Abstract
Few archaeological studies of Pre-Columbian Maya peoples mention enslaved individuals. While ethnohistoric texts attest to the likelihood of Indigenous Maya enslavement practices before the arrival of Spanish conquistadores and friars, archaeologists are reluctant to consider such practices and peoples into interpretative frameworks because of their tremendous ambiguity in the archaeological record. This paper embraces and probes the ambiguity of the archaeological record to interrogate the possibility of hidden histories of captive and enslaved Maya individuals in general and captive and enslaved Maya women in particular during the Classic and Postclassic periods. It argues that such women cannot be found in particular types of artifacts or hieroglyphic texts but at the intersection of names and landscapes.
Résumé
Fort peu d'études archéologiques sur les peuples Mayas pré-colombiens évoquent les individus réduits en esclavage. Alors que les textes ethno-historiques attestent de la vraisemblance de pratiques esclavagistes par les Mayas autochtones avant l’arrivée des conquistadors et des missionnaires espagnols, les archéologues se montrent réticents à envisager ces pratiques et ces peuples au sein de cadres d’interprétation en raison de leur très grande acmbiguïté dans les archives archéologiques. Cet article se consacre à l’ambiguïté des archives archéologiques pour leur étude approfondie afin d’interroger la possibilité de manière générale de récits occultés d’individus Mayas captifs et esclaves et en particulier de femmes Mayas captives et réduites en esclavage durant les périodes classique et post-classique. Le postulat est qu’il n’est pas retrouvé trace de ces femmes dans des types particuliers d’artefacts ou de textes hiéroglyphiques mais plutôt à l’intersection de noms et de paysages.
Resumen
Pocos estudios arqueológicos de los mayas precolombinos mencionan a individuos esclavizados. Si bien los textos etnohistóricos atestiguan la probabilidad de que existieran prácticas de esclavitud indígena maya antes de la llegada de los conquistadores y frailes españoles, los arqueólogos se muestran reacios a considerar tales prácticas y pueblos en marcos interpretativos debido a su tremenda ambigüedad en el registro arqueológico. En este artículo se abraza y explora la ambigüedad del registro arqueológico para interrogar la posibilidad de historias ocultas de individuos mayas cautivos y esclavizados en general y de mujeres mayas cautivas y esclavizadas en particular durante los períodos Clásico y Posclásico. Se sostiene que estas mujeres no se pueden encontrar en tipos particulares de artefactos o textos jeroglíficos, sino en la intersección de nombres y paisajes.
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Notes
Without going into a lengthy series of different definitions of slavery from different historical contexts, I follow here the definition of Andrés Reséndez (2016:10) as slavery being indicated by (1) forcible removal from one place to another, (2) inability to leave the workplace, and (3) violence or threat of violence to compel work. Although he adds a fourth element, the lack of pay, it must be noted that wage labor was not a component of Pre-Columbian economies. There is also a recognition that not all slaves were forcibly removed from natal communities, but these likely remained in the minority among Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican societies.
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Halperin, C.T. Hidden Histories of Captive and Enslaved Maya Women in the Indigenous Americas. Arch (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11759-024-09506-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11759-024-09506-8