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Demografia en la zona puuc: El recurso del metodo

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Pierre Becquelin  and
Dominique Michelet
Pierre Becquelin
Affiliation:
U.P.R. 312 du C.N.R.S., Musée de l'Homme, 17 place du Trocadéro, 75116 Paris, France
Dominique Michelet
Affiliation:
U.P.R. 312 du C.N.R.S., Musée de l'Homme, 17 place du Trocadéro, 75116 Paris, France
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Resumen

Datos sobre asentamiento nuevamente obtenidos en el sitio puuc de Xculoc y sus cercanías (Campeche, México), nos permiten calcular el tamaño de la población de este sector en el momento de su auge (900-1000 D.C.). Los datos incluyen dimensiones de los pisos internos de toda residencia potencial, así como las capacidades de las cisternas subterráneas (chultunes) que constituían las únicas fuentes de agua durante la temporada seca de seis meses (noviembre-mayo). La división de las superficies y capacidades totales por coeficientes basados en datos etnoarqueológicos produce cifras de población menores que las que se habrían obtenido por medio de la aplicación de las proporciones utilizadas en el sitio cercano de Sayil (McAnany 1990; Tourtellot et al. 1990). Los resultados sugieren que es necesario re-examinar los cálculos de la población maya del horizonte Clásico producidos durante los pasados 20 años. La reducción de 30 a 50 por ciento que proponemos tendría implicaciones sustanciales en cuanto a nuestra concepción de la organización económica, política, y social de la sociedad clásica maya.

Abstract

Abstract

Settlement data obtained recently from the Puuc site of Xculoc, Campeche, and its environs enabled us to estimate the peak population levels of ca. A. D. 900-1000. The data include measurements of internal floor space of all potential residences as well as estimates of the capacities of associated subterranean cisterns (chultuns), the only water supply available during the six-month dry season (November-May). When the total available floor area and the chultun capacities are divided by new ethnoarchaeologically derived coefficients of space utilization and water consumption, the resulting population estimates are considerably less than those that would be obtained if the ratios recently used in the nearby site of Sayil were applied (McAnany 1990; Tourtellot et al. 1990). The results suggest that most estimates of Maya population made during the past 20 years need to be reexamined The 30 to 50 percent reduction in such figures we hypothesize would have substantial implications regarding our conception of Classic Maya economic, political, and social organization.

Type
Articles
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 5 , Issue 4 , December 1994 , pp. 289 - 311
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1994

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