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Native Yucatán and Spanish influence: The archaeology and history of chikinchel

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Abstract

Researchers interested in developing long-term social histories are faced with myriad difficulties rising from the biased and fragmentary nature of various available sources of information on the distant past. Understanding the crucial centuries surrounding the Spanish invasion of the northern Maya lowlands is hindered by uncritical mixing of the written and material records. This case study from the Chikinchel region in northeast Yucatán is focused on economic issues. Relevant data from each register first are considered separately in order to preserve the integrity of each source. The resulting synthesis offers a new, well-informed interpretation of late prehispanic economic organization and its alteration under Spanish authority.

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  1. Department of Anthropology, 5240 Social Science, University of Wisconsin, 1180 Observatory Drive, 53706, Madison, Wisconsin

    Susan Kepecs

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Kepecs, S. Native Yucatán and Spanish influence: The archaeology and history of chikinchel. J Archaeol Method Theory 4, 307–329 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02428066

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