The Study Of The Mayan-Deer Interaction In The Classic Period

The changing interactions between humans and animals profoundly reflect the historical processes of human society and help shape different civilizations.The Mayan civilization in Central America interacted with wildlife especially because of its unique geographical and religious factors.The classical period(AD 250-900)was the peak of civilization,and the use and dependence of animals were reflected in all aspects of economy,politics and culture.Animal archaeology in Mayan area started earlier and developed well,but in the past,this kind of research mainly focused on the comprehensive analysis of the fauna of the site by using a single method,while the research on the integrated analysis of the material and cultural connotation of a single species as the main body has been seldom carried out.Deer,a common species in Mayan ruins,are an excellent way to assess the interaction between humans and animals during this period.Based on the interaction between Maya ancestors and deer in the classical period,this paper,by combing the whole process of the utilization,processing and management of deer resources,comprehensively discusses the role of deer in production economy,political rule,religious ceremony and social complexity.At the same time,this paper focuses on the use of deer by the social elite class and the political implications behind.Finally,the social and cultural connotations of deer in the Mayan civilization are further analyzed.According to the writing objective,the article is divided into six parts.Introduction.Firstly,it reviews the origin of the subject and the history and current situation of the study on the interaction between MesoAmericans and animals,and introduces the space-time scope of this study.Secondly,this paper summarizes the main research content,methods,innovation points and limitations.Chapter One:Cultural and environmental background introduction.This chapter briefly summarizes the political culture and natural environment background of the Classic period in Mayan area,providing background information for understanding the close relationship between the Mayans and wildlife.In addition,the biological characteristics of the deer spices in the Maya area are introduced,and the observation,description of the death age of the white-tail deer are put forward by combining the existing research literature.Chapter Two:The utilization and management strategy of deer.A holistic and partial analysis of the strategy of deer use was carried out at six selected classical sites.Special attention is paid to whether there are differences in the utilization strategies of deer resources between different functional areas and social classes.Finally,the possibility of captive management of deer was discussed by using stable isotope data.Chapter Three:Deer processing strategy.First,the use of each part of the deer is concluded by combining archaeological materials,artistic images and later ethnography.Secondly,the type and use of carding bone horn products are integratedChapter Four:Social and cultural connotation of deer.Firstly,it discusses the strategies of Mayan elite for deer consumption,as well as the social and political motivations behind.Then,through Mayan art images and ethnographic materials,several groups of elements related to dualism are summarized on the ideological symbol of deer.Conclusion.The final part summarizes the main viewpoints and conclusions of the Mayan-deer interaction,makes a brief analysis of the problems and shortcomings encountered in the writing process of this paper,and gives a prospect of the future work that can be carried out.