Joel Palka
Datos Biográficos
| ID | 111468 |
|---|---|
| NOMBRE | Joel Palka |
| NOMBRES | Joel |
| APELLIDO | Palka |
| FIRMA | PALKA J |
| AFILIACIONES | Arizona State University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-0905-2048 |
| VERIFICADO | Sí |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 33 |
| TOTAL DE CITAS | 218 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 33 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 0 |
| PRIMER AÑO DE PUBLICACIÓN | 1992 |
| AÑO MÁS RECIENTE DE PUBLICACIÓN | 2026 |
| ÍNDICE H | 7 |
Houses of Other Persons
In this article, we analyze Lacandon Maya communication with nonhuman persons (deities) residing in ancient Maya ruins in the lowlands of Chiapas, Mexico, and Petén, Guatemala. Through archaeological and ethnographic evidence, we examine ruined sites in the ritual landscape where Lacandon Maya have undertaken religious pilgrimages. We discuss Lacandon perceptions of ruins within the anthropological contexts of animism, pantheistic religions, and …
Maya Collectives, Ritual Landscapes, and Community Dynamics at Mensäbäk, Chiapas, Mexico
This article examines the sociopolitical evolution of Palenque and the Mensäbäk Basin, focusing on shifting models of organization from the Late Preclassic (300 BC–AD 250) to the Late Postclassic (AD 1250–1525). We argue that changes in access to ritual spaces and landscape-related ceremonies reflected broader transformations in Maya social organization as it made the transition from collective to less collective societies. The transformation fro…
Weaponry for archaeologists
Kidnapped to the Underworld
James D. Nations, Lacandón Maya in the Twenty-First Century
James D. Nations, Lacandón Maya in the Twenty-First Century: Indigenous Knowledge and Conservation in Mexico’s Tropical Rainforest (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2023), 292 pp., $100.00 (hbk), ISBN: 9780813069784
A Small Rural Travel Stopover at the Late Postclassic Maya Site of Mensabak, Chiapas, Mexico
A small rural stopover along overland Maya and Aztec trade and travel routes was identified in surveys and excavations at adjacent settlements and shrines at Mensabak, Chiapas, Mexico. This collection of Late Postclassic to Spanish conquest-era (c.ad 1350–1650) Maya sites are similar in function to rural Old World and Andean caravan stopovers, such as caravanserai and way stations, where travellers and traders obtained supplies, trading partners,…
Ancestral Maya domesticated waterscapes, ecological aquaculture, and integrated subsistence
Ancestral Maya engineered wetland fields and canals in floodplains for plant cultivation and water management. Canals and reservoirs, however, also provide aquatic resources to supplement agriculture. Maya created multi-trophic ecological aquaculture by modifying the waterscape to increase the amounts of foods and useful materials, such as fish, turtles, waterfowl, and reeds. While archaeological and ethnographic investigations across the Maya ar…
Maya Pilgrimage, Migration, and Community Connectivity at Ritual Landscapes at Mensabak, Chiapas, Mexico
Anthropologists have demonstrated that having information about new settlements is crucial for drawing migrants. Pilgrimage to ritual landscapes and their shrines allows people, including Maya societies, to explore places where they can settle. They then establish or augment settlements around the landscape shrines, which explains the locations and growth of some centers. Migrants continue to make pilgrimages to shrines, such as sacred mountains,…
Maya Pilgrimage, Ritual Landscapes, and Relations with Deities in Chiapas, Mexico
Biografía, función y análisis iconográfico de dos cilindros efigie procedentes de cuevas mayas de Laguna Pethá, Chiapas
En este trabajo se analiza la iconografía de dos cilindros efigie duplicados mayas hallados en cuevas y abrigos rocosos de Laguna Pethá, municipio de Ocosingo, Chiapas. A través de un análisis comparativo nosotros tentativamente identificamos un nuevo estilo regional maya asociado a la presencia de aletas en cilindros de cerámica vinculados a Toniná en el valle de Ocosingo. Sus características iconográficas sitúan a estas piezas próximas al perio…
Mesoamerican Warfare, Protecting Divinities, and Fortified Sanctuaries
Fortified sites, sanctuaries, deities, and community were interconnected in Mesoamerican warfare practices and theology. This article examines the archaeological patterning and Indigenous religious beliefs regarding fortifications, sanctuaries, and deity communication. Ethnohistoric and ethnographic information points to the importance of deities and ancestors for community well-being and success in war. Mesoamerican combatants protected deities,…
