October 7, 2026 by SCRAP

We Wrote a Book!

Although our research team has not been in the field since 2023 (we will be back in 2027—blog post to come), we haven’t been sitting idly by. In fact, we wrote a book. It’s called From House to Home: Small-Town Maya Archaeology in Belize, and it is now available for purchase (see links at end of this post). All author proceeds—if any—will be donated to the Maya Mopan Primary School in Maya Mopan Village, Belize.

Because we like to be as educational as possible in our blogs, we wanted to tell you a bit about how this came about and what took place throughout the academic book publishing process.

WAYYY back in January 2022, a well-known Canadian archaeologist, Bob Muckle, asked Meaghan if she was interested in writing a book about SCRAP for the Teaching Archaeology book series at the University of Toronto Press. This was after they had been chatting for a while about his own book, the excellent inaugural book of the series—Forgotten Things: The Story of the Seymour Valley Archaeology Project—and about their mutual appreciation for public-friendly books about archaeology. The Teaching Archaeology series focuses on concise, engaging case studies designed primarily for use in university courses, but also for others interested in archaeology. In addition to focusing on the research process, the books provide insights into the culture of archaeological fieldwork in different parts of the world.

We’ve always wanted to write a book like this, as we explain in the Preface. We saw it as something that would have been beneficial to us as students (and that would—hopefully—be beneficial for the next generation of students) and would also help the public better understand how archaeology is—or could be—conducted in Belize alongside Belizeans.

In October 2022, we submitted a book proposal to the press after developing roughly 6 draft roadmaps and 6 draft outlines of the book and receiving feedback from Bob (the series editor) and Carli (our press editor). The press then sent the proposal to reviewers, along with a sample of our writing. A month later, they returned with their feedback; we responded in a letter outlining how we would (or wouldn’t) incorporate their feedback, which led to our signing a contract in January 2023 to write the full book.

Thinking hard about our many road map and outline drafts…

From February 2023 to January 2025, we used our roadmap and outline to produce 4 full drafts of our book. Easy, right? As it turns out, writing a coherent manuscript in a single voice with three authors who don’t all live in the same place can be challenging. Even when all the authors are invested in the outcome, life can sometimes grease the curves on your road to the finish line. A few months before beginning the first draft, Jill decided to leave academia for the nonprofit sector. At first, she had no concerns about working on a book alongside her full-time job. Academics are used to doing a million things at once. What is one more? As it turns out, quite a lot when one of the reasons you decided to pursue a new career path was to have more free time. Jill highly recommends doing whatever brings you joy, and if you’ve been working with a wonderful team like SCRAP, you get to work with understanding colleagues who make it possible to do both. Shawn, too, while in an academic position and supported by his institution, often found it difficult to carve out the requisite time to hit our (largely self-imposed) deadline. While Meaghan provided a steady hand as she juggled her own additional responsibilities at work and at home, progress came in fits and starts, tied to holidays and other schedule breaks, with many online meetings and exchanges of drafts, but we got there in the end.

We submitted our 5^th draft to the press, and it was subsequently sent on to reviewers in February 2025. We heard back in September 2025 that it was accepted with minor revisions! We incorporated those revisions into Draft 6 while both Meaghan and Shawn were on sabbatical—again, as outlined in a response letter to the UTP Board—and submitted it to the press and the Institute of Archaeology in Belize in January 2026. From there, we went through a round of copyediting, proofreading, indexing, the preparation of cover and other promotional materials, and more. And here we are!

We hope this helps demystify the university press publishing process—well, at least our experience of it. We’ll be bringing copies down to Belize in April for formal submission to the IA and for our various community stakeholders. We also hope you can get your hands on a copy and enjoy it!

Cheers!

Meaghan, Shawn, and Jill

Here are some places where you can purchase the book. Official release date is Oct. 6, 2026, though some sites may not have access for a few weeks:

UT Press: https://utpdistribution.com/9781487553982/from-house-to-home/

Indigo (Canada): https://www.indigo.ca/products/from-house-to-home-small-town-maya-archaeology-in-belize?variant=46713967640786

Amazon (Canada): https://a.co/d/0gWCDl0y

Barnes and Noble (US): https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/from-house-to-home-meaghan-m-peuramaki-brown/1149495275

Amazon (US): https://a.co/d/03Tn9uno

Amazon (UK): https://www.amazon.co.uk/House-Home-Small-Town-Archaeology-Fieldwork/dp/1487553986

New South Books (AU): https://newsouthbooks.com.au/books/from-house-to-home/

August 27, 2026 by SCRAP

Similarities and Differences between Archaeology and Palaeontology from a Belizean Context

As we’re gearing up for a big year on SCRAP (more on this in an upcoming post this autumn), we wanted to reinvigorate our blog after a few years of relative neglect. So, over the coming months, we’ll be posting several items on various topics in advance of our posts “from the field” next spring/summer. Consider signing up with your email address to follow along (see right-hand side of our webpage).

