Mesoamerica: Maya Lowlands (Other Keyword)

DOCUMENT Citation Only Kaeleen Stauffer.

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Excavations at the Medicinal Trail Community, an Ancient Maya farming village in northwestern Belize, have revealed two Late Preclassic round structures. One structure is from Group A and has a diameter of 3 m, it is located below the surface in the center of a formal residential group. The other is over 20 m in diameter and located below the surface in...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Mathias Vuille.

This is an abstract from the "Northern Belize Archaic Period and Sahara Dust" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Several studies have highlighted the role of the Holocene ‘Green Sahara’ in affecting environmental conditions across the tropics. Expansive Saharan vegetation altered albedo and evapotranspiration, and changed atmospheric circulation, impacting climate over remote regions. For example, mid-Holocene precipitation changes in eastern South...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Adam Burke.

This is an abstract from the "Current Methods and Applications to Chert Sourcing: Case Studies from Across the Americas" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Archaeological research on the Coastal Plain of the southeastern United States has yielded a rich assemblage of stone tools produced by late Pleistocene and early Holocene hunter-gatherers, but little research has been undertaken to quantitatively define and describe the variable stone resources...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Nathaniel Kitchel.

This is an abstract from the "Current Methods and Applications to Chert Sourcing: Case Studies from Across the Americas" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In northeastern North America (New England, southern Quebec, and the Canadian Maritime Provinces) red and mottled red and green chert from the Munsungun Lake formation northern Maine is associated with fluted-point-period occupations in the region. Various characterization methods including visual...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Cynthia Hannold.

This is an abstract from the "Recent Investigations in Maya Archaeology, Epigraphy, Bioarchaeology, and Zooarchaeology by the Holmul Archaeological Project in Northeastern Peten, Guatemala" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The presence of pozzolanic plaster in the Holmul region suggests the use of specialized production methods seen elsewhere in Mesoamerica. The Teotihuacan Entrada, during which Teotihuacanos maintained a presence in the Maya area,...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Michael Callaghan.

This is an abstract from the "Recent Investigations in Maya Archaeology, Epigraphy, Bioarchaeology, and Zooarchaeology by the Holmul Archaeological Project in Northeastern Peten, Guatemala" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In this paper we discuss the results and implications of a study that employed Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (INAA) on a sample of sherds from Late and Terminal Preclassic-period serving vessels recovered in...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Kaylee Spencer.

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This paper explores relationships between hieroglyphic texts and Classic period Maya ceramics, delving into how inscriptions on vessels provide insight into social, political, and ritual practices of ancient Maya culture. By examining hieroglyphic texts found on particular vessel shapes, such as plates, bowls, and cache vessels, this research seeks to...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Jim Aimers.

This is an abstract from the "The Maritime Maya: Current Archaeology of Coastal Yucatan, Mexico, and Belize" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Along with chronology, one of the key goals of ancient Maya pottery analysis is to better understand trade and stylistic interaction among people in various parts of the Maya world and beyond. In this paper I review how some of the styles and types of pottery that are evidence for coastal trade in Maya...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Michael Maddox.

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. During the Classic Period the ancient Maya ballgame has been seen as a focal point of religious and political ritual practices. These activities primarily take place in spaces where commoners are traditionally thought to have been excluded and serve to reinforce the ideology and legitimacy of elite religious beliefs. This paper will outline excavations of...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Dakota Maas.

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Maya site of Buenavista del Cayo is located in the Mopan River valley in western Belize. The polity was known as Komkom in Classic times, and archaeological and epigraphic evidence indicate that the site was subordinate to the larger kingdoms of Tikal in the Early Classic and Naranjo in the Late Classic period. Komkom’s relationship with Naranjo in...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Isis Juarez.

This is an abstract from the "Nuevos datos de la dinastía Kaanu’l en el Clasico Temprano de la tierras bajas mayas: Proyecto Promeza Dzibanche/Kaanu’l 2023-2024." session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. La presente ponencia tiene como objetivo ofrecer un panorama general de los trabajos de conservación realizados en el área central de la Zona arqueológica de Dzibanché, durante la temporada 2023/2024. Específicamente se platicará sobre las intervenciones...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Sheila Flores Mendía.

This is an abstract from the "From Origins to Collapses:  New Insights in the Cultural and Natural Processes of the Mirador-Calakmul Karst Basin" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. La Cuenca Kárstica Mirador-Calakmul es una región en donde aún se encuentra naturaleza y fauna entrelazada con las evidencias fuertes del pueblo Maya originario, de características auténticas e integras. Esta área, con su principal sitio arqueológico El Mirador, ha sido...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Desiree Smith.

