Redefinition of the Swasey Phase at Cuello, Belize

Bibliographic Data

ID2575511
AuthorsE Wyllys Andrews (Tulane University, corresponding author), Norman Hammond (Boston University)
Year1990
Volume55
Issue3
Pages570-584
Publication date1990-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Antiquity (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-7316 • E-ISSN: 2325-5064
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/281287
OpenAlexW2333262134
LanguageEN
Citations received39
References cited23

Calibrated radiocarbon dates of 19 samples excavated since 1976 at the site of Cuello, in northern Belize, place the Swasey phase (11 dates) and Bladen phase (8 dates) in the Middle Formative period, rather than in the Early Formative, as 10 dates on charcoal excavated in 1975 and 1976 indicated. The post-1976 dates for both phases fall between about 1100 and 400 B.C., and the two sets do not appear to differ significantly. All except 3 of the 35 archaeologically acceptable dates from the later Lopez Mamom and Cocos Chicanel contexts fall within the conventionally accepted ranges for those phases. A mixture of old charcoal from the environment or from an unidentified pre-Swasey occupation with the 1975-1976 samples may explain their early radiocarbon ages, although why such mixing should have affected only the 1975-1976 samples is not known. This reassessment of the early Cuello sequence aligns it with comparable cultural developments elsewhere in the Maya area and suggests that the earliest farming communities of northern Belize perhaps derived from the highlands of Guatemala

Archaeology · Art · Charcoal · Geography · Maya · Period (music) · Radiocarbon dating · Sequence (biology) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Geology · Historical and Cultural Archaeology Studies · Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies