The Long Goodbye: Middle Preclassic Maya Archaeology at Cuello, Belize

1995 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 120-128 ◽  
Author(s):  
Norman Hammond ◽  
Amanda Clarke ◽  
Sara Donaghey
Keyword(s):  
Architectural History ◽  
Continuous Section ◽  
Maya Archaeology ◽  
Plant Remains ◽  
Preclassic Maya ◽  
History Of ◽  
Middle Preclassic ◽  
Maya Site ◽  
Ritual Behavior

Completed excavations at this important Preclassic Maya site have produced 350 m2 of Middle Preclassic (1200-400 B. C.) deposits dug to bedrock; a continuous section 47 m long through the Preclassic deposits documents the architectural history of the site. Nine more Middle Preclassic burials, the remains of earth- and plaster-floored houses with associated yard surfaces, and a chultun chamber containing well-preserved plant remains document economic and ritual behavior in the Swasey and Bladen phases (1200-650 B. C.).

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.

PITS AND BONES: Identifying Maya ritual behavior in the archaeological record

2002 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 197-211 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie L. Kunen ◽  
Mary Jo Galindo ◽  
Erin Chase
Keyword(s):  
Behavioral Approach ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Maya Archaeology ◽  
Maya Site ◽  
Ritual Behavior ◽  
Votive Offerings ◽  
Lowland Maya

In this article, we examine the traditional classificatory terms of cache and burial as they are used in Lowland Maya archaeology and argue that, rather than forming mutually exclusive categories, these ritual deposits are members of a continuum. After discussing the intertwined concepts of dedication and termination and the cosmology of caches, we summarize burgeoning evidence that not all deposits classified as caches are votive offerings. We also discuss the role played by household refuse in ritual contexts. We then describe the investigation of a pit excavated into bedrock beneath a residential structure at the Maya site of La Caldera, in northwestern Belize. Our interpretation of the ritual importance of the pit is based on a series of behaviors that activated, terminated, and then reactivated the ritual pathway defined by the feature. We suggest that this behavioral approach to special deposits is more compelling than attempts to classify the material traces of ritual actions according to narrowly defined terms.

A reconstruction of Middle Preclassic Maya subsistence economy at Cahal Pech, Belize

Antiquity ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 73 (280) ◽  
pp. 364-376 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terry G. Powis ◽  
Norbert Stanchly ◽  
Christine D. White ◽  
Paul F. Healy ◽  
Jaime J. Awe ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Food Consumption ◽  
Isotopic Analysis ◽  
Reef Fishes ◽  
Maya Lowlands ◽  
Game Species ◽  
Subsistence Economy ◽  
Plant Remains ◽  
Preclassic Maya ◽  
Middle Preclassic ◽  
Fish And Shellfish

The recovery of animal and plant remains from the site of Cahal Pech provides data on early diet and subsistence practices in the Belize Valley region of the Maya lowlands. Analysis of the material remains suggests that the Middle Preclassic Maya were practising a mixed subsistence economy relying on agricultural foodstuffs, local terrestrial game species, freshwater fish and shellfish and marine reef fishes. Isotopic analysis of human bone is used to aid in the reconstruction of actual food consumption.

scholarly journals High-precision radiocarbon dating of political collapse and dynastic origins at the Maya site of Ceibal, Guatemala

2017 ◽  
Vol 114 (6) ◽  
pp. 1293-1298 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takeshi Inomata ◽  
Daniela Triadan ◽  
Jessica MacLellan ◽  
Melissa Burham ◽  
Kazuo Aoyama ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Precision ◽  
Maya Lowlands ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Social Instability ◽  
Terminal Classic ◽  
Preclassic Period ◽  
History Of ◽  
External Power ◽  
Middle Preclassic ◽  
Maya Site

The lowland Maya site of Ceibal, Guatemala, had a long history of occupation, spanning from the Middle Preclassic Period through the Terminal Classic (1000 BC to AD 950). The Ceibal-Petexbatun Archaeological Project has been conducting archaeological investigations at this site since 2005 and has obtained 154 radiocarbon dates, which represent the largest collection of radiocarbon assays from a single Maya site. The Bayesian analysis of these dates, combined with a detailed study of ceramics, allowed us to develop a high-precision chronology for Ceibal. Through this chronology, we traced the trajectories of the Preclassic collapse around AD 150–300 and the Classic collapse around AD 800–950, revealing similar patterns in the two cases. Social instability started with the intensification of warfare around 75 BC and AD 735, respectively, followed by the fall of multiple centers across the Maya lowlands around AD 150 and 810. The population of Ceibal persisted for some time in both cases, but the center eventually experienced major decline around AD 300 and 900. Despite these similarities in their diachronic trajectories, the outcomes of these collapses were different, with the former associated with the development of dynasties centered on divine rulership and the latter leading to their downfalls. The Ceibal dynasty emerged during the period of low population after the Preclassic collapse, suggesting that this dynasty was placed under the influence from, or by the direct intervention of, an external power.

