Meaghan M Peuramaki‐brown
Biographic Data
| ID | 4456817 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Meaghan M Peuramaki‐brown |
| GIVEN NAMES | Meaghan M |
| FAMILY NAME | Peuramaki‐brown |
| SIGNATURE | BROWN M M P |
| AFFILIATIONS | Athabasca University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-0752-5649 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 12 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 52 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 12 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2012 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Granite Value Among the Ancient Maya of Alabama, Belize
This article outlines our research into granite use by the ancient Maya of the Alabama Townsite—a Late to Terminal Classic (ca. a.d. 700–900) rapid-growth community in East-Central Belize, part of the Eastern Maya Lowlands. One of our initial hypotheses regarding the seemingly sudden appearance of the town toward the end of the Late Classic period focused on granite as a staple resource exploited by its residents. We highlight current results of …
AMS 14C dating of an Ancestral Maya boomtown
Understanding the developmental and occupational histories of Ancestral Maya settlements is crucial for interpreting their roles in broader social, political, and economic dynamics. This article presents 62 new accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) 14 C dates from residential groups in the outlying settlement zone at Alabama, a major inland Ancestral Maya center in East-Central Belize. Alabama is a rare example of a “boomtown” in the Maya lowlands,…
Using X‐ray fluorescence to examine ancient Maya granite ground stone in Belize
While ubiquitous among ancient Maya sites in Mesoamerica, archaeological analysts frequently overlook the interpretive potential of ground stone tools. The ancient Maya often made these heavy, bulky tools of coarse‐grained, heterogeneous materials that are difficult to chemically source, unlike obsidian. This paper describes an application of handheld, energy‐dispersive X‐ray fluorescence (XRF) to provenance ground stone artifacts (tools and arch…
It’s What’s Inside that Counts
The ceramic assemblage at the Classic Period Maya site of Alabama, Belize is poorly preserved and fragmentary. Most of the pottery cannot be classified using standard type-variety approaches, which privilege decoration and surface treatment. The nature of the Alabama ceramic assemblage requires a classification system organized by paste wares, as opposed to incorporating paste composition as a modal or analytical unit that crosscuts types and war…
Seeking Conflict in Mesoamerica
Maya Monumental “Boom”
Boomtowns are the product of unique flows of development characterized by relatively rapid population growth and land conversion, and the sudden appearance of functional and place-making features, much of which may not be readily apparent in the archaeological record. While settlements may expand rapidly in the absence of these forms, and thus lie outside the boomtown definition, we propose that the process does, in fact, describe development at …
Raw Material Selection and Stone Tool Production
Stone tool producers in the Maya Lowlands had several types of raw materials from which to choose. Limestone, chert, and obsidian are the most naturally abundant, whereas chert and obsidian outnumber limestone in archaeological contexts. The presence of flaked-stone tools made of limestone is typically attributed to the scarcity of more suitable raw materials. Nevertheless, in chert-rich areas, such as the upper Belize River valley, limestone bif…
Ritual economy and ancient Maya bloodletting
Employing airborne lidar and archaeological testing to determine the role of small depressions in water management at the ancient Maya site of Yaxnohcah, Campeche, Mexico
Boots on the Ground at Yaxnohcah
This study proposes a sampling method for ground-truthing LiDAR-derived data that will allow researchers to verify or predict the accuracy of results over a large area. Our case study is focused on a 24 km 2 area centered on the site of Yaxnohcah in the Yucatan Peninsula. This area is characterized by a variety of dense tropical rainforest and wetland vegetation zones with limited road and trail access. Twenty-one 100 x 100 m blocks were selected…
Identifying integrative built environments in the archaeological record
Civic and Household Community Relationships at Teotihuacan, Mexico
It is held that the study of complex societies can effectively focus on the human interactions that define communities. Given the operational primacy of architectural survey in archaeological investigations, with some prominent exceptions, it is surprising how little attention has been paid to how communities of varying scales can actually be identified using these data sets. This article weds a modified version of Yaeger and Canuto's (2000) ‘int…
Boots on the Ground at Yaxnohcah
This study proposes a sampling method for ground-truthing LiDAR-derived data that will allow researchers to verify or predict the accuracy of results over a large area. Our case study is focused on a 24 km 2 area centered on the site of Yaxnohcah in the Yucatan Peninsula. This area is characterized by a variety of dense tropical rainforest and wetland vegetation zones with limited road and trail access. Twenty-one 100 x 100 m blocks were selected…
Ritual economy and ancient Maya bloodletting
Raw Material Selection and Stone Tool Production
Stone tool producers in the Maya Lowlands had several types of raw materials from which to choose. Limestone, chert, and obsidian are the most naturally abundant, whereas chert and obsidian outnumber limestone in archaeological contexts. The presence of flaked-stone tools made of limestone is typically attributed to the scarcity of more suitable raw materials. Nevertheless, in chert-rich areas, such as the upper Belize River valley, limestone bif…
Civic and Household Community Relationships at Teotihuacan, Mexico
