Ritual plays an important integrative function in the creation, maintenance, and transformation of human society. The shared experience of ritual establishes strong bonds between individuals that defines their membership in certain social groups. However, rituals are not timeless traditions, nor do they simply restore social equilibrium. Rather, rituals are active and ongoing social processes that unite and divide across multiple social categories. This paper applies archaeological network methods to analyze the multiscalar structure of ritual traditions across Classic Maya (ca. 300–900 CE) society using hieroglyphic inscriptions from dated and provenienced monuments cataloged in the Maya Hieroglyphic Database (Looper and Macri 1991–2024). For the Classic Maya, public ritual and performance were highly charged political events where meaning and power could be negotiated, creating opportunities for identity formation and community integration. Such contexts helped establish strong moral bonds in Classic Maya society. However, we know relatively little about the specific forms and content of these ritual practices. In this study we construct ritual similarity networks from hieroglyphic inscriptions to analyze the structure and organization of these moral communities as well as the ritual relations that bound them together.

中文翻译：

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古典玛雅社会的仪式网络和道德共同体结构


仪式在人类社会的创造、维持和改造中发挥着重要的综合功能。共同的仪式经验在个体之间建立了牢固的联系，从而定义了他们在某些社会群体中的成员身份。然而，仪式并不是永恒的传统，也不是简单地恢复社会平衡。相反，仪式是活跃且持续的社会过程，它在多个社会类别之间团结和分裂。本文应用考古网络方法，利用玛雅象形文字数据库（Looper 和 Macri 1991-2024）中编目的已注明日期和出处的纪念碑中的象形文字铭文，分析整个古典玛雅（约公元 300-900 年）社会仪式传统的多尺度结构。对于古典玛雅人来说，公共仪式和表演是高度紧张的政治活动，可以在其中协商意义和权力，为身份形成和社区融合创造机会。这些背景有助于在古典玛雅社会中建立牢固的道德纽带。然而，我们对这些仪式的具体形式和内容知之甚少。在这项研究中，我们从象形文字铭文构建了仪式相似性网络，以分析这些道德共同体的结构和组织以及将它们联系在一起的仪式关系。