A Quarter-Century of Exploring the Three Rivers Watersheds in Belize

Summary

The Programme for Belize Archaeological Project is situated in the heart of the Three Rivers Watersheds, drained by the Rio Bravo, Booth's River, and Rio Azul/Blue Creek in Northwestern Belize. These three river systems, along with groundwater, springs, and wetlands, nurture what is today the tropical rainforest refuge of the Rio Bravo Conservation Management Area, active farming communities, and long ago sustained multiple ancient Maya communities such as La Milpa, Dos Hombres, Chawak But'o'ob, Maax Na, Blue Creek, Grey Fox, and others. Comparatively little is known about tropical river systems in Central America. The Three Rivers have been an ideal laboratory in which to study the availability and quality of water for ancient Maya communities, the hydrologic advantages and challenges faced in the past, and to understand the sustainability of these resources for today’s inhabitants. This paper traces ancient Maya water use research undertaken over the last quarter-century, and offers insights gained from multiple environmental methods and proxies, including water chemistry, sediment chemistry, geoarchaeology, and remote sensing studies including a 2016 LiDAR survey.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Polities, Hinterland Communities, and Everything in Between: Twenty-Five Years of Archaeological Research in Northwest Belize   •
• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 17196