Reconstructing the Formation of Peri-Abandonment Deposits at Baking Pot, Belize

Abstract

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 peri-abandonment deposits that were identified in Group B at the site of Baking Pot, located in western Belize. Using detailed stratigraphic and contextual information, artifact assemblages, and calendar dates recorded on polychrome vessels recovered in the deposits, we describe the nature of activities associated with the formation of peri-abandonment deposits at Baking Pot in the eighth to ninth centuries. We find patterning in the spatial locations of deposits in the corners of plazas and courtyards at Baking Pot, with variability in artifact assemblages between specific deposits.

The Last Hurrah: Examining the Nature of Peri-Abandonment Deposits and Activities at Cahal Pech, Belize

“…Results of our long-term and wide-scale investigations at Cahal Pech, coupled with our regional Belize Valley study (Awe et al 2020;Hoggarth et al 2020), indicate that peri-abandonment deposits, at both the individual site and regional level, share several significant characteristics. These parallels include shared contexts, similarities in artifact assemblages, and evidence for burning.…”

“…At Cahal Pech and Belize Valley sites, however, we find the deposits associated not only with elite residential architecture, but also with causeway termini groups, sweat baths, and temples (cf. Awe et al 2020;Hoggarth et al 2020). Failure to remove the deposits from rooms after these so-called feasts ended would have also rendered the rooms unusable, constituting a very impractical tradition, particularly if the buildings were continued to be used.…”

“…a.d. 750-900) period. Other papers in this special issue of the journal provide detailed discussions of the ceramic (Aimers and Awe 2020) and chert (Stemp and Awe 2020) artifacts in the peri-abandonment deposits at Cahal Pech and on the results of our investigations of similar deposits at Baking Pot (Hoggarth et al 2020) and at Xunantunich, Altun Ha, Caracol, and Pook's Hill (Awe et al 2020).…”

Applying Regional, Contextual, Ethnohistoric, and Ethnographic Approaches for Understanding the Significance of Peri-Abandonment Deposits in Western Belize

“…Significantly, all these types of cultural remains, including chert bifaces and stemmed points, are present in the pilgrimage assemblage recovered during the dredging of the cenote at Chichen Itza, as well as at the Western Belize sites we discuss below. This information should also take into consideration, and be compared with, the results of our more intensive work at Cahal Pech and Baking Pot (reported by Hoggarth et al 2020), and with other deposits uncovered at the site of Aguacate Uno (Koenig 2014).…”

“…In an effort to demonstrate the value of such an approach to the study of peri-abandonment deposits, we present here the results of our investigations at several surface sites in Western Belize and compare their associated assemblages with those discovered in caves, and in the cenote at Chichen Itza. This information should also take into consideration, and be compared with, the results of our more intensive work at Cahal Pech and Baking Pot (reported by Hoggarth et al 2020), and with other deposits uncovered at the Belize Valley site of Aguacate Uno (Koenig 2014). Our regional study also compares peri-abandonment deposits at sites of varying sizes across Western Belize (Figure 1).…”