Obsidian is one of the most common materials preserved in the archaeological record of Mesoamerica. Because of this and obsidian's unique chemical properties, it has become one of the most common means by which to explain ancient exchange and production. Northern Belize has largely been absent from discussions of Postclassic Mesoamerican economies. The limited amount of obsidian research that has been done is unable to draw comparisons to the region's primary site during this period, Santa Rita Corozal. This thesis remedies this by exploring the importation, production, and distribution of obsidian at the Postclassic Maya primary center of Santa Rita Corozal, Belize. Through the application of the lithic technology approach and the use of pXRF (portable X-ray fluorescence) spectrometry, it is possible to establish the sources of obsidian being exploited, the stage of reduction of obsidian imports, the major obsidian industry, and obsidian distribution for Santa Rita Corozal's Postclassic Period.

Human land use legacies have significant and long lasting impacts across landscapes. However, investigating the impacts of ancient land use legacies ( > 400 years) remains problematic due to the difficulty in detecting ancient land uses, especially those beneath dense canopies. The city of Caracol, one of the most important Maya archaeological sites in Belize, was abandoned after the collapse of the Maya civilization (ca. A.D. 900), leaving behind numerous structures, causeways, and agricultural terraces that persist beneath the dense tropical forest of western Belize. LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) technology enables detection of below canopy Maya archaeological features, providing an ideal opportunity to study the effects of ancient land use legacies on contemporary tropical forest composition. LiDAR also provided us with a detailed record of the 3-dimensional forest structure over the 200 km2 study area. This allowed the investigation how ancient land uses continue to impact both forest composition, in terms of tree species, and forest structure. I recorded tree species over four land use categories: 1) structures, 2) causeways, 3) terraced, and 4) non-terraced land. Using non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMS) and multiresponse permutation procedures (MRPP) to test for differences between the classes, I found significantly distinct tree communities associated with the presence of terraces and the underlying topography. Terraced slopes appear to function as micro-valleys on the side of a hill, creating an environmental "bridge" between slope and valley tree communities. Tree species composition over causeways and structures was also found to be significantly different from terraced and non-terraced plots. Forest structure was assessed by extracting LiDAR points for terraced (n=150) and nonterraced (n=150) 0.25 ha plots. I calculated average canopy height, canopy closure, and vertical diversity from the height bins of the LiDAR points, using slope, elevation, and aspect as covariates. Using PerMANOVA I determined that forest structure over terraces was significantly different from non-terraced land. Terraces appear to mediate the effect of slope, resulting in less structural variation between slope and non-sloped land. These results led to the conclusion that human land uses abandoned >1000 years ago continue to impact the contemporary forests.

The Eclipse Table, on pages 51-58, of the Dresden Codex has long fascinated Maya scholars. Researchers use the mean-value method of 173.3 days to determine nodal passage that is the place where eclipses can occur. These studies rely on Oppolzer's Eclipse Canon and Schram's Moon Phase Tables to verify eclipse occurrences. The newer canons of Jean Meeus and Bao-Lin Liu use decimal accuracy. What would be the effect of modern astronomical data on the previous studies and the Maya Eclipse Table? The study utilizes a general view of eclipses that includes eclipses not visible to the Maya. Lunar eclipses are also included. This inquiry differs from previous studies by calculating the Maya dates of eclipses instead of nodal passage. The eclipse dates are analyzed using the three eclipse seasons, of the 520 days, which is the Double Tzolkin or twice the Sacred Calendar of the Maya. A simulation of the Eclipse Table, using the 59-day calendar, is created to test modern data against the Dresden Table. The length of the Table is the Triple Tritos of 405 lunations. The use of the Tritos instead of the Saros suggests the Table is independent of Western Astronomy. Advanced Astronomy is not needed to produce this Table; a list of eclipses could produce this table. The result of this inquiry will be to create a facsimile of the Eclipse Table, which can be compared to the Eclipse Table to test the structure, function and purpose of the Table.

Iconography has the capability to memorialize and guarantee one's place in history; iconography can also provide powerful insight into human culture, and explore social and cultural values in a visual manner. Iconography can incorporate information about group identities, allegiances, religious affiliations, propaganda, and acceptance within both modern and ancient societies. By studying a specific iconographic figure, the Central Mexican god Tlaloc, as a visual representation of a belief or identity, we can glean a greater understanding of the cultural transmission of iconographic symbols. The substantial use of this icon, in both Central Mexico and the Maya region, reveals iconography as capable of being catalogued and traced over space and time to interpret meaning. With these goals in mind, this research project focuses on the iconographic representations of the Central Mexican god Tlaloc in the Maya region. It was during the Early Classic Period (A.D. 250-550) that Tlaloc transcended the boundaries of Central Mexico and was adopted into Maya ideology. During the Late Classic Period (A.D.550-900), a 'Maya Tlaloc' was established and used to express ideologies depicting warfare and ritual activity. The adoption of Tlaloc imagery among the ancient Maya ultimately holds significant value to understanding Maya ideology and religion as well as facilitates an understanding of wide-scale interactions with Central Mexico.

