Maya metals: A Comparative Analysis from Tipu and Lamanai, Belize

Summary

Investigations at the southern Maya Lowland sites of Lamanai and Tipu, Belize have yielded diverse assemblages of metal artifacts. These metals are from the Postclassic and Colonial (12th to 17th century) occupations at Lamanai and Colonial (mid-16th to early 18th century) contexts at Tipu. As a rare occasion to look at the similarities and differences between artifacts made of the same material from different sites, this research compares the forms, contexts, and technologies of metal artifacts from two sites having somewhat similar histories. At both sites metal objects were recovered primarily from human burials and midden deposits. A program of typological study and compositional analysis revealed forms shared between the sites but evidence of on-site metallurgy only at Lamanai. The assemblages from these sites will be discussed in the larger contexts of metallurgy in other parts of the Maya world and ancient Mesoamerica as a whole.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)   •
• Ancient Metallurgy in Mesoamerica: Local Expression and Interregional Connections

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 17508