Papers by BVAR Project
In the last 28 years, the Belize Valley Archaeological Reconnaissance project has focused conside... more In the last 28 years, the Belize Valley Archaeological Reconnaissance project has focused considerable research attention on the rise of cultural complexity at the long-lived site of Cahal Pech. This complexity can be investigated not only through the monumentality of the buildings that compose the site core, but through the wide range of activities—private or public—conducted by the ancient inhabitants of the site. In an effort to accomplish this objective, multiple excavations have been carried out on buildings and beneath plazas located in the site core and periphery. In 2013-14, we focused our efforts on investigating Structure G-2, a large building that abuts the well-known Structure B-4. Based on excavations conducted in the 1990s, it was established that Structure G-2 underwent three construction phases during the Early, Late and Terminal Classic periods. Our investigations were designed to establish the form that Structure G-2 exhibited during its final construction phase dated to the Terminal Classic (A.D. 750-1050). Most importantly, we aimed to clarify the nature of the activities that were conducted in this building during the Late Classic and Terminal Classic and, consequently, to determine the function of this building.
Archaeological research investigating prehistoric water management in the Maya lowlands has ident... more Archaeological research investigating prehistoric water management in the Maya lowlands has identified the diversity and complexity of ancient human adaptations to changing environments and socioeconomic landscapes. Our research at the medium-sized Maya center of Baking Pot, located in the Belize River Valley, has explored a water management system composed of a lattice system of ditches located in the southwestern periphery of the site. In this paper, we report the results of spatial analyses of LiDAR remote sensing data that has helped to reveal the nature and extent of this ditch system. Field reconnaissance conducted in 2015 confirmed the presence of ~23.5 linear km of ditches. Residential mounds interspersed between ditched areas were also recorded, perhaps indicating that ditches may delineate spatially distinct settlement clusters. We suggest that water management at Baking Pot became increasingly important during the Late Classic Period (AD 600-900) in the face of population increase, anthropogenic degradation of the landscape, and climate change. Models of settlement and migration derived from human behavioral ecology may provide insights into the role of the ditch system as an adaption that allowed the inhabitants of Baking Pot become more resilient in the face of changing social and natural ecological systems.
Journal of Archaeological Science, 2013
ABSTRACT This paper suggests the existence of non-random, directional patterns in the location of... more ABSTRACT This paper suggests the existence of non-random, directional patterns in the location of housemounds across the Late Classic Maya settlement landscape at Baking Pot, Belize, and then explores the wider implications of this patterning in the central Maya lowlands. It introduces an anisotropic method – based on nearest neighbour bearings and successive grid offsets – in order to explore possible rectilinear organisation in settlement layouts despite the presence of uneven and irregular patterns of archaeological dating and recovery. The results suggest a grid-like distribution of houseplots and, by implication, also a set of routes running throughout the housemound landscape and local Maya neighbourhoods during the site's Late and Terminal Classic history. Furthermore, different possible alignments in different parts of the site are tentatively regarded as an indication of shifting orientations to localised grids, following the shift in alignment of monumental architecture, as the settlement landscape expanded over time. Finally, we discuss the implications of these findings with respect to the broader interpretation of Maya settlement patterns.
Arte rupestre de México oriental y Centro América, 2003
En 1925 Thomas Gann informó por primera vez sobre una espeleotema esculpida en forma de una figur... more En 1925 Thomas Gann informó por primera vez sobre una espeleotema esculpida en forma de una figura humana tosca en una cueva cerca de Benque Viejo, Belice (Gann1925). A pesar del largo transcurso de tiempo desde este informe inicial, el arte rupestre de Belice recién ha recibido la atención que merece dentro de las últimas tres décadas. Las primeras descripciones científicas fueron fruto de la investigación arqueológica de la cueva E del Río Frío, iniciada por A. H. Anderson y reportada por David Pendergast (1970). Desde entonces la cantidad de sitios conocidos con arte rupestre se ha incrementado enormemente, lo que condujo a la conclusión de que los Mayas de Belice participaron en la producción de expresiones simbólicas complejas tan activamente como sus vecinos de Guatemala y México. Nuestro conocimiento de este corpus todavía es limitado por la naturaleza enigmáitica del simbolismo y más aún por la relativa falta de sitios conocidos de arte rupestre en Belice, un obstáculo que podrá ser solucionado solamente a través de prospecciones arqueológicas continuas e intensivas de las cuevas.
