Julie A Hoggarth
Datos Biográficos
| ID | 198095 |
|---|---|
| NOMBRE | Julie A Hoggarth |
| NOMBRES | Julie A |
| APELLIDO | Hoggarth |
| FIRMA | HOGGARTH J A |
| AFILIACIONES | Baylor University |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-8612-8846 |
| VERIFICADO | Sí |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 30 |
| TOTAL DE CITAS | 158 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 30 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 0 |
| PRIMER AÑO DE PUBLICACIÓN | 2014 |
| AÑO MÁS RECIENTE DE PUBLICACIÓN | 2026 |
| ÍNDICE H | 7 |
Applying demographic and epidemiological models in challenging situations
OBJECTIVE: To demonstrate the utility of applying demographic and epidemiological models to assess the potential effects of sociopolitical status and childhood stress on survivorship, mortality, and morbidity to shed new light on life during the Maya Classic period. MATERIALS: Elite and commoner burials (n = 63) from the Lower Dover polity, Belize dating to the Early (CE 250/300-600) and Late/Terminal Classic (CE 600-900/1000) periods were analyz…
Modelling Resilience
Maya Sequential Burials and Subsistence Change at the Prehispanic Site of Caledonia, Cayo District, Belize
From the Late Preclassic to Terminal Classic periods (300 bce– 900 ce ), the Maya people at the site of Caledonia, Cayo District, Belize, interred their dead within site architecture. Four burials containing the remains of at least 21 individuals were uncovered during excavations and were relatively dated using typologies developed from the ceramics recovered from the burial contexts. The single older adult female who may have been bundled in Bur…
A pXRF analysis of utilitarian pottery from the Late Classic Maya polity of Lower Dover, Belize
Biocultural Taphonomies and Analysis of an Emerging Terminal Classic (750–900 CE) Maya Deathway
In bioarchaeology, funerary taphonomy and preservation become part of the biocultural narrative of the dead. We evaluate the role of these factors in reconstructing the identities of those buried in an emerging deathway, the ventrally placed legs flexed (VPLF) burial position, during the Terminal Classic (750–900/1000 CE) period at the Maya polity of Lower Dover in western Belize. The term “VPLF” describes a divergent burial practice which may ha…
Shell Games
Recent excavations at the ancient Maya minor center of Tutu Uitz Na in the Belize River Valley revealed an especially large—about 20 million shells—Middle Preclassic (900–300 BC) shell deposit underlying the plaza. Although marine shell species make up a small percentage of the assemblage, most shells are Pachychilus spp., a common freshwater snail known in the southern Maya Lowlands as jute . This report describes the architectural context and a…
Patterns of residential differentiation and labor control at Baking Pot and Lower Dover in the Belize River Valley
The Classic Maya polities of Baking Pot and Lower Dover developed along two dramatically different trajectories. At Baking Pot, the capital and associated apical elite regime grew concomitantly with surrounding populations over a thousand-year period. The smaller polity of Lower Dover, in contrast, formed when a Late Classic political center was established by an emergent apical elite regime amidst several long-established intermediate elite-head…
Volcanic Ash Tempered Pottery Production in the Late to Terminal Classic Belize Valley, Belize
Production and consumption of pottery tempered with fresh volcanic ash peaked in the Late to Terminal Classic periods in the Maya lowlands. Differences in the type of volcanic inclusion and vessel form indicate that the pottery was produced in multiple locations by different groups of potters. In this article, we characterize pottery from household contexts at Baking Pot, Belize, using thin-section petrography and neutron activation analysis (NAA…
MesoRAD
The Mesoamerican Radiocarbon Database (MesoRAD) compiles radiocarbon dates from the archaeological literature of Mesoamerica. The inaugural data set, ‘Lowland Maya Dates’, includes 1846 radiocarbon dates from 132 sites in 21 distinct environmental zones in the Maya lowlands. These data span the Paleoindian to Colonial Periods (11,670 to 190 uncal BP, 13,740 cal BP to modern) across southern Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. He…
Before the Maya
This article presents a review of the earliest known skeletal remains in the Maya area, which are found in submerged caves in Mexico and rock shelters in Belize and date to the Paleoindian and Archaic periods. While few in number, several of these individuals have been the focus of intensive analyses, providing an emerging picture of life in the region before the transition to agriculture and settled village communities
Impacts of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Women and Early Career Archaeologists
The COVID-19 pandemic has had far-reaching impacts in all segments of life worldwide. While a variety of surveys have assessed the impacts of the pandemic in other fields, few studies have focused on understanding the short- and long-term impacts of the pandemic for archaeology. To assess these trends, we asked survey respondents (n = 570) if they experienced job loss and to rate the percentage of change in their economic situation, workload, tea…
