Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-xbtfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-02T21:17:25.120Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Archaic Origins of the Lowland Maya

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Jon C. Lohse
Jon C. Lohse*
Affiliation:
Center for Archaeological Studies, Texas State University-San Marcos, San Marcos, TX 78666 ([email protected])
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The earliest Lowland Maya are commonly recognized by permanent architecture and the appearance of pottery. However, when other lines of evidence are considered, strong continuities with late Archaic populations can be seen. Reconciling these views relies on more than simply gathering more data. It is also necessary to consider the effect of decades of scholarship that defines the precolumbian Maya as “civilization” rather than considering the historical contexts of important transitions, such as the one that culminated with sedentism, the adoption of new technologies, and participation in long-distance exchange. The Archaic-to-Preclassic transition was relatively brief and largely obscured by the practices of establishing permanent dwellings. Nevertheless, this period must have been extremely dynamic and marked by significant cultural change, making it important to researchers interested in early Mesoamerica. Using three lines of evidence—subsistence, economy and technology, and stratigraphically controlled radiocarbon data—this article argues that the Lowland Maya had their cultural origins at least in the late Archaic and that the case for pottery before ca. 1000 B.C. remains uncertain. Future research is needed to determine precisely how far back in time certain cultural practices that characterize Preclassic and Classic Maya society can be documented.

Resumen

Resumen

La investigación arqueológica sobre los orígenes de las tierras bajas mayas ha tendido a enfocarse en la cerámica y la arquitectura permanente, y ha favorecido explicaciones que involucran influencias externas. Sólo recientemente la evidencia de depósitos precerámicos pre-aldeanos ha cambiado sustancialmente este punto de vista. Esta perspectiva tradicional resulta ser un enfoque de umbral para estudiar el cambio cultural, en el cual la presencia de ciertos rasgos reorienta la investigación hacia un conjunto diferente de planteamientos poco relacionados con los que caracterizan a el o los periodos precedentes en las cronologías regionales o culturales. Un resultado de este enfoque es que en los análisis antropológicos se pierde el contexto histórico en el cual ocurrieron esas transiciones culturales. Este artículo se enfoca en la transición de la vida precerámica a la aldeana, ca. 1100–900 a.C., en las tierras bajas mayas. La evidencia indica que la cerámica y la vida aldeana reconocible parecen haber sucedido casi al mismo tiempo; si es que existieron aldeas precerámicas, los arqueólogos aún no las han identificado. A fin de contextualizar el surgimiento de la sociedad sedentaria, se comparan tres amplias líneas de evidencia para el Arcaico Tardío y la parte temprana del Preclásico Medio (subsistencia, economía y tecnología, y fechamiento absoluto). Como resultado de esta visión comparativa, se destacan desarrollos importantes, pero también se hacen evidentes las fuertes continuidades con las tradiciones previas. Una de las metas de este estudio es esbozar un marco para investigar la transición desde el Arcaico Tardío hasta la parte temprana del Preclásico Medio a lo largo de las tierras bajas, y así postular que los patrones culturales mayas pueden trazarse sistemáticamente desde las adaptaciones pre-sedentarias. Un segundo objetivo es abordar argumentos epistemológicos que han existido por mucho tiempo en cuanto a cómo se define lo “maya.”

Type
Research Article
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 21 , Issue 3 , September 2010 , pp. 312 - 352
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Adams, Richard E. W. 1966 The Ceramic Chronology of the Southern Maya. Manuscript on file at the Department of Anthropology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.Google Scholar
Adams, Richard E. W. 1971 The Ceramics of Altar de Sacrificios. Papers of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Vol. 63. Harvard University, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Adams, Richard E. W. (editor) 1977 The Origins of Maya Civilization. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Anderson, David S. 2003 El asentamiento preclásico en la región noroeste de Yucatán. In Proyecto Costa Maya: reconocimiento arqueológico en el noroeste de Yucatán, México, edited by Fernando Robles Castellanos and Anthony P. Andrews, pp. 46–61. Informe para el Consejo Nacional de Arqueología de México, Yucatán Centra Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mérida.Google Scholar
Andrews, Anthony P., and Castellanos, Fernando Robles 2004 An Archaeological Survey of Northwest Yucatan, Mexico. Mexicon 26:7–14.Google Scholar
Andrews, Anthony P., 2010 The Paleoindian and Archaic Periods in Yucatán. Manuscript on file with the authors, Sarasota and Mérida.Google Scholar
