A Diachronic Analysis of Gender Based Mortuary Practices in the Belize River Valley

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Burial practices can offer important insights into gender roles within ancient Maya society. We present the results of a diachronic analysis of osteology, grave goods, burial architecture, and contextual data from 108 burials from the Belize River Valley polities of Baking Pot, Blackman Eddy, Cahal Pech, Lower Barton Creek, and Lower Dover. Analyses of grave assemblages intersect with the biological sex of individual to provide an understanding of how gender roles were socially constructed. Diachronic examination of these patterns, from the Preclassic through Terminal Classic periods, in relation to burial wealth and sociopolitical status allow for the reconstruction of shifting patterns of gender inequalities at multiple hierarchical levels of society over time. Our results provide a picture of the construction of identities and gender inequalities in multiple Classic Maya polities over a long temporal span. The analysis shows how that shifts in gender inequalities can occur over relatively limited spatial and temporal scales.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)   •
• SAA 2021: General Sessions

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 33172