Settlement at the Sacred Pools: Preliminary Archaeological Investigations at the Late Classic Maya Site of Cara Blanca, Belize (original) (raw)
Related papers
The Ancient Maya Ceremonial Circuit of Cara Blanca, Belize
The Maya engaged sacred places that typically were isolated from permanent settlement, such as water bodies. They often are left largely untouched other than a minimal presence of non-residential features and buildings. Such places, which we are calling pilgrimage destinations, were connected via a ceremonial circuit, which we attempt to show was the case at the 25 pools of Cara Blanca, Belize. The Maya intensified their processions and ceremonies here during several prolonged droughts between c. 800-900 CE. Traditionally, the Maya walk ceremonial circuits to reaffirm their relationship with and rights to sacred, forested places. Pool 1 epitomizes one such destination with its Terminal Classic water temple (Str. 1), a ceremonial platform (Str. 3) with ceramic styles from throughout the Maya area and human caches, and M186, a group that includes a circular sweatbath. Excavations at Cara Blanca cenotes reveal a rich ceremonial life that appear to have revolved around water ceremonies along a ceremonial circuit. In the end, their supplications to gods and ancestors were to no avail, and Cara Blanca's visitors became part of the diaspora out of the southern lowlands.
Cerros is a coastal Maya site in northern Belize ( ) noted for its precocious Late Preclassic Tulix Phase florescence that recent 14 C dates put at between 150 BCE and 150 CE. 1 First excavated by David Freidel between 1974 and 1981, the site produced over 300,000 artifacts, pottery sherds and other categories of materials. After excavation, the entire collection was shipped to Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas for analysis except for selected items that were left in the Belmopan, Belize vault. Ten dissertations and many publications were written using these materials; subsequently the collections were put in long term storage making them inaccessible for further research.
Caracol, Belize, and Changing Perceptions of Ancient Maya Society
Journal of Archaeological Research, 2016
Archaeological research at Caracol, an ancient Maya site that was rediscovered in 1937, has become a major resource in the interpretation and understanding of the ancient Maya. Caracol, in west-central Belize, is situated in a subtropical region once characterized as being unsuitable for the development or maintenance of complex societies, yet it is one of the largest, if not the largest Classic period Maya site in the southern Maya Lowlands, home to over 100,000 people at its height between AD 600 and 700. The investigations at Caracol underscore the utility of long-term archaeological projects incorporating large-scale settlement study that combine excavation with varied research designs and the use of a contextual approach. By employing Maya epigraphic history, traditional archaeology, and modern technology like LiDAR, research at Caracol details the rise, maintenance, and fall of an ancient Maya city, affording a large window into ancient Maya lifeways. Archaeological work provides evidence of sustainable agriculture, a market economy, city planning that included a road system, the impact of warfare on the site's inhabitants, the sociopolitical status of women, the role that archaeology can play in refining written history, and the significance of commemorating the cyclical passage of time to the ancient Maya. This article
The organization and composition of classic lowland Maya society: the view from Caracol, Belize
Eighth Palenque Round Table, 1993
Earliest known habitation at Caracol. ca. A.D. 70 Structure A6-1st, "Temple of the Wooden Lintel," constructed; full Maya ritual complex present at Caracol. A.D. 250-900 Classic A.D. 331 Caracol Royal dynasty officially founded. ca. A.D. 480 Elite tomb placed in Structure D16. A.D. 531 Accession of Lord Water's predecessor. A.D. 537 Use of initial tomb in Structure B20-3rd. A.D. 553 Accession of Caracol Ruler Lord Water. A.D. 556 'Axe-Event' involving Tikal. A.D. 562 'Star-War' defeat of Tikal by Caracol. A.D. 575 Birth of Smoke Ahau. A.D. 577 One of three tombs in Structure B20-2nd used. A.D. 577 or 582 Front tomb in Structure A34 initially consecrated. A.D. 588 Birth of Caracol Ruler Kan II. A.D. 599 Accession of Caracol Lord Smoke Ahau. A.D. 614 Tomb in Structure L3-2nd covered. A.D. 618 Accession of Kan II. A.D. 626-636 Naranjo wars; major expansion of Caracol follows. A.D. 634 Woman's tomb in Structure B19-2nd closed. A.D. 658 Accession of Caracol Ruler Smoke Skull; Death of Kan II. ca. A.D. 690 Final use of front tomb in Structure A34. A.D. 696 Tomb in Structure A3-1st covered. A.D. 702 Capture of Tikal lord noted on Stela 21. A.D. 800 Capture of 3 prisoners, including Ucanal lord, by Caracol Ruler Hok K'awil, his father, or his underlings. A.D. 859 Last recorded date at Caracol on Stela 10. A.D. 900-1500 Postclassic ca. A.D. 1050-1100 Last use of Caracol Structure A6; Caracol totally abandoned.
MIDDLE PRECLASSIC MAYA ARCHAEOLOGY AT CUELLO, BELIZE 1990-1993 (3 papers)
Middle Preclassic architecture flanking a courtyard dating between ca. 1000 and 400 B.C. was investigated in 1990-1993, following excavations of 1975-1987 reported in a 1991 monograph. Successive plaster-floored houses were found that had perishable superstructures, and which demonstrated periodic partial demolition and rebuilding. Numerous burials had a range of grave goods and orientations; while adult grave goods do not indicate social diversity, abundant marine-shell jewelry with children suggests a status based on family rank rather than on individual achievement. With occupation going back to ca. 1200 B.C. (Hammond 1991; Housley et al. 1991). Swasey, the initial phase of occupation, is characterized by sedentary maize farmers with an established and distinctive ceramic tradition, suggesting that earlier lowland occupation remains to be detected elsewhere, if not at Cuello. The site consists of a Classic period ceremonial precinct with areas of settlement to the north, west, and south; during the major excavations of 1976-1980 at Cuello, the overlying Late Preclassic deposits of Platform 34 (400 B.C.-A.D. 250) were extensively stripped and the earlier buildings on the west and south sides of the courtyard partly investigated. In 1987 the later Middle Preclassic deposits on the north side of this buried courtyard group below Platform 34 were removed (Hammond 1987). Successive superimposed structures dating to the Lopez Mamom phase (600-400 B.C.) were exposed, together with evidence for the demolition of the latest building flanking the north side of the patio (Str. 315e). This occurred during the transformation of the small enclosed courtyard group into the massive open space capping Platform 34 that lasted for the rest of the Late Preclassic and beyond.
Pilgrimage to the Edge of the Watery Underworld: An Ancient Maya Water Temple at Cara Blanca, Belize
Classic Maya inscriptions and iconography reveal more than just royal customs since their origins lie in traditional Maya practices. They provide a key to unlocking how commoners created their own domestic universe. To explore how commoners mapped their cosmology and recorded their history, I discuss domestic ceramic clusters based on color, placement, and association with other artifacts at the minor center of Saturday Creek, Belize. Results show that cached items served to contextualize their place in the cosmos. Commoners may not have had the written word, but they had the means to record their own history, one with which they interacted daily -under their feet, within walls, and under their roof.