Unit 3
Learning about the Past: The Case of the Maya Copán

Archaeologists attempt to reconstruct and explain past lifeways by collecting and interpreting data on the physical environment, the technology and economic system, the social and political organization, and the belief system; in other words, by recreating a kind of ethnography of a long-dead culture. This unit presents an overview of archaeological research projects at the Maya site of Copán, Honduras, to provide examples of research goals, methods, and results.

Objectives

After completing this unit, you should be able to

1. describe the history of research at Copán within the framework of the four periods of American archaeological research.
2. describe the goals, methods, and results of environmental research at Copán.
3. define “settlement pattern,” and explain why it was important to conduct a settlement pattern survey in the Copán Valley.
4. compare the goals, methods, and results of test excavations and large-scale excavations at Copán.
5. describe the type of information an archaeologist can derive from burials.
6. describe the distribution of the population at Copán, and explain what it indicates about the structure of Maya society.
7. explain what a study of royal architecture can tell us about the Maya kings.
8. explain how experimental archaeology is used to estimate the labour costs of various structures at Copán.
9. describe what ancient Maya art can reveal about politics.
10. describe the various dating techniques used at Copán, and the results obtained from them.