Using Bayesian Radiocarbon Chronologies in Conjunction with Artifact Inventories to Reconstruct the Timing and Formation of Peri-abandonment Deposits at Baking Pot, Belize

Summary

A variety of functions have been proposed for ‘problematic deposits’ across the Maya lowlands. All of the explanations have archaeological and temporal implications that have rarely been operationalized together to gain better insights into the nature of these deposits. In this presentation, we describe these features as ‘peri-abandonment deposits’, as all proposed explanations imply that the events that led to the formation of the deposits occurred around the time (or after) ceremonial centers experienced political and/or demographic decline. We use evidence from the site of Baking Pot as a case study to test multiple hypotheses for the formation of these deposits and to illustrate the utility of the combined use of Bayesian radiocarbon chronologies, calendrical dates of hieroglyphic texts, and artifact proportions to better understand the timing and artifactual composition of each feature. Finally, we discuss the temporal and depositional differences between multiple peri-abandonment deposits at Baking Pot and contrast these data with radiocarbon evidence for political and demographic decline at the site and across the broader Belize River Valley.

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): 20358