The Anthropogenic Wetlands of Northwestern Belize: Decades of Research and New Horizons for Study

Summary

This is an abstract from the "2023 Fryxell Award Symposium: Papers in Honor of Timothy Beach Part II" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

It is now clear that wetlands were critical resources for populations throughout human history in the Maya Lowlands of Belize and adjacent regions, and that these wetlands serve as important ecosystems and cultural heritage zones today. In northwestern Belize, decades of research have transformed our understanding of wetland paleoecology, system response to climate perturbations, and human resource use. Our recent excavations and lidar survey demonstrate that Maya farmers managed riparian wetlands in northwestern Belize to a much greater spatial extent than previous estimates, in some places beginning widespread cultivation starting as early as 2100 cal BP, with evidence of farming and management ending as late as 690–620 cal BP. This paper reviews past coring efforts across varied wetlands of northwestern Belize and then synthesizes previous datasets and records with new information and proxies, with the goal of providing new insights into regional wetland use and change over the Holocene. Through this work, we seek to improve the chronology for ancient wetland use and enhance our understanding of wetland resources used by the ancient Maya over various cultural periods and environmental shifts in this region.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• 2023 Fryxell Award Symposium: Papers in Honor of Timothy Beach Part II   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 37203.0