Andrews, E. Wyllys, V 1990 Early Ceramic History of the Lowland Maya. In Vision and Revision in Maya Studies, edited by Flora S. Clancy and Peter D. Harrison, pp. 1–19. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Andrews, E. Wyllys, V, Bey, George J. III, and Gunn, Christopher 2008 Rethinking the Early Ceramic History of the Northern Maya Lowlands: New Evidence and Interpretations. Paper presented at the 73rd Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Vancouver.Google Scholar
Andrews, E. Wyllys, V, and Hammond, Norman 1990 Redefinition of the Swasey Phase at Cuello, Belize. American Antiquity 55:570–584.Google Scholar
Anthony, Dana, and Black, Stephen L. 1994 Excavations at Operation 2031. In Continuing Archeology at Colhá, Belize, edited by Thomas R. Hester, Harry J. Shafer, and Jack D. Eaton, pp. 39–58. Studies in Archeology No. 16. Texas Archeological Research Laboratory, University of Texas at Austin.Google Scholar
Aoyama, Kazuo 2005 Classic Maya Warfare and Weapons: Spear, Dart, and Arrow Points of Aguateca and Copan. Ancient Mesoamerica 16:291–304.Google Scholar
Arnold, Philip J. III 1999 Tecomates, Residential Mobility, and Early Formative Occupation in Coastal Lowland Mesoamerica. In Pottery and People: A Dynamic Interaction, edited by James M. Skibo and Gary M. Feinman, pp. 157–170. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Awe, Jaime J. 1992 Dawn in the Land Between the Rivers: Formative Occupation at Cahal Pech, Belize and Its Implications for Preclassic Development in the Maya Lowlands. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Institute of Archaeology, University of London.Google Scholar
Awe, Jaime J., and Lohse, Jon C. 2007 In Search of the First Belizeans: The Paleo-Indian and Archaic Hunter Gatherers of Belize. Belizean Studies 29:29–49.Google Scholar
Ball, Joseph W., and Taschek, Jennifer T. 2003 Reconsidering the Belize Valley Preclassic: A Case for Multiethnic Interactions in the Development of a Regional Culture Tradition. Ancient Mesoamerica 14:179–217.Google Scholar
Bartlett, Mary Lee, Neff, Hector, and McAnany, Patricia A. 2000 Differentiation of Clay Resources on a Limestone Plain: The Analysis of Clay Utilization During the Maya Formative at K’axob Belize. Geoarchaeology 15:95–133.3.0.CO;2-1>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beach, Timothy, Luzzadder-Beach, Sheryl, and Dunning, Nicholas 2006 A Soils History of Mesoamerica and the Caribbean Islands. In Soils and Societies: Perspectives from Environmental History, edited by John McNeill and Verena Winiwarter, pp. 51–90. While Horse Press, Isle of Harris, Outer Hebrides.Google Scholar
Beach, Timothy, Luzzadder-Beach, Sheryl, Dunning, Nicholas, Jones, John, Lohse, Jon, Guderjan, Thomas, Bozarth, Steve, Millspaugh, Sarah, and Bhattacharya, Tripti 2009 A Review of Human and Natural Changes in Maya Lowlands Wetlands over the Holocene. Quaternary Science Reviews 28:1710–1724.Google Scholar
Blake, Michael (editor) 1999 Pacific Latin America in Prehistory: The Evolution of Archaic and Formative Cultures. Washington State University Press, Pullman.Google Scholar
Blake, Michael, Chisholm, Brian S., Clark, John E., Voorhies, Barbara, and Love, Michael W. 1992 Prehistoric Subsistence in the Soconusco Region. Current Anthropology 33:83–94.Google Scholar
Blake, Michael, Clark, John E., Voorhies, Barbara, Michaels, George, Love, Michael W., Pye, Mary E., Demarest, Arthur A., and Arroyo, Barbara 1995 Radiocarbon Chronology for the Late Archaic and Formative Periods on the Pacific Coast of Southeastern Mesoamerica. Ancient Mesoamerica 6:161–183.Google Scholar
Brody, Jill 2000 Comment. Current Anthropology 41:338–339.Google Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, Christopher 2008 Deposition Models for Chronological Records. Quaternary Science Reviews 27:42–60.Google Scholar
Brown, Kenneth L. 1980 A Brief Report on Paleoindian–Archaic Occupation in the Quiche Basin, Guatemala. American Antiquity 45:313–324.Google Scholar
Campbell, Lyle 2004 Historical Linguistics: An Introduction. MIT Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Campbell, Lyle, and Kaufman, Terrance 1976 A Linguistic Look at the Olmecs. American Antiquity 41:80–89.Google Scholar
Cheetham, David T. 1995 Excavations of Structure B-4, Cahal Pech, Belize: 1994 Operations. In Belize Valley Preclassic Maya Project: Report on the 1994 Field Season, edited by Paul F. Healy and Jaime J. Awe, pp. 18–44. Occasional Papers in Anthropology, No. 10. Trent University Department of Anthropology, Peterborough, Ontario.Google Scholar
Cheetham, David T. 2005 Cunil: A Pre-Mamom Horizon in the Southern Maya Lowlands. In New Perspectives on Formative Mesoamerican Cultures, edited by Terry G. Powis, pp. 27–38. BAR International Series 1377. Oxford.Google Scholar
Cheetham, David T., Forsyth, Donald W., and Clark, John E. 2003 La cerámica pre-Mamom de la Cuenca del Río Belice y del centra de Petén: las correspondencias y sus implicaciones. In XVI Simposio de Investigaciones Arqueológicas en Guatemala, edited by Juan Pedro Laporte, Bárbara Arroyo, Héctor Escobedo, and Héctor Mejía, pp. 615–634. Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología, Asociación Tikal.Google Scholar
Clark, John E. 1987 Politics, Prismatic Blades, and Mesoamerican Civilization. In The Organization of Core Technology, edited by Jay K. Johnson and Carol A. Marrow, pp. 259–284. Westview Press, Boulder.Google Scholar
