Anthropology

Ancient Maya Political Dynamics: Collaborative Archaeology at Copán, Honduras

Kristin Landau
Center for Advanced Spatial Technologies
University of Arkansas

February 9, 2023, 4:00 pm via Zoom

What is the government’s role in our everyday lives? How does that change from state to state, or decade to decade? In this talk I review such questions of political integration at the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Copán, in western Honduras. While Copán has long been considered a major ancient Maya city, data from geospatial, architectural, and material analyses in one urban neighborhood reveal a different picture. In addition, I demonstrate how deep scholarly questions can be examined in collaboration with Indigenous and descendant people to decolonize the relationship between heritage and identity, and promote cultural revitalization.

Kristin Landau is a Fellow of the Spatial Archaeology Residential and Online Institute at the Center for Advanced Spatial Technologies (CAST) of the University of Arkansas, and Visiting Scholar at Loyola University Chicago. Previously she was Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Alma College, and earned her PhD in anthropological archaeology from Northwestern University. Her overall intellectual project investigates political dynamics in the ancient Maya city of Copán through collaborative methodologies that incorporate Indigenous and descendant populations. She has also published on methods in geospatial data analysis, cultural astronomy, and archaeological pedagogy. Her next project applies advanced 3D modeling techniques for the investigation and conservation of Los Sapos, an intriguing ritual area that may recast Copán as an ethnically diverse urban center. She is eager to support graduate and undergraduate learning in traditional field and lab work, as well as digital methods and collaborative practices.