Belize (Country) (Geographic Keyword)
3,951-3,975 (4,066 Records)
This study aims to identify patterns of resilience by distinguishing diachronic socio-economic processes through the measurement of change and continuity of multi-level sites in the Puebla-Tlaxcala valley. This will be done via demographic, political, and economic markers during the Classic-Postclassic transition. This project focuses on identifying specific processes that lead towards socio-economic resilience during times of stress. Based upon surveys conducted in the 1960s and 70s, presented...
What Happens in the Ivory Tower: The Academic Trade of Archaeological Human Remains (2024)
This is an abstract from the "Human Remains in the Marketplace and Beyond: Myths and Realities of Monitoring, Grappling With, and Anthropologizing the Illicit Trade in a Post-Harvard World" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. While much of the recent discussion around the trafficking and illicit trade of human remains focuses on the black market and sales utilizing sites such as eBay or various social media platforms, we examine the historical practice...
What Is at Stake in Archaeological Knowledge Production (2021)
This is an abstract from the "Presidential Session: What Is at Stake? The Impacts of Inequity and Harassment on the Practice of Archaeology" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Recent years have witnessed a sea change in anthropological discourse concerning how gender bias and a lack of diversity has affected the work that archaeologists produce, interest that dovetails with current concerns about equity and safety issues. More broadly, Black,...
What Is CRM’s Origin Story: How Did We Get to the System We Have Now and What Does It Say about Our Future? (2024)
This is an abstract from the "Transformations in Professional Archaeology" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. How did the current regulatory archaeology system form? What lessons can we learn from how the system was set up? What do these past accounts say about the future of cultural resource management? As part of a historical review stemming from the SAA Government Affairs Committee's survey regarding the Secretary of the Interior's Standards and...
What Is Good to Eat Is Good to Translocate: The Intangible Dimension of Non-Native Animal Introduction and Consumption in the Pre-Columbian Caribbean (2019)
This is an abstract from the "The Intangible Dimensions of Food in the Caribbean Ancient and Recent Past" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Despite occupying the Caribbean since ca. 6500-6000 BP, Amerindians did not introduce continental animals to the islands until approximately 2000 years ago. In most cases, non-native taxa, while consumed, did not rival local marine resources in dietary importance; yet there is limited evidence to support an...
What Lies Beneath: The Significance of a Midden Burial in Exploring Differential Mortuary Treatment of the Maya at Palenque (2024)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The PREP: Urban Life at Palenque Project 2023 field season brought about unexpected findings regarding household mortuary practices. Two atypical burials were uncovered: (1) an isolated, articulated right arm boxed-in by large stones at the entrance of residential structure J37; and (2) a complete primary burial discovered on the south side of the same...
What Lies Between Two Regions: Settlement and Landscape Archaeology at the Aguacate Sites, Belize (2017)
A series of exploratory surveys along the northern edge of the Belize River Valley in the area of the Aguacate lagoon has gradually revealed a surprisingly dense distribution of minor centers of the Classic Period Maya. These centers are situated in a zone of intersections, the nature of which shaped their presence in the landscape. Politically, the region lies at an interstice between the spheres of influence of several powerful, well-known polities. Geographically, the site complex is...
What Lovely Teeth You Have: An Examination of Canid Dental Anomalies and Their Use in Archaeology (2024)
This is an abstract from the "Interdisciplinary Approaches in Zooarchaeology: Addressing Big Questions with Ancient Animals" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. A survey of over 200 published sources on archaeological domestic dogs in the Americas reveals that dental anomalies, particularly the absence of the first mandibular premolar, are mentioned in Native American domestic dogs with some frequency. They have even been promoted as a means of...
What the Shell? Taphonomic and Cultural Modifications of Freshwater and Marine Shell from the Upper Belize River Valley (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Zooarchaeological analysis of both freshwater and marine shells from the Upper Belize River Valley is important to interpreting Ancient Maya daily lives. Shell analysis allows us to examine dietary practices and understand economy and trade between Belize Valley sites. This poster presents the results of an analysis of over 42,000 freshwater and 1,200 marine...
What Would Larry Do: Archaeological Practice with, by, and for Native American Communities (2018)
The fight for inclusion of Native Americans in archaeology and anthropology hasn’t been an easy road; it has been divisive, contested, and sometimes violent. The need for allies and advocates for Native American inclusion in the field has become apparent through the tireless work of Larry Zimmerman. His scholarship has shaped generations of archaeologists and anthropologists in numerous ways. The ethical dimensions of his work are a testament to the need for change in the field and are a...
What's in That Incense Burner? A Study of Residues at Balamku (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Studies in Mesoamerican Subterranean Archaeology" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. It is so widely accepted that the Maya burned copal incense in their rituals that the assumption has gone unquestioned. During the 2018 season, the Gran Acuífero Maya Project began a multi-year investigation of the cave of Balamku near Chichen Itza. The cave contains a large number of incense burners filled with burned material that...
What’s in a Dress?: An Archaeological Collection of Kapa Cloth from Nineteenth-Century Nu‘alolo Kai, Kaua‘i Island, Hawai‘i (2017)
Anthropological discussions of gender and sexuality in colonial-era Polynesia have often focused on the introduction of Western clothing styles and the relationship between changing modes of dress and the negotiation of new social identities. Because clothing is highly perishable, however, there have been few opportunities to address this topic through the archaeological record. My paper presents an analysis of an exceptionally well-preserved collection of archaeological cloth from Nu‘alolo Kai,...