Clark, John E. 1994 The Development of Early Formative Rank Societies in the Soconusco, Chiapas, Mexico. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Clark, John E. 2000 Towards a Better Explanation of Hereditary Inequality: A Critical Assessment of Natural and Historic Human Agents. In Agency in Archaeology, edited by Marcia Anne Dobres and John Robb, pp. 92–112. Routledge Press, London.Google Scholar
Clark, John E., and Blake, Michael 1994 The Power of Prestige: Competitive Generosity and the Emergence of Rank Societies in Eastern Mesoamerica. In Factional Competition and Political Development in the New World, edited by Elizabeth M. Brumfiel and John W. Fox, pp. 17–30. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Clark, John E., and Cheetham, David 2002 Mesoamerica’s Tribal Foundations. In The Archaeology of Tribal Societies, edited by William A. Parkinson, pp. 278–339. International Monographs in Prehistory, Archaeological Series 15. Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Clark, John E., Hansen, Richard D., and Suárez, Tomás Pérez 2000 La zona maya en el Preclásico. In Historia Antigua de México, Vol. I: El México antiguo, sus áreas culturales, los órignes y el horizonte Preclásico, edited by Linda Manzanilla and Leonardo López Lujan, pp. 437–510. Instituto de Investigaciones Antropológicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City.Google Scholar
Clark, John E., and Pye, Mary E. (editors) 2000 Olmec Art and Archaeology in Mesoamerica. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Cobean, Robert H., Coe, Michael D., Perry, Edward A. Jr., Turekian, Karl K., and Kharkar, Dinkar P. 1971 Obsidian Trade at San Lorenzo Tenochtitlan, Mexico. Science 174:666–671.Google Scholar
Cowgill, Ursula, and Hutchinson, G. E. 1963 El Bajo de Santa Fé. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society 53(7):3–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Culbert, T. Patrick 1977 Early Maya Development at Tikal, Guatemala. In The Origins of Maya Civilization, edited by Richard E. W. Adams, pp. 27–43. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Demarest, Arthur A. 1986 The Archaeology of Santa Leticia and the Rise of Maya Civilization. Middle American Research Institute Publication 52. Tulane University, New Orleans.Google Scholar
Demarest, Arthur A. 1989 The Olmec and the Rise of Civilization in Eastern Mesoamerica. In Regional Perspectives on the Olmec, edited by Robert J. Sharer and David C. Grove, pp. 303–344. Cambridge University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Dillehay, Thomas D. 2000 The Settlement of the Americas: A New Prehistory. Basic Books, New York.Google Scholar
Flannery, Kent V. (editor) 1985 Guila Naquitz: Archaic Foraging and Early Agriculture in Oaxaca, Mexico. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Garber, James F., and Awe, Jaime J. 2009 A Terminal Early Formative Symbol System in the Maya Lowlands: The Iconography of the Cunil Phase (1100–900 BC) at Cahal Pech. Reports in Belizean Archaeology 6:151–159.Google Scholar
Garber, James F., Kathryn Brown, M., Awe, Jaime J., and Hartman, Christopher J. 2004a Middle Formative Prehistory of the Central Belize Valley: An Examination of Architecture, Material Culture, and Sociopolitical Change at Blackman Eddy. In The Ancient Maya of the Belize Valley: Half a Century of Archaeological Research, edited by James F Garber, pp. 25–47. University Press of Florida, Gainesville.Google Scholar
Garber, James F., Kathryn Brown, M., David Driver, W., Glassman, David M., Hartman, Christopher J., Kent Reilly, F. III, and Sullivan, Lauren A. 2004b Archaeological Investigations at Blackman Eddy. In The Ancient Maya of the Belize Valley: Haifa Century of Archaeological Research, edited by James F. Garber, pp. 48–69. University Press of Florida, Gainesville.Google Scholar
Garber, James F., Kathryn Brown, M., and Hartman, Christopher J. 2002 The Early/Middle Formative Kanocha Phase (1200–850 BC) at Blackman Eddy, Belize. Report submitted to the Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies, Inc. Electronic document, http://www.famsi.org/reports/00090/index.html, accessed July 8, 2008.Google Scholar
González, Arturo H. González, Sandoval, Carmen Rojas, Mata, Alejandro Terrazas, Sanvicente, Martha Benavente, Stinnesbeck, Wolfgang, Avilés O., Jerónimo, de los Ríos, Magdalena, and Acevez, Eugenio 2008 The Arrival of Humans on the Yucatan Peninsula: Evidence from Submerged Caves in the State of Quintana Roo, Mexico. Current Research in the Pleistocene 25:1–24.Google Scholar
Griffith, Cameron S., and Helmke, Christophe G. 2000 Preliminary Investigations and GIS Spatial Analysis in Actun Halal, Belize. In The Western Belize Regional Cave Project: A Report of the 2000 Field Season, edited by Jaime J. Awe, pp. 98–113. Department of Anthropology Occasional Paper No. 3. University of New Hampshire, Durham.Google Scholar
Gruhn, Ruth, Bryan, Alan Lyle, and Nance, Jack D. 1977 Los Tapiales: A Paleo-Indian Campsite in the Guatemalan Highlands. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 121(3):235–273.Google Scholar
Hammond, Norman 1977 The Earliest Maya. Scientific American 236:116–133.Google Scholar