Island resource exploitation by the ancient Maya during periods of climate stress, Ambergris Caye, Belize
Ancient Maya societies experienced a period of reorganisation and change in settlement patterns associated with social and climate instability at the end of the Classic period (750-1000 CE) and the subsequent Postclassic period (1200-1500 CE). Although it has been proposed that severe droughts and the breakdown of Classic political systems caused a migration of populations towards the coast, we have little evidence of the nature of land-use at co…
End-to-end Bayesian analysis for summarizing sets of radiocarbon dates
Archaeologists and demographers increasingly employ aggregations of published radiocarbon (14C) dates as demographic proxies summarizing changes in human activity in past societies. Presently, summed probability densities (SPDs) of calibrated radiocarbon dates are the dominant method of using 14C dates to reconstruct demographic trends. Unfortunately, SPDs are incapable of converging on the distribution that generated a set of radiocarbon measure…
Building High-Precision Ams 14 C Bayesian Models for the Formation of Peri-Abandonment Deposits at Baking Pot, Belize
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 Bay…
Thirty-Two Years of Integrating Archaeology and Heritage Management in Belize
Since its inception in 1988, the Belize Valley Archaeological Reconnaissance (BVAR) Project has had two major foci, that of cultural heritage management and archaeological research. While research has concentrated on excavation and survey, the heritage management focus of the project has included the preservation of ancient monuments, the integration of archaeology and tourism development, and cultural heritage education. In this paper, we provid…
Decoding the Archaeological Significance of Problematic Deposits in the Maya Lowlands
The term “problematical deposits” was coined decades ago at Tikal to refer to special deposits that were neither burials nor caches. Since that time, the term has been expanded to refer to a range of deposits that have puzzled archaeologists. In this paper we review the various interpretations that have been offered for these deposits includingde factorefuse, squatter deposits, and the remains of dedication or termination ritual, feasting, or pil…
To Eat, Discard, or Venerate
Interpreting 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…
Applying Regional, Contextual, Ethnohistoric, and Ethnographic Approaches for Understanding the Significance of Peri-Abandonment Deposits in Western Belize
The discovery of cultural remains on or above the floors of rooms and courtyards at several Maya sites has been interpreted by some archaeologists as problematic deposits, squatter's refuse, as evidence for feasting, termination rituals,de factorefuse, or rapid abandonment as a result of warfare. Investigations by the Belize Valley Archaeological Reconnaissance Project have recorded similar deposits at several surface and subterranean sites in We…
The Last Hurrah
Archaeological investigations by the Belize Valley Archaeological Reconnaissance Project at Cahal Pech uncovered several Terminal Classic (a.d.750–900) peri-abandonment deposits and activity areas at this Belize River Valley center. The deposits contained a diverse assemblage of cultural remains located above and between collapsed architecture, associated with evidence for burning activities. In the past, archaeologists have generally interpreted…
Reconstructing the Formation of Peri-Abandonment Deposits at Baking Pot, Belize
Archaeological research in the Maya lowlands has identified special deposits that offer essential information about the abandonment of Classic Maya centers. We argue that some of the “problematical deposits” associated with terminal architecture may be more accurately described as peri-abandonment deposits since they temporally and behaviorally relate to the activities associated with the final use of ceremonial space. Here, we describe several p…
Pottery, practice, and place
Integrating U-Th, 14 C, and 210 Pb methods to produce a chronologically reliable isotope record for the Belize River Valley Maya from a low-uranium stalagmite
Social and environmental changes had great spatiotemporal variability in the Maya Lowlands during the Classic and Postclassic Periods, and stalagmites promise high-resolution paleoclimate data that can refine our understanding of this complex time. Unfortunately, stalagmites in this region are often difficult to date by U-Th methods because of low initial uranium concentrations. Other dating techniques can be used on such stalagmites, and we pres…
Modeling variability in Classic Maya intermediate elite political strategies through multivariate analysis of settlement patterns
The Role of Diet in Resilience and Vulnerability to Climate Change among Early Agricultural Communities in the Maya Lowlands
