The Shadow Realm: How Belizean Archaeology Has Illuminated the Maya Postclassic Era

Summary

This is an abstract from the "“The Center and the Edge”: How the Archaeology of Belize Is Foundational for Understanding the Ancient Maya" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Without Belizean archaeological data, we would know very little about the Maya Postclassic period (CE 950–1530). While viewed as a period of lesser cultural development by earlier researchers, Postclassic archaeological research in Belize was published as early as 1898 but generated little further interest in this important era. Carnegie Institution of Washington research in the early 1920s focused on the Postclassic site of Tayasal, Guatemala, but had trouble defining associated archaeological remains pertaining to this time period. The Carnegie excavations in the early 1950s at the Postclassic city of Mayapan, Mexico, did little to improve the overall portrayal of this important era because of bias and poor moral on the part of the excavators. Postclassic remains excavated in the Belize Valley in the 1950s were not fully analyzed until 1976. However, beginning in the 1970s, three long-term archaeological projects in Belize focused specifically on the Postclassic period at Lamanai, Santa Rita Corozal, and Laguna de On. This research demonstrated the artistic vibrancy of the late Maya and the continued presence of sizeable populations that extended into the contact period. The concentrated focus on the Postclassic period in Belize has laid the modern foundation for understanding of this maligned era.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• “The Center and the Edge”: How the Archaeology of Belize Is Foundational for Understanding the Ancient Maya   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 38508.0