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Home , 1st millennium, Altun Ha, Belize River, Dzibilchaltun, Nim Li Punit, Nito (Maya site)

The Prehistoryof

NorrnanHammond New Brunswick, New

Belize, CentralAmerica, has been the location of manyinnovative research projects in Maya archaeology.Over the past generationseveral problem-ori- entedprojects have contributedsignificantly to a new understandingof an- cient Maya subsistenceand settlement,and increasedthe knowntime span of Maya culture.An historicalreview of researchin Belize is followed by a resumeof the currentstate of knowledgeand an indicationoffuture research potential.

Introduction in which flow the major perennial rivers, the Hondo and Belize, a small nation on the Caribbeancoast of Central Nuevo, and the smaller Freshwater Creek. The Hondo America, occupies part of the territoryin which the Maya is one of the principal rivers of the Maya lowland zone civilization flourished during the 1st A.C., and has a basin draining northernPeten and part of south- with an apogee in the Classic Period of 250-900 A.C. ern Campeche, an area often dubbed the "Maya Heart- The political over the past 200 years land" and containing major sites such as ; the river as a British colony (known until 1973 as British Hon- has throughoutMaya prehistory acted as a corridor to the duras), and now as an independent nation, has engen- Caribbean. Several large lagoons interrupt the courses dered a history of archaeological research distinct from of the Nuevo and Freshwater Creek, and were foci of that in the Spanish-speaking countries that comprise the ancient Maya settlement. The coast of northern Belize remainder of the Maya area (, , Hon- is swampy, with mangrove stands building seawards, and duras, ). This circumstance, together with the the relationship between the shoreline and the ancient work of several significant projects in Belize over the settlement pattern has demonstrably changed over the past generation, justifies an assessment of the prehistory past millennium. of Belize as it is currently understood. The southern half of Belize is dominated by the Pa- leozoic horstof the , a massif comprised Geography of granites, metamorphosed sandstones, and other acidic rocks.2 The main divide Belize is ca. 290 km. from north to south and ca. 100 is at ca. 1100 m. and the highest point, Victoria Peak in km. east-west, lying within the Tropic of Cancer at the isolated Cockscomb Range, has an elevation of 1132 m. Outwash sands 16O-18O3OTNand 88°-89°w (FIG. 1). On the east it is from the massif cover large areas bordered by the , the mainland coast pro- of the surrounding coastal low- lands to form an infertile tected by lines of coral and mangrove islands called cays soil supporting a pine savanna locally termed "Pine and by a barrierreef. The Rio Hondo, and Chetumal Bay Ridge". This is not suited to arable farming and has into which it debouches, forms the frontier with Mexico supported little ancient or modern set- tlement, although exploited for on the north and NW, and surveyed alignments through hunting by the ancient Maya and the define the border with the Guatemalan De- utilized also by preceramic occupants of the country. Rivers in partmentof El Peten on the west. The Rio Sarstoon forms southern Belize are short and markedly the southern frontier with Guatemala, where the latter country extends to the Carribbean shore. ography of northern Belize,'' in N. Hammond, ed., Project 1978 Interim Report. Publications of the The Archaeologial Research Pro- Belize River divides the country into contrasting gram, Rutgers University 1 (New Brunswick 1978) 79-87. halves (FIG. 2): the northern consists of low limestone 2. C. G. Dixon, Geology of Southern British with Notes ridges trending SSW-NNE, separated by synclinal folds' on Adjacent Areas (Government Printer: Belize City 1955); idem, in A. C. S. Wright, D. H. Romney, R. H. Arbuckle and V. E. Vial, Land in (Her Majesty's Stationery Office: London 1. Roy Charles McDonald, ''Preliminary report on the physical ge- 1959) 23-24. .S ._.Ji }',.,.,' .... '.,., : '.', : o

350 ThePrehistory of Belize/Hammond

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Figure 1. The Maya area, showing the location of Belize and important sites outside it. Journal of Field ArchaeologylVol. 9^ 1982 351

Figure2. Topographyand ancientMaya sites in Belize.

