Orange Walk (State / Territory) (Geographic Keyword)

DOCUMENT Full-Text Linda Scott Cummings. Paul M. Miller.

Midnight Terror Cave lies in the Cayo District, ca. 16 km southwest of Belmopan, in central Belize. Studies of the cave by California State University, Los Angeles, in association with the Belizean Institute of Archaeology, revealed eight naturally divided sections (called ‘Operations’). Significant quantities (more than 10,000 bones and bone fragments) of calcified human remains from the Late Classic period (AD 600–900) lay on the surface of the cave floor (Prout and Brady 2018:3). Operations V...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Alyce De Carteret. Diana Magaloni Kerpel.

This is an abstract from the "Polychromy, Multimediality, and Visual Complexity in Mesoamerican Art" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Maya polychrome ceramics have long been regarded for the distinctive regional styles that emerged during the Late Classic period (ca. 600–900 CE). These styles, aligned with royal workshops and their patrons, encompass a wide range of aesthetic strategies, particularly with respect to color. Some workshops and their...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Ava Godhardt. SJ Casillas. Jessica Weinmeister. Troy Brown. David M. Hyde.

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This poster provides a summary of the 2023 archaeological investigations conducted at and around Group M of the Medicinal Trail Hinterland Community, an ancient Maya site in northwestern Belize. Group M is a non-residential masonry architectural group located at the north end of the Medicinal Trail Community. It is situated on a knoll, with a sharp...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Takeshi Inomata.

This is an abstract from the "Constructing Chronologies I: Stratification and Correlation" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Archaeologists working in the Maya area face multiple challenges as they develop chronological studies. First, many sites are complex urban centers with diverse types of structures and areas. Second, these sites commonly have long occupation, involving migrations, destructions of buildings, and recycling of construction...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Javier Quezada-Euán.

This is an abstract from the "Adventures in Beekeeping: Recent Studies in Ecology, Archaeology, History, and Ethnography in Yucatán" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. La meliponicultura en México, así como en gran parte del mundo, ha experimentado un creciente interés y popularidad. Un mayor número de personas y grupos se están involucrando en la actividad lo que ha llevado a su expansión tanto de las regiones donde se practica, como en el número de...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Elyse Chase. Adrian Chase. Diane Chase. Arlen Chase.

This is an abstract from the "Ancient Mesoamerican Population History: Demography, Social Complexity, and Change" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Caracol, Belize, is among the largest known ancient Maya cities. Its urban area spans some 200 km2 and is integrated by a series of radial causeways that connect outlying public architecture and plazas to the central hub. The entire landscape is covered by residential settlement and agricultural...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Nathan Meissner.

This is an abstract from the "Making and Breaking Boundaries in the Maya Lowlands: Alliance and Conflict across the Guatemala–Belize Border" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Late Postclassic and Early Contact Periods (A.D. 1400-1697) of central Petén and western Belize are typically characterized by intensive interaction and migration during a time of shifting geo-political divisions. One of the divisions in Belize known as Dzuluinikob (loosely,...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Sebastian Salgado-Flores.

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Over the last several decades, research in anthracology (the study of charcoal recovered from archaeological sites) has become increasingly relevant to our understanding of human-environment dynamics. The field’s understanding of human fuelwood collection is currently based on a model guided by the “Principle of Least Effort,” which expects wood gatherers to...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Manda Adam. Fred Valdez, Jr.

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Ancient Maya Postclassic period (1000-1500 CE) is one of the least understood periods of Ancient Maya cultural history. Essential questions about the Postclassic remained unanswered due to a focus on the preceding period the Classic Maya Collapse (800-1000 CE). While the collapse is well studied and understood, what happens after the collapse is not....

DOCUMENT Citation Only Phyllis Johnson.

This is an abstract from the "Advances in Obsidian Studies of the Old and New Worlds" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Archaeologists have been using agent-based modelling (ABM) to re-create prehistoric social, economic, and political processes, along with prehistoric environments since the first publication of the model commonly known as "Artificial Anasazi." Very few archaeologists have attempted to model prehistoric lithic technology, however,...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Jim Aimers. Jaime Awe.

During the Belize Tourism Development Project (2000-2004), Awe excavated dense on-floor deposits on the stairs and stairside outsets of Structures A2 and A3 at Cahal Pech. These deposits were mainly pottery sherds but included a variety of other materials including whole and partial vessels, projectile points, obsidian blades, deer antlers, figurines and ocarinas, spindle whorls, and jade pendants. A standard interpretations of such deposits is that they represent garbage left behind by Terminal...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Debra Walker.

This is an abstract from the "New and Emerging Perspectives on the Bajo el Laberinto Region of the Maya Lowlands, Part 2" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. A decade of research at Yaxnohcah informs our current understanding the Central Karstic Uplands and lays the groundwork for continuing research in the greater Bajo el Laberinto region. This paper summarizes the sometimes surprising results of ceramic analysis at the site, while acknowledging the...

DOCUMENT Citation Only William Gilstrap. Michael Callaghan. Daniel Pierce.

