Climate and Cultural Responses in Belizean Prehistory

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.

Over the past 25 years, numerous paleoclimate studies have been published across the Maya Lowlands, providing the climatic context for cultural change from Preclassic through modern times. Increasing archaeological studies have followed suit by documenting cultural responses and adaptations to major climatic changes, such as drought and hurricanes. Here, we summarize the paleoclimate records that have been published across Belize, identifying general trends through time and space. We also present new and published archaeological data from multiple areas of Belize in order to gauge the growth, decline, and reorganization of regional populations that may have co-occurred with climatic changes. Together, we aim to assess how climate, particularly drought, may have shaped Belizean prehistory from the Preclassic to colonial periods.

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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Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 39265.0