Mesoamerica: Maya Lowlands (Other Keyword)
51-75 (161 Records)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Until a decade ago, the site of El Tintal had been sporadically investigated by researchers working in the Central Karstic Uplands of Northcentral Petén. Most research in the immediate region focused on the emerging complexity identified at Nakbé and the imposing Late Preclassic monumentality of El Mirador. However, beginning in 2014, over ten years of...
Engineering Resilience: Excavation of Ancient Maya Agricultural Terraces in the San Bartolo-Xultun Territory (2025)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The excavation of ancient Maya agricultural terraces in the San Bartolo-Xultun Territory in the Peten Region of Guatemala offers insights into the engineering and construction of sustainable land management systems throughout the tropics. These terrace systems were critical for maximizing arable land, managing water flow, and preventing soil erosion in a...
Establishing a New Database for Chert Raw Material Sources in Northern Belize (2025)
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. <html> Lithic raw material quality and abundance played a direct role in the decisions of past tool makers, the type of production, and the organization of exchange networks. The results of raw material procurement influenced the tool making process, whether this be the quality of material...
Estimation of Sex by Discriminant Function Analysis for Maya Skeletal Remains (2025)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The poor preservation of skeletal remains in the Maya region creates a pressing need for alternative approaches to determine skeletal sex, especially when the pelvic and cranial morphoscopic features traditionally used to determine skeletal sex are fragmentary or absent. Discriminant functions are statistical tools that utilize measurements of skeletal...
Eternal Embers: Using Charcoal Analysis to Explore Ancient Maya Tree Use from Chan Chich, Belize (2025)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This research project used Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) to identify tree species of 33 charcoal samples from funerary and non-funerary contexts at the ancient Maya site of Chan Chich, Belize. To identify species, we compared SEM images of the plant structures in the charcoal to images from databases and other studies. We were able to identify over...
Ethics and Stelae Repatriation in Guatemala: A Study of the Life History and a Proposed Restitution Plan for Stela 34 from El Perú-Waka’ (2025)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This work aspires to contribute to the ongoing discourse on cultural heritage and enhance practices surrounding the restitution of significant artifacts by focusing on Stela 34, a pivotal monument from El Perú-Waka’ (henceforth Waka’). Attention is paid to its historical journey and the ethical implications of its acquisition and repatriation....
Evaluating Changing Governmental/State Support for US-Based Archaeological Research: Cases from Guatemala (2025)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The establishment of archaeological projects in the 20th and 21st centuries were often shaped, consciously or unconsciously, by the political motivations of involved parties. I evaluate this premise through the examination of archival records and interviews pertaining to two archaeological projects, each established in Guatemala but in distinct periods...
Excavaciones y conservacion de la arquitectura y relieves del edificio Tutil 2, Dzibanche. (2025)
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. Como parte del proyecto PROMEZA: Dzibanché 23-24, se realizaron labores de mantenimiento arquitectónico y exploraciones arqueológicas en el edificio 2 del Complejo Tutil. Éste último se localiza a unos 2km al poniente del centro monumental de Dzibanché, y...
Exploring the Sociocontextual and Sociocultural Significance of Preclassic Round Structures of the Maya Lowlands (2025)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Ancient Maya Preclassic round structures without a superstructure are generally believed to have functioned as performance stages, denoting their role as social settings. However, the meager sample size of identified round structures and the limited exposure of their surroundings have led to socio-contextual and socio-cultural incongruencies, particularly...
Food and Plant Resources at Altar de Sacrificios (2025)
This is an abstract from the "Repositioning Altar de Sacrificios on the Ancient Maya Landscape" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Macrobotanical samples collected from Altar de Sacrificios that represent a range of time periods, from the Late Preclassic to the Terminal Classic, examine the linkage between the emergence of political elites and disparities in the quality of life in ancient Maya society. The archaeobotanical samples from various...
Foodways in the Heart of the Classic Central Lowlands (2025)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. <html> For over 20 years the Proyecto Atlas de Guatemala (Atlas), has documented more than 400 sites across the many river basins and humid savannas of the southeastern Peten. Here the communities experienced rapid growth in the Early and Late Classic, developing into complex, yet mostly modestly centralized political entities. The Project’s reconnaissance...
Fred Valdez and the Chan Chich Archaeological Project (2025)
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. <html> Since Fred Valdez, Jr. and Richard E. W. Adams began the Programme for Belize Archaeological Project (PfBAP) in 1992, numerous MA and PhD students have passed through “Texas Camp” at Programme for Belize to collect their thesis or dissertation data. Some veterans of PfBAP have moved on to start...
Funerary Archaeology at Late Classic Palenque: The Grave Goods from Group IV (2025)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Classic Maya grave goods are traditionally understood as offerings for the afterlife or signifier of religious beliefs, identity, and socioeconomic status of the deceased. The variety of interpretations underscores the complexity of these objects, whose funerary usage is influenced by multiple factors. I examine the grave goods recovered from 41 burials...
