{"id":2129,"date":"2026-07-29T09:28:26","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T06:28:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hist-geo.ru\/?p=2129"},"modified":"2026-07-31T13:18:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T10:18:15","slug":"safronov-a-v-territorialno-politicheskaya-organizaciya-i-obshhinnye-obedineniya-drevnih-majya-v-doline-lakanhi-v-pozdnij-klassicheskij-period-metodika-gis-rekonstrukcii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hist-geo.ru\/en\/2026\/07\/29\/safronov-a-v-territorialno-politicheskaya-organizaciya-i-obshhinnye-obedineniya-drevnih-majya-v-doline-lakanhi-v-pozdnij-klassicheskij-period-metodika-gis-rekonstrukcii\/","title":{"rendered":"Safronov A. V. Ancient Maya Territorial and Political Organization in the Lacanha Valley in the Late Classic. A GIS Reconstruction"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Alexander V. Safronov<\/strong><br \/>\nCandidate of Historical Sciences, Lomonosov Moscow State University (Russia, Moscow)<br \/>\nORCID: 0000-0002-2121-1136<br \/>\nE-mail: <a href=\"mailto:alexsafronov@bk.ru\">alexsafronov@bk.ru<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-145\" src=\"https:\/\/hist-geo.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/pdf1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"16\" height=\"16\" \/>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/hist-geo.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/04_Safronov-1.pdf\">Download <\/a>| <a href=\"https:\/\/hist-geo.ru\/en\/category\/tom-5-2026\/nomer-2-tom-5-2026\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Back to the Content<\/span> \u2116 2. 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>UDC 94(399.7): 004.94<br \/>\nDOI: 10.58529\/2782-6511-2026-5-2-54-77<\/p>\n<p><strong>ABSTRACT.<\/strong> The article examines the territorial and political organization of the \u0430ncient Maya of the Late Classic period based on the GIS approach. The main object of the study is the Xukalnaah Kingdom, which developed in the 6th century in Lacanha Valley (Chiapas, Mexico) with centers in the archaeological sites of Bonampak and Lacanha. The reconstruction of the kingdom\u2019s territory and the identification of the elements of its internal organizational structure are based on epigraphic sources and an analysis of the distribution of archaeological sites in the Lakanha Valley. The study employs 4-level settlement patterns model adopted in contemporary historiography and characteristic of the early Maya state, but combined with physical geography data. A particular focus of this work is the analysis of the role of community associations within the Maya polity\u2019s structure. The research concluded that, at the height of its power in the 7th\u20138th centuries, the Xukalnaah Kingdom covered an area of around 700\u2013800 km\u00b2. Its territory was formed around a core comprising two densely populated urban centers with 12 local community associations. From the 6th century onwards, a periphery began to take shape within the kingdom, comprising eight small regions covering an area of around 50\u2013100 km\u00b2, which were governed by local lords and later by sajals (governors). Thus, Xukalnaah was a mid-level kingdom with a complex organizational structure, largely dependent on its powerful neighbors (Pachan, Saktz\u2019i, Yokib), but which also had its own sphere of influence in the Lakanha Valley.<\/p>\n<p><strong>KEYWORDS:<\/strong> ancient Maya, Lacanha Valley, Lacandon selva, early state, settlement archaeology, epigraphy, GIS<\/p>\n<p><em>For citation:<\/em> Safronov A. V. [Ancient Maya Territorial and Political Organization in the Lacanha Valley in the Late Classic. A GIS Reconstruction]. Istoriko-geograficheskiy zhurnal [Historical Geography Journal], 2026, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 54\u201377. DOI: 10.58529\/2782-6511-2026-5-2-54-77 (In Russian).<\/p>\n<p>Received 8 May 2026<br \/>\nAccepted 6 July 2026<\/p>\n<p>\u00a9 2026 The Author<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>REFERENCES<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Anaya A. Site Interaction and Political Geography in the Upper Usumasinta Region during the Late Classic: A GIS Approach. BAR International Series 994. Oxford: Hadrian Books, 2001. (In English).<\/li>\n<li>Arellano A. Dialogo con los abuelos. La pintura mural prehispanica en Mexico: Area maya, Bonampak. Mexico: UNAM, Instituto de investigaciones est\u00e9ticas, 1998, vol. 2, pp. 255\u2013297. (In Spanish).<\/li>\n<li>Ball J. W., Taschek J. Late Classic Lowland Maya Political Organization and Central-Place Analysis. Ancient Mesoamerica, 1991, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 149\u2013165. DOI: 10.1017\/S0956536100000481 (In English).<\/li>\n<li>Belyaev D. D. [Ancient Maya (3rd\u20139th \u0421enturies)]. 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Regi\u00f3n del norte del valle del R\u00edo Lacanh\u00e1, Chiapas. BOLOM. Revista del Centro de investigaciones Frans Blom, 2004, no. 1, pp. 55\u201389. (In Spanish).<\/li>\n<li>Webster D., Freter A., Gonlin N. Cop\u00e1n. The Rise and Fall an Ancient Maya Kingdom. Belmont: Wadsworth Group\/Thompson Learning, 2000. (In English).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Alexander V. Safronov Candidate of Historical Sciences, Lomonosov Moscow State University (Russia, Moscow) ORCID: 0000-0002-2121-1136 E-mail: alexsafronov@bk.ru \u00a0Download | Back to the Content \u2116 2. 2026 UDC 94(399.7): 004.94 DOI: 10.58529\/2782-6511-2026-5-2-54-77 ABSTRACT. The article examines the territorial and political organization of the \u0430ncient Maya of the Late Classic period based on the GIS approach. The &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hist-geo.ru\/en\/2026\/07\/29\/safronov-a-v-territorialno-politicheskaya-organizaciya-i-obshhinnye-obedineniya-drevnih-majya-v-doline-lakanhi-v-pozdnij-klassicheskij-period-metodika-gis-rekonstrukcii\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[81,79],"tags":[53],"class_list":["post-2129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nomer-2-tom-5-2026","category-tom-5-2026","tag-teoriya-i-praktika-istoricheskoj-kartografii"],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"3.0.0","language":"en","enabled_languages":["ru","en"],"languages":{"ru":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"en":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false}}},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hist-geo.ru\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hist-geo.ru\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hist-geo.ru\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hist-geo.ru\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hist-geo.ru\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2129"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/hist-geo.ru\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2129\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2163,"href":"https:\/\/hist-geo.ru\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2129\/revisions\/2163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hist-geo.ru\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hist-geo.ru\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hist-geo.ru\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}