TO EAT, DISCARD, OR VENERATE: FAUNAL REMAINS AS PROXY FOR HUMAN BEHAVIORS IN LOWLAND MAYA PERI-ABANDONMENT DEPOSITS

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 127-137 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chrissina C. Burke ◽  
Katie K. Tappan ◽  
Gavin B. Wisner ◽  
Julie A. Hoggarth ◽  
Jaime J. Awe
Keyword(s):  
River Valley ◽  
Faunal Remains ◽  
Human Behaviors ◽  
Belize River Valley ◽  
Baking Pot ◽  
Lowland Maya

AbstractInterpreting middens, feasting events, ritual, or terminal deposits in the Maya world requires an evaluation of faunal remains. Maya archaeologists consistently evaluate other artifact classes, but often offer simply number of identified specimens values for skeletal elements recovered from these deposits. To further understand their archaeological significance, we analyzed faunal materials from deposits at the sites of Baking Pot and Xunantunich in the Upper Belize River Valley. We identified the species, bone elements, bone or shell artifacts, taphonomic signatures, and quantitative ratios recovered to test whether a deposit can be identified as a midden, part of a feasting ritual, terminal ritual, or other rituals significant to the Maya. Our analyses allow us to begin building a system for using faunal remains as a proxy for interpreting the significance of these deposits. In this paper, we present our results and hope to open the conversation for future evaluations of faunal remains in similar deposits.

LOWLAND MAYA GENESIS: THE LATE ARCHAIC TO LATE EARLY FORMATIVE TRANSITION IN THE UPPER BELIZE RIVER VALLEY

2021 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 519-544
Author(s):  
Jaime J. Awe ◽  
Claire E. Ebert ◽  
W. James Stemp ◽  
M. Kathryn Brown ◽  
Lauren A. Sullivan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Formative Period ◽  
Cultural Development ◽  
River Valley ◽  
Transitional Period ◽  
Late Archaic ◽  
Cultural Changes ◽  
Belize River Valley ◽  
Trade And Exchange ◽  
Early Formative ◽  
Lowland Maya

AbstractThe transition from the Late Archaic to the Late Early Formative period witnessed profound changes in the Maya lowlands. In addition to the establishment of the first settlements and agrarian communities, this critical phase of cultural development heralded the introduction of ceramics, saw changes in lithic technology, gave rise to inter-regional trade and exchange, and witnessed the introduction of a complex symbolic system expressed on portable objects. In this article, we synthesize data collected over the past several decades by various archaeological projects in western Belize to provide an overview of the cultural changes that unfolded during the Late Archaic to Late Early Formative period in the Upper Belize River Valley. We also provide evidence indicating that it was during this critical transitional period that we begin to see the establishment of several cultural traditions that became uniquely lowland Maya.

scholarly journals BUILDING HIGH-PRECISION AMS 14C BAYESIAN MODELS FOR THE FORMATION OF PERI-ABANDONMENT DEPOSITS AT BAKING POT, BELIZE

Radiocarbon ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-26
Author(s):  
Julie A Hoggarth ◽  
Brendan J Culleton ◽  
Jaime J Awe ◽  
Christophe Helmke ◽  
Sydney Lonaker ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bayesian Models ◽  
Ninth Century ◽  
Eighth Century ◽  
Classic Maya ◽  
Faunal Remains ◽  
Maya Lowlands ◽  
Human Skeletal Remains ◽  
Late Ninth Century ◽  
Baking Pot ◽  
Group B

ABSTRACT Deposits linked to abandonment have been widely recorded across the Maya lowlands, associated with the final activities occurring in ceremonial areas of Classic Maya centers. Various models have been applied to explain the activities that lie behind the formation of these contexts, including those linked to rapid abandonment (e.g., warfare) and others focused on more protracted events (termination rituals, and/or pilgrimages). Here, we assess Bayesian models for three chronological scenarios of varying tempo to explain the formation of peri-abandonment deposits at Baking Pot, Belize. Using stratigraphic information from these deposits, hieroglyphic dates recovered on artifacts, and direct dates on human skeletal remains and faunal remains from distinct layers in three deposits in Group B at Baking Pot, we identify multiple depositional events that spanned the eighth to ninth centuries AD. These results suggest that the processes associated with the breakdown of institutionalized rulership and its command of labor to construct and maintain ceremonial spaces were protracted at Baking Pot, with evidence for the final depositional activity dated to the mid-to-late ninth century. This interval of deposition was temporally distinct from the earlier deposition(s) in the eighth century. Together, these data offer a detailed view of the end of the Classic period at Baking Pot, in which the ceremonial spaces of the site slowly fell into disuse over a period of more than a century.

