Understanding the Archaeology of a Maya Capital City Diane Z
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Research Reports in Belizean Archaeology Volume 5 Archaeological Investigations in the Eastern Maya Lowlands: Papers of the 2007 Belize Archaeology Symposium Edited by John Morris, Sherilyne Jones, Jaime Awe and Christophe Helmke Institute of Archaeology National Institute of Culture and History Belmopan, Belize 2008 Editorial Board of the Institute of Archaeology, NICH John Morris, Sherilyne Jones, George Thompson, Jaime Awe and Christophe G.B. Helmke The Institute of Archaeology, Belmopan, Belize Jaime Awe, Director John Morris, Associate Director, Research and Education Brian Woodye, Associate Director, Parks Management George Thompson, Associate Director, Planning & Policy Management Sherilyne Jones, Research and Education Officer Cover design: Christophe Helmke Frontispiece: Postclassic Cao Modeled Diving God Figure from Santa Rita, Corozal Back cover: Postclassic Effigy Vessel from Lamanai (Photograph by Christophe Helmke). Layout and Graphic Design: Sherilyne Jones (Institute of Archaeology, Belize) George Thompson (Institute of Archaeology, Belize) Christophe G.B. Helmke (Københavns Universitet, Denmark) ISBN 978-976-8197-21-4 Copyright © 2008 Institute of Archaeology, National Institute of Culture and History, Belize. All rights reserved. Printed by Print Belize Limited. ii J. Morris et al. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We wish to express our sincerest thanks to every individual who contributed to the success of our fifth symposium, and to the subsequent publication of the scientific contributions that are contained in the fifth volume of the Research Reports in Belizean Archaeology. A special thanks to Print Belize and the staff for their efforts to have the Symposium Volume printed on time despite receiving the documents on very short notice. We extend a special thank you to all our 2007 sponsors: Belize Communication Services Limited, The Protected Areas Conservation Trust (PACT), Galen University and Belize Electric Company Limited (BECOL) for their financial support. To the staff and management of our sister Institutions, within NICH, the Institute of Creative Arts (ICA), Museum of Belize and ISCR, and various other institutions that provided financial and logistical assistance. We are especially grateful to the Honorable Marcel Cardona, our new and able Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture for his tremendous and continuous support. Special thanks to Ms. Diane Haylock, the new President of the National Institute of Culture and History for her encouragement to improve the professional capacity of our institution, for her new vision and for ensuring that the volume gets published. Thanks also to Mr. Victor Espat, Administrator, of NICH who provided considerable funding to ensure the success of our symposium and the subsequent publication of this volume. We extend a special thanks to the staff and management of the Bliss Center of Creative Arts and the Institute of Creative Arts (ICA), thank you for your assistance and for graciously hosting the 2007 symposium. We are grateful to the Belize National Library Service and Information System, for providing our ISBN number. Meetings of this scope are never possible without professional participation. We therefore thank all of our colleagues who took time from their busy schedules to attend and present papers in our symposium. The various themes of their papers serve to reflect the diversity of Belizean Archaeology, and provide a wealth of scientific information to the people of Belize. Several editors and anonymous reviewers gave of their time and made constructive criticisms that enhanced our end product. George Thompson invaluable assistance in doing line editing and reviewing of all the bibliographic references is always invaluable and appreciated. Finally, it should be noted that our successes are a direct result of the tremendous effort expended by the entire staff of the Institute of Archaeology. Special thanks must be given to Enrique “Jack” Itza, Melissa Badillo, Jorge “Stakey” Can, Darcy “Billy” Correa, Claudia Elena, David Griffith, Rafael Guerra, Delsia Marsden, Joyce Tun-Quewell, Wayne Moore, Hector Hernandez, Brian Woodye and George Thompson, Program Chair deserved many thanks. We are grateful for your patience, expertise and invaluable help. The fifth volume of the Research Reports in Belizean Archaeology is a testimony to your dedication and your ability to address the challenges of our institution. John Morris, Sherilyne Jones and Jaime Awe Belmopan, Belize, June 2008 iv CONTENTS page SECTION ONE: THE POSTCLASSIC PERIOD 1 1. Archaeological Myths of the Postclassic Period: Belizean Archaeology as “Dragonslayer” Diane Z. Chase, Arlen F. Chase and John M. Morris 3 