Hammond, Norman 1991 The Maya and Their Civilization. In Cuello: An Early Maya Community in Belize, edited by Norman Hammond, pp. 1–7. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Hammond, Norman 2002 Closing Down Cuello. Context 16:10–15.Google Scholar
Hammond, Norman (editor) 1991 Cuello: An Early Maya Community in Belize. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Hammond, Norman, Clarke, Amanda, and Donaghey, Sara 1995 The Long Goodbye: Middle Preclassic Maya Archaeology at Cuello, Belize. Latin American Antiquity 6:120–128.Google Scholar
Hammond, Norman, Donaghey, Sara, Berger, Rainer, de Atley, Susanne, Switsur, V. R., and Ward, A. P. 1977 Maya Formative Radiocarbon Dates from Belize. Nature 267:608–610.Google Scholar
Hammond, Norman, and Gerhardt, Juliette Cartwright 1990 Early Maya Architectural Innovation at Cuello, Belize. World Archaeology 21:461–481.Google Scholar
Hammond, Norman, Gerhardt, Juliette Cartwright, and Donaghey, Sara 1991 Stratigraphy and Chronology in the Reconstruction of Preclassic Developments at Cuello. In Cuello: An Early Maya Community in Belize, edited by Norman Hammond, pp. 23–55. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Hammond, Norman, Pring, Duncan C., Berger, Ranier, Switsur, V. R., and Ward, A. P. 1976 Radiocarbon Chronology for Early Maya Occupation at Cuello, Belize. Nature 260:579–581.Google Scholar
Hansen, Richard D. 1998 Continuity and Disjunction: The Pre-Classic Antecedents of Classic Maya Architecture. In Function and Meaning in Classic Maya Architecture, edited by Stephen D. Houston, pp. 49–122. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Hansen, Richard D. 2005 Perspectives on Olmec-Maya Interaction in the Middle Formative Period. In New Perspectives on Formative Mesoamerican Cultures, edited by Terry G. Powis, pp. 51–72. BAR International Series 1377. Oxford.Google Scholar
Hansen, Richard D., Bozarth, Steven, Jacob, John, Wahl, David, and Schreiner, Thomas 2002 Climatic and Environmental Variability in the Rise of Maya Civilization: A Preliminary Perspective from Northern Petén. Ancient Mesoamerica 13:273–295.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Healy, Paul F. (editor) 1999 Belize Valley Preclassic Project: Report on the 1996 and 1997 Field Seasons. Occasional Papers in Anthropology, No. 13. Trent University Department of Anthropology, Peterborough, Ontario.Google Scholar
Healy, Paul F., and Awe, Jaime J. 1995 Radiocarbon Dates from Cahal Pech, Belize: Results from the 1994 Field Season. In Belize Valley Preclassic Maya Project: Report on the 1994 Field Season, edited by Paul F. Healy and Jaime J. Awe, pp. 198–206. Occasional Papers in Anthropology, No. 10. Trent University Department of Anthropology, Peterborough, Ontario.Google Scholar
Healy, Paul F., and Awe, Jaime J. (editors) 1995 Belize Valley Preclassic Maya Project: Report on the 1994 Field Season. Occasional Papers in Anthropology, No. 10. Trent University Department of Anthropology, Peterborough, Ontario.Google Scholar
Healy, Paul F., and Awe, Jaime J. (editors) 1996 Belize Valley Preclassic Maya Project: Report on the 1995 Field Season. Occasional Papers in Anthropology, No. 12. Trent University Department of Anthropology, Peterborough, Ontario.Google Scholar
Healy, Paul F., Cheetham, David, Powis, Terry G., and Awe, Jaime J. 2004 Cahal Pech: The Middle Formative Period. In The Ancient Maya of the Belize Valley: Half a Century of Archaeological Research, edited by James F. Garber, pp. 103–124. University Press of Florida, Gainesville.Google Scholar
Hester, Thomas R. 1980 Radiocarbon Dates from Colhá, Belize. In The Colhá Project Second Season, 1980 Interim Report, edited by Thomas R. Hester, Jack D. Eaton, and Harry J. Shafer, pp. 289–290. Center for Archaeological Research, University of Texas at San Antonio; and Centra Studi e Ricerche Ligabue, Venice.Google Scholar
Hester, Thomas R., Iceland, Harry B., Hudler, Dale B., and Shafer, Harry J. 1996 The Colhá Preceramic Project: Preliminary Results from the 1993–1995 Field Seasons. Mexicon 18:45–50.Google Scholar
Hester, Thomas R., Kelly, Thomas C., and Ligabue, Giancarlo 1981 A Fluted Paleo-Indian Projectile Point from Belize, Central America. Working Papers in Archaeology No. 1. Center for Archaeological Research, University of Texas at San Antonio.Google Scholar
Hester, Thomas R., and Shafer, Harry J. 1984 Exploitation of Chert Resources by the Ancient Maya of Northern Belize, Central America. World Archaeology 16:157–173.Google Scholar
Hester, Thomas R., and Shafer, Harry J. 1994 The Ancient Maya Craft Community at Colhá, Belize, and Its External Relationships. In Archaeological Views from the Countryside: Village Communities in Early Complex Societies, edited by Glenn M. Schwartz and Steven E. Falconer, pp. 48–63. Smithsonian Institution Press. Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Hester, Thomas R., Shafer, Harry J., and Kelly, Thomas C. 1980 A Preliminary Note on Artifacts from the Lowe Ranch: A Preceramic Site in Belize. In The Colhá Project Second Season, 1980 Interim Report, edited by Thomas R. Hester, Jack D. Eaton, and Harry J. Shafer, pp. 229–232. Center for Archaeological Research, University of Texas at San Antonio; and Centra Studie Ricerche Ligabue, Venice.Google Scholar
