Ancient Maya Mobility: Hinterlands Sacbe Systems

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Ancient Maya Landscapes in Northwestern Belize, Part I" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

This paper will discuss investigations of two sacbeob in the hinterlands in northwestern Belize. These features connect ancient Maya household groups, aguadas, quarries, terraces and ritual features. The study of ancient causeway systems is crucial to the understanding of mobility, sociopolitical, and economic networks in the hinterlands. The dataset was analyzed in ArcMap 10.5.1 to evaluate the placement of these cultural features on the landscape. The use of LiDAR and photogrammetry technology allowed for classification and post-processing of data that revealed a massively modified landscape and enhanced our research capabilities. The analysis included spatial relationship between nearby settlements, hydrological innovations, landscape modifications, and energetic breakdown of construction methodology and labor estimates.

Cite this Record

Ancient Maya Mobility: Hinterlands Sacbe Systems. Marisol Cortes-Rincon, Jeremy McFarland, Jonathan Roldan, Cady Rutherford, Spencer Mitchell. Presented at The 84th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Albuquerque, NM. 2019 ( tDAR id: 452250)

Spatial Coverage

min long: -94.197; min lat: 16.004 ; max long: -86.682; max lat: 21.984 ;

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 24540