2. Charting the Collapse: Late Classic to Postclassic Population Dynamics in the Mopan Valley, Belize Jason Yaeger 13 3. Methodological Issues in the Archaeological Identification of the Terminal Classic and Postclassic Transition in the Maya Area Arlen F. Chase and Diane Z. Chase 23 4. A Terminal Classic Molded-Carved Ceramic Type of the Eastern Maya Lowlands Christophe G.B Helmke and Dorie Reents-Budet 37 5. Exchange, Political Relations, and Regional Interaction: The Ancient City of Pusilhá in the Late Classic Maya World Geoffrey E. Braswell, Cassandra R. Bill and Christian M. Prager 51 6. Purposeful Desecration of a Ruling Elite Residence? Recent Excavation at the Hershey Site, Sibun Valley, Belize Eleanor Harrison-Buck, Patricia A. McAnany, and Satoru Murata 63 7. Late Postclassic Ritual at Santa Rita Corozal, Belize: Understanding the Archaeology of a Maya Capital City Diane Z. Chase and Arlen F. Chase 79 8. Rethinking the Postclassic of Northwestern Belize Brett A. Houk, Lauren A. Sullivan and Fred Valdez, Jr. 93 9. Mortuary Patterns & Postclassic Sociopolitical Organization at Caye Coco & Laguna de On, Freshwater Creek Drainage, Northern Belize Robert M Rosenswig 103 ii J. Morris et al. page 10. Snakes on Planes: Sinuous Motifs in the Art of Lamanai James J. Aimers 115 11. The Context, Significance, and Technology of Copper Metallurgy at the Late Postclassic Spanish Colonial Period, Lamanai Belize Scott E. Simmons and Aaron N. Shugar 125 12. A Gift from the Sea: A Late Postclassic Turtle Burial at Saktunja, Northern Belize Shirley Boteler-Mock 135 SECTION TWO: GENERAL RESEARCH REPORTS 147 13. Community Archaeology at Minanha: Some Preliminary Insights from the Phase II Settlement Study Gyles Iannone, Carmen McCormick and James Conolly 149 14. Architectural Manifestations of Power and Prestige: Examples from Classic Period Monumental Architecture at Cahal Pech, Xunantunich and Caracol, Belize Jaime J. Awe 159 15. Establishing Hierarchies in the Middle Preclassic Belize River Valley M. Kathryn Brown 175 16. Middle Formative Architecture and Ritual at Cahal Pech James F. Garber and Jaime J. Awe 185 17. The Chipped Chert and Chalcedony Lithic Assemblage from Pook’s Hill, Cayo District, Belize: The Organization of Tool Production and Use W. James Stemp and Christophe G.B. Helmke 191 18. The Study of “Empty” Plaza Space: Determining the Function of Chan’s West Plaza Bernadette Cap 209 19. Plaza 1: Royal Rituals of Yalbac Lisa J. Lucero 219 20. An Alternative Environmental History for the Maya Forest Anabel Ford 227 iii 21. Uxbenká and the Foundation of Sedentary Communities in Southern Belize Keith M. Prufer, Andrew Kindon and Douglas Kennett 241 22. One Hundred Salt Works! The Infrastructure of the Ancient Maya Salt Industry Heather McKillop 251 23. Recent Excavations at San Estevan, Northern Belize Robert M. Rosenswig 261 24. Causeway Terminus, Minor Centre, Elite Refuge, or Ritual Capital? Ka’Kabish – A Puzzle on the Maya Landscape of North Central Belize. Helen R. Haines 269 25. Current Research Domains at Blue Creek, Belize Thomas H. Guderjan 281 26. Language Loss and Pentecostalism: The Yucatec Maya of San Antonio, Cayo District, Belize Pierre Robert Colas 299 27. The (MACHI) project in Belize: Bridging the Past and the Present through a Public Education Program in the Toledo District, Belize Reiko Ishihara, Patricia McAnany and Morvin Coc. 307 iv SECTION ONE: POSTCLASSIC PERIOD PAPERS Fish centipede found in excavations during the Lamanai Historic Conservation Project 1 ARCHAEOLOGICAL MYTHS OF THE POSTCLASSIC PERIOD: BELIZEAN ARCHAEOLOGY AS “DRAGONSLAYER” Diane Z. Chase, Arlen F. Chase, and John M. Morris Archaeology undertaken in the country of Belize has changed the way in which researchers view and interpret the Maya Postclassic Period. Archaeologists working in Belize have successfully invalidated a series of once prevalent myths about the Maya, including: the Postclassic dating of Chichen Itza, Mexico; the scorched earth view of the Southern lowlands after the Maya collapse; and characterizations of later Maya civilization as declining, decadent, and depopulated. The past thirty years of research have caused Belizean archaeology to emerge as a significant force in rectifying our paradigms about the ancient Maya and, especially, the Postclassic Period. Introduction For a variety of reasons, While much is known about the archaeologists in the Maya area have tended importance of Belizean archaeology in terms not to focus on the Postclassic Period. of our understanding of the Maya Preclassic There has been a general predisposition Period (Awe 1992; Hammond 1985; Healy towards viewing this era as being relatively 2006), the significance of archaeological unimportant. The site of Mayapan, dug by data from Belize in terms of our the Carnegie Institution of Washington in conceptualization of