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Redefinition of the Swasey Phase at Cuello, Belize

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

E. Wyllys Andrews V  and
Norman Hammond
E. Wyllys Andrews V
Affiliation:
Middle American Research Institute, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA 70118
Norman Hammond
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, Boston University, 675 Commonwealth Ave., Boston, MA 02215
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Abstract

Calibrated radiocarbon dates of 19 samples excavated since 1976 at the site of Cuello, in northern Belize, place the Swasey phase (11 dates) and Bladen phase (8 dates) in the Middle Formative period, rather than in the Early Formative, as 10 dates on charcoal excavated in 1975 and 1976 indicated. The post-1976 dates for both phases fall between about 1100 and 400 B.C., and the two sets do not appear to differ significantly. All except 3 of the 35 archaeologically acceptable dates from the later Lopez Mamom and Cocos Chicanel contexts fall within the conventionally accepted ranges for those phases. A mixture of old charcoal from the environment or from an unidentified pre-Swasey occupation with the 1975–1976 samples may explain their early radiocarbon ages, although why such mixing should have affected only the 1975–1976 samples is not known. This reassessment of the early Cuello sequence aligns it with comparable cultural developments elsewhere in the Maya area and suggests that the earliest farming communities of northern Belize perhaps derived from the highlands of Guatemala.

Résumé

Résumé

Fechas calibradas de radiocarbón de 19 muestras excavadas desde 1976 en Cuello, en el norte de Belice, sitúan a las fases Swasey (11 fechas) y Bladen (8 fechas) en el período Formativo Medio, más bien que en el Formativo Temprano, como indicaron 10 fechas de carbón procedentes de 1975 y 1976. Las fechas recientes de ambas fases caen entre aproximadamente 1100 y 400 A.C., y los dos grupos no parecen diferir significativamente. De las 35 fechas aceptables asociadas con material de lasfases López Mamóm y Cocos Chicanel, todas menos tres caen dentro de los límites convencionales para estas fases. Una mezcla de las muestras de 1975 y 1976 con carbón viejo del medio ambiente o de una ocupación pre-Swasey hasta ahora no identificada, nos ayudaría a explicar las fechas muy tempranas, sin embargo, no se sabe por qué este problema afectó solamente a las muestras de 1975 y 1976. La presente reevaluación de la secuencia temprana de Cuello sicroniza ésta con tendencias culturales comparables en otras regiones de las tierras bajas mayas y nos sugiere que los primeros pobladores agrícolas del norte de Belice talvez procedían del altiplano de Guatemala.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 55 , Issue 3 , July 1990 , pp. 570 - 584
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1990 

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