Artifactual Composition of Terminal Deposits from the Classic Maya site of Baking Pot, Belize.

Summary

Throughout the Maya Lowlands, archaeologists have identified Terminal Classic deposits associated with the final activities in ceremonial spaces. These features include concentrations of cultural material deposited in the corners of plazas and courtyards. At the site of Baking Pot, Belize, the Belize Valley Archaeological Reconaissance (BVAR) project has identified several of these terminal deposits. This presentation will shed light on the types of artifacts being deposited during these final events to answer questions related to the nature of abandonment activities. From this information, we aim to identify the cultural significance of ritual deposition of cultural materials, how distinct combinations of artifact classes can yield information on human behavior, and how the terminal deposits at Baking Pot offer additional information to learn about abandonment activity in the Maya Lowlands. We will present the preliminary artifact inventories associated with terminal deposits in the form of a proportional distributions of artifacts found in each deposit at the site of Baking Pot, Belize. These methods allow for direct comparisons between deposits at Baking Pot, with those at sites in the Belize River Valley, and with others in the Maya Lowlands.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)

Keywords

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 16617