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Tenam Rosario—A Political Microcosm

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Olivier de Montmollin
Olivier de Montmollin*
Affiliation:
Centre of Latin American Studies, History Faculty Building, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 9EF, England
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Abstract

Civic-ceremonial plaza planning is analyzed at Tenam Rosario, the capital center of a small Late/Terminal Classic period (A.D. 700-950) Maya polity, to shed light on political organization. When the capital's civic-ceremonial layout is compared with settlement patterns in its hinterland, the polity's hierarchical and territorial political arrangements appear to be reproduced in microcosm within the capital"s civic-ceremonial zone. Possible political microcosms of this kind at other mesoamerican capital sites are discussed, along with correlates of this variant of political organization.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 53 , Issue 2 , April 1988 , pp. 351 - 370
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1988

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References

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