Commoner Rituals, Resistance, and the Classic-to-Postclassic Transition 143
INTRODUCTION
Early Colonial period documents in Mesoamerica provide many examples
of expressions of resistance and rebellion by indigenous peoples against
Spanish colonial authorities (Jones 1989; Restall 1997; Terraciano 2001). Yet
within these documents there are occasional references to the discontent
of common people toward indigenous nobles who in some areas contin-
ued to exert considerable power over their subjects for centuries after the
Conquest. For example, in the Maya Book of Chilam Balam of Chumayel,
people are said to lament the hardships that a warlike leader imposes on
subjects because of military drafts, famine, and strife resulting from fre-
quent warfare (McAnany 1995: 140–141; Roys 1967: 103). Likewise, Kevin
Terraciano (2001) reports the testimony of a woman named Catalina from
Etlatongo, Oaxaca, during the Inquisition trial of Yanhuitl�n in the 1540s.
Catalina fled from the house of a male lord of Yanhuitl�n where she was a
ARTHUR A. JOYCE AND ERRIN T. WELLER
CHAPTERSIX
COMMONER RITUALS, RESISTANCE, AND
THE CLASSIC-TO-POSTCLASSIC TRANSITION
IN ANCIENT MESOAMERICA
143
Arthur A. Joyce and Errin T. Weller 144
servant because her seven-year-old sister was sacrificed for the health of
the lord and Catalina feared she would be next. Terraciano (2001: 272) ar-
gues:“Judging from their statements, many slaves failed to see the sacred
qualities of human sacrifice. A slave named Juan suggested that sacrifices
were at times little more than vengeful acts.”
Although these colonial documents record a period of social disrup-
tion and discord resulting from the Spanish Conquest, we believe that
expressions of resistance to political domination are a component of all
complex societies characterized by institutionalized power differentials
and therefore have a deep history in prehispanic Mesoamerica that likely
conditioned (along with other aspects of daily life) commoners’“sense” of
themselves (also see Brumfiel 1996; Hutson 2002; A. Joyce 2000; A. Joyce et
al. 2001; R. Joyce 1993; Robin 1999).
In this chapter, we consider evidence for ritual expressions of resistance
in prehispanic Mesoamerica (Figure 0.1), particularly during the Classic
period collapse (ca. a. d. 700–1000)(Figure 0.2). We follow poststructuralist
and feminist theorists who have increasingly developed a more contin-
gent and fractured concept of society than traditional approaches in ar-
chaeology and social sciences as a whole have (Bourdieu 1977; Butler 1993;
Dirks 1994; Giddens 1979; Goldstein 2003; Scott 1990). All people are now
recognized as having some power to produce or reproduce social systems
and structure. Systems of political power result from social negotiations
of all members of society so that domination is always contested to vary-
ing degrees. Although we recognize the complex and multifaceted ways
in which all people contribute to social production and reproduction, we
choose to focus this study on issues of resistance. Our focus does not im-
ply that we view the agency of commoners as restricted only to resisting
domination and we strongly reject the dominant ideology thesis (see M.
Brown 1996; Hodder and Hutson 2003: 96–99; Lohse, Chapter 1). We rec-
ognize that the lives of subordinate groups are rich and complex. As dis-
cussed by Arthur Joyce and his colleagues (2001; A. Joyce nd), resistance
and other forms of engagement with domination are important forms of
social production and are not simply reactions to a dominant ideology.
The purpose of this chapter is to explore evidence of, as well as possible
methods for, investigating resistance as one form of social production.
We choose to focus on the Classic period collapse because periods
marked by the collapse of political institutions give commoners a greater
opportunity to express more overtly and visibly resistance to domination
even when not actively rebelling against those institutions. Because of the
Commoner Rituals, Resistance, and the Classic-to-Postclassic Transition 145
inconsistency of available data, this chapter does not attempt a comprehen-
sive model of commoner resistance during the collapse. Instead, we explore
two areas of investigation that we feel offer the potential to yield useful
inferences on resistance. First, we consider evidence for the exclusion of
commoners from ceremonies that embodied a public transcript of power
(Scott 1990). As commoners were distanced and disengaged from state cer-
emonies, people may have more fully penetrated dominant ideologies and
expanded modes of resistance. Second, we consider evidence for actual ex-
pressions of resistance both before the Conquest, when people were subject
to the coercive sanctions of the Late Classic state, and after the collapse,
when they were freer to express dissatisfaction with traditional symbols of
rulership. We conclude that in many political centers commoners were ex-
cluded from state ceremonies toward the end of the Classic period. We find
few clear indications of resistance prior to the collapse, although this may
be a result of resistance having been expressed in less visible or disguised
forms, or what James Scott (1990) has termed the “hidden transcript.”
Immediately after the collapse, however, evidence from several areas of
Mesoamerica suggests the destruction and denigration of architecture and
carved stone monuments that had been powerful symbols of rulership and
ruling institutions. We argue that these practices reflect an earlier hidden
transcript of resistance among many commoners that was expressed in
more visible ways only after the decline of ruling institutions.
THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE
In this chapter, we use a theoretical perspective based on practice theory
(Bourdieu 1977; Giddens 1979, 1984; Ortner 1984; Sewell 1992) along with
the work on subalterns by James Scott (1985, 1990) to examine resistance
to state power during the Late Classic and Early Postclassic periods in
Mesoamerica (also see A. Joyce et al. 2001). Following Anthony Giddens
(1979: 88–94), we define power as the transformative capacity of an agent
to achieve an outcome, which can either reproduce or change social sys-
tems and structure. The transformative capacity of agents is determined
by the compromise struck between their creativity, skill, and awareness of
the world on the one hand and the cultural principles and the properties
of resources that create asymmetries in access to resources on the other.
Power, therefore, is a condition of social relations; all people have some
power, even if it is in the form of passive resistance. Thus, the consequenc-
es of the actions of even the least powerful affect system and structure.
Arthur A. Joyce and Errin T. Weller 146
Power can be viewed as manifest in a continuum from more discur-
sive to non-discursive forms. Drawing on the work of Antonio Gramsci
(1971), several scholars have distinguished between hegemony, which
includes the deeper and largely uncontested network of symbols, mean-
ings, and actions, and ideology, which encompasses the more discursive
beliefs and practices that legitimate the interests of particular social groups
in relation to others (Comaroff and Comaroff 1991: 19–27; Comaroff and
Comaroff 1992: 28–31; Goldstein 2003: 35–37; Janusek 2004: 12–16; also see
Lohse, Chapter 1). The boundary between hegemony and ideology is
fluid such that the internalized and naturalized aspects of a dominant
discourse can be brought to light and contested. Successful ruling strat-
egies promote cognitive resonance between people’s lived experiences
and the dominant discourse, driving aspects of the dominant ideology
into the unexamined truths of hegemony. It is particularly during pe-
riods of historical upheaval, such as during the collapse of centralized
political institutions, that aspects of hegemony may be discursively re-
examined and the dominant ideology increasingly penetrated and ques-
tioned (Comaroff and Comaroff 1991: 26; Janusek 2004: 15–16; A. Joyce et
al. 2001).
Research on politico-religious power in Mesoamerica has tradition-
ally stressed elite ideologies and domination with little consideration of
the role of commoners in political discourse. In contrast to traditional top-
down models of power, this volume demonstrates the increasing recogni-
tion among Mesoamerican archaeologists that systems of political power
that support inequality in complex societies result from social negotia-
tions among all members of society (Ashmore et al. 2004; Brumfiel 1996;
A. Joyce 2000; A. Joyce et al. 2001). Dominant ideologies are, therefore,
historically constituted through the ongoing interaction of people of dif-
ferent social positions with varying dispositions and degrees of power.
This model means that dominant ideologies are never simply imposed
on commoners by elites; commoners as well as elites contribute to social
processes. Joyce and his colleagues (2001) have argued that commoners
contribute to dominant discourses through three overlapping forms of
social interaction: engagement, avoidance (or independence; see later dis-
cussion), and resistance.