The Terminal Classic Period (AD 750-1000) collapse of lowland Maya social, economic, and political systems has been temporally correlated with severe and extended drought in regional paleoclimate records. Ancient Maya society also experienced a protracted multicentury drought earlier during the end of the Late Preclassic Period (AD 100-300). While some large Preclassic polities declined, many more flourished through the Early Classic. Why were th…
Of Apples and Oranges
This chapter focuses on the function of E Groups, proposed as astronomical observatories by researchers at Uaxactún. Other functional hypotheses suggested include the scheduling of agricultural or trade activities, marking solar cycles and celebratory katun endings, use in geomantic systems by the Maya, use as settings for agricultural ritual, and for ancestor rituals and dynastic interment by the ruling elite. These types of architectural assemb…
Drought and Its Demographic Effects in the Maya Lowlands
Increasing evidence supports the role of climate change in the disintegration of regional polities in the Maya lowlands at the end of the Classic Period (750-1000 CE). However, the demographic effects of drought remain largely unknown in the absence of Classic Period textual evidence indicating declines in agricultural productivity and population over this broad geographic area. To understand the relationship between climate change and demography…
The Role of Diet in Resilience and Vulnerability to Climate Change among Early Agricultural Communities in the Maya Lowlands
The Terminal Classic Period (AD 750-1000) collapse of lowland Maya social, economic, and political systems has been temporally correlated with severe and extended drought in regional paleoclimate records. Ancient Maya society also experienced a protracted multicentury drought earlier during the end of the Late Preclassic Period (AD 100-300). While some large Preclassic polities declined, many more flourished through the Early Classic. Why were th…
Decoding the Archaeological Significance of Problematic Deposits in the Maya Lowlands
The term “problematical deposits” was coined decades ago at Tikal to refer to special deposits that were neither burials nor caches. Since that time, the term has been expanded to refer to a range of deposits that have puzzled archaeologists. In this paper we review the various interpretations that have been offered for these deposits includingde factorefuse, squatter deposits, and the remains of dedication or termination ritual, feasting, or pil…
Integrating Quantitative Lidar Analysis and Settlement Survey in the Belize River Valley
Accurate and high-resolution airborne light detection and ranging (lidar) data have become increasingly important for the discovery and visualization of complete archaeological settlement systems in the Maya Lowlands. We present the results of systematic quantitative analysis of lidar data and ground verification for the major centers of Cahal Pech, Baking Pot, and Lower Dover in the Belize Valley. The Belize Valley is characterized by high densi…
Questioning Postclassic Continuity at Baking Pot, Belize, Using Direct AMS 14 C Dating of Human Burials
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 …
Modeling variability in Classic Maya intermediate elite political strategies through multivariate analysis of settlement patterns
End-to-end Bayesian analysis for summarizing sets of radiocarbon dates
Archaeologists and demographers increasingly employ aggregations of published radiocarbon (14C) dates as demographic proxies summarizing changes in human activity in past societies. Presently, summed probability densities (SPDs) of calibrated radiocarbon dates are the dominant method of using 14C dates to reconstruct demographic trends. Unfortunately, SPDs are incapable of converging on the distribution that generated a set of radiocarbon measure…
To Eat, Discard, or Venerate
Interpreting 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…
Applying Regional, Contextual, Ethnohistoric, and Ethnographic Approaches for Understanding the Significance of Peri-Abandonment Deposits in Western Belize
The discovery of cultural remains on or above the floors of rooms and courtyards at several Maya sites has been interpreted by some archaeologists as problematic deposits, squatter's refuse, as evidence for feasting, termination rituals,de factorefuse, or rapid abandonment as a result of warfare. Investigations by the Belize Valley Archaeological Reconnaissance Project have recorded similar deposits at several surface and subterranean sites in We…
Reconstructing the Formation of Peri-Abandonment Deposits at Baking Pot, Belize
Archaeological research in the Maya lowlands has identified special deposits that offer essential information about the abandonment of Classic Maya centers. We argue that some of the “problematical deposits” associated with terminal architecture may be more accurately described as peri-abandonment deposits since they temporally and behaviorally relate to the activities associated with the final use of ceremonial space. Here, we describe several p…
Shell Games
