Archaeology and Ethnohistory in the Pueblos of Ebtún, Cuncunul,

Kaua, Tekom, and Tixcacalcupul, Yucatán, México

La Arqueología y Etnohistoria de los Pueblos de Ebtún, Cuncunul, Kaua,

Tekom, y Tixcacalcupul, Yucatán, México

Directed by

Dr. Rani T. Alexander

New Mexico State University

Ebtun, Kaua, Cuncunul, Tekom, and Tixcacalcupul comprise one of the few groups of related

communities on the Yucatán peninsula for which we have a long-running (1600-1833) corpus of

Maya-language documents, originally published by Ralph Roys in 1939 as The Titles of Ebtun.

Although the towns were created after the conquest by forcibly moving native inhabitants to these

locations, the Maya retained private and municipal ownership of their lands, which largely

corresponded to the boundaries of the prehispanic native province of Cupul, into the 20th century.

Roys located many of Ebtun’s dependent settlements and agricultural parcels on maps, but

contemporary works have placed little emphasis on the material underpinnings, places, and

spatio-temporal contexts of the events and discourses represented in historical sources. My goal

in this project is to explore variation in the life histories of different places on the landscape by

bringing to bear historical and archaeological evidence on settlement system change of the last

500 years. Ultimately, I want to evaluate how loss of land ownership and local municipal control

of land spurs different responses among different communities, how these responses are manifest

in the archaeological patterning among settlements, and whether they explain the retention or loss

of cultural autonomy in colonial Yucatan.

San Bartólome, Patron Saint of Ebtun

Cenote Cotut. The sign says Prohibido Tocar Este

Cenote, Cualquiera duda en la Comisaria Municipal de

Ebtun.

Project Description

Descripción del Proyecto

Historical and anthropological investigations in Yucatan have sought to explain

the persistence of Maya culture in the face of colonial upheavals. Several ideas have been

advanced, including 1). differential acculturation and distance from colonial authority

(Redfield 1941; Steggerda 1941; cf. Castañeda 1996, Strickon 1965), 2). incomplete

conquest and Spanish neglect of the province (Clendinnen 1987); 3). the delayed

transition to a market-based economy (Patch 1993); 4). the coherence of corporate

communities (Farriss 1984; Restall 1997; Thompson 2000); and 5). forms of active

resistance that range from tenacious litigation and localized revolts to large scale

uprisings and religious revitalization movements such as the Caste War of Yucatan (e.g.

Bricker 1981; Dumond 1997; Patch 2002; Reed 2001; Roys 1939). To evaluate these

options for Ebtun and related communities, I contend that a long-term, microregional

analysis that integrates the archaeology of the daily practices in Maya communities with

ethnohistorical perspectives of native resistance is vital to comprehend how indigenous

communities retain local autonomy and cultural identity when faced with colonization

and globalization.

Tontzimin cenote in 2006.

Roys 1939 translation of the final survey map of the

Tontzimin tract in 1820.

The Titles of Ebtun contains a meticulous written record of management of a

hydrogeologic landscape, with attendant micromanagement of land ownership and

disputes over the inheritance, regulation of use, and transfer of land parcels, especially

those containing cenotes (natural water sources), caves, and rejollas (sinkholes). Some

cases ownership was disputed between towns over long time periods. For example,

disagreements between Ebtun and Cuncunul over the ownership of the Tontzimin tract

lasted over 180 years. Native communities frequently recovered ownership of tracts that

were sold to outsiders. Land parcels such as Cotut, Uxal, and Xcunsuc were sold to

residents of Valladolid or Uayma, but individuals and political authorities in Ebtun

repurchased the tracts or blocked inheritance, as opportunities arose (Roys 1939).

Hacienda Muchucux, arco principal

One of the easiest ways to resolve a land dispute between towns was to sell the land to a

Spaniard, as was the case with Hacienda Chebalam and Muchucux (Roys 1939:18). The

land for three of the earliest and largest haciendas in Yaxcabá parish was sold in the

eighteenth century by people from Kaua and Yaxcabá. These management strategies

affected the sequence of occupations and built environment of the sites.

Archival Work

Trabajo del Archivo

The project juxtaposes archaeological and documentary evidence to answer the following

questions:

1. What exactly constituted political-economic

pressure on Maya communities in the Ebtun region

in the colonial and post-Independence periods?

2. Did these pressures affect all Maya communities

to the same degree?

3. How did Maya inhabitants cope with these

pressures?

4. How did the colonial regime and the post-

colonial political economy shape the “traditional”

Maya community as we know it today?

Padron de Kaua, 1841, Archivo General del

Estado de Yucatán.

An important part of the project was conducting archival research of Spanish-

language sources housed in archives in Mérida, Yucatán. Important variables needed to

characterize political-economic differences among different communities include

population, civil and ecclesiastical tax structure, municipal administration, amounts of

agricultural, sugar, and cattle production, craft specialization (textiles), and prevalence of

wage labor. Actions recorded as crimes by the state may also signal arenas of resistance.

