As the End Draws Near: A Terminal Classic Surface Deposit at the Medicinal Trail Community

Summary

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

During the 2024 field season, excavations at Group M of the Medicinal Trail Hinterland

Community, an ancient Maya village in northwestern Belize, revealed a concentration of over

1000 ceramic sherds against the western wall of Structure M-3. Group M is a non-residential

architectural group located at the northern terminus of the community, situated on a knoll and

functioned as a ceremonial space. Structure M-3 is approximately 20 m long with a long axis

running north-south and is located on the western side of the central plaza. This deposit can be

interpreted as a problematic deposit (PD), a deposit that does not clearly fit into established

categories like caches, offerings, or other special deposits. This PD resembles a midden, however

its context in a ceremonial space suggests it would be linked to dedication and termination

rituals, feasting, or pilgrimages. This PD also contain large quantities of smashed or broken

vessels. This poster will examine the nature of these types of PDs as they relate to the ritual

practices and functions of Group M, as it relates to the possible abandonment of the Medicinal

Trail Community at the end of the Classic Period.

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): 53668