Hohmann, Bobbi, and Powis, Terry G. 1996 The 1995 Excavations at Pacbitun, Belize: Investigations of the Middle Formative Occupation in Plaza B. In Belize Valley Preclassic Project: Report on the 1995 Season, edited by Paul F Healy and Jaime J. Awe, pp. 98–117. Occasional Papers in Anthropology No. 12. Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario.Google Scholar
Houston, Stephen D. 2000 Into the Minds of Ancients: Advances in Maya Glyph Studies. Journal of World Prehistory 14:121–201.Google Scholar
Houston, Stephen D., Robertson, John, and Stuart, David 2000 The Language of Classic Maya Inscriptions. Current Anthropology 41:321–356.Google Scholar
Houston, Stephen D., and Stuart, David 1992 On Maya Hieroglyphic Literacy. Current Anthropology 33:589–593.Google Scholar
Hudler, Dale B., and Lohse, Jon C. 1994 A Functional and Contextual Study of Unifacial Chert Tools in Belize. Paper presented at the 59th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Iceland, Harry B. 1997 The Preceramic Origins of the Maya: The Results of the Colhá Preceramic Project in Northern Belize. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Texas at Austin.Google Scholar
Iceland, Harry B. 2005 The Preceramic to Early Middle Formative Transition in Northern Belize: Evidence for the Ethnic Identity of the Preceramic Inhabitants. In New Perspectives on Formative Mesoamerican Cultures, edited by Terry G. Powis, pp. 15–26. BAR International Series 1377. Oxford.Google Scholar
Inomata, Takeshi, Triadan, Daniela, and Román, Otto 2008 La organizatión política en el periodo Clásico Terminal: Investigaciones en Ceibal. Paper presented at the 22nd Simposio de Investigaciones Arqueológicas en Guatemala, Guatemala City.Google Scholar
Islebe, Gerald A., Hooghiemstra, Henry, Brenner, Mark, Curtis, Jason H., and Hodell, David A. 1996 A Holocene Vegetation History from Lowland Guatemala. The Holocene 6:265–271.Google Scholar
Jacob, John S. 1995 Ancient Maya Wetland Agricultural Fields in Cobweb Swamp, Belize: Construction, Chronology, and Function. Journal of Field Archaeology 22:175–190.Google Scholar
Jones, John G. 1994 Pollen Evidence for Early Settlement and Agriculture in Northern Belize. Palynology 18:205–211.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, John G., and Hallock, Ashley 2008 Analysis of Fossil Pollen from Actun Halal, Belize. In In Search of the Preceramic: 2006 Season Investigations at Actun Halal, Belize, by Jon C. Lohse, pp. 47–54. Report submitted to the Institute of Archaeology, National Institute of Culture and History, Belmopan. Center for Archaeological Studies, Texas State University-San Marcos.Google Scholar
Joyce, Rosemary, and Henderson, John S. 2001 The Beginnings of Village Life in Eastern Mesoamerica. Latin American Antiquity 12:5–24.Google Scholar
Kaufman, Terrance 1976 Archaeological and Linguistic Correlations in Mayaland and Associated Areas of Mesoamerica. World Archaeology 8:101–118.Google Scholar
Kelly, Thomas C. 1993 Preceramic Projectile-Point Typology in Belize. Ancient Mesoamerica 4:205–227.Google Scholar
Kennett, Douglas J., Voorhies, Barbara, and McClure, Sarah B. 2002 Los Cerritos: An Early Fishing-Farming Community on the Pacific Coast of Mexico. Antiquity 76:631–632.Google Scholar
Kosakowsky, Laura J. 1987 Preclassic Maya Pottery at Cuello, Belize. Anthropological Papers of the University of Arizona, No. 47. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Kosakowsky, Laura J., and Pring, Duncan C. 1998 The Ceramics of Cuello, Belize: A New Reevaluation. Ancient Mesoamerica 9:55–66.Google Scholar
Laporte, Juan Pedro, and Fialko, Vilma 1993 Análisis cerámico de tres depásitos problemáticos de fase Eb, Mundo Perdido, Tikal. In Tikal y Uaxactun en el Preclásico, edited by Juan Pedro Laporte and Juan Antonio Valdés, pp. 53–69. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City.Google Scholar
LeCount, Lisa J. 2008 The Ceramics of Actun Halal. In In Search of the Preceramic: 2006 Season Investigations at Actun Halal, Belize, by Jon C. Lohse, pp. 36–46. Report submitted to the Institute of Archaeology, National Institute of Culture and History, Belmopan. Center for Archaeological Studies, Texas Slate University-San Marcos.Google Scholar
Leyden, Barbara W. 2002 Pollen Evidence for Climatic Variability and Cultural Disturbance in the Maya Lowlands. Ancient Mesoamerica 13:85–101.Google Scholar
Lohse, Jon C. 1993 Operation 4046, Colhá, Belize: A Reconsideration of a Lowland Archaic Deposit. Unpublished Master’s thesis, Department of Anthropology, University of Texas at Austin.Google Scholar
Lohse, Jon C. 2005 Preceramic Occupations in Belize. Research Reports in Belizean Archaeology 2:441–457.Google Scholar
Lohse, Jon C. 2008 In Search of the Preceramic: 2006 Season Investigations at Actun Halal, Belize. Report submitted to the Institute of Archaeology, National Institute of Culture and History, Belmopan. Center for Archaeological Studies, Texas State University-San Marcos.Google Scholar
Lohse, Jon C. 2009 The Archaic-to-Preclassic Transition in Belize: What We Know and Why We Don’t Know More. Research Reports in Belizean Archaeology 6, in press.Google Scholar