Consequently, my efforts were focused in the Archivo General del Estado de Yucatan

(Ramos Padrones, Gobernación, and Justicia Penal), the Archivo de la Mitra Emeritense

(Ramos Visitas Pastorales, Cofradías, Asuntos Terminados), and the Centro de Apoyo

para Investigaciones Históricas de Yucatán (Municipal records, Registro de Terrenos

Baldíos, and Diezmos).

Censuses or padrones for the years 1811, 1841, 1883, and 1890 in the Archivo

General del Estado de Yucatán list names, ages, sex, and occupations of each inhabitant

for each community in the study region. Further analysis of these data will provide

detailed information on demographic trends before and after the Caste War of Yucatán.

Between 1828 and 1883, the greater Ebtun region lost 76% of its population. Documents

from Ebtun in Spanish and Maya suggest that resistant acts were directed against

Yucatán’s civil and religious tax policy and its tax collection agents in the mid-nineteenth

century. Disputes over land ownership and inheritance were handled through litigation.

Archaeological Survey and Test Excavations

El Reconocimiento Arqueológico y las Excavaciones de Sondeo

With the authorization of the Consejo de Arqueología, INAH, we carried out eight

weeks of regional archaeological survey, between June 1-August 1, 2006. The research

team identified the range of variation in settlement forms and described their ecological

settings, political-economic functions, histories of occupation, population densities, and

production infrastructure. These data allow us to address two specific objectives:

1. Describe the archaeological differences between sites (municipal seats,

auxiliary towns, haciendas, ranchos, sitios and agricultural parcels) and their

distribution in space and time.

2. Evaluate the similarities and differences between archaeological settlements

and their characterization in documentary sources.

To collect the necessary data, we used a non-destructive protocol commonly used

on regional archaeological survey projects in Mesoamerica. With the authorization and

support of local municipal authorities and the assistance of undergraduate and graduate

students, and prepared with a comprehensive list of settlement names and places gleaned

from documentary sources, we carried out systematic archaeological survey of the region

circumscribed by the dependent settlements of Ebtún, Kaua, Cuncunul, Tekom,

Tixcacalcupul, Chichimila, and Uayma, which appear on Roys’s (1939) maps. We used a

an intensive reconnaissance strategy, as close to full coverage pedestrian survey as the

dense tropical vegetation cover would allow, known as village-to-village survey

(Sinopoli 2005). Using GIS technology, we prepared a base map of the region using

orthostatic maps and vector data provided by the Instituto Nacional de Estadística,

Geografía e Informática (INEGI). We compared the INEGI data to the locational

information previously recorded by Roys, to the Atlas Arqueológica del Estado de

Yucatán (Garza T. de González y Kurjack 1980), and to information available in the

Centro INAH-Yucatán. Because the settlements listed in documentary sources are all still

well known to local farmers, we recorded most of the sites on our lists, as well as sites

that do not appear in the historical record.

Using GPS, we located and described the archaeological sites in the study area,

focusing on sites inhabited during the last 500 years. Many colonial period sites also

show evidence of prehispanic occupation. Places listed in The Titles of Ebtun include the

‘labcah’ or old towns of the protohistoric period from which the Maya population was

subjected to the policy of congregación in the sixteenth century. To collect data on site

size and the internal organization of architecture and features, we recorded ecological and

geomorphological characteristics, mapped the central parts of each site using a total

station, and surveyed transects radiating from the center of the site to delimit site size.

We also collected surface material consisting of ceramics, lithics, glass and metal to

determine dates of occupation. Preliminary analysis of all materials was conducted in

Yucatan, and all artifacts were delivered to the Centro-INAH Yucatán for curation.

Adam Kaeding mapping the Tixcacalcupul

Convento.

José Díaz Cruz, Adam Kaeding, Eleuterio Un Un,

and Nícolas Un Camal excavating behind the

church in Ebtun.

In the currently occupied towns of Ebtún, Kaua, Cuncunul, Tekom,

Tixcacalcupul, and Chichimilá, deposits of earth and midden accumulated along the

exterior walls of the church and municipal office buildings in the town centers offer an

opportunity to collect arcchaeological material from stratified contexts. For this reason,

INAH granted permission to excavate a one-by-one meter test pit in each town in order to

characterize the colonial ceramic sequence of this rural region. Each test pit was

excavated by carefully separating proveniences in natrual and cultural levels, and in

general the surface was recorded separately from subsequent levels. In situations where

natural or cultural features did not cover the horizontal extent of the excavation, different

proveniences were separated as zones. All soil was screened through 6mm mesh. Each

provenience and material type was designated with a unique field specimen (FS) number.

