Thursday, October 30^th  

Presentations will be in the Buena Vista Building, Aula Canaria Lecture Hall

12:30-1:00     Registration and Welcome

1:00       Revealing Two Preclassic Vessels from Las Ruinas de Arenal: From Field to Laboratory           

Erika Flores (Mopan Valley Preclassic Archaeology Project), Rachel Horowitz and M. Kathryn Brown

1:20       The Pine Ridge Preceramic Project: A Summary of Three Field Seasons at August Pine Ridge, Belize

Mike McBride (Gault School of Archaeological Research) and John C. Lohse

1:40       Dietary Differences in the Maya Lowlands: Using Isotopic Analysis of Remains to Understand Differences in Maya Diet

Matthew deGraffenried (University of Texas at San Antonio)

2:00       Investigating Function in Maya Palace Ancillary Structures: A Case Study from Las Ruinas de Arenal

Eleanor Beauchamp (University of Texas at San Antonio)

2:20       Connecting with the Ancestors in the Mopan River Valley of Belize

Jason Yaeger (University of Texas at San Antonio), M. Kathryn Brown, Bernadette Cap and Rachel Horowitz

2:40       Building Ritual Landscapes: Evidence of Quarrying and Construction at Group D, Xunantunich, Belize

Anna Tolley (University of Texas at San Antonio)

3:00-3:30     Break

3:30       Late Classic Onomastics in the Dolores Region of Peten           

Nick Carter (Texas State University) and Aliyah Anderson

3:50       Salt, Sediment, and Sea-Level Change: Insights from a Submerged Ancient Maya Coastal Site in Southern Belize

Cher Foster (Louisiana State University), Heather McKillop, and E. Cory Sills

4:10       (Re)Building the Self: A Household Construction History from Las Ruinas de Arenal, Belize

Madeline Stone Snyder (University of Texas at San Antonio)

4:30       Lidar and the Legacy of Lubaantun

Amy Thompson (University of Texas at Austin), Alana Pengilley, Chris Ploetz, Kurly Tlapoyawa, Juan Arape, Emma Eiriksson, and John P. Walden

4:50       Ko’ox Jaanal: The Excavation and Preliminary Analysis of Royal Kitchens at the Late/Terminal Classic Sites of Labna and Kiuic, Yucatan, Mexico

George J. Bey III (Millsaps College), Tomás Gallareta Negrón, and Rossana May Ciau

5:10       Day of the Dead Remembrance: Celebration of our Recently Departed Colleagues

5:30-6:00     Break

6:00       Keynote Address:  How We Arrived at Where We Are: Maya Households, Neighborhoods, and History at Caracol, Belize

Diane Z. Chase (University of Houston)

Friday, October 31^st  

Presentations will be in the Buena Vista Building, Aula Canaria Lecture Hall

9:00-9:30     Welcome and Coffee

9:30       Large-scale Maya Urbanism: Using Settlement Scaling Theory for Classic Period Maya Cities

Adrian Chase (Tulane University)

9:50       Ancient Maya Manipulation of Residential Space in Northwest Belize

Tom Guderjan (University of Texas at Tyler), Colleen Hanratty, Alexander Parmington, Dominick Van Den Notelaer, Vlaams Erfgoed Centrum, Lutz Schubert, and Michael Nunez

10:10    Houselot Hunters: Results of the 2025 BEAST Excavations at Two Houselots at Ayikal Naob, Belize

Kaitlin Murphy (Texas Tech University), Mara De Gregori, and Brett A. Houk

10:30    Excavation of Building B at Ch’oc Ayin: A Residential Household Group

Sarah Miller (Louisiana State University), Heather McKillop, and E. Cory Sills

10:50    Architecture and Authority: The Masks of Kiuic

Kyle Winters (University of Texas at San Antonio), Tomás Gallareta Negrón, and George J. Bey III

11:10-1:10     Lunch

1:10       Material Correlates for Religious Iconography at a Commoner Ballcourt in Northwestern Belize

Michael Maddox (Yale University)

