Paper short abstract:

The current sociocultural and economic dynamics surrounding archaeological sites require new methods of analysis, which engage anthropologists and archaeologists around the world. As a result, archaeological ethnography has developed as an interdisciplinary field that studies these subjects.

Paper long abstract:

In anthropological literature, the field of archaeological ethnography is defined as a transdisciplinary area of knowledge that encourages multiple engagements and critiques centred on material culture, society and temporality.

In our presentation archaeological ethnography is used as a methodological device enabling the study of the relations that society establishes with archaeological objects. The meanings given to archaeological heritage are diverse and unstable, and shaped by chronological and spatial contexts. We argue that archaeological heritage is not a neutral phenomenon. Its use as a national and regional symbol; its promotion as a touristic resource and as a sacred place by ethnic groups, present its multiple and sometimes contradictory meanings.

The archaeological site of Tulum exemplifies the kind of inferences that archaeological ethnography provides for the understanding of the cultural, economic and social relations that contemporary societies establish with ancient objects and spaces.

Tulum is notorious for its mayan ruins located next to the beach, in south Mexico. It lies about 80 miles (130 kilometres) south of Cancun, in the world-renowned tourist region known as the Riviera Maya, and was built by the Mayas in 1200 BC.

Currently, Tulum is rooted in a universe of "Mayanness" in which the veiled presence of a local indigenous population contrasts with the promotion of commercial products that highlight the "Maya" as an endemic feature. We suggest that in the heterotopic space of the Riviera Maya, Tulum is a contested space that has different meanings to several local groups.

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