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A symposium to be presented at the

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE of the International Council of Archaeozoology

in Mexico City, 23rd to 28th of August 2006

Zooarchaeological Evidence of the Ancient Maya and their Environment: Human Impact on Environment and Environmental Impact on Culture

Session Organizers:
Christopher M. Götz, M.A. (Facultad de Ciencias Antropológicas, Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán) {Chrgoetz@gmx.net}
Kitty F. Emery, PhD. (Environmental Archaeology, Florida Museum of Natural History) {kemery@flmnh.ufl.edu}

This session explores the close interaction between environment and culture, as it is expressed in the zooarchaeological record of the ancient Maya.

Both environmental and anthropological sciences have combined in recent years in a realization that the relationship between ancient humans and their environments was never unidirectional or simplistic. The concept of a "pristine" environment is now recognized as one that existed only before the arrival of humankind. Environments and humans interact in a dynamic synergy that results in both ecological and cultural changes over time, leaving no landscape untouched. On the other hand, no culture exists in a vacuum and it is increasingly clear that many cultural choices are mediated by given environmental conditions and particularly by environmental change. This complex interaction can be observed in the zooarchaeological record for example with dramatic extinctions or subtle biogeographic, distributional or morphological changes of animal species. Alternatively, there can be cultural changes such as shifts in subsistence patterns or dietary preferences by certain sectors or the whole society in a given area, changes in the use of certain species as ritual paraphernalia or status markers, and so on.

The papers in this session will discuss the zooarchaeological evidence for the impact of the ancient Maya culture on the environment and its animal populations, ancient responses to environmental conditions and changes, and the synergystic relationship of humans and environments in this area. We hope to include researches about sites from the different geographical regions of the Maya world. The research topics can range through all phases of this culture: preclassic, classic, postclassic and colonial. We also welcome papers about modern interaction and use of faunal resources in the Maya area under the above described general topic. Theoretical and methodological discussions are appreciated, as are papers presenting faunal analysis from any site or area in the subregions of the Maya world. We hope to use these papers as a sounding board for discussions of the regional archaeological evidence for cultural/environmental relationships through time in the Maya world and beyond to the Neotropics in general.

Apart from archaeozoologists in the strict sense we encourage any other researcher who can provide a useful contribution to the discipline.

Papers on theoretical and methodological issues concerning the topic, as well as analysis of primary material and general discussions are most welcomed.

Each speaker will have 15 minutes for presenting the paper and 5 minutes for answering questions.