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The Earliest Lowland Maya? Definition of the Swasey Phase

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Norman Hammond ,
Duncan Pring ,
Richard Wilk ,
Sara Donaghey ,
Frank P. Saul ,
Elizabeth S. Wing ,
Arlene V. Miller  and
Lawrence H. Feldman
Norman Hammond
Affiliation:
Archaeological Research Program, Douglass College, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08903
Duncan Pring
Affiliation:
Institute of Archaeology, 31-4 Gordon Square, London WC1, England
Richard Wilk
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721
Sara Donaghey
Affiliation:
York Archeological Trust, Aldwark, York, England
Frank P. Saul
Affiliation:
Department of Anatomy, Medical College of Ohio, Toledo, OH 43699
Elizabeth S. Wing
Affiliation:
Department of Natural Sciences, Florida State Museum, Gainesville, FL 32611
Arlene V. Miller
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637
Lawrence H. Feldman
Affiliation:
Museum of Anthropology, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65201
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Abstract

Recent excavations in Belize have resulted in the discovery of an earlier period of sedentary occupation than has hitherto been documented in the Maya Lowlands. The Swasey phase is stratigraphically antecedent to occupations of the early Middle Formative, the earliest horizon located until now, and associated radiocarbon dates suggest a persistence from 2000–1000 b.c./2500–1300 B.C. The ceramic and lithic material culture of the phase are described, together with architectural construction and burial practice, and the overall cultural identity is recognized as ancestral to the known Maya Lowland Formative. External contacts of the Cuello site are documented by exotic minerals, and the possible external antecedents for the Swasey ceramic tradition are canvassed.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 44 , Issue 1 , January 1979 , pp. 92 - 110
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1979

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