P M Rice

Biographic Data

ID12568
NAMEP M Rice
GIVEN NAMESP M
FAMILY NAMERice
SIGNATURERICE P M
AFFILIATIONSSouthern Illinois University Carbondale
ORCID0000-0001-8159-1989
VERIFIEDYes
TOTAL WORKS120
TOTAL CITATIONS900
AUTHOR COUNT120
EDITOR COUNT0
FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR1974
LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR2025
H-INDEX16

  • Postclassic political conflict and isotope analysis in the central Peten lakes area, Guatemala

    Open AccessP M Rice, Andrew Sharpe et al.ARTICLEAncient Mesoamerica2025References: 37

    Isotopes of strontium, oxygen, and carbon were analyzed in human tooth enamel from two Postclassic sites in the central Peten lakes region, Guatemala, to examine patterns of mobility and diet during a time of social unrest. Excavations at both sites, Ixlu and Zacpeten, have revealed evidence for purposeful dismemberment and interment of individuals. This study examines a possible shrine surrounded by rows of skulls at Ixlu, and a mass grave of co…

  • Late Postclassic Lowland Maya politico-ritual architecture

    Open AccessP M Rice, Don S Rice et al.ARTICLEAncient Mesoamerica2024Cited by: 1References: 16

    Late Postclassic lowland Maya civic-ceremonial masonry architecture appears in two main configurations—temple assemblages and basic ceremonial groups—first identified at Mayapan. Around the Peten lakes, these two architectural complexes have been tied to northern immigrant Kowojs and Itzas, respectively, and their distributions map the varying control over the lakes by these two ethnopolities. Temple assemblages exhibit considerable variation in …

  • Early Maya E Groups, the Milky Way, and creation

    Open AccessP M RiceARTICLEAncient Mesoamerica2024References: 42

    I propose a “Milky Way / creation hypothesis” for the elongated eastern structures in early Maya E Groups: they were modeled on the Milky Way galaxy. These architectural arrangements, beginning in the Preclassic period (c. 900 B.C.–A.D. 200) in the southern Maya Lowlands, were adopted from predecessors in the Early Preclassic neighboring Gulf Coast region. The widespread overall similarity of E Groups suggests a shared belief system centered on m…

  • The Final Frontier of the Maya

    P M Rice, Don S RiceCHAPTERUntaming the Frontier in…2023

  • The influence of tropical Atlantic sea-surface temperatures and the North Atlantic Subtropical High during the Maya Droughts

    Open AccessDerek K Gibson, Jonathan Obrist‐Farner et al.ARTICLEThe Holocene2023References: 12

    The frequency and duration of Late-Holocene hydrologic extremes in northern Guatemala were investigated using multiple sedimentological and geochemical proxies preserved in a sediment core collected from Lake Petén Itzá. A general trend of increasing aridity in the Maya Lowlands during the past 2000 years was punctuated by several multidecadal- to centennial-scale drought events recorded in the Petén Itzá sediments. In particular, the period span…

  • Complexity, Cooperation, and Public Goods

    Open AccessTimothy W Pugh, P M Rice et al.ARTICLEFrontiers in Political Science2022Cited by: 1References: 50

    Public goods are “non-excludable” and “non-rivalrous” resources, including roads, water management systems, and plazas, as well as “symbolic public goods,” such as religious architecture and social identity. Public goods occur in greater abundance in cities with more cooperative and inclusive forms of organization, which seems to undermine arguments that elites constructed them to augment their power. Such goods are major “pull” factors drawing m…

  • Thoughts on Weeden Island pottery classification

    P M Rice, Neill J WallisARTICLESoutheastern Archaeology2022References: 6

    The existing classification of Weeden Island pottery does not serve the needs of twenty-first-century archaeology and has long been in need of an overhaul. We propose that the type-variety classificatory system, used in the Southwestern US, the Maya region, and the Lower Mississippi valley, could be applied to Weeden Island ceramics. This robust hierarchical system classifies pottery into four nested units: varieties in types, types in ceramic gr…

  • Macanas in the Postclassic Maya Lowlands? A Preliminary Look

    P M RiceARTICLELithic Technology2022Cited by: 1References: 15

    Abundant obsidian prismatic blade segments in late (Late Postclassic/Colonial; ca. AD 1300–1700) lowland Maya lithic assemblages, generally ignored, are evaluated against the possibility that they were used in macanas, broadsword-like weapons resembling the Aztec macuahuitl, as attested by Spanish chroniclers. Measurements of 4,664 segments, proximal, medial, and distal, from seven sites around the central Peten (Guatemala) lakes, plus Tipu and S…

  • Middle Preclassic Hydraulic Planning at Nixtun-Ch'ich', Peten, Guatemala

    Open AccessTimothy W Pugh, P M Rice et al.ARTICLEAncient Mesoamerica2022

    Nixtun-Ch'ich', on the western edge of Lake Peten Itza in Peten, northern Guatemala, features an axis urbis and an urban grid dating to the Middle Preclassic period (800–500 b.c.). New research reveals that Middle Preclassic constructions—five circular or oval artificial pools and planned surface drainage—facilitated or impeded the movement of water. Large limestone rubble lines at least two of the pools (aguadas) in the city's core; two pools li…

  • Middle Preclassic Nixtun-Ch'ich

    Open AccessP M Rice, Timothy W PughARTICLEJournal of Anthropological…2021Cited by: 3References: 68

  • In Search of Middle Preclassic Lowland Maya Ideologies

    Open AccessP M RiceARTICLEJournal of Archaeological Research2020Cited by: 6References: 74