Recent excavations at the ancient Maya minor center of Tutu Uitz Na in the Belize River Valley revealed an especially large—about 20 million shells—Middle Preclassic (900–300 BC) shell deposit underlying the plaza. Although marine shell species make up a small percentage of the assemblage, most shells are Pachychilus spp., a common freshwater snail known in the southern Maya Lowlands as jute . This report describes the architectural context and a…
Pottery, practice, and place
A New Radiocarbon Sequence from Lamanai, Belize
The ancient Maya community of Lamanai, Belize, is well known for its span of occupation from the Early Preclassic (before 1630 BC) to the present. Although most centers in the central and southern Maya Lowlands were abandoned during the Terminal Classic period (AD 750–1000), ceramic and stratigraphic evidence at Lamanai has shown continuous occupation from the start of the Early Preclassic to the Spanish Conquest. In this paper, we present the fi…
Volcanic Ash Tempered Pottery Production in the Late to Terminal Classic Belize Valley, Belize
Production and consumption of pottery tempered with fresh volcanic ash peaked in the Late to Terminal Classic periods in the Maya lowlands. Differences in the type of volcanic inclusion and vessel form indicate that the pottery was produced in multiple locations by different groups of potters. In this article, we characterize pottery from household contexts at Baking Pot, Belize, using thin-section petrography and neutron activation analysis (NAA…
Impacts of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Women and Early Career Archaeologists
The COVID-19 pandemic has had far-reaching impacts in all segments of life worldwide. While a variety of surveys have assessed the impacts of the pandemic in other fields, few studies have focused on understanding the short- and long-term impacts of the pandemic for archaeology. To assess these trends, we asked survey respondents (n = 570) if they experienced job loss and to rate the percentage of change in their economic situation, workload, tea…
The Last Hurrah
Archaeological investigations by the Belize Valley Archaeological Reconnaissance Project at Cahal Pech uncovered several Terminal Classic (a.d.750–900) peri-abandonment deposits and activity areas at this Belize River Valley center. The deposits contained a diverse assemblage of cultural remains located above and between collapsed architecture, associated with evidence for burning activities. In the past, archaeologists have generally interpreted…
Biocultural Taphonomies and Analysis of an Emerging Terminal Classic (750–900 CE) Maya Deathway
In bioarchaeology, funerary taphonomy and preservation become part of the biocultural narrative of the dead. We evaluate the role of these factors in reconstructing the identities of those buried in an emerging deathway, the ventrally placed legs flexed (VPLF) burial position, during the Terminal Classic (750–900/1000 CE) period at the Maya polity of Lower Dover in western Belize. The term “VPLF” describes a divergent burial practice which may ha…
Building High-Precision Ams 14 C Bayesian Models for the Formation of Peri-Abandonment Deposits at Baking Pot, Belize
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 Bay…
Thirty-Two Years of Integrating Archaeology and Heritage Management in Belize
Since its inception in 1988, the Belize Valley Archaeological Reconnaissance (BVAR) Project has had two major foci, that of cultural heritage management and archaeological research. While research has concentrated on excavation and survey, the heritage management focus of the project has included the preservation of ancient monuments, the integration of archaeology and tourism development, and cultural heritage education. In this paper, we provid…
Integrating U-Th, 14 C, and 210 Pb methods to produce a chronologically reliable isotope record for the Belize River Valley Maya from a low-uranium stalagmite
Social and environmental changes had great spatiotemporal variability in the Maya Lowlands during the Classic and Postclassic Periods, and stalagmites promise high-resolution paleoclimate data that can refine our understanding of this complex time. Unfortunately, stalagmites in this region are often difficult to date by U-Th methods because of low initial uranium concentrations. Other dating techniques can be used on such stalagmites, and we pres…
A pXRF analysis of utilitarian pottery from the Late Classic Maya polity of Lower Dover, Belize
Questioning Postclassic Continuity at Baking Pot, Belize, Using Direct AMS 14 C Dating of Human Burials
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 …
Integrating Quantitative Lidar Analysis and Settlement Survey in the Belize River Valley
Accurate and high-resolution airborne light detection and ranging (lidar) data have become increasingly important for the discovery and visualization of complete archaeological settlement systems in the Maya Lowlands. We present the results of systematic quantitative analysis of lidar data and ground verification for the major centers of Cahal Pech, Baking Pot, and Lower Dover in the Belize Valley. The Belize Valley is characterized by high densi…
