Papers by Jarosław Źrałka
Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 2017
Recent investigations at the Maya centre of Nakum (in Guatemala) enabled the study of the evoluti... more Recent investigations at the Maya centre of Nakum (in Guatemala) enabled the study of the evolution of an interesting complex of buildings that started as the so-called E-Group, built during the Preclassic period (c. 600–300 bc). It was used for solar observations and rituals commemorating agricultural and calendrical cycles. During the Classic period (ad 250–800), the major building of the complex (Structure X) was converted into a large pyramidal temple where several burials, including at least one royal tomb, were placed. We were also able to document evidence of mortuary cults conducted by the Maya in the temple building situated above the burials. The architectural conversion documented in Structure X may reflect important religious and social changes: a transformation from the place where the Sun was observed and worshipped to the place where deceased and deified kings were apotheosized as the Sun Deity during the Classic. Thus the Maya transformed Structure X into one of the ...
Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 2020
Abstract The site of Nakum has been the subject of extensive archaeological investigation, but li... more Abstract The site of Nakum has been the subject of extensive archaeological investigation, but little is known of the subsistence practices or mobility of the Prehispanic Maya who lived there. This study employed a multi-isotopic approach to investigate the diet and mobility of the Nakum Maya. Despite the poor preservation typical of tropical environments, the isotopic compositions of five human bone samples were compared to carbon, nitrogen, and sulphur isotope baselines developed from 16 archaeological faunal specimens from Nakum. The bone collagen carbon and nitrogen results indicate that the Nakum Maya consumed a maize-based diet supplemented with other cultigens and animal protein. Stable carbon isotope values from the bioapatite of five human bone and seven human tooth samples show that maize was an important dietary component throughout life, although two individuals consumed less maize during childhood. The bone collagen sulphur data and strontium isotope results from three teeth indicate that the Nakum individuals consumed local foods. However, two human oxygen isotope values were lower than the local range developed from human bone and tooth enamel samples, indicating these individuals moved to the site from outside the Maya region. Although the faunal sulphur values were much higher than expected at an inland site due to the underlying marine carbonate limestone geology, one faunal sample exhibited a very low value, suggesting that it was imported to the site over a considerable distance. Finally, this is the first study to publish baseline sulphur isotope values derived from Maya faunal remains and contributes to a better understanding of this isotope system in the Maya region.
Pre-Mamom Pottery Variation and the Preclassic Origins of the Lowland Maya, Boulder, 2023
Ancient Mesoamerica, 2022
Los resultados de investigaciones arqueológicas recientes llevadas a cabo en el sitio Nakum, ubic... more Los resultados de investigaciones arqueológicas recientes llevadas a cabo en el sitio Nakum, ubicado en el noreste de Guatemala, indican que este centro experimentó una importante evolución cultural, sociopolítica y arquitectónica entre los horizontes pre-Mamom y Mamom (1000-300 a.C.). Las excavaciones arqueológicas permitieron documentar varios edificios y complejos fechados para este periodo, incluyendo un grupo tipo E, una cancha de juego de pelota y un baño de vapor. Asimismo, producto de las excavaciones, se obtuvo una gran colección cerámica de dicha temporalidad, la cual permite-gracias a estudios estilísticos, modales, petrográficos y fisicoquímicos-conocer con mayor detalle los cambios culturales y sociales que tuvieron lugar en el sitio durante el preclásico medio.
3,000 Years of War and Peace in the Maya Lowlands, 2022
Yaxha and Nakum are two important Maya centers where intensive investigations have been conducted... more Yaxha and Nakum are two important Maya centers where intensive investigations have been conducted during the last three decades. The scale of monumental architecture documented at Yaxha indicates that it was one of the largest Late Preclassic cities in the southern Maya lowlands and must have dominated other neighboring centers. The first part of the Middle Preclassic, sometimes termed “pre-Mamom” because it predates the great spread of the Mamom ceramic sphere, is characterized by many important socio-cultural changes, but mainly by the spread of village life and pottery in the Maya lowlands. The Middle Preclassic period is traditionally divided into two ceramic horizons: pre-Mamom and Mamom. Nakum and Yaxha have evidence of pre-Mamom occupation. The most important Late Preclassic complex of Nakum is the Central Acropolis. It grew considerably during the Chicanel phase. The Late Preclassic also saw several important architectural programs in the Northern Sector of Nakum.
