In recent years the Cochuah region, the ancient breadbasket of the north-central Yucatecan lowlands, has been documented and analyzed by a number of archaeologists and cultural anthropologists. This book, the first major collection of data from those investigations, presents and analyzes findings on more than eighty sites and puts them in the context of the findings of other investigations from outside the area. It begins with archaeological investigations and continues with research on living peoples. Within the archaeological sections, historic and colonial chapters build upon those concerned with the Classic Maya, revealing the ebb and flow of settlement through time in the region as peoples entered, left, and modified their ways of life based upon external and internal events and forces. In addition to discussing the history of anthropological research in the area, the contributors address such issues as modern women's reproductive choices, site boundary definition, caves as holy places, settlement shifts, and the reuse of spaces through time.

This volume represents the final report of the Selz Foundation Yaxuna Archaeological Project at the Precolumbian Maya center of Yaxuna, Yucatan, Mexico from 1986 to 1996. This volume contains summaries of all survey data, excavations, artifact analyses, and current interpretations. Contents: 1) Introduction; 2) Background to the investigations; 3) The natural setting; 4) Chronology (Yaxuna Ia (750/500 B.C.-250 B.C.), Yaxuna Ib (250 B.C.-A.D. 250), Yaxuna IIa (A.D. 250-A.D. 400), Yaxuna IIb (A.D. 400-A.D. 550), Yaxuna IIc (A.D. 550-A.D. 600), Yaxuna III (A.D. 600-700/730), Yaxuna IVa (A.D. 700/730-A.D. 900/950), Yaxuna IVb (A.D. 900/950- A.D. 1100/1200), Yaxuna V (1100/1200-1400?), Yaxuna VI (?)), 5) Excavations; 6) Conclusions; Appendices.

Mexico's southern state of Quintana Roo is often perceived by archaeologists as a blank spot on the map of the Maya world, a region generally assumed to hold little of interest thanks to its relative isolation from the rest of Mexico. But salvage archaeology required by recent development along the "Maya Riviera," along with a suite of other ongoing and recent research projects, have shown that the region was critical in connecting coastal and inland zones, and it is now viewed as an important area in its own right from Preclassic through post-contact times. The first volume devoted to the archaeology of Quintana Roo, this book reveals a long tradition of exploration and discovery in the region and an increasingly rich recent history of study. Covering a time span from the Formative period through the early twentieth century, it offers a sampling of recent and ongoing research by Mexican, North American, and European archaeologists. Each of the chapters helps to integrate sites within and beyond the borders of the modern state, inviting readers to consider Quintana Roo as part of an interacting Maya world whose boundaries were entirely different from today's. In taking in the range of the region, the authors consider studies in the northern part of the state resulting from modern development around Cancun; the mid-state sites of Muyil and Yo'okop, both of which witnessed continual occupations from the Middle Preclassic through the Postclassic; and new data from such southern sites as Cerros, Lagartera, and Chichmuul. The contributions consider such subjects as ceramic controversies, settlement shifts, site planning strategies, epigraphic and iconographic materials, the impact of recent coastal development, and the interplay between ancient, historic, and modern use of the region. Many of the chapters confirm the region as a cultural corridor between Coba and the southern lowland centers and address demographic shifts of the Terminal Classic through Postclassic periods, while others help elucidate some of Peter Harrison's Uaymil Survey work of the 1970s. "Quintana Roo Archaeology" unfolds a rich archaeological record spanning 2,500 years, depicting the depth and breadth of modern archaeological studies within the state. It is an important touchstone for Maya and Mesoamerican archaeologists, demonstrating the shifting web of connections between Quintanarooense sites and their neighbors, and confirming the need to integrate this region into a broader understanding of the ancient Maya.