Erasing Borders: Integrating the Settlement Hierarchies of Central Belize and the Petén, Guatemala

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Making and Breaking Boundaries in the Maya Lowlands: Alliance and Conflict across the Guatemala–Belize Border" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Over the last 18 years, the Department of Conservation and Rescue of Prehispanic Archaeological Sites (DECORSIAP) in Guatemala has carried out extensive systematic surveys of the northeast region of Petén, Guatemala in order to better understand the internal and external political dynamics of Naranjo Sa’aal and its hinterland. Transects between Naranjo, Tikal, Yaxhá, and Nakum have helped to elucidate settlement hierarchies of northeastern Petén, though Naranjo’s political influence likely extended much further. The northern Guatemalan/Belizean border is host to a swath of unexplored ancient Maya centers that likely fit into this political sphere. In 2005 and 2018, the Valley of Peace Archaeology project visited two large centers near the border that are tentatively classified as intermediate centers, each with ball courts and large temples around the acropolis. This paper integrates these recently identified centers in the social dynamics of the Rio Homul and Mopan Basin using the settlement hierarchies outlined in studies of Tikal, Naranjo, and Yaxhá. We will apply the same survey and mapping strategies already employed by DECORSIAP in order to produce a comprehensive, integrated hierarchy of these river basins that can be applied in future studies.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)   •
• Making and Breaking Boundaries in the Maya Lowlands: Alliance and Conflict across the Guatemala–Belize Border

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 24835