Household Pottery from Aventura, Belize

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Households at Aventura: Life and Community Longevity at an Ancient Maya City" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Household pottery from recent excavations at Aventura informs our current understanding of life near Chetumal Bay, its resilient villagers situated within a larger boom-and-bust economy. Although Preclassic pottery has been found near bedrock in some household excavations, construction began in earnest about 200 CE in the Early Classic period. A major expansion began sometime after 400 CE. This vibrant Middle Classic period revealed evidence for technological innovations exploited by residents as they engaged in large-scale trading ventures throughout the Late Classic, including local double-mouth jar production and market trade in commodities such as salt. Waterborne trading around Chetumal Bay, and perhaps further north, is evident in a shift away from the Petén-centered Tepeu ceramic sphere. By the Late Classic, Aventura was making and using pottery similar to sites in southern Quintana Roo, such as Calderitas and Oxtankah. These northern connections remained with the collapse of coastal-inland trade in the Terminal Classic. Postclassic households were first documented in 2022, and seem to have been ephemeral compared to the regional political center at Santa Rita Corozal only a few kilometers to the north.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Households at Aventura: Life and Community Longevity at an Ancient Maya City   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 35759.0