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Description
This thesis addresses several important questions in Early Classic Lowland Maya cultural history using bioarchaeological data from the upper Belize Valley in the central eastern Maya lowlands of western Belize. Strontium isotope analysis of permanent dentition provides a means to differentiate between possible locales of origin and childhood residence. A number of sociopolitically key individuals interred at Valley sites were analyzed for their isotopic signatures to determine whether their origins, and by inference their kinship and ancestral ties, resided in the Valley or in regions outside of the Valley. Two research questions are addressed using the results: (1) whether the earliest Classic era settlers in the area were of local origin with ties to a Valley ancestry, or were pioneers from afar with ties rooted elsewhere, and (2) whether "extra" skulls interred with primary individuals throughout sites in the Valley represent revered ancestors or trophies of war. Two urban non-royal elite "founder" burials and one village commoner have been dated to the earliest years (A.D. 200-420) of the Classic Period (ca. A.D. 200-900) using associated ceramics and radiocarbon determinations. Several "extra" skulls accompanied the two "founder" burials. Using a well-defined local value and comparative regional values determined by previous isotopic studies, as well as a compilation of comparative data regarding "extra" skull interments in the Valley, it was determined that the "founders" and the village commoner were most likely born in the Belize Valley, and that some of the "extra" skull interments fit the expected pattern for ancestor veneration in the Valley while others show patterning that could reflect ancestor veneration, trophy taking, or both behaviors. The findings for the "founders" and the village commoner suggest that the base population at the start of the full Classic period developed from locally born individuals with deep ties to a Valley ancestry. Some scholars have argued that the development of centers in the Valley was influenced through sociopolitical ties to the nascent megapolities of the Pete_n, and that the numerous material connections to centers outside the valley and the social inequalities inferred from material culture might have reflected such ties. However, the data lend support to a single Belize Valley polity as the most probable sociopolitical model for the Valley during the Classic Period, and these material indicators more likely reflect the increasing state-like character of a small polity and its articulation with lowland Maya civilization. While this analysis lends strong support to the Valley existing as an independent political unit, it was unable to fully resolve questions surrounding the existence of extrazonal kinship relationships. Inconsistencies are present in the data drawn both from additional individuals included in this analysis and from the "extra" skulls interred at these sites that might well point to kinship ties outside of the Valley, as well as sociopolitically significant immigration
