Markus Eberl
Associate Professor (Archaeology; Maya)
Dr. Eberl is an anthropological archaeologist and studies social institutions and their dynamics in ancient societies. Why do individuals form communities? What is the role of so-called commoners in creating societies? How do people negotiate power? In recent publications, he discusses phenomenological and relational approaches. He has been conducting archaeological fieldwork in Germany, Israel, Mexico, and Guatemala. In the laboratory, he specializes in ceramic analysis and stoneknapping where he uses machine learning to identify human-made and other microscopic particles. He has also been working with Maya glyphic inscriptions and approaches Classic Maya culture from an interdisciplinary perspective. He currently directs the Tzikin Tzakan Archaeological Project in Guatemala’s tropical lowlands as well the microartifacts lab. His publications include a book on innovation, creativity, and culture change (2017).
Specializations
Communities, social relations, crafting, pottery, experimental archaeology, machine learning
Representative Publications
Books
Eberl, Markus
2017 War Owl Falling. Innovation, Creativity, and Culture Change in Ancient Maya Society. University Press of Florida, Gainesville.
2014 Community and Difference. Change in Late Classic Maya Villages of the Petexbatun Region. (Vanderbilt Institute of Mesoamerican Archaeology Series). Vanderbilt University Press, Nashville. [Based on the 2007 Dissertation]
2005 Muerte, entierro y ascensión. Ritos funerarios entre los antiguos Mayas. (Libros científicos. Tratados 21) Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán, Mérida.
Selected journal articles
2025 – (Markus Eberl, Rebecca Estrada Aguila, Phyllis S. Johnson, and Michael McBride) Macrodebitage writ small? Studying stoneknapping with experimental archaeology, DIA, and statistics. Lithic Technology 50(3):326–338.
2024 – (Markus Eberl, Takeshi Inomata, Daniela Triadan, Claudia Marie Vela González, and María de los Ángeles Corado) Politicizing Belonging. Community Formation at the Late Preclassic Maya Hamlet of Dos Ceibas. Ancient Mesoamerica35(3):882–898.
2023 – (Markus Eberl, Phyllis Johnson, Rebecca Estrada Aguila, Michael McBride) Redefining lithic microdebitage with experimental archaeology. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 15:161.
2023 – (Markus Eberl, Charreau S. Bell, Jesse Spencer-Smith, Mark Raj, Amanda Sarubbi, Phyllis S. Johnson, Amy E. Rieth, Umang Chaudhry, Rebecca Estrada Aguila, Michael McBride) Machine learning-based identification of lithic microdebitage. Advances in Archaeological Practice 11(2):152–163.
2023 – (Markus Eberl, Sven Gronemeyer, and Claudia Marie Vela González) The Early Classic Genesis of the Royal Maya Capital of Tamarindito. Latin American Antiquity 34(1):40–58.
2022 – (Markus Eberl, Phyllis S. Johnson, and Rebecca Estrada Aguila) Studying lithic microdebitage with a dynamic image particle analyzer. North American Archaeologist 43(4):312–327.
2022 – (Markus Eberl and William F. Doonan) Realizing Potentiality. Donut Stones in Ancient Maya Society. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 65:101394.
2019 – (Eberl, Markus, Sven Gronemeyer, and Claudia Marie Vela González) Ritualizing a Non-Royal Building Termination at the Classic Maya Capital of Tamarindito. Latin American Antiquity 30(4):667–685.
2016 – (Eberl, Markus) A New Canek Group Forgery. Ethnohistory 63(4):721–728.
2013 – (Eberl, Markus) Nourishing Gods. Birth and Personhood in Highland Mexican Codices. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 23(3):453–476.
Book chapters
Eberl, Markus. 2015. His breath was extinguished: death in the Classic Period. In The Maya : voices in stone / editors, Alejandra Martínez de Velasco Cortina, María Elena Vega Villalobos ; texts, Maricela Ayala Falcón [and 29 others] ; translations, Jorge Pérez de Lara. Second, revised and enhanced edition. edition. A. Martinez de Velasco and M.E. Vega, eds. Mexico City?] : Ámbar Diseño: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.
Eberl, Markus. 2012. Reyes mayas y búhos de guerra : gente común de la región del Petexbatún en vísperas del colapso maya. In La cuenca del río de la Pasión : estudios de arqueología y epigrafía maya. 1. ed. edition. M.E. Vega and L.S. Lowe, eds. Serie Testimonios y materiales arqueológicos para el estudio de la cultura maya ; 3. México: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Instituto de Investigaciones Filológicas, Centro de Estudios Mayas.
Inomata, Takeshi, and Markus Eberl. 2010. The Barranca Escondida. In Burned palaces and elite residences of Aguateca : excavations and ceramics. T. Inomata and D. Triadan, eds. Monographs of the Aguateca Archaeological Project first phase Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press.
Books Reviews
Eberl, Markus. 2019. Before Kukulkán: Bioarcheology of Maya Life, Death, and Identity at Classic Period Yaxuná by Viera Tiesler et al. (review). The Americas (Washington. 1944) 76(1):153-154. View Article.
Dissertation
Eberl, Markus. 2006. Unternehmensreputation und Kaufverhalten : Methodische Aspekte komplexer Strukturmodelle, Deutscher Universitäts-Verlag GWV Fachverlage GmbH, Wiesbaden.
|
Access Dr. Elberl's Mendeley library public group, download the citations to use in your own reference manager, and explore |
