A Comparative Analysis of Settlement, Environment, and the Social Landscape at the Ancient Maya Centers of Uxbenká and Ix Kuku'il, Toledo District, Belize

Summary

This paper compares two ancient Maya centers in the Toledo District of Belize, Central America. The two Classic Period (AD 250 – 800) Maya polities of Uxbenká and Ix Kuku'il are located ~ 7 km apart in the southern foothills of the Maya Mountains. Ongoing work at Uxbenká suggests that it is both the earliest established, and longest occupied site in the southern Belize region. Thorough radiocarbon dating and ceramic sequencing by the Uxbenká Archaeological Project has resulted in a detailed occupational history of Uxbenká beginning in the Late Preclassic (400 BC – AD 250), with abandonment of the site during the Terminal Classic period (AD 800 – 1000). Ix Kuku'il, which was first excavated in 2014, appears to have been occupied during the Late Classic (AD 600 – 800) period, with some evidence for local settlement predating the establishment of monumental architecture. GIS analysis of settlement patterns suggests variations in spatial organization between the two centers, and preliminary artifact analysis hints at variations in material goods and production as well. This presentation will compare Uxbenká and Ix Kuku'il through an analysis of settlement patterns and the distribution of resources and artifacts associated with the two sites.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage