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Radiocarbon chronology for early Maya occupation at Cuello, Belize

Nature volume 260, pages 579–581 (1976)Cite this article

Abstract

Radiocarbon dates from excavations at the prehistoric Maya site of Cuello, Belize, indicate occupation around 2600 BC in calendar years, antedating the hitherto earliest known occupation of the Yucatan Peninsula by some 1,700 yr and demonstrating that sedentary pottery-using communities in the Maya lowlands may be as early as any in Mesoamerica.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Archaeological Sciences, University of Bradford, West Yorkshire, UK

    Norman Hammond

  2. Institute of Archaeology, University of London, 31–34 Gordon Square, London, WC1, UK

    Duncan Pring

  3. Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, Los Angeles, 90024

    Rainer Berger

  4. Radiocarbon Dating Research Laboratory, University of Cambridge, UK

    V. R. Switsur & A. P. Ward

Authors
  1. Norman Hammond
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  2. Duncan Pring
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  3. Rainer Berger
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  4. V. R. Switsur
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  5. A. P. Ward
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Hammond, N., Pring, D., Berger, R. et al. Radiocarbon chronology for early Maya occupation at Cuello, Belize. Nature 260, 579–581 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1038/260579a0

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