Engagement refers to the compromise achieved in a dominant dis-
course produced through the mutual engagement of elites and common-
ers with divergent interests and dispositions (eg, Costin 1996; A. Joyce
2000; Pauketat 2000; Sheets 2000). Engagement acknowledges that al-
Commoner Rituals, Resistance, and the Classic-to-Postclassic Transition 147
though elites have more power in social interactions, commoners have
some power to advance their interests and alternative readings of struc-
tural principles, including ideologies. Thus, elites cannot simply impose
their will on commoners. A dominant discourse will always be to some
degree an accommodation among people of different social positions.
Commoners also produce and reproduce alternative discourses and
social practices that are largely independent of and do not directly engage
or contest elite sources of power. Joyce and his colleagues (2001: 369–370)
termed this form of interaction “avoidance,” but this implies a conscious
intent to avoid elite power, an intent that is not always present when com-
moners act independently of dominant ideologies. Some commoners will
often simply live far from political centers and other places where domi-
nant ideologies are expressed in symbolism and practice so that their in-
dependence may not be the result of conscious intent to avoid domination.
We therefore propose here a broader and more neutral term: independence.
Commoners in rural communities often have a great deal of indepen-
dence from regional elites in distant centers (Gonlin 1994; McAnany 1995;
Mehrer 2000; Robin 1999). Alternative discourses and social practices can
be conducted in separate spatial or symbolic realms that do not contrib-
ute significantly to the negotiation or contestation of dominant ideologies.
These practices are often carried out in less visible settings, often in the
houses of commoners away from the view of elites or their functionar-
ies (Robin 1999). Finally, commoners may not have much involvement
in the production or reproduction of a dominant ideology if it is largely
constructed to engage other nobles (Abercrombie et al. 1980) so that com-
moners are excluded from ritual expressions of ideology (Brumfiel 1998).
For example, Elizabeth Brumfiel (1998) argues that Aztec state ideology
was designed to achieve unity among the nobility, whereas power over
commoners was largely coercive with little apparent concern for whether
people penetrated the dominant ideology.
Recent poststructuralist and feminist theory recognizes that subordi-
nate groups, including commoners, always have some degree of penetra-
tion of dominant discourses that can be actualized as resistance (Butler
1993; Comaroff 1985; Giddens 1979: 145–150; Goldstein 2003; Kertzer 1988;
Scott 1985, 1990). In particular, James Scott (1985, 1990) has explored the
ways in which non-elites express resistance to domination in a wide vari-
ety of forms, both discursively and non-discursively. Resistance can occur
as active rebellion, although more often it is expressed in subtle forms that
do not directly confront authority or that operate in ways that appear to
Arthur A. Joyce and Errin T. Weller 148
reinforce dominant ideas and institutions. Commoners are often limited
to expressing resistance in subtle hidden forms because of the possibility
of reprisals by elites. Even under highly repressive forms of domination,
however, commoners can at least express resistance passively, subtly, or
privately. Under less repressive conditions, it is often still difficult to in-
vest in and organize more overt and challenging forms of protest because
subordinates are caught up in the daily struggle to make a living.
Scott (1990) terms these subtle and often less visible or disguised forms
of resistance the “hidden transcript.” Examples of hidden transcripts in-
clude private or concealed rituals that challenge or bypass authority, al-
though these examples would overlap with what we have termed indepen-
dence. Resistance also includes foot-dragging, or withholding payments to
the state in the form of labor or resources (Dirks 1994; Giddens 1979: 145–
150; Scott 1990). Dominant ideologies always provide a framework in
which subordinates can resist, such as by claiming that the ideological-
ly constructed social contract has not been met by the elite (Scott 1976).
Resistance via a dominant ideology can be more public since it does not
appear to overtly challenge ideas that legitimate authority, providing sub-
ordinates more leeway to express resistance. Legal labor actions, appeals
to rulers to curb exploitation by lesser nobles, and elite-sanctioned ritu-
als of reversal are examples of resistance expressed through the symbolic
language of domination (Kertzer 1988: 144–150; Scott 1990). Scott (1990)
argues that expressions of resistance via the principles of domination ap-
pear superficially to reinforce domination and so, although more visible to
elites as social action, are still hidden as forms of resistance. Nevertheless,
it is important to recognize that “hidden” forms of resistance contribute to
social production and are not simply passive reactions to domination.
These hidden forms of resistance account, in part, for the absence of
commoners in most considerations of power by both traditional social
theorists and archaeologists (Janusek 2004; A. Joyce et al. 2001; Lohse,
Chapter 1; Robin 1999). The expression of resistance in subtle, often dis-
guised forms tends to create the historical impression that expressions of
resistance by commoners are rare and that people have been duped by
dominant discourses. The appearance of an uncontested domination is
also a product of what Scott (1990) calls the “public transcript,” where
the dominant discourse is overwhelmingly represented in overt, public
expressions of power in writing, architecture, art, and ritual performance.
It is in the interest of elites to represent power as uncontested, and public
performances of subordinates “will out of prudence, fear, and the desire
Commoner Rituals, Resistance, and the Classic-to-Postclassic Transition 149
to curry favor, be shaped to appeal to the expectations of the powerful”
(Scott 1990: 2). Rituals objectify and embody particular power relations
and may create a degree of social cohesion and a shared corporate identity,
but they also tolerate a considerable degree of resistance and negotiated
appropriation (Bell 1992; Kertzer 1988). Expressions of resistance via the
principles of a dominant ideology may also appear to be affirmations of
that ideology, further reinforcing hegemonic appearances.
Since the hidden transcript of resistance is often carried out in private
and disguised, its material expressions in the archaeological record are
challenging to identify. Places in which expressions of resistance should be
more common and overt will be distant or hidden from the view of elites
or their functionaries (eg, Brumfiel 1996; Casella 2001; Robin 1999; Scott
1985, 1990; Stein 1999), including household settings, peripheral commu-
nities, and the countryside (eg, shrines, rituals in fields, forest poaching).
During periods of rebellion and political upheaval, however, the hidden
transcript often becomes public and resistance can be more enthusiasti-
cally and openly expressed (eg, during the Pueblo Revolt of the 1680s in
the American Southwest and the 1847 Caste War of Yucat�n). Rebellions
and periods marked by the collapse of established political orders allow
commoners to express alternative discourses and the anger that is stifled
by coercive and oppressive systems (A. Joyce et al. 2001; Scott 1990: 213).
Times of social and political upheaval also often compel people to reas-
sess aspects of the world as hegemonically constituted and to increas-
ingly penetrate the dominant ideology (Comaroff and Comaroff 1991).
It is, therefore, periods of political upheaval and collapse that are most
promising for observing the public expressions of commoner power in the
form of resistance and outright rebellion. Prehispanic Mesoamerica’s most
dramatic period of political upheaval was the collapse of the centralized,
urban states of the Classic period.
RESISTANCE AND THE
CLASSIC-TO-POSTCLASSIC TRANSITION
The Late Classic period political landscape of Mesoamerica was dom-
inated by powerful state polities with their political capitals located at
urban centers such as Tikal, Teotihuacan, and Monte Alb�n. The power
of Late Classic Mesoamerican nobles and the state institutions they con-
trolled was based on a combination of religious authority, military coercion,
and economic control (Chase and Chase 1992; Cowgill 1997; A. Joyce and
Arthur A. Joyce and Errin T. Weller 150
Winter 1996; Marcus and Flannery 1996: 208–235; Sabloff and Henderson
1993; Scarborough 1998; Schele and Freidel 1990). These forms of state
power were legitimated by religious beliefs, which were embodied in a
wide range of public and private ceremonies sponsored, directly and indi-
rectly, by the nobility. Religious practices that communicated ideological
principles and power relations included a complex set of rituals involv-
ing sacrifice, shamanism, ancestor veneration, bloodletting, processions,
divination, dance, dedicatory and termination rituals, and mortuary
ceremonialism.