La colaboración en el diseño de mecanismos exitosos para la repatriación de un cilindro efigie maya de cerámica a Chiapas, México
En este trabajo daremos a conocer el proceso de gestión que llevamos a cabo entre investigadores y funcionarios de México y Estados Unidos para poder repatriar un cilindro efigie de cerámica perteneciente a la cultura maya del periodo Posclásico Tardío.Dicho cilindro fue extraído de Laguna Pethá, Chiapas, México entre 1968 y 1969, antes de la creación de la Ley Federal sobre Monumentos y Zonas Arqueológicas, Artísticos e Históricos que entró en v…
Idolizing Mary
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Not Just Counters
La Consentida
In this book, Guy David Hepp presents detailed information from excavations he directed at La Consentida on the Pacific coast of Oaxaca, Mexico. Importantly, he shows that this site is one of the first settlements (ca. 1900–1600 BCE) in Mexico and Central America found thus far. Archaeologists have debated the causes and nature of early sedentism and the rise of social hierarchy in Mesoamerica for decades. This book joins that debate. What is int…
Maya Warfare, Symbols, and Ritual Landscapes
It may help to understand human affairs to be clear that most of the great triumphs and tragedies of history are caused, not by people being fundamentally good or fundamentally bad, but by people being fundamentally people.(Pratchett and Gaiman 1990, 39) For decades prior to the 1980s, when our ability to read ancient texts became more fully developed, the narrative of the ancient Maya as peaceful stargazers dominated and even directed early stud…
The perduring Maya
Visualizing the Lives of Ancient Maya Elites
The identity and worship of humain remains in rockshelter shrines among the Northern Lacandons of Mensabäk
The present bioarchaeological and taphonomic investigation focuses on the skeletal remains deposited on surfaces of Lacandon rock-shelter sanctuaries around the Mensabäk lagoon in Chiapas (in particular the ones of Sak Tak and Men- sabäk). The Lacandon locals still identify these remains with their ancestors and dei- ties. Here we examine the minimum number of individuals, the age-at-death and sex profiles of those who comprise the assemblages, a…
Maya Pilgrimage to Ritual Landscapes
Pilgrimage to ritually significant places is a part of daily life in the Maya world. These journeys involve important social and practical concerns, such as the maintenance of food sources and world order. Frequent pilgrimages to ceremonial hills to pay offerings to spiritual forces for good harvests, for instance, are just as necessary for farming as planting fields. Why has Maya pilgrimage to ritual landscapes prevailed from the distant past an…
Historical Archaeology of Indigenous Culture Change in Mesoamerica
Unconquered Lacandon Maya
Unconquered Lacandon Maya
Painted Books and Indigenous Knowledge in Mesoamerica
Unconquered Lacandon Maya
Review of Palka, Joel W. (2005) Unconquered Lacandon Maya: Ethnohistory and Archaeology of Indigenous Culture Change. Gainesville: University Press of Florida
Domesticated Landscapes
Classic Maya Defensive Systems and Warfare in the Petexbatun Region
From 1989 to 1996, excavation and surveys were carried out at dozens of sites and intersite areas in the southwestern Peten by the Defensive Systems Subproject of the Vanderbilt Petexbatun Regional Archaeological Project and by subsequent related Vanderbilt investigations. The excavations and analyses explored fortification systems, related settlement, and artifactual evidence. Beginning at abouta.d. 760, the major centers of the Classic Maya civ…
Reconstructing Classic Maya Socioeconomic Differentiation and the Collapse at Dos Pilas, Peten, Guatemala
Three field seasons of extensive residential archaeology at Dos Pilas, Peten, Guatemala, provide important data for the examination of ancient Maya social structure and the Classic Period collapse in the Petexbatun region. A sampling strategy guiding excavations in structures of different size and architectural configuration enables us to reconstruct the multifaceted, segmented nature of Maya social inequalities and helps to elucidate the effects…
Historical Archaeology of Indigenous Culture Change in Mesoamerica
