Low-Density Maya Urbanism in the Dynamic Fluvial Landscape of the Upper Usumacinta Confluence Zone

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Proximity to aquatic resources, rich soils, and transportation corridors can make riverine landscapes attractive settings for human occupation. Floodplains, however, are dynamic environments subject to flooding, erosion, and channel migration, which can dramatically transform the surrounding landscapes and create challenges for sedentary communities. The Proyecto Arqueológico Altar de Sacrificios (PAALS) is an interdisciplinary project studying the history of human occupation and landscape change in the Upper Usumacinta Confluence Zone (UUCZ)—a riverine landscape situated along the modern border of Guatemala and Mexico. Recent drone surveys have documented numerous mound groups that suggest dispersed, low-density settlement distributed across the study area. Many of these mound groups are associated with meander scroll bars, paleochannels, and oxbows that contain clues about the fluvial history of this river system. Supported by SAA’s H. and T. King Grant for Precolumbian Archaeology, we undertook geoarchaeological investigations in 2021-22 to better understand how geomorphic floodplain processes have shaped human-environment interactions in the UUCZ over the last 3000 years. This poster presents results of this work, including a preliminary geomorphic map and chronostratigraphic framework for the area, as well as a detailed settlement map identifying sites at imminent risk of destruction by channel migration.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 35764.0