From approximately a. d. 700 to a. d. 1000, however, many Mesoameri-
can states collapsed. The specific timing, causes, histories, and conse-
quences of the collapse varied across Mesoamerica. Most regions, however,
experienced dramatic changes in political institutions and ruling ideolo-
gies, including the political fragmentation of polities, depopulation of
many major cities, and the loss of power by ruling dynasties (Culbert, ed.,
1973; Demarest et al. 1997; Diehl and Berlo 1989; Inomata 1997; Lucero
2002; Sabloff and Andrews 1986; Sabloff and Henderson 1993; Sharer 1994;
Webster 2002). Some regions, such as the Cop�n Valley in Honduras and
parts of the Pet�n lowlands, were largely depopulated (Culbert, ed., 1973;
Sabloff and Andrews 1986; Sharer 1994; Webster 2002). Explanations for
the collapse have varied from region to region but usually focus on some
combination of warfare, landscape degradation, climate change, and in-
ternal political unrest. Several researchers have suggested that a rebellion
by commoners may have been a major factor in the Classic period collapse
(Millon 1988; Thompson 1954). At Teotihuacan, evidence for the destruc-
tion and looting of ritual objects, the burning of public buildings, and the
defacement of monuments could have been the result of a commoner re-
volt, although other explanations, such as factional conflict or warfare, are
also plausible (Manzanilla et al. 1996: 247; Millon 1988). With the possible
exception of Teotihuacan, however, we recognize little evidence at present
for widespread commoner rebellions at the end of the Classic period.
Although outright rebellion was probably not a major factor in the
collapse, we wish to explore whether changes in ruling institutions at
the end of the Classic period and the collapse of those institutions by the
Early Postclassic provided commoners with greater freedom to express
independence from and resistance to dominant ideologies. We explore the
relationship between commoners and dominant discourses in two ways.
First, we consider evidence from the Late Classic period for the increasing
exclusion of commoners from the “public transcript” of state-sponsored
Commoner Rituals, Resistance, and the Classic-to-Postclassic Transition 151
politico-religious ceremonies performed in public spaces that would
have engaged people in ritual expression of state ideology (Kertzer 1988;
Scott 1990). Although ceremonial expressions of state power do not nec-
essarily diminish resistance, they can contribute to social cohesion and
a corporate identity by creating a shared communal experience that cel-
ebrates the symbols and history of the state and its rulers. Public rituals
also communicate the coercive power of the state in ways that tend to
drive resistance into more hidden and disguised forms out of fear of re-
prisals. If state ceremonies excluded commoners, then we might expect
that non-elites would have been increasingly distanced and disengaged
from dominant ideologies. Disengagement from state ceremonies could
have increased cognitive dissonance among commoners and led to the
reopening of hegemonic ideas as well as the increasing penetration of the
dominant ideology (Comaroff and Comaroff 1991: 26; Janusek 2004: 15–16).
Since Mesoamerican nobles acted as intermediaries between commoners
and the sacred realm (A. Joyce 2000; Schele and Freidel 1990), commoners
may also have sought new ways to contact the Otherworld through do-
mestic ritual (Brumfiel 1996; Plunket 2002; Weller 2002).
Second, we examine evidence for ritual expressions of the “hidden
transcript” of resistance both before and after the collapse. We expect that
identifying hidden transcripts of resistance before the collapse may prove
difficult because they were probably often subtle, disguised, or hidden.
This point is an important one and will be elaborated later. In addition,
Mesoamerican archaeologists are only just beginning to explore the re-
lationship between domestic rituals of commoners and state ceremonies
sponsored by nobles (L. Brown 2000; Brumfiel 1996; Garber et al. 1998;
Lucero 2003; McAnany 1995; Plunket 2002; Weller 2002). Expressions of re-
sistance to ruling ideologies should be more overt and public immediately
following the collapse of ruling institutions (A. Joyce et al. 2001). These
post-collapse expressions of dissatisfaction with the Late Classic state
reflect a response to a collective memory (Hendon 2000; Lohse, Chapter
1) of the experiences of domination, as well as a probable reassessment
of hegemonic understandings, and are not examples of precisely what
Scott (1990) characterized as the hidden transcript. We argue, however,
that they are useful for providing indications that commoners penetrated
dominant ideologies immediately prior to the collapse and that they prob-
ably were expressing resistance via a hidden transcript during the Late
Classic. Overall, we hope that our examples provide some useful avenues
of research to explore commoner resistance in ancient Mesoamerica.
Arthur A. Joyce and Errin T. Weller 152
COMMONERS AND THE
PUBLIC TRANSCRIPT OF DOMINATION
We examine changes in the spatial layout of the ceremonial precincts of
Classic period urban centers as a means of assessing the degree to which com-
moners were excluded from the public transcript of state power. Evidence
from many of the major Classic period state-centers of Mesoamerica in-
dicates that ceremonial precincts embodied politico-religious beliefs that
legitimated authority (Ashmore 1991; Ashmore and Sabloff 2002; A. Joyce
2000; Koontz et al. 2001; Sugiyama 1993). The physical arrangement and
symbolism of buildings, plazas, courtyards, roads, and other architectural
features were important structural elements that channeled the movement
and experiences of actors, especially during ritual performances. The on-
going use and alteration of monumental spaces in turn transformed the
meanings they embodied. Researchers of architectural space have shown
that by manipulating space through the erection of physical or symbol-
ic barriers, elites can restrict interaction between members of different
groups to times and places of their choosing so as to control both the con-
tent and presentation of social discourse (Hegmon et al. 2000; Hillier and
Hanson 1984; Love 1999). In this section we argue that toward the end of
the Classic period, ceremonial precincts in many cities were increasingly
closed off and segmented in ways that intentionally or unintentionally re-
stricted access by commoners. In several Late Classic cities, the ceremonial
precincts also appear to have increasingly changed from public space to
private ritual and residential spaces restricted to the elite (A. Joyce 2004).
MONTE ALB�N, MEXICO
In the Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico, the ceremonial precinct of the Zapotec
capital of Monte Alb�n was the site’s Main Plaza (Figure 6.1). The Main
Plaza was a huge public plaza measuring roughly 300 m north-south by
150 m east-west (Acosta 1965). In its final form the Main Plaza complex
was bounded on its north and south ends by high platforms supporting
numerous public buildings. The eastern and western sides of the Main
Plaza were defined by rows of monumental buildings; a third row of
structures ran north-south through the center of the plaza. Like monu-
mental spaces at other ceremonial centers in Mesoamerica (Ashmore 1991;
Ashmore and Sabloff 2002; Sugiyama 1993), the Main Plaza complex was
built as an axis mundi, creating a point of communication and media-
tion between the human world and the supernatural Otherworld (G�mez
Commoner Rituals, Resistance, and the Classic-to-Postclassic Transition 153
6.1. Plan of the Main Plaza at Monte Alb�n, Oaxaca, Mexico.
Arthur A. Joyce and Errin T. Weller 154
Goytia 2002; A. Joyce 2000, 2004). The archaeological evidence suggests
that the Main Plaza was an arena where thousands of people participated
in public rituals organized and led by the nobility (A. Joyce 2000, 2004;
Marcus and Flannery 1996).
An analysis of the life history of Monte Alb�n’s Main Plaza shows that
through time the ceremonial precinct was increasingly closed off, thereby
restricting and channeling traffic into the plaza. The Main Plaza was first
constructed toward the end of the Middle Formative (ca. 500 b. c.) and at
this time consisted only of its western row of buildings and the North
Platform (A. Joyce 2004; Winter 2001). Until the Terminal Formative, the
Main Plaza was therefore open on its eastern and possibly its southern
sides, making activities on the plaza accessible to commoners living on the
terraces below. During the Terminal Formative, early versions of the South
Platform as well as the eastern and central row of structures were built.
