Thoughts on the Most Recent Katun of Archaeological Heritage Management in 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.

Archaeological heritage management (AHM) involves identifying, protecting, managing, and preserving material remains of past human activity. In Belize, the Institute of Archaeology-NICH oversees AHM, including archaeological permitting, artifact management (including human remains), site designation and access, community/public engagement and education, and more. It also requires diverse interactions with rights holders, stakeholders, and interest groups related to Ancestral and present-day Maya heritage and the many other diverse communities and cultures of this small nation. At a fundamental level, the AHM system developed in Belize works. Indeed, it is the system within which all the other research presented in this session was produced. However, no system is perfect. In this paper, we explore details of the AHM system in Belize and how it stands out from other systems we have encountered. We will assess the successes and challenges that have emerged in Belizean AHM over the past two decades, including the lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our dataset primarily comprises qualitative information, such as oral and documentary histories from Belizean and foreign scholars and managers, official guidelines, policies, and legislation, institutional data where available, and our combined experiences with AHM in Belize, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and beyond.

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): 39070.0