Resumen En el año 2006 empezaron nuevas investigaciones realizados por el Proyecto Arqueológico N... more Resumen En el año 2006 empezaron nuevas investigaciones realizados por el Proyecto Arqueológico Nakum de la Universidad Jaguellonica en el sitio Nakum, Guatemala. El Proyecto se enfoco primordialmente en el estudio de los complejos y edifi cios no investigados anteriormente ubicados en los sectores norte y sur del sitio. En el sector norte se estudio el Edifi cio 99 en el área del Grupo Norte donde fueron descubiertas varias ofrendas del periodo Preclásico y vestigios muy importantes del periodo Clásico Terminal. También fueron realizadas excavaciones en los Edifi cios 96 y X ubicados en el área central de la Plaza Norte. En el sector sur del sitio el proyecto se enfocó en el estudio de los Edifi cios 14 y 15 del Patio 1. Las excavaciones de estas construcciones revelaron la existencia de varios estadios constructivos fechados entre los periodos Protoclásico y Clásico Terminal, entre los que se incluye arquitectura de estilo talud-tablero. Parece que ambos edifi cios tenían una func...
Archaeometry, 2021
This study investigates the Protoclassic ceramic production at Nakum, Guatemala, using it as a pr... more This study investigates the Protoclassic ceramic production at Nakum, Guatemala, using it as a proxy to explore the nature of the transition from the Preclassic to Classic period (100/50 BC-AD 300/350) in Central Maya lowlands. Petrographic analysis reveals that household specialisation existed in the local production of slipped serving and utilitarian wares at Nakum. The recovery of locally made polychrome vessels further indicates that Nakum might have participated in a new network of cultural interactions and trade, enabling the community to sustain stable growth at a time when many major Preclassic sites declined.
Papers from the Institute of Archaeology, 2021
The significant corpus of ancient Maya graffiti (c. 200 BC-AD 950) attests to the widespread prac... more The significant corpus of ancient Maya graffiti (c. 200 BC-AD 950) attests to the widespread practice of secondarily altering architectural surfaces during the course of their use. For the most part this corpus is highly figurative and includes a series of schematic elements that attest to their production by the hands of a variety of agents. As one of the largest corpora of graffiti from any early civilization, the figural representations include a wide array of themes. Some graffiti feature complex, narrative scenes that document important moments of ritual life of the ancient Maya. Almost paradoxically, amid the intricate and highly figurative scenes are hieroglyphic graffiti. What do these written graffiti record, and what is the degree of literacy that these attest to? This raises a series of interesting questions including whether written and figural graffiti were etched onto walls by the same individuals, or whether these represent different social segments each leaving their mark. From these observations follow a series of important ramifications as to authorship, the use of the built environment as well as the motivations behind the graffiti itself.
XXXIII Simposio de Investigaciones Arqueológicas en Guatemala, 2020
Recently, the group of scientists from the Jagiellonian University, in collaboration with Guatema... more Recently, the group of scientists from the Jagiellonian University, in collaboration with Guatemalan personnel, began scientific project in the town of Chajul, Quiche, Guatemala, dedicated to the deep study of mural paintings found in several houses. The murals present an iconographic style, which combines pre-Hispanic and European elements. Our main focus here are paintings of the house that belongs to the Asicona family. Our article presents the results of the conservation work, documentation and physico-chemical analysis of samples of wall paintings from this house (made in cooperation with scientists from the University of Valencia) as well as studies of the style, iconographic content and cultural context of the murals.
Indianie Lenni Lenape i inni… Referaty Seminariów Antropologicznych 2009 – 2014. Referaty Konferencji „Być Indianinem to…”, UMK/PAES Toruń 2011, 2017
Maya Kingship: Rupture and Transformation from Classic to Postclassic Times, 2021
XXVII Simposio de Investigaciones Arqueológicas en Guatemala (ed. Barbara Arroyo, Luis Mendez Salinas, Andrea Rojas,).Guatemala, 2014
Ancient Mesoamerica, 2020
Recent research carried out at the Maya site of Nakum, located in northeastern Guatemala, has bro... more Recent research carried out at the Maya site of Nakum, located in northeastern Guatemala, has brought about the discovery of a large collection of ceramic artefacts. This substantial assemblage, apart from monochrome ceramics, includes fragments of polychrome vessels that are decorated with elaborate iconographic scenes and painted hieroglyphic texts. Most of them date to the Late Classic period (ca. a.d. 600-800), which represents the peak of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization. The style of these ceramics, their iconography and accompanying glyphic texts, supplemented in many cases by mineralogical and physicochemical analyses of the ceramic samples, indicate that Nakum was part of a broad and complex network of political and economic interactions between various sites and polities of the southern Maya lowlands in the Classic period. During the first part of the Late Classic period, Nakum seems to maintain close relations with Naranjo, probably serving as its vassal at least from the reign of its renowned king Aj Wosal. After the victory of Tikal over Naranjo in the first part of the eighth century, Nakum shows closer cultural and political connections with Tikal. Nevertheless, towards the end of the Classic era, when we observe the profound collapse of lowland Maya civilization, Nakum elites gain political independence from their former overlords.
