Multiscale Analyses from Households to City: Investigations of Everyday Life at and Around the Site of Dos Hombres, Belize

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Sessions in Honor of Dr. Fred Valdez Jr. and His Contributions to Archaeology, Part 1" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Understanding households and communities and their relationships to nearby cities is a topic of great interest. Investigations in and around the ancient city of Dos Hombres is an example of multi-scale analysis in northwestern Belize. Community level social, political, and economic organization are visible through the ways in which resources are utilized and managed in and around households. The results indicate that socio-political organization in the settlement around Dos Hombres are the result of the interaction of several factors influencing household organization across the landscape. In addition, research in the Dos Hombres civic ceremonial center also utilizes the lens of “everyday life” to understand the internal ritual, economic, social, and ideological activities of this ancient city and the socio-political and economic role this city played in the region. These data elucidate the connected nature at multiple scales of social and economic relationships, both individually and collectively, of the ancient Maya at Dos Hombres and northwestern Belize. Across his career, Fred Valdez, mentored and taught countless students, led many field schools, and led the field of archaeology to value households, settlement, and communities as central to our understanding of ancient Maya culture.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Sessions in Honor of Dr. Fred Valdez Jr. and His Contributions to Archaeology, Part 1   •
• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 51583