Browsing by Author "Reese-Taylor, Kathryn"

Now showing 1 - 6 of 6
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    A Study of Dress and Identity in the Late Classic Maya Court
    (2017) Tremain, Cara Grace; McCafferty, Geoffrey; Reese-Taylor, Kathryn; Lyons, Diane; Hardy, Michele; Halperin, Christina
    This dissertation seeks to understand the relationship between ancient Maya identities and dress during the Late Classic period (A.D. 600-900), through an analysis of sartorial representations of members within the royal court. The specific research question that frames this dissertation is whether roles or offices within the ancient Maya royal court were made salient through dress. Rather than focus on one particular type of identity or office role, this dissertation takes a more holistic approach by considering all royal court members represented on painted ceramic vessels. In carefully examining painted imagery and providing a means of identifying inauthentic representations of dress, this research also helps to uncover the life histories of Maya ceramics. Using organizational dress theory, the study contributes a novel insight into the nature of Maya royal courts. It demonstrates that dress is a useful means of examining the political makeup and behaviour of courts, though at present it cannot alone speak to all the identities of those within the court. The study also reveals the difficulty of understanding active individuals from static representations, reflecting the fluidity with which courtiers were able to change dress and shift their identities. Overall, there is a lack of evidence that dress made specific courtly roles salient. Maya courtiers seem to have chosen dress elements that align with their gender identity and elite positioning—choices that were regulated by informal rules (or norms) in society.
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    An Examination of Chipped-Stone Materials at the Wo’ Residential Group at Yaxnohcah, Southern Campeche, Mexico
    (2020-05-22) Haggard, Alyssa Janelle; Reese-Taylor, Kathryn; Peuramaki-Brown, Meaghan M.; Paris, Elizabeth H.; Hughes, Lisa A.
    This thesis research is an analysis of a chipped-stone assemblage from an elite residential compound, referred to as the Wo’ Group, at the ancient Maya archaeological site of Yaxnohcah, southern Campeche, Mexico. This group is situated roughly between two monumental complexes, with the bulk of its occupation dated to the Late Classic (550 – 750 C.E.), ascertained by excavations conducted in 2015 (Peuramaki-Brown et al. 2016). The chipped-stone assemblage is comprised of predominantly debitage, along with tool fragments, informal flake tools, and an intact elongated biface. The principal purpose of this research was to reconstruct the lithic manufacture and consumption behaviour of the Wo’ Group’s occupants through defining the manufacturing behaviours, identifying patterns of distribution to indicate specialized activity areas, and uncover variation in the level of lithic activities between depositional contexts. The chipped-stone assemblage was subjected to a typological analysis and debitage was classified based on morphological attributes to examine stages of reduction and manufacturing techniques. The tool types were compared to other studies around the Maya lowlands for identification purposes. Based on examination, the assemblage currently few tools; however, it appears that bifaces were manufactured at the group based on the evidence of bifacial-thinning flakes, an early stage biface, biface production failures, and medial biface fragments. Early to late stages of core and tool reduction are evident at the group, along with several flakes modified into informal tools. The predominate raw material type is a light grey chert variety. Furthermore, over half of the material has evidence of some form of thermal alteration. The Wo’ Group occupants were involved in low-level household production for their own consumption purposes.
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    Hydrological Landscape Analysis of a Sinuous Depression, Yaxnohcah, Mexico
    (2020-01-30) Milley, David Steven; Reese-Taylor, Kathryn; Oetelaar, Gerald A.; McDermid, Gregory J.
