Cultural Collaborations among Ritual, Economy, and Social Organization: Recent Investigations at the Site of Dos Hombres, Belize

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Prehispanic Maya Marketplace Investigations in the Three Rivers Region of Belize: First Results" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Evidence from the site of Dos Hombres in northwestern Belize is presented from multiple contexts revealing the cultural collaborations with ritual, economic, and social expression/s as they are manifest in and necessarily tied to material aspects of everyday life. Ongoing previous research has been concerned within the northern plaza, a space of public activity. Essential to the understanding of economic activity at the site, however, necessarily involves the identification and analysis of possible market locales within the site which includes all three plazas and/or the liminal spaces between them. These recent studies were conducted through an NSF grant. Although analysis is ongoing from the recent NSF data collection, preliminary data, architectural construction sequences, activity residues, and ritual and economic deposits collectively reveal much about the ancient city specifically the interconnected nature of important aspects of daily life, public and private activities of economic, religious, and social significance. Material culture associated highlights the interwoven nature of ritual with economic production, social activity, and commerce and the importance of cultural collaborations among them. The extent of market based economic activity and its integration with ritual and social expression are critical perspectives in understanding the nature of ancient Maya life at Dos Hombres.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Prehispanic Maya Marketplace Investigations in the Three Rivers Region of Belize: First Results   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 38908.0