seasonalin flow; like those of the north, they debouch result of human interference in the past and possess a into the Caribbean,except for a few small tributariesof high proportion of economically useful species.4 In gen- the Pasion in the extremesw. eral, prehistoric settlements have been found most abun- The naturalvegetation of the limestoneareas is a trop- dantly in areas of limestone geology, free-draining soils, ical broadleafforest,3 becoming more open in the uplands and original broadleaf forest. The higher rainfall in the wherethe climate is subtropicaland giving way to pine south (where the climate is of Koeppen's Afw' type; in savannaon the mountainplateau and along the coastal the north it is Amw') during the May-to-December rainy plain. Several prominentplant associationswithin the season has led to the 25 m. contour being the baseline forest, including"Cohune Ridge" dominatedby Orbi- for most ancient habitation, while in the north it is com- gyna cohune (Dahlgren)and the aptly-named"ruinal" found in the vicinity of Maya ruins, are probablythe 4. J. D. H. Lambert and T. Arnason, "Distribution of vegetation on Maya ruins and its relationship to ancient land-use at , Be- 3. Wright et al., op. cit. (in note 2) 29-31. lize," Turrialba 28:1 (1978) 33-41. 352 The Prehistory of BelizelHammond mon down to the 10 m. contourand not infrequentat around Tzimin Kax (Mountain Cow) in the western foot- lower elevations.5 hills of the Maya Mountains, which yielded information on settlement pattern as well as the small ceremonial Developmentof Archaeologyin Belize precincts and their monuments, l° were coupled with eth- The historyof Mayaarchaeology may be dividedinto nographic work that detected pre-Columbian survivals five successiveperiods.6 During the periodsof the Span- in ritual and myth. l l Thompson followed this project by ish Travelers ( 1550- 1759) and Spanish Explorers one at the site of San Jose, north of the Belize River, (1759-1840) Belize remainedunnoted, and little atten- where between 1930 and 1936 he examined what he tion was paid to the area duringmost of the following explicitly hoped to have been an "average" ceremonial periodof the MajorScholars (1840-1924), althoughby center, in contrast to the coeval major projects of the the end of the l9th the ceremonialcenters of C .I.W. at and . 12 Thompson him- (Rio Grande) and (Benque self joined the C . I. W. staff in 1935 and remained a potent Viejo) had been reported,and the first importantexca- in Maya studies until his death in 1975; during the vationin Belize was camed out in 1896 at SantaRita by early 1930s he promulgated the concept of the "cere- ThomasGann.7 From then untilthe mid-1920sGann did monial center" as an empty ritual precinct amid scattered most of the archaeologicalwork in the colony, in the rural settlement (in contrast to the "preindustrial city" intervalsof his careeras chief medical officer; he con- model then implicitly accepted), and saw it become the tinuedto be active until 1936, and produceda series of controlling model in Maya settlement studies for a reportswhich, althoughnot detailed,are still useful.8He generation. 13 also sentback large collections of materialfrom , During the second part of the Institutionalperiod, after SantaRita, and other sites to museumsin Britain, and 1945, there were other innovative projects in Belize. severalother scholars made small collections from Belize Gordon R. Willey brought to Maya archaeology the set- in the years up to the Second WorldWar. tlement-pattern study techniques inspired by Julian H. Early in the lnstitutionalPeriod (1924-1970), nearly Steward and pioneered by Willey in the Viru valley of half a centuryduring which the dominantinstitution in north coastal ,l4 and used them to frame the first Mayaarchaeology was the CarnegieInstitution of Wash- regional settlement study in the Maya area, the Belize ington (C.I.W.) throughits Division of HistoricalRe- Valley project of 1953-1956.15 The focus of the project searchunder Alfred V. Kidderand SylvanusG. Morley, was the riparian residential zone of Barton Ramie, de- the British Museummounted one of its rare American liberately selected for its distance from any ceremonial