This blog post is the result of numerous conversations we’ve had on SCRAP over the years about the public’s frequent confusion between archaeology and palaeontology. It was written by SCRAP team member Mr. Alson Ovando of Dangriga Town in Stann Creek District, who recently completed his MSc in Geosciences with a concentration in Palaeontology at East Tennessee State University. Enjoy!

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In Belize, both archaeology and palaeontology share many similarities and differences. This blog post hopes to communicate some of the aspects that differ and overlap between the two sciences from a Belizean context.

What is Archaeology and Palaeontology?

Archaeology is the study of past people and societies through artifacts and other human records. Artifacts are products created or manipulated by humans and are found in a geologic context. Some examples of artifacts include tools, architecture, art, and other human-made objects. Palaeontology is the study of past life on Earth through fossils. Fossils are the natural remains or traces of living things found in a geologic context. Some examples of fossils include bones, droppings, leaf imprints, animal footprints/trackways, seeds, pollen, shells, and many other traces of life. One major difference between Palaeontology and archaeology lies in the types of scientific questions each field seeks to answer. Palaeontologists study animals, plants, and other living organisms over time (so, not just dinosaurs), while archaeologists focus on questions about humans and their ways of life. In some instances, archaeology and palaeontology can intersect near the boundary of the fossil record and archaeological record.

Image modified from “Dinosaur Fossil Park and Museum, Rahioli-Balasinor” Facebook Page

Where do people find fossils or artifacts?

In Belize, fossils can be found in caves, cenotes, rivers, and larger rock units around the country. Archeological sites and artifacts can be found almost everywhere in Belize—essentially, anywhere humans are or have been. In many cases, fossils and artifacts can be found in close proximity to each other. It is common for the fossil record and archaeological record in Belize to be found in separate geologic contexts.

Vertebrate microfossils from Belize found in bone breccia along cave walls. Photo by A. Ovando.

Excavation and Stratigraphy:

All the factors or conditions associated with a fossil or artifact when we first find them in the ground can be referred to as geologic context. Geologic context can help us learn how old a fossil or artifact is, how it got there, and other valuable historical information. Therefore, excavations at fossil and archaeological sites are conducted through a standardized, meticulous process to capture as much geologic information as possible. During excavations, both archaeologists and palaeontologists try to dig within a predetermined area called a unit (see this previous SCRAP post about unit setup). These units are set up in areas of Belize known (or hoped) to contain fossils or artifacts. In a typical unit, the objective is to record each artifact or fossil as you dig downward incrementally. The reason for doing this is not only to find artifacts or fossils but also to understand the geologic context of each specimen recovered. Understanding the geologic context allows scientists to use stratigraphy to estimate the age of an artifact or fossil. In Belize, stratigraphy is an understudied area of geology that helps us to understand the age of sediments, rocks, fossils, artifacts, and larger geologic units across the country.

Gray Fossil Site & Museum 2024 Field Season. Picture from the Gray Fossil Site & Museum Facebook page: May 22, 2024

When excavating a unit, you can expect changes in sediment colour and texture as you go deeper. Along the sides of the unit, you might be fortunate enough to have well-defined lines that are separated horizontally. These lines are known as stratigraphic lines, or “strata,” and can serve as natural time markers to help tell the story of each specimen found during the excavation. In many cases, though not always, the stratigraphic lines become older as the excavation proceeds downward. There are many ways to determine the stratigraphic ages in a unit. Two very common practices include absolute and relative age dating. In Belize, we can use a very reliable form of absolute age dating called radiocarbon dating. Radiocarbon dating techniques only work on organic materials such as bone or charcoal that are preserved well within the last 50,000 years (check out this recent SCRAP article about radiocarbon dating at the Alabama Townsite). Radio carbon dating can be very expensive and is usually conducted by labs outside Belize. Therefore, radiocarbon dating is reserved for materials with the best preservation. Archaeologists in Belize use radiocarbon dating, particularly for Ancestral Maya materials and sites of their predecessors. In addition, paleontologists can use radiocarbon dating to determine the direct age of fossils that preserve organic materials.

