This research is important because it addresses the question of how communities survive and maintain their integrity in the face of difficult environmental and social situations. Many rural villages approximate in size those of late prehistoric Maya and this study, in common with much archaeological research has the potential to track change and cultural response over extended periods of time.
Under the guidance of Dr. E. Christian Wells, Kara Fulton will study how urban families developed and shared neighborhood identities at the ancient Maya city of Actuncan, Belize, ca. AD 800-900, a time when the city experienced rapid population growth as surrounding centers declined. Archaeologists wish to understand urban processes of growth and decay in this region, and how they are linked to the behaviors of social factions in neighborhood communities. The city of Actuncan provides a unique opportunity to examine these processes, because the city maintained intensive occupation before, during, and after the political prominence of the nearby and archaeologically well-known center of Xunantunich. To investigate neighborhood identities, this research will consider the nature and location of activity patterns in and around three households. Multiple methods will be employed for this work, including subsurface testing with auger probes, soil chemical residue analysis, macro- and microartifact analysis, and analysis of geophysical prospection data. Soil chemistry is a novel contribution to this line of research, and is based on the recent observation that low-density urban centers in the Maya region were nutrient reservoirs that trapped and preserved chemical residues of various activities. By comparing relative concentrations and combinations of chemical elements in soils and sediments around households at Actuncan, patterns from repeated activities (such as cooking and eating) can be identified and studied.
The proposed research will make at least two significant contributions to scientific archaeology. First, it will provide insight into the social strategies deployed by residents to maintain their communities following the collapse of the nearby metropolitan center of Xunantunich and the reorganization of political power in the region. Studying relationships among commoner households in the Maya region is an important foundation for understanding broader political dynamics, including relationships between households and rulers, and how rulers were able to create, legitimize, and maintain power and authority. Second, the results will provide empirical comparative data for other researchers working on similar issues, including the use of space in, around, and between prehispanic households. This research is innovative, because a soil chemical approach to extract and characterize activity residues will provide a deeper level of understanding of the residential landscape than is otherwise permitted by examining architecture and artifact assemblages alone.
More broadly, this research will contribute to broadening the ways in which contemporary heritage is viewed in Belize. Until recently, the tendency of researchers in the Maya region has been to focus on the lives of the ruling elite members of society. As a result, cultural history and heritage expressed today is dominated by an elite view of the past. With a focus on commoner households, this research aims to broaden the view of history and heritage and contribute to a more balanced perspective of the past. Moreover, through training a promising young scientist, the research will connect U.S. and Belizean researchers, which will strengthen international collaboration and help to make global collaborations in this part of the world more routine for scientific research.
