Archaeology, History, and Ancient Political Dynamics of the Mopan River Valley

Summary

One hallmark of Joseph Ball’s research has been integration of archaeological data and ethnohistorical and historical data, put to the service of addressing larger anthropological questions. In this paper, we present new data to examine one research question studied by Joseph Ball and Jennifer Taschek: Classic Maya political dynamics in the Mopan Valley of western Belize. This valley was home to five large centers, spaced 1 to 5 km apart: Las Ruinas de Arenal, Early Xunantunich, Classic Xunantunich, Actuncan, and Buenavista del Cayo. Ball and Taschek conducted extensive fieldwork at Buenavista and Arenal, and they proposed a model of the valley’s political structure as comprising a single polity with functionally distinct settlements. Following in their footsteps, we have conducted research at all of the sites listed above. We present new archaeological and epigraphic that allow for a more nuanced model of the valley’s political organization. We also examine how the ideological basis of political authority and the relationships between the region and outside kingdoms both changed significantly over time.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

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

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Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 22208