Science and Digital Technology for Cultural Heritage, Ortiz Calderón et al. (Eds), Taylor & Francis Group, London, 2020
Antiquity, 2020
The recent renovation of a house in Chajul in western Guatemala has revealed an unparalleled set ... more The recent renovation of a house in Chajul in western Guatemala has revealed an unparalleled set of wall paintings, most probably from the Colonial period (AD 1524-1821). The iconography of the murals combines pre-Columbian elements with imported European components in a domestic rather than a religious setting, making them a unique example of Colonial-period art. Here, the authors present the results of iconographic, chemical and radiocarbon analyses of the Chajul house paintings. Dating to the seventeenth to eighteenth centuries AD, the paintings may be connected to a revival of the local religious organisations (cofradías) in the context of waning Spanish colonial control.
Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 2017
Recent investigations at the Maya centre of Nakum (in Guatemala) enabled the study of the evoluti... more Recent investigations at the Maya centre of Nakum (in Guatemala) enabled the study of the evolution of an interesting complex of buildings that started as the so-called E-Group, built during the Preclassic period ( c. 600–300 bc ). It was used for solar observations and rituals commemorating agricultural and calendrical cycles. During the Classic period ( ad 250–800), the major building of the complex (Structure X) was converted into a large pyramidal temple where several burials, including at least one royal tomb, were placed. We were also able to document evidence of mortuary cults conducted by the Maya in the temple building situated above the burials. The architectural conversion documented in Structure X may reflect important religious and social changes: a transformation from the place where the Sun was observed and worshipped to the place where deceased and deified kings were apotheosized as the Sun Deity during the Classic. Thus the Maya transformed Structure X into one of the most sacred loci at Nakum by imbuing it with a complex solar and underworld symbolism and associating it with the cult of deified ancestors.
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Papers by Jarosław Źrałka
Despite architectural graffiti being broadly present in various Maya sites, they remain a relatively rarely studied phenomenon. Little interest has been shown in this kind of art and Maya graffiti tend to be published as minor appendices to larger archaeological reports. Moreover, in the case of many Maya sites, the graffiti were not even documented or recorded. This attitude of sidelining Maya graffiti stemmed from the fact that many scholars considered graffiti to be trivial scribbles or the inconsequential work of the Postclassic or Colonial populations squatting in Maya palaces and temples after they had been abandoned by their original inhabitants. Such long held views in the field are changing; recent studies by various scholars have shown that the meaning of graffiti is far more complex and sophisticated than previously thought. The current view is that graffiti were made by various authors in different periods of time and by people representing different social groups. This book constitutes a comprehensive treatment of the subject of graffiti and provides comparative iconographic data on graffiti from various Maya sites. It also has ample and up-to-date information about graffiti, including its dating, meaning, techniques of rendition and function.
subsistence practices or mobility of the Prehispanic Maya who lived there. This study employed a multi-isotopic
approach to investigate the diet and mobility of the Nakum Maya. Despite the poor preservation typical of
tropical environments, the isotopic compositions of five human bone samples were compared to carbon, nitrogen,
and sulphur isotope baselines developed from 16 archaeological faunal specimens from Nakum. The
bone collagen carbon and nitrogen results indicate that the Nakum Maya consumed a maize-based diet supplemented
with other cultigens and animal protein. Stable carbon isotope values from the bioapatite of five
human bone and seven human tooth samples show that maize was an important dietary component throughout
life, although two individuals consumed less maize during childhood. The bone collagen sulphur data and
strontium isotope results from three teeth indicate that the Nakum individuals consumed local foods. However,
two human oxygen isotope values were lower than the local range developed from human bone and tooth
enamel samples, indicating these individuals moved to the site from outside the Maya region. Although the
faunal sulphur values were much higher than expected at an inland site due to the underlying marine carbonate
limestone geology, one faunal sample exhibited a very low value, suggesting that it was imported to the site over
a considerable distance. Finally, this is the first study to publish baseline sulphur isotope values derived from
Maya faunal remains and contributes to a better understanding of this isotope system in the Maya region.