expeditionsto the colony, exploringthe southernsites center. of Lubaantun(1926- 1927) andPusilha (1928- 1930) and The Belize Valley project became the model for a removingstelae and ceramicsto London.9Only prelim- quartercentury of regional surveys and settlement studies inaryreports were published. that have resulted in much wider knowledge of the dis- One of the Lubaantunstaff, J. Eric S. Thompson, tribution and nature of lowland Maya culture outside the returnedto Belize in 1928-1929 for the Field Museum major sites. Several investigations contributing to this of Chicago,and begana series of innovativestudies that new orthodoxy took place in Belize, making it one of the influencedMaya archaeologywidely. His excavations

10. J. E. S. Thompson, Archaeological Investigations in the Southern Cayo District, British Honduras. FieldMusAnthSer 17:3 (Chicago 5. Wright et al., op. cit. (in note 2) 110-115; Norman Hammond, 193 1). Lubaantun: A Classic Maya Realm. MonoPM 2 (Cambridge 1975) 111. 11. Idem, Ethnology of the Mayas of Central and Southern British Honduras. FieldMusAnthSer 17:2 (Chicago 1930). 6. Norman Hammond, Ancient (Rutgers University Press: New Brunswick 1982) 33-66. 12. Idem, Excavations at San Jose, British Honduras. CarnInstPub 506 (Washington D.C. 1939). 7. T. W. F. Gann, "On the Contents of some ancient mounds in , " Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of London 13. Marshall Joseph Becker, "Priests, Peasants and Ceremonial Cen- n.s. 16 (1897) 308; idem, "Mounds in Northern Honduras," Bureau ters: The Intellectual History of a Model," in Norman Hammond and of American Ethnology 19th Annual Report 1897-98 ( 1900) 655-692. Gordon R. Willey, eds., Maya Archaeology and Ethnohistory (Uni- versity of Texas Press: Austin 1979) 3-20. 8. Idem, The Maya Indians of Southern Yucatan and Northern British Honduras. BAEBull 64 (1918); idem, and Mary Gann, Archaeological 14. Gordon R. Willey, Prehistoric Settlement Patterns in the Viru Investigations in the Corozal District, British Honduras. BAEBull 123 Valley, Peru. BAEBull 155 (1953). (1939) 1-57. 15. Gordon R. Willey, William R. Bullard, Jr., John B. Glass, and 9. Norman Hammond, The in British Honduras: Lu- James C. Gifford, Prehistoric Maya Settlements in the Belize Valley. baantun 1926-1970 (British Museum: London 1972). PapPeaMus 54 (1965). Journal of Field ArchaeologylVol. 9, 1982 353 better-explored parts of the Maya area, including David of the ceremonial precinct as a regional capital to its M. Pendergast's work at , which combined set- hinterland,22and the role of the Postclassic period that tlement study with intensive excavation of public build- succeeded Classic civilization after the noted "collapse" ings in a small ceremonial precinct.l6 of the latter in the A.C.23See Table 1 for a In the final and continuing Problem-orientedperiod summary of chronology and period designations. (1970- ) lower budgets enforced by global economic Outside the mainstream of Maya archaeological activ- conditions resulted in projects conceived on a modest ity were a series of cave excavations in the Maya Moun- scale with limited but explicit objectives. Among prob- tains, begun in the 1950s by A. H. Anderson, the lems pursued in Belize in this period have been the origins country's Archaeological Commissioner, and continued of Classic period civilization,l7 the existence, distribu- by D. M. Pendergast and more recently by trained spe- tion, date, and function of channeled and raised fields leologists brought in by the Archaeology Department. To along river margins and in bajo swamp depressions,l8 the Terminal Classic occupation of the limestone Archaic pre-agriculturalpopulationsl9 and early agricul- in the Vaca and Chiquibul areas west of the main divide tural settlement,20 the nature of late Formative flores- (where Gregory Mason had already done some work in cence in the period 400 B.C.-250 A.C.,21 the relationship the 1920s) importantevidence of ritual activities has been added by recent exploration, and along the Caves Branch of the Sibun River the use of caves as early as the Late 16. DavidM. Pendergast,ExcavationsatAltunHa, Belize, 1964-1970, Formative (400 s.c.