Ancient Mesoamerica

Table of Contents - 1994 - Volume 5, Issue 02  

Articles

Chichen Itza and Its Hinterland

A world-systems perspective

Susan Kepecsa1, Gary Feinmana1 and Sylviane Bouchera2

a1 Department of Anthropology, 5240 Social Science, 1180 Observatory Drive, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706, USA

a2 Centro Regional de Yucatán–Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Apartado 1015, Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico

Abstract

For too long, Mayanists working in northern Yucatan have retained a focus on the single site. Although a few recent papers have begun to examine this area in regional terms, the world-systems perspective has yet to be applied. In this paper the world-systems framework is used to examine the post-Teotihuacan core center of Chichen Itza and its hinterland. Various lines of information are combined to achieve the fullest possible picture, including new settlement-pattern data, related ethnohistoric material, and a brief consideration of existing iconographie studies. Comparative examples from contemporary sites in other parts of Mesoamerica are provided to illustrate the systemic interconnections that characterize a “world system.”