Abstract
In the mid-nineteenth century Maya refugees fleeing the violence of the Caste War of Yucatan (1847–1901) briefly reoccupied the ancient ruins of Tikal. Unlike the numerous Yucatec refugee communities established to the east in British Honduras, those who settled at Tikal combined with Lacandon Maya, and later Ladinos from Lake Petén-Itza to form a multiethnic village in the sparsely occupied Petén jungle of northern Guatemala. This chapter discusses the analysis of the mass-produced nineteenth century consumer goods found at Tikal. The historic inhabitants of Tikal were well connected to exchange networks of the societies encircling the Petén, reaching the world through the global markets emanating from nearby British Honduras. This small village was poised to renegotiate social and economic relationships with peripheral societies from deep within the frontier zone and may be demonstrating consumer behavior observed in refugee populations in the modern era.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Adams, R., & Trik, A. (1961). Tikal report no. 7. Temple I (SIR. 5D-1): Post-constructional activities. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.
Antochiw, M. (1997). The peace treaties of Chichanha. Saastun, 2, 83–112.
Birks, S. (2017a). A–Z of stoke-on-trent potters. Wileman and Co. Retrieved December, 2017, from http://www.thepotteries.org/allpotters/1083.htm
Birks, S. (2017b). A–Z of stoke-on-trent potters. Thomas and James Bevington. Retrieved December, 2017, from http://www.thepotteries.org/allpotters/98.htm
Boddam-Whatham, J. (1877). Across Central America. Victoria: Leopold Classic Library.
Bolland, N. O. (1977). The formation of a colonial society: Belize from conquest to crown colony. Baltimore, MD: John Hopkins University Press.
Bolland, N. O. (1988). The Maya and the colonization of Belize in the nineteenth century. In N. Bolland (Ed.), Colonialism and resistance in Belize (pp. 91–124). Benque Viejo: Cubola.
Bonorden, B., & Houk, B. (2016). Archaeological investigations at Kaxil Uinic and Qualm Hill, two colonial period sites in northwestern Belize. Research Reports in Belizean Archaeology, 13, 337–347.
Brooks, A. (2015). The importance of British material culture to historical archaeologies of the nineteenth century. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press.
Cal, A. (1991). Capital-labor relations on a colonial frontier: Nineteenth-century northern Belize). In J. Brannon & G. Joseph (Eds.), Land, labor, and capital in modern Yucatan: Essays in regional history and political economy (pp. 83–106). Tuscaloosa, AL: The University of Alabama Press.
Church, M., Yaeger, J., & Dornan, J. (2010). The San Pedro Maya and the British colonial enterprise in British Honduras. In M. Liebman & M. Murphey (Eds.), Enduring conquests: Rethinking the archaeology of resistance to Spanish colonialism in the Americas (pp. 173–198). Santa Fe, NM: School of American Research Press.
Coe, M., & Shook, E. (1961). Tikal report no. 6, The carved wooden lintels of Tikal. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.
Dornan, J. (2004). “Even by night we only become aware they are killing us”; agency, identity, and intentionality at San Pedro Belize (1857–1930). Doctoral dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles.
Dumond, D. (1997). The machete and the cross. Omaha, NE: University of Nebraska Press.
Elverson, M. (2014). A smoker’s delight: An analysis of English tobacco pipe bowls from St. Georges Caye, Belize. In J. Garber (Ed.), The St. George’s Caye archaeology project: Results of the 2013 field season (pp. 20–31). Belmopan: Institute of Archaeology.
Gann, T. (1927). Maya cities. London: Camelot Press.
Garber, J. (Ed.). (2014). The St. George’s Caye archaeology project: Results of the 2013 field season. Belmopan: Institute of Archaeology Belmopan.
Garland, J. (2017). Odds and ends: Christchurch uncovered, Retrieved February 10, from http://blog.underoverarch.co.nz/2017/02/odds-and-ends-2/
Hammond, N. (1984). Nineteenth-century drawings of Maya monuments in the Society’s library. Antiquaries Journal, 64, 84–103.
Harrell-Bond, B., & Voutira, E. (1992). Anthropology and the study of refugees. Anthropology Today, 8(4), 6–10.
Hill, J. (Ed.). (1996). History, power, and identity: Ethnogenesis in the Americas (pp. 1492–1992). Iowa City, IA: University of Iowa Press.