Access to the Main Plaza was further restricted during the Classic period
by the construction of buildings that increasingly closed off access points
to the plaza (Blanton 1978: 63–66). By the Late Classic the only public entry
points were narrow corridors on the northeastern and southeastern cor-
ners of the plaza.
The Main Plaza by the Late Classic period had become a focus of
elite domestic activities and appears to have been less frequently used as
an arena for large-scale public ceremonies (Hutson 2002; A. Joyce 2004;
Winter 2001). Beginning with its initial construction around 500 b. c., elite
residences had always been located near the Main Plaza, creating an elite
ceremonial precinct. During the Late/Terminal Formative, elite residences
were located on and around the North Platform but did not directly face
onto the Main Plaza. Although elite residences continued to be concen-
trated around the North Platform, during the Early Classic a high-status
residence was also built in the southwestern corner of the plaza just west
of the South Platform. During the Late Classic at least ten residences were
constructed in this area. Elaborate Late Classic palace complexes were also
built directly facing each other on the southern end of the Main Plaza. One
of these structures was Building S, the largest Late Classic palace identi-
fied at the site.
Another major change in spatial configuration during the Late Classic
was the construction of two temple-patio-altar (or TPA) complexes on the
west side of the Main Plaza, creating restricted ceremonial spaces. The
TPA consists of a temple elevated on a platform that faces a patio with an
altar in the center. Access to the TPA was usually restricted by building a
Commoner Rituals, Resistance, and the Classic-to-Postclassic Transition 155
wall around the patio or by constructing a sunken patio. This trend toward
restricted ceremonial spaces is found in administrative centers throughout
the valley (Kowalewski et al. 1989: 262–263).
A shift away from large-scale public ceremonies and toward restricted,
private ones is also indicated by a contextual analysis of monumental art
(A. Joyce 2004). During the Late Classic most newly carved stones at Monte
Alb�n and other sites in the valley were set in highly restricted locations,
especially as carved lintels and doorjambs for tombs. Themes represented
on carved stone monuments also changed during the Classic period.
Public monuments erected on the Main Plaza during the Formative ex-
pressed themes of human sacrifice and warfare with few overt depictions
of nobles. By the Late Classic, the most common type of carved stone de-
picted several generations of nobles, sometimes showing marriage scenes
or rituals related to ancestor veneration. Another form of Late Classic elite
art included painted murals found in the valley’s most elaborate tombs,
which depict scenes of ancestor veneration (Miller 1995). The data on both
spatial organization of ceremonial space and the context and iconography
of monumental art suggest that by the Late Classic, Monte Alb�n’s nobles
were less concerned with large-scale public ceremonies and more focused
on rituals involving restricted audiences of other elites.
CARACOL, BELIZE
Like Monte Alb�n, many lowland Maya political centers have evi-
dence for the increasing restriction of commoners from expressions of
the public transcript of domination during state rituals in ceremonial pre-
cincts. For example, at the massive city of Caracol in the Maya Mountains
of Belize there is evidence that during the Late/Terminal Classic, rulers
restricted non-elite access to ceremonial space (Chase and Chase 1985,
1987, 2001a, 2001b). The earliest public ceremonial space at Caracol dates
to the Preclassic in the A-Group Plaza. By the Late Classic, the ceremonial
emphasis shifted to the nearby B-Group Plaza, whereas the use of space in
the ceremonial precinct, consisting of both the A-Group and B-Group pla-
zas, was increasingly restricted (Chase and Chase 1985). During the Late
and Terminal Classic, the entire site core—including both the A-Group
Plaza and the B-Group Plaza—was effectively closed off. Access to the cer-
emonial precinct was through a number of causeways connected to elite
residential groups. The increasingly restricted setting of elite ritual activi-
ties was exemplified by the Caana, or “Sky Place,” in the B-Group Plaza.
Arthur A. Joyce and Errin T. Weller 156
The Caana is the largest structure at the site and includes a combination
of palace rooms along with three temples surrounding a central court at
the summit of the pyramid. Ritual activities associated with the summit
temples and court would not have been visible from the plaza floor below.
The huge Caana pyramid, therefore, supported a private temple complex
whose usage was restricted to the ruling elite and whose modifications
extend very late into the Late and Terminal Classic.
XUNANTUNICH, BELIZE
The important Late/Terminal Classic Maya center of Xunantunich in
western Belize provides additional evidence that access to the main cere-
monial precinct was increasingly restricted at the end of the Classic peri-
od. In the Late Classic (ca. a. d. 700–850), the ceremonial center comprised
Plazas AI and AII (Figure 6.2), an area dominated by the massive Castillo
temple and accessed via multiple entranceways (Keller 1995; Leventhal
1996; Leventhal and Ashmore 2004; Yaeger 2003). During the Terminal
Classic (ca. a. d. 850–1050), the ceremonial precinct as well as the site as
a whole contracted to focus on Plaza AI (Figure 6.3), which remained the
only public space at the site (Leventhal 1996: 11).
The changes during the Late to Terminal Classic transition at Xunan-
tunich are numerous and began with the abandonment of the site to the
south of the Castillo. Access to the summit of the Castillo was restricted by
an “audiencia building”(Structure A-1) that served both to shield sections
of the structure from view and to physically restrict access (Leventhal
1996: 11; Leventhal and Ashmore 2004: 173). The main plaza area, com-
posed of Plazas AI and AII, which during the Late Classic consisted of a
single open space, was segregated in the Terminal Classic by the construc-
tion of Structure A-1. Structure A-1 limited access to the northern plaza to
a narrow passage that effectively closed off the space immediately in front
of the Castillo, which served to reduce public ritual space to the south
section of the plaza. Structure A-1 also incorporated one side of an ex-
isting ballcourt (Ballcourt II) into its mass, further delineating two sepa-
rate plaza spaces not only spatially but ideologically (Leventhal 1996: 12).
Additional private space was created by the construction of Structure A-16,
consisting of a small, two-room superstructure surrounding a stela and
altar. Structure A-16 removed the altar and stela from public view and
further narrowed the passageway between the two plazas. Access to Plaza
AII was then almost completely blocked by the dismantling of an earlier
Commoner Rituals, Resistance, and the Classic-to-Postclassic Transition 157
6.2. Plan of Xunantunich, Belize, Group A, Late Classic period (redrawn from Robin 1999:
figure 4).
6.3. Plan of Xunantunich, Belize, Group A, Terminal Classic period (redrawn from Robin
1999: figure 7).
Arthur A. Joyce and Errin T. Weller 158
stairway and the construction of a wall. According to Richard Leventhal
(1996: 13),“Plaza AII is closed to the public and, we believe, is only ac-
cessed by the elite family and various family retainers and other elite indi-
viduals. Plaza AI remains the only area open to the public within the site
core.” Leventhal (1996: 14) argues that by the end of the Terminal Classic,
the ruling family of Xunantunich was physically separated from the sur-
rounding community.
ALTUN HA, BELIZE
Located in northern Belize, the site of Altun Ha was a major Maya
political center from the Late Preclassic into the Early Postclassic period
(Pendergast 1979, 1982, 1992). Excavations by David Pendergast identified
the primary spaces for public ceremonies as the A and B plazas (Figure
6.4). Investigation of the construction history reveals a trend of increas-
ing enclosure of these plaza spaces and the addition of elite residences in
formerly ceremonial space.
In the Early Classic, the A Plaza witnessed an intensive phase of con-
struction as the ceremonial space was defined (Pendergast 1979). Multiple
access points from the north, east, and west were present, and inhabit-
ants of the adjacent residential Zone C could move freely to and from the
plaza. In the Late Classic, however, a construction program was initiated
that gradually closed down major access points and served to divert the
flow of foot traffic. One of the key changes was the addition of Structure
A8 in an area that had previously been open plaza space, which effec-
tively closed off access from Zone C. When Structure A8 was completed
it was used for rituals, but this purpose soon changed as it was converted
into an elite residence. Additional ceremonial structures were built that
effectively shielded Structure A8 from the remainder of the plaza; the no-
ble residents of Structure A8 had private access to these ritual buildings.
