Research Issues

Classic Maya civilization is one of the most intriguing of ancient cultures.  Its enigmatic rise and fall in a tropical forest setting more than a millennium ago has been drawing people to Central America for a century and a half.  They have come to use this culture’s ancient architecture, burials, and ceremonial remains to reconstruct its history and tell the story of how it thrived for centuries.  Recently, there has been a shift in focus among some Maya archaeologists away from the study of ancient cities to an examination of outlying areas in order to fill in gaps in our understanding of how Maya culture worked on a day-to-day basis.  The Rio Bravo Archaeological survey is part of this shift. The RBAS is a cutting-edge project focused on the study of ancient households and the environment in which they developed in order to understand ancient beliefs, economics, and other aspects of this culture.  Current research issues in Maya archaeology the project is investigating are:

• Maya household organization

• Ballcourt ceremonialism

• Settlement and social organization

• Water Management and landscape modification

• Subsistence and economy

• The Collapse of Classic civilization