My research focuses on the built environment as a source of insight into ancient socio-political systems in New World complex societies (with a particular emphasis on the ancient Maya).
At the request of R. W. Armstrong & •Associates, Inc. (RWA), the Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Arc... more At the request of R. W. Armstrong & •Associates, Inc. (RWA), the Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archaeology, Indiana University (GBL) conducted a Phase Ia archaeological reconnaissance survey of land to be impacted by the proposed replacement of Lawrence• County Bridge Number 85. Approximately 0. 7 acres were surveyed. The purposes of the survey were 1) to identify and document all of the cultural resources in the project area, 2) to evaluate any sites with regard to their eligibility for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) and the Indiana Register of Historic Sites and Structures (IRHSS), and 3) to make recommendations for the protection of significant and potentially significant sites. Fieldwork was conducted September 17, 1999 by GBL archaeologists Mary E. Pirkl and Devin W. Fishel. No cultural materials were discovered during survey. Cultural resource clearance is therefore recommended for the project area, provided that all earth-moving activity is limited to the currently delineated boundaries.
The journal is devoted primarily to the publication of specialized reports on the archaeology of ... more The journal is devoted primarily to the publication of specialized reports on the archaeology of Belizebut also features articles from other disciplines and areas.
Archaeological investigations of the Overlook Rockshelter in the Caves Branch River Valley of cen... more Archaeological investigations of the Overlook Rockshelter in the Caves Branch River Valley of central Belize offer a unique view of ancient Maya cave ritual through the complete recovery and analysis of all artifacts within the site's two small activity areas. In general, the assemblage contains many of the same types of objects documented from other nearby caves and rockshelters. However, the nearly 1700 ceramics sherds showed almost no refits, demonstrating that sherds were deposited at the site individually, rather than as complete vessels. The human bone assemblage represents three or four individuals, with the majority of the bones comprising a single individual, and all of these were deposited as incomplete secondary interments. Analogies for this depositional behavior based on archaeological and ethnographic studies suggest that this rockshelter may represent a waypoint within a ritual circuit composed of multiple locations over which fragments of complete items such as ceramic vessels and secondary burials were spread.
Since 2009, members of the Central Belize Archaeological Survey (CBAS) have engaged in a program ... more Since 2009, members of the Central Belize Archaeological Survey (CBAS) have engaged in a program of regional exploration between the Roaring Creek and Caves Branch River Valleys. This research has included epigraphic and architectural studies, settlement, paleoenvironmental and resource studies, speleoarchaeology, and bioarchaeology and other material studies. Through these avenues, CBAS has explored multiple aspects of growth and development in the economic and political realms, a topic that we discuss in this paper.
Recent archaeological investigations at Tipan Chen Uitz, Belize, yielded two remarkable Classic M... more Recent archaeological investigations at Tipan Chen Uitz, Belize, yielded two remarkable Classic Maya ballplayer panels. Iconographic and glyphic analysis of these panels within a regional context provides new insights into large-scale socio-political relationships, demonstrating that the ballgame was an important means and mechanism for macropolitical affiliation in the Maya Lowlands. The panels suggest that Tipan was part of a wider system of vassalage that tied it to other Maya centres, including Naranjo, a regional capital under the dominion of Calakmul where the Snake-Head dynasty held sway. The data presented here underpin a more general discussion of archaeological approaches to ancient interaction spheres.
... 108-130. Keywords. Andres, Fort Wayne, Indiana, archaeology. Disciplines. Anthropology | Arch... more ... 108-130. Keywords. Andres, Fort Wayne, Indiana, archaeology. Disciplines. Anthropology | Archaeological Anthropology. Opus Citation. Christopher Andres, Dorothea McCullough, MichaelStrezewski, and Robert G. McCullough (2009). Archaeological Investigations of Fort St. ...
