In the 1920s, during the first archaeological excavations at Uaxactún, Petén, Guatemala, an architectural complex named Group E was interpreted as an ancient Maya astronomical observatory, intended ...specifically for sighting the equinoctial and solstitial sunrises. In the following decades, a large number of architectural compounds with the same configuration have been found, most of them in the central lowlands of the Yucatan peninsula. The multiple hypotheses that have been proposed about the astronomical function of these complexes, commonly designated as E Groups, range from those attributing them a paramount role in astronomical observations to those that consider them merely allegorical or commemorative allusions to celestial cycles, without any observational use. This study, based on quantitative analyses of a reasonably large sample of alignment data, as well as on contextual evidence, shows that many of the previous hypotheses cannot be sustained. I argue that E Groups, although built primarily for ritual purposes, were astronomically functional, but also that they had no specific or particularly prominent role in astronomical observations. Their orientations belong to widespread alignment groups, mostly materialized in buildings of other types and explicable in terms of some fundamental concerns of the agriculturally-based Maya societies. I present the evidence demonstrating that the astronomical orientations initially embedded in E Groups, which represent the earliest standardized form of Maya monumental architecture and whose occurrence in practically all early cities in the central Yucatan peninsula attests to their socio-political significance, were later transferred to buildings and compounds of other types. Therefore, it is precisely the importance of the astronomically and cosmologically significant directions, first incorporated in E Groups, that allows us to understand some prominent aspects of ancient Maya architecture and urbanism.
This article synthesizes recent advances in the study of astronomy and worldview in architectural and urban planning in Mesoamerica. Throughout most of this cultural area, the practice of orienting ...civic and ceremonial buildings followed similar principles, although regional and time-dependent variations are present. Analysis of alignment data has revealed the existence of distinct and widespread orientation groups; most refer to sunrises and sunsets on particular dates, although two groups can be related to lunar and Venus extremes. Astronomically relevant directions frequently dominate considerable parts of urban layouts. The orientation and the location of important buildings often were conditioned by astronomical criteria and beliefs about specific landscape features; particularly notable are structures that were aligned to prominent mountaintops on the local horizon. Based on a variety of contextual data, I interpret the uses and significance of orientations in terms of agricultural concerns, cosmological concepts, and political ideology. I outline the evolution of orientation practices, drawing attention to pan-Mesoamerican trends, regional patterns, and diffusion processes.
Autor u radu obrađuje važan i zanimljiv, iako ponešto zanemaren institut izuzeća službene osobe. Tijekom analize instituta izuzeća ukazuje se na određenu normativnu zastarjelost ovog instituta kao i ...na dvojbena rješenja u odredbama posebnog upravnog zakonodavstva. U konačnici, pledira se za nastavak rada na usavršavanju ovog instituta te za nužna zakonodavna poboljšanja odgovarajućih odredbi Zakona o općem upravnom postupku.
In this paper the author covers an important and interesting, even somewhat neglected, concept of exemption of an official person. During the analysis of the concept of exemption, author points out its obsolescence, as well as dubious solutions in provisions of special administrative legislation. Finally, the author asks for the continuation of work on the improvement of the concept, as well as for necessary legislative improvements of appropriate provisions of General Administrative Procedure Act.
Until recently, an extensive area in the central lowlands of the Yucatán peninsula was completely unexplored archaeologically. In 2013 and 2014, during initial surveys in the northern part of the ...uninhabited Calakmul Biosphere Reserve in eastern Campeche, Mexico, we located Chactún, Tamchén and Lagunita, three major Maya centers with some unexpected characteristics. Lidar data, acquired in 2016 for a larger area of 240 km2, revealed a thoroughly modified and undisturbed archaeological landscape with a remarkably large number of residential clusters and widespread modifications related to water management and agriculture. Substantial additional information was obtained through field surveys and test excavations in 2017 and 2018. While hydraulic and agricultural features and their potential for solving various archaeologically relevant questions were discussed in a previous publication, here we examine the characteristics of settlement patterns, architectural remains, sculpted monuments, and ceramic evidence. The early Middle Preclassic (early first millennium BCE) material collected in stratigraphic pits at Tamchén and another locale constitutes the earliest evidence of colonization known so far in a broader central lowland area. From then until the Late Classic period, which was followed by a dramatic demographic decline, the area under study witnessed relatively constant population growth and interacted with different parts of the Maya Lowlands. However, a number of specific and previously unknown cultural traits attest to a rather distinctive regional development, providing novel information about the extent of regional variation within the Maya culture. By analyzing settlement pattern characteristics, inscriptional data, the distribution of architectural volumes and some other features of the currently visible archaeological landscape, which largely reflects the Late Classic situation, we reconstruct several aspects of sociopolitical and territorial organization in that period, highlighting similarities with and differences from what has been evidenced in the neighboring Río Bec region and elsewhere in the Maya area.