Left/Right Symbolism and the Body in Ancient Maya Iconography and Culture
Throughout Maya history the left and right sides of the human body, left/right spatial orientation, and handedness have had important cultural and symbolic meanings. This essay examines left/right symbolism in relation to the body, which is generally overlooked in studies of archaeological societies and material culture, and discusses how it relates to ancient Maya ideology and behavior. New information from Classic Maya iconography, plus corrobo…
Ancient Maya Defensive Barricades, Warfare, and Site Abandonment
In a recent report (Latin American Antiquity11:283-299), Bruce Dahlin presents evidence from Chunchucmil, Yucatan, and other ancient lowland Maya centers, which indicates that low stone and earth barricade walls may have been important defensive constructions. He also postulates that population annihilation occurred during Maya warfare, particularly at Chunchucmil. In this commentary I explore alternative explanations regarding Maya defensive wor…
The Hieroglyphic Stairway and its Ancestors
The investigation of Structure 10L-26 has revealed a series of sequent monumental constructions underlying the elaborate final phase temple/pyramid made famous by the Maya area's largest hieroglyphic stairway. The meticulous recording and analysis of the archaeological, architectural, hieroglyphic, and iconographic materials from this sequence of sculpture-adorned buildings provides the opportunity for a diachronic view of the nature of the histo…
A Maya Carved Shell Plaque From Tula, Hidalgo, Mexico
In the early 1880s, a finely carved Maya shell picture plaque was found at the Toltec capital of Tula, central Mexico, and was subsequently acquired by The Field Museum in Chicago. The shell was probably re-carved in the Terminal Classic period and depicts a seated lord with associated Maya hieroglyphs on the front and back. Here the iconography and glyphic text of this unique artifact are examined, the species and habitat of the shell are descri…
Sociopolitical Implications of a New Emblem Glyph and Place Name in Classic Maya Inscriptions
A new emblem glyph and place name, which depicts tied hair, is identified in Classic Maya hieroglyphic inscriptions from the upper Usumacinta River region of Chiapas and Guatemala. Emblem glyphs are used as titles of rulers, whereas place names indicate a person"s place of origin or where events took place. An interesting discovery from glyphic texts with this "Tied-Hair" glyph is that rulers at the large sites of Bonampak and Lacanhá, Chiapas, o…
The perduring Maya
The identity and worship of humain remains in rockshelter shrines among the Northern Lacandons of Mensabäk
The present bioarchaeological and taphonomic investigation focuses on the skeletal remains deposited on surfaces of Lacandon rock-shelter sanctuaries around the Mensabäk lagoon in Chiapas (in particular the ones of Sak Tak and Men- sabäk). The Lacandon locals still identify these remains with their ancestors and dei- ties. Here we examine the minimum number of individuals, the age-at-death and sex profiles of those who comprise the assemblages, a…
Ancestral Maya domesticated waterscapes, ecological aquaculture, and integrated subsistence
Ancestral Maya engineered wetland fields and canals in floodplains for plant cultivation and water management. Canals and reservoirs, however, also provide aquatic resources to supplement agriculture. Maya created multi-trophic ecological aquaculture by modifying the waterscape to increase the amounts of foods and useful materials, such as fish, turtles, waterfowl, and reeds. While archaeological and ethnographic investigations across the Maya ar…
A Small Rural Travel Stopover at the Late Postclassic Maya Site of Mensabak, Chiapas, Mexico
A small rural stopover along overland Maya and Aztec trade and travel routes was identified in surveys and excavations at adjacent settlements and shrines at Mensabak, Chiapas, Mexico. This collection of Late Postclassic to Spanish conquest-era (c.ad 1350–1650) Maya sites are similar in function to rural Old World and Andean caravan stopovers, such as caravanserai and way stations, where travellers and traders obtained supplies, trading partners,…
Maya Pilgrimage, Migration, and Community Connectivity at Ritual Landscapes at Mensabak, Chiapas, Mexico