This dissertation examines the relationship between changing spatial configurations in the built ... more This dissertation examines the relationship between changing spatial configurations in the built environment and sociopolitical organization in the three ancient Maya communities of Chau Hiix, Lamanai, and Altun Ha, Belize. The research explores the proposition that manipulation of the built environment was particularly important in mediating between inter-and intra-community social and political segments during the turbulent Terminal Classic period (ca. A.D. 800 and 1000). The research design guiding the project facilitated the testing of several hypotheses. Among these is the prediction that architectural developments at long-lived Chau Hiix would more closely mirror those at Lamanai, a site neighboring Chau Hiix that was inhabited into the period of Spanish Conquest, than at Altun Ha, another neighbor that was largely abandoned after the 9 th century A.D. Changing patterns of access to elite residential and civic-ceremonial architectural contexts is one of the most significant findings at the three locations. These diachronic changes were tracked using quantitative spatial analyses (including methods adapted from the work of Thomas Markus, Jerry Moore, and Bill Hillier and Julienne Hanson) and more interpretative analysis of Maya cityscapes. Research findings include a tendency for buildings at Lamanai and Chau Hiix to become progressively restricted prior to about A.D. 800 before becoming increasingly accessible after this point. Movement towards more inclusive, architecturally-focused patterns of sociopolitical interaction is postulated to have contributed to (or to index a process that explains) the persistence of certain Belize Maya communities after the period of widespread site abandonment following the 9 th century Maya "collapse". These data emphasize the complexity of the Terminal Classic period by illustrating how contrasting community trajectories were not only the result of distinct strategies of manipulation of material culture but also almost certainly a consequence of distinct social processes operating in different parts of the Southern Maya Lowlands.
Recent investigations at the Maya site of Chau Hiix) Belize have identified a previously undocume... more Recent investigations at the Maya site of Chau Hiix) Belize have identified a previously undocumented long structure on the north side of the central precinct. This possible civic-ceremonial structure (Structure 150) representspart of a lar;gerremodeling of the site center during a transitional period in the community)s history. Structure 150 is significant in that it departs from contemporary construction at other Maya sites in northern Belize and anticipates Postclassic (A.D. 1000-1500) buildings documented in Yucatan) Petin) the Guatemalan highlands) and at other locations in northern Belize. This study discusses influences potentially at work at Chau Hiix during the Classic-to-Postclassictransition (A.D. 750-1050) and considers the sociopoliticalimplications of changing spatial configurations in the architecture of this and other pre-contact Maya communities. It is hypothesized that the site center architecture of southern lowland centers that persisted through the Terminal Clas...
The Central Belize Archaeological Survey (CBAS) was initiated in 2005 as a sub-project of the Bel... more The Central Belize Archaeological Survey (CBAS) was initiated in 2005 as a sub-project of the Belize Valley Archaeological Reconnaissance project (BVAR; directed by Jaime Awe) to investigate the prehistoric Maya cemetery site of Caves Branch Rockshelter. Subsequently, we began to survey other nearby cave and rockshelter sites (Hardy 2009) and to excavate the monumental civic-ceremonial centre of Deep Valley (Jordan 2008). CBAS became an independent project in 2009, with an increasing focus on sites in the neighbouring Roaring Creek Valley (Figure 1). This slight geographic shift was in part intended to expand bioarchaeological investigations to include dark zone cave contexts identified during the late 1990s by BVAR's Western Belize Regional Cave Project. In the area around these caves, we identified two large, previously unreported civic-ceremonial centres and a network of raised roads (sacbeob) connecting them and other sites. Our survey and excavations at Tipan Chen Uitz (Fig...
