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1. Situating households within an urban community: recent research at Aventura, an ancient Maya city

   Nissen, Zachary A; Grauer, Kacey C; Dziki, Gabriela; Hoover, Hannah; Niles, Erin; Walker, Debra S; Moles, Anna; Robin, Cynthia (January 2023, Research reports in Belizean archaeology)

   Recent excavations at the Maya site of Aventura, Belize provide insights into the social, economic, and environmental resources available to the residents of its ancient urban community. In 2019, the Aventura Archaeology Project (AAP) horizontally excavated three households and continued vertical test-pit investigations across commoner and elite domestic groups. The horizontal excavations, comparable to previous excavations of households in 2018, provided new insights into the similarities and differences between structures, features, burials, and middens across status groups at Aventura. One household excavation, Group 54, elucidated commoners’ access and relationships to a nearby water management feature. Commoner household excavations at Group 24, one of the smallest mound features identified by the AAP survey, revealed that even the smallest of Aventura’s households had access, though limited, to cut limestone blocks for domestic architecture. Excavations of an elite patio group, Group 38, to the north of the site core provided architectural data which complicate distinctions between elite and non-elite households. These excavations of households across the site also revealed a pattern of primary and secondary subfloor-burial deposits across elite and non-elite groups, which may indicate an attempt to socially integrate households of all statuses into Aventura’s urban community. Vertical test excavations further support Aventura’s community was inhabited over the long-term, with multiple households revealing Early and Middle Classic materials, and all households revealing occupation during the Late to Terminal Classic transition. Together, household excavations provide insights into the social, economic, and environmental forces that shaped the lives of Aventura’s urban community, bringing better focus to heterogenous and enduring urban populations during dynamic periods of Maya society. 

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2. A Review of the 1948 Excavations of Griffin and Bullen at the Safety Harbor Site (8PI2), with Special Attention to Architectural Patterning

   Pluckhahn, Thomas J. (January 2022, The Florida anthropologist)

   In 1948, John W. Griffin and Ripley P. Bullen conducted two weeks of excavations at the Safety Harbor site (8PI2) on Old Tampa Bay, the type site for the period and culture of the same name. Although they published a summary of these excavations (Griffin and Bullen 1950), many details were not included; for example, the report includes no plan drawings and artifacts are tabulated only in aggregate (by excavation block, rather than by square). Fortunately, the Florida Museum of Natural History curates relatively detailed notes and drawings of the excavations. We use GIS to review these for new insights, particularly regarding domestic architecture—a facet of Safety Harbor material culture that has remained particularly elusive. 

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3. The Hālawa dune site, Moloka‘i, Hawaiian Islands: New excavations, redating, and new interpretations

   https://doi.org/10.1080/15564894.2023.2251008  

   Kirch, Patrick V.; Swift, Jillian (October 2023, The Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology)

   The Halawa dune site on Moloka‘i Island has played a key role in understanding early Hawaiian history. Initially excavated in 1969– 1970 and regarded then as dating to the early phase of Hawaiian settlement, the site yielded a diverse artifact assemblage and the first evidence for round-ended house foundations in Hawai‘i. Prior attempts to refine the site’s chronology yielded inconsistent results. Renewed excavations and re-analysis of previously excavated collections from the site have allowed for recovery of a stratigraphically controlled sample of faunal materials and charcoal. AMS dating of candlenut endocarp indicates initial use of Mound A cal AD 1366– 1610, with occupation continuing into the post-contact period. Matched pairs of candlenut and marine mollusk shell dates allow for the derivation of a Halawa-specific marine reservoir value (DR¼􀀀 267), in turn permitting the calibration of 12 dates on marine mollusk shells excavated from Mound B in 1970. Faunal materials from the 2020 Mound A excavation add new information on patterns of marine exploitation, and on a trend of increased frequency of domestic pig and dog over time. Charcoal identified from Mound A indicates largely native forest taxa, but with several Polynesian introduced plants as well, including candlenut, breadfruit, and mountain apple. 

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4. Renewing the Belize Archaic Project in 2019

   Rosenswig, Robert M (November 2023, Research Reports in Belizean Archaeology)

   The Archaic period in the Maya region represents six millennia (7000-1000 BCE) when non-ceramic-using peoples began to experiment with domesticates and reduce their settlement ranges. The single longest epoch of the Mesoamerican chronology, these early millennia are often overshadowed by the investigation of more recent peoples who built cities and have left evidence of elaborate artistic traditions. The Belize Archaic Project (BAP) began work over 20 years ago after the fortuitous discovery of aceramic deposits containing heavily patinated lithic tools and debitage under Postclassic settlements in the Freshwater Creek drainage of northern Belize. The 2019 field season marks a renewed phase of this project and initiates a program of systematic settlement survey and test excavations. This paper presents initial results of a systematic program of auguring that documented 87 Archaic-period sites and excavations at four of these locales during the summer of 2019. The renewed BAP investigates local land use patterns and foraging adaptation as well as the dynamic manner in which they affect (and are impacted by) climate change and evolving local forest and lacustrine ecology. 

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5. Household Excavations at Aventura, A Northern Belize Civic Center

   Grauer, Kacey; Nissen, Zachary; Dziki, Gabriela; Menz, Martin; Kosakowsky, Laura; Robin, Cynthia (August 2020, Research reports in Belizean archaeology)

   null (Ed.)

   Recent research at Aventura in Northern Belize presents the first glimpse into a range of its prehistoric households from commoners to elites. In summer 2018, the Aventura Archaeology Project (AAP) excavated two elite households and conducted test pits in five commoner household groups. Drone technology provided the ability to create 3D models of household architecture and excavations. Excavations at the elite households consisted of the first horizontal exposure of buildings by AAP and provide comprehensive insight into structures, features, burials, and middens. One elite household compound, Group 48, was located adjacent to one of six civic-ceremonial plazas that make up Aventura’s central precinct. Excavations at Group 48 identified a series of late occupation structures in the group’s plaza areas, one of which was excavated in its entirety. The other elite household excavation at Group 22 was located directly on the edge of a microenvironment known as a pocket bajo, providing insight into the relationship between households and pocket bajos at Aventura. The earliest occupation of commoner households known to date was the Early Classic period, and all elite and commoner households were occupied in the Late Classic to the Terminal Classic/Early Postclassic, coinciding with Aventura’s maximal occupation. These results suggest Aventura was a thriving community during a time period associated with “collapse” in areas outside of Northern Belize. Aventura’s longevity of occupation contributes to the notion that Northern Belize was an important region in the Maya area and pushes back against traditional narratives about Classic Period “collapse.” 

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