Sistema Regional de Información
en línea para Revistas Científicas de América Latina,
el Caribe, España y Portugal

Stingless beekeeping in the Yucatan Peninsula plays an important role in the identity of the Mayan culture; however, several socio-environmental problems threaten the preservation of this activity and the knowledge of the people who carry it out. In order to analyze the relationship between the history of northwestern Yucatan and meliponiculture, and contribute to the preservation of local knowledge, this study sought to document the socio-environmental events that had a strong impact on meliponiculture and identify the socioeconomic characteristics and contemporary knowledge of melipon farmers. For this purpose, a sampling of typical subjects was carried out. Subjects were classified as individuals with knowledge and territorial recognition and the total sample consisted of 19 individuals. A semi-structured interview was conducted with each subject to collect socioeconomic information and their knowledgeabout meliponiculture. The information obtained was processed in a database and subsequently categorized into variables that were subjected to descriptive statistical analysis. The results obtained suggest that the meliponiculturists in the study area have acquired their knowledge in a self-taught manner —mainly about beehive production and reproduction— and most of them have higher education; however, meliponiculturists with less schooling are the ones who have more knowledge related to ritual practices. These results confirm the need to revive and preserve the knowledge that still exists in the memory of the meliponiculturists, since this knowledge could be forgotten due to the rapid changes occurring in the territory’s social and environmentalcontext. Only in this way can the biocultural heritage of the meliponiculturists and their relationship with humans and nature be preserved.

The political and mercantile influences of Teotihuacan on contemporaneous Mesoamerican cultures had far-reaching repercussions. Among these, are the enclaves or foreign neighborhoods located in the capital itself. The nature of these neighborhoods, as well as the role and place of these foreign populations, have yet to be properly evaluated. As part of an initial foray into the question of Maya presence and influence in Teotihuacan, we consider two representative assemblages: the presence of Maya and Maya-inspired greenstone objects and ceramics, both imported and locally produced imitations. After a careful review of the evidence, we find that Mayan identities were part of an open dialogue in which they were negotiated and iterated by the Maya populations established in the city, but also incorporated by the local population that defined itself in light of a growing Mesoamerican cosmopolitanism, in the wake of what could be called a Pax Teotihuacana.

The purpose of this study is to contribute to the historical knowledge of the archeology of the Maya Area, analyzing the origins and conditions of the foundation of the Museo Arqueológico, Etnográfico e Histórico de Campeche, and its role as a socio-educational program for the cultural promotion of the local population. These efforts, shaped by the ideals of the Mexican Revolution, were undertaken by Héctor Pérez Martínez, state governor from 1939-1943. The relationship between the establishment of this museum and the first explorations in Campeche carried out by Mexican archeologists, is also discussed. Finally, the prominent Maya specialist Frans Blom’s reaction to the exhibition’s opening is addressed.

The conception of the underworld among the Maya has been the subject of study by various researchers who have utilized pre-Hispanic and colonial sources to discuss, analyze, and interpret them in light of recent archaeological and epigraphic studies. This article revisits certain proposals emerging from studies of imagery and regional Maya iconography in order to analyze rock art found in a cave located in the Puuc region, known as Usil. The analysis of the rock art aims to provide possible interpretations that enrich general discussions about caves in the Maya tradition and their connections to the underworld.

Natural resources within the territory of indigenous peoples are not only collective property, but also become part of the patrimony with which diverse practices and knowledge are explained and grounded. Thus, each culture of native peoples becomes unique, since it has its own way of life, as well as ways of interpreting the world and perceiving the environment; this whole set, in Tsotsil, is called talel kuxlejal. When the talel kuxlejal is modified, various activities, knowledge and practices are altered, affecting the elements that are a fundamental part of their kuxlejal (life), such as forests. The purpose of this contribution was to document the common knowledge of zinacantecos and zinacantecas in relation to forests for common use. The information was collected through in-depth interviews and field observation. The analysis is based on the Theory of Social Representations. The results indicate that the degradation of forests for common use is due to: population increase, generational and political change, and the incorporation of the population into the market economy; which as a whole has caused a fissure in the kuxlejal of the zinacantecos.

The ancient Maya settlement, known as Xoclán or Los Siete, located on the grounds of, what is known today, as the Xoclán Archaeoecological Park in a workingclass neighborhood, west of the city of Merida, is considered the largest archaeological heritage site within the Merida’s urban area. It should be pointed out that this area has been partially intervened by other colleagues in previous years. However, in this paper, we will refer only to the archaeological interventions carried out in the 2019-2020 season, including the consolidation of some of the structures that form the so called, southern group. Some of these are; Structure 22 (S22) which displays Puuc architecture of Florescent style and revealed a substructure with a burial; Structure 18 (S18) which served to control the access to the main plaza of the Southern group; Structure 6B (S6B) which is believed to have had a perishable roof, and a hallway with nine entrances, which could have been used for feasting, according to the rules of etiquette of the ancient maya elite. Consequently, by excavating, consolidating and analyzing the different materials recovered during the field season, we have come to think that Xoclán, with its area of more than 2 Km2, functioned as a peripheral settlement of the regional capital of T’hó located just 3 Km to the northeast, which ruled much of the northwestern part of the peninsula, during the later part of the classic period.