Exploring Two Thousand Years of Human Habitation in the Belize Valley: Situating Cahal Pech in Lowland Maya Prehistory

The Belize Valley has traditionally been considered a peripheral region of the southern Maya lowlands. Twenty Eight years of research by the Belize Valley Archaeological Reconnaissance project at Cahal Pech have, however, demonstrated that the medium-sized polities of the Belize Valley actively participated in the socioeconomic and political processes that unfolded in the central Maya lowlands. Research in the Belize Valley has also provided critical information for understanding the rise of cultural complexity in the Middle Preclassic period, and the subsequent growth, fluorescence, and decline of Classic period Maya civilization in this sub-region of the Maya lowlands. Besides elucidating two thousand years (ca. 1100/1000 B.C.-AD1000) of prehistory at this major Belize Valley site, this session will also serve to demonstrate that Cahal Pech, and other Belize Valley sites, were important participants in the events occurring in the Maya world from the Middle Preclassic to the Terminal Classic periods. It is expected that participants of the session employ a broad range of methodologies (e.g., settlement patterns, architectural analysis, mortuary analysis, ceramic studies, and etcetera) to accomplish the purpose of the session.