Aftermath A.D. 696—Late 7th and Early 8th Century Special Deposits and Elite Main Plaza Burials at Buenavista del Cayo, Western Belize: A Study in Classic Maya “Historical Archaeology”.

Between 1984 and 1989, a number of depositional contexts were excavated at the Classic Maya center/site of Buenavista del Cayo in the upper Belize Valley that appeared to be products of sudden cessations of activity or architectural “terminations” dating to sometime in the late 7th to mid-8th century. Ceramic furnishings also linked at least two elite status burials on the Central Plaza of the site to these deposits. Conjunctive analysis of the deposits, burials, and their contents together with applicable epigraphic history recorded at a nearby major city, Naranjo, suggests that they are the result of and directly reflect successful military action by Naranjo against Buenavista in A.D. 696. An examination of the contexts and epigraphic history concerned; the archaeological grounds for linking the two; and the rich, composite understanding of the deposits and their behavioral, cultural, and historical significance illustrate the rewards and advantages of 21st century Maya archaeology’s new paradigmatic status as true “historical archaeology.” [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]