Recent research in the Caves Branch River Valley (CBRV) has focused on discerning and defining co... more Recent research in the Caves Branch River Valley (CBRV) has focused on discerning and defining connections between ancient Maya communities and special function sites in Central Belize. During the past three seasons, discoveries and investigations of multiple "new" civic-ceremonial centers and cave sites have advanced our understanding of ways Classic period Maya groups utilized ritually-important natural and constructed elements of the cultural landscape. We are currently considering the possibility that temporal variations in the use of these locations reflect a variety of factors, including demographic, socio-political, and environmental changes that took place in the southern Maya Lowlands between the Late Preclassic and Terminal Classic periods. Our ongoing investigations of landscapes in and around the CBRV are providing us with an improved understanding of how ritual was centrally important in defining and negotiating group and community identities in this part of the Maya area.
Recent archaeological investigations at Tipan Chen Uitz, Belize, yielded two remarkable Classic M... more Recent archaeological investigations at Tipan Chen Uitz, Belize, yielded two remarkable Classic Maya ballplayer panels. Iconographic and glyphic analysis of these panels within a regional context provides new insights into large-scale socio-political relationships, demonstrating that the ballgame was an important means and mechanism for macro-political affiliation in the Maya Lowlands. The panels suggest that Tipan was part of a wider system of vassalage that tied it to other Maya centres, including Naranjo, a regional capital under the dominion of Calakmul where the Snake-Head dynasty held sway. The data presented here underpin a more general discussion of archaeological approaches to ancient interaction spheres.
Indie-Il mondo che non c 'era). Promoted by the Ligabue Study and Research Centre, Venice, and th... more Indie-Il mondo che non c 'era). Promoted by the Ligabue Study and Research Centre, Venice, and the Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici della Toscana-Museo Archeologico Nazionale, and principally sponsored by Ligabue SpA under the patronage of the Regione Toscana and the Comune di Firenze, the exhibition displays more than 230 items, once in the Medici Collections together with objects from the Musee du quai Branly, Paris, and major international collections. The core of the exhibition is a vastselection of works from ancient American cultures -never previously shown -from the Ligabue collection. Only a few months after his death, this exhibition is a homage to Giancarlo Ligabue (1931-20 15) by his son Inti, who continues the commitment to cultural and scientific research and popularization through the study centre founded forty years ago by his father, a palaeontologist, scholar of archaeology and anthropology, explorer, entrepreneur and passionate collector.
At the request of R. W. Armstrong & •Associates, Inc. (RWA), the Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Arc... more At the request of R. W. Armstrong & •Associates, Inc. (RWA), the Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archaeology, Indiana University (GBL) conducted a Phase Ia archaeological reconnaissance survey of land to be impacted by the proposed replacement of Lawrence• County Bridge Number 85. Approximately 0. 7 acres were surveyed. The purposes of the survey were 1) to identify and document all of the cultural resources in the project area, 2) to evaluate any sites with regard to their eligibility for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) and the Indiana Register of Historic Sites and Structures (IRHSS), and 3) to make recommendations for the protection of significant and potentially significant sites. Fieldwork was conducted September 17, 1999 by GBL archaeologists Mary E. Pirkl and Devin W. Fishel. No cultural materials were discovered during survey. Cultural resource clearance is therefore recommended for the project area, provided that all earth-moving activity is limited to the currently delineated boundaries.
The journal is devoted primarily to the publication of specialized reports on the archaeology of ... more The journal is devoted primarily to the publication of specialized reports on the archaeology of Belizebut also features articles from other disciplines and areas.
Archaeological investigations of the Overlook Rockshelter in the Caves Branch River Valley of cen... more Archaeological investigations of the Overlook Rockshelter in the Caves Branch River Valley of central Belize offer a unique view of ancient Maya cave ritual through the complete recovery and analysis of all artifacts within the site's two small activity areas. In general, the assemblage contains many of the same types of objects documented from other nearby caves and rockshelters. However, the nearly 1700 ceramics sherds showed almost no refits, demonstrating that sherds were deposited at the site individually, rather than as complete vessels. The human bone assemblage represents three or four individuals, with the majority of the bones comprising a single individual, and all of these were deposited as incomplete secondary interments. Analogies for this depositional behavior based on archaeological and ethnographic studies suggest that this rockshelter may represent a waypoint within a ritual circuit composed of multiple locations over which fragments of complete items such as ceramic vessels and secondary burials were spread.
