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THE LATE AND TERMINAL CLASSIC CERAMIC SEQUENCE AT LA MILPA, BELIZE: IMPLICATIONS FOR ITS OCCUPATION HISTORY

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 August 2014

Kerry Lynn Sagebiel
Kerry Lynn Sagebiel*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Grant Tower South A, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL 60115, USA
*
E-mail correspondence to: [email protected]
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Abstract

Previous interpretations of the occupation history of La Milpa, Belize, which were based on preliminary ceramic data, suggested that occupation of the site fluctuated dramatically from the Late Preclassic to the Terminal Classic (400 b.c.–a.d. 850). It was determined that the modest Late Preclassic village became a large Early Classic city with regal-ritual architecture and carved monuments. In Late Classic I, it appeared the site was nearly abandoned. Its reoccupation and exponential growth in Late Classic II was followed by rapid abandonment before the end of the Late Classic III/Terminal Classic. New ceramic analyses utilizing attribute analysis with an emphasis on formal modes has clarified the sequence and, in turn, softened the occupation curves. This article provides descriptions of the Late Classic I, II, and III ceramics, along with revised percentage frequency graphs of La Milpa's occupation history based primarily on the work of the La Milpa Archaeological Project (1992–2002).

Type
Research Article
Information
Ancient Mesoamerica , Volume 25 , Issue 1 , Spring 2014 , pp. 115 - 137
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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