Historical Archaeology in Belize: Maya Continuity amid Colonial Landscapes

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.

We can trace the roots of historical archaeology in Belize to 1974, when David Pendergast launched a project at a site known locally as Indian Church, not surprisingly owing to the remains there of an early church. Today, the site is known as Lamanai. Identification of Spanish colonial sites in Belize such as Lamanai and Tipu began with J. Eric S. Thompson’s investigation of Spanish documents. In 1978, guided by Thompson’s research, Grant Jones and David Pendergast visited what excavations in the 1980s confirmed to be Tipu. Tipu and Lamanai represent the first two excavations of historical Maya sites in the southern Maya lowlands. Ethnohistorical research by Grant Jones, Angel Cal, and Nigel Bolland, among others, has expanded the scope of “traditional” Maya archaeology to include historical sites. Archaeologists in Belize have investigated early historical sites as well as more recent villages, camps, and towns representing Belize’s diverse colonial-period cultures including the British, Creole, San Pedro Maya, and even ex-patriated Confederates. In this paper, we summarize the development of historical archaeology in Belize, which has revealed new data about the continuity of Maya occupation amid the changing cultural landscape of the colonial period.

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)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 37966.0