Coastal Trade: The Ancient Maya 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, Part II" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The sea was important to the ancient Maya as a source of ritual paraphernalia and seafood, as a transportation and trade route, and as a desirable place of settlement. The coast of Belize includes hundreds of cays within the second longest barrier reef in the world and a coastline with navigable rivers connecting the sea to the heartland of Classic Maya civilization. However, sea-level rise flooded ancient coastal communities leaving them buried on land under mangroves or underwater, making them invisible in the modern landscape and diminished in view in the archaeological record. The known record of ancient coastal settlement in Belize extends from about 600 BC in the Middle Preclassic through the Postclassic. In this paper, we highlight coastal research by Maya archaeologists. We focus on research by the senior author on Wild Cane Cay and our ongoing research at the Paynes Creek Salt Works. The paper underscores the significance of coastal settlement and sea trade, the significance of salt and other marine resources from the Caribbean coast of Belize to the interior, and the endurance of the coastal Maya of Belize after the Classic Maya collapse.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

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

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 39093.0