-250 A.C.) has been detected. Maya Volume I (Royal Ontario Museum: Toronto 1979); Norman Hammond, penetration of deep caves well beyond daylight range has "Preclassic to Postclassic in northern Belize," Antiquity 48 (1974) been noted in several cases, and an interpretationof cave Archaeology of the Stann CreekDis- 177-189; Elizabeth A. Graham, use as reflecting entry to the Maya underworldof Xibalba trict, Belize (Centre of Latin American Studies, Cambridge University: Cambridge, 1975); Norman Hammond, "Settlement Patterns has been suggested.24 in Belize," in Wendy Ashmore, ed., Lowland Maya Settlement Pat- Regional surveys continued to be made in several parts terns (University of New Mexico Press: Albuquerque 1981) 157- 186. of Belize, particularly the northernand southern quarters 17. Hammond, op. cit. 1974 (in note 16); idem, "Ex oriente lux: A of the country, and the major center of Lamanai was view from Belize," in R. E. W. Adams, ed., The Origins of Maya intensively excavated by a Royal Ontario Museum project Civilization (Univeristy of New Mexico Press: Albuquerque 1977) under D. M. Pendergast;25as at Altun Ha, substantial 45-76. attention was paid to the restoration of the site as a na- 18. Alfred H. Siemens, ed., The Rio Hondo Project (Belize Institute tional monument and as a contribution to economic de- for Social Research and Action: Belize City 1977); Dennis E. Puleston, velopment as Belizean tourism burgeons. Art and Archaeology of Hydraulic Agriculture in the Maya "The the problem-oriented projects that have Lowlands," in Norman Hammond, ed., Social Process in Maya Pre- Overall, history: Studies in Honour of Sir Eric Thompson (Academic Press: worked in Belize since 1970 have made a greater con- London 1977) 449-467; R. E. W. Adams, "Swamps, canals and the locations of ancient Maya cities, " Antiquity 54 (1980) 206-214; B. L. Turner II, P. D. Harrison, R. E. Fry, N. Ettlinger, J. P. Darch, Areas and Interaction Spheres: Contrasting Approaches to the Emer- W. C. Johnson, H. J. Shafer, A. Covich, F. M. Wiseman, and gence of Civilization in the Maya Lowlands," AtnAnt 44 (1979) C. H. Miksicek, Maya Raised-Field Agriculture and Settlement at 36-54. , Northern Belize. Unpublished report to the Na- tional Science Foundation (1980); B. L. Turner II and P. D. Harrison, 22. Hammond, op. cit. (in note 5) 97-117. "Prehistoric Raised-Field Agriculture in the Maya Lowlands," Sci- 23. David M. Pendergast, "Lamanai, Belize: Summary of Excavation ence 213 (1981) 399-405. Results, 1974-1980," JFA 8 (1981) 29-53; Barbara L. Stark, "Cur- 19. Richard S. MacNeish, S. Jeffrey K. Wilkerson, and Antoinette rent Research: Middle America," AtnAnt 45 (1980) 627. Nelken-Terner, First Annual Report of the Belize Archaic Archaeo- 24. David M. Pendergast, The Prehistory of Actun Balam, British logical Reconnaissance (Robert S. Peabody Foundation: Andover, Honduras. ROMPap 16 (Toronto 1969); idem, A. H. Anderson's Ex- Mass . 1980) . cavations at Rio Frio Cave E, British Honduras (Belize). ROMPap 20. Hammond, op. cit. (in note 17); Norman Hammond, Duncan 20 (Toronto 1970); idem, Excavations atEduardo Quiroz Cave, British Pring, Richard Wilk, Sara Donaghey, Frank P. Saul, Elizabeth S. Honduras (Belize). ROMPap 21 (Toronto 1971); idem, Excavations Wing, Arlene V. Miller, and Lawrence H. Feldman, "The Earliest at Actun Polbilche, Belize . Royal Ontario Museum Archaeology Mono- Lowland Maya? Definition of the Swasey Phase," AmAnt 44 (1979) graph 1 (Toronto 1974); Elizabeth A. Graham, Logan McNatt, and 92-110; Norman Hammond, "Early Maya ceremonial at Cuello, Be- Mark Gutchen, "Excavations in Footprint Cave, Caves Branch, Be- lize, " Antiquity 54 (1980) 176- 190. lize," JFA 7 (1980) 153-172; Barbara McLeod and Dennis E. Pu- The Search for the Road to 21. Hammond, 1980 op. cit. (in note 20); David A. Freidel, "Mar- leston, ''Pathways into Darkness: ed., Tercera Mesa Redonda de itime Adaptation and the Rise of Maya Civilization: The View from Xibalba," in M. Greene Robertson, Art Research Center: 1979) , Belize," in B. Stark and B. Voorhies, eds., Prehistoric Palenque IV (Pre-Columbian Coastal Adaptations: The Ecology and Economy of Maritime Middle 71 -77. America (Academic Press: New York 1978) 239-265; idem, "Culture 25. Pendergast, op. cit. (in note 23). 354 The Prehistory of BelizelHammond

