Introducing The Ancient Maya Kinship Project Consultation, Engagement, and Outreach Program

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

New archaeological aDNA approaches have the potential to dramatically change our understanding of the ancient Maya but it is important that living Maya people are aware of the research, provide their thoughts and input, and give their consent given the involvement of ancestral human remains. This poster presents the ongoing interview based consultation process which we developed as part of the Ancient Maya Kinship Project. To date we have interviewed 200 descendant Maya in Cayo District, Belize to gauge their level of interest in archaeology, ancient genomic research, and any concerns they may have with such research. After conducting these interviews, we found that people are very interested in new scientific approaches to understanding what their ancestor’s lives were like. Most people wanted to be included in archaeological research and learn more about the findings of the study and other archaeological studies. With these findings in mind we began supplementing preexisting Belize River Valley Archaeological Reconnaissance project outreach activities by hosting lectures, tours, food events, and excavation training.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 38839.0