The Lineage Model and Archaeological Data in Late Classic Northwestern Belize

As central topics of anthropological study from the 1940s through the 1970s, kinship and lineage became largely discredited during the 1980s. Recent scholarship, however, has indicated that kinship and lineage, when considered as the products of social activity, can make important contributions to studies of living and past populations. This paper explores the lineage as a model of social organization distinguished by specific activities practiced by members of Late Classic Maya social groups. This model is derived from cross-cultural literature on lineages, but practices associated with lineage organization are historically and culturally specific. A suite of archaeological correlates, based on practices endemic to the Late Classic Maya, is evaluated against a test case from northwestern Belize. The implications of a landscape populated by lineages during the Classic period argue that archaeological investigations of hinterland areas are an important complement to more traditional studies focused on nucleated site centers

An Integrated Assessment of Archaeobotanical Recovery Methods in the Neotropical Rainforest of Northern Belize: Flotation and Dry Screening

This report presents results of a study examining the ancient use of plants at four Late Classic (CE 600-900) Maya rural farmsteads in northwestern Belize. Our research specifically targeted residential middens for macrobotanical recovery. Samples yielded the remains of more than a dozen plant families, representing some genera that do not currently grow in the area. These plants were used in the Late Classic, countering the idea that ancient botanical remains do not survive in Neotropical archaeological contexts. We also evaluated two macrobotanical sample processing methods vis-à-vis one another: flotation and dry screening. Our results indicate that flotation recovered 58% more seeds than dry screening, while dry screening yielded almost twice as much charcoal and other wood as flotation. The divergent quantities in the types of material recovered suggest a comprehensive macrobotanical recovery program should include the use of both processing methods

Lost and Found: (Re)-Placing Say Ka in the La Milpa Suburban Settlement Pattern

The site of Say Ka, less than 4 km from the major center of La Milpa, has generated a large degree of interest among researchers in northwestern Belize in part because of its elusiveness. After being recorded by archaeologists in 1990, Say Ka was lost ; attempts to relocate it failed for nearly a decade (Figure I). It was fortuitously rediscovered in 1999, and three seasons of excavation began in 2004. This paper considers the history of Say Ka, its rediscovery, the results of initial excavations, and the possible implications of this minor center for studying the La Milpa suburban zone

Construction of Digital Elevation Models for Archaeological Applications

The use of interpolation in archaeology is becoming common. As archaeologists incorporate geographic information systems (GIS) and computer mapping programs into their research, questions of interpolation become fundamental considerations in the representation and manipulation of topographic data. To date, however, few archaeologists have dealt with these questions. Uncritical use of interpolation algorithms can result in unrealistic representations of the landscape in a mapping program or can result in an inaccurate digital elevation model (DEM) used in a GIS. This, in turn, can lead to an ineffective predictive model of site location. By carefully selecting an interpolation algorithm that is well suited to the data, statistical pitfalls and wasted effort can be avoided

House or Lineage? How Intracemetery Kinship Analysis Contributes to the Debate in the Maya Area

Houses and lineages are both named, corporate units of social organization defined in part on the connection between people and place. They are distinguished from one another by the relative emphasis on biological descent in societies organized on the basis of corporate group membership. Over the past 15 years, researchers have debated whether ancient Maya social organization was characterized by house or lineage organization. Drawing on ethnographic, epigraphic, and archaeological data, researchers have concluded that the ancient Maya had some characteristics of house societies, but that biological descent was an important principle. One relevant line of evidence conspicuously absent from this debate is biological distance analysis as a means of identifying patterns of biological relatedness within sites. In this chapter we review intracemetery analyses from Mesoamerica, focusing on the Maya area, and discuss what, if any, insight such analyses of biological spatial organization might bring to bear on the house versus lineage debate. We suggest that the use of biological distance analysis will not resolve debates about the relevant importance of house and biological lineage in ancient Maya society, but increasing incorporation of intracemetery analyses within existing research programs will help identify those the circumstances in which biological kinship was emphasized in Maya society. As such, intracemetery biodistance adds an important and independent line of evidence that is currently underutilized in studies of ancient Maya social organization