Lohse, Jon C., and Awe, Jaime 2007 In Search of the First Belizeans: The Paleo-Indian and Archaic Hunter Gathers of Belize. Belizean Studies 29:29–49.Google Scholar
Lohse, Jon C., Awe, Jaime, Griffith, Cameron, Rosenswig, Robert M., and Valdez, Fred Jr. 2006 Preceramic Occupations in Belize: Updating the Paleoindian and Archaic Record. Latin American Antiquity 17(2):209–226.Google Scholar
MacNeish, Richard S., and Nelken-Terner, Antoinette 1983 Final Report of the Belize Archaic Archaeological Reconnaissance. R. S. Peabody Foundation, Andover, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
MacNeish, Richard S., Nelken-Terner, Antoinette, and Johnson, Irmgard W. 1967 The Prehistory of the Tehuacan Valley, Vol. 2: Non-ceramic Artifacts. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
MacNeish, Richard S., Wilkerson, S. Jeffery K., and Nelken-Terner, Antoinette 1980 First Annual Report of the Belize Archaic Archaeological Reconnaissance. R. S. Peabody Foundation, Andover, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Marcus, Joyce 1983 Lowland Maya Archaeology at the Crossroads. American Antiquity 48:454–482.Google Scholar
Marcus, Joyce, and Flannery, Kent V. 1996 Zapotec Civilization: How Urban Society Evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. Thames and Hudson, Ltd., New York.Google Scholar
Masson, Marilyn A. 2004 Fauna Exploitation from the Preclassic to the Postclassic Periods at Four Maya Settlements in Northern Belize. In Maya Zooarchaeology: New Directions in Theory and Method, edited by Kitty F. Emery, pp. 97–122. Monograph 51, Cotsen Institute of Archaeology. University of California, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
McAnany, Patricia A. (editor) 2004 K’axob: Ritual, Work, and Family in an Ancient Maya Village. Monumenta Archaeologica 22. Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, University of California, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
McAnany, Patricia A., and López Varela, Sandra L. 1999 Re-Creating the Formative Maya Village of K’axob: Chronology, Ceramic Complexes, and Ancestors in Architectural Context. Ancient Mesoamerica 10:147–168.Google Scholar
McAnany, Patricia A., and Murata, Saturo 2006 Interim Report on the 2005 Field Season: Survey and Mapping of Wits Cah Ak’al. Report submitted to the Institute of Archaeology, Belmopan.Google Scholar
Morgan, Molly, Lohse, Jon C., and Awe, Jaime 2008 Preceramic Occupations in Western Belize and Implications for Early Maya Development in the Belize River Valley. Paper presented at the 73rd Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Vancouver.Google Scholar
Morgan, Molly, and Valle, Judith 2007 Proyecto Arqueoloógico Chuquiuitan: las conclusions de la temporada 2007, informe final. Manuscript on file at Instituto de Antropología e Historia, Guatemala.Google Scholar
Moyes, Holley 2006 The Sacred Landscape as a Political Resource: A Case Study of Ancient Maya Cave Use at Chechem Ha Cave, Belize, Central America. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, State University of New York, Buffalo.Google Scholar
Moyes, Holley, Awe, Jaime J., Brook, George A., and Webster, James W. 2009 The Ancient Maya Drought Cult: Classic Cave Use in Belize. Latin American Antiquity 20:175–206.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Murata, Satoru 2009 The Salting Pot: The Archaeology of a Production Landscape on the Maya Caribbean Seaboard. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Archaeology, Boston University.Google Scholar
Neff, Hector, Pearsall, Deborah M., Jones, John G., Arroyo, Barbara, Collins, Shawn K., and Freidel, Dorothy E. 2006 Early Maya Adaptive Patterns: Mid-Late Holocene Paleoenvironmental Evidence from Pacific Guatemala. Latin American Antiquity 17:287–315.Google Scholar
Neiderberger, Christine 1979 Early Sedentary Economy in the Basin of Mexico. Science 203(4376):131–142.Google Scholar
Pearson, Georges A., and Bostrom, Pete 1998 A New Fluted Stemmed Point from Belize and Its Implications for a Circum-Caribbean Paleoindian Culture. Current Research in the Pleistocene 15:55–57.Google Scholar
Pohl, Mary D., Pope, Kevin O., Jones, John G., Jacob, John S., Piperno, Dolores R., deFrance, Susan D., Lentz, David L., Gifford, John A., Danforth, Marie E., and Kathryn Josserand, J. 1996 Early Agriculture in the Maya Lowlands. Latin American Antiquity 7:355–372.Google Scholar
Ponciano, Erick M., Inomata, Takeshi, and Triadan, Daniela (editors) 2006 Informe del proyecto arqueológico Ceibal Petexbatun, la temporada de campo 2006. Report submitted to the Instituto de Antropología e Historia, Guatemala.Google Scholar
Potter, Daniel R. 1991 A Descriptive Taxonomy of Middle Preclassic Chert Tools at Colhá, Belize. In Maya Stone Tools, edited by Thomas R. Hester and Harry J. Shafer, pp. 21–30. Prehistory Press, Madison, Wisconsin.Google Scholar
Potter, Daniel R., Hester, Thomas R., Black, Stephen L., and Valdez, Fred Jr. 1984 Relationships Between Early Preclassic and Early Middle Preclassic Phases in Northern Belize: A Comment on “Lowland Maya Archaeology at the Crossroads.” American Antiquity 49:628–631.Google Scholar
