A01

This study aims to elucidate the role of materiality in the political landscape of the ancient Maya civilization through a comparative analysis of artifacts, utilizing a high-precision 3D scanning and compositional analyses. Materiality in politics involves the co-creative relation between body politics and objects in the negotiation of power, in which their interactions create values and symbolic ties that shape and reshape human experience and perception. Traditional artifactual analysis in Maya archaeology has primarily relied on typological classifications without thoroughly examining complete assemblages. Excavations at the Maya archaeological site of El Palmar, Mexico, have yielded rich artifactual assemblages from different elite residential contexts, including those of the royal family, court nobles, and outlying elites. The present study will provide the A01 group with foundational data regarding the ancient Maya civilization, facilitating comparative research into the dynamics of material culture and changes in human and physical perceptions during urbanization processes. It will also examine social complexity in human history while clarifying the co-creative relation between political activities and material culture.