As access to the plaza became more restricted, the plaza also assumed a
more domestic function, as one of the last additions to the main plaza was
Structure A7, another elite residence. Pendergast (1979: 196) believes these
additions are indicative of “increasing internalization and secretiveness”
and signal the “start of an internalization process and of a widening gulf
between ruler and populace.” Similar trends toward restricted access and
a shift from ceremonial to elite residential space are also apparent in the B
Plaza (Pendergast 1982: 142–144). When the construction history of the cer-
emonial precincts at Altun Ha is considered, it indicates an elite more di-
Commoner Rituals, Resistance, and the Classic-to-Postclassic Transition 159
rectly associating themselves with ceremonial spaces and buildings while
increasingly restricting access by the populace.
ASummary OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE
The detailed evidence from Caracol, Xunantunich, and Altun Ha reveals
that the architectural changes of the Late/Terminal Classic increasingly ex-
cluded commoners from ceremonial precincts. Evidence from many other
lowland Maya centers also suggests this trend. For example, during the
Late Classic at Blue Creek in northwestern Belize, the site’s core area was
increasingly transformed from a public ceremonial space to a high-status
residential zone (Lichtenstein 1996, 2000). At Baking Pot, a medium-sized
center in western Belize, Late Classic nobles constructed Group II, a highly
restricted ceremonial precinct formed by range structures, a ballcourt, and
6.4. Plan of Altun Ha, Belize, A Plaza (redrawn from Pendergast 1979: figure 1).
Arthur A. Joyce and Errin T. Weller 160
the largest pyramid at the site (Moore 1999; Willey et al. 1965). Access into
this plaza was from only two points: a southern ballcourt and a causeway.
Finally, at Tikal in the Pet�n lowlands of Guatemala, the eighth-century
construction of Temples 1 and 2 significantly closed off the Great Plaza
ceremonial precinct (Harrison 1999; Laporte 1993). At about the same
time, the North Acropolis was closed off by the construction of several
temples along its front.
The evidence from Oaxaca and parts of the Maya Lowlands suggests
that at the end of the Classic period, commoners were being excluded
from ceremonial precincts at many major political centers. These precincts
had been places where both nobles and commoners participated in ritual
expressions of the public transcript of domination during earlier periods.
By the Late/Terminal Classic, however, monumental ceremonial pre-
cincts at these sites were increasingly restricted to private elite ritual and
residential spaces. We should acknowledge, however, that our sample is
limited to sites where detailed architectural histories are available. In ad-
dition, not all sites that we examined seemed to show this shift toward
the closing off of ceremonial precincts and the exclusion of commoners.
The available data from Teotihuacan (Millon 1973) and Cop�n (Fash 1991;
Gonlin, Chapter 4), for example, do not suggest major changes in the ac-
cessibility of ceremonial space during the Late Classic. Nevertheless, it
is our impression that by the Late Classic, ceremonial precincts at many
sites in Mesoamerica were losing their public character. Commoners may
have been largely excluded from ceremonial expressions of elite power,
which could have provided them with the opportunity and perhaps the
necessity to find alternative means to contact the sacred via local public
and domestic rituals (Barba et al., Chapter 3). To the degree that ceremo-
nial performances of commoners also expressed dissatisfaction with rul-
ers as well as ruling institutions and ideologies, they would also represent
a hidden transcript of resistance. In the next section we consider evidence
for ritual expressions of a hidden transcript before and after the Classic
period collapse.
THE HIDDEN TRANSCRIPT OF COMMONER RESISTANCE
Since hidden transcripts are often carried out in concealed locations or dis-
guised as something other than resistance, we expect that their material
expressions in the archaeological record will be challenging to identify.
As discussed previously, we hypothesize that expressions of resistance
Commoner Rituals, Resistance, and the Classic-to-Postclassic Transition 161
should be more common and visible in households, peripheral communi-
ties, and the countryside, places that are distant or hidden from the view
of elites or their functionaries. We have chosen to focus on the Classic period
collapse since we suspect that during periods of rebellion and political up-
heaval, cognitive dissonance with the dominant discourse increases and
the hidden transcript often becomes more public and should be more vis-
ible archaeologically. In this section, we consider evidence for expressions
of resistance by commoners before and immediately after the collapse of
Classic period states.
The increasing exclusion and disengagement of commoners from
state ceremonies at the end of the Classic may have weakened their al-
legiance to state rulers, institutions, and symbols, leading to disaffection
from the state actualized in independence from and perhaps resistance to
domination. Unfortunately, several factors, in addition to the concealed
and/or disguised nature of resistance, make hidden transcripts difficult
to identify. Perhaps the most significant problem is that studies of the rit-
ual practices of commoners are only just beginning in Mesoamerica (see
reviews by L. Brown 2000; Johnston and Gonlin 1998; Lohse, Chapter 1;
Plunket 2002; Robin 2003) and few studies trace changes through time in
commoner ritual practices (Chase and Chase 1998: 327; Garber et al. 1998;
LeCount 2001). Another problem is the identification of rituals specifically
as expressions of resistance.
Cynthia Robin (2003) has identified three primary types of commoner
rituals in household studies:(1) burial and ancestor worship,(2) feasting,
and (3) dedication and termination rituals (also see Gonlin, Chapter 4).
Several researchers have pointed out the congruence between the ritual
forms of commoners and elites (Garber et al. 1998; McAnany 1995; Robin
2001, 2003; Walker and Lucero 2000; Weller 2002; Yaeger 2002). Similarities
in ritual practices across social classes, however, can be interpreted in sev-
eral ways (Robin 1999). For example, elites may have appropriated tra-
ditional ritual forms found in domestic settings or commoners may have
appropriated elite rituals. In the latter case, commoners could be resisting
elite control over ritual authority, or they could be affirming a dominant
ideology through domestic expressions of state rituals. Jon Lohse (Chapter
1) has suggested that commoners might use local rather than exotic mate-
rials in household activities and thereby reduce the degree of elite control
on their lives. The use of local materials in commoner rituals (eg, substi-
tuting local lithics for jade) could be an expression of independence from
or resistance to elite power but could also be a result of the availability
Arthur A. Joyce and Errin T. Weller 162
or cost of exotics (see Olson, Chapter 9). The political significance of dif-
ferences in ritual forms between elites and commoners is also difficult to
assess, although Rosemary Joyce (1993) has shown a divergence in state
and popular imagery of women for the Classic Maya that could reflect
resistance to dominant gender ideologies.
The most effective way of identifying ritual expressions of resistance
would involve tracking changes in commoner ritual through time relative
to elite expressions of dominant ideologies, especially toward the end of
the Classic as ruling institutions begin to fail. One intriguing example of
changes in ritual practices possibly linked to increasing commoner resis-
tance during the Late Classic is found at Caracol. Diane Chase and Arlen
Chase (1998) have found evidence for a shift in the context of caching
practices from public architecture to domestic contexts during the Late
Classic, concurrent with the increasing exclusion of commoners from pub-
lic ceremonial spaces. They (1998: 327) argue:
Changes occur in the caching (and burial) patterns at Caracol. Ordered
epicentral Late Preclassic/Early Classic caches are believed to have
functioned in the sanctification of ritual space related to the territorial
whole. This class of caches is associated only with public architecture
through the Early Classic era. Late Classic offerings were both more
varied and more decentralized.... The shift in cache emphasis from
monumental architecture to domestic architecture seen at Caracol (and
possibly at Altun Ha), however, is reflective of a continuity in caching
practice documented for the Post-Classic period... the shift in place-
ment of the most important ritual deposits of the Maya ultimately from
epicentral monumental architecture to domestically linked architecture
located throughout the community is clearly reflective of very different,
but effective, strategies for dealing with a changing Maya world.