Powis, Terry G. 2004 Ancient Lowland Maya Utilization of Freshwater Pearly Mussels (Nephronaias spp.). In Maya Zooarchaeology: New Directions in Theory and Method, edited by Kitty F. Emery, pp. 125–140. Monograph 51, Cotsen Institute of Archaeology. University of California, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Powis, Terry G. (editor) 2005 New Perspectives on Formative Mesoamerican Cultures. BAR International Series 1377. Oxford.Google Scholar
Powis, Terry G., Stanchly, Norbert, White, Christine D., Healy, Paul F., Awe, Jaime J., and Longstaffe, Fred 1999 A Reconstruction of Middle Preclassic Maya Subsistence Economy at Cahal Pech, Belize. Antiquity 73:364–376.Google Scholar
Prufer, Keith 2008 The Foundations of Uxbenká and Sedentary Communities in Southern Belize. Paper presented at the 6th Annual Belize Archaeology Symposium, Belize City.Google Scholar
Puleston, Dennis E., and Puleston, Olga Stavrakis 1971 An Ecological Approach to the Origins of Maya Civilization. Archaeology 24:330–337.Google Scholar
Reimer, Paula J., Brown, Thomas A., and Reimer, Ron W. 2004 Discussion: Reporting and Calibration of Post-Bomb C-14 Data. Radiocarbon 46(3):1299–1304.Google Scholar
Renfrew, Colin 1986 Introduction: Peer Polity Interaction and Socio-political Change. In Peer Polity Interaction and Socio-political Change, edited by Colin Renfrew and John F. Cherry, pp. 1–18. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Rice, Prudence M. 2004 Maya Political Science: Time, Astronomy, and the Cosmos. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Robinson, Eugenia, Neff, Hector, Pye, Mary, and Garnica, Marlen 2005 The Formative Archaeological Cultures of the Guatemalan Highlands and Pacific Coast: Interregional Interaction and Cultural Evolution. In New Perspectives on Formative Mesoamerican Cultures, edited by Terry G. Powis, pp. 85–94. BAR International Series 1377. Oxford.Google Scholar
Rosenswig, Robert M. 2004 The Late Archaic Occupation of Northern Belize: New Archaeological Excavation Data. Research Reports in Belizean Archaeology 1:267–277.Google Scholar
Rosenswig, Robert M., and Masson, Marilyn A. 2001 Seven New Preceramic Sites Documented in Northern Belize. Mexican 23:138–140.Google Scholar
Rue, David 1989 Archaic Middle American Agriculture and Settlement: Recent Pollen Data from Honduras. Journal of Field Archaeology 16:177–184.Google Scholar
Rue, David, Webster, David, and Traverse, Alfred 2002 Late Holocene Fire and Agriculture in the Copan Valley, Honduras. Ancient Mesoamerica 13:267–272.Google Scholar
Saturno, William A., Stuart, David, and Beltrán, Boris 2006 Early Maya Writing at San Bartolo, Guatemala. Science 311:1281–1283.Google Scholar
Scheie, Linda, and Freidel, David 1990 A Forest of Kings. William Morrow, New York.Google Scholar
Shafer, Harry J., and Hester, Thomas R. 1983 Ancient Maya Chert Workshops in Northern Belize, Central America. American Antiquity 48:519–543.Google Scholar
Shafer, Harry J., Hester, Thomas R., and Kelly, Thomas C. 1980 Notes on the Sand Hill Site. In The Colhá Project Second Season, 1980 Interim Report, edited by Thomas R. Hester, Jack D. Eaton, and Harry J. Shafer, pp. 233–240. Center for Archaeological Research, University of Texas at San Antonio; and Centra Studi e Ricerche Ligabue, Venice.Google Scholar
Sharer, Robert J., and Gifford, James C. 1970 Preclassic Ceramics from Chalchuapa, El Salvador, and Their Relationships with the Maya Lowlands. American Antiquity 35:441–462.Google Scholar
Sharer, Robert J., and Sedat, David W. 1987 Archaeological Investigations in the Northern Maya Highlands, Guatemala: Interaction and the Development of Maya Civilization. University Museum, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Sharer, Robert J., and Traxler, Loa P. 2006 The Ancient Maya. 6th ed. Stanford University Press, Stanford.Google Scholar
Shaw, Leslie C. 1999 Social and Ecological Aspects of Preclassic Maya Meat Consumption at Colhá, Belize. In Reconstructing Ancient Maya Diet, edited by Christine D. White, pp. 83–100. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Sullivan, Lauren A. 1991 Preclassic Domestic Architecture at Colhá, Belize. Unpublished Master’s thesis, Department of Anthropology, University of Texas at Austin.Google Scholar
Sullivan, Lauren A. 2006 Cahal Pech Petrography: Results from the 2005 Season. In The Belize Valley Archaeology Project: Results of the 2005 Field Season, edited by James F. Garber, pp. 63–78. Report submitted to the Institute of Archaeology, National Institute of Culture and History, Belmopan.Google Scholar
Tedlock, Dennis 1985 Popol Vuh: The Definitive Edition of the Mayan Book of the Dawn of Life and the Glories of Gods and Kings. Simon and Schuster, New York.Google Scholar
Tozzer, Alfred M. 1941 Landa’s Relación de las Cosas de Yucatán. Papers of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology 18. Harvard University, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Tykot, R. H., van der Merwe, N. J., and Hammond, N. 1996 Stable Isotope Analysis of Bone Collagen, Bone Apatite, and Tooth Enamel in the Reconstruction of Human Diet. In Archaeological Chemistry: Organic, Inorganic, and Biochemical Analysis, edited by Mary Virginia Orna, pp. 355–365. American Chemical Society Symposium Series 625. Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Upham, Steadman 1990 Analog or Digital? Toward a Generic Framework for Explaining the Development of Emergent Political Systems. In The Evolution of Political Systems: Sociopolitics in Small-Scale Sedentary Societies, edited by Steadman Upham, pp. 87–115. Cambridge University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Valdez, Fred Jr. 1987 The Prehistoric Ceramics of Colhá, Belize. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Valdez, Fred Jr., and Aylesworth, Grant 2005 A Fluted Paleoindian Point and Other Chipped Stone Artifacts from August Pine Ridge, Belize. Mono y Conejo 3:36–40.Google Scholar