The matrix, 3-dimensional location, and associations for each context were described in

detail on standardized forms. Plans and sections were drawn to scale and photographed.

All artifacts were taken to the Centro INAH Yucatán for analysis and curation.

Project Personnel

Personal del Proyecto

Archaeological research projects are not solitary endeavors, and many people

have contributed to the success of the Ebtun Project.

Los proyectos arqueológicos no son empresas solitarias, sino que mucha gente

contribuye al éxito del Proyecto de la Arqueología y Etnohistoria de Ebtun.

Director

Dra. Rani T. Alexander,

Department of Sociology and Anthropology,

New Mexico State University

Field Archaeologists

Adam Kaeding, Department of Archaeology, Boston College

José Díaz Cruz, Centro INAH Yucatán

Gastón Medina, Facultad de Ciencias Antropológicas, Universidad Autónoma de

Yucatán

Ebtun Survey and Excavation Crew

Eleuterio Un Un

Nícolas Un Camal

Florencio Un Camal

José Guadalupe Noh Canul

Hipólito Poot Ay

Florencio Tamay Dzib

Contributing Analysts

Dr. Susan Kepecs

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Ceramic typology, petrography and ceramic ecology

Data Management and Cartography

Ruth Martínez Cervantes

Matthew Punke

Adam Kaeding, José Díaz Cruz, Eleuterio Un

Un, and Nícolas Un Camal on the Cobá-

Yaxuná Sacbe

Excavating at Tixcacalcupul

Publications

Results from the archaeological investigations are disseminated as published works, BA

theses and masters theses, unpublished field reports and manuscripts, and papers

presented at archaeological conferences.

Alexander, Rani T. n.d. Ralph Roys de nuevo: La ecología agraria y la base arqueológica

para Los Títulos de Ebtun. In El Pueblo Maya del Siglo XIX, Cuadernos del Centro de

Estudios Mayas (Memorias de los simposios del VII Congreso Internacional de

Mayistas), Susan Kepecs and Rani Alexander, coordinadoras. Centro de Estudios Mayas,

Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México,volume under review.

Alexander, Rani T. 2012 Prohibido Tocar este Cenote: the archaeological basis for the Titles of

Ebtun. International Journal of Historical Archaeology 16(1):1-24.

Alexander, Rani T. 2012 Maya Collapse or Resilience? Lessons from the Spanish Conquest and

Yucatan’s Caste War. In The Ancient Maya of Mexico: Reinterpreting the Past of the Northern

Maya Lowlands, edited by Geoffrey Braswell, pp. 319-340. Equinox publishing, London.

Alexander, Rani T. 2012 Landscape Change in the Maya Region, AD 1450-1910. In Oxford

Handbook of Mesoamerican Archaeology, edited by Deborah L. Nichols and Christopher A.

Pool, pp. 933-947. Oxford University Press, New York.

Alexander, Rani T. 2010 Identidad y cultural material en el área Maya: un comentario. In La

Identidad y Cultura Material en el área Maya, Héctor Hernández Alvarez and Marcos Pool Cab,

coordinators, pp. 191-200. Facultad de Ciencias Antropológicas, Universidad Autónoma de

Yucatán.

Field Reports

Alexander, Rani T., with contributions by, José Díaz Cruz, Adam Kaeding, Ruth

Martínez Cervantes, Matthew Punke and Susan Kepecs 2008. La Arqueología Colonial

en los Pueblos de Ebtún, Cuncunul, Kaua, Tekom, y Tixcacalcupul, Yucatán, México.

Informe técnico de campo para la temporada de 2006, presentada al Consejo de

Arqueología, Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, México, D.F, 369pp.

Papers Presented

Ponencias Presentadas

Alexander, Rani T. 2006. Ralph Roys Revisited: Colonial Maya Agrarian Ecology and

the Archaeological Basis for the “Titles of Ebtun”. Colloquium presented to the

Department of Anthropology, University of Arizona, November 30, 2006, Tucson.

Alexander, Rani T. 2007. Ralph Roys de Nuevo: la ecología agraria y la base

arqueológica para Los Títulos de Ebtun. Paper presented at the VII Congreso

Internacional de Mayistas, July 8-14, 2007, Mérida, Yucatán.

Alexander, Rani T. 2008. From the Caste War to the Revolution: Demography,

Settlement, and Identity in Ebtún, Yucatán. Paper presented at the SHA 2008 Conference

on Historical and Underwater Archaeology, January 9-13, 2008, Albuquerque.

Alexander, Rani T. 2008. Prohibido Tocar este Cenote: the archaeological basis for the

Titles of Ebtun. Paper presented in the Fifth annual Tulane Maya Symposium, “Sacred

Cenotes, Hidden Caverns: Rituals, Beliefs, and Everyday Activities Related to Caves and

Cenotes among the Maya,” February 15-17, 2008, New Orleans.