A New Radiocarbon Sequence from Lamanai, Belize
The ancient Maya community of Lamanai, Belize, is well known for its span of occupation from the Early Preclassic (before 1630 BC) to the present. Although most centers in the central and southern Maya Lowlands were abandoned during the Terminal Classic period (AD 750–1000), ceramic and stratigraphic evidence at Lamanai has shown continuous occupation from the start of the Early Preclassic to the Spanish Conquest. In this paper, we present the fi…
Of Apples and Oranges
This chapter focuses on the function of E Groups, proposed as astronomical observatories by researchers at Uaxactún. Other functional hypotheses suggested include the scheduling of agricultural or trade activities, marking solar cycles and celebratory katun endings, use in geomantic systems by the Maya, use as settings for agricultural ritual, and for ancestor rituals and dynastic interment by the ruling elite. These types of architectural assemb…
Of Apples and Oranges
Drought and Its Demographic Effects in the Maya Lowlands
Increasing evidence supports the role of climate change in the disintegration of regional polities in the Maya lowlands at the end of the Classic Period (750-1000 CE). However, the demographic effects of drought remain largely unknown in the absence of Classic Period textual evidence indicating declines in agricultural productivity and population over this broad geographic area. To understand the relationship between climate change and demography…
Integrating U-Th, 14 C, and 210 Pb methods to produce a chronologically reliable isotope record for the Belize River Valley Maya from a low-uranium stalagmite
Social and environmental changes had great spatiotemporal variability in the Maya Lowlands during the Classic and Postclassic Periods, and stalagmites promise high-resolution paleoclimate data that can refine our understanding of this complex time. Unfortunately, stalagmites in this region are often difficult to date by U-Th methods because of low initial uranium concentrations. Other dating techniques can be used on such stalagmites, and we pres…
Modeling variability in Classic Maya intermediate elite political strategies through multivariate analysis of settlement patterns
The Role of Diet in Resilience and Vulnerability to Climate Change among Early Agricultural Communities in the Maya Lowlands
The Terminal Classic Period (AD 750-1000) collapse of lowland Maya social, economic, and political systems has been temporally correlated with severe and extended drought in regional paleoclimate records. Ancient Maya society also experienced a protracted multicentury drought earlier during the end of the Late Preclassic Period (AD 100-300). While some large Preclassic polities declined, many more flourished through the Early Classic. Why were th…
Thirty-Two Years of Integrating Archaeology and Heritage Management in Belize
Since its inception in 1988, the Belize Valley Archaeological Reconnaissance (BVAR) Project has had two major foci, that of cultural heritage management and archaeological research. While research has concentrated on excavation and survey, the heritage management focus of the project has included the preservation of ancient monuments, the integration of archaeology and tourism development, and cultural heritage education. In this paper, we provid…
Decoding the Archaeological Significance of Problematic Deposits in the Maya Lowlands
The term “problematical deposits” was coined decades ago at Tikal to refer to special deposits that were neither burials nor caches. Since that time, the term has been expanded to refer to a range of deposits that have puzzled archaeologists. In this paper we review the various interpretations that have been offered for these deposits includingde factorefuse, squatter deposits, and the remains of dedication or termination ritual, feasting, or pil…
To Eat, Discard, or Venerate
Interpreting 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…
Applying Regional, Contextual, Ethnohistoric, and Ethnographic Approaches for Understanding the Significance of Peri-Abandonment Deposits in Western Belize
The discovery of cultural remains on or above the floors of rooms and courtyards at several Maya sites has been interpreted by some archaeologists as problematic deposits, squatter's refuse, as evidence for feasting, termination rituals,de factorefuse, or rapid abandonment as a result of warfare. Investigations by the Belize Valley Archaeological Reconnaissance Project have recorded similar deposits at several surface and subterranean sites in We…
The Last Hurrah
Archaeological investigations by the Belize Valley Archaeological Reconnaissance Project at Cahal Pech uncovered several Terminal Classic (a.d.750–900) peri-abandonment deposits and activity areas at this Belize River Valley center. The deposits contained a diverse assemblage of cultural remains located above and between collapsed architecture, associated with evidence for burning activities. In the past, archaeologists have generally interpreted…
Reconstructing the Formation of Peri-Abandonment Deposits at Baking Pot, Belize
