NTAS 07.11.2024 Dr. Robyn Dodge "Ancient Maya Marketplace Investigations at Hun Tun"

Guest Speaker: Dr. Robyn Dodge

Topic: "Ancient Maya Marketplace Investigations at Hun Tun"

With funding from the National Science Foundation, the Hun Tun Archaeology Project participated in collabora-tive research to investigate the hypothesized existence of an integrated market system in the Three Rivers Region of northwestern Belize during the Late Classic period (CE 600-850). Marketplaces do not operate in isolation. There-fore, marketplace networks are best understood on a regional level. However, regional integration, movement of goods, and other aspects of trade and exchange are difficult to gauge without first identifying known marketplace locations. This aspect remains an important component for investigations of ancient marketplaces worldwide. The coordinated support and collaborative nature of the NSF marketplace study provided an opportunity to gain a re-gional perspective of Late Classic Maya economy within northwestern Belize.

Marketplace interactions between larger sites and the surrounding hinterland settlements provide data about the regional mobility of goods. Current marketplace research is the first of its kind at Hun Tun and a first of its kind in terms of scale and coordinated collaboration. The first objective of this project was to confirm the existence of sus-pected marketplaces in the region; the second objective was to examine the comparability of goods between con-firmed marketplaces. The third objective was to investigate how marketplace activity contributed to long-term hu-man environmental interactions related to climate change. Research methodology at Hun Tun was consistent with other research sites in the study. This involved the following: soil geochemical testing of marketplace plazas, trench excavations of plaza courtyards, investigations of associated features, and identification of modern tree species. Hun Tun Group A served as a control or confirmed “non-marketplace” while Group C at Hun Tun was the location for data collection within the proposed marketplace plaza.