Research Methods in Mesoamerican Archaeology

Session Hosting Format: 
in-person session
Organizer(s): 
  • Arianne Boileau, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Mount Royal University
  • Mary Kate Kelly, Department of General Education, Mount Royal University
Contact Email: 
Session Description (300 word max): 

Archaeology is an inherently multi-disciplinary pursuit. To build narratives that integrate the varied data produced by archaeological research, we rely on specialists across diverse, allied fields. In this session, we aim to create a space to discuss both traditional and novel research methods in Mesoamerican archaeology and to foreground the bridges that connect them.

This session engages classic methods (e.g. ceramic and lithic analysis, zooarchaeology, paleoethnobotany, epigraphy, iconography, and ethnography) in synergy with newer techniques, including but not limited to remote sensing, GIS-based modelling, residue/lipid analysis, stable isotopes, proteomics, 3D modelling, ancient DNA, machine learning, and multisensory ethnography. Case studies integrating multiple lines of evidence to answer long-standing questions about subsistence, landscape modifications and monumentality, socio-political complexity, ritual practice, sustainability, and colonial entanglements across Mesoamerica are especially welcome. 

As part of rigorous method-building, we highlight works that operationalize decolonizing and Indigenizing frameworks in concrete ways: community-informed research questions, co-developed sampling and curation strategies, Indigenous data sovereignty and consent, and co-production of knowledge. Of particular interest are studies showing how these commitments shape methodological choices and strengthen knowledge acquisition, interpretation, and dissemination. 

This session aims to sustain a genuine dialogue between methods rather than parallel monologues. By centering collaborations among archaeologists, curators, data scientists, and Indigenous knowledge keepers, this session will highlight approaches that couple rigour with innovation and reflexivity to sharpen our interpretations of Mesoamerica’s past. 
 

Presentations
3D Modeling Ancient Maya Monuments ( Mary Kate Kelly )
Presentation format: In-Person
Author(s):
  • Mary Kate Kelly - Mount Royal University

Advances in 3D data collection and utilization are inspiring multifaceted (pun intended) approaches to digital heritage. This paper considers the opportunities, benefits, challenges, and costs of creating 3D printed replicas of ancient Maya carved monuments. Maya stelae are large stones, generally between 1 and 3 metres in height which bear finely detailed carvings of imagery and hieroglyphic writing. Replication using 3D printers comes with limitations – specifically in overall size, and in resolution – which decrease the visibility of details on the 3D print in comparison to the original. In this paper, I compare different common 3D printer types with respect to cost, resolution, size, and accessibility of use, with the goal of increasing legibility. I also consider the impact that 3D prints can have for accessibility of scientific understanding by local, heritage, and steward communities. It is easier than ever now to collect 3D data – what we do with these data matters.

A Relational Ethnoarchaeology of Modernity in San Marcos Tlapazola, Oaxaca. ( Jerimy Cunningham )
Presentation format: In-Person
Author(s):
  • Jerimy Cunningham - University of Lethbridge

Ethnoarchaeology has often emphasized the study of traditional cultural practices that seem to remain outside the depredation of the global capitalist system.  Yet, the belief that coeval cultures can exist outside modernity – and these should be the focus for ethnoarchaeology – has faced substantial critique.  In this discussion, I introduce the Crafting Capitalism research program that envisions ethnoarchaeology as a critical standpoint science.  My case study shows how ceramic production is constantly reinvigorated in the community of San Marcos Tlapazola, Oaxaca, Mexico.  The barro rojo created by potters in San Marcos has deep time roots in Oaxaca’s central valley and was even subject to previous ethnoarchaeological analyses. Yet, women’s ceramic production is not vestigial, and it does not exist because of cultural inertia.  Instead, potters continue to create new social and economic relations to ensure ceramic production is economically viable within the shifting frameworks of network capitalism.  These new relationalities alter the cultural value of barro rojo for potters and an increasingly global set of consumers.  The preliminary findings show how ethnoarchaeology can eschew modern versus traditional temporalities while still achieving the goal of expanding the “analogical consciousness” of archaeologists (following Nicolas David).

Ancient Maya Fishing Nets and Inland Subsistence Practices in East-Central Belize ( Meaghan Peuramaki-Brown )
Presentation format: In-Person
Author(s):
  • Meaghan Peuramaki-Brown - Athabasca University
  • Dave  Blaine - Athabasca University
  • Isabelle Jensen - Athabasca University
  • Shawn  Morton - Northwestern Polytechnic
  • Jillian  Jordan - Independent Scholar
  • Sonieda Teul - Georgetown Technical High School
  • Aurora Saqui - Ich-Komonil Organization

During the 2022 and 2023 field seasons of the Stann Creek Regional Archaeology Project, excavation teams at the ALA-002C settlement mound of the Classic Period (ca. 650-900) Alabama Townsite in East-Central Belize uncovered 58 notched ceramic ovoids in the uppermost layers atop what is likely an ancillary domestic structure. Using traditional excavation methods combined with results from Bayesian statistical analyses of 14C dating, macro- and microscopic assessments, petrographic thin-section analysis, experimental ceramic studies, archaeological and ethnographic literature review, and consideration of local and traditional Mopan Maya fishing practices, we suggest that these items are all that remains of an ancient Maya fishing net used by temporary hunters and fishers who reoccupied portions of the townsite during the Postclassic. This study assembles colleagues from Canada, Belize, and the US, including a household archaeologist, material scientist, traditional ecological knowledge researcher, ceramic artist, photographer, illustrator, and young research assistant, who are working collaboratively to address long-standing questions about inland subsistence practices along the eastern frontier of the Maya World while also confronting the ongoing challenges of studying the tropical archaeological record.

