Abstract
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The San Pedro site is one of roughly two dozen registered archaeological sites on Belize’s largest and northernmost island, Ambergris Caye. It was investigated archaeologically by the University of North Carolina Wilmington prior to ground disturbing activities in San Pedro’s downtown. Several seasons of fieldwork have provided information on one of the few Late Postclassic Period (AD 1400-1550/1600) Maya occupations on Belize’s hundreds of offshore cayes. Maya domestic structures have been revealed, along with sub-floor features and a substantial collection of Maya material culture from the final centuries before Spanish contact. The San Pedro site has also provided a glimpse of what life on the island was like for the mid to late 19thCentury Caste War refugees who founded a small fishing village that eventually became San Pedro Town. Historical records relate that these refugees arrived on the island at different times in the mid to late 19thCentury. One group fled from an army of Santa Cruz Maya insurgents who came to sack the town of Bacalar in southern Quintana Roo, roughly 55 miles northwest of San Pedro. Another group originated from a cluster of small fishing hamlets around the coastal Maya site of Tulum. The archaeological record reveals that the 19thCentury occupants of the small fishing village that later became a town were well connected to the emerging global economy. Dense historic midden deposits reveal a substantial number of 19th and early 20th Century ceramic and glass wares from many parts of the world, metal objects, faunal remains, and a variety of other historic artifacts.