Geoarchaeological Investigations in the Upper Usumacinta Confluence Zone of the Southern Maya lowlands (2025)
This is an abstract from the "Repositioning Altar de Sacrificios on the Ancient Maya Landscape" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Altar de Sacrificios is situated on a wide alluvial floodplain in a dynamic fluvial environment subject to flooding and channel migration in the Upper Usumacinta Confluence Zone (UUCZ). Mounds in this region often occur in curvilinear groups along past river courses, suggesting ancient habitation followed meandering river...
Geochemical analysis of lithic raw material in the São Francisco River Basin (2025)
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 the São Francisco River Basin there is evidence of human occupation since 14.0 ky cal BP. Models of dispersal suggest an intensification of occupied areas around 11.0 ky cal BP, followed by regionalization after two millennia. The study of lithic technology, as the major evidence available, is...
The geochemical signature of Saharan dust in lake sediments (2025)
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. The transport and deposition of dust from the Sahara across the Atlantic and into the Yucatan Peninsula can play a role in modifying temperature and precipitation patterns in northern Belize. Presumably, the flux of this dust changes through the Holocene as climate patterns and consequent land cover of the Sahara varies. At 4,200 years BP...
Go with the Flow: Tracking Water Management and Climate Adaptations in the Maya Lowlands (2025)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Archaeologists have documented correlations between societal change and environmental variability in the Maya lowlands, particularly during significant events like the Terminal Classic “collapse”, which has been linked with severe drought. Water-based infrastructure played a crucial role in daily life and the sustainability of ancestral Maya communities,...
Holocene Paleoenvironmental Reconstructions of Human-Landscape Interactions from the Progresso Lagoon Region of Northern Belize (2025)
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. Holocene-length paleoenvironmental histories from the Progresso Lagoon region of northern Belize were reconstructed using multiple lake sediment cores obtained in 2022. We report on high-resolution macroscopic charcoal, pollen, and sedimentological data that clearly indicate shifting intensities of human-landscape interactions during the...
How to Hear Voices from the Past: Recording/Reporting Speech in Classic Maya Writing (2025)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Scholars of Maya epigraphy have been aware of quotatives in Maya hieroglyphs since Nikolai Grube’s 1998 paper arguing for a reading of cheheen as “he/she/it says.” However, there continues to be a lack of consensus about how to interpret the word’s grammatical properties. I explore these and discuss how quotatives are defined (and how they are distinct...
<html>Human Bones in the Maya Tool Box at Ucanal, Petén, Guatemala: Isotope Analyses and <i>Chaîne Opératoire</i></html> (2025)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. <html> The excavations carried out in 2018 and 2019 at Ucanal, a site located in the Maya Lowlands of Guatemala, unearthed the remains of a bone tool workshop dating to the Late Classic period (AD 600-900). It was primarily composed of production waste in which a large proportion of the worked bones were human (up to 40 %). Human bones, along with the...
Hydraulic Systems and Water Ideology in the Mayan Lowlands (2025)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Urban developments feature monumental architecture as well as diverse engineering systems that were part of daily activities and larger landscape modifications. Some of the urban constructions in ancient Maya cities included reservoirs and canals. Reservoirs were also part of ceremonial activities to maintain good relationships between humans, deities,...
Identifying Elite Maya Residential Spaces: Distribution of Polychrome Potter across the Maya City of El-Peru Waka' (2025)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Rediscovered in the 1960s by petroleum workers in modern day Petén, Guatemala, the ancestral Maya city of El Peru-Waka’ has been the subject of archaeological investigation since 2003. Located at the crossroads of two major trade routes and with a dynasty fully engaged in the geopolitics of Classic period, Waka’ is one of the longest surviving Maya cities...
In the King’s Wake: An Analysis of Emerging Maya Political Systems during the Terminal Classic Period (2025)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. As the prolonged experiment of divine rulership began to lose its effectiveness across the Maya world, the Maya people began reshaping their political systems in an attempt to address the conditions through which they were living. As the shift to the Terminal Classic Period began at sites like Waka, new forms of governance began to take shape, and...
An Integrative Social Network Approach to Obsidian Consumption in the Eastern Three Rivers Adaptive Region (2025)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Across all social ranks, ancient Maya people were connected to both long-distance and local exchange systems that provided access to necessary goods like obsidian, ceramics, salt, stone tools, and granite grinding stones. Many studies of long-distance exchange focus on obsidian because it is ubiquitous at Maya sites and can be geochemically matched to a...
Inter-dynastic Ritual Exchange among the Classic Maya: Brides, Gods, and Deity Impersonation (2025)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Classic Maya (250–900 CE) lowlands of Mesoamerica were occupied by dozens of interconnected polities whose elites shared a common intellectual and material culture, as well as sociopolitical institutions like divine kingship and the role of ritual performance in legitimating dynastic rule. This paper suggests that an important context for maintaining...