ering the Past: Analysis and Interpretation of a Terminal Classic Deposit at the Cahal Pech Terminus Group

Summary

The Terminal Classic (AD 750-900/1000) Maya "collapse" remains one of the least understood and most debated aspects in Maya archaeology. One characteristic feature of Terminal Classic contexts in the Belize Valley are large surficial ceramic deposits and are located in the corners of plazas, in front of stairs, and in the doorways of public architecture. These types of terminal deposits have been attributed to numerous activities including termination rituals, feasting events, refuse disposal in middens, or reoccupation by "squatters". We compare the location, composition, and interpretations of terminal deposits excavated at eight Maya sites in the Belize Valley. We use this comparison to analyze the function of a large terminal deposit excavated at the Zopilote Group, a terminus group connected to major Belize Valley polity of Cahal Pech. Based on the presence of ritually significant artifacts recovered from the deposit, as well as the close proximity to monumental architecture containing elite burials, we suggest that the Zopilote terminal deposit functioned as a place of ancestral worship after the site was abandoned. Comparison to ethnohistoric documentation of ritual acts of ancestor remembrance performed by the Lacandon Maya may provide a modern correlate with this archaeological interpretation.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)

Keywords

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