This is an abstract from the "Where Is Provenance? Bridging Method, Evidence, and Theory for the Interpretation of Local Production" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Formal studies of archaeological pottery have moved far beyond traditional typological approaches through applications of complementary instrumental analyses, borrowed mainly from the Natural Sciences. No contemporary study of archaeological pottery is complete without some form of...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Asli Erem.

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Throughout thousands of years, various civilizations and groups have depicted their beliefs on objects and architecture. Maya rulers are an example in how architecture, extravagant costumes, jewelry, weaponry, ceramics were used to emphasize their title as ajaw.Ajaw, the title for a ruler which represents the king’s massive authority for their people...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Kazuo Aoyama.

This is an abstract from the "Preclassic Maya Social Transformations along the Usumacinta: Views from Ceibal and Aguada Fénix" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. I discuss the results of a diachronic analysis of lithic artifacts collected from Ceibal, Guatemala, in order to elucidate long-term patterns and changes in the Preclassic and Classic Maya exchange, craft production and ritual practices. The interregional exchange of large polyhedral cores of...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Justin Bracken.

A third season of fieldwork at the fortified site of Muralla de León has expanded the scope of coverage for the project by mapping and excavating nearby hilltop occupations on the shores of Lake Macanché. The work serves to contextualize the space contained by the site’s enceinte, a physical barrier that serves also as a boundary feature. Earlier investigations into the site interior and the ramparts of the enceinte itself begged for a comparative data set, as the significance of a barrier...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Mary Jane Acuña. Carlos Chiriboga. Varinia Matute. Francisco Castañeda.

The site of El Tintal, located in northern Petén, Guatemala, provides early evidence of monumental construction, initiating with the large-scale transformation of the landscape in preparation for the site’s ceremonial core, followed by construction programs consisting of pyramids, elevated causeways, and a diversity of hydraulic features. Recent investigations at El Tintal have shed light on its Preclassic settlement, organized around what we propose was an ancient lagoon which settlers...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Alessandra Villarreal.

Understanding the organization of ancient ceramic production and distribution patterns can provide archaeologists a means of exploring past economies. Recent studies have shown that petrographic analysis can be operationalized to detect variability in production recipes, distribution of production groups across a landscape, and even producer-specific material choices. Ceramicists working in the Maya lowlands have demonstrated the benefit of using petrographic analysis in conjunction with other...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Kazuo Aoyama.

This is an abstract from the "Aguada Fénix and the Middle Usumacinta Region: Interregional Interactions and Social Transformations in the Middle Preclassic Period" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This paper discusses the results of my diachronic analysis of lithic artifacts collected in Aguada Fénix and its neighboring sites in the Middle Usumacinta region, Mexico, in order to elucidate one aspect of long-term changing patterns in the Preclassic...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Clarissa Cagnato.

This is an abstract from the "Preclassic Maya Social Transformations along the Usumacinta: Views from Ceibal and Aguada Fénix" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Paleoethnobotanical evidence, in conjunction with other archaeological data, provides key information regarding ancient practices. This paper presents the results of microbotanical analyses —specifically the study of starch grains—carried out on diverse Preclassic Maya archaeological...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Michael Callaghan. Brigitte Kovacevich. Rachel Gill. Karla Cardona.

Recent research in the Maya lowlands has shown that "E-Group" architectural complexes were intricately tied to the development of complex society during the Middle Preclassic period (900 BC – 300 BC). First identified at the site of Uaxactun, Guatemala, E-Group complexes consist of a western radial platform and eastern range structure. For many years Maya archaeologists believed E-Groups functioned primarily as celestial observatories. However, recent data have shown E-groups were the locus of...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Michael Smyth.

Some of the earliest and largest monumental architecture in the Puuc Hills are found at the Maya center of Xcoch. Noted by John Stephens in 1841 as a large city with a deep water cave and gigantic pyramid, Xcoch is among a host of Puuc sites now dated to the Preclassic period. An interdisciplinary research program at Xcoch and vicinity from 2006 to 2013 revealed Preclassic Maya community patterns, megalithic architecture, and material culture for a developing complex society. Massive high...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Miguel García Mollinedo.

This is an abstract from the "Aguada Fénix and the Middle Usumacinta Region: Interregional Interactions and Social Transformations in the Middle Preclassic Period" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In the Middle Usumacinta region, located in southeastern Mexico, multiple standardized architectural complexes dated from the Middle Preclassic (1000–00 BC) have been detected with the use of lidar technology. Of these complexes, three belong to the Middle...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Autumn Rose. Kitty Emery. Robert Guralnick.

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Human-caused environmental changes and their effects on the Classic Maya continue to be topics of vital research importance. Zooarchaeological data can provide valuable inferences about ancient Maya environments but must be assessed with care. In the Maya area, habitat fidelity models use high predator abundances to indicate the local presence of the...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Ken Seligson. Soledad Ortiz Ruiz. Luis Barba Pingarrón.

Burnt lime has played a significant role in daily Maya life since at least as far back as 1100 BC, and yet its ephemeral nature has limited archaeological studies of its production and distribution. The application of new surveying and remote sensing technologies in recent decades is now allowing for a more in-depth investigation of the burnt lime industries that existed in different sub-regions of the Maya area. In this talk, we present an overview of the current understanding of Prehispanic...