Maya archaeology (Other Keyword)
26-44 (44 Records)
This paper discusses the results of geochemical and micromorphological analysis of sediment samples in and around a monumental temple structure at the site of La Milpa, northwest Belize. This analysis forms part of a project that aims to examine community agency and practice in public monumental spaces, in particular how the actions of diverse groups of agents influence the functions of monumental architecture. Artifact and architectural evidence gathered over five field seasons at Structure 3...
Interpreting Maya Economic Activity Using Paleoethnobotany (2017)
Paleoethnobotany is a subfield of archaeology that requires an extensive knowledge of archaeology and botany. Because highly specialized skills are required, presenting data can be difficult. Botanical data must be conveyed in a way that is understood by fellow archaeologists while adhering to standards of botanists. Conveying this information becomes even more difficult when we begin to combine micro and macro botanical methods. Botanical datasets can contribute to a wide range of topics that...
Invertebrate Zooarchaeology of Marco Gonzalez, Belize as One Aspect of an Investigation of Trade and Environment (2015)
The zooarchaeological remains associated with ancient coastal communities are an important source of information on how past societies used their natural resources. They reflect people’s interaction with their environment and can yield information on how these interactions affected culture, economy and—not least—the ecology of such areas. The research presented here is an analysis of large invertebrate remains, primarily conch but also other large mollusks found at the ancient Maya site of Marco...
It’s the Journey not the Destination: Maya New Years Pilgrimage as Circumambulatory Movement and Regenerative Power (2017)
Maya ethnohistory suggests that burning incense, erecting monuments, penis bloodletting, and pilgrimage were all activities associated with New Year ceremonies. These annual rites were calendrically-linked and aimed at ensuring agricultural renewal and earthly regeneration. Today, Maya New Year ceremonies involve initiation of young men prior to marriage and sexual relations, requiring self-sacrifice and long-distance pilgrimage with male elders. Cross-examining these data along side...
LiDAR-aided ground survey in the Puuc Hills, Yucatan, Mexico (2017)
A 2013 NASA LiDAR mission passed over the eastern extreme of the region being investigated by the Bolonchen Regional Archaeological Project (BRAP), in the process partially imaging the secondary site of Acambalam II/III. A substantial portion of the site was ground-checked during the summer of 2016. This paper discusses post-collection LiDAR processing and the possibilities for feature detection and landscape use revealed by ground truthing. The data also provide interesting demographic...
Machetes, Metates, and Majolica: San Pedro Maya Involvement in the Colonial Economy at Kaxil Uinic Village, Belize (2017)
Following the outbreak of the Caste War in the Yucatán (1847-1901), a group of San Pedro Maya established the village of Kaxil Uinic in northwestern Belize (formerly British Honduras). In the wake of the Battle of San Pedro between British and Maya forces in 1867, the Lieutenant Governor of British Honduras issued a decree to delegitimize San Pedro Maya claims to land, undermining their subsistence economy and forcing them into wage labor for the logging and chicle industries. O. Nigel Bolland...
Maya Peasantry: Crop Diversity Past and Present (2017)
For several years, peasant communities on the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico, have not produced high enough maize-yields to sustain populations in the area. This is despite the fact that modern-day demographics are considerably lower than population estimates for the heights of Maya cultural development during the pre-Columbian era. Some scholars have argued that maize was not the sole staple for the ancient Maya. Root and tree crops are among the candidates for alternative staples given their...
A New Bak’tun – Maya Archaeology, Stewardship and Exhibitions Beyond 2012 (2016)
Mindful stewardship of cultural heritage is a collaborative and holistic effort, often carried out in changing social contexts and facing steep challenges. As archaeologists, we communicate our understanding of the past and the broad implications of archaeological research to the diverse publics that we serve. Drawing from recent work to organize and present the "Maya 2012: Lords of Time" exhibition, this presentation will highlight approaches taken to contextualize pre-Columbian Maya cultural...
New Evidence for Late Classic Maya Food Processing at Xunantunich, Belize: Preliminary Results of Starch Grain Analysis (2016)
At Xunantunich, Belize, thousands of worked chert bladelets were found in Late to Terminal classic deposits near residences in Groups D and E. Initially, these implements were thought to represent tools used in craft production of slate or other materials. However, little crafting debris or debitage was encountered within deposits where the tools were recovered. Edge-wear analysis suggests the tools were used on organic material, either hardwood or softer materials like tubers. Starch grain...
An Overview of the Dos Hombres to Gran Cacao Archaeology Project Soil Testing and Methodologies (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This paper aims at emphasizing the importance of soil science practice to archaeology thus adding a scientific analytical nature to the cultural nature of archaeology. This report explores this field application of pH and NPK testing in the Dos Hombres to Gran Cacao Archaeology Project area located in northwestern Belize. These types of testing are of...
