Belize (Country) (Geographic Keyword)
3,251-3,275 (3,437 Records)
Previous zooarcheological research has focused on knowing the patterns of wildlife exploitation in the different archaeological sites of the Maya area. In this sense, the present work intends to approach the different uses of the different species of animals in activities carried out by the pre-Hispanic Maya people located at the site of Vista Alegre, Quintana Roo, Mexico. The simple has c. 23,000 remains of fauna, coming from three architectural constructions: Structure 9 (Operation 3A),...
Using Ancient Plant Macroremains to Understand Resource Consumption in the Past and Present (2017)
Many people recognize the need for markedly different mode of living amid a growing body of scientific evidence that the current world population is environmentally unsustainable. Exploring ancient foodways and landscape management techniques may improve our ability to imagine highly productive modes of food production and resource consumption dissimilar to that of our current global reality. Here, I show how a reconstruction of macrobotanical and faunal remains builds a narrative of...
Using Architectural Sculpture to Think about Center and Periphery in the Puuc Region (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Puuc region of Yucatán is distinguished by its architectural style, composed primarily of low, range-type structures with limestone veneers. These building surfaces, elaborately carved with iconographic content, also served as backdrops for stucco and stone sculptures, which were placed in niches, on projecting platforms, and incorporated directly into the...
Using Bayesian Radiocarbon Chronologies in Conjunction with Artifact Inventories to Reconstruct the Timing and Formation of Peri-abandonment Deposits at Baking Pot, Belize (2018)
A variety of functions have been proposed for ‘problematic deposits’ across the Maya lowlands. All of the explanations have archaeological and temporal implications that have rarely been operationalized together to gain better insights into the nature of these deposits. In this presentation, we describe these features as ‘peri-abandonment deposits’, as all proposed explanations imply that the events that led to the formation of the deposits occurred around the time (or after) ceremonial centers...
Using Digitized Archaeological Literature as Big Data: Lessons from Using Open-Source Software to Text Mine Archaeological Site Numbers and Citation Information from JSTOR across the United States and Canada for the Digital Index of North American Archaeology (DINAA) (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Digital Index of North American Archaeology (DINAA) now contains citations to professional journal articles which mention specific archaeological sites in tens of thousands of instances across the United States and Canada. DINAA researchers have developed methods to identify Smithsonian Trinomial (USA) and Borden Grid (Canada) archaeological site...
Using Event History Methods to Analyze the Diffusion of Dynastic Rituals in Classic Maya Society (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Novel Statistical Techniques in Archaeology I (QUANTARCH I)" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Diffusion of innovation describes the way novel cultural traits or information spread in a population. Understanding the specific factors that account for the spread of these innovations calls for a multivariate approach. Event history analysis provides a set of statistical methods to explain and predict the occurrence of...
Using Landscape to Unbuild Binaries: Human-Environment Relationships at Aventura, Belize (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Dividing the landscape into the categories of natural and cultural clouds an understanding of the relationship between humans and their ecological environment. Humans are not separate from or above the landscape they inhabit, and landscape archaeology is well-situated to address arbitrary binaries that reinforce problematic notions about human-environment...
Using LiDAR and Environmental Suitability Models to Predict Probable Locations of Ancient Settlements in Manabí, Ecuador (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In recent years, LIDAR has gained popularity among archaeological researchers for its capability to reveal ancient settlement features hidden beneath dense vegetation coverage in heavily forested areas. More often, these studies have revealed undocumented monumental architecture and in some cases modified landscapes such as agricultural terraces, canals, and...
Using LiDAR and Ground Survey to Understand Regional Settlement Patterns in Terminal Classic Central Yucatan (2017)
The first research performed by the Proyecto de Interaccion Politica del Centro de Yucatan centered on understanding the impact of Chichen Itza in the region to the southwest of this Terminal Classic city. Working in an area of roughly 500 square kilometers around the site of Yaxuna we performed traditional ground reconnaissance and mapping at numerous centers in the region from 2007 to 2013 to better understand regional settlement patterns and how they changed with the establishment and growth...