Archaeological research in the Maya lowlands has identified special deposits that offer essential information about the abandonment of Classic Maya centers. We argue that some of the “problematical deposits” associated with terminal architecture may be more accurately described as peri-abandonment deposits since they temporally and behaviorally relate to the activities associated with the final use of ceremonial space. Here, we describe several p…
Pottery, practice, and place
MesoRAD
The Mesoamerican Radiocarbon Database (MesoRAD) compiles radiocarbon dates from the archaeological literature of Mesoamerica. The inaugural data set, ‘Lowland Maya Dates’, includes 1846 radiocarbon dates from 132 sites in 21 distinct environmental zones in the Maya lowlands. These data span the Paleoindian to Colonial Periods (11,670 to 190 uncal BP, 13,740 cal BP to modern) across southern Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. He…
Before the Maya
This article presents a review of the earliest known skeletal remains in the Maya area, which are found in submerged caves in Mexico and rock shelters in Belize and date to the Paleoindian and Archaic periods. While few in number, several of these individuals have been the focus of intensive analyses, providing an emerging picture of life in the region before the transition to agriculture and settled village communities
Impacts of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Women and Early Career Archaeologists
The COVID-19 pandemic has had far-reaching impacts in all segments of life worldwide. While a variety of surveys have assessed the impacts of the pandemic in other fields, few studies have focused on understanding the short- and long-term impacts of the pandemic for archaeology. To assess these trends, we asked survey respondents (n = 570) if they experienced job loss and to rate the percentage of change in their economic situation, workload, tea…
Island resource exploitation by the ancient Maya during periods of climate stress, Ambergris Caye, Belize
Ancient Maya societies experienced a period of reorganisation and change in settlement patterns associated with social and climate instability at the end of the Classic period (750-1000 CE) and the subsequent Postclassic period (1200-1500 CE). Although it has been proposed that severe droughts and the breakdown of Classic political systems caused a migration of populations towards the coast, we have little evidence of the nature of land-use at co…
End-to-end Bayesian analysis for summarizing sets of radiocarbon dates
Archaeologists and demographers increasingly employ aggregations of published radiocarbon (14C) dates as demographic proxies summarizing changes in human activity in past societies. Presently, summed probability densities (SPDs) of calibrated radiocarbon dates are the dominant method of using 14C dates to reconstruct demographic trends. Unfortunately, SPDs are incapable of converging on the distribution that generated a set of radiocarbon measure…
Building High-Precision Ams 14 C Bayesian Models for the Formation of Peri-Abandonment Deposits at Baking Pot, Belize
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 Bay…
Volcanic Ash Tempered Pottery Production in the Late to Terminal Classic Belize Valley, Belize
Production and consumption of pottery tempered with fresh volcanic ash peaked in the Late to Terminal Classic periods in the Maya lowlands. Differences in the type of volcanic inclusion and vessel form indicate that the pottery was produced in multiple locations by different groups of potters. In this article, we characterize pottery from household contexts at Baking Pot, Belize, using thin-section petrography and neutron activation analysis (NAA…
Shell Games
Recent excavations at the ancient Maya minor center of Tutu Uitz Na in the Belize River Valley revealed an especially large—about 20 million shells—Middle Preclassic (900–300 BC) shell deposit underlying the plaza. Although marine shell species make up a small percentage of the assemblage, most shells are Pachychilus spp., a common freshwater snail known in the southern Maya Lowlands as jute . This report describes the architectural context and a…
Patterns of residential differentiation and labor control at Baking Pot and Lower Dover in the Belize River Valley
The Classic Maya polities of Baking Pot and Lower Dover developed along two dramatically different trajectories. At Baking Pot, the capital and associated apical elite regime grew concomitantly with surrounding populations over a thousand-year period. The smaller polity of Lower Dover, in contrast, formed when a Late Classic political center was established by an emergent apical elite regime amidst several long-established intermediate elite-head…
Archaeology (26 obras) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (24 obras) · Geography (22 obras) · Maya (18 obras) · Geology (12 obras) · History (10 obras) · Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies (9 obras) · Political science (9 obras) · Radiocarbon dating (8 obras) · Latin American history and culture (7 obras)