Anthropologists have demonstrated that having information about new settlements is crucial for drawing migrants. Pilgrimage to ritual landscapes and their shrines allows people, including Maya societies, to explore places where they can settle. They then establish or augment settlements around the landscape shrines, which explains the locations and growth of some centers. Migrants continue to make pilgrimages to shrines, such as sacred mountains,…
Mesoamerican Warfare, Protecting Divinities, and Fortified Sanctuaries
Fortified sites, sanctuaries, deities, and community were interconnected in Mesoamerican warfare practices and theology. This article examines the archaeological patterning and Indigenous religious beliefs regarding fortifications, sanctuaries, and deity communication. Ethnohistoric and ethnographic information points to the importance of deities and ancestors for community well-being and success in war. Mesoamerican combatants protected deities,…
Not Just Counters
The Hieroglyphic Stairway and its Ancestors
The investigation of Structure 10L-26 has revealed a series of sequent monumental constructions underlying the elaborate final phase temple/pyramid made famous by the Maya area's largest hieroglyphic stairway. The meticulous recording and analysis of the archaeological, architectural, hieroglyphic, and iconographic materials from this sequence of sculpture-adorned buildings provides the opportunity for a diachronic view of the nature of the histo…
Sociopolitical Implications of a New Emblem Glyph and Place Name in Classic Maya Inscriptions
A new emblem glyph and place name, which depicts tied hair, is identified in Classic Maya hieroglyphic inscriptions from the upper Usumacinta River region of Chiapas and Guatemala. Emblem glyphs are used as titles of rulers, whereas place names indicate a person"s place of origin or where events took place. An interesting discovery from glyphic texts with this "Tied-Hair" glyph is that rulers at the large sites of Bonampak and Lacanhá, Chiapas, o…
Classic Maya Defensive Systems and Warfare in the Petexbatun Region
From 1989 to 1996, excavation and surveys were carried out at dozens of sites and intersite areas in the southwestern Peten by the Defensive Systems Subproject of the Vanderbilt Petexbatun Regional Archaeological Project and by subsequent related Vanderbilt investigations. The excavations and analyses explored fortification systems, related settlement, and artifactual evidence. Beginning at abouta.d. 760, the major centers of the Classic Maya civ…
Reconstructing Classic Maya Socioeconomic Differentiation and the Collapse at Dos Pilas, Peten, Guatemala
Three field seasons of extensive residential archaeology at Dos Pilas, Peten, Guatemala, provide important data for the examination of ancient Maya social structure and the Classic Period collapse in the Petexbatun region. A sampling strategy guiding excavations in structures of different size and architectural configuration enables us to reconstruct the multifaceted, segmented nature of Maya social inequalities and helps to elucidate the effects…
A Maya Carved Shell Plaque From Tula, Hidalgo, Mexico
In the early 1880s, a finely carved Maya shell picture plaque was found at the Toltec capital of Tula, central Mexico, and was subsequently acquired by The Field Museum in Chicago. The shell was probably re-carved in the Terminal Classic period and depicts a seated lord with associated Maya hieroglyphs on the front and back. Here the iconography and glyphic text of this unique artifact are examined, the species and habitat of the shell are descri…
Ancient Maya Defensive Barricades, Warfare, and Site Abandonment
In a recent report (Latin American Antiquity11:283-299), Bruce Dahlin presents evidence from Chunchucmil, Yucatan, and other ancient lowland Maya centers, which indicates that low stone and earth barricade walls may have been important defensive constructions. He also postulates that population annihilation occurred during Maya warfare, particularly at Chunchucmil. In this commentary I explore alternative explanations regarding Maya defensive wor…
Left/Right Symbolism and the Body in Ancient Maya Iconography and Culture
Throughout Maya history the left and right sides of the human body, left/right spatial orientation, and handedness have had important cultural and symbolic meanings. This essay examines left/right symbolism in relation to the body, which is generally overlooked in studies of archaeological societies and material culture, and discusses how it relates to ancient Maya ideology and behavior. New information from Classic Maya iconography, plus corrobo…
Domesticated Landscapes
Unconquered Lacandon Maya
