Maya: Preclassic (Other Keyword)
51-75 (220 Records)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Late Preclassic (400 BC - A.D. 200) site of Noh K'uh is located in the Mensäbäk basin, 30 kilometers west of the Usumacinta River. Noh K'uh was a small ceremonial center composed of several residential groups centered around a ceremonial plaza. Noh K’uh’s location near the western edge of the Maya lowlands placed the residents near contemporary...
Creating a New World: Large-Scale Landscape Modifications at Aguada Fenix, Mexico (2023)
This is an abstract from the "2023 Fryxell Award Symposium: Papers in Honor of Timothy Beach Part I" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The recently discovered site of Aguada Fenix in eastern Tabasco, Mexico, is one of the largest monumental constructions in Mesoamerica. It dates to the beginning of the early Middle Preclassic, around 1100 BC. The main complex consists of a rectangular plateau with an E-Group at its center and is delimited by 20 large...
The Creation of Late Preclassic Urban Landscapes at the site of Noh K’uh in Chiapas, Mexico (2018)
The site of Noh K’uh in Chiapas, Mexico is a mid-sized ceremonial center that is found near the boundary between the Southern Lowlands and the highlands of Chiapas. Abandoned during the Late Preclassic (400 B.C.- A.D. 200), the site of Noh K’uh has provided an opportunity to study the Late Preclassic settlement patterns without the overburden of later period remains. Recent investigations in 2016 and 2017 have provided new evidence that allows me to compare the construction techniques utilized...
Cultural Settlement and Water Management Strategies at Holtun, Guatemala (2024)
This is an abstract from the "Holtun: Investigations at a Preclassic Maya Center" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Water management is intrinsically associated with the development and support of complex societies. Water was a significant source of power among the ancient Maya. Although traditional research characterizes water management as homogeneous and monolithic, recent studies show that it was highly variable and adapted accordingly. The case...
Deviancy, an Alternate Means of Child Veneration at the Maya Site of Colha (2018)
The veneration of space is a process that at times incorporates deviant practices as a method of signifying key importance. The deposition of burnt infant remains and associated grave goods diverges from burial norms at the Maya site of Colha. In May of 2017, archaeologists with the Programme for Belize Archaeological project returned to the site after a multi-year hiatus. The burnt skeletal remains of an infant, between the ages of 1.5 and 2.5 were found in association with burnt pottery...
Diet, Migration and Social Changes: The Preclassic Burials of Ceibal (2019)
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. The Ceibal-Petexbatun Archaeological Project uncovered 43 burials with a minimum number of 58 individuals that date from the Middle Preclassic to the Protoclassic period (ca. 700 BC-AD 200). These remains have the potential to provide valuable insight into the processes of political...
Discovery of a Late Preclassic Ceremonial Bundle at the Ancient Maya Center of Yaxnohcah Using Environmental DNA Analysis (2023)
This is an abstract from the "2023 Fryxell Award Symposium: Papers in Honor of Timothy Beach Part I" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. A dark-stained feature near the base of a 1 m thick platform in the Helena complex of the Ancient Maya city of Yaxnohcah was found to contain remains of medicinal plants, a plant containing hallucinogens (likely used for divination), and a plant used in the manufacture of weaponry (spears and bows). The feature was...
“Domesticated Waterscapes” in the Petén Lakes Region, Petén, Guatemala (2024)
This is an abstract from the "Hydro-Ecological System of the Maya in Petén, Guatemala" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. A recent lidar survey of the Petén Lakes in Petén, Guatemala, has confirmed landscape modifications suggested by previous research and revealed new evidence of water management and settlement placement. Influenced by Joel Palka’s recent work among the Lacandon Maya, we consider domesticated waterscape features such as canals and...
The Emergence of a Large Community at Aguada Fénix, Tabasco, Mexico, and Its Legacy (2024)
This is an abstract from the "States, Confederacies, and Nations: Reenvisioning Early Large-Scale Collectives." session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The site of Aguada Fénix features an artificial plateau, which measures 1,400 × 400 m horizontally and 10–15 m vertically. Nine causeways and corridors radiate from the plateau. These monumental constructions were built between 1050 and 750 BC. This building, discovered in 2017, turned out to be the largest...
Emerging Perspectives: A New Cross-Contextual Analysis of the Niche Monument Corpus (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Preclassic niche monuments, found from Guatemala to Chiapas to Veracruz, portray anthropomorphic figures emerging from a high-relief cavity. Presently there is no extant study of niche monuments that assembles the entire corpus and situates them within a broader matrix of exchange via trade, interaction and linguistics. In this paper, I will present my...
The Environmental and Cultural Context of North American Turkey Domestication (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Questioning the Fundamentals of Plant and Animal Domestication" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) is the only native vertebrate animal domesticated in North America. As such, the history, timing and process of its domestication is critical to our understanding of past human-animal relationships in the ancient Americas. This paper summarizes recent advancements in reconstructing the...
Environmental History of the Petén Campechano (2023)
This is an abstract from the "A Session in Memory of William J. Folan: Cities, Settlement, and Climate" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Paleoenvironmental inferences are based on pollen and geochemical data from sediment cores collected in Lakes Silvituc and Uxul, and Oxpemul Reservoir, near three archaeological sites that supported agricultural activity between ca. 900 BC and AD 750, under the control of the Kaan Dynasty. These sites show patterns...
