Demarcating Space and Creating Place: Examining the Processes for Creating Sacred Landscapes by the Ancient Maya of Western Belize

Summary

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

The ancient Maya of the Belize River Valley maintained a strong, spiritual connection with nature, one that can be explored through the layers of religious symbolism imbued into their built environments. In Xunantunich during the Late Classic period, the Maya created a sacred space by incorporating symbols—such as stelae, altars, and cache deposits—into their urban layout. Although Maya religious symbology has been a popular subject of study in Maya archaeology for decades, there is still much to be discovered about how these expressions of Maya cultural identity determine a sacred space. The question that guides this research is, In what ways did the people of Xunantunich ritually charge their built environment with sacred symbols of the natural world? To answer this question, I conducted architectural analysis in Xunantunich and comparable sites in the Belize River Valley, and used photogrammetry to build a 3D model of Plaza A1. This method underscores the importance of analyzing spatial context in architecture. The objective of this research is to expand the Maya archaeological record and provide a deeper understanding of how precontact civilizations prospered over centuries while maintaining a sense of veneration for the natural landscape.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

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

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 37570.0