Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (422 page)

BOOK: Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology
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Mayapán, Mexico
[Si].
Capital of the Maya-dominated state in northern Yucatán, established by the Cocom dynasty of the Itzá after the Classic Maya Collapse and the final abandonment of Chichén Itzá in the 13th century
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.
Mayapán is enclosed by a stone wall, a testimony to the unrest at the time, and covers about 6.5 square kilometres. There are over 2000 dwellings within the walls, and its population may have been as high as 12000. Most lived in thatched houses of no great pretention.
Mayapán's temples, including the centrally placed Temple of Kukulcan, and palaces were poor imitations of those at earlier centres, perhaps a sign of cultural decline or growing disinterest by the population in impressive public architecture.
Mayapán was destroyed by its own inhabitants around ad 1450 during a rebellion against the Cocom rulers who dominated the territory.
[Rep.: H. E. D. Pollock , R. L. Roys , T. Proskouriaroff , and A. L. Smith , 1962,
Mayapán, Yucatan, Mexico
. Washington DC: Carnegie Institution]
Maykop, Russia
[Si].
maypole
[MC].
A tall wooden post, typically 6–10m high, erected on a village green or convenient public open space in southern Britain in early spring, that provides the centrepiece for formal communal dancing and celebrations. The dances were traditions ‘rounds’ where the participants form a circle. Traces of the stone sockets in which maypoles were placed can be seen on some village greens. References to maypoles extend back to the 14th century
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; the tradition of dancing round the maypole with plaited ribbons was introduced by Professor Ruskin in ad 1889.
Mazapan ware
[Ar].
A type of pottery that developed out of Coyotlatelco styles and first appeared in association with major architecture at Tula, Mexico, in the Post-Classic Toltec phase (9th–12th century
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). The orange-on-buff and red-on-buff ware was decorated by straight or wavy parallel lines produced by multiple brushes.
maze
[MC].

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