Many early Maya cities developed along the edges of large structural or karst depressions (bajos). This topographic position aided growing populations to more effectively capture and store rainwater, ...a necessity for year-round occupation of interior portions of the Maya Lowlands of Mexico and Central America. Ancient Maya forest clearance on sloping terrain led to accelerated soil loss and the aggradation of the bajo margins. These newly created margins of colluvial lands became a focus of subsequent intensive agriculture and helped underwrite further urban expansion. We document this long-term landscape transformation with data derived principally from field investigations at Tikal, Guatemala, and Yaxnohcah, Mexico, but with reference to other Maya centers in the Elevated Interior Region (EIR). Data are derived from field investigations, interpretation of lidar imagery, and laboratory analyses. We present a model of three variants of bajo margin landscape change with differences attributable to topography, lithology, hydrology, and cultural processes. We present preliminary data on crops that were cultivated on bajo-margin soils. We further describe how agriculture was adapted to evolving bajo margins as evidenced by systems of field walls, terraces, and ditches.
•Ancient Maya populations removed forest cover and initially induced accelerated soil erosion and sedimentation in local depressions (bajos).•Cumulic soils that formed on the footslopes and toeslopes of bajos became a focal point for later agricultural intensification.•Airborne lidar is revealing ancient Maya investment in landesque capital on bajo margins, including terraces, field walls, and ditches.•Ancient Maya agriculture on bajo margins included several types of root crops, as well as maize, beans, squash, tree crops, and cotton.•Ancient Maya alterations of the regional soilscape continue to affect local hydrology, slope stability, and vegetation, even today
Abstract
In our study, we set out to collect a multimodal annotated dataset for remote sensing of Maya archaeology, that is suitable for deep learning. The dataset covers the area around Chactún, one ...of the largest ancient Maya urban centres in the central Yucatán Peninsula. The dataset includes five types of data records: raster visualisations and canopy height model from airborne laser scanning (ALS) data, Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 satellite data, and manual data annotations. The manual annotations (used as binary masks) represent three different types of ancient Maya structures (class labels: buildings, platforms, and aguadas – artificial reservoirs) within the study area, their exact locations, and boundaries. The dataset is ready for use with machine learning, including convolutional neural networks (CNNs) for object recognition, object localization (detection), and semantic segmentation. We would like to provide this dataset to help more research teams develop their own computer vision models for investigations of Maya archaeology or improve existing ones.
Lost Maya Cities Ivan Sprajc; Petra Zaranšek; Dean Joseph DeVos
2020
eBook
Hailed by The Guardian and other publications as “a real-life Indiana Jones,” Slovenian archaeologist Ivan Šprajc has been mapping out previously unknown Mayan sites in ...Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula since 1996. Most recently, he was credited with the discovery of the Chactún and Lagunita sites in 2013 and 2014, respectively, helping to fill in what was previously one of the largest voids in modern knowledge of the ancient Maya landscape: the 2,800-square-mile Calakmul Biosphere Reserve in central Yucatán. Previously published in Šprajc’s native Slovenian and in German, this thrilling account of machete-wielding jungle expeditions has garnered enthusiastic reviews for its depictions of the efforts, dangers, successes, and disappointments experienced as the explorer-scientist searches out and documents ancient ruins that have been lost to the jungle for centuries. A skilled communicator as well as an experienced scholar, Šprajc conveys in eminently accessible prose a wealth of information on various aspects of the Maya culture, which he has studied closely for decades. The result is a deeply personal presentation of archaeological research on one of the most enigmatic civilizations of the ancient world. Generously illustrated, this book follows the chronology of Šprajc’s discoveries, focusing on what he considers the most interesting episodes. Those who specialize in Mesoamerican prehistory and archaeology will certainly relish Šprajc’s reports concerning his many field surveys and the discoveries that resulted. General readers, too, will enjoy his accounts of previously undocumented sites, ancient urban centers overtaken by the jungle, massive sculpted monuments, and mysterious hieroglyphic inscriptions.
Systematic archaeoastronomical research recently conducted in several regions of Mesoamerica has revealed the existence of architectural orientations corresponding to major and minor extremes of the ...Moon (also known as standstill positions) on the horizon. Particularly indicative are the results of quantitative analyses of alignment data from the Maya Lowlands, disclosing a prominent group of orientations that can be convincingly related to the major lunar extremes. The astronomically-motivated intentionality of these alignments is additionally supported by contextual evidence, particularly significant being the fact that most of them are concentrated along the northeast coast of the Yucatán peninsula, where the lunar cult is known to have been important. Since the lunar orientations are regularly associated with those corresponding to the solstitial positions of the Sun, it is very likely that particular attention was paid to the full Moon extremes. This contribution also presents some independent evidence that sheds light on the cultural significance of lunar orientations.
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