It is held that the study of complex societies can effectively focus on the human interactions that define communities. Given the operational primacy of architectural survey in archaeological investigations, with some prominent exceptions, it is surprising how little attention has been paid to how communities of varying scales can actually be identified using these data sets. This article weds a modified version of Yaeger and Canuto's (2000) ‘int…
Employing airborne lidar and archaeological testing to determine the role of small depressions in water management at the ancient Maya site of Yaxnohcah, Campeche, Mexico
Using X‐ray fluorescence to examine ancient Maya granite ground stone in Belize
While ubiquitous among ancient Maya sites in Mesoamerica, archaeological analysts frequently overlook the interpretive potential of ground stone tools. The ancient Maya often made these heavy, bulky tools of coarse‐grained, heterogeneous materials that are difficult to chemically source, unlike obsidian. This paper describes an application of handheld, energy‐dispersive X‐ray fluorescence (XRF) to provenance ground stone artifacts (tools and arch…
It’s What’s Inside that Counts
The ceramic assemblage at the Classic Period Maya site of Alabama, Belize is poorly preserved and fragmentary. Most of the pottery cannot be classified using standard type-variety approaches, which privilege decoration and surface treatment. The nature of the Alabama ceramic assemblage requires a classification system organized by paste wares, as opposed to incorporating paste composition as a modal or analytical unit that crosscuts types and war…
Civic and Household Community Relationships at Teotihuacan, Mexico
It is held that the study of complex societies can effectively focus on the human interactions that define communities. Given the operational primacy of architectural survey in archaeological investigations, with some prominent exceptions, it is surprising how little attention has been paid to how communities of varying scales can actually be identified using these data sets. This article weds a modified version of Yaeger and Canuto's (2000) ‘int…
Identifying integrative built environments in the archaeological record
Boots on the Ground at Yaxnohcah
This study proposes a sampling method for ground-truthing LiDAR-derived data that will allow researchers to verify or predict the accuracy of results over a large area. Our case study is focused on a 24 km 2 area centered on the site of Yaxnohcah in the Yucatan Peninsula. This area is characterized by a variety of dense tropical rainforest and wetland vegetation zones with limited road and trail access. Twenty-one 100 x 100 m blocks were selected…
Employing airborne lidar and archaeological testing to determine the role of small depressions in water management at the ancient Maya site of Yaxnohcah, Campeche, Mexico
Seeking Conflict in Mesoamerica
Maya Monumental “Boom”
Boomtowns are the product of unique flows of development characterized by relatively rapid population growth and land conversion, and the sudden appearance of functional and place-making features, much of which may not be readily apparent in the archaeological record. While settlements may expand rapidly in the absence of these forms, and thus lie outside the boomtown definition, we propose that the process does, in fact, describe development at …
Raw Material Selection and Stone Tool Production
Stone tool producers in the Maya Lowlands had several types of raw materials from which to choose. Limestone, chert, and obsidian are the most naturally abundant, whereas chert and obsidian outnumber limestone in archaeological contexts. The presence of flaked-stone tools made of limestone is typically attributed to the scarcity of more suitable raw materials. Nevertheless, in chert-rich areas, such as the upper Belize River valley, limestone bif…
Ritual economy and ancient Maya bloodletting
It’s What’s Inside that Counts
The ceramic assemblage at the Classic Period Maya site of Alabama, Belize is poorly preserved and fragmentary. Most of the pottery cannot be classified using standard type-variety approaches, which privilege decoration and surface treatment. The nature of the Alabama ceramic assemblage requires a classification system organized by paste wares, as opposed to incorporating paste composition as a modal or analytical unit that crosscuts types and war…
Using X‐ray fluorescence to examine ancient Maya granite ground stone in Belize
While ubiquitous among ancient Maya sites in Mesoamerica, archaeological analysts frequently overlook the interpretive potential of ground stone tools. The ancient Maya often made these heavy, bulky tools of coarse‐grained, heterogeneous materials that are difficult to chemically source, unlike obsidian. This paper describes an application of handheld, energy‐dispersive X‐ray fluorescence (XRF) to provenance ground stone artifacts (tools and arch…
Granite Value Among the Ancient Maya of Alabama, Belize
This article outlines our research into granite use by the ancient Maya of the Alabama Townsite—a Late to Terminal Classic (ca. a.d. 700–900) rapid-growth community in East-Central Belize, part of the Eastern Maya Lowlands. One of our initial hypotheses regarding the seemingly sudden appearance of the town toward the end of the Late Classic period focused on granite as a staple resource exploited by its residents. We highlight current results of …
AMS 14C dating of an Ancestral Maya boomtown
Understanding the developmental and occupational histories of Ancestral Maya settlements is crucial for interpreting their roles in broader social, political, and economic dynamics. This article presents 62 new accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) 14 C dates from residential groups in the outlying settlement zone at Alabama, a major inland Ancestral Maya center in East-Central Belize. Alabama is a rare example of a “boomtown” in the Maya lowlands,…
Geography (11 works) · Archaeology (9 works) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (7 works) · Maya (7 works) · Geology (6 works) · History (4 works) · Computer Science (3 works) · Historical and Cultural Archaeology Studies (3 works) · Mesoamerica (3 works) · Petrography (3 works)