2023 Fryxell Award Symposium: Papers in Honor of Timothy Beach Part I
Part of: Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)
This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "2023 Fryxell Award Symposium: Papers in Honor of Timothy Beach Part I" at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.
The 2023 Fryxell Award for Earth Sciences scholarship is awarded to Dr. Timothy P. Beach, Professor and C. B. Smith Sr. Centennial Chair in the Department of Geography and the Environment at the University of Texas at Austin. The 2023 Fryxell Award is presented in the Earth Sciences category due to the generous support of the family of the late, great geologist Roald Fryxell, who built his career on the interdisciplinary importance of the geological sciences in archaeology. This symposium, organized as part of the award, brings together a group of scholars working in diverse regions and fields but all with a common goal of advancing archaeology through a rigorous earth science focus. Here we celebrate Tim Beach’s distinguished and ongoing research career. Tim Beach is an accomplished geoarchaeologist and his research focuses on the reconstruction of past land-use patterns, agriculture, and human-environmental interaction over many temporal scales using many methods. He has worked most recently on using innovative geoarchaeological techniques in the Maya Lowlands, but Tim’s talent is not contained to one region or method. To compliment and honor Tim’s ongoing work, we showcase advances in our shared discipline related to geoarchaeology, soils, geochemistry, and remote sensing science.
Other Keywords
Maya: Classic •
Geoarchaeology •
Landscape Archaeology •
Maya: Preclassic •
Remote Sensing/Geophysics •
Environment and Climate •
Mercury •
Maya •
Agriculture •
Economy
Geographic Keywords
Peten (State / Territory) •
Belize (Country) •
Cayo (State / Territory) •
Stann Creek (State / Territory) •
Toledo (State / Territory) •
North America (Continent) •
United Mexican States (Country) •
Yucatan (State / Territory) •
Orange Walk (State / Territory) •
Corozal (State / Territory)
Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-13 of 13)
- Documents (13)
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Creating a New World: Large-Scale Landscape Modifications at Aguada Fenix, Mexico (2023)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
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...
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Discovery of a Late Preclassic Ceremonial Bundle at the Ancient Maya Center of Yaxnohcah Using Environmental DNA Analysis (2023)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
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...
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"Down to Earth": The Primacy of the Terrestrial (2023)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
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 concept of the Critical Zone makes clear that our future depends on the layer between the atmosphere and bedrock: the earth—which tellingly also serves as the name for our planet. Our Earth’s soils record the past and structure the future. Tim and Sheryl have worked in many places in the world, but I know them...
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Environmental Legacy of Precolumbian Maya Mercury: Using the Present to Understand the Past (2023)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
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 Mexico and Central American region has a history of mercury use that began at least two millennia before European colonization in the sixteenth century. Archaeologists have reported deposits of cinnabar (HgS) and other mercury materials at Classic period (ca. 250–900 CE) Maya settlements across the region;...
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Geochemistry and Provenance of Late Formative Pottery from Chinandega, Nicaragua (2023)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
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. We describe the Cosigüina ceramic complex from the coastal plain of the Department of Chinandega, Nicaragua. It dates from the Late Formative. We assign it stylistically to the Providencia-Miraflores ceramic spheres of western El Salvador and southeastern Guatemala. We used instrumental neutron activation analysis to...
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A GIS and Remote Sensing Approach to Settlement Patterns, Cultural Landscape, and Utilization of Natural Resources in the Hinterlands: Dos Hombres to Gran Cacao Archaeology Project (2023)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
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. Besides using lidar data, the application of various methods (e.g., documentation by total station, aerial photographs, modern/historical maps, and archaeological data) helps to assure a more precise identification and interpretation process of the archaeological features. In addition, the geographical information...
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How to Build a Better reservoir: Evolving Ancient Maya Strategies (2023)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
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 ancient inhabitants of the Elevated Interior Region of the Maya Lowlands spent centuries devising ways to capture and store rainwater in this seasonally arid environment devoid of sizeable permanent surface water bodies. Over time, varied methods were created to ensure a sufficient quantity of water to meet the...
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Interdisciplinary Research in Maya Archaeology: Interests from the PfBAP (2023)
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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 Programme for Belize Archaeological Project (PfBAP) has operated in NW Belize for more than three decades. While much of the research effort has been under what might be described as traditional archaeology, the research program today is significantly informed by geoarchaeology interests and lidar. Initial efforts...
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Interpreting the Past: How Transdisciplinary Research Advances the Field of Maya Archaeology (2023)
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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. Human-nature relationships are key to understanding past societal developments. The value of conducting transdisciplinary research, involving new methods and other investigators, has become increasingly apparent as the field of Maya Studies has matured. While there has continued to be a significant increase in the...
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Large-Scale, Upland, Landscape Modification and the Implications for Classic Maya Population Density and Land Tenure in Northwestern Belize (2023)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
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. Lidar data from the 2016 survey and subsequent ground truthing and fieldwork in the settlement zone of the site of Xnoha have revealed a complex system of Linear Stone Boundary Markers surrounding house lots in residential areas surrounding the central precinct of the site. These are located on the tops of hills...
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Problematizing Past Human-Landscape Interactions in the Lower Belize River Watershed: An Interdisciplinary Approach (2023)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
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. There are many persistent issues that hamper archaeological interpretations of human-landscape interactions, from modern-day disturbances to more distant postdepositional processes and changing environmental conditions. These circumstances often make it a challenge to tease out cultural behaviors and the resulting...
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Soil Carbon Persistence and Influence in the Early Anthropocene of the Maya Lowlands (2023)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
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. Coupled studies of Maya Lowlands soils and geoarchaeological exploration provide insight into neotropical soil and atmospheric carbon cycle dynamics in space and time, and soil carbon’s role in defining the Early Anthropocene. This paper tests the hypothesis that soil carbon persistence differs in time, space, and...
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Wetland Maize Farming by 6000 BP Gave Way to Upland Farming with the Rise of Ancient Maya Settlements and Political Centers (2023)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
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. Recent research in the American neotropics suggests that cultivation of plants for food began early in the Middle Holocene (ca. 7500 BP) and continued for millennia prior to the adoption of surplus agricultural production of domesticated staple foods by 5000 BP in South America and 4000 BP in the Maya lowlands. Data...