Documenting migrant life in new landscapes, pXRF obsidian and pottery analysis in Late Postclassic Guiengola, Oaxaca ( Pedro Guillermo Ramón Celis )
Presentation format: In-Person
Author(s):
  • Pedro Guillermo Ramón Celis - McGill University

This paper shares the use of portable X‑ray fluorescence (pXRF) analysis to investigate how non‑elite households at the fortified Zapotec city of Guiengola engaged with their new environment during their conquest and colonization to the Pacific Coastal Plains of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec from the Central Valleys of Oaxaca during the Late Postclassic Period (1350 - 1521 CE). Although historical sources outline the political motivations behind this expansion, the lived experiences of the migrant communities remain less understood.

By applying pXRF to pottery and obsidian from a commoner neighborhood, we assess patterns of raw material procurement, production, and exchange. These compositional data allow us to evaluate how migrant families adapted to unfamiliar ecological conditions and reconfigured resource networks within a landscape markedly different from their homeland. Through this method‑centered approach, the study demonstrates the value of geochemical analyses for reconstructing social negotiation and economic decision‑making in migrant settings.

Nursing Fawns or Hunting Deer? Reassessing Deer Husbandry in the Maya World ( Arianne Boileau )
Presentation format: In-Person
Author(s):
  • Arianne Boileau - Mount Royal University

Ethnohistoric sources have often been used to suggest that the ancient Maya practiced deer husbandry. A well-known 16th-century account by Diego de Landa describes fawns being raised in Maya households, with young deer even suckling from women’s breasts. Whether these passages reflect episodes of household taming versus systematic provisioning remains uncertain, as archaeological evidence for deer husbandry is limited and ambiguous. This paper assesses the hypothesis of deer husbandry in the Maya world by integrating zooarchaeology, stable isotope analysis, and iconographic evidence, treating each dataset as necessary but not sufficient on its own. Zooarchaeological data offer a baseline for evaluating deer exploitation through skeletal patterns, mortality profiles, and butchery practices that may indicate captive management rather than opportunistic hunting. Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis of deer tissues helps differentiate between sustained maize provisioning and diets influenced by field-edge foraging in human-modified landscapes. Finally, deer imagery in elite and ritual media provides insight into how this animal was conceptualized within Maya society, clarifying where, if at all, management would be archaeologically visible. Collectively, these lines of evidence suggest that, although support for widespread deer husbandry remains limited, deer were highly valued animals associated with elite consumption and ritual activities.

Re-Evaluating the Taphonomy of Non-Marine Culinary Gastropods: A Case Study from Tenam Puente, Chiapas, Mexico ( Isabella Hernandez )
Presentation format: In-Person
Author(s):
  • Isabella Hernandez - University of Calgary
  • Elizabeth Paris - University of Calgary
  • Jennifer Meanwell - Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • Roberto Lopez Bravo - Universidad de Ciencias y Artes de Chiapas
  • Gabriel Lalo Jacinto - Centro INAH Chiapas

Mollusk consumption is widely practiced globally, with many species participating in longstanding cultural traditions; two examples discussed in this paper are Helix pomatia and Pachychilus indiorum, known colloquially as escargot and jute respectively. Across Mesoamerica, jute snails have contributed as food, in quicklime production, and in ritual deposits, with jute soup recipes continuing to be cherished to this day. The dietary and utilitarian importance of non-marine mollusks highlights the need for new experimental studies on their taphonomic characteristics. This paper will present the results of various experiments on escargot (Helix pomatia) shells, and preliminary results from ongoing experiments on jute (Pachychilus indiorum) shells. Experimental protocols developed to investigate the taphonomy of culinary gastropods include boiling, dry roasting, tumbling, and the preparation of a traditional soup recipe from central Chiapas. We apply insights from the experimental results to an archaeological sample of jute from the ancient Maya site of Tenam Puente in order to interpret the taphonomic factors affecting its assemblage.

