The Integration of Island and Mainland Maya Communities: Perspectives from Ambergris Caye, Belize

Summary

After a span of over twenty years archaeological investigations have resumed at the San Pedro site, located in downtown San Pedro, Ambergris Caye. Investigations in the early 1990s revealed portions of a Spanish contact period Maya community that was settled as early as the 14th Century CE. Based on previous as well as ongoing investigations at the San Pedro site and other Maya sites on the island and the mainland, it appears that communities on the caye were linked to one another in various ways. Likewise, communities on the island shared certain characteristics with those on the mainland of northern Belize, most notably in the areas of material culture and mortuary behavior. Here the results of investigations in previously untested areas at the San Pedro site are summarized, and the evidence for Maya cultural adaptations to changing environmental and social conditions on Belize’s coast is highlighted. Research conducted on Ambergris Caye also draws attention to the similarities the San Pedro site and other sites on the island share with those on the mainland of northern Belize, as well as the unique characteristics of the island sites, particularly with regard to their architecture and settlement characteristics.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 22136