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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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Urban Commoner Households: (In)equality and Daily Life at Aventura
Cities are locations of diverse human interaction where persons from different families and social affiliations can gather, exchange goods, and participate in community events. However, the management of these diverse interactions and activities requires social and political systems that do not value the contribution of all residents equally, resulting in inequities. In this paper, I present excavation data collected from two urban commoner households at Aventura to assess the nature of inequality at the site. Illustrated through the horizontal excavation of two commoner households, this paper examines what life at Aventura was like for the city’s lower-status residents. Through a discussion of domestic architecture, ritual practices, and refuse deposits, I argue that while some households at Aventura experienced inequality, they remained active and integrated members of the broader community. I conclude by reflecting on the role that this integration of low-status households played in the city’s longevity and the maintenance of its robust and diverse population.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1946385
- PAR ID:
- 10484630
- Publisher / Repository:
- Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting
- Date Published:
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Location:
- Portland, OR
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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