Ongoing Research in the Three Rivers Area of the Southern Maya Lowlands

DOCUMENT Citation Only Anastasia Kotsoglou. Andrew Crocker.

The ceremonial center of Tzak Naab, located in the northern hinterlands of the major Maya city of La Milpa, displays many idiosyncratic and unique elements in its built environment that speak to the relationship of the site with the natural landscapes it inhabits. The site core is constructed on three large tiers which overlook the Dumbbell Bajo, a large seasonally inundated wetland. Within this area, aspects of (in)visibility are employed to control movement through—and perception of—space. We...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Jacqueline Fox. Skyler Claunch. David M. Hyde.

Previous excavations at Group A of the Medicinal Trail Community indicated a long occupation of the area, possibly dating back to the Middle Preclassic. In an effort to identify the earliest occupational phase at the group, we excavated the Middle Courtyard plaza platform of Group A to a depth of just over two meters below surface. Results of the 2016 field season brought greater understanding of the extensive amount of energy expended in building from the original foundation of the structures...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Zachary Stanyard. Torin Power. Nathan Hayman. Griffin Larson. David M. Hyde.

Excavations of a circular depression and adjacent mounds at Group F have revealed functional data to support the hypothesis that this area was used as a processing center for agricultural material. The evidence stems from excavation of the depression itself, as well as two chich mounds on the northwest and northeast sides. The limestone bedrock of the depression appears to have been manually shaped for use, as indicated by cobble fill found roughly a meter down in an excavation trench bisecting...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Sharon Hankins. Yarely Meza. Cristina Gonzales.

This report is a continuation of the Experimental Pottery Research Program I began in Belize in 2000 (Hankins 2009: 177-186). The scarcity of material evidence of pottery manufacture and firing signatures contributes to the relevance of different research strategies to expand our understanding of this technology. Firing pottery is challenging. The technology of constructing pottery is difficult, stressful, and requires constant attention. All the labor, skill, and planning can be lost in the...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Lauren Copeland.

While elite Maya polychrome ceramics often contain images and inscriptions related to political actors, motifs on the majority of polychrome ceramics relate to important elements of ancient Maya cosmology. This poster analyzes the iconography on a Classic Maya polychrome vessel from Petén, Guatemala donated to the San Bernardino County Museum. The central figure on the interior of the bowl is a deer and a supernatural figure is painted on the inside wall. Terrestrial motifs are found on both...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Michael Prout.

Our knowledge of Maya human sacrifice is drawn from iconographic representations and contact period Spanish sources. Unfortunately, the corpus related to child sacrifice is extremely limited. In 1971 David M. Pendergast described the burial of a child from Eduardo Quiroz Cave with traumatic perimortem holes in the parietals. Later, Brady reported on a second child with similar wounds. Both Pendergast and Brady interpreted the evidence as reflecting child sacrifice. The recovery of thousands...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Ashley Booher. Brett Houk.

This poster details peri-abandonment features from the Maya site of Chan Chich in northwestern Belize. The term peri-abandonment relates to deposits or features dated to around the time of abandonment of the site. Previous research in the southern and eastern lowlands has documented widespread above-floor terminal artifact deposits in primarily epicentral contexts thought to have formed at or near the time of abandonment at many sites in the region. Excavations at Normans Temple complex at Chan...

DOCUMENT Citation Only David M. Hyde. Michael Stowe.

The Medicinal Trail Reconnaissance and Mapping Project (MTRAMP) began in 2013 and just completed its fourth season in 2016. Those four seasons, plus the integration of previous mapping endeavors, has refined our understanding of the size and distribution of households and numerous landscape features that have been, or continue to be, the focus of excavations. Intensive survey and mapping of the Medicinal Trail locality has revealed, (a) that the largest, and most complex architectural groups are...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Melanie Saldana. Samantha Lorenz. Jocelyn Acosta. Marilyn Bueno.

The importance of subterranean space has been well established through studies of Maya sacred landscape. The Maya word "che’en" is used for any natural feature that penetrates the earth such as caves, cenotes, rock shelters, chultuns, sinkholes, springs and crevices, all spaces where the sacred nature of animate Earth are expressed. In the Three Rivers area of the southern Maya lowlands, non-cave Maya archaeologists appear to be at a loss on how to engage landscapes where sacred landmarks take...