Developing a High-Precision Radiocarbon Chronology to Date the Rise and Fall of the Royal Palace Complex at Baking Pot, Belize

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Royal palaces in the Maya lowlands served various purposes as the primary locale of royal domestic life. Still, their architectural configurations suggest they also served as an outlet for semi-public activities as well. The architectural configuration of the royal palace at Baking Pot suggests both administrative activities in the public-facing areas, in contrast with elite domestic activities in the more private residential courtyards that were located behind the pyramidal eastern shrine of Str. B1. To better understand Baking Pot’s chronological history, we excavated a sample of structures and courtyards in the royal palace complex. Deep vertical excavations in the courtyards were aimed at identifying the long construction history of the palace, targeting the timing for the origins of the royal court as well as its final activities. Trench excavations were also carried out in two eastern shrines to identify investments in ritual and mortuary traditions. Finally, test excavations focused on the corners of courtyards to investigate the final activities associated with the site’s abandonment. Radiocarbon data from these contexts establish the Preclassic origins of the Baking Pot royal court followed by a succession of architectural developments and activity that persisted throughout the Early and Late/Terminal Classic periods.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 51267