Alexander, Rani T. 2008. The Secondary Products Revolution Comes to Yucatán. Paper

presented at the 73rd

annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, March 26-

30, 2008, Vancouver, BC, Canada.

Alexander, Rani T. 2008. Maya Agrarian Ecology in Yucatán, 1500-2000. Working

paper prepared for School of Advanced Research (SAR) Advanced Seminar, September

27-October 3, 2008, Santa Fe, NM.

Alexander, Rani T. 2012 The Archaeology of Place in Ebtun, Yucatán, México. Invited

paper presented at the 77th

annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology,

April 18-22, 2012, Memphis.

Alexander, Rani T. 2011 ¿Que Colapso Maya? Lecciones de la invasión española y la

Guerra de Castas en Yucatán, invited paper presented at the III Congreso Internacional de

la Cultura Maya, March13-18, 2011, Mérida, Yucatán.

Alexander, Rani T. 2010 Identity, Place, and the Built Environment in Ebtun, Yucatan,

Mexico. Invited paper presented at the 109th

Annual meeting of the American

Anthropological Association, November 17-21, 2010, New Orleans.

Alexander, Rani T. 2010 Maya Collapse or Resilience? Lessons from the Spanish

Conquest and Yucatan’s Caste War. Invited paper presented at the 75th

annual meeting of

the Society for American Archaeology, April 14-18, 2010, St. Louis.

Alexander, Rani T. 2009 Caste War Archaeology in Yucatan: hidden transcripts of

resistance and representations of the past. Invited paper presented at the 2009 annual

meeting of the American Society for Ethnohistory, Sept 30-Oct 4, 2009, New Orleans.

Schmidt, Erin. 2012. An Examination of Hacienda Architecture in Yucatán. Paper

presented at the 77th

annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, April 18-

22, 2012, Memphis.

Williams, Nina. 2012. La Noria: A Hydrologic Technology of Yucatán. Paper presented

at the 77th

annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, April 18-22, 2012,

Memphis.

Acknowledgments

Agradecimientos

Permission to conduct fieldwork was granted by the Consejo de Arqueología,

Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, under the direction of Mtro. Roberto

García Moll, and facilitated through the Centro INAH Yucatán, under the direction of

Arqlga. Federica Sodi Miranda. The gracious cooperation of these institutions has

advanced the progress of fieldwork and analysis.

Funding for the 2006 field season was provided by a Fulbright Hays Faculty

Research Abroad Fellowship through the US Department of Education. The Arts and

Sciences Research Center at New Mexico State University provided a minigrant for pre-

fieldwork planning. Analysis of archaeological data has been aided by grants from the

NMSU Vice President for Research, Undergraduate Research Initiatives Grants and a

research assistantship of the Dept. of Sociology and Anthropology. The generous support

of these sponsors is gratefully acknowledged.

Special thanks are due to several individuals who provided local advice and

logistical support for the project. Arqlgo Luis Millet Cámara, the former director of the

Centro INAH Yucatán, was instrumental in project planning in 2005. Arqlgo Rafael

Burgos Villanueva served as the local coordinator for the project. Investigators of the

Sección de Arqueología of the Centro INAH-Yucatán, especially Dr Alfredo Barrera

Rubio, Arqlga Eunice Uc González, Arqlga Beatriz Quintal, ArqlgoVictor Castillo, and

Arqlga Leticia Vargas, were extremely helpful. Arqlga Sylviane Boucher and Arqlga

Yoly Palomo, ceramicists, aided the delivery and curation of excavated materials to the

lab at the Centro INAH Yucatan. Dr Rafael Cobos Palma and Mtro Héctor Hernández

Alvarez, Facultad de Ciencisas Antropológicas of the Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán,

made excellent suggestions and facilitated student participation. Dra. Piedad Peniche

Rivero, director of the Archivo General del Estado de Yucatán, facilitated archival

research, and Dr. Sergio Quezada provided invaluable suggestions in locating source

material. We were assisted by the Comisarios ejidal of Ebtun, Kaua, Cuncunul, Tekom,

Tixcacalcupul, and Chan Kom who granted permission for archaeological survey on

municipally-owned lands, served as guides or sent representatives to guide us to specific

sites, and helped us to contact local landowners to obtain permission to survey on private

lands. We extend special appreciation to Florencio Un Camal, comisario ejidal of Ebtun,

and José Guadalupe Noh Canul, comisario ejidal of Kaua. Our work also was aided by

Padres Jose Ibán González, Heraclio González, and Miguel Santos, priests in charge of

the churches in Ebtun, Kaua, Cuncunul, Tekom, and Tixcacalcupul who formally

presented us to their congregations and granted permission for excavation around the

churches. We are especially indebted to the people of Ebtun whose support made the

project possible. Their friendship and hospitality are most greatly appreciated.