The Classic Maya Collapse: A Review of Evidence and Interpretations Page: 124

                                
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Pasion River, and Altar de Sacrificios on the Usumacinta?
These, too, are considered by Thompson the result of Putun
expansion from the Tabasco-Campeche region by way of the
Grijalva and Usumacinta rivers. Sixteenth century reports of
Putun speaking Maya at Tenosique, not far downstream from
major centers on the Usumacinta, led him to conclude they
were the progeny of late Classic invaders. This he augments
with his decipherment of Cipacti glyphs at Seibal--the name
of the ruling lineage of Putun Potonchan. Further, he again
considers the late ceramic sequences at Altar de Sacrificios
and its postulated discontinuity with traditional wares with
the presence of the previously mentioned Fine Orange and Fine
Gray pottery. He ascribes their presence as imports from the
Putun area along the Gulf Coast following their ascendancy
over the "pure" Maya.53
What seems curious about Thompson' s reconstruction is
that, after explaining the means by which the Putun gained
control, he does not consider their presence much more than
an incidental factor in late Classic history, for he believes
these new Putun rulers met the same fate as the rest of the
Maya hierarchy, which earlier succumbed to revolt. Since
the pattern of abandonment of Maya centers began on the
opposite end of the Maya area from the sites along the
Usumacinta and Pasion rivers, he maintains that earlier estab-
lished "'evohgtionary conditions may well have given these

53. Ibid, pp. 25-47.