Maya culture in the study
area, has led to a proposed political landscape for an
important moment in the cultural history of this area.
The steps in the development of this proposal for a
cultural landscape are as follows. Once the basic
description of the natural landscape has been completed,
the known archaeological sites in the study area are
plotted on the natural landscape. Then the location of
215
these sites is associated with the basic units, of
landscape. From there, the possible activities of the
Classic Maya in relation to the basic units of landscape
are envisioned, based upon available knowledge of this
culture. From this point, the possible decision-making
process in the location of sites is projected. Decisions
could be influenced by agriculture, commerce and trade,
natural resource extraction, access to water, religion,
power and control, etc., and thus would be correlated with
such factors on the natural landscape as location of raw
materials, access to pathways or natural passes and
routes, soil availability, etc. In examining the location
of the known sites in the study area, a correlation was
found between their location and relatively favourable
conditions for human movement. That is, and as shown
above, the sites are located along the river which permits
and facilitates rapid movement downstream, and along the
valleys which provide relatively favourable conditions for
overland routes in an upstream direction. In addition,
the largest and most important sites in terms of
ceremonial architecture are those which are located at key
points in terms of the natural landscape for the control
of entrance into the study area, as well as movement
through the area. In summary, according to this proposal
movement was the key factor in cultural terms, and natural
landscape features facilitated this movement. In
216
addition, two polities emanated from the two major sites,
and a political border existed between them. Sites were
established in relation to this border, and the cultural
landscape emerges. This proposal can be tested by field
research.
Three key factors can be examined in order to test
this proposal. First, if the movement downstream took
place in relationship to a different set of settlements
than movement upstream, then the presence and quantities
of artefacts recovered from the sites in the study area
should be different according to their location on a
downstream or an upstream overland route. Second, if the
boundary between the two polities existed and the sites
along the boundary had different affiliations, some
further indication and confirmation of this, and its
evolution through time, should be available in the
material evidence from the various sites. Third, the
proposed importance of Piedras Negras and Yaxchilan in
terms of control over movements into, as well as through,
the Usumacinta River Basin, should be evidenced in the
archaeological materials and iconographic references to
these two sites. Present archaeological work being
undertaken at El Cayo will permit the initial testing of
these hypotheses.
217
4. POSSIBILITIES FOR FUTURE RESEARCH
The material provided in this thesis on the natural
and cultural landscapes of the Upper Usumacinta River
Basin is basic to further archaeological work in the
region. It provides crucial comparative material for
understanding the Classic Maya Period in this region
relative to the developments in other areas of the
southern Maya lowlands. However, this is but a first step
in attaining a complete grasp of the natural and cultural
landscapes of the area. Further fieldwork in landscape
archaeology will provide materials to augment, complement
and refine the information provided here. In particular,
the material presented here provides the context for the
development of well-founded hypotheses regarding the
Classic Maya use, modification and conceptualization of
the landscape. Building on the information collected and
analyzed in this document, the archaeologist can "single
out" specific themes for research, such as the
relationship between soils, agricultural potential and the
location of sites, and attempt to understand them in the
regional context.
218
I
I
<
CRETACEOUS LIMESTONES TERTIARY SIIALESASANnSTONES CRETACEOUS LIMESTONES
V V VI V
FIGURE NO. 11 BASIC UNITS OF LANDSCAPE ON A

CROSS SECTION OF THE UPPER
I. SIERRA PLATEAU; II. SIERRA SLOPES;
III. VALLEY BOTTOM; IV. HILLY COUNTRY;
V. ESCARPMENT; VI. RIVER AND RIVERBANK____
219
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Classic Maya Landscape in The Upper Usumacinta River Valley

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Classic Maya Landscape in the Upper Usumacinta River Valley

SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE

DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

© Mario M. Aliphat 1994

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The undersigned certify that they have read, and recommend to

the Faculty of Graduate Studies for acceptance, a dissertation

entitled "Classic Maya Landscape in the Upper Usumacinta River

Valley," submitted by Mario M. Aliphat, in partial fulfillment

of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

--'Dir. J. Scott Raymprid

Dr. Peter L. Mathews

May 20, 1994

The Usuroacinta River Basin in Chiapas, Mexico

witnessed the growth and florescence of the Classic Maya

civilization. However, the area has been relatively little

explored archaeologically in comparison to other lowland

Classic Maiya areas such as Belize and the Peten in

Guatemala. The primary objective of this thesis is to

provide a broad base of data concerning the Upper Usmacinta

River Basin on which to build a comprehensive knowledge of

the Classic Maya in this area. The data base is presented

from the perspective of landscape studies in archaeology,

which transcend the purely ecological, economical or

iconographical approaches to understanding the rise of past

The study area, defined hydrologically, is explored in

terms of the structural geology, the geomorphology, the

soils, and the vegetation to develop an approximation of

the physical and biotic landscapes. These data, which are

provided in the form of maps and figures, are then compared

with the location of known archaeological sites in the

Upper Usumacinta River Basin. The correlation of

settlement location with natural and biotic landscape

features provides the basis for the generation of a

Classic Maya times.

The results of this landscape analysis support the

idea that settlement decisions are influenced by physical

and biotic landscape features. For the study area, it is

proposed that the location of sites corresponds to

landscape features which facilitate the movement of goods

and the maintenance of interaction along the Usumacinta

River in downstream travel and through geologically-defined

valleys in overland travel in the upstream direction.

This dissertation is the result of the kind help and

assistance of many people in Canada and Mexico. First I

would like to acknowledge the kind support and guidance

provided by Dr. David H. Kelley and Dr. Scott Raymond

throughout all these years. Without their help and interest

it would have been very difficult to complete this study.

In Calgary, Dr. Brian Kooyman and Dr. Peter Mathews have

always shared their friendship and their knowledge with me.

Their good humour and commitment in the field will be