Using Lidar to Locate and Classify Ancient Maya Water Storage Features at Yaxnohcah, Campeche, Mexico (2017)
Airborne lidar presents a valuable tool to investigate water management in a water-scarce region of the Maya lowlands. We analyze 25 sq-km of lidar elevation data for the ancient Maya site of Yaxnohcah in Campeche, Mexico. Using the hydrologic tools in the GIS software ArcMap we identified hundreds of closed depressions (many extremely small). These features may have a natural origin (e.g. a sink hole) or may be anthropogenic (e.g. from quarrying), or may be data artifacts. We used a series of...
Using Multi-Proxy Evidence to Evaluate Captive Animal Management in the Prehistoric Caribbean (2017)
For some time archaeologists have speculated that non-native mammals introduced to the prehistoric Caribbean may have been managed in captivity, but direct evidence for this practice has been wanting. The question of management is complicated by ambiguous and conflicting data from ethnohistory, animal behaviour, and archaeology, as well as potentially unwarranted assumptions about human interaction with synanthropic animals. I examine this issue for introduced agouti (Dasyprocta sp.) and opossum...
Using stable isotopes to identify childhood and infant feeding practices in prehistoric Taumako (2017)
Though many ethnohistoric sources in the tropical Pacific recount chiefly feasting events, few describe the feeding practices of children despite the impact childhood nutrition has on morbidity and mortality throughout an individual’s life history. The Namu burial ground (circa 750 — 300 BP) on the island of Taumako in the southeast Solomon Islands provides a direct means of understanding prehistoric life on a Polynesian Outlier. Twenty individuals from the 226 excavated were sampled as part of...
Using surface chemical markers to identify patterns of human activity: the case of Tierras Nuevas, Puerto Rico (2017)
Human activities leave chemical traces in the sediments, which can give us clues about the content of the subsoil and the activities that might have occurred in the past. In this study we evaluate the potential of the geochemical evaluation of sediment samples collected from surface survey for the identification of buried patterns of human activity at the site of Tierras Nuevas, is an archaeological site in a tropical environment. Based on topographical characteristics, we had identified...
Using the Archaeological Record to Better Understand Models: An Australian Case Study (2017)
In Australia’s desert regions, different conceptual models are sometimes used to explain patterning in late Holocene surface deposits. Among these patterns are distributions of radiocarbon determinations, which have been concurrently explained as generated by intermittent occupation by hypermobile foragers, or growing semi-resident populations of broad-spectrum hunter-gatherers. This paper shows how models connected to the language and logic of record formation can help resolve competing...
Using the City Simulator Tool to Aid in Preservation during Resiliency Planning (2018)
The SAA has held sessions on how climate change is affecting cultural resources for several years now. We began with characterizing the impacts and concerns on how to preserve or mitigate. We have discussed ongoing studies, and strategies to engage the public and local government in conservation and recordation initiatives. This year, Atkins will be presenting a newly developed tool to help planning organizations visualize physical impacts to built environment, traditional cultural properties,...
Using Traditional and Nontraditional Isotopic Tracers of Diet and Mobility of Brazilian Shell Mound Populations (ca. 8000–1000 years BP) (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The study of shell mounds can shed light on human occupation and adaptations at coastal environments worldwide. In South America, human groups occupied the territory close to the Atlantic Ocean for millennium (ca. 8000 to ⁓1000 years BP), building hundreds of shell mounds, some with impressive dimensions. After 2000 BP, it is assumed that these populations...
Uso de Dispositivos Open Hardware en Proyectos Arqueológicos en México (2019)
This is an abstract from the "La Práctica Arqueológica en México en Tiempos de Crisis: Escenarios, Problemáticas Claves, Actores, Acciones y Propuestas" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Desde sus orígenes de relativamente baja tecnología, la arqueología ha evolucionado en una disciplina altamente tecnologizada, que emplea instrumentos para localizar, caracterizar y exhibir al sitios y yacimientos. Los arqueólogos con acceso a tecnología novedosa...