Evidence for Early Sedentary Occupation in the Yaxnohcah Region, Campeche, Mexico (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Early settlement at Yaxnohcah appears to have been widespread throughout a landscape covering over 40km2. In this paper, we specifically discuss the distribution of this settlement in the period from 900-700 BCE and contrast it to the distribution from 700-300 BCE. Initial analyses suggest that the spatial range of the settlement contracted in the latter...
Examining Early Maya Public Architecture at Gallon Jug, Belize (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Recent trends in archaeological research in the Maya lowlands focus on developing understandings of the nature of the entangled relationships between urban centers and peripheral populations. The Preclassic origins and development of centralized political authority at the urban center of Chan Chich in northwestern Belize is currently understudied in relation...
Examining the Institutionalization and Transformation of Maya Kingship at Actuncan, Belize using Collective Action Theory (2018)
Here, I summarize the major research questions and results from the Actuncan Archaeological Project, which has been on-going since 2001. The project was initially designed to examine the ways Preclassic Maya leaders institutionalized political authority from the perspective of household archaeology, but has expanded to include excavation of civic architecture and remote sensing in open spaces. My research is informed by collective action theory, and the degree to which leaders engaged in...
Excavations at Aguada Fénix E Group (2024)
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. Aguada Fénix is a major ceremonial complex from the Middle Formative Usumacinta (MFU) assemblage that was discovered in Tabasco, Mexico, through lidar technology. The construction of this complex indicates the importance of communal labor, and there is no...
Excavations at El Achiotal: Changing Political and Religious Institutions Reflected in Architecture (2018)
The archaeological site of El Achiotal is located on the southwestern fringe of the region known as the Mirador Basin. During the Late Preclassic period (300 BC – 250 AD), it participated in mainstream architectonic traditions of the Central Maya Lowlands, exemplified by its main building, Structure 5C-01. With the advent of Early Classic times (ca. 250 AD), changes appeared in the architecture of Structure 5C-01 and at the adjacent Structure 5C-08. These later changes express the political...
Excavations at Tiradero (2019)
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. The site of Tiradero is located next to the San Pedro River, a distributary of the Usumacinta River, in Tabasco, Mexico and contains evidence of occupation during the Late Preclassic and Terminal Classic periods. At the site, a Middle Formative Chiapas E-Group pattern is consistent with those...
Excavations at Two New Operations at Colha (2018)
Colha, an ancient Maya site located in northern Belize, has undergone archaeological research interests since the 1970s. Previous investigations demonstrate a long occupational history at the site that spans from the Late Archaic (ca. 3400 BC) to the Early Postclassic (AD 1200). Building upon previous research, a primary goal of the 2017 season was to explore the transition between the Archaic (3400 BC) and Preclassic (1000 BC) periods while focusing on technological and social continuity. This...
Experimental Ceramic Technology: Colha, Belize (2018)
We have been very fortunate this year to have Dr. Fred Valdez, Luisa Aebersold and their team graciously contribute to our research program in ceramic technology. They took time during their extremely busy field season to bring clay for our team to prepare and attempt to build pottery at Programme for Belize Archaeological Field School. We have two different types of clay to research. The first clay is yellow clay CH4444. The second clay is iron-rich, red clay CH2222. Our first task was to...
Fauna from Sinkholes at the Site of Nixtun-Ch’ich’ (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Recent Research in the Petén Lakes Region, Petén, Guatemala" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Petén Lakes region of Petén, Guatemala, sits on karst bedrock and is home to a series of lake chains, the largest of which is Lake Petén Itzá. Nixtun-Ch’ich’ lies on the lake’s western arm. The lowland’s limestone topography allows for high drainability of water resulting in scarce surface hydrology. Aside from the few...
Feline Pedestal Sculptures, Cacao, and the Late Formative Landscape of Mesoamerica (2018)
Pedestal sculptures featuring supernatural felines with cacao drupes projecting from their foreheads dotted the Late Formative landscape of the Pacific slope and adjacent Guatemalan Highlands. In this paper we consider the implications of the replication of this sculptural form, its role in articulating an elite agenda linked to the production of cacao, and its pertinence to sites of varying scale and relative regional authority. A similar suite of meanings engaged with cacao and supernatural...
Filling in the Gaps: Lidar-Aided Mapping of the Smallest-Scale Sites in the Northern Lowlands (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Proyecto Arqueológico de Sitios de Pesqueña Escala en el Puuc Oriental (PASPEPO) recently completed an intensive mapping and surface collection program at three small-scale sites in the eastern Puuc Region of the northern Maya lowlands. Using lidar-derived digital terrain models (DTMs) as a baseline for settlement pattern identification, we identified...
Games or Prehispanic Rituals? The Ball Courts of the Mirador Basin (2021)
This is an abstract from the "Recent Multidisciplinary Investigations in the Mirador Basin, Guatemala" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The ball game was one of the most widespread in Mesoamerica since the Early and Middle Preclassic periods if not earlier. This presentation will present the different ball courts detected in the Mirador Cultural and Natural zone, also known as Mirador Basin, indicating the chronology, form, contextual associations,...
Geochemical Soil Analysis of Sequential Public and Private Plaster Floor Surfaces from the Maya Site of Holtun (2024)
This is an abstract from the "Holtun: Investigations at a Preclassic Maya Center" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In this paper we present the results of an exploratory program aimed at providing multi-component soil sampling and analysis of plaster floor surfaces at the Maya site of Holtun, Guatemala. Our research sampled three different plaza settings at the site: the monumental E-Group plaza, an elite residential patio adjacent to the E-Group...