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Title: Aventura in a Northern Belize Context: Challenging Traditional Narratives of Ancient Maya Civilization
This paper draws upon the results of the 2017 field research at Aventura to illustrate how Aventura research challenges traditional narratives about ancient Maya civilization. The Maya site of Aventura, located in northern Belize, is a community with a five millennia history spanning forager-horticulturalist, PreColumbian Maya, historic, and contemporary periods. The Classic Maya city of Aventura had its heyday during the period of the Maya “collapse.” As a community with a five millennia history and a city that survives the period of the “collapse,” Aventura challenges traditional narratives about the trajectory of ancient Maya civilization. While Aventura lacks extensive trappings of Maya high culture (stelae, hieroglyphs, and tall temples) its long history belies its importance and prompts reassessment of traditional measures of high culture and reconsideration of terms such as collapse and decline. Aventura is not unique in northern Belize in terms of its ability to survive, and even thrive, during the “collapse.” Lamanai, Caye Coco, Nohmul, Santa Rita, and Sarteneja, among others, survive the “collapse.” Originally considered a peripheral part of the ancient Maya world, site longevity in northern Belize challenges the identification of this region as peripheral.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1732129
NSF-PAR ID:
10212518
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Research reports in Belizean archaeology
Volume:
16
Issue:
1
ISSN:
2079-1038
Page Range / eLocation ID:
227-236
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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