Ally, Client or Outpost? Examining the Relationship between Xunantunich and Naranjo in the Late Classic Period

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.

Investigations at Xunantunich indicate that this important site in the Belize River Valley, rose rapidly to regional prominence during the Late Classic Hats’ Chaak Phase (AD 670 – 780). While the social, political, and economic reasons for this late and rapid rise are still not fully understood, it has been suggested that this rapid ascent was a direct result of either a patron-client relationship with, or because of the direct control of, the larger primary center of Naranjo, in neigboring Guatemala. In this presentation we first examine previous and recently acquired data indicative of the relationship between the two sites, then we discuss the socio-political implications of these data.

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): 25184