van der Merwe, Nikolaas J., Tykot, Robert H., Hammond, Norman, and Oakberg, Kim 2000 Diet and Animal Husbandry of the Preclassic Maya at Cuello, Belize. Iostopic and Zooarchaeological Evidence. In Biogeochemical Approaches to Paleodietary Analysis, edited by Stanley H. Ambrose and M. Anne Katzenberg, pp. 24–38. Plenum Publishers, New York.Google Scholar
Vaughan, Hague H., Deevy, Edward S. Jr., and Garrett-Jones, S. E. 1985 Pollen Stratigraphy of Two Cores from the Petén Lake District, with an Appendix of Two Deep-Water Cores. In Prehistoric Lowland Maya Environment and Subsistence Economy, edited by Mary D. Pohl, pp. 73–89. Papers of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Vol. 77. Harvard University, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Voorhies, Barbara 2004 Coastal Collectors in the Holocene: The Chantuto People of Southwest Mexico. University of Florida Press, Gainesville.Google Scholar
Wahl, David, Byrne, Roger, Schreiner, Thomas, and Hansen, Richard 2006 Holocene Vegetation Change in the Northern Petén and Its Implications for Maya Prehistory. Quaternary Research 65:380–389.Google Scholar
Wahl, David, and Estrada-Belli, Francisco 2008 Prehistoric Human-Environment Interactions in the Southern Maya Lowlands: The Holmul Region Case. Paper presented at the 73rd Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Vancouver.Google Scholar
Webster, David L. 2000 The Not So Peaceful Civilization: A Review of Maya War. Journal of World Prehistory 14:65–119.Google Scholar
Weissner, Polly 2002 The Vines of Complexity: Egalitarian Structures and the Institutionalization of Inequality Among the Enga. Current Anthropology 43:233–269.Google Scholar
Whiteley, Peter M. 2002 Archaeology and Oral Tradition: The Scientific Importance of Dialogue. American Antiquity 67:405–415.Google Scholar
Whitmore, Thomas J., Brenner, Mark, Curtis, Jason H., Dahlin, Bruce H., and Leyden, Barbara W. 1996 Holocene Climatic and Human Influences on Lakes of the Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico: An Interdisciplinary, Paleolimnological Approach. Holocene 6:273–287.Google Scholar
Wichmann, Søren 1998 A Conservative Look at Diffusion Involving Mixe-Zoquean Languages. In Archaeology and Language II: Correlating Archaeological and Linguistic Hypotheses, edited by Roger Blench and Matthew Spriggs, pp. 297–323. Routledge Press, New York.Google Scholar
Wilkerson, S. Jeffery K. 1975 Pre-Agricultural Village Life: The Late Preceramic Period in Veracruz. In Contributions of the University of California Research Facility, No. 27, Studies in Ancient Mesoamerica, II, pp. 111–122. Archaeological Research Facility, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Willey, Gordon R. 1966 In Introduction to American Archaeology, Vol. 1: North and Middle America. Prentice-Hall, Inc., Engle-wood Cliffs, New Jersey.Google Scholar
Willey, Gordon R. 1973 The Altar de Sacrificios Excavations: General Summary and Conclusions. Papers of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Vol. 64, No. 3. Harvard University, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Willey, Gordon R. 1982 Maya Archaeology. Science 215:260–267.Google Scholar
Willey, Gordon R., Ledyard Smith, A., Tourtellot, Gair III, and Graham, Ian 1975 Excavations at Seibal, Department of Petén, Guatemala. Memoirs of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology Vol. 13, No. 1. Harvard University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Wilson, Samuel M., Iceland, Harry B., and Hester, Thomas R. 1998 Preceramic Connections Between Yucatán and the Caribbean. Latin American Antiquity 9:342–352.Google Scholar
Wing, Elizabeth S., and Scudder, Sylvia J. 1991 The Exploitation of Animals. In Cuello: An Early Maya Community in Belize, edited by Norman Hammond, pp. 84–97. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Wood, Gregory P. 1990 Excavations at Op. 4046, Colhá, Belize: A Buried Preceramic Lithic Deposit. Unpublished Master’s thesis, Department of Anthropology, University of Texas at Austin.Google Scholar
Wrobel, Gabriel, Tyler, James, and Hardy, Jessica 2007 Rockshelter Excavations in the Caves Branch River Valley. In Research Reports in Belizean Archaeology, Vol. 4, pp. 187–196. Institute of Archaeology, National Institute of Culture and History, Belize.Google Scholar
Zeitlin, Robert N. 1984 A Summary Report on Three Seasons of Field Investigations into the Archaic Period Prehistory of Lowland Belize. American Anthropologist 86:358–369.Google Scholar
Zeitlin, Robert N., and Zeitlin, Judith F. 2000 The Paleoindian and Archaic Cultures of Mesoamerica. In The Cambridge History of the Native Peoples of the Americas, Vol. 2, edited by Richard E. W. Adams and Murdo MacLeod, pp. 45–121. Cambridge University Press, New York.Google Scholar