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CONTEXTUAL AND COMPOSITIONAL COMPARISONS OF ABANDONMENT-RELATED, ON-FLOOR DEPOSITS AT CHAN CHICH, BELIZE

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2020

Brett A. Houk Open the ORCID record for Brett A. Houk [Opens in a new window]
Brett A. Houk*
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work, Texas Tech University, Box 41012, Lubbock, Texas79409
*
E-mail correspondence to: brett.houk@ttu.edu
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Abstract

At Chan Chich, Belize, archaeologists have encountered Terminal Classic artifact scatters and piled artifact deposits in elite residential compounds near the epicenter of the site. This article presents a detailed comparison of four artifact deposits’ contexts and compositions to highlight similarities and differences among them. Commonly classified as “problematic deposits” in the field, all four examples considered here formed directly on floors or steps. Although they exhibit compositional variability, all four deposits appear to be abandonment-related features, which unknown actors deliberately created, specifically targeting elite residential architecture rather than monumental public structures in the site core.

Type
Special Section: Problematic “On-Floor” Deposits in the Terminal Classic Eastern Maya Lowlands: Implications for the Maya Collapse
Information
Ancient Mesoamerica , Volume 31 , Issue 1 , Spring 2020 , pp. 89 - 98
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press, 2020

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References

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