This thesis seeks to demonstrate that the Maya snake emblem glyph is associated with religious specialists, instead of geographic locations, as emblem glyphs are typically understood to be. The inscriptions and the media on which the snake emblem glyph occurs will be analyzed to determine the role or function of the "Lord of the Snake." Temporal and spatial data has also been collected to aid in understanding the enigmatic glyph. The snake emblem glyph has recently been identified as originating from a broad area containing the sites of El Peru and La Corona in Guatemala, and Dzibanche, Mexico, a departure from the longstanding choice of Calakmul, Mexico. Unprovenanced snake emblem glyph texts have been cataloged under a "Site Q" designation ('Q' for the Spanish word Que, meaning "which") by Peter Mathews. Site Q is thus not securely identified geographically, which confounds efforts to designate a particular site as the snake emblem glyph site. Other problems with the snake emblem glyph, such as its geographically wide dispersal, hint that it is not a title of a particular city or region. Yet another problem is "a proper fit" between the individuals listed on unprovenanced material and individuals named at sites associated with the snake emblem glyph. It is argued that the interpretation of the snake emblem glyph differs from how emblem glyphs are presently understood. Rather than representing a physical location, the snake emblem glyph represents a mythological place or "state," containing members who legitimize their lineage (association) through ritual events such as communication with supernaturals via the vision serpent. The specialists perform rituals, scatterings, are ballplayers, and witness events. They are rarely associated with accession, which by current interpretation is implicitly tied to emblem glyphs.

Chert tool production and exchange has long been studied for the Maya Preclassic to Terminal Classic Periods of Northern Belize (1000 B.C.-A.D. 950). It is increasingly clear that lithic systems of production and exchange were an integral part of the economic environment for this region, yet lithic research pertaining to the Maya Postclassic Period (A.D. 950-1530) is not well represented in the general literature. A recent examination of 110 chert, chalcedony, and obsidian small side-notched projectile points and point preforms, as well as 2,163 pieces of associated production debitage from two Late Postclassic households at Santa Rita Corozal, Belize, has yielded the identification of two lithic craft production areas. Examination of the complete lithic collection from these residences, as well as an additional 176 projectile points located throughout the site, reveals the need for new models of lithic production and exchange for this region during the Postclassic Period.

The present research seeks to assesses the presence and prevalence of two distinct dental pathologies: linear enamel hypoplasia and caries in an ancient Maya juvenile subsample from Altun Ha, Belize spanning the Preclassic (ca. 600 B.C.) through the Terminal Classic (ca. 900 A.D.) periods. Teeth offer a remarkable wealth of information about the human experience in the past. Developmental and post-eruption pathology can provide insight into cultural and evolutionary processes by illuminating social and biological factors such as diet, weaning, illness, and overall health that manifest in observable changes to the composition of teeth. In addition, growth and developmental stages of juveniles provide an ideal framework in which to qualify paleopathological research. From a biological standpoint, high ante-mortem resistance to physiological stress and post-mortem preservation make teeth ideal for analyses of pathology in archaeological contexts. For the analysis of the Altun Ha juvenile subsample, a cohort approach is used in the presentation and discussion of results. Discrete pathologies are analyzed based on age cohorts, individual, tooth type, tooth surface location, and archaeological time period. The results indicate an increase in prevalence of pathology concurrent with increasing dental age as well as a predisposition to pathology among specific tooth types and locations on the crown surface and within the dental arcade as well as temporal shifts in pathology prevalence. These analyses demonstrate the importance of assessing juveniles within the archaeological record with emphasis on the transitory developmental stages experienced by children.

The sexing of human skeletal remains is important for identification and demographic purposes. It is made more difficult when elements such as the skull and pelvis are not recovered or are in too poor of a condition to assess. Previous studies have used carpal (wrist) bones of contemporary populations to assess the viability of these skeletal elements exhibiting sexual dimorphism, as these bones are small, compact elements that are usually recovered in good condition. This study evaluates the use of carpal bones recovered from an ancient Maya population from Belize to determine the biological sex of individuals. The study sample is part of the Maya Archaeological Skeletal Collection (MASC), which contains individuals from the sites of Lamanai, San Pedro, Altun Ha, and Marco Gonzalez and dates from the Late Maya Pre-Classic (400 BC-AD 250) to the Spanish Colonial period (AD 1521-1821). Multiple measurements were taken on 36 capitate, 34 lunate, 34 scaphoid, 27 trapezium, 24 hamate, 22 triquetral, 22 trapezoid, and 16 pisiform bones from several individuals. Discriminant function analysis was used to determine if sexual dimorphism is measurable in this population using these elements. Previous studies used populations with known identities, assessing individuals from crypts, graveyards, or medical collections from the last few centuries. This study varies from previous studies as it utilizes archaeological remains, making this study one of the first to evaluate non-contemporary remains with unknown sex. Results of this study demonstrate that this population exhibits sexual dimorphism and discriminant function analysis can be used to distinguish between two groups. This demonstrates that carpals could be used to help determine biological sex of archaeological populations as well as a tool to help with identification in forensic cases.

When analyzing skeletal remains in bioarchaeology, the pelvis and skull provide the most accurate results for sex estimation; however, these are not always present or sufficiently preserved to provide quality data for this purpose. In addition, the amount of time spent analyzing human remains in field or museum collection contexts may be constrained. Therefore, alternate methods of sex estimation that also increase efficiency should be explored. This study aims to establish the minimum number of key measurements of the talus necessary to estimate biological sex with a level of accuracy comparable to published studies that are more time intensive in their data collection. Measures of talus width, length, height, and volume were collected on individuals from two ancient Egyptian (N=162) and three ancient Maya (N=98) archaeological populations. Set points and allocation ranges for these four measures were applied to individuals of known sex and indeterminate sex from these populations to test their accuracy and then compared with the accuracies achieved in existing research using the talus in sex estimation. The four measures used in this study resulted in comparably high accuracy in sex estimation when compared with prior research based on more extensive methods using the talus. The most significant limitation of this study was the small number of individuals available for data collection from three of the smaller site populations. Nevertheless, the method used in this study directly addresses logistical and ethical concerns surrounding the analysis of human remains as it requires less time spent handling the remains and less time spent on analysis out of the field while still providing comparable accuracy. This study also contributes population data for ancient Egyptians and ancient Maya which will facilitate further investigations of sexual dimorphism and sex estimation in these populations.

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