Data such as these are usually interpreted as expressions of the ac-
ceptance of a dominant ideology by common people (eg, Chase and
Chase 2004: 141). We would like to raise the possibility that the increase
in domestic ritual across the site of Caracol was the result of commoners’
appropriation of formerly elite ritual practices and an expression of inde-
pendence and perhaps resistance.
Archaeological evidence from Monte Alb�n also suggests the pos-
sibility of resistance by lesser nobles and/or commoners at the end of
the Late Classic period. Archaeological data suggest that at this time the
site’s nobility were increasingly isolating themselves from the general
population as people began to leave the city and ruling institutions failed
Commoner Rituals, Resistance, and the Classic-to-Postclassic Transition 163
(Blanton 1978: 100; Winter 2003). Many of Monte Alb�n’s elite residences
were abandoned or were rebuilt on a smaller, more modest scale. Several
new high-status residences were built in the Main Plaza complex in very
restricted locations often protected by walls. For example, a high-status
residence was built on top of the nine-meter-high platform of Building L,
which had previously supported a temple. The Building L residence was
separated from the Main Plaza by an adobe wall built along the west side
of the plaza, which was the latest construction detected on the Main Plaza.
Another high-status house built at this time was located adjacent to the
Late Classic TPA on the highest point of the North Platform. A diagonal
adobe wall blocked the view of the residence from people on the flat area
north of the ballcourt, which had been the major access point to the Main
Plaza. Residences throughout the site became increasingly enclosed and
inwardly focused during the Late Classic, perhaps because of rising social
tensions and divisions, especially between competing nobles and/or com-
moners (Hutson 2002: 68–69).
Despite these intriguing cases, few clear examples of Classic period
resistance have been identified in the archaeological record. The emerg-
ing interest in commoner ritual, as exemplified by this volume, will un-
doubtedly provide additional evidence of hidden transcripts as well as
new means of teasing out resistance from other ways in which commoners
participated in the social negotiation of power.
Another promising approach to identifying resistance to the ruling
ideas and institutions of the Classic period state is to consider the reaction
of commoners to the collapse of these institutions. Archaeological, epi-
graphic, and iconographic data demonstrate that the political, economic,
and military power of Classic period rulers in Mesoamerica was primar-
ily legitimated through religious beliefs and practices (eg, Ashmore and
Sabloff 2002; Chase and Chase 1992; Joyce and Winter 1996; Martin and
Grube 2000; McAnany 1995; Schele and Freidel 1990). As we discussed
previously, the ceremonial precincts of political centers were axis mundi
where nobles performed important state ceremonies. The coercive power
of the nobility during the Classic period appears to have constrained the
agency of commoners such that resistance may have been expressed as a
hidden transcript that is difficult to identify archaeologically at this time.
The threat of coercive sanctions, however, would have been lessened or
eliminated after the collapse and people would then have been freer to
overtly express their views concerning rulers and ruling institutions. It is
also possible that the social upheaval of the collapse might have caused
Arthur A. Joyce and Errin T. Weller 164
people to reassess and question previously hegemonic aspects of the
dominant discourse. Evidence that commoners destroyed and denigrated
symbols of Classic period ruling institutions immediately following the
collapse would suggest that even before the collapse, commoners had
penetrated dominant ideologies and expressed resistance via a hidden
transcript (A. Joyce nd; A. Joyce et al. 2001). Evidence for the denigration
and destruction of state symbols has been recovered from coastal Oaxaca,
the Maya Lowlands, and perhaps Teotihuacan.
In the lower R�o Verde Valley on the Pacific coast of Oaxaca, archae-
ological research shows that during the Late Classic the region was the
locus of a state polity with its capital at the urban center of R�o Viejo (A.
Joyce 1993, 1999; A. Joyce et al. 2001; Urcid and Joyce 2001). Late Classic
R�o Viejo covered 250 ha, with much of the site artificially raised above
the floodplain by a series of large residential platforms (Figure 6.5). R�o
Viejo’s Late Classic civic-ceremonial center was the huge acropolis desig-
nated Mound 1, which measured 350 x 200 m along its base. The acropolis
supported two large substructures, reaching heights of 15 m above the
floodplain. Evidence that Mound 1 was a locus of important public cer-
emonies includes the presence of three Late Classic carved stone monu-
ments, a large public plaza, and a sunken patio. Excavations on Mound
1–Structure 2, the monumental substructure located on the eastern portion
6.5. Plan of R�o Viejo, Oaxaca, Mexico, showing mounds and locations of excavations in
2000.
Commoner Rituals, Resistance, and the Classic-to-Postclassic Transition 165
of the acropolis, exposed the poor-
ly preserved remains of a public
building. A test excavation 50 m
south of Mound 1 recovered thick
deposits of sherds from fancy
serving vessels, suggesting elite
domestic activities or ceremonial
feasting (A. Joyce 1991: 480). A to-
tal of thirteen carved stone monu-
ments has been dated stylistically
to the Late Classic at R�o Viejo
(Urcid and Joyce 2001). Many of the carved stones depict nobles, probably
rulers of R�o Viejo, dressed in elaborate costumes and sometimes accom-
panied by a glyph that represents their calendrical name (Figure 6.6). Data
from a full-coverage regional survey over 152 km2 show that R�o Viejo
was the first-order capital of a seven-tiered settlement hierarchy (A. Joyce
et al. 2001: 352–353). The evidence from the lower R�o Verde Valley shows
that the R�o Viejo polity shared many features with other Late Classic
Mesoamerican states, including urbanism, monumental art and architec-
ture, writing, the institution of kingship, craft specialization, and a settle-
ment hierarchy with at least four levels (A. Joyce 1991, 1993, 1999; A. Joyce
et al. 2001). The numerous carved stone monuments depicting individual
rulers suggest an ideology that was focused on the institution of kingship
and that sacrifice, ancestor worship, and genealogical ties were important
elements of a dominant ideology.
The collapse of the Late Classic state in the lower R�o Verde region
is dated to approximately a. d. 800 (A. Joyce et al. 2001). The data from
the lower R�o Verde demonstrate that a major change in settlement pat-
terns and sociopolitical organization occurred during the Early Postclassic
period. The occupational area in the full-coverage survey zone declined
from 605 ha in the Late Classic to 452 ha by the Early Postclassic, and
the regional settlement hierarchy decreased from seven to four tiers. R�o
Viejo continued as a first-order center, although settlement at the site de-
clined from 250 to 140 ha as another first-order center emerged at the site
of San Marquitos. At R�o Viejo, excavation data indicate a cessation of the
6.6. Carved stone monuments from R�o
Viejo, Oaxaca, Mexico (a= Monument 8;
b= Monument 11).
Arthur A. Joyce and Errin T. Weller 166
construction of monumental buildings to house rulers and the ruling in-
stitutions of the state. The lack of monumental building activity is mir-
rored in a reduction in monumental art with only three stone monuments
recorded at R�o Viejo that are tentatively dated stylistically to the Early
Postclassic and appear to represent deities rather than rulers (Urcid and
Joyce 2001: 211–212).
Large-scale horizontal excavations exposed two areas with the remains
of Early Postclassic residences (A. Joyce et al. 2001; Joyce and King 2001).