Review of Palka, Joel W. (2005) Unconquered Lacandon Maya: Ethnohistory and Archaeology of Indigenous Culture Change. Gainesville: University Press of Florida
Unconquered Lacandon Maya
Painted Books and Indigenous Knowledge in Mesoamerica
Unconquered Lacandon Maya
Historical Archaeology of Indigenous Culture Change in Mesoamerica
Maya Pilgrimage to Ritual Landscapes
Pilgrimage to ritually significant places is a part of daily life in the Maya world. These journeys involve important social and practical concerns, such as the maintenance of food sources and world order. Frequent pilgrimages to ceremonial hills to pay offerings to spiritual forces for good harvests, for instance, are just as necessary for farming as planting fields. Why has Maya pilgrimage to ritual landscapes prevailed from the distant past an…
The identity and worship of humain remains in rockshelter shrines among the Northern Lacandons of Mensabäk
The present bioarchaeological and taphonomic investigation focuses on the skeletal remains deposited on surfaces of Lacandon rock-shelter sanctuaries around the Mensabäk lagoon in Chiapas (in particular the ones of Sak Tak and Men- sabäk). The Lacandon locals still identify these remains with their ancestors and dei- ties. Here we examine the minimum number of individuals, the age-at-death and sex profiles of those who comprise the assemblages, a…
The perduring Maya
Visualizing the Lives of Ancient Maya Elites
Maya Warfare, Symbols, and Ritual Landscapes
It may help to understand human affairs to be clear that most of the great triumphs and tragedies of history are caused, not by people being fundamentally good or fundamentally bad, but by people being fundamentally people.(Pratchett and Gaiman 1990, 39) For decades prior to the 1980s, when our ability to read ancient texts became more fully developed, the narrative of the ancient Maya as peaceful stargazers dominated and even directed early stud…
Not Just Counters
La Consentida
In this book, Guy David Hepp presents detailed information from excavations he directed at La Consentida on the Pacific coast of Oaxaca, Mexico. Importantly, he shows that this site is one of the first settlements (ca. 1900–1600 BCE) in Mexico and Central America found thus far. Archaeologists have debated the causes and nature of early sedentism and the rise of social hierarchy in Mesoamerica for decades. This book joins that debate. What is int…
Idolizing Mary
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
La colaboración en el diseño de mecanismos exitosos para la repatriación de un cilindro efigie maya de cerámica a Chiapas, México
En este trabajo daremos a conocer el proceso de gestión que llevamos a cabo entre investigadores y funcionarios de México y Estados Unidos para poder repatriar un cilindro efigie de cerámica perteneciente a la cultura maya del periodo Posclásico Tardío.Dicho cilindro fue extraído de Laguna Pethá, Chiapas, México entre 1968 y 1969, antes de la creación de la Ley Federal sobre Monumentos y Zonas Arqueológicas, Artísticos e Históricos que entró en v…
Maya Pilgrimage, Ritual Landscapes, and Relations with Deities in Chiapas, Mexico
Biografía, función y análisis iconográfico de dos cilindros efigie procedentes de cuevas mayas de Laguna Pethá, Chiapas
En este trabajo se analiza la iconografía de dos cilindros efigie duplicados mayas hallados en cuevas y abrigos rocosos de Laguna Pethá, municipio de Ocosingo, Chiapas. A través de un análisis comparativo nosotros tentativamente identificamos un nuevo estilo regional maya asociado a la presencia de aletas en cilindros de cerámica vinculados a Toniná en el valle de Ocosingo. Sus características iconográficas sitúan a estas piezas próximas al perio…
Mesoamerican Warfare, Protecting Divinities, and Fortified Sanctuaries
Fortified sites, sanctuaries, deities, and community were interconnected in Mesoamerican warfare practices and theology. This article examines the archaeological patterning and Indigenous religious beliefs regarding fortifications, sanctuaries, and deity communication. Ethnohistoric and ethnographic information points to the importance of deities and ancestors for community well-being and success in war. Mesoamerican combatants protected deities,…
Archaeology (25 obras) · Maya (23 obras) · History (21 obras) · Latin American history and culture (20 obras) · Geography (17 obras) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (15 obras) · History (15 obras) · Sociology (15 obras) · Art (12 obras) · Ancient history (11 obras)