Unleashing the Beast: Exploring Peri-abandonment Deposits in the 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.

The BVAR project has been investigating peri-abandonment deposits, also known as problematic or terminal deposits, at sites located along the Belize River in Western Belize. These investigations have focused on understanding the formation of such deposits as well as their significance across sites in the Belize Valley region. The project has employed a new microstratigraphic excavation method, that utilizes sublot systems for more comprehensive analysis than ever before conducted on the assemblages of individual deposits. Lower Dover is a recently discovered site located at the confluence of three waterways in the village of Unitedville, right across the Belize River from the site of Barton Ramie. In 2013, excavations conducted on the southern end of the smallest of 4 courtyards which make up the palatial acropolis revealed the first of such deposits at the site. Most recent excavations on the northern end of courtyard 4 have revealed another such deposit of similar composition, which has been excavated using this new methodology. This paper will focus on the research results of a regional comparison of peri-abandonment deposits in the Belize Valley using this new data from Lower Dover site core excavations.

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): 24303