About

Geoffrey E. Braswell received his doctorate from Tulane University in 1996 and is a Professor of Anthropology at UC San Diego. His research interests include settlement pattern studies, geoarchaeology, lithic production and technology, archaeometry, mathematical methods, the emergence of complex society and economic systems, and alternative models of social and political systems. His geographical specialization is among the Maya and Mesoamerica more broadly.

Research topics

• History
• Ancient history
• Geography
• Computer Science
• Art
• Telecommunications
• Archaeology

Selected publications

• The Obsidian Artifacts of Nim Li Punit, Belize: Procurement and Production at a Terminal Preclassic to Terminal Classic (ca. AD 150–850) Capital in the Southeastern Maya Periphery

  Latin American Antiquity · 2026-04-20

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract Since 2001, I have conducted archaeological research at three of the five major Classic Maya sites of inland Toledo District, Belize. The sites are so close together that we must ask if they were parts of the same kingdom or were all separate polities with distinct local economies. I present data concerning obsidian procurement at Nim li Punit, Pusilha, and Lubaantun relevant to this question. Results demonstrate overlapping yet distinct procurement systems and imply the existence of different bounded markets and polities within a frontier zone.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The Red Bank Formation as a Local Source for Belize Red Pottery

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2025-01-01

  preprintOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• The Red Bank formation as a local source for Belize Red pottery

  Journal of Archaeological Science Reports · 2025-05-05

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  • Belize Red pottery was widely distributed in Maya area during the Classic period. • Belize Red contains volcanic ash, previously of unknown origin. • The ash naturally occurs in bentonite clays of the Red Bank formation. • There was no need for the long-distance trade of vast amounts of ash for pottery production. The origin of volcanic ash in the fabric of ancient Maya pottery known as Belize Red (formally called British Honduras Ash Ware and Vinaceous Tawny Ware) has long posed a puzzle. We propose that the bentonite and volcanic ash deposits of the local Red Bank formation were the source of “ash-tempered” pottery during the Preclassic and Classic periods. This is consistent with models of ancient production that favor the use of locally available resources, but initial comparison of published geochemical data gathered by different methods is still inconclusive. Further geochemical analyses of both archaeological pottery and Red Bank samples are needed to test our hypothesis, which offers a new perspective on Maya ceramic production in the Belize River Valley.

  PublisherDOI

• Obsidian Tool Function and Maya Lithic Economy at Terminal Classic Pook's Hill, Belize: Subsistence, Domestic Activities, and Craft Production

  Latin American Antiquity · 2024-08-29 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access

  Abstract The typological, technological, and use-wear analyses of obsidian artifacts from Terminal Classic Pook's Hill (AD 830–950+) provide opportunities to better reconstruct socioeconomic activities in this plazuela group, including long-distance trade, tool production, subsistence practices, domestic tasks, and the organization of craft production. Based on visual sourcing, most of the obsidian originated from highland Guatemala, specifically El Chayal. The majority of obsidian artifacts were prismatic blades, although both casual and bipolar reduction of blade cores and the recycling of blades from earlier occupations occurred at the site. Use-wear analysis reveals that obsidian tools were mainly used for subsistence and domestic household activities; however, the concentrations of tools with specific wear patterns (bone, ceramic, plants, and shell) at some locations in the plazuela provide evidence for local craft production among the population. Further support for craft production is provided by comparable use-wear on chert/chalcedony tools from these same locations. The products of low-level craft production were used within Pook's Hill itself and may have been distributed to neighboring communities within the Roaring Creek and Upper Belize River Valleys. Despite the sociopolitical and socioeconomic disruptions to lifeways that accompanied the Terminal Classic period, the Pook's Hill Maya seem to have experienced minimal upheaval in their daily lives and continued local low-level craft production. However, one important change in the Terminal Classic appears to be the increased difficulty in obtaining obsidian at Pook's Hill and the growing need for tool recycling and raw material conservation.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Introduction to Routes, Interaction and Exchange

  2023-07-12 · 1 citations

  book-chapterSenior author

  The introduction to this book on interaction in the Southern Maya Area of Mesoamerica defines the study area, its linguistic diversity and reviews the core topics of the book—routes, interaction and exchange. It explains how these topics are interconnected and furthers our knowledge of where merchants and pilgrims traveled, people migrated, warriors moved, and how all of them spread ideas. It covers approaches to the study of interaction that have been used in the Southern Maya Area and reviews theories about the regional distributions of cultures such as” cores” and “peripheries” and alternative “networks approaches” that concern the connections between humans, places, ideas and objects that can crosscut cultural boundaries. The chapter also covers the geospatial technologies of LiDAR and least-cost paths and their applications in other chapters in the book. Scientific approaches to materials studies, such as archaeometric technologies, establish the sources for the production of objects, and when correlated with style can determine the local and foreign cultural influences in their production. The introduction's summaries of the chapters are organized chronologically, commencing with the Preclassic period and ending with the Postclassic and Colonial periods. The chapter summaries also guide the reader to the analytical approaches taken in each article.