Sensing Heritage: A multisensory ethnographic approach to Indigenous perspectives in Francisco Sarabia, Chiapas, Mexico. ( Lyla Patricia Campos Diaz )
Presentation format: In-Person
Author(s):
  • Lyla Patricia Campos Diaz - University of Calgary

This paper presents findings from community-engaged research examining Indigenous perspectives on cultural heritage in Francisco Sarabia, Chiapas, Mexico. Moving beyond traditional archaeological approaches that privilege visual and material analysis, this research employs a multisensory ethnographic methodology to understand how heritage is experienced and given meaning through embodied practices. The study centers on ceremonial and pilgrimage traditions where heritage emerges as a living, multisensory phenomenon. Through collaborative work with community members, the research traces how maize connects archaeological sites with contemporary devotional practices dedicated to a colonial oil painting of the Virgen Corazón de María. The sensory dimensions of heritage become evident through pilgrimage journeys and ceremonial performances. These embodied experiences reveal how sight, sound, smell, taste, and movement interweave to create meaningful heritage encounters that resist institutional categories. Drawing on conservation training where hands-on engagement shapes understanding, this research demonstrates how multisensory approaches reveal the gaps between professional heritage management and community-based practices. This work contributes to decolonizing methodologies in Latin American archaeology by centering Indigenous epistemologies and sensory ways of knowing that institutional frameworks often overlook.

Socializing Space and Cosmological Centering: Socio-Spatial Analysis of the Central ‘E Group’ Architecture at Yaxnohcah, Campeche, Mexico ( Joshuah Lockett-Harris )
Presentation format: In-Person
Author(s):
  • Joshuah Lockett-Harris - University of Calgary
  • Kathryn  Reese-Taylor - University of Calgary
  • Felix  Kupprat - Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico
  • Armando Anaya Hernandez - Universidad Autonoma de Campeche
  • Debra  Walker - University of Florida
  • Shane Montgomery - University of Calgary
  • Sophia Gutierrez Rodriguez - Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico
  • Valeria  Montserrat Sauza Nunez - Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico

As revolutionary technologies open new research frontiers in Maya archaeology – specifically LiDAR mapping of heavily forested lowland Maya cities – we must ground this novel knowledge production in socio-spatial approaches and emic Maya perspectives. Archaeological investigation at the ancient Maya site of Yaxnohcah, located in the Bajo El Laberinto region of the Maya lowlands, have demonstrated that its central ‘E Group-style’ plaza-pyramid complex was integral to the multimillennial development of sociopolitical complexity and urbanism at Yaxnohcah. The built environments of ‘E Groups’ were generationally altered to meet the demands of increasingly complex lowland societies from the beginning of the Middle Preclassic, ca. 1000 BCE, through to the political and demographic disintegration of southern Classical lowland society, ca. 830. In this paper, we present a socio-spatial analysis of the changing architecture of the central E Group at Yaxnohcah, as we discuss its relationship to larger processes of urbanism and sociopolitical development over time. We argue the social ‘space’ which emerged from the use and ritualization of the built environment of the central E Group was integral to the generational development of community and society at Yaxnohcah, as was its ideological significance as the centre of a landscape sized urban cosmogram.

The Research Methods of the Dolores Slow Archaeology Program ( Maxime Lamoureux-St-Hilaire )
Presentation format: In-Person
Author(s):
  • Maxime Lamoureux-St-Hilaire - Mount Royal University

This talk breaks down the methodology I co-developed with my colleague Ruben Morales Forte to lead the ethnographic Phase 1 of the Dolores Slow Archaeology Program. These can be summarized as follows: (1) Getting invited by the community; (2) Establishing a positive communal contact; (3) Designing ethnographic interviews and undergoing an ethics board certification; (3) Collaborating with the local museum to recruit interviewees; (4) Interviewing 52 grassroots archaeologists; (5) Visiting local archaeological sites; and (6) Cementing relationships with local institutions. This time-consuming 6-step methodology has successfully developed a meaningful community engagement and paved the way for a co-designed archaeological program.

This talk closes by addressing how this slow collaborative approach can productively be conceived of as a new form of ethical ethnoarchaeology.

Visualizing Archaeological Materials: Methodological Opportunities and Challenges in Applied CT and μ-CT ( Elizabeth H. Paris )
Presentation format: In-Person
Author(s):
  • Elizabeth H. Paris - University of Calgary
  • Jennifer L. Meanwell - Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • Benjamin Sabatini - Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • Miranda George - Circle CRM Group Inc.
  • Stanley Serafin - University of New South Wales
  • Blake Dickson - University of New South Wales

In pursuit of a deeper understanding of the ancient past, archaeological science must often weigh numerous ethical and logistical considerations in its methods. X-ray Computed Tomography (XCT) and Micro-Computed Tomography (μ-CT) analytical techniques are rapidly gaining ground across non-medical disciplines on account of their ability to provide highly detailed, valuable anatomical and structural information, and three-dimensional (3D) reconstructions. These techniques may be desirable for several reasons, from their potential to capture highly detailed images and parsable metadata to the preferences of governments and/or community stakeholders for non-destructive analyses of irreplaceable cultural heritage. It is equally important to highlight the challenges and limitations of these techniques, including geometric constraints in scanning, calibration of material densities, interpretive challenges, cost/accessibility, and data storage requirements. We highlight these opportunities and challenges based on our experiences with CT in our archaeological applications of the technique, including the scanning of metallurgical ceramics from the Postclassic period site of Mayapan, and μ-CT scanning of human and faunal osteological remains from Classic and Early Postclassic period sites in highland Chiapas.