From Origins to Collapses:  New Insights in the Cultural and Natural Processes of the Mirador-Calakmul Karst Basin

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 "From Origins to Collapses:  New Insights in the Cultural and Natural Processes of the Mirador-Calakmul Karst Basin" at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Recent archaeological investigations in the Mirador-Calakmul Karst Basin system of northern Guatemala and southern Campeche, Mexico have demonstrated new insights in the formation of complex society that emerged by the early Middle Preclassic period (ca. 1000 BCE. This area developed an extraordinary cultural apogee by the Late Preclassic period (ca. 300 BCE). with a major demographic demise by about 150 CE. The identification of early remains (Pre-Mamom) by about 1000-800 BCE indicates a point of origin and a continuity of an accelerated cultural process, resulting in a proliferation of art, architecture, and communication systems throughout the entirety of the basin, including E-Groups, triadic architectural formats, extensive causeways, terraces, reservoirs, dams, canals, defensive walls and moats. Analyses of architectural art and varied architectural groups, settlement distributions, extensive contiguous LiDAR studies, and artifact assemblages associated with technolo

gical evaluations such as phytoliths, geological, botanical, and biological studies, lithics, bone, DNA, isotopes, ceramics, and radiometric dating provide new insights in the cultural florescence in the Basin. The dynamics of the social-political and economic prowess also ultimately resulted in a demographic demise, providing fresh perspectives of cultural and environmental processes associated with the early Maya.

Other Keywords
Architecture • ancient DNA • Mesoamerica: Maya Lowlands • Settlement patterns • Digital Archaeology: GIS

Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-15 of 15)

  • Documents (15)
Documents
  • Archaeological and Genetic Investigations of Human Remains from the Mirador Basin, Guatemala (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Dana Kollmann.

    This is an abstract from the "From Origins to Collapses:  New Insights in the Cultural and Natural Processes of the Mirador-Calakmul Karst Basin" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Archaeological excavations over the span of several decades within the Mirador-Calakmul Karst Basin have recovered human remains from a variety of chronological periods, ranging from the Middle Preclassic to the Late Classic periods. However, of the 98 samples submitted to...

  • Archaeological Investigations at Chacte: Understanding the Preclassic Suburban Landscape of El Mirador, Peten, Guatemala (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Carlos Morales-Aguilar.

    This is an abstract from the "From Origins to Collapses:  New Insights in the Cultural and Natural Processes of the Mirador-Calakmul Karst Basin" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This paper discusses the archaeological findings at Chacte, a significant Preclassic suburban site associated with El Mirador in Peten, Guatemala. Strategically located to control southern routes to El Mirador, Chacte was crucial in the sociopolitical and economic...

  • Archaeological Investigations on the Southern Platform of the Trogon Group in El Mirador (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Weston Hansen.

    This is an abstract from the "From Origins to Collapses:  New Insights in the Cultural and Natural Processes of the Mirador-Calakmul Karst Basin" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Weston R. Hansen, Megan Whitehead, Richard D. Hansen Archaeological excavations in the Trogon Group of the Tigre Complex in the Preclassic Maya site of El Mirador have yielded new information relevant to early architectural formats and burial practices of the Preclassic...

  • At the Intersection of Ideology and Architecture: A Relational Analysis of How the Late Preclassic Maya Used Monumental Architecture to Transform Middle Preclassic Platforms into Places of Meaning (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Daunte Ball.

    This is an abstract from the "From Origins to Collapses:  New Insights in the Cultural and Natural Processes of the Mirador-Calakmul Karst Basin" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. From a social memory perspective, the act of erecting and constructing symbolic monumental architectural works is an inherently ideological practice. For the ancient Maya, while it is long understood that innovative architectural traditions were used to bind emerging...

  • THE BUILT SPACE, ITS INTERPRETIVE DIMENSION AND A CODED MESSAGE: THE TRIADIC ENSEMBLE OF THE BALAM GROUP OF THE GREAT CENTRAL ACROPOLIS, PETEN GUATEMALA. (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Ana Balcarcel.

    This is an abstract from the "From Origins to Collapses:  New Insights in the Cultural and Natural Processes of the Mirador-Calakmul Karst Basin" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The architecture of the acropolis-type complexes of triadic pattern permeates the Preclassic environment in several important cities of the Maya area. These complexes, despite presenting different orientations, dimensions and typology, maintain a typical distribution of a...

  • Consideraciones para la Preservación de la Cuenca Mirador y los Pasos a Declararlo Patrimonio Mundial de la Humanidad (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Sheila Flores Mendía.

    This is an abstract from the "From Origins to Collapses:  New Insights in the Cultural and Natural Processes of the Mirador-Calakmul Karst Basin" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. La Cuenca Kárstica Mirador-Calakmul es una región en donde aún se encuentra naturaleza y fauna entrelazada con las evidencias fuertes del pueblo Maya originario, de características auténticas e integras. Esta área, con su principal sitio arqueológico El Mirador, ha sido...

