Friday October 15, 2026
1:00-1:15 Registration and Welcome Statement
1:15-1:30 A Karst Plateau in the Central Maya Lowlands: The Landscape of El Mirador
Rodrigo Guzman Piedrasanta (Middle American Research Institute, Tulane University), Michael Callaghan, Bridgitte Kovaceivich, and Karla Cardona Caravantes
1:30-1:45 Building Ch’ulel: A Study of the Hieroglyphic Texts of the Cenote Sagrado
Santiago Sobrino (University of Texas-San Antonio)
1:45-2:00 The Lost Lienzo of Ixhuatan: The Titulo de Santa Maria Ixhuatan and its Colonial Cousin
Aaron Stevens (University of Texas-Austin)
2:00-2:15 Constructing the Past: New Architectural Evidence from Group D, Xunantunich
Whitney Lytle (Mopan Valley Preclassic Project), and M. Kathryn Brown
2:15-2:30 Beyond Lidar: Building, Rebuilding, and Landscape Reuse at Laguna Seca, Belize
Chris Ploetz (University of Texas-Austin), Amy E. Thompson, Brett A. Houk, Timothy Beach, Sheryl Luzzadder-Beach, Jesse Dalton, and Fred Valdez, Jr.
Coffee Break 2:30-3:00
3:00-3:15 Curiouser and Curiouser: Excavations of Structure 53 at Tz’unun in Northwest Belize
Cheryl Foster (Louisiana State University), Tom Guderjan, and Colleen Hanratty
3:15-3:30 Where Water Flows: Climate, Culture, and Human Settlement at Colha Belize
Melanie Langgle (University of Texas-Austin), and Fred Valdez Jr.
3:30-3:45 Comparing Classic and Postclassic Fishing Weights from the Placencia Region in Belize
Michael Nunez (University of Texas-Tyler) and E. Cory Sills
3:45-4:00 Wood Species Use at Ch’oc Ayin Maya Residential Household Group, Belize
Sarah Miller (Louisiana State University), Heather McKillop and E. Cory Sills
Coffee Break before Keynote Address 4:00-4:30
4:30-5:30 Keynote Address by Dr. Heather McKillop (Louisiana State University).
Title: Discoveries, Challenges, and Innovations at the Paynes Creek Salt Works, Belize, 2004-2026
Saturday October 24, 2026
9:30-9:45 Coffee, Registration, and Opening Remarks
9:45-10:00 Reading T1013/T1058a as AHAN, “Victory, Conquest”
Nicholas Carter (Texas State University), Barb MacLeod, and Dana G. Moot III
10:00-10:15 The Road to San Jose: Interrogating a Cultural Landscape
Brett Houk (Texas Tech University), Jason Yaeger and M. Kathyrn Brown
10:15-10:30 Urban-rural Settlement Organization and Land Management in the Central Maya Lowlands: A View from Lidar-derived Map Data
Fransico Estrada-Belli (Middle American Research Institute, Tulane University)
10:30-10:45 Moving from There and Then to Here and Now: Settlement Systems and Travel Times
Adrian Chase (Middle American Research Institute, Tulane University)
10:45–11:15 Coffee Break
11:15-11:30 Building a Body: The Connection of Maize and Wheat in Maya and European Understandings During the Spanish Conquest of Guatemala
Kendall Rander (Louisiana State University)
11:30-11:45 New Perspectives on El Pozito, Orange Walk District, Northern Belize: Recent Archaeology, Results, and Hypotheses on a Classic-era Market Town
Keith Eppich (Tyler Junior College-East Texas)
11:45-12:00 Excavations of the South Ballcourt at Buenavista Del Cayo
Jake Nelson (University of Texas-San Antonio), Bernadette Cap, and Jason Yaeger
12:00-12:15 Muddles in the Models: How Anthropology Led Maya Archaeology Astray
Arlen Chase (University of Houston), Diane Z. Chase, and Adrian S. Z. Chase
12:15-1:45 Lunch
1:45-2:00 Ixchel’s Canoe: Maya Women and the Maritime Sacred, Classic to Contact
Andi Ester (ZOOM Presentation)
2:00-2:15 Felines and Chalchihuitl: A Comparative Study of Aztec Murals and Pecos River-Style Rock Art
Diana Radillo Rolon (Shumla Archaeological Research and Education Center)
2:15-2:30 Who is Looking at Late Classic Gulf Coast Art? Searching for Late Classic Elites in Viewing Experience at El Tajín, Veracruz
Rex Koontz (University of Houston)
2:30-2:45 Learning from Your Neighbors: Pseudoglyphs across the Mesoamerican South
Janic Agurrie Fukuno (University of Texas-Austin)
2:45-3:00 The Ritual Interment of Infants and Children in a Royal Funerary Complex in Buenavista del Cayo, Belize
Jason Yaeger (University of Texas-San Antonio), Bernadette Cap, Carolyn R. Freiwald, and Lindsey N. Hall
3:00-3:30 Coffee Break
3:30-3:45 Maya Ballcourts in the Southeastern Three Rivers Adaptive Region
Mara De Gregori (University of California-Riverside) and Brett A. Houk
3:45-4:00 It’s a Family Tradition: Rethinking Household Production at Ka’kabish
Eli Muller (Louisiana State University)
4:00-4:15 Keeping Bees, Changing Practices: An Ethnoarchaeological Study of Bee Husbandry in Northern Belize
J. Greer Testa (Texas Historical Commission), Manda K.S. Adam, and Fred Valdez, Jr.
4:15-4:30 Nahualá Textiles: An Analysis of K’iche’ Maya Huipiles
Clark White (University of Texas-Austin)
4:30-4:45 What Is Old Is New Again: New Perspectives on the Archaeology of Placencia Lagoon, Belize
E. Cory Sills (University of Texas-Tyler)
SCCM Reception
Flowers Hall 5:00-6:30pm
Libations and Conversations
Zelicks 7:30-9:00 pm with Live Music from Autumn and the Pearls and a special “Garber Punch”
Sunday October 25, 2026
9:45 Coffee and Opening Remarks
10:00-10:15 Preservation of Archaeological Collections from Placencia-1 (Rum Point Airstrip), Belize
Hyrum Adams (University of Texas-Tyler) and E. Cory Sills
10:15–10:30 Finding New Data from Old Sources: Exploring the Monuments of Quiriguá Through Photographs and Casts by Alfred Percival Maudslay. Preliminary Observations and Results
Fabian Domiguez (Independent Researcher)
10:30-10:45 Power in the Making: Ritual Economy at a Late Classic Maya Household
Madeline Snyder (University of Texas-San Antonio) and Carolyn Freiwald
10:45-11:00 Photogrammetric Methods, Modeling and Epigraphic Results of a Study in El Chal
Michael Buley (Texas State University)
11:00-11:15 Walk This Way: New Investigations of a Sacbe, Group G, and Access to the Marketplace at Xunantunich
Anna Tolley (University of Texas-San Antonio), Bernadette Cap, and M. Kathryn Brown
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