Table1. The chronologyof Mayaarchaeology. tribution to the synthesis of the country's prehistory that follows below, and to the mainstream of Maya schol- Ceramic arship, than their relatively modest funding might oth- Complexes erwise suggest. in Major northern Dates Periods Phases Belize Archaic or Preceramic Period (prior to 2000 B.C.) Until 1979 stratified preceramic sites were unknown Colonial in the Maya lowlands, although several possible sites had 1 sao 1 J«tl been reported, including in Belize that of Richmond Late of a preceramic and ceramic se- 1450 - Waterbank Hill.26 The excavation of Yucatan TPOST- Middle quence at Loltun Cave in the Puuc hill country 1250 - - CLASSIC in that year27was followed in 1980 by an extensive survey Early of coastal Belize that resulted in the location of more 900 than 100 aceramic sites.28 MacNeish, Wilkerson, and A Terminal Santana Nelken-Terner argue that these sites span five preceramic 800- phases from 9000 to 2000 B.C. (radiocarbonyears, as are Late Tepeu all other dates quoted here prior to 250 A.C.) on the basis 700 of stone-tool typology and comparison with the highland CLASSIC Mesoamerican sequence established by MacNeish at Middle Tehuacan.29 400 - Nuevo Tzakol In this scheme the Lowe-ha phase (9000-7500 B.C.) is marked by projectile points of fishtail and Plainview v Early ntJV types, by snub-nosed and blade-end scrapers, and by (Proto- Freshwater blades and choppers. The users of these tools are seen Classic) Floral Park as hunters, perhaps of horse and giant sloth, related to Cocos ; the fishtail o coeval groups known from A.C. Chicanel points have explicit parallels there. B.C. Late Sarstoon The Sand Hill phase (7500-5500 B.C.) iS marked by chert macroblades with side and end retouch, possibly 400 related to the early Aguas Verde complexes of the Carib- bean islands (which have a slightly later assigned date worked; choppers, Lopez range). Long end-scrapers, unifacially FORMATIVE Middle Mamom adzes, and concave-based points related to the Pedernales type are also found. A single grinding stone suggests Bladen seed-collecting and processing for food. The adzes may - 1000 Xe have been used for canoe construction, since one coastal site of this period appears to have been an island. In the Belize phase (5500-4200 B.C.) stone bowls and grinding tools, presumably for seed processing, are char- Swasey Early acteristic. The of these artifacts suggests longer occupation of sites, and MacNeish et al. propose a sea- 2000 sonal schedule, with inland hunting and collecting in the Progreso ? 3300 Melinda 26. Dennis E. Puleston, "Richmond Hill: A Probable Early Man Site 4200 ? in the Maya Lowlands," Actas y Memorias del 41 Congreso Inter- Belize nacional de Americanistas, Mexico 1974, 1 (1975) 522-533. ssoo - - ARCHAIC - ? 27. Ricardo Velazquez V., "Recent Discoveries in the Caves of Lol- Sand tun, Yucatan, Mexico,'' Mexicon 2:4 (1980) 53-55. Hill ? 28. MacNeish et al., op. cit (in note 19). I. W. John- 7500- Lowe-ha 29. Richard S. MacNeish, Antoinette Nelken-Terner, and Artifacts 9ooo son, The Prehistory of the Tehuacan Valley, 2: Non-Ceramic (University of Texas Press: Austin 1967) 17. Journal of Field ArchaeologylVol. 9, 1982 355 wet season of May-December and exploitation of the rich Middle phase, characterized by Mamom complex pot- protein resources of the coastal zone during the dry tery.3' Willey's work at Barton Ramie in central Belize season. extended this back a further century or so,32 and his This use of aquatic resources increased during the subsequent Pasion Valley project at Melinda phase (4200-3300 B.C.) and net sinkers and scale and in the western Peten demonstrated a wider scrapersindicate offshore fishing. Large coastal sites sug- occupation of the lowlands in the 7th and 8th gest that sedentism was by this time a way of life, al- B.C., corroborated by discoveries at Tikal in NE Peten, though Shumla-like points indicate continued hunting and in Yucatan, and other sites.33 seed-processing equipment demonstrates the persisting The absence of known earlier sites by the late 1960s importance of plant resources in the mixed economy. left