BUILDING HIGH-PRECISION AMS14C BAYESIAN MODELS FOR THE FORMATION OF PERI-ABANDONMENT DEPOSITS AT BAKING POT, BELIZE

Julie A Hoggarth,Sydney Lonaker,Brendan J Culleton,J Britt Davis,Douglas J Kennett,Christophe Helmke,Jaime J Awe

doi:10.1017/rdc.2021.30

Abstract

ABSTRACTDeposits linked to abandonment have been widely recorded across the Maya lowlands, associated with the final activities occurring in ceremonial areas of Classic Maya centers. Various models have been applied to explain the activities that lie behind the formation of these contexts, including those linked to rapid abandonment (e.g., warfare) and others focused on more protracted events (termination rituals, and/or pilgrimages). Here, we assess Bayesian models for three chronological scenarios of varying tempo to explain the formation of peri-abandonment deposits at Baking Pot, Belize. Using stratigraphic information from these deposits, hieroglyphic dates recovered on artifacts, and direct dates on human skeletal remains and faunal remains from distinct layers in three deposits in Group B at Baking Pot, we identify multiple depositional events that spanned the eighth to ninth centuries AD. These results suggest that the processes associated with the breakdown of institutionalized rulership and its command of labor to construct and maintain ceremonial spaces were protracted at Baking Pot, with evidence for the final depositional activity dated to the mid-to-late ninth century. This interval of deposition was temporally distinct from the earlier deposition(s) in the eighth century. Together, these data offer a detailed view of the end of the Classic period at Baking Pot, in which the ceremonial spaces of the site slowly fell into disuse over a period of more than a century.

Highlights

Archaeological investigations into the collapse of Classic Maya sociopolitical systems have a long history within the field of Maya archaeology (Webster 2002, 2012; Demarest 2004; Aimers 2007; Kennett et al 2012; Turner and Sabloff 2012)
This interval of deposition was temporally distinct from the earlier deposition(s) in the eighth century. These data offer a detailed view of the end of the Classic period at Baking Pot, in which the ceremonial spaces of the site slowly fell into disuse over a period of more than a century
The major societal changes that are noted during the Terminal Classic period (AD 750–1000) can be broadly categorized into at least two categories, those associated with the disintegration of Classic Maya political systems and those that center on the processes of abandonment and depopulation of settlements and their hinterlands (Webster 2012)

Summary

Introduction

Archaeological investigations into the collapse of Classic Maya sociopolitical systems have a long history within the field of Maya archaeology (Webster 2002, 2012; Demarest 2004; Aimers 2007; Kennett et al 2012; Turner and Sabloff 2012). The major societal changes that are noted during the Terminal Classic period (AD 750–1000) can be broadly categorized into at least two categories, those associated with the disintegration of Classic Maya political systems and those that center on the processes of abandonment and depopulation of settlements and their hinterlands (Webster 2012). Radiocarbon dates on human burials, as well as one date from a cache deposited into sterile soil below the earliest plaza construction in Group A, indicate that the site was first occupied around 700–400 cal BC (Hoggarth et al 2014a). Monumental construction in both groups suggest significant architectural construction efforts in the ceremonial center in the Early Classic period. Unlike its larger and more powerful neighbors to the west (Naranjo) and south (Caracol), the moderate size of the ceremonial epicenter and the surrounding settlement has allowed for intensive excavations over the past 80 years. Aimers (2003: 157–160) notes that the initial abandonment of the site core likely occurred around AD 800–900, the presence of Postclassic ceramics in Group A and in house mounds to the east and southeast of the epicenter, suggests that reduced populations lived at the site during the Postclassic period for some unknown amount of time after AD 900

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Conclusion