Economic Variation of Ancient Maya Residential Settlement in the Upper Belize River Area

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Abstract
Regional settlement studies in the Maya area have provided a basis for understanding the importance of subsistence strategies, but have not addressed the issue of how the settlements themselves are differentiated. This article examines Maya settlement patterns of the Belize River area and uses data from residential-unit midden tests to identify aspects of settlement variation. These variations are examined with respect to general landform characteristics. Much of the variation appears to relate to the productive capacity of agricultural resources in the area. This is no surprise, since the ancient Maya were an agrarian society.