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Results of the 2010 Valley of Peace Archaeology Project: Cara Blanca and Yalbac

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Results of the 2010 Valley of Peace Archaeology Project: Cara Blanca and Yalbac Results of the 2010 Valley of Peace Archaeology Project: Cara Blanca and Yalbac Report submitted to the Institute of Archaeology National Institute of Culture and History Government of Belize Permit No. IA/H/2/1/10(05) Accession No. 10239 Edited by Lisa J. Lucero University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 2011 Department of Anthropology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Urbana, Illinois, USA Table of Contents Chapter 1 The 2010 Season at Yalbac: Goals and Results Lisa J. Lucero…………………………………………………………………..…………1 Chapter 2 Exploring the Sacred Pools of Cara Blanca, Belize Lisa J. Lucero……………………………………………………………………………12 Chapter 3 The Hydrogeochemistry and Geological Context of the Pools of Cara Blanca as a Foundation for Holocene Paleoenvironmental Reconstruction Patricia A. Beddows………………………………………………………………..…..28 Chapter 4 Preliminary Identifications of Pleistocene Mammal Remains from Cara Blanca, Belize H. Gregory McDonald ……………………………………………………………….…46 Chapter 5 Return to Pool 1 and Reconnaissance at Pool 20: The 2010 Cara Blanca Settlement Survey Andrew Kinkella ………………………………………………………………………...53 Chapter 6 Plaza 2 Plaza Perimeter Explorations Tara McGovern………………………………………………..………………………..69 Chapter 7 Plaza 3 Excavations: Ancient Maya Plaza Activities Molly Haneberg…………………………………………………………………….……82 Chapter 8 Structure 3C Trench and Burial 145 Eleanor Olszewski..……………………………….………………………………..…109 Chapter 9 Assessing Ancient Maya Forest Management in Peripheral Yalbac Colleen Lindsay ……………………………………………………………………….137 Chapter 1 The 2010 Season at Yalbac: Goals and Results Permit No. IA/H/2/1/10(05) Accession No. 10239 Lisa J. Lucero, PI University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign The major goals of the 2010 Valley of Peace Archaeology (VOPA) project consisted of a nine- week field program at Cara Blanca and Yalbac (April 25-June 26, 2010) (Figure 1.1). For the Cara Blanca program, divers explored eight of the 25 pools (see chapters 2-5). For the Yalbac program, our goal was to continue exploring plaza activities by completing excavations at Str. 3C and testing Plaza 2 and 3 edges and the Plaza 3 platform with the assistance of a six-week University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) field school (see chapters 6-8). Finally, UIUC PhD student Colleen Lindsay began collecting botanical samples along the 11 km transect mapped by Kinkella (2009) to assess the possibility that the forest we see today is the result of ancient Maya forest management (see chapter 9). Figure 1.1 Map with location of Cara Blanca pools and Yalbac 1 Funding for the diving expedition was provided by a National Geographic Society grant ($22,000) and an UIUC Arnold O. Beckman Award ($20,846); funding for the six-week program at Yalbac was also provided by the Arnold O. Beckman Award, as well as an UIUC Research Board grant ($11,100) for a grand total of $53,946. The amounts listed below include project expenses only. Students paid their own expenses (airfare, tuition, food, IOA fees, transportation, etc.). Of the total, $16,000 was spent to buy a used Grand Tiger 4 x 4 truck, $5593.05 was for round-trip airfare for PI, two divers and field school staff; $2851 was paid to the Institute of Archaeology for the permit application fee and administrative and consolidation fees; $6018.38 for labor costs (including social security); $1348.10 for vehicle insurance, maintenance, and registration; $2524.04 for fuel (including roundtrip from Tulum for divers); $1819.30 for food for PI (and dive team); $8911.70 for lodging and lab at Banana Bank for PI, the dive team, and field school staff and one PhD student; $9847.60 for supplies including phone cards, field equipment, copying, etc.; $1764.50 for transportation costs; $3500 for honorariums for divers; and $23.13 for university credit card transaction fees. Total expenses for the 2010 season were $60,200.80 (PI department funds provided the remaining funds). The 2010 Cara Blanca crew consisted of myself as PI and the dive team, including Patricia Beddows, a hydrologist and geochemist from Northwestern University; Edward Mallon, who provided topside logistics; Marty O’Farrell, underwater videographer (http://www.seaofarrell.com/); and cave dive instructors Robbie Schmittner (http://www.xibalbadivecenter.com/), Kim Davidsson, and Bil Phillips (http://www.speleotech.com/index.html). Andrew Kinkella (Moorpark College) joined the team as the underwater archaeologist. Field assistants from the Valley of Peace village included Cleofo Choc, Ernesto Vasquez, Stanley Choc, Don Luna (Isabel Ascencio), and Juan Antonio Lópes. The 2010 Yalbac staff consisted of myself as PI and two staff (who participated in the 2008 field school), Molly Haneberg and Eleonor Olszewski. Project members included eight field school students from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Anth 454/455): Jose Gonzalez, Karl Lutz, Kayla Keller, Steve Lesniewski, Tara