Paths towards Complexity in the Maya Lowlands: Implications of Architectural Change at Cahal Pech (2016)
The elucidation of how permanent settlements and social complexity evolved in the Maya lowlands has been a long-standing question among Mayanists. Recently, it has been proposed that the first permanent architecture in the Pasion River region (i.e., Ceibal) emerged as ritual complexes around 1000 B.C. rather than villages with permanent households (i.e., Inomata and colleagues 2013). Nevertheless, Middle Preclassic evidence from the Belize Valley (i.e., Cahal Pech) has depicted a different...
Pre-Columbian Ceramics in East-Central Belize: A Petrographic Characterization Study (2017)
In 2015-2016, the Stann Creek Regional Archaeology Project (SCRAP) in collaboration with HD Analytical Solutions, initiated a preliminary petrographic characterization study of presumed "local" pottery and daub artifacts, surface collected during settlement survey at the Late to Terminal Classic (ca. 750-1000 C.E.) Maya site of Alabama, Belize. This initial study, though small, has proved mighty in terms of the new information it has revealed, building on earlier studies of Maya communities in...
Preliminary LiDAR Analysis and Excavation of Residential Water Features at the Ancient Maya Site of Yaxnohcah, Central Yucatan (2016)
The collection, storage, and management of water was an ongoing challenge—and necessary focus—for the ancient Maya, who occupied a physical environment with a pronounced annual dry season and a general lack of perennial surface water necessary to support and sustain an expansive population. The urban center of Yaxnohcah, located within the central lowlands of the Yucatan Peninsula, provides an ideal test case for studying how the residents of this important Maya center managed their crucial, and...
Revisiting the Archaeology of Palenque: 25 Years after "The Children of the First Mother" (2015)
As the site of many of the epigraphic breakthroughs that fully brought the Classic Maya into realm of history, Palenque, Chiapas, Mexico holds an important place in Maya studies. In the Forest of Kings, Linda Schele and David Freidel brought together one of the first truly comprehensive descriptions of the history of a Classic period royal family. Perhaps more significantly, they put forth a narrative of dynastic legitimization through writing and monumental construction that has endured and...
Ritual Fauna Use in an Elite Ancient Maya Burial: Examination of an Animal Long-Bone Cache in the Recently Discovered Royal Tomb at Xunantunich, Belize (2017)
Animal use in elite burials can provide a more holistic perspective on the importance of specific fauna as prestige goods or as status and power markers in the Maya world. This presentation discusses a discrete cache of animal long-bones located at the feet of a human burial recovered from the newly discovered royal tomb at Xunantunich during the 2016 field season of the Belize Valley Archaeological Reconnaissance (BVAR) project. Maya zooarchaeologists have long held that the use of specific...
Sea Change: Maritime Maya Lifeways, Social Organization and Dynamics at the Port of Isla Cerritos, Yucatán (2017)
Mesoamerican archaeology typically approaches social, cultural, political, and economic dynamics from a center-periphery perspective, tracing the historical pulses of integration and disintegration through the lens of the urban centers of the social and cosmological landscape. While the coastal Maya may seem peripheral geographically, maritime communities were actually central integrative forces throughout their dynamic histories. They facilitated and motivated movements and interactions of...
Small Sacred Spaces: The Results of Investigations into Subterranean Features at N950 and Grupo Agua Lluvia in northwest Belize. (2015)
This paper explores the ways in which the Maya conceptualized subterranean features as sacred landscapes within the Three Rivers Region in northwest Belize. Contemporary archaeological investigations have suggested that large cave systems served as important locations for rituals. The ubiquity of these features to the Maya indicate that these concepts of sacred space may have extended to regions, and sites without naturally forming caves. This research focuses on the utilization of small...
A THREE DIMENSIONAL VIEW OF ARCHITECTURE AND BUILDING MATERIAL USE AT STRUCTURE B-4 CAHAL PECH, BELIZE C.A. (2015)
Excavation information at Cahal Pech structure B-4 present some of the most complete data on the Maya formative period in the Western Belize River Valley. Structure B-4 contains fourteen floors which represent increasingly complex and chronological construction events. Excavated floor level information contains architectural and construction material elements which can be stored and analyzed in a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) database. Using available excavation and publication data,...
Timing the Development of Household Complexity at Cahal Pech, Belize (2016)
Understanding the settlement and growth of ancient communities into spatially, demographically, and socio-politically complex polities is one of several critical research issues in Maya archaeology. The major polity of Cahal Pech, located in the Belize River Valley, provides a unique case study for understanding the development of complexity because of its long occupational history, from the Early Preclassic (~1200-1000 cal BC) until the Terminal Classic Period Maya “collapse” (~cal AD 800-900)....