Insights from the Classic to Postclassic Pottery of Belize

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.

For many years, Belize was considered to be peripheral to major social and cultural dynamics in the ancient Maya world. Recent pottery analyses in Belize, however, document that Classic and Postclassic Belize experienced some significant regional changes that inform our current interpretations. In this paper, we explore this more nuanced view at various developmental junctures that add to our overall understanding of Maya communities, particularly during transitional times. For example, we consider when the Classic period began and what role Belize sites played in Early Classic Maya society. While the Late Classic period is perhaps the best understood, we discuss variability in Belizean complexes that speak to regional political alliances and trade networks that distributed types across the region. Similarly, Belize is pivotal to understanding the Terminal Classic Maya world, and the region's demographic shift to riverine and coastal settlement. Finally, we think the patchy and ambiguous nature of Early Postclassic settlements reflects the real turmoil facing communities as they reinvented themselves.

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

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 38060.0