  • Early Middle Preclassic Occupations: Insights into the initial settlement in the Mirador-Calakmul Karst Basin (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Richard Hansen.

    This is an abstract from the "From Origins to Collapses:  New Insights in the Cultural and Natural Processes of the Mirador-Calakmul Karst Basin" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Systematic excavations throughout several decades in the Mirador-Calakmul Karst Basin system have identified a strong presence of Middle and Late Preclassic occupations with monumental architecture and elaborate communication and logistics systems that exceeded the...

  • INVESTIGACIONES DE UNA OCUPACION EN UN PEQUEÑO GRUPO RESIDENCIAL DEL CLASICO TARDIO EN EL COMPLEJO DANTA. (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Lorena González.

    This is an abstract from the "From Origins to Collapses:  New Insights in the Cultural and Natural Processes of the Mirador-Calakmul Karst Basin" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. En el departamento de Petén Guatemala, en el sitio El Mirador, en la segunda plataforma del Complejo La Danta. Se encuentra un grupo denominado Saraguate, que corresponde a una residencia del Clásico Tardío, se han realizado investigaciones en campo y en laboratorio, lo...

  • Investigaciones en la Estructura 5A7.1 Grupo Sereque Complejo Danta (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Marcia Chacon De Hernandez.

    This is an abstract from the "From Origins to Collapses:  New Insights in the Cultural and Natural Processes of the Mirador-Calakmul Karst Basin" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Las Investigaciones en el Grupo Sereque, se han enfocado en la estructura principal conocida como Edificio 5A7.1, que corresponde al complejo La Danta. El grupo está ubicado al norte sobre una elevación y área de cantera conectado directamente a la primera plataforma de la...

  • Investigating Preclassic Invisible Structures at El Mirador, Guatemala (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Richard Paine.

    This is an abstract from the "From Origins to Collapses:  New Insights in the Cultural and Natural Processes of the Mirador-Calakmul Karst Basin" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Invisible structures present serious, and difficult to solve challenges for Mayanists. Understanding the place of invisible structures in overall settlement patterns is essential because of their potentially enormous impact on demographic estimates and implications for...

  • La Cerámica de la Cuenca Mirador: Perspectivas al Entender la Fabricación y el Intercambio a un nivel Regional (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Gustavo Martinez.

    This is an abstract from the "From Origins to Collapses:  New Insights in the Cultural and Natural Processes of the Mirador-Calakmul Karst Basin" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. La cerámica de la Cuenca Mirador es un tema bastante fascinate porque la muestra viene de por lo menos 56 sitios argueologicos a un nivel regional. Los análises de estos materiales estan a cargo de Dr. Donald W. Forth, Silvia Alvarado, y su servidor, y abarca una...

  • The Mirador-Calakmul Karst Basin Causeway System as an ElementPromoter of the Construction Peak during the Late Preclassic (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Enrique Hernández.

    This is an abstract from the "From Origins to Collapses:  New Insights in the Cultural and Natural Processes of the Mirador-Calakmul Karst Basin" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Mirador-Calakmul Karst Basin is located in the south of Campeche, Mexico and north of Petén, Guatemala. For the territory of Guatemala, it has been identified that the settlement of many sites was carried out in the Middle Preclassic, but the peak of cities such as El...

  • Obsidian source analysis and properties testing from artifacts at El Mirador (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only John Dudgeon.

    This is an abstract from the "From Origins to Collapses:  New Insights in the Cultural and Natural Processes of the Mirador-Calakmul Karst Basin" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. pXRF elemental source analysis was conducted on a sample of 990 obsidian artifacts curated in the Foundation for Anthropological Research and Environmental Studies collections in Guatemala. The majority of the artifacts analyzed were from El Mirador, with additional...

  • Poder, religión y gobernanza representada en las cabezas de estuco de El Mirador, Petén. (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Douglas Mauricio.

    This is an abstract from the "From Origins to Collapses:  New Insights in the Cultural and Natural Processes of the Mirador-Calakmul Karst Basin" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Como resultado del hallazgo de varias cabezas de estuco modelado en una de las trincheras de saqueo en la estructura principal del Grupo Casa del Coral, El Mirador, Petén. Se han llevado a cabo investigaciones intensivas y extensivas en la estructura principal del grupo...

  • SOBREVIVIENDO A LA TRAGEDIA Y EL SURGIMIENTO ENTRE LOS ESCOMBROS DEL CLÁSICO: EL CASO DEL SITIO LA MUERTA, PETÉN, GUATEMALA (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Silvia Alvarado.

    This is an abstract from the "From Origins to Collapses:  New Insights in the Cultural and Natural Processes of the Mirador-Calakmul Karst Basin" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Aunque hubo un gran colapso demográfico hacia el 150 d.C, hay algunas estructuras que surgieron entre los escombros y que fueron construidas durante el Clásico Temprano, como es el caso del sitio de La Muerta. Las investigaciones realizadas, han mostrado un resurgimiento...