A Conjunctive Approach: Excavations at Buenavista del Cayo Structure 26

Summary

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

The Maya site of Buenavista del Cayo is located in the Mopan River valley in western Belize. The polity was known as Komkom in Classic times, and archaeological and epigraphic evidence indicate that the site was subordinate to the larger kingdoms of Tikal in the Early Classic and Naranjo in the Late Classic period. Komkom’s relationship with Naranjo in particular included both positive interactions (gift exchanges) and negative interactions (attacks by Naranjo). Structure 26 is a long, linear structure on the south side of Buenavista’s West Plaza. In 2024, we excavated a 2m x 6m trench on the structure to reconstruct its architectural history and attempt to link it to the history of interactions between Komkom and larger kingdoms. Excavations revealed two phases of construction dating to the Late Classic period. We describe the excavations and the most current findings and interpret them within the framework Komkom’s conflicts and the complexity of its changing relationship with the kingdom of Naranjo.

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): 53783