September 12, 2020 Cameron L. McNeil spoke on “Hidden from the inscriptions: elite and commoner women in the ancient polity of Copan, Honduras.” The meeting was online via Zoom.
While images of male rulers abound on stelae and structures at Copan during the Late Classic period, the sole inscription concerning a royal woman recounts the arrival of the mother of Yax Pasaj Chan Yopaat, a Palenque princess. Some scholars have argued that it is even harder to find commoner women within the detritus of pre-Columbian households. Using a methodology developed by Julia Hendon, this lecture explored evidence for women’s lives and activities at the site of Río Amarillo and its associated groups in the hinterlands of Copan.
Cameron L. McNeil is an Associate Professor in Anthropology at Lehman College and the Graduate Center, CUNY. She has worked in the Copán Valley in Honduras for over twenty years investigating ancient ritual plant use and human-environmental interactions. Since 2011, McNeil has directed the Proyecto Arqueológico Río Amarillo, Copán (PARAC).