After crossing the Bering land bridge the early peoples of the Americas rapidly spread southwards, developing into the so-called Clovis hunter-gatherer culture by 11,000 BC. Worked stone flakes from this era have been found at Richmond Hill, in northern Belize. Gradually the hunters turned to more intensive use of plants, particularly the newly domesticated maize and beans , settling into primarily agricultural societies in Belize during the Archaic or Proto-Maya period , lasting from around 7500 BC until later than 2000 BC. Few visible remains from this period can be seen today, however, and it was only during the subsequent Preclassic period (1500 BC-300 AD) that the culture that we recognize as Maya emerged distinctly.

City-states emerged, with larger and more elaborate buildings. Temples and palaces were built of stone, using the famous Maya corbelled arch, and characteristic stepped-pyramids rose above enormous plazas. Ceramics found at Cuello , near Orange Walk, dating from around 1000 BC, are amongst the earliest in the Maya lowlands. Cerros , at the mouth of the New River, and Lamanai , on the New River Lagoon, expanded into great trading centres, probably continuing in this role right through the Classic period into the Postclassic era.