Synopses & Reviews
Seibal is a major ruin of the southern Maya lowlands, its vast ceremonial center covering several high hills on the banks of the Pasion River in the Guatemalan Department of Peten. In five volumes published over a 15-year period, the archaeological team headed by Gordon R. Willey presents a comprehensive review of their fieldwork from 1964 to 1968 and the results of many years of subsequent data analysis. The volumes also report on explorations in the peripheral settlements outside of the Seibal center and provide a regional view of the evolution of lowland Maya culture from the Middle and Late Preclassic through the Late Classic periods.
Synopsis
In five volumes published over a 15-year period, the archaeological team headed by Gordon R. Willey presents a comprehensive review of their fieldwork from 1964 to 1968 and the results of many years of subsequent data analysis.
About the Author
Ian Graham is Director of the Maya Corpus Program at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University.
Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University
Table of Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
PART 1: THE RUINS OF SEIBAL
Location and Name of Site; A Brief Description of the Ruins
Terrain Aspects
Archaeological Aspects
Earlier Archaeological Explorations
Federico Artes (1892)
Teobert Maler (1895 and 1905)
S. G. Morley (1914 and 1915)
Barnum Brown (1948)
John A. Graham, Timothy Fiske, and R. E. W. Adams (1961)
Problems for the 1964-1968 Investigations
General descriptive-historical problems
The nature of the preclassic
The early classic period
The terminal late classic period and the "Mexican Influences"
Function and contexts
PART 2: THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENTAL SETTING OF SEIBAL
Introduction: The Southern Peten Region
Physiography
Geology
Hydrography
Climate
Soils
Flora
Fauna
Environmental change
The Immediate Site Environment And Resources: A Summary
PART 3: THE 1964-1968 INVESTIGATIONS: A PREVIEW
Preliminaries
The Mapping Operation In The Main Ceremonial Center
Background
Technique of mapping
Location, elevation, and orientation data
Practical procedures
Designation of structures and monuments
Graphic representation of mounds
Excavations in the Main Ceremonial Center
Group A
Group C
Structure 79
Group D
The Peripheral Survey and Excavations Ceramics and the Seibal Sequence
Real Xe phase
Escoba Mamom phase
Cantutse Chicanel phase
Junco Tzakol phase
Tepejilote Tepeu phase
Bayal Boca phase
Other Seibal Data Summaries
Monuments and inscriptions
Burials
Caches
Artifacts
Other Sites Explored in 1964-1968
Cancuen
Itzan
Anona
Addendum: The Present and Future at Seibal
Bibliography