TY - JOUR
T1 - Reassessing San Estevan's role in the Late Formative political geography of northern Belize
AU - Rosenswig, Robert M.
AU - Kennett, Douglas J.
N1 - Funding Information:
Dr. Stanislaw Halas, co-author of this study, passed away the 3rd may 2017. Our thoughts are with his family and colleagues during these difficult times. The authors would like to thank V. Paulet, P. Touzeau, M. Mathis, D. Viscaïno, I. Buffetaut, J. Barnoud, M. and W. Halverson, G. and C. von Hahn, A. and O. von Lilienfeld, S. and G. Caillard, J., and J. and P. Angst for providing chicken bones and D. Berthet from the Musée des Confluences, Lyon, France, for providing the bone samples of Buteo buteo (50.001696), Larus argentatus (50.001682), and Anas platyrhynchos (50.001681). We also would like to thank the five anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments that greatly helped to improve the manuscript. This study was supported by the CNRS PICS project no. PIC07193, the National Basic Research Program of China grant 2012CB821900 (RA), and the Institut Universitaire de France (CL).
PY - 2008/6
Y1 - 2008/6
N2 - We reassess San Estevan's role within the Late Formative period political geography of northern Belize. This medium-sized site has been interpreted as a subsidiary center to Nohmul that ruled the area along with Cerros, Lamanai, and Colha (Scarborough 1991). It has also been suggested that scores of autonomous polities existed in the region at this time (McAnany 1995). We examine these contrasting models in light of our recent excavations in the central precinct of San Estevan. These excavations reveal a stratigraphic sequence of Middle through Late Formative period deposits. Excavations document that the central part of the site was plastered over after 50 cal. B.C. - at roughly the same time as monumental construction projects were also started at Cerros, Nohmul, and Lamanai. San Estevan's central Mound XV was built on these plaster surfaces during the Late Formative period as was the adjacent ballcourt. Based on our new excavation data we suggest that San Estevan was an independent polity during the Late Formative period. Further, we propose that San Estevan competed, and engaged in warfare, with other medium and large regional centers and was one of ∼12 independent polities forming a political patchwork across northern Belize.
AB - We reassess San Estevan's role within the Late Formative period political geography of northern Belize. This medium-sized site has been interpreted as a subsidiary center to Nohmul that ruled the area along with Cerros, Lamanai, and Colha (Scarborough 1991). It has also been suggested that scores of autonomous polities existed in the region at this time (McAnany 1995). We examine these contrasting models in light of our recent excavations in the central precinct of San Estevan. These excavations reveal a stratigraphic sequence of Middle through Late Formative period deposits. Excavations document that the central part of the site was plastered over after 50 cal. B.C. - at roughly the same time as monumental construction projects were also started at Cerros, Nohmul, and Lamanai. San Estevan's central Mound XV was built on these plaster surfaces during the Late Formative period as was the adjacent ballcourt. Based on our new excavation data we suggest that San Estevan was an independent polity during the Late Formative period. Further, we propose that San Estevan competed, and engaged in warfare, with other medium and large regional centers and was one of ∼12 independent polities forming a political patchwork across northern Belize.
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/60950707359
UR - https://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=60950707359&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1017/S1045663500007756
DO - 10.1017/S1045663500007756
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:60950707359
SN - 1045-6635
VL - 19
SP - 123
EP - 145
JO - Latin American Antiquity
JF - Latin American Antiquity
IS - 2
ER -