Operation A cleared 242 m2 on Mound 1–Structure 2, the monumental sub-
structure located on the eastern portion of the acropolis. Two structures
were completely exposed as well as portions of three others. Operation B
exposed portions of seven structures on Mound 8, approximately 180 m
southeast of the acropolis. All of the Postclassic structures were low plat-
forms, approximately 0.5 m high, and supported wattle-and-daub super-
structures. The excavations yielded burials along with artifacts, features,
and refuse that demonstrate the domestic function of these buildings. The
size and form of the buildings in the two areas were virtually identical and
the relatively modest architecture and burial offerings indicate commoner
status. Similar structures have been observed and mapped on the surface
over a broader area of Mound 8 (Joyce and King 2001). The excavations
at R�o Viejo, along with the regional survey data, suggest relatively little
variation in wealth and power during the Early Postclassic. 1
The Operation A excavations show that by the Early Postclassic, the
acropolis at R�o Viejo was no longer the civic-ceremonial center of the site
but instead was a locus of commoner residences (Figure 6.7). The five
low platforms exposed on the top of Mound 1–Structure 2 were densely
packed, often with less than two meters separating structures. Three of
the structures surrounded a central patio. The presence of commoner resi-
dences on the acropolis at R�o Viejo shows that Early Postclassic people
did not treat the earlier sacred spaces, objects, and buildings with the same
reverence those places had been afforded in the Late Classic and earlier.
This inference is reinforced by excavation data indicating that the stones
used to construct the Early Postclassic platforms had been obtained by
dismantling a Late Classic public building. In addition, at least five Late
Classic carved stone monuments at the site were reused in later, probably
Early Postclassic, walls. Excavations in Operation B recovered a fragment
of a Late Classic period carved stone monument reutilized in an Early
Postclassic wall (Joyce and King 2001). The fragment was the upper por-
tion of the original monument and depicted the feathered headdress and
Commoner Rituals, Resistance, and the Classic-to-Postclassic Transition 167
upper part of a noble’s head. Prior to its placement in the wall of a com-
moner residence, this monument fragment had been utilized as a metate.
We find it highly unlikely that the stones from the public building
and carved monuments were simply reused opportunistically for the con-
struction of walls and a metate and that Early Postclassic people exhibited
ignorance of or indifference to the earlier meanings of sacred objects and
spaces. 2 Both operations exhibited stratigraphic continuity between Late
Classic and Early Postclassic deposits and there were no indications of a
hiatus in the occupation of these areas (Joyce and King 2001). Evidence
from Mesoamerica and throughout the world shows that earlier meanings
of monumental art and architecture continue to inform their reuse and re-
interpretation for hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of years after their
creation and initial use (Barrett 1999; Bender 1998; Bradley 1993, 1998). It
is unlikely that only a few generations after the collapse of the R�o Viejo
state the earlier meaning of these portraits of rulers would have been lost
and the stone they were made of would simply have been considered as
convenient building materials. The occupation of the acropolis by com-
moners, the dismantling of public buildings, and the reuse of carved stone
monuments for utilitarian purposes suggest the active destruction and
denigration of earlier sacred spaces, objects, and buildings. We argue that
6.7. Plan of Op. RV00 A excavations, R�o Viejo, Oaxaca, Mexico.
Arthur A. Joyce and Errin T. Weller 168
the destruction, denigration, and reuse of these material symbols of the
Late Classic state were based on a collective memory of the experiences of
having lived under elite domination. By dismantling the public buildings
of the Late Classic state to build their houses, commoners were re-inscribing
the acropolis with markers of their identities as freed from the subjuga-
tion of the rulers and ruling institutions that were once housed in those
buildings. Perhaps the most evocative symbol of this re-inscription was
the symbolic act of grinding maize on the head of a Late Classic ruler.
In the southern Maya Lowlands evidence from several Late Classic
political centers also suggests the destruction and denigration of the sym-
bols of rulership during the collapse period. Evidence from Dos Pilas in
the Petexbatun region of Guatemala suggests the active destruction of
symbols of rulership immediately following the political collapse and the
elite abandonment of the site (Palka 1997). In the period immediately after
the collapse, local commoners continued to reside there. The post-collapse
occupation consisted of continuity in some residences and occupation
of formerly elite compounds by commoners. Some of the most striking
examples of the destruction of earlier symbols of rulership include the
intentional breaking of stone monuments and benches in the former resi-
dences of Maya elites at Dos Pilas. In Structure L4-41, fragments of carved
stone monuments were recovered from wall fall, indicating they may have
been reset into the walls after the collapse, similar to the Early Postclassic
reuse of stone monuments at R�o Viejo. Archaeological evidence also in-
dicates that after the collapse, residents of Dos Pilas intentionally broke
a hieroglyphic bench in Structure L4-41 and then dug a looter’s pit over
the noble burial interred beneath. Another hieroglyphic bench, destroyed
in antiquity, was encountered in the Bat Palace at Dos Pilas. In Structure
N5-21 another sculpted bench was dismantled and an intrusive non-elite
burial was cut through the structure’s plaster floor. In the El Duende pyra-
mid a large block from the central staircase was removed and relocated
to the stairway of another structure. Following the collapse of Dos Pilas,
therefore, local people occupied elite areas of the site, looted materials (in-
cluding tombs), smashed carved benches, and possibly broke a number of
carved stone monuments.
Archaeological research at Xunantunich and its satellite communi-
ties of San Lorenzo and Chan N�ohol has shown that the first people to
abandon the area during the collapse were mostly commoners, with elites
generally holding out somewhat longer (Ashmore et al. 2004; LeCount et
al. 2002; Robin 1999; Yaeger 2000). Research has found no evidence of
Commoner Rituals, Resistance, and the Classic-to-Postclassic Transition 169
mass death or environmental degradation that might have triggered the
abandonment of the area. Instead, researchers suggest that the collapse of
polities in the Pet�n heartland may have disrupted the external links that
Xunantunich’s nobles relied on for the symbolic and material resources
that underwrote the power of the center’s nobility. As the prestige and
power of Xunantunich’s nobles declined, people increasingly voted with
their feet and left the area for nearby communities that had stronger ties
to the growing political and economic networks linked to the Caribbean
coast (Ashmore et al. 2004; Robin 1999: 374). As the Xunantunich polity
began to disintegrate during the Terminal Classic, nobles increasingly
gifted decorated pottery to commoners (LeCount 1999), perhaps in an
unsuccessful attempt to buy their allegiance. Yet at the nearby commu-
nity of San Lorenzo, the remaining residents no longer used ties to the
Xunantunich elite as a source of legitimating symbols (Ashmore et al.
2004: 314).
Evidence from several other Classic period political centers also sug-
gests the destruction and denigration of symbols of rulership immediately
following the collapse. At Tikal, public buildings and palaces were used
for refuse disposal, tombs and caches were looted, and stelae and altars
were reused (Culbert 1973; Harrison 1999: 192–198). Funerary practices at
Tikal’s Mundo Perdido changed during the ninth century from elite tombs
to non-elite interments that were “intruded into earlier architectural ele-
ments, such as stairways and floors, or were simply laid under the rubble
of fallen buildings”(Laporte 1993: 312). During the ninth-century collapse,
the residence of the royal family at Cop�n (Group 10L-2) and perhaps the
entire Principal Group, as well as adjacent elite residential areas, were in-
tentionally burned and destroyed (Andrews and Fash 1992). Several altars
at Cop�n also were intentionally broken at this time. E. Wyllys Andrews
and Barbara Fash (1992: 86) argue that the destruction of the Principal
Group was “almost certainly visited on an unwilling resident population
by outsiders, either from within the Cop�n polity or from without.” At
Teotihuacan, people looted and destroyed ritual objects, set fire to public
buildings, and defaced monuments (Cowgill 1997: 156–157; Manzanilla
et al. 1996: 247; Millon 1988). Post-collapse changes in ritual parapherna-
lia in domestic courtyards at Teotihuacan may be related to the rejection
of the state religion (Cowgill 1997: 142; Manzanilla 2002: 45). In the civic-
ceremonial precinct of Altun Ha, trash was dumped in many buildings
during or immediately following the collapse and a tomb was desecrated
(Pendergast 1979: 183, 199; 1982: 144, 263).