1:30       Transect Excavations of Building C at Ch’oc Ayin Underwater Site, Belize

Alex Broussard (Louisiana State University). Heather McKillop, and E. Cory Sills

1:50       A Matter of Recipes: Paste and Type in a Ka’kabish Chultun

Eli Muller (University of Oklahoma)

2:10       Symbolism and Space: Iconographic Data Recovery from Two Olmec Ceremonial Centers

Theodore Kmiec IV (Texas State University)

2:30       A Classic Maya Divine Patron of the Ballgame: Revisiting the Theonym

Niketas Beloborodov (University of Texas at Austin)

2:50-3:20     Break

3:20       Architecture, Epigraphy, and Ritual as Expressions of Political Networks: Insights from Xnoha, Tz’unun, Tulix Mul, and Nohol Nah in Northwestern Belize

C. Colleen Hanratty (Maya Research Program), Thomas H. Guderjan, Alejandro Pastrana, Rachael Smith, Jocelyne Swayze-Karr, Normando Witzil, Alexander Parmington, Andres Gallegos, Emily Zylka, Virgilio Witzil, and Christophe Helmke 

3:40       Narrative Strategies at El Tajín in the context of Late Classic Mesoamerica

Rex Koontz (University of Houston)

4:00       The Muses of the Maya

Jacob Lozano (Texas State University)

4:20       (K)napping, Stone Working, and Raw Material Collection: Exploring Daily Lives of Stone Tool Producers at the Manzanero Lithic Workshop, Belize

Rachel Horowitz (Washington State University)

4:40       Two Roads Diverged: The Middle Preclassic Period in the Eastern Puuc

Ken Seligson (California State University, Dominguez Hills)

Saturday, November 1^st  

Presentations will be in the Buena Vista Building, Aula Canaria Lecture Hall

8:30-9:00     Coffee and Welcome

9:00       Community Archaeology Belize – Nation in the Making

Antonio Beardall (Texas State University)

9:20       Recent Advances on Settlement Studies in the Central Maya Lowlands Based on Lidar Mapping

Francisco Estrada-Belli (Tulane University)

9:40       The Preclassic Ceramics of the Casa Colorada Group at Chichen Itza, Yucatán

Santiago Sobrino Fernandez (University of Texas at San Antonio), Jesus Gallegos, Marco Rivas, José Osorio, and Francisco Pérez

10:00    Markets, Gifting, and Local Agency: Rethinking Holmul-Style Pottery Exchange at Buenavista del Cayo

Yi-Lin Tsai (Independent Scholar)

10:20    Exploring Ancient Maya Households and Hydrological Engineering at Ayikal Naob, Belize: A Summary of the 2025 BEAST Field Season

Brett Houk (Texas Tech University), Amy Thompson, Samantha Krause, Claire Novotny, Briana Smith, and Victoria Ingalls

Break 10:40-11:00

11:00    Exploring Environment-Human-Animal Relationships and Indigenous Sustainability in Central Belize: Insights from Stable Isotope and Zooarchaeological Analyses

Yifan Wang (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) and Rachel M. Taylor

11:20    Beyond Guacamole: Learning about Ancient and Historic Foodways from Cooking 19th Century Avocado Recipes

Jennifer Mathews (Trinity University)

11:40    Obsidian Trade Connections and Production during the Maya Postclassic at Colha, Belize

Manda Adam (University of Texas at Austin), Alana Pengilley, and Laine Fischer

12:00    Investigating the Late to Terminal Classic Royal Palace at Baking Pot, Belize

Julie Hoggarth (Baylor University), Tia B. Watkins, John P. Walden, J. Britt Davis, and Jaime J. Awe

12:20    Examining the Socio-political Implications of Ancient Maya Monument Reuse and Spoliation at Cahal Pech and Xunantunich, Belize 

Jaime Awe (Northern Arizona University), Claire E. Ebert, Tia B. Watkins, Scott Yost, and Douglas Tilden 

12:40-2:00     Lunch and Final Reception

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