This paper discusses the technological and microscopic use-wear analyses of the chert debitage ex... more This paper discusses the technological and microscopic use-wear analyses of the chert debitage excavated from Deep Valley Rockshelter. This rockshelter, located in the Caves Branch River Valley of central Belize, was primarily used by the ancient Maya from the Late Preclassic to Terminal Classic periods (AD 80–950) and may demonstrate a pattern of rockshelter usage by the Classic periodMaya. To test whether such a pattern exists, lithic data from Caves Branch Rockshelter and other rockshelters in Belize, specifically those in the Sibun Valley and the Ek Xux Valley, are compared. Interpretations are complicated, however, by the severe mixing of deposits, which makes segregating the lithic artifacts into different reduction or use events nearly impossible. Moreover, this mixing severely hampers reconstructions of diachronic change in stone-tool use in the rockshelter. While acknowledging these limitations, our analysis suggests that the lithics in the rockshelter are primarily the result of reduction and use-related activities that originally occurred at other nearby surface sites rather than in the rockshelter itself. Consequently, the chipped-stone artifacts recovered from this rockshelter most likely result from secondary deposition of debitage for ritual purposes and represent accumulation over many years. We suspect this type of secondary deposition of debitage was also occurring at other rockshelters in Belize, based on comparisons to the chipped stone assemblages from these locations. We cannot discount the possibility that some stone tool production and use may have originally occurred in Deep Valley Rockshelter, but support for this is minimal.
Abstract. This paper describes the recent discovery of a sword and olive jar of European origin i... more Abstract. This paper describes the recent discovery of a sword and olive jar of European origin in two separate cave sites in the Roaring Creek Valley in central Belize. Analysis of the sword and olive jar places their date of manufacture between the late sixteenth and the mid-seventeenth century. The sociopolitical environment that prevailed along the seventeenth-century colonial frontier in Belize suggests that the sword was acquired by the Maya by peaceful or bellicose interactions with Europeans, whereas the archaeological contexts in which the European-made objects were discovered provide evidence for native ritual continuity amid persistent proselytization efforts by the Spanish invaders.
Classification, Analysis, and Interpretation, 2013
Remote Sensing, 2014
During April and May 2013, a total of 1057 km 2 of LiDAR was flown by NCALM for a consortium of a... more During April and May 2013, a total of 1057 km 2 of LiDAR was flown by NCALM for a consortium of archaeologists working in West-central Belize, making this the largest surveyed area within the Mayan lowlands. Encompassing the Belize Valley and the Vaca Plateau, West-central Belize is one of the most actively researched parts of the Maya lowlands; however, until this effort, no comprehensive survey connecting all settlement had been conducted. Archaeological projects have investigated at least OPEN ACCESS Remote Sens. 2014, 6 8672
Papers from the Institute of Archaeology, 1990
Lithic Technology, 2011
... Difficul-ties in determining the potential function(s) of these artifacts are that there do n... more ... Difficul-ties in determining the potential function(s) of these artifacts are that there do not appear to be analogues for these grooved ground stones in the stone tool inventories of contemporary Maya pop-ulations (eg, Hayden 1987) nor do they appear in ancient Maya artwork ...
Latin American Antiquity, 1994
... Awe, JJ, С Bill, MD Campbell, and D. Cheetham 1990 Early Middle Formative Occupation in the C... more ... Awe, JJ, С Bill, MD Campbell, and D. Cheetham 1990 Early Middle Formative Occupation in the Central Maya Lowlands: Recent Evidence from Cahal Pech, Belize. Papers from the Institute of Archaeology 1:1-5. University College, London. ...
Papers from the Institute of Archaeology, 1990
Journal of field …, Jan 1, 2007
In the history of Mesoamerican archaeology, the upper Belize River valley remains most famous as ... more In the history of Mesoamerican archaeology, the upper Belize River valley remains most famous as the sub-region of the Mundo Maya where settlement survey was first introduced by Gordon Willey and his colleagues more than half a century ago. The recent application of Lidar survey to this area once more serves to place the Belize Valley at the vanguard of Maya settlement research. This paper serves to demonstrate how the use of Lidar technology is helping to identify new archaeological sites in the region, how it is providing considerable detail for understanding the ancient Belize Valley landscape, and how its application can contribute significantly to our understanding of the socio-political organization of the area.
Abstract
Beginning with Gordon Willey’s settlement pattern study at Barton Ramie more than half a... more Abstract
Beginning with Gordon Willey’s settlement pattern study at Barton Ramie more than half a century ago,
continuous settlement research in the Belize River Valley makes this area one of the most intensively studied
sub-regions of the Maya Lowlands. Recent analysis of this rich database now indicates that in spite of
differences in their historical development, location, and general configuration, none of the major centers in the
valley ever significantly exceeded the size or socio-political stature of their other neighbors. Our investigations
further demonstrate that although some sites were occupied for more than a thousand years, settlements around
these centers remained relatively dispersed in a manner that is consistent with models of low-density urbanism.