Jones, G. (1977). Levels of settlement alliance among the San Pedro Maya of western Belize and eastern Petén, 1857–1936. In G. Jones (Ed.), Anthropology and history in Yucatan (pp. 139–190). Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.
Jones, M. (2015). Survey of historic sites at and near Aventura. In C. Robin (Ed.), Aventura archaeology project: 2015 season (pp. 73–91). Belmopan: Institute of Archaeology.
Maler, T. (1911). Explorations in the Department of Petén, Guatemala, Tikal. Cambridge, MA: Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology.
Malkki, L. (1990). Context and consciousness: Local conditions for the production of historical and national thought among Hutu refugees in Tanzania. In R. Fox (Ed.), Nationalist ideologies and the production of natural of cultures (pp. 32–62). Washington, DC: American Ethnological Society.
Malkki, L. (1995). Refugees and exile, from “refugee studies” to the national order of things. Annual Review of Anthropology, 24, 495–523.
Maudslay, A. (1889–1902). Archaeology. In F. D. Godman & O. Salvin (Eds.), Biologia Centrali-Americana (Vol. 3). London: R.H. Porter.
Mayfield, T. (2015). The nineteenth-century British plantation settlement at Lamanai, Belize (1837–1868) Doctoral Dissertation, University of Arizona, Tucson.
Moholy-Nagy, H. (2012). Historical archaeology at Tikal, Guatemala. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.
Ng, O. (2007). View from the periphery: A hermeneutic approach to the archaeology of Holotunich (1865–1930), British Honduras. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.
Palka, J. (2005). Unconquered Lacandon Maya. Gainesville: University Press of Florida.
Pendergast, D. (1967). Palenque; The Walker-Cady expedition to the ancient Maya City (pp. 1839–1840). Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.
Reed, N. (1964). The caste war of Yucatan (Rev ed.). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Reina, R. (1958–1961). The abandonment of Primicias by Itza of San Jose, Guatemala, and Socotz, British Honduras. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Reina, R., & Hill, R. (1978). The traditional pottery of Guatemala. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.
Rickard, J. (2006). Mocha and related dipped wares, 1770–1939. Lebanon, NH: University Press of New England.
Rugeley, T. (1997). The caste war in Guatemala. Saastun, 3, 67–96.
Rugeley, T. (2009). Rebellion now and forever: Mayas, Hispanics, and caste war violence in Yucatan (pp. 1800–1880). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Samford, P., & Miller, G. (2012). Post-colonial ceramics. Retrieved December 6, 2017, from http://www.jefpat.org/diagnostic/Post-Colonial%20Ceramics/index-PostColonialCeramics.htm
Shook, E. (1958). Field director’s report: The 1956 and 1957 seasons. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Trigger, B. (1989). A history of archaeological thought. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
UNHCR. (2018). UNHCR The UN refugee agency; Figures at a Glance. Retrieved March 29, 2018, from http://www.unhcr.org/en-us/figures-at-a-glance.html
Voss, B. (2008). The archaeology of ethnogenesis: Race and sexuality in colonial San Francisco. Gainesville: University Press of Florida.
Wauchope, R. (1938). Modern Maya houses: A study of their archaeological significance. Washington, DC: Carnegie Institution of Washington.
White, R. (1991). The middle ground: Indians, Empires, and Republics in the Great Lakes Region (pp. 1650–1815). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Williams, P. (1978). Staffordshire romantic transfer patterns. Jeffersontown, KY: Fountain House East.
Yeager, J., Church, M., Dornan, J., & Leventhal, R. (2002). San Pedro Maya report: Preliminary report of the 2001 field season. Belmopan: Institute of Archaeology.
Yeager, J., Church, M., Leventhal, R., & Dornan, J. (2004). Maya caste war immigrants in colonial British Honduras: The San Pedro Maya project, 2000–2003. Research Reports in Belizean Archaeology, 1, 101–112.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Meierhoff, J. (2019). You Don’t Have to Live Like a Refugee: Consumer Culture at the Nineteenth-Century Refugee Village at Tikal, Guatemala. In: Orser Jr., C. (eds) Archaeologies of the British in Latin America. Contributions To Global Historical Archaeology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95426-4_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95426-4_8
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-95425-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-95426-4
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)