Relative age dating is another method used to determine the stratigraphic ages of a unit by using the known ages of fossils or artifacts found in each stratigraphic layer. When enough research has been done at a particular fossil or archaeological site, some fossils or artifacts can be used as reliable indicators of age range. For example, certain styles of Maya ceramic pots were more commonly made during some periods over others. Therefore, the style of Maya ceramic pots can be used to suggest the age range of an archaeological site or stratum. Similarly, palaeontologists use the presence or absence of specific taxa/species at a fossil site to estimate an age range for the site. The challenge with using relative age dating in Belize is that we have to rely on comparable well-researched artifacts and fossils, which we don’t always have. Even though similar artifacts or fossils found in Belize may also be found outside Belize, that doesn’t always mean they are the same age. Thus, relative age dating should be used in conjunction with other geologic dating methods.

SCRAP directors hosting an archaeology information booth at a palaeontology museum in Canada. They were invited by museum staff because the public often confuses archaeologists with palaeontologists. Both are extremely cool and fashionable in their field gear, so it is unsurprising.

The Quaternary: Pleistocene and Holocene

An important factor distinguishing the archaeological record from the fossil record in Belize is time. Much of the human record in Central America is limited to the Holocene (Cohen et al. 2023). The Holocene spans between 11,700 years ago and the present day. The geologic time period that came before the Holocene is called the Pleistocene, and it spans approximately 2.6 million to 11,700 years ago. During the Pleistocene, multiple prehistoric species lived across the Americas. Some of those species went extinct or became extirpated during the end of the Pleistocene. Therefore, it is assumed that the fossils of extinct animals found in Belize so far are older than the Holocene. Currently, archaeologists are still trying to understand when humans first arrived in Belize (e.g., Prufer et al. 2021). Simultaneously, palaeontologists are trying to understand when certain megafauna such as short-faced bears, wild horses, gomphotheres, and giant ground sloths went extinct across the country. It is possible that humans lived alongside (now extinct) megafauna in Belize. One day, by studying the stratigraphy of certain locations across Belize, we might be able to identify localities that contain both fossils of extinct megafauna and artifacts in the same age strata.

References and Further Reading:

Cohen, K.M., Finney, S.C., Gibbard, P.L. & Fan, J.-X. (2013; updated) The ICS International Chronostratigraphic Chart. Episodes 36(3): 199-204.

Ovando, A. 2026. On the Paleontology of Belize. MSc thesis, Department of Geosciences, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City. Available at https://dc.etsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=6197&context=etd

Prufer K.M, Robinson M, Kennett D.J. 2021. Terminal Pleistocene through Middle Holocene Occupations in Southeastern Mesoamerica: Linking Ecology and Culture in the Context of Neotropical Foragers and Early Farmers. Ancient Mesoamerica. 32(3):439-460.

February 10, 2026 by SCRAP

New Article about Granite Use at Ancient Alabama

We’re excited to share our new open-access article exploring how the Ancient/Ancestral Mayas of Alabama, Belize, utilized granite—a coarse-grained igneous rock—in their everyday lives. This topic is especially significant because East-Central Belize lacks the extensive limestone deposits found in most of the Maya lowlands.

Here is the abstract: “This article outlines our research into granite use by the ancient Maya of the Alabama Townsite—a Late to Terminal Classic (ca. a.d. 700–900) rapid-growth community in East-Central Belize, part of the Eastern Maya Lowlands. One of our initial hypotheses regarding the seemingly sudden appearance of the town toward the end of the Late Classic period focused on granite as a staple resource exploited by its residents. We highlight current results of local geological surveys and related spatial, geochemical, and petrographic studies; preliminary analyses of surface-collected and excavated archaeological assemblages and architectural elements; and attempts at community-engaged experimental archaeology. We conclude that while ancient Alabamans did not extract granite as a staple resource for export, which could have fueled the community’s growth, they nonetheless valued granite in many ways, which we highlight in our discussion.”

Many thanks to Drs. Jon Spenard, Marieka Brouwer Burg, and Tawny Tibbits for inviting us to contribute to this Special Compact Section of the journal “Ancient Mesoamerica.” (One of our figures even made the issue cover!)

Here is a link to the article, and a list of the other articles in the section by our incredible colleagues can be found below:

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/ancient-mesoamerica/article/granite-value-among-the-ancient-maya-of-alabama-belize/A7D8D85796E23953323DE4686A3B2265?utm_source=SFMC&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Article&utm_campaign=New%20Cambridge%20Alert%20-%20Issues&WT.mc_id=New%20Cambridge%20Alert%20-%20Issues