In addition to describing the settlement landscape of the upper Belize River Valley, this paper also addresses
causal factors that may account for the persistence of this settlement type over time.
https://journals.uair.arizona.edu/index.php/radiocarbon/article/view/18100, Oct 2014
Archaeologists working in the Belize Valley have argued for the persistence of Maya populations f... more Archaeologists working in the Belize Valley have argued for the persistence of Maya populations from the Classic (AD 300–900) through Postclassic (AD 900–1500) periods since Gordon Willey’s groundbreaking settlement survey and excavation work in the 1950s. This is contrary to the trajectory recorded in some parts of the Maya region where there is clear evidence for political disruption and population decline at the end of the Classic period. The argument for continuous Classic to Postclassic occupation in the Belize Valley remains ambiguous due to researchers’ reliance on relative ceramic chronologies. This article reports the results of direct accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dating of human skeletons (n = 12) from the important center of Baking Pot, Belize, which is thought to provide some of the best ceramic evidence for continuity in the valley. The AMS dates show a long span of mortuary activity between the Middle Preclassic and Late Classic periods (405 cal BC to cal AD 770), with a hiatus in activity during the Early Postclassic (cal AD 900–1200) and subsequent activity in the Late Postclassic (cal AD 1280–1420). These results are not consistent with the idea that Baking Pot was occupied continuously from the Classic through Postclassic periods. This work highlights the need for additional AMS 14C work at Baking Pot and elsewhere to establish absolute chronologies for evaluating the political and demographic collapse of Classic Maya regional centers.
In R.K. Faulseit ed. (2015) Beyond Collapse: Archaeological Perspectives on Resilience, Revitalization, and Transformation in Complex Societies
Research focusing on the sociopolitical collapse of Classic Maya society is abundant, detailing t... more Research focusing on the sociopolitical collapse of Classic Maya society is abundant, detailing the processes of depopulation, abandonment, and the decline of elite paraphernalia in the central and southern Maya lowlands. Although the large number of studies focus on the processes of collapse, less attention has focused on the internal social responses by households to the dissolution of Classic political institutions. This study focuses on changing strategies of adaptation and reorganization by commoner and noble households in a community within the Baking Pot polity of western Belize. Results from this study indicate that after the palace complex and settlement of Baking Pot were abandoned during the Late to Terminal Classic period (A.D. 600 to 900), the area was reoccupied during the Postclassic period in Settlement Cluster C, developing new forms of economic, political, and ideological organization. Using a quantitative approach to examine changes in the distribution of mercantile goods, feasting materials, and ritual deposits and iconography, noble and commoner households were found to employ variable strategies of social differentiation, community integration, and religious adaptation in the context of the disintegration of the state as well as in the subsequent period of social reorganization of the community in the Postclassic period.
Archaeologists have traditionally relied upon relative ceramic chronologies to understand the occ... more Archaeologists have traditionally relied upon relative ceramic chronologies to understand the occupational histories of large and socially complex polities in the Maya lowlands. High-resolution accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dating can provide independent chronological control for more discrete events that reflect cultural change through time. This article reports results of AMS 14C dating of stratified sequences at the residential group Tzutziiy K’in, associated with the major Maya polity of Cahal Pech in the Belize Valley. Cahal Pech is one of the earliest permanently settled sites in the Maya lowlands (1200 cal BC), and was continuously occupied until the Terminal Classic Maya “collapse” (~ cal AD 800). We use Bayesian modeling to build a chronology for the settlement, growth, and terminal occupation of Tzutziiy K’in, and compare our results to chronological data from the monumental site core at Cahal Pech. The analyses indicate that Tzutziiy K’in was first settled by the Late Preclassic period (350–100 cal BC), concurrent with the establishment of several other large house groups and the growth of the Cahal Pech site core. Terminal occupation by high-status residents at this house group occurred between cal AD 850 and 900. This study provides a framework for interpreting patterns of spatial, demographic, and sociopolitical change between households and the Cahal Pech site core.
Presentations by BVAR Project
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Papers by BVAR Project
Beginning with Gordon Willey’s settlement pattern study at Barton Ramie more than half a century ago,
continuous settlement research in the Belize River Valley makes this area one of the most intensively studied
sub-regions of the Maya Lowlands. Recent analysis of this rich database now indicates that in spite of
differences in their historical development, location, and general configuration, none of the major centers in the
valley ever significantly exceeded the size or socio-political stature of their other neighbors. Our investigations
further demonstrate that although some sites were occupied for more than a thousand years, settlements around
these centers remained relatively dispersed in a manner that is consistent with models of low-density urbanism.
In addition to describing the settlement landscape of the upper Belize River Valley, this paper also addresses
causal factors that may account for the persistence of this settlement type over time.
Presentations by BVAR Project
Beginning with Gordon Willey’s settlement pattern study at Barton Ramie more than half a century ago,
continuous settlement research in the Belize River Valley makes this area one of the most intensively studied
sub-regions of the Maya Lowlands. Recent analysis of this rich database now indicates that in spite of
differences in their historical development, location, and general configuration, none of the major centers in the
valley ever significantly exceeded the size or socio-political stature of their other neighbors. Our investigations
further demonstrate that although some sites were occupied for more than a thousand years, settlements around
these centers remained relatively dispersed in a manner that is consistent with models of low-density urbanism.
In addition to describing the settlement landscape of the upper Belize River Valley, this paper also addresses
causal factors that may account for the persistence of this settlement type over time.