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In 2012, the tomb of a royal woman was discovered in a buried subphase of a central ceremonial building in the heart of ancient El Perú-Waka' (henceforth Waka’). The interred is Lady K’abel, the site’s most significant Snake Dynast whose Calakmul origins and title of Ix K’aloomte positioned her as superior in rank to her spouse, Waka’ ruler K’inich Bahlam...

DOCUMENT Citation Only E. Cory Sills.

This is an abstract from the "The Maritime Maya: Current Archaeology of Coastal Yucatan, Mexico, and Belize" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The coastal area of Placencia Lagoon, Belize has long served as a vital economic resource. During the Late Classic period, the ancient Maya utilized the hyper-saline brackish water of the lagoon to produce salt, which was essential for their diet. The salt producers likely resided on Placencia Cay, trading...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Eleanor King.

This is an abstract from the "Sessions in Honor of Dr. Fred Valdez Jr. and His Contributions to Archaeology, Part 1" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Despite working in large prehispanic Maya city centers such as Rio Azul, Fred Valdez to this day maintains that his strongest interest lies in small Maya communities and households. He is happiest when exploring how the average Maya lived, away from the pomp and circumstance of the ruling classes. My...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Maxime Lamoureux-St-Hilaire.

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Dolores Slow Archaeology Program (DSAP) is involving the grassroots archaeological community of Dolores (Petén, Guatemala) in designing a sustainable, community-driven archaeological project. The first, three-year phase of this project is entirely ethnographical, or ethno-archaeological. We have now led interviews with 36 archaeological professionals...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Dana Moot.

This is an abstract from the "Recent Investigations in Maya Archaeology, Epigraphy, Bioarchaeology, and Zooarchaeology by the Holmul Archaeological Project in Northeastern Peten, Guatemala" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The distinct styles of fine polychrome vessels produced by 'workshops' of elite artists have been considered one of the defining traits of the Ancient Maya culture during the Late Classic period (550-850 CE). Yet the...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Eric Heller.

This is an abstract from the "Sessions in Honor of Dr. Fred Valdez Jr. and His Contributions to Archaeology, Part 2" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Among Fred Valdez’s outstanding qualities is his commitment to a multivocal approach to regional projects. Allowing multiple viewpoints and methodologies to coexist in conversation with one another substantially contributes to an increasingly rich understanding of the Three Rivers Region. By fostering...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Amanda Meaux.

This is an abstract from the "The Maritime Maya: Current Archaeology of Coastal Yucatan, Mexico, and Belize" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This study reports on the desalination of pottery collected from seafloor mapping and underwater excavation from Site 8 in Paynes Creek National Park, Belize. Because the pottery was saturated with salt water, leaving it out without desalination results in the formation of salt crystals, which expand and...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Julie Hoggarth.

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Royal palaces in the Maya lowlands served various purposes as the primary locale of royal domestic life. Still, their architectural configurations suggest they also served as an outlet for semi-public activities as well. The architectural configuration of the royal palace at Baking Pot suggests both administrative activities in the public-facing areas, in...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Cheryl Foster.

This is an abstract from the "The Maritime Maya: Current Archaeology of Coastal Yucatan, Mexico, and Belize" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Excavations in 2022 were carried out at Ek Way Nal, a submerged ancient Maya salt works in Punta Ycacos Lagoon in southern Belize in order to extract a 1.7m-long sediment column for examining the relationship between the ancient Maya settlement at the site and sea-level rise during the Late and Terminal...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Tanya Carino Anaya.

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Proyecto de Investigación y Conservación “El Meco”, seeks to used digital technology to preserve, and create a digital recording of the previous interventions and the new activities that were related to the site. As result of those digital recordings, we elaborate a proposal on the architectural and decorative appearance of the Structure 12 of the...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Jaime Awe.

This is an abstract from the "Sessions in Honor of Dr. Fred Valdez Jr. and His Contributions to Archaeology, Part 2" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In the 1970s and 1980s, investigations at Colha by Fred Valdez Jr. and his University of Texas colleagues uncovered considerable evidence for Preclassic occupation at this northern Belize site. These investigations complemented results of earlier research by Norman Hammond at Cuello, and the...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Kirsty Escalante.

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The trajectory of Maya archaeology is inextricably linked to the chewing gum industry. Since the earliest archaeological expeditions to Maya sites in Guatemala, Mexico, and Belize, archaeologists have relied on workers extracting the gum of sapodilla trees to aid in their investigations—from hiring chicleros as forest guides and excavators, to offering...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Richard Hansen.

This is an abstract from the "From Origins to Collapses:  New Insights in the Cultural and Natural Processes of the Mirador-Calakmul Karst Basin" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Systematic excavations throughout several decades in the Mirador-Calakmul Karst Basin system have identified a strong presence of Middle and Late Preclassic occupations with monumental architecture and elaborate communication and logistics systems that exceeded the...