To Love and to Leave or to Never Have Loved at All?: Abandonment Deposits within the Late Classic Maya Palace at Actuncan, Belize

Summary

In 2012, excavations were conducted within a Late Classic noble palace at the ancient Maya site of Actuncan, located in western Belize. Remains of a large deposit of Terminal Classic materials were recovered from a corner of the palace’s primary courtyard. Based on its location on the courtyard surface and below collapse, the deposit was assumed to date to the period of the palace’s abandonment. The placement of this deposit was contemporary with Actuncan’s 9th-century renaissance as a post-royal capital after centuries of incorporation into polities ruled by kings located at nearby Classic period centers. Mixter and colleagues have argued that Actuncan’s palace served as a noble’s residence during the Classic period and was terminated during the Terminal Classic because of its symbolic association with external forces that had previously dominated the site. Drawing on new ceramic analysis, this paper looks in detail at the contents and context of the deposit to reassess the significance of the abandoned palace to Actuncan’s thriving Terminal Classic community.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

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

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 21909