Ancient Maya movement in the Rio Bravo Conservation and Management Area, NW Belize

Abstract

Population pressure and migration are often central features of many hypotheses related to ancient Maya population declines, abandonment episodes, settlement, and sociopolitical organization. The Rio Bravo Conservation and Management Area (RBCMA) in northwest Belize shows archaeological evidence for several depopulation and resettlement events. Working hypotheses for the region suggested that the population resettlement and apex of the Late Classic included high numbers of external immigrants. In this paper, we assess movement across ancient Maya settlements from the RBCMA to gauge whether rates of movement overlap with population fluctuations, as garnered by the archaeological record. We present strontium and oxygen isotope data from the dental enamel of 47 ancient Maya individuals recovered from five sites in the RBCMA. We identified seven individuals as being non-local to the region and show potential short-distance movements, where three individuals were local to the RBCMA but not the site from which they were recovered. Our research suggests that movement into and around the RBCMA was steady through time and indicates that rural spaces experienced more movement than their urban counterparts. This may be related to changing regional sociopolitical issues in more urban areas. These data provide insight into both the consistency of movement for the ancient Maya of northwest Belize and the role political activities may have played in prompting movement to more rural areas.