Since 2009, members of the Central Belize Archaeological Survey (CBAS) have engaged in a program ... more Since 2009, members of the Central Belize Archaeological Survey (CBAS) have engaged in a program of regional exploration between the Roaring Creek and Caves Branch River Valleys. This research has included epigraphic and architectural studies, settlement, paleoenvironmental and resource studies, speleoarchaeology, and bioarchaeology and other material studies. Through these avenues, CBAS has explored multiple aspects of growth and development in the economic and political realms, a topic that we discuss in this paper.
Recent archaeological investigations at Tipan Chen Uitz, Belize, yielded two remarkable Classic M... more Recent archaeological investigations at Tipan Chen Uitz, Belize, yielded two remarkable Classic Maya ballplayer panels. Iconographic and glyphic analysis of these panels within a regional context provides new insights into large-scale socio-political relationships, demonstrating that the ballgame was an important means and mechanism for macropolitical affiliation in the Maya Lowlands. The panels suggest that Tipan was part of a wider system of vassalage that tied it to other Maya centres, including Naranjo, a regional capital under the dominion of Calakmul where the Snake-Head dynasty held sway. The data presented here underpin a more general discussion of archaeological approaches to ancient interaction spheres.
... 108-130. Keywords. Andres, Fort Wayne, Indiana, archaeology. Disciplines. Anthropology | Arch... more ... 108-130. Keywords. Andres, Fort Wayne, Indiana, archaeology. Disciplines. Anthropology | Archaeological Anthropology. Opus Citation. Christopher Andres, Dorothea McCullough, MichaelStrezewski, and Robert G. McCullough (2009). Archaeological Investigations of Fort St. ...
This dissertation examines the relationship between changing spatial configurations in the built ... more This dissertation examines the relationship between changing spatial configurations in the built environment and sociopolitical organization in the three ancient Maya communities of Chau Hiix, Lamanai, and Altun Ha, Belize. The research explores the proposition that manipulation of the built environment was particularly important in mediating between inter-and intra-community social and political segments during the turbulent Terminal Classic period (ca. A.D. 800 and 1000). The research design guiding the project facilitated the testing of several hypotheses. Among these is the prediction that architectural developments at long-lived Chau Hiix would more closely mirror those at Lamanai, a site neighboring Chau Hiix that was inhabited into the period of Spanish Conquest, than at Altun Ha, another neighbor that was largely abandoned after the 9 th century A.D. Changing patterns of access to elite residential and civic-ceremonial architectural contexts is one of the most significant findings at the three locations. These diachronic changes were tracked using quantitative spatial analyses (including methods adapted from the work of Thomas Markus, Jerry Moore, and Bill Hillier and Julienne Hanson) and more interpretative analysis of Maya cityscapes. Research findings include a tendency for buildings at Lamanai and Chau Hiix to become progressively restricted prior to about A.D. 800 before becoming increasingly accessible after this point. Movement towards more inclusive, architecturally-focused patterns of sociopolitical interaction is postulated to have contributed to (or to index a process that explains) the persistence of certain Belize Maya communities after the period of widespread site abandonment following the 9 th century Maya "collapse". These data emphasize the complexity of the Terminal Classic period by illustrating how contrasting community trajectories were not only the result of distinct strategies of manipulation of material culture but also almost certainly a consequence of distinct social processes operating in different parts of the Southern Maya Lowlands.