the initial Middle Formative and the entire Early Sedentary villages with agriculture are thought to ap- Formative an evidential vacuum in the Maya lowland pear in the final preceramic phase, Progreso (3300-2000 zone. The developed natureof Middle Formative material B.C.), which has chert tools and seed-grinding equipment culture indicated prior origins, which were perforce typologically close to those of the earliest known pottery- sought in the Olmec area to the west or the highland zone using period, the Swasey phase of 2000-1000 B.C. to the south.34 It must be emphasized that this preceramic sequence This picture was modified by the excavation at Cuello is a seriation, with no single site having more than two in northernBelize of a stratified sequence of Early Forma- components in stratigraphicsuperposition, and most sites tive through Late Classic deposits, with a suite of 20 consisting only of surface material. The interpretationof radiocarbon dates for the Formative phases confirming the sites as preceramic (ratherthan merely aceramic sites the stratigraphic succession .35 The Middle and Late of lithic production/use within the documented Formative Formative dates matched those from other Maya lowland through Postclassic sequence), and the dynamic model sites, while those for the underlying Early Formative interrelating the sites, are, although plausible, based at indicated a span of 2000-1000 B.C. (2500-1300 B.C. in present mainly on artifact morphology and interregional calendar years if the bristlecone pine calibration curve analogy. Nevertheless, the recent report of a fluted point is applied). The earliest date accepted is for occupation (again a surface find) from Ladyville near Belize City on the old land surface and is of 1950 + 65 B.C. (Q- 1571). does suggest an early human presence in Belize, and the Flotation of carbonized plant remains demonstrated numerous preceramic sites located in the Maya highland maize cultivation at Cuello from the earliest Formative zone in E1 Quiche complement the Loltun stratigraphy levels upwards, with several strains of corn of gradually and the Belize finds in suggesting a widespread postgla- increasing cob size, and inferentially productivity.36Cot- cial and preagricultural occupation of the Maya area.30 ton has been identified in the Late Formative, and cacao An indigenous adoption by the early Maya population may also be representedby two types of rind, recognized of food production as an economic strategy is a likely future discovery. 31. Robert E. Smith, Ceramic Sequence at Uaucactun,Guatemala. Middle American Research Institute, Tulane University, Publication 20 (New Orleans 1955) . Formative Period (2000 B.C.-250 A.C.) The Formative conventionally begins with the appear- 32. Willey et al., op. cit. (in note 15). ance of pottery-using sedentary farmers, and ends with 33. Gordon R. Willey, "The Rise of Classic Maya Civilization: A the erection of the first carved and inscribed stone mon- Pasion Valley Perspective," in Adams, ed., op. cit. (in note 17) 133-157; T. Patrick Culbert, "Early Maya Development at Tikal, uments bearing dates in the Classic called Guatemala," in ibid., 27-43; Joseph W. Ball, "The Rise of the North- the Long Count. It is formally divided into Early ern Maya Chiefdoms: A Socioprocessual Analysis," in ibid., (2000-1000 B.C.), Middle (1000-400 B.C.), and Late 101-132. (400 B.C.-250 A.C.) phases, defined by radiocarbondates. 34. Adams, op. cit (in note 33) 61, 135, 195, 385. The Maya lowland Formative was first defined at Uax- Duncan Pring, Rainer Berger, V. R. Switsur, actun, Peten, Guatemala, in the 1930s, when it was as- 35. Norman Hammond, and A. P. Ward, "Radiocarbon chronology for early Maya occupation cribed an extent back to 500 B.C. for the beginning of the at Cuello, Belize," Nature 260 (1976) 579-581; Norman Hammond, Sara Donaghey, Rainer Berger, Suzanne De Atley, V. R. Switsur, and A. P. Ward, "Maya Formative phase radiocarbon dates from 30. Thomas R. Hester, A Fluted Projectile Point from Belize (Center Belize," Nature 267 (1977) 608-610. for Archaeological Research, UTSA: San Antonio 1981); Kenneth L. Brown, "A Brief Report on Paleoindian-Archaic Occupation in the 36. Charles H. Miksicek, Robert McK. Bird, Barbara Pickersgill, Quiche Basin, Guatemala," AmAnt 45 (1980) 313-324; R. S. Sara Donaghey, Juliette Cartwright, and Norman Hammond, "Pre- MacNeish, Second Annual Report of the Belize Archaic Archaeological classic lowland maize from Cuello, Belize," Nature 289 (1981) 56-59; Reconnaissance (Robert S. Peabody Foundation: Andover, Mass. Norman Hammond and Charles H. Miksicek, ''Ecology and Economy 1981). of a Formative Maya site at Cuello, Belize," JFA 8 (1981) 259-269. 