The Pfbap in Nw Belize: Three Decades of Archaeological Practice

Abstract

In this paper, we update La Milpa’s settlement history using data produced during the course of the Programme for Belize Archaeological Project’s (PfBAP) 15-year tenure (2007-present) at the central precinct of La Milpa, one of the largest urban centers in the eastern Maya lowlands. The research model employed at PfBAP is one that enables multiple research projects to run concurrently, allowing investigators to tackle complex questions of community organization from various research angles. Since 2007, ten different projects have run, sometimes concurrently, within the central precinct of La Milpa. Based on the information gathered from these projects, we propose a narrative for La Milpa’s growth and contraction that is anchored on an understanding of urban space as a reflection and materialization of a community’s relationships – across and through socio-political hierarchies – as well as its surrounding social, political, economic, technical, and ideological environment. As such, the use, development, and abandonment patterns observed in La Milpa’s central precinct are used as proxy for La Milpa’s community history.