A Postclassic Maya Midden at Colha, Belize

Summary

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

The Ancient Maya Postclassic period (1000-1500 CE) is one of the least understood periods of Ancient Maya cultural history. Essential questions about the Postclassic remained unanswered due to a focus on the preceding period the Classic Maya Collapse (800-1000 CE). While the collapse is well studied and understood, what happens after the collapse is not. Following the collapse many sites in the central Maya Lowlands are abandoned, never to be reoccupied again, except for a few exceptions. The site of Colha, located in northwestern Belize, is one of these exceptions, the site was abandoned in the Terminal Classic but reoccupied during the Postclassic. Excavations in the summer of 2023 at the site of Colha uncovered a Postclassic midden deposit. Data from these excavations will be presented to answer essential questions about the Postclassic and illuminate cultural transformations in the Postclassic, the daily life of the Postclassic Maya of Colha, and Colha’s interactions with other sites.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

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

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 40068.0