  • Crocodiles, Sharks, and Some Speculations on Central Peten Preclassic History

    Open AccessP M RiceARTICLEAncient Mesoamerica2020Cited by: 5References: 42

    The first part of this two-part essay discusses the important roles crocodiles and sharks played in Preclassic (and later) political geography and myths of cosmogenesis in Mesoamerica. They are associated with sacrifices resulting in creation of the world and births of some major gods. Crocodiles are also associated with fertility, rebirth, and renewal of seasonal and temporal/calendrical cycles. Recent investigations at Nixtun-Ch'ich’ show that …

  • Anthropomorphizing the Cosmos

    P M RiceBOOKAnthropomorphizing the Cosmos2019

  • Nixtun-Ch'ich' and its environmental impact

    Open AccessJonathan Obrist‐Farner, P M RiceARTICLEJournal of Archaeological Science…2019Cited by: 2References: 18

  • The Value of Things

    Open AccessP M RiceARTICLEBulletin of Latin American Research2019

  • Early Construction of a Maya Sacred Landscape

    P M Rice, Timothy W Pugh et al.ARTICLEJournal of Field Archaeology2019Cited by: 8References: 31

    The southern lowland Maya city of Nixtun-Ch’ich’ exhibits an atypical gridded layout imposed in the Middle Preclassic period (800–400 b.c.). Sector Y, in the monumental core, consists of a two-part sub-structural platform with an “E-Group” quasi-astronomical architectural complex (Platform Y1) and a deep natural depression or fosa, Fosa Y (Platform Y2). Earliest construction began with bedrock leveling, probably around 1100–1000 b.c., followed by…

  • Early Pottery and Construction at Nixtun-Ch'ich', Petén, Guatemala

    Open AccessP M RiceARTICLELatin American Antiquity2019Cited by: 10References: 13

    Early occupation at Nixtun-Ch'ich', on the western edge of Lake Petén Itzá, is dated by two ceramic complexes, K'as and Chich. These represent the Late and Terminal Early Preclassic or the early and late "Pre-Mamom" periods, respectively (ca. 1300-800 BC), including a "Transitional" period incorporating Nix Middle Preclassic (Mamom) pottery. Comparisons with complexes at other sites in the region permit the dating of 10 construction loci, includi…

  • Late Maya factionalism and alliances

    Open AccessP M RiceARTICLEJournal of Anthropological…2019Cited by: 4References: 20

  • Compositional analysis and fragmentation of Early Central Petén (Guatemala) figurines

    Open AccessP M Rice, Leslie G CecilARTICLEJournal of Archaeological Science…2018References: 9

  • Zacpeten Structure 719

    Open AccessP M Rice, Arianne Boileau et al.ARTICLEAncient Mesoamerica2018Cited by: 8References: 21

    This paper addresses activities carried out in a late-sixteenth or seventeenth century Maya council house (popol nah) just before its abandonment. Structure 719 at the site of Zacpeten in the central Peten lakes district is considered a noble residence remodeled into a council house with an adjacent temple. Excavations revealed quantities of de facto refuse inside the structure's two rooms and around the exterior; recent studies focused on cerami…

  • Medicine in colonial Moquegua, Peru

    P M RiceARTICLEWorld Archaeology2018Cited by: 1References: 26

    Locumbilla, a rural colonial bodega or wine estate (heredad) in Moquegua, southern Peru, was briefly a hospital for ailing native Andean vineyard workers before its owner endowed a hospital, built by the Bethlehemite hospitaller order. Botanical remains recovered in excavations at the bodega included three items of indigenous healing, Datura, molle berries and soapberry, and an introduced item: castor beans. Their presence suggests that the worke…

  • Wanna Bet? Classic Ballcourt 2 at Nixtun-Ch'ich', Peten, Guatemala

    Open AccessP M RiceARTICLELatin American Antiquity2018Cited by: 3References: 11

    Surface clearing of small Ballcourt 2 at Nixtun-Ch'ich', constructed atop a Middle Preclassic platform, revealed that the court was built and used in the Late and Terminal Classic periods and into the Postclassic, before and after apparent termination. Recovered artifacts suggest feasting and gambling

  • Classic-to-Contact-Period Continuities in Maya Governance in Central Petén, Guatemala

    P M Rice, Don S RiceARTICLEEthnohistory2018Cited by: 14References: 34

    This article integrates ethnohistorical and archaeological data in examining political continuities or structural equivalencies in the lakes region of central Petén (southern Maya lowlands) between the Late and Terminal Classic periods and the Postclassic and Spanish Contact periods. The equivalencies are of three kinds: "deep structures" (quadripartition), common political expediencies and functions (power-sharing and council houses), and tempor…

  • The E Group as Timescape

    P M RiceCHAPTERMaya E Groups2017

    Small, hand-modeled, anthropomorphic figurines of fired clay are abundant in Middle Preclassic (1000–350 BCE) Mesoamerica, especially Central Mexico, the Isthmus, and regions to the south. They are variably present in the southern Maya lowlands and virtually absent in the northern lowlands, raising many questions about their meanings and uses. I propose that Middle Preclassic lowland Maya ceramic figurines: 1) were manipulated in integrative comm…

  • Studies in Culture Contact

    James Cusick, Kathleen Deagan et al.

    People have long been fascinated about times in human history when different cultures and societies first came into contact with each other, how they reacted to that contact, and why it sometimes occurred peacefully and at other times was violent or catastrophic.Studies in Culture Contact: Interaction, Culture Change, and Archaeology, edited by James G. Cusick,seeks to define the role of culture contact in human history, to identify issues in the…