Recent investigations at the Maya site of Chau Hiix) Belize have identified a previously undocume... more Recent investigations at the Maya site of Chau Hiix) Belize have identified a previously undocumented long structure on the north side of the central precinct. This possible civic-ceremonial structure (Structure 150) representspart of a lar;gerremodeling of the site center during a transitional period in the community)s history. Structure 150 is significant in that it departs from contemporary construction at other Maya sites in northern Belize and anticipates Postclassic (A.D. 1000-1500) buildings documented in Yucatan) Petin) the Guatemalan highlands) and at other locations in northern Belize. This study discusses influences potentially at work at Chau Hiix during the Classic-to-Postclassictransition (A.D. 750-1050) and considers the sociopoliticalimplications of changing spatial configurations in the architecture of this and other pre-contact Maya communities. It is hypothesized that the site center architecture of southern lowland centers that persisted through the Terminal Clas...
The Central Belize Archaeological Survey (CBAS) was initiated in 2005 as a sub-project of the Bel... more The Central Belize Archaeological Survey (CBAS) was initiated in 2005 as a sub-project of the Belize Valley Archaeological Reconnaissance project (BVAR; directed by Jaime Awe) to investigate the prehistoric Maya cemetery site of Caves Branch Rockshelter. Subsequently, we began to survey other nearby cave and rockshelter sites (Hardy 2009) and to excavate the monumental civic-ceremonial centre of Deep Valley (Jordan 2008). CBAS became an independent project in 2009, with an increasing focus on sites in the neighbouring Roaring Creek Valley (Figure 1). This slight geographic shift was in part intended to expand bioarchaeological investigations to include dark zone cave contexts identified during the late 1990s by BVAR's Western Belize Regional Cave Project. In the area around these caves, we identified two large, previously unreported civic-ceremonial centres and a network of raised roads (sacbeob) connecting them and other sites. Our survey and excavations at Tipan Chen Uitz (Fig...
Recent research in the Caves Branch River Valley (CBRV) has focused on discerning and defining co... more Recent research in the Caves Branch River Valley (CBRV) has focused on discerning and defining connections between ancient Maya communities and special function sites in Central Belize. During the past three seasons, discoveries and investigations of multiple "new" civic-ceremonial centers and cave sites have advanced our understanding of ways Classic period Maya groups utilized ritually-important natural and constructed elements of the cultural landscape. We are currently considering the possibility that temporal variations in the use of these locations reflect a variety of factors, including demographic, socio-political, and environmental changes that took place in the southern Maya Lowlands between the Late Preclassic and Terminal Classic periods. Our ongoing investigations of landscapes in and around the CBRV are providing us with an improved understanding of how ritual was centrally important in defining and negotiating group and community identities in this part of the Maya area.
Recent archaeological investigations at Tipan Chen Uitz, Belize, yielded two remarkable Classic M... more Recent archaeological investigations at Tipan Chen Uitz, Belize, yielded two remarkable Classic Maya ballplayer panels. Iconographic and glyphic analysis of these panels within a regional context provides new insights into large-scale socio-political relationships, demonstrating that the ballgame was an important means and mechanism for macro-political affiliation in the Maya Lowlands. The panels suggest that Tipan was part of a wider system of vassalage that tied it to other Maya centres, including Naranjo, a regional capital under the dominion of Calakmul where the Snake-Head dynasty held sway. The data presented here underpin a more general discussion of archaeological approaches to ancient interaction spheres.
Indie-Il mondo che non c 'era). Promoted by the Ligabue Study and Research Centre, Venice, and th... more Indie-Il mondo che non c 'era). Promoted by the Ligabue Study and Research Centre, Venice, and the Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici della Toscana-Museo Archeologico Nazionale, and principally sponsored by Ligabue SpA under the patronage of the Regione Toscana and the Comune di Firenze, the exhibition displays more than 230 items, once in the Medici Collections together with objects from the Musee du quai Branly, Paris, and major international collections. The core of the exhibition is a vastselection of works from ancient American cultures -never previously shown -from the Ligabue collection. Only a few months after his death, this exhibition is a homage to Giancarlo Ligabue (1931-20 15) by his son Inti, who continues the commitment to cultural and scientific research and popularization through the study centre founded forty years ago by his father, a palaeontologist, scholar of archaeology and anthropology, explorer, entrepreneur and passionate collector.
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