The Chronology of Ancient Maya Cave Use in Belize
Author(s): Holley Moyes; Laura Kosakowsky; Jaime Awe; Erin Ray
Year: 2016
Summary
The prevalence of Late Classic cultural material in ancient Maya ritual cave sites has led both researchers and lay people to characterize cave use as a Late Classic phenomenon; yet, data collected by the Belize Cave Research Project under the direction of Holley Moyes and Jaime Awe demonstrates that many if not most caves were initially used during earlier temporal periods and many sites demonstrate continued use beginning in the Preclassic period. From 2011 to 2015, the regional project has investigated over 50 caves in northern, western, and central Belize. Of these, 25 sites were studied intensively which included mapping, recording, conducting ceramic analyses, excavating, and radiocarbon dating. In this paper we present the results of our analysis of the spatial and temporal aspects of ancient Maya cave use in Belize.
Cite this Record
The Chronology of Ancient Maya Cave Use in Belize. Holley Moyes, Laura Kosakowsky, Jaime Awe, Erin Ray. Presented at The 81st Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Orlando, Florida. 2016 ( tDAR id: 403341)
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Keywords
Geographic Keywords
Mesoamerica
Spatial Coverage
min long: -107.271; min lat: 12.383 ; max long: -86.353; max lat: 23.08 ;