Sessions in Honor of Dr. Fred Valdez Jr. and His Contributions to Archaeology, Part 2

Part of: Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Sessions in Honor of Dr. Fred Valdez Jr. and His Contributions to Archaeology, Part 2" at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Professor Fred Valdez Jr. has had a long, important career in terms of his own contributions to Maya archaeology and through his direction of projects and institutions. As director of The Center for Archaeological and Tropical Studies (CATS) at The University of Texas at Austin and the Programme for Belize Archaeological Project (PfBAP) he has mentored scores of students at all levels. He has also advised a remarkable number of doctorates and master’s degrees as a professor at UT Austin over the past several decades. Fred has also taken on the heavy mantle of directing the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory (TARL) at The University of Texas at Austin. This session brings together papers on the considerable contributions of Fred Valdez, Jr. to Maya Archaeology and to Archaeology in general. This session brings together papers focused on the following topics: novel research presentations on Maya archaeology that Fred has supported and contributed to over many decades, discussions on his pedagogy and mentorship, and complementary special topics on bioarchaeology, geoarchaeology, geophysics, and paleoecology that have been supported by Fred through his leadership at CATS, PfBAP and TARL.

Other Keywords
Ceramic Analysis • ancient DNA • North America: Southwest United States • Mesoamerica: Maya Lowlands

Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-12 of 12)

  • Documents (12)
Documents
  • Archaeobotany in Northwestern Belize and the Mesoamerican Ethnobotanical Database (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Jon Hageman.

    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. Archaeobotanical studies in northwestern Belize were facilitated by the acquisition of a Flote-Tech A flotation machine by Dr. Fred Valdez, Jr. for the Programme for Belize Archaeological Project. This machine allowed for the quick and consistent processing of samples and helped create broader...

  • Degrees of Freedom: Augmented and Virtual Reality Applications for Research and Education at La Milpa North, Belize (2025)
    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...

  • The Earliest Maya of Western and Northern Belize: Evidence for Cultural Diversity and Regionalism (2025)
    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...

  • Fred Valdez and the Chan Chich Archaeological Project (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Brett A. Houk.

    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...

  • A Katun at The Medicinal Trail Community: Twenty Years of Research at a Hinterland Maya Village (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only David Hyde.

    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. The 2024 field season marks the end of a 20-year research program at the ancient Maya hinterland farming village of the Medicinal Trail Community. Located the northwestern Belize, the earliest evidence of occupation occurred in the late Middle Preclassic, and continued until the end of the Classic...

  • The Long and Winding Road: Guatemala City to Rio Azul (and then to the Programme for Belize) (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Brandon Lewis.

    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. The Proyecto Regional Ixcanrio and Programme for Belize Archaeological Projects have provided an unparalleled opportunity for creative research and professional collaboration. Under the unconditional guidance and support of Dr. Fred Valdez critical advances in our understanding of ancient Maya society...

  • Once a Mentor Always a Mentor: Two Decades of Research, Pedagogy and Life Lessons from Dr. Fred Valdez, Jr. (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Robyn Dodge.

    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. This paper reflects on research, pedagogy, and life lessons from Dr. Fred Valdez, Jr. His lifelong commitment to archaeology, teaching, mentorship, and scholarship will be emphasized, but are too numerous to name in this context. His many contributions to ancient Maya commoner theory and social...

  • Reconstructing Lifeways at Kichpanha: Stable Isotope Insights into Ancient Maya Movement and Diet from the Preclassic to Early Postclassic Periods (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Angelina Locker.

    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> Kichpanha, located in northern Belize’s chert-bearing zone, offers a comprehensive view of prehistoric lifeways, spanning the Archaic (BCE 8000–1000) through the Postclassic (CE 950-1530). Multiple Southern Lowland sites had continuous occupation through the Terminal Classic (CE 850 – 950) to...

  • Revealing Ancient Maya Water Management: Insights from LiDAR mapping, excavation, and soil stratigraphy of the Birds of Paradise riparian reservoir (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Byron Smith.

    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. This paper explores the analysis of several parts of an ancient Maya reservoir located on the eastern edge of the Birds of Paradise (BOP) wetland field complex in the Three Rivers Region of northwest Belize. Here we used LiDAR imaging and geospatial analyses to identify a series of north - south and...

  • “The School of No Whining”: How the Pedagogy of Fred Valdez informs multidisciplinary research in Northwestern Belize (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Samantha Krause.

    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. Northwestern Belize and the greater Maya Lowlands is a complex landscape with a unique environmental and cultural heritage. Multidisciplinary and collaborative studies are necessary to better understand and reconstruct the history of humans on the landscape. Throughout his distinguished career, Dr....

  • Trade, Exchange, and Settlement in the Central Karstic Uplands during the Classic period (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Kathryn Reese-Taylor.

    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. Since the mid 1990s, Fred Valdez has concentrated his investigations in the Three Rivers Area of NW Belize and NE Peten, studying Maya society on a regional scale. Others have now recognized the value in Valdez’s regional viewpoint, as lidar imagery has opened the door for scholars to embrace the...

  • Wetland Field and Paleosol Geoarchaeology of the Three Rivers Region, Belize and Beyond (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Timothy Beach.

    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. The view of archaeology from Fred Valdez in the lineage of his advisor Gordon Willey at Harvard allowed for a big tent archaeology that included ecology and technology of past societies. Our work in the Three Rivers transboundary region has fit into that part of the science and humanity of...