September 12, 2009 Dr. Timothy Pugh: “Spanish Things in
Maya Worlds: the
Archaeology of First
Contact”
Upon first contact with the Spaniards and
afterwards, many Maya
appropriated European objects. The Spaniards manipulated
indigenous
desires for European things in order to achieve political
domination.
Hernán Cortés left beads, cloth, religious objects, and
military
projectiles as he traveled through Cozumel and Yucatan in 1519.
He
visited Nojpeten, the capital of the Itza with a large army in 1525 and
presented gifts and a wounded horse. These initial interactions
and
those over the next 200 years have much to say about the role of
material culture in situations of contact. During the Contact
period
(A.D. 1525-1697) the Petén Lakes region was dominated by the
Itza and
their rivals, the Kowoj. Archaeological research is revealing the
complex roles of European objects in the political and religious
systems of the Petén Maya.
Timothy W. Pugh is an associate professor at
Queens College and
the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He has
conducted archaeological investigations in Petén, Guatemala for
fifteen
years. His current research focuses upon Contact period power
networks
in the Petén Lakes region of Guatemala. His past work
focused upon the
sites of Zacpetén and Nixtun-Ch’ich,’ but in 2009, he began a
new
project at the site of Tayasal. He is now Director of the Tayasal
Archaeological Project.
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