    Yaxnohcah is a large site in Campeche, Mexico with evidence of continual occupation from the early Middle Preclassic into the Postclassic. In 2014, the Yaxnohcah Archaeological Project commissioned a high resolution LiDAR scan of the region, which has allowed for accurate modeling of surface hydrology and significantly contributed to our understanding of hydrological landscape modification at the site. One feature of particular interest was an irregularly shaped, deeply etched sinuous depression located in the Bajo Tomatal, just south of the narrow drainage that connects it with the Bajo Laberinto. The aim of this research was to ascertain whether this sinuous depression is a cultural or natural feature, and if cultural, what it can tell us about how the ancient lowland Maya at Yaxnohcah modified the hydrology of their natural landscape to sustain urban settlements in the dense and inhospitable rainforests of the Yucatan. In 2017 and 2018, I modeled and analysed the hydrology of the sinuous depression, and in the 2018 field season performed excavations of the feature. The excavations showed that, while the sinuous depression may originally have been a natural feature, it was extensively modified, with clear evidence for considerable refurbishment during the Postclassic and data suggesting an earlier date for initial construction. Furthermore, the modelling indicates that the sinuous depression formed part of system of hydrological features that was accretional developed throughout the Preclassic into the Early Classic as control mechanisms for redirecting, buffering, and capturing water around the Brisa complex. This system underwent considerable refurbishment during the Postclassic.
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    It's Good to be King: The Archaeology of Power and Authority
    (The University of Calgary, 2011) Morton, Shawn; Butler, Don; Reese-Taylor, Kathryn; Dawson, Peter; Simpson, Steven
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    Sakjol: An Ancient Maya Neighborhood Marketplace at Yaxnohcah
    (2021-09-22) Parrott, Nathan Daniel; Paris, Elizabeth H.; Reese-Taylor, Kathryn; Hughes, Lisa A.
    The research presented in this thesis consists of the excavation and analysis of artifacts recovered from an ancient Maya marketplace, known as the Sakjol marketplace, at the Maya site of Yaxnohcah located in southern Campeche, Mexico. The objective of this research is to contribute toward a greater understanding of ancient Maya marketplaces with a particular focus on the activities that would have taken place within the setting. Material analysis of artifacts recovered from excavations was focused primarily on the lithic artifacts recovered which consisted primarily of lithic reduction debris. The results of excavations and analysis of materials recovered illustrated that a range of activities were performed within the Sakjol marketplace. Lithic craft production appears to have focused primarily on middle to late-stage bifacial tool production however, earlier stages such as core preparation and shaping also occurred. Food vending activities were likely conducted as indicated by the presence of serving vessel debris, charcoal, and metates. The marketplace was maintained through cleaning activities such as sweeping and dumping with debris deposited in convenient yet out of the way locations.  
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    The Women of Britannia: Female Identities on the Romano-British Frontier from 100 BC to 300 AD
    (2023-01-13) Crook, Robyn M. D.; Lyons, Diane; Reese-Taylor, Kathryn; Hughes, Lisa; Olson, Kelly; Pavelka, Mary Susan
    Increased archaeological interest in the frontiers of the Roman world and interest in past constructions of gender and sexuality have created an opportunity for archaeologists to explore these elements of identity in more depth in the more dynamic regions of the empire. Northern Britannia was a site of complex processes of culture contact and colonial practices which affected the local population and those who came to this frontier area of the Roman Empire. This study includes context and practices from the late Iron Age through Roman conquest, until 300 AD. Within the study area, changes in agriculture, production, trade, burial practices, and material culture began to take place in the late Iron Age due to increased contact with the continent and southern Britain, and these changes continued throughout conquest and into the Roman period. In order to discuss gender and identity within Northern Britannia, classical sources, contemporary records and personal correspondence, funerary monumentation, burial practices, grave goods, personal ornamentation and clothing, as well as traditionally gendered items such as weaving implements were analyzed within the context of Roman ideals for the status and behaviour of women. Classical sources provide information about the Roman ideal woman, including being a loyal wife, mother and someone who provided for her family through traditional activities such as weaving and childcare. Contemporary records and personal correspondence show the nature of the activities and relationships of women at the site of Vindolanda, both higher status and women associated with soldiers in the area. Funerary monumentation illustrated local identities through local names, tribal associations, representations of hairstyles and clothing, and that status and military association was an integral part of the everyday creation and expression of women’s identities. Burial practices indicate strong associations between women and childcare that spanned the Iron Age and Roman periods, and that status played a large role in how women were buried, and what with. Items of personal ornamentation and clothing mirrored the correlation between women and children/childcare, expression of local identities, the importance of status that at times surpassed gender in identity expression.