Arthur A. Joyce and Errin T. Weller 170
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
Our goal in this chapter has been to explore ways in which resistance
might be inferred from the archaeological record. We chose the Classic
period collapse because any form of resistance is more likely to be vis-
ible when ruling institutions are collapsing even when resistance is not
a major factor in political change. We have addressed resistance both
directly, by exploring evidence for the expression of what Scott (1990)
has termed the hidden transcript of resistance, and indirectly, by con-
sidering evidence for the exclusion of commoners from the public tran-
script of power, which may have fostered reassessments of hegemony
and the penetration of dominant ideologies. What we have found is that
resistance is difficult, although not impossible, to identify archaeologi-
cally. Given the available evidence, our conclusions must be considered
tentative, although they hopefully provide some direction for exploring
resistance in the archaeological record in general as well as for consider-
ing the role of commoner resistance specifically during the Classic pe-
riod collapse.
The Late/Terminal Classic trend toward excluding commoners from
ceremonial expressions of elite power would have distanced and disen-
gaged non-elites from the public transcript of domination. Disengagement
from state ceremonies could have increased cognitive dissonance among
commoners and led to the reopening of hegemonic ideas as well as the
increasing penetration of the dominant ideology. It is possible that the ex-
clusion of commoners from state ceremonies could have been viewed as
a violation of the moral responsibilities of the nobility (Jansen 2004). If
nobles failed to meet their ritual obligations, commoners might have be-
gun to find alternative means to contact the sacred.
Our data at present suggest the exclusion of commoners primarily
from ceremonial precincts at major state centers, such as Monte Alb�n,
Caracol, and Xunantunich. We hypothesize that under these circumstances
people had the option to deepen their allegiance (and perhaps tribute) to
local nobles in exchange for their ritual services. Commoners could also
have increasingly contacted the sacred through their own ritual practices.
To the degree that these changes in ritual practice expressed dissatisfac-
tion with ruling elites and their ideologies, they would also constitute re-
sistance. Although evidence from many parts of Mesoamerica suggests a
weakening of the power of ruling elites toward the end of the Late Classic
(Ashmore et al. 2004; Harrison 1999; Webster 2002; Webster et al. 2000),
until the collapse commoners would have been subject to the coercive
Commoner Rituals, Resistance, and the Classic-to-Postclassic Transition 171
sanctions of the state. Resistance, therefore, was probably expressed as a
hidden transcript in ways that were disguised, hidden, or couched in the
symbolic language of domination.
At present, few examples of resistance have been identified in the
archaeological record prior to the collapse. The lack of data for resistance
could be the result of ancient people having been duped by a state ideol-
ogy so that much of the dominant discourse was hegemonic in character.
Overwhelming evidence from historically known societies shows, how-
ever, that domination is never complete and that there is always some
degree of discursive penetration and resistance (eg, Comaroff 1985; Jean
Comaroff and Comaroff 1991; Dirks 1994; Goldstein 2003; Scott 1985,
1990). Instead, we suspect that the lack of evidence is a result of resis-
tance having been expressed in hidden or disguised forms as well as the
fact that commoner ritual and resistance have only been recognized as
subjects of investigation for a relatively short time. Of course, concerted
research into the lives of common people should provide new means of
identifying resistance, especially through the study of ritual parapherna-
lia (eg, censers and figurines) and ritual deposits (burials and caches).
Undoubtedly, there are many forms of resistance, such as humor, sar-
casm, and foot-dragging, that will be difficult or impossible to identify
archaeologically. The most effective way to investigate hidden transcripts
will involve tracking changes in state and commoner ritual to consider
shifts in the degree of convergence or divergence in ritual practices, loca-
tions, and symbolic content (see Lohse, Chapter 1).
More overt and visible expressions of resistance are more likely to oc-
cur during and immediately following the collapse of ruling institutions.
We have identified several examples of the destruction and denigration of
state symbols immediately following the collapse that we argue reflect a
collective memory of domination. In some cases these activities may have
been the result of conflict and termination rituals that led to the collapse
of these centers (Freidel 1998; Freidel et al. 1998). In most of the cases dis-
cussed here, however, the denigration of state symbols appears to have
been at the hands of resident commoners who remained at these sites for
at least a few years after the collapse. The data from R�o Viejo, in particu-
lar, provide a strong case for resistance (A. Joyce et al. 2001).
This chapter represents only an initial exploration of resistance dur-
ing the Classic-to-Postclassic transition. We conclude by suggesting a pos-
sible role for resistance in the collapse. In most regions of Mesoamerica,
we find little evidence at present for social revolutions that triggered the
Arthur A. Joyce and Errin T. Weller 172
collapse. The evidence in most of Mesoamerica suggests that the collapse
occurred because of some combination of environmental degradation, cli-
mate change, warfare, factional competition, and the disruption of trade
and alliance networks (Brenner et al. 2001; Cowgill 1997; Culbert, ed.,
1973; Demarest et al. 1997; Lucero 2002; Sabloff and Andrews 1986; Sharer
1994; Webster 2002). We think it likely, however, that the disengagement
of commoners from state ceremonies toward the end of the Classic period
at least in some parts of Mesoamerica weakened their allegiance to the
nobility, especially to ruling elites residing in polity centers. When the rul-
ing institutions began to fail, regardless of the specific causes, common-
ers declined to support these institutions and their rulers. Commoners
may have ceased paying tribute to nobles and in many cases, such as at
Xunantunich, voted with their feet and abandoned the political centers.
Our research suggests, therefore, that resistance contributed to the social
conditions that led to the collapse. Regardless of their specific role in the
collapse, it is important to recognize the contribution of commoners as
well as nobles to social production and the negotiation of power in ancient
Mesoamerica.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We thank the Instituto Nacional de Antropolog�a e Historia, especially the
president of the Consejo de Arqueolog�a, Joaqu�n Garc�a-B�rcena; and the
directors of the Centro INAH Oaxaca, Mar�a de la Luz Topete, Ernesto
Gonz�lez Lic�n, and Eduardo L�pez Calzada, who have supported the
research in the lower R�o Verde Valley, Oaxaca. Funding for the field
research in the lower Verde has been provided by grants from the fol-
lowing organizations: National Science Foundation (grants SBR-9729763
and BNS-8716332), Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican
Studies (# 99012), National Geographic Society (grant 3767-88), Wenner-
Gren Foundation (GR. 4988), Vanderbilt University Research Council and
Mellon Fund, Fulbright Foundation, H. John Heinz III Charitable Trust,
Explorers Club, Sigma Xi, University of Colorado, and Rutgers University.
We thank Nancy Gonlin, Jon Lohse, and Payson Sheets for their comments
on this chapter. We thank Jon Lohse and Nancy Gonlin for inviting us to
participate in this volume. We also thank Chris Ward and Curtis Nepstad-
Thornberry for drafting most of the figures.
Commoner Rituals, Resistance, and the Classic-to-Postclassic Transition 173
NOTES
1. Early Postclassic evidence suggests only modest differences in wealth and
power, which might suggest that the term commoner is inappropriate since inequal-
ity was minimal and there were no “elites” as defined by wealth differences. I
argue, however, that the use of the term commoner is justified by the historical rela-
tions embodied in tradition and social memory, which would have reflected centu-
ries of living under conditions of hierarchical political systems. It is also likely that
the immediate descendants of Late Classic noble families continued to embrace
an identity as nobles during the Early Postclassic even if these families were no
longer distinguished by unusual wealth or political power. In other words, com-
moner and noble identities were not just a product of the economic relations of the
time but were the result of historical relations embodied in people’s dispositions.
2. Mesoamerican peoples have a strong indigenous historical tradition.
Prehispanic Maya and Mixtec written texts recorded indigenous histories that ref-
erenced events occurring hundreds of years prior to the production of the text
(Joyce et al. 2004; Martin and Grube 2000). Likewise, oral histories in indigenous
Mesoamerican communities include social memories that reference places, people,
and events of the prehispanic era.
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