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The Location of Tayasal: A Reconsideration in Light of Peten Maya Ethnohistory and Archaeology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Grant D. Jones ,
Don S. Rice  and
Prudence M. Rice
Grant D. Jones
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Hamilton College, Clinton, NY 13323
Don S. Rice
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637
Prudence M. Rice
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611
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Abstract

An earlier article in this journal suggested that Tayasal, the island capital of the late Postclassic and historic period Itza Maya, was located at Topoxte on Lake Yaxha in the Department of Peten, Guatemala. Study of ethnohistorical sources for the Peten Itza and their neighbors leads us to conclude, however, that Tayasal was in fact in Lake Peten Itza, the location long favored by earlier writers. These sources are reviewed here, and Tayasal is positively located on the island of Flores; tentative locations for other contemporary settlements in the central lakes region of Peten are offered. The current status of Postclassic period central Peten archaeological research is reviewed in light of the known ethnohistory of the region. The need for continuing interaction between archaeological and ethnohistorical research is stressed.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 46 , Issue 3 , July 1981 , pp. 530 - 547
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1981

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