Uso de un Espacio Sagrado: Excavaciones de la Sacristía de una Reducción Colonial en la Sierra sur del Perú (2017)
Los espacios rituales han sido desde siempre lugares importantes dentro de las comunidades humanas pues son la expresión material de sus creencias y su fe. En el caso del Virreinato del Perú, la invasión española del siglo XVI significó un cambio radical en la concepción y materialización de la religiosidad practicada, donde la construcción de edificios de carácter religioso encarnó el cambio de vida y costumbres de los pueblos conquistados. Esta ponencia explora el espacio arquitectónico de la...
Utilitarian Lithics as Commodities: Comparing Classic Period Specialized and Multi-craft Producers in the Maya Lowlands (2023)
This is an abstract from the "An Exchange of Ideas: Recent Research on Maya Commodities" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Economic studies in the Maya region have illustrated that the Classic period Maya utilized a variety of exchange networks to circulate commodities such as market exchange, redistribution, and gifting. The study of specific types of goods provides information on how different materials circulated through these exchange mechanisms...
The Utility of Nestedness in Zooarchaeological Assemblages: A Study from the Northern Maya Lowlands (2017)
Nestedness analysis suggests that the presence of specific ichthyofauna in assemblages from seven different sites from the northern Yucatán peninsula may be a result of the life-histories of those species or cultural preferences rather than being driven by environmental barriers. The results suggests that the assemblages may be derived from different populations suggesting that they are not coming from the same source. I argue that while trade is playing a role, it is also likely that ancient...
Utilization and Field Testing of LiDAR in the Maya Hinterlands (2018)
Airborne LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) is an active remote-sensing technique which records the surface of the earth using laser scanning. The recent acquisition of LiDAR data for a portion of the Three Rivers regions in northwestern Belize offered the opportunity for a new way to analyze settlement and landscape utilization by the ancient Maya. This paper will focus on the systematic analysis of the dataset, ground verification, and post-processing methodologies. ArcGIS was used for the...
Utilization of Fish Resources at the Hopoate Site on Tongatapu, Kingdom of Tonga (2018)
Analysis of archaeological fish remains from the Hopoate site, on Tongatapu in the Pacific Island Kingdom of Tonga, identified 18 different families. Significant change in relative abundance was evident in Lethrinidae (emperors) and Acanthuridae (surgeonfish, unicornfish), two families common as food fish in Tonga. Frequencies of the families were compared between the early settlement period (~2850-2900 cal BP) and the subsequent Plainware/Aceramic period. Larger-bodied Lethrinidae, which are...
Utilizing Ancient Oral Microbes to Track Human Migrations across the Pacific Islands: Insights from Palau and Beyond (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. Ancient human migrations underpin the origin of past cultures, health, ecological interactions, and identity. However, recent or rapid migrations are difficult to track using classical demographic tools that monitor human genetic mutations over time. A new method—tracking human migrations by assessing microbial genome...
Valle de Bonanza (Zacatecas, Mexico): Desert Varnish and Technology in a Surface Lithic Assemblage (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Valle de Bonanza (northeast of the Mexican state of Zacatecas) is a surface-only archaeological site located in a highly eroded desert landscape on the edges of a vast endorheic basin in Concepcion del Oro county. The site consists of a sand-and-dust surface affected by intensive deflation that caused the formation of a palimpsest of crudely made flaked stone...
Valley of No Masters: Exchanging Experiences at the Valley of the Masters, Northeastern Brazil (2018)
Field schools, and Methods and techniques in Archaeology classes are mandatory steps to achieve Master’s or a PhD degree in most graduate programs in Brazil. We, as instructors noticed a certain mismatch in students’ behavior in regard to decision-making in both situations: reticence during field activities, boldness during class discussions and debates. This dichotomy seemed to be related to field experiences in which the students had fewer opportunities to engage with other "more...