Belize (Other Keyword)
26-41 (41 Records)
Discussions of ancient socio-political interactions are most productive when site-specific archaeological data is incorporated into a multi-scalar analysis that includes centres of different distinction. The ability to integrate centres into a nuanced landscape is a luxury derived from a long legacy of archaeological work by different researchers. This work draws upon the increasing large corpus of data created for north-central Belize over the last 50 years. In this paper, we present a...
A Place for the Living, A Place for the Dead: Social Memory at the Ancient Maya Hinterland Community of San Lorenzo, Belize (2017)
Public structures across the Maya lowlands functioned as materializations of ideology, memory, and identity. However, documentation of public ritual structures is typically limited to formal ceremonial centers. Little is known about public spaces within hinterland communities. Excavations at the site of San Lorenzo offer insight into the use and transformation of ritual space within a hinterland community. Recent excavations of a public structure group have uncovered multiple construction phases...
Placing Cahal Pech on the map: Implications of Burial Goods Recovered in the Site’s Eastern Triadic Shrine (2015)
Between 2011 and 2014, the BVAR Project focused considerable attention on the excavation and preservation of the site’s Eastern Triadic Shrine (a.k.a E-Group). In addition to revealing important information on the evolution of the architectural complex, our investigations also uncovered a series of burials that span from the Preclassic to the Terminal Classic periods. The burials, particularly those discovered in Structure B1, the central structure of the eastern triadic complex, reflect...
A Polychrome Modeled Narrative of Late to Terminal Classic Power at Lamanai, Belize (2001)
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Preliminary Findings at the Quebrada de Oro Ruins: Shining New Light on a Classic Maya Site We Thought We Knew (2017)
The Quebrada de Oro Ruins comprise the remains of one of four known Classic Maya centers located in Bladen Branch region of the Maya Mountains of southern Belize. Initially recorded in the 1970s, the site has not garnered much attention by archaeologists due to its remoteness. However, this has not deterred cartographers from noting it as a significant landmark or archaeologists from asserting that it played an important role in ancient times. This contrasts with the views of the few...
A Quarter-Century of Exploring the Three Rivers Watersheds in Belize (2017)
The Programme for Belize Archaeological Project is situated in the heart of the Three Rivers Watersheds, drained by the Rio Bravo, Booth's River, and Rio Azul/Blue Creek in Northwestern Belize. These three river systems, along with groundwater, springs, and wetlands, nurture what is today the tropical rainforest refuge of the Rio Bravo Conservation Management Area, active farming communities, and long ago sustained multiple ancient Maya communities such as La Milpa, Dos Hombres, Chawak But'o'ob,...
Rapid Survey, Salvage, and Mapping Using Drones in an Ancient Maya Landscape: New Settlement Revealed at the Crossroads of Saturday Creek, Belize (2015)
Saturday Creek is a sizeable Maya site center with an elite residence, three large pyramids, and two ballcourts. While much of the site core is in bush, most of the surrounding area has been cleared for agriculture. While the clearing makes for good visibility, the hinterland settlement has been subject to extensive bulldozing, repeated plowing, and removal of stone over the years, obscuring the smaller mounds and making it difficult to discern them on the ground. In less than two days, we flew...
Remembrances of Things Past: Peter D. Harrison and Maya Archaeology (2015)
After Peter Harrison’s forays at Tikal, Guatemala and in Quintana Roo, Mexico he turned his attentions to archaeological research in Belize in the late 1970’s. Thus began his multi-year project at Pulltrouser Swamp, with his colleague Billie Lee Turner, which resulted in a series of foundational publications on Prehispanic Maya agriculture. In this paper we reflect on Peter’s contributions to Belize archaeology and to the discipline as a whole, as we celebrate his many interests in Maya...
Resignification: Public Ritual and Changing Cultural Landscapes at Actuncan, Belize (2015)
Across the Maya Lowlands, dedication ritual served a vital role in endowing public and household spaces with meaning and function. Through ritual, structures acquired the soul-force, or k’ulel, necessary to sustain activity within their walls. However, many structures lived (at least) two ritual lives: one associated with their original intended function, and a second following the abandonment of their initial use. We argue that through ritual resignification the original meanings of public...
Salvage Excavations of a Painted Maya Tomb at Ayiin Winik, Northwestern Belize (2024)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In 2023, the Belize Estates Archaeological Survey Team (BEAST) field assessed recently acquired LiDAR data. This effort included documenting a previously unknown large ceremonial center, Ayiin Winik, located between the La Lucha Escarpment and the Rio Bravo in northwestern Belize. Exploration of the site identified a rare double ball court, a parapet-lined...
Some Methodological Problems with the Study of Non-Urban Caves in Northern Belize (2015)
Cave archaeology in northern Belize is poorly developed because the soft dolomitic limestone does not permit the formation of large and impressive caves. Several studies of small caves associated with public architecture have been conducted within the Rio Bravo Conservation Management Area, Orange Walk District, Belize. These studies suggest that caves played much the same role in the sacred geography that has been documented elsewhere in the Maya area. Nevertheless, there are no systematic...
Structure 20 and 9 chert data from Corozal Postclassic Project 1978 and 1979 excavations of Nohmul, Belize (2019)
"Stone tools and debitage recovered from Terminal Classic Period contexts at the site Nohmul, Belize were collected in 1978 and 1979 as part of a dissertation project. Our analysis of this Nohmul chert assemblage has found evidence for local reduction of cobbles and core maintenance, as well as the production and maintenance of tools. Nohmul is situated roughly 30 kilometers from the Northern Belize Chert Bearing Zone, and the site of Colha, Belize – the argued center of lithic production in the...
A THREE DIMENSIONAL VIEW OF ARCHITECTURE AND BUILDING MATERIAL USE AT STRUCTURE B-4 CAHAL PECH, BELIZE C.A. (2015)
Excavation information at Cahal Pech structure B-4 present some of the most complete data on the Maya formative period in the Western Belize River Valley. Structure B-4 contains fourteen floors which represent increasingly complex and chronological construction events. Excavated floor level information contains architectural and construction material elements which can be stored and analyzed in a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) database. Using available excavation and publication data,...
Two Newly Discovered Maya Chert Tool Workshops in the Belize Valley: Results of the 2014 Surface Reconnaissance (2015)
Few lithic workshops have been found in the Belize Valley of Western Belize. This paper presents the results of surface reconnaissance and debitage collection at two newly discovered chert tool workshops near the villages of Esperanza and Teakettle in the Cayo District of Western Belize. Each of these workshops consists of a single large mound of debitage and includes tools aborted or broken at various stages of manufacture. At both locations, the main tool types produced were oval bifaces and...
Understanding Environmental Thresholds through Geoarchaeology: Case Studies from the Maya Lowlands (2016)
All depositional environments can leave complex records of environmental change over time. We consider floodplains, alluvial fans, and wetlands of the Maya lowlands at present day Neundorf, Belize. We have documented a rich history of sedimentation, water chemistry, and archaeological data that show a measurable environmental and archaeological signature that date back over 4,000 years in this region. This research uses soil geomorphology to study the chronology and processes of wetland...
Xunantunich Reloaded:Examining the Socio-Political Significance of Structure A9 (2017)
Recent excavation of Structure A9 at the site of Xunantunich, Belize, confirmed that the mound represents the remains of a medium-size temple dating to the Late Classic period. Sub-surface excavations along the central axis of the mound revealed a large, vaulted chamber containing the remains of an elite individual. Two hieroglyphic panels flanking the building’s front staircase identify a link between Xunantunich and three other Classic Maya polities: Caracol, Naranjo, and Calakmul. Exploration...