Kimberly Salyers Social Science
Illuminating Social Landscapes: unearthing life of the Mayan non-elite through household excavation and catchment analysis
Extensive work has been done on the civic centers of Classic Maya culture. However, archaeological study of Maya commoners has been scarce until recent years. Kimberly’s research will focus on the artifacts uncovered in an excavated household at Chinikih, Mexico. Through a catchment analysis using GIS mapping, she will assess the economic resource basis for settlement. A catchment is the zone from which residents of a place drew their resources. This research will allow Kimberly to consider Chinikih within a larger context: she will look at the relation of commoner households to major Maya centers such as Palenque in order to assess how the carrying capacity of the Chinikih areas natural resources strengthened or weakened integration with the wider region.
