BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARDER ROCK: A REPORT ON RECENT INVESTIGATIONS OF THE ANCIENT MAYA GRANITIC ROCK QUARRIES OF THE MOUNTAIN PINE RIDGE, BELIZE

Survey of the Mountain Pine Ridge, Belize in 2022 by the Rio Frio Regional Archaeological Project documented Buffalo Hill Quarries, the first ever ancient Maya granitic rock quarry and ground stone tool workshop site documented in the Maya Lowlands. A concurrent aerial LiDAR survey suggested the site was much larger than recorded and that other similar sites remained undocumented in the region. Subsequent research in the 2023 and 2024 seasons expanded on that work. Specifically, the project aimed to ground-truth the results of the aerial LiDAR survey and conduct regional reconnaissance outside the scanned areas to delineate the extent of ancient quarrying in the Mountain Pine Ridge. Questions about the ground stone tool production process represented at these sites related to topics including methods of raw material extraction through finishing were investigated. Addressing the latter question, we also undertook replicative experiments to define the chain of operations of ground stone tool manufacture. In this article, we present the results of these activities, and address areas for future research.