LIGHTNING SKY, RAIN, AND THE MAIZE GOD: The Ideology of Preclassic Maya Rulers at Cival, Peten, Guatemala

2006 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisco Estrada-Belli
Keyword(s):  
Early Development ◽  
Sacred Space ◽  
Ancestor Veneration ◽  
Preclassic Maya ◽  
Monumental Sculpture ◽  
History Of ◽  
Ritual Activity ◽  
Middle Preclassic ◽  
Public Architecture

Research in the northeastern Peten region at Holmul and nearest minor centers shows a complex history of public ritual activity from the Middle Preclassic onward. Patterns of public architecture, monumental sculpture, iconography, caches, and burials at sites such as Holmul and Cival document early development of the ideology of Maya kingship. Late Preclassic monumental sculptures adorning large pyramid temples provide immediate and elaborate metaphors for the ancestral patrons of emerging dynasts. Middle Preclassic architecture and caches are encoded with the ideological program of the earliest ruling institutions, incorporating themes of cosmological order; sun, water, and maize deities; the agricultural cycle; and ancestor veneration. All of these early remains are found in the sacred space of the first “E-group” plazas.

Middle Preclassic Maya buildings and burials at Cuello, Belize

Antiquity ◽  
1992 ◽  
Vol 66 (253) ◽  
pp. 955-964 ◽  
Author(s):  
Norman Hammond ◽  
Amanda Clarke ◽  
Francisco Estrada Belli
Keyword(s):  
Preclassic Maya ◽  
Preclassic Period ◽  
Middle Preclassic ◽  
Maya Site ◽  
Middle Formative ◽  
Grave Goods

Work in 1992 has significantly added to understanding of this important Maya site in the Middle Formative or Preclassic period (1000–450 BC). The known settled area now extends to 1.62 sq. km. One of the 14 burials was associated with rich grave-goods, suggesting that it was of a leading member of the Cuello community in the 5th century BC.

Gendered Places and Depositional Histories: Reconstructing a Menstrual Lodge in the Interior Northwest

2019 ◽  
Vol 84 (3) ◽  
pp. 400-419 ◽  
Author(s):  
Molly Carney ◽  
Jade d'Alpoim Guedes ◽  
Kevin J. Lyons ◽  
Melissa Goodman Elgar
Keyword(s):  
Low Temperature ◽  
Pacific Northwest ◽  
Thin Section ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Columbia Plateau ◽  
The North ◽  
Plant Remains ◽  
History Of ◽  
Experimental Firing ◽  
River Inundation

This project considered the deposition history of a burned structure located on the Kalispel Tribe of Indians ancestral lands at the Flying Goose site in northeastern Washington. Excavation of the structure revealed stratified deposits that do not conform to established Columbia Plateau architectural types. The small size, location, and absence of artifacts lead us to hypothesize that this site was once a non-domestic structure. We tested this hypothesis with paleoethnobotanical, bulk geoarchaeological, thin section, and experimental firing data to deduce the structural remains and the post-occupation sequence. The structure burned at a relatively low temperature, was buried soon afterward with imported rubified sediment, and was exposed to seasonal river inundation. Subsequently, a second fire consumed a unique assemblage of plant remains. Drawing on recent approaches to structured deposition and historic processes, we incorporate ethnography to argue that this structure was a menstrual lodge. These structures are common in ethnographic descriptions, although no menstrual lodges have been positively identified in the archaeological record of the North American Pacific Northwest. This interpretation is important to understanding the development and time depth of gendered practices of Interior Northwest groups.

Angkor Wat: A transcultural history of heritages

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Chanratana Chen
Keyword(s):  
Architectural History ◽  
World Heritage Site ◽  
Heritage Preservation ◽  
Black And White ◽  
History Of Research ◽  
South And Southeast Asia ◽  
Heritage Site ◽  
History Of ◽  
Historical Photographs ◽  
The University

In December 2019, Michael Falser, of the University of Heidelberg, a specialist on heritage preservation and the art and architectural history of South and Southeast Asia, published his two-volume study, Angkor Wat: A transcultural history of heritages, which he had spent almost ten years researching. The volumes cover the history of research of the most famous monument in Cambodia, Angkor Wat, the world's largest religious monument, listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 1992. The two volumes include more than 1,400 black-and-white and colour illustrations, including historical photographs and the author's own photographs, architectural plans and samples of tourist brochures and media clips about Angkor Wat, which has been represented as a national and international icon for almost 150 years, since the 1860s.

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