Preclassic Round Structures of the Upper Belize River Valley

2000 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
James J. Aimers ◽  
Terry G. Powis ◽  
Jaime J. Awe
Keyword(s):  
River Valley ◽  
Architectural Form ◽  
Maya Architecture ◽  
Belize River Valley ◽  
Preclassic Maya ◽  
Preclassic Period ◽  
The World ◽  
Middle Preclassic ◽  
Maya Site

Round structures are considered a rarity in Maya architecture. Four late Middle Preclassic period (650-300 B.C.) round structures excavated at the Maya site of Cahal Pech demonstrate that this was a common architectural form for the Preclassic Maya of the upper Belize River Valley. These open platforms are described, and compared to similar forms in the Belize Valley and elsewhere. An interpretation of their significance is offered that uses information from artifacts, burials, and ethnohistory as well as analogy with round structures in other parts of the world. We suggest that these small round platforms were used for performance related to their role as burial or ancestor shrines.

RITUAL EMULATION OF ANCIENT MAYA ELITE MORTUARY TRADITIONS DURING THE CLASSIC PERIOD (AD 250–900) AT CAHAL PECH, BELIZE

2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 641-659 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna C. Novotny ◽  
Jaime J. Awe ◽  
Catharina E. Santasilia ◽  
Kelly J. Knudson
Keyword(s):  
River Valley ◽  
Ancient Maya ◽  
Late Classic ◽  
Ruling Elite ◽  
Mortuary Ritual ◽  
Sequence Of Events ◽  
Belize River Valley ◽  
Radiocarbon Data ◽  
Maya Site ◽  
Valley Area

In this study, we employ multiple lines of evidence to elucidate the use of mortuary ritual by the ruling elite at the ancient Maya site of Cahal Pech, Belize, during the Early Classic and early Late Classic periods (AD 250–630). The interments of multiple individuals in Burial 7 of Structure B1, the central structure of an Eastern Triadic Assemblage or “E-group” style architectural complex, were in a manner not consistent with the greater Belize River Valley, the only multiple individual human burial yet encountered at Cahal Pech. The sequential interments contained a suggestive quantity of high-quality artifacts, further setting them apart from their contemporaries. Among these artifacts were a set of bone rings and a hairpin inscribed with hieroglyphs, some of the few inscriptions ever found at Cahal Pech. We analyzed regional mortuary patterns, radiogenic strontium values, and radiocarbon data to test hypotheses about who these individuals were in life, why they were treated differently in death, and to reconstruct the sequence of events of this complex mortuary deposit. We contend that the mortuary practices in Burial 7 indicate an attempt by the Cahal Pech elite to identify with cities or regions outside the Belize River Valley area.

New Discoveries at the Clovis Site

1966 ◽  
Vol 31 (3Part1) ◽  
pp. 345-357 ◽  
Author(s):  
James M. Warnica
Keyword(s):  
New Mexico ◽  
Size Range ◽  
River Valley ◽  
Upper Paleolithic ◽  
Faunal Remains ◽  
Projectile Points ◽  
New Information

AbstractExcavations at the Clovis site near Portales, New Mexico, in 1962 and 1963 produced much new information on the Llano complex. This work, which was done principally by the El Llano Archaeological Society (Portales, New Mexico), yielded the skeletons of four mammoths and other Pleistocene faunal remains and enlarged the tool inventory of the Llano complex. Significant ancestral ties with the Upper Paleolithic of Siberia, which have been postulated on the basis of prismatic blades and blade-tools collected from the Clovis horizon seem to be further confirmed. Further information on the size range of Clovis projectile points has been obtained from small projectile points found in the mammoth-bone bed. Analysis of lithic materials from the Clovis site reveals extensive use of Alibates flint from the Canadian River valley of Texas.

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