  PublisherDOI

• Markets, Barter, and the Origins of Money: How Archaic States and Empires Organized Their Economies

  Interdisciplinary Contributions to Archaeology/Interdisciplinary contributions to archaeology · 2023-01-01 · 1 citations

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• CLASSIC PERIOD CERAMICS OF NIM LI PUNIT: CHANGES IN COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE AT A SOUTHERN BELIZE POLITICAL CAPITAL

  2023-01-01 · 1 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Pottery recovered from 2012 to 2019 at Nim li Punit, Toledo District, demonstrates that it was occupied from AD 150/250 to AD 830+. We identify long-term changes in the kinds of material produced, used, and discarded over the 600- to 700-year occupation of the site. During the last century of the Classic period, Nim li Punit witnessed a decline in the diversity of ceramic practice. This could reflect a shift in feasting behavior, perhaps due to the political and demographic instability experienced throughout Maya lowlands during the eighth century. Alternatively, this could be the result of new networks of alliance and exchange that arose during this turbulent time. A third possibility is that distinct communities of potters occupied Nim li Punit at different times. To test these different interpretations, we track changes in the ceramic collection at the type: variety level. We discuss similarities and differences seen in the pottery of Nim li Punit and that of other political centers of the Southern Belize Region, and note design and style elements that are shared with other parts of the Maya world.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• THE CLASSIC PERIOD MAYA FIGURINES OF THE SOUTHERN BELIZE REGION: A COMPARISON OF NIM LI PUNIT, PUSILHA AND LUBAANTUN

  2023-01-01 · 2 citations

  articleSenior author

  Figurines are small, portable pieces of art that were popular in the ancient Maya world. Typically made of fired clay, they portray individual humans, animals, and mythic beings in an assortment of poses and scenes. We report the results of an iconographic analysis of 215 whole and fragmentary figurines excavated in the last 20 years at three Late Classic period sites in the southern Belize region: Nim li Punit, Pusilha, and Lubaantun. Although Early Classic figurines were often modeled, the Late Classic saw a shift to mold-made figurines. This allowed higher levels of production and the repetition of certain motifs. The study of this dataset contributes to our understanding of household activities, gender, and social roles. Together, these collections reveal strong interest in everyday women’s work, warfare, and, especially, athletic ritual. The widespread distribution of figurines and the range of subjects they display provide an opportunity to view Maya life from the perspectives of commoners and elites, and from the mundane to the supernatural. We argue that figurines in the Southern Belize Region were more heavily focused on public spectacles of ritual as opposed to private domestic rituals.

  PublisherDOI

• Least-Cost Routes and the Kaqchikel Maya Region

  2023-07-12 · 1 citations

  book-chapter

  Least-cost routes identified by a GIS algorithm between prehistoric nodes of interaction in the Kaqchikel highlands and Pacific piedmont of Guatemala indicate viable pathways of movement in a regional landscape. Several categories of archaeological material indicate that there was communication and economic exchange during the Late Classic period (AD 550–800). A large sample of Classic period settlements, identified by different survey projects of varying intensities, include large and small centers, isolated platforms and religious features. Using the distribution of San Martin Jilotepeque obsidian and Cotzumalhuapan-style sculptures as indicators of trade and communication, this analysis uses the least-cost algorithm of the GIS application to determine likely routes of trade, communication and movement through secular and spiritual landscapes in the mountainous area of the Maya central highlands during the Late Classic period.

  PublisherDOI

• Southern Belize from Paleoindian to Preclassic Times

  2022-02-01 · 2 citations

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding

  The southern Maya lowlands of Central America do not constitute a uniform environmental zone. The Southern Belize Region (SBR) may be defined as the area bounded to the east by the Caribbean Sea, to the south by the Sarstoon River and surrounding swamp lands, and to the northwest by the Maya Mountains. The northeast and southwest corners of the SBR are less circumscribed by natural barriers. The flatlands of the former are crossed every few kilometers by creeks and rivers; one can arbitrarily choose the Bladen or the Swasey Branch, two tributaries of Monkey River, as boundaries. The ancient material culture of the SBR differs from that of other parts of the southern Maya area and is in some ways unique. Ballcourts are common in the SBR. Pusilha and Lubaantun have three each, Uxbenka has two, and Nim li Punit and Xnaheb each have one. Burial patterns in the SBR are also somewhat distinctive.

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Oswaldo Chinchilla

  Yale University

  138 shared

• María Clara Álvarez

  Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires

  138 shared

• María Gutiérrez

  108 shared

• Liz Haberkorn

  University of California, San Diego

  89 shared

• Sarah Baitzel

  Washington University in St. Louis

  80 shared

• Geoffrey Brasweli

  University of California, San Diego

  57 shared

• Sarah Beniamino Volta

  Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires

  57 shared

• Beniamino Volta

  51 shared