McGovern, Christopher Stillwell, Robbyn Travis, Hannah Woodard. Field assistants from the Valley of Peace Village included Cleofo Choc, Don Luna, Ernesto Vasquez, Jose Vasquez, Stanley Choc, Marcos Choc, and Juan Antonio Lópes. Mr. Scott maintained our equipment. Bob Hemm of the Explorers Club of New York City was responsible for documenting the expedition. I took on a new role this season—tour guide. The first group (April 19-24) consisted of Roland Fletcher (University of Sydney, Co-Director, Greater Angkor Project) and Christophe Pottier (Director, Centre de l'École française d'Extrême-Orient à Siem Reap, Cambodia). There was also the board of directors of Forestland Group, Dr. Jaime Awe, geologists from Belize Natural Energy, Dr. and Mrs. Whalen, U.S. Ambassador to Belize Mr. Vinai Thummalapally and some of his staff including Political Officer Kelly McCarthy and Economic Officer Brianne Watts, and Hunter and Sheryl Jenkins of Forestland. We also had guests who helped in the field; first my niece came, Gabrielle Lucero (her first visit to Belize), then Jane Baldwin (her last visit was in 2002) and her father, James Arie (his last visit was in 1999). Finally, Jan Meerman, a biodiversity specialist, came to visit Yalbac and the pools as part of his biodiversity assessment of Yalbac Ranch properties. Yalbac Ranch, on whose property the Yalbac lies, now have a security system in place to protect the 160,000 acres of jungles from illegal hunting, logging, and looting. We are now required to obtain visitor and vehicle passes. We also were required to sign release forms. 2010 Results Cara Blanca (April 25-May 14) The major goal of the April 26-May 15, 2010 diving expedition in central Belize was to ascertain if Cara Blanca cenotes served as portals to the underworld or Xibalba. We know that the ancient Maya left offerings in other portals, including in caves and northern lowland cenotes (Andrews and Corletta 1995). See chapter 2 for detailed descriptions of the diving expedition; chapter 3 for a discussion of the hydrology; chapter 4 for a preliminary identification of the fossils recovered from Pool 1; and chapter 5 for a description of pool settlement. Yalbac Excavations (May 17-June 26) Our season at Yalbac did not begin well; it rained the first day; and during the next two weeks we lost several days to rain. The last four weeks, in contrast, were largely dry and sunny. Classic Maya public ceremonies typically bring to mind “top-down” ritual performances, that is, a ruler conducting rites atop a temple along with costumed performers, priests, ritual paraphernalia, 2 burning incense, music, and so on. This view disregards important ritual participants—the audience. The question of audience participation is important because audience members do more than just observe; they judge ceremonies and other public events (Bell 1997:73), and thus are active participants rather than passive witnesses (Houston 2006; Houston and Taube 2000). Successful rites integrate people, promote solidarity and result in more satisfied subjects or clients, not to mention a greater degree of obligation on both sides (Kertzer 1988). Without such participation— and people’s acceptance of public messages—political plans fail. Exploring the spaces that contained the audience will help to understand how the public influences political relationships and how leaders engage their subjects. This is our goal at Yalbac. Yalbac is located in the uplands near pockets of good agricultural land along a perennial stream, Yalbac Creek, in central Belize. It as a medium-size major center with at least six pyramid temples, several range structures, a ball court, three large plazas, and a royal acropolis over 20 meters tall (Figure 1.2) (Graebner 2002; Lucero et al. 2004). The excavated 1 x 2 m test pits in the centers of Plazas 2 yielded several construction phases consisting of plaster floors and cobble ballasts with ceramics dating from c. 300 B.C. to A.D. 900 (Conlon and Ehret 2002). Three temples, a ballcourt and a range structure encircle Plaza 2, while three temples and three smaller structures surround Plaza 3. Plaza 2 and 3 temple looters’ trenches (LT) have revealed intriguing clues about their possible functions and subsequent means of attracting an audience. The variety in construction styles and artifact assemblages suggest that the Maya performed specific ceremonies at different temples (Lucero 2007). There would have been New Year celebrations, astronomical rites, ceremonies to the gods (e.g., maize, sun, rain, etc.), and accession, ancestor veneration, dedication, termination, and other rites. Plaza 3 Our reasons for exploring areas near temples are that ritual paraphernalia had to be stored, and food for feasts prepared and stored somewhere near where they were used. Plaza 3 contains several features that may reflect such activities (see chapters 7 and 8). One such area is Str. 3C; it is relatively small (7 x 3 m, 1 m tall) and located between two large temples on a semi-restricted plaza (Plaza 3). In 2008, we exposed the structure and began trenching the central staircase (Otten 2009). We also came upon an inverted Kaway Impressed vessel (c.
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