What’s in a Name: Caches, Offerings, and Problematic Deposits from the Medicinal Trail Hinterland Community, Belize

Summary

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

Excavations between 2004 and 2019 at the Medicinal Trail Hinterland Community in northwestern Belize have uncovered numerous special deposits from a variety of contexts including caches, termination offerings, exposed offerings, and problematic deposits (PDs). Caches and the offerings have been reported on extensively and are generally understood to have functioned in a mortuary or dedicatory context. On the other hand, PDs are, as the nomenclature indicates, less understood or defined and do not conform to established patterns of intentional depositing. It is a provisional term applied to a recognized specially deposited materials with an unknown function or intent. They deviate from the expectations based on content and context. This poster will provide definitions and descriptions for the various types of offerings present at Medicinal Trail, and provide an interpretation of the meaning for these deposits.

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): 37590.0