Linking Landscapes and Resources to Settlement Decisions in Ancient Low-Density Cities in the Southeastern Maya Lowlands

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

This paper compares the developmental trajectories of two Classic Period (AD 300 – 800) Maya centers, Ix Kuku’il and Uxbenká, located in the southern foothills of the Maya Mountains, Toledo District, Belize. High-precision radiocarbon dates and ceramic sequences from household contexts inform the chronological development within these communities. Initial settlement began in the Late Preclassic and settlement densities increased during the Early Classic Period. Followed by significant growth during the Late Classic, Uxbenká was abandoned by AD 830 while households at Ix Kuku’il persisted for the better part of another century. Human Behavioral Ecology (HBE) theoretical frameworks allow us to evaluate both ecological and social factors influencing human-decision making in settlement choices, and how these decisions may have changed over time as rulers became more despotic and social inequalities increased. Using the robust settlement chronologies from both sites, settlement location choices are tested against probable suitability factors including distance to trade routes and water, soil qualities and slope, and the size of households.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 24973