What’s in a Name: Caches, Offerings, and Problematic Deposits from the Medicinal Trail Hinterland Community, Belize (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Excavations between 2004 and 2019 at the Medicinal Trail Hinterland Community in northwestern Belize have uncovered numerous special deposits from a variety of contexts including caches, termination offerings, exposed offerings, and problematic deposits (PDs). Caches and the offerings have been reported on extensively and are generally understood to have...
"What’s in a Name?": Questioning the Idea of Olmec Origins for Jade Spoons (2017)
Jade has been long recognized by archaeologists as an important trade item among ancient Mesoamerican cultures. This is particularly true for ancient Olmec and Maya cultures where it also is seen as an indicator of social status. Unfortunately, the precocious development of Olmec society, lead many early archaeologists to an over-emphasis of Olmec influence on the Maya during the Formative Period (ca. 1000-400 BC). This is particularly noteworthy in the attribution of jade "spoons" to the...
What’s in a Seed?: Identifying Archaeological Chili Pepper Remains from Mesoamerica (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The chili pepper (Capsicum spp.) has cemented its place in ancient and modern Mesoamerica as a fixture in medicine, ritual, and cuisine. The timing and context of its domestication which began around 10,000 years BP, however, remains unclear. To address this, we conducted morphometric analyses of a diverse array of modern seeds from multiple species of wild...
"What’s in that hole?" Engaging Subterranean Spaces in the Three Rivers Area of the Southern Maya Lowlands (2017)
The importance of subterranean space has been well established through studies of Maya sacred landscape. The Maya word "che’en" is used for any natural feature that penetrates the earth such as caves, cenotes, rock shelters, chultuns, sinkholes, springs and crevices, all spaces where the sacred nature of animate Earth are expressed. In the Three Rivers area of the southern Maya lowlands, non-cave Maya archaeologists appear to be at a loss on how to engage landscapes where sacred landmarks take...
When Archaeology Meets History: Documenting the Conquest and Transition Period at Pachacamac, Peru. (2017)
Traditional accounts of the conquest of Peru are well known and universally accepted: in 1535, Francisco Pizarro – who had arrived two years earlier – decided to create a new capital in the neighbouring Rimac river valley, which would one day become the current city of Lima. In order to achieve this, Pizarro forcibly displaced all the contemporary inhabitants of Pachacamac, leaving this major Inka pilgrimage site completely abandoned. However, new finds recovered during the 2016 excavations at...
When Did Early Migrants Reach Pohnpei? Human Migration, Interisland Networks, and Resource Use in Eastern Micronesia (2021)
This is an abstract from the "When the Wild Winds Blow: Micronesia Colonization in Pacific Context" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Previous archaeological research on islands in eastern Micronesia hint at possible early human migration from Melanesia by the descendants of Lapita groups. However, hard archaeological evidence has remained largely ephemeral. In this paper, we discuss recent findings from new archaeological excavations on Lenger, a...
When Do We Eat? The Life Cycle of Indigenous Maya Food-Plants and Temporal Implications for Residential Stability (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. For Maya agriculture, both ancient and modern, it is known that a wide range of time is needed between planting and harvesting of various plant species. While annual crops require less than a year to reach full productivity, perennial crops, particularly tree-crops, might require many years to begin production, and even longer to reach full productivity....
When Irish Eyes View Maya Classic Period Political Systems (2018)
Several debates have endured for decades within the field of anthropological archaeology as to the character of lowland Classic period Maya political organization. Scholars have been struck by the contrast between Maya regal-ritual centers possessed of impressive monumental architecture with the minimal references from the documentary record to any kind of bureaucratic organization. There is disagreement as to the scale of the larger Maya polities and whether or not some polities had begun to...
When Is Creolization? (2018)
Multiple episodes of identity transformation can be seen in the archaeology of Mona island. From the emergence of "Taino-ness" (cf. R. Rodríguez) in the 12th century, to the catastrophic (after S. Mintz) eruption of colonial identities in the 16th century. We contrast the dynamics and character of creolizations from a diachronic and material perspective by looking at the archaeology of 500 years of subterranean ritual landscapes of Mona. We ask whether an expanded use of the term creolization is...
When Provenience is Lost: Achievements and Challenges in Conserving the Historical St. John’s, Belize Skeletal Collection (2017)
Funding in small developing countries like Belize for archaeological research and post excavation curation remains one of our greatest challenges to preserving our tangible cultural heritage. The state of curation of human remains and artefact collections at St. John’s College in Belize City is a perfect example of what can go wrong when there is not established a properly funded and managed curation program both at the national level or the institutional level. This paper highlights the...
When Survey Is Not an Option: Comprehensive Archeological Monitoring Standards in Texas (2024)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Archaeological monitoring is generally considered a secondary investigative methodology, to be used when necessary after proactive archeological work has already occurred. However, monitoring is increasingly relied upon as a primary form of investigation within archaeological compliance, particularly in highly urban settings where proactive work is...
When Technological Analysis Becomes a Setback: The Case of the Points in the Interior of São Paulo State, Brazil (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Historically, the shift from the study of form to the study of techniques was guided by the transition from the Cultural History approach to the New Archeology. This theoretical readjustment was incorporated into Brazilian archeology decades later, strongly impacting the way that the collections was studied. Today the reality is that, although lithic...
When the Volcano Erupts: Lessons from the Archaeological Record on Human Adaptation to Catastrophic Environments (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. How do repeated disasters shape and strengthen communities? The Tilarán-Arenal region of Costa Rica is one of the most volcanically active regions in the world, but despite the risk, from the advent of sedentary villages during the Tronodora phase (2000-500 BC) until the arrival of Spanish in the 16th century, people demonstrated remarkable resilience. Using...