356 ThePrehistory of BelizelHammond but not identified,from the beginningof the EarlyForm- more closely related to Peten than to other north Belizean ative onwards. Squash is found from the later Early sites. Middle Formative sites are so far sparse in Belize, Formativeon, but beans (Phaseolus vulgaris), a staple although the Belize Valley and the central coastal region Mesoamericancrop, have not yet been recovered.Root were occcupied; the regional survey of northern Belize4' crops are known from the Late Formativebut are so far and the detailed sampling in 1980 of the Cuello settlement unidentifiedas to species. area both indicate a population density close to that of Buildings at Cuello consisted initally of post-framed the Early Formative or slightly greater. Masking of Mid- structuresstanding on the old land surface, with post dle and Early Formative occupations by the large and holes penetratingthe limestonebedrock; possibly coeval numerous Late Formative settlements seems likely, and are the earliestplaster floors, which were laid down per- forms an urgent research problem. haps as early as 1800 B.C. Low plasteredplatforms set The Late Formative has been a major focus of research arounda patio or courtyard,itself plaster-surfaced,are and discovery in Belize in the past decade, especially in knownfrom about 1600 B.C. Post holes in the platforms the north of the country. The Corozal Project in indicate similar perishablesuperstructures with palm- 1972-1974 was an explicit regional study of the factors thatchedroofs, and some design details suggest public underlying the emergence of Classic civilization, and and ceremonialrather than domesticuse.37 documented a massive population increase in the Late The potteryof the Early FormativeSwasey complex Formative at several sites and in the region overall, as- is stratigraphicallyand typologicallyantecedent to that sociated with the emergence of major of of the MiddleFormative Bladen Xe and Lopez Mamom public buildings in ceremonial precincts.42At Cerros the complexesand the succeedingCocos Chicanelcomplex entire precinct and surrounding settlement were shown of the Late Formative;this last complex develops into to be Late Formative in date and to include dense hab- the early Classic periodpottery of the region in the 3rd itation and elaborate architectural ,43 while at and 4th centuriesA.C.38 Swasey potteryis known from Lamanai another importantcenter included a temple-pyr- several other sites in northernBelize, including Santa amid 33 m. high,44 an enterprise emulated at this date Ritaand Nohmul,and its stratigraphicpriority below the only at Tikal and E1 Mirador in Peten. Middle Formativewas confirmedin 1980 at Colha, 27 The economic infrastructure supporting this growth km. SE of Cuello.39The 1980 excavationsat Cuello itself was itself technologically innovative, including the con- showedthat two Swaseyceramic types (ConsejoRed and struction and exploitation of channeled and raised fields, Tower Hill Red-on-cream)continued to be made and possibly in the Hondo and Nuevo valleys and probably used into the MiddleFormative, so that the presenceof in non-riverine bajo depressions in the limestone ridges, only these two types is insufficient to confirm Early such as Pulltrouser Swamp.45 Initial discovery of the Formativeoccupation at any site. riverine fields by aerial photography was followed by Colha has yielded abundantMiddle Formativemate- ground survey around Albion Island on the Hondo by rial, with indicationsof links to the Xe complex of the Alfred H. Siemens and Dennis E. Puleston, and bajo Pasi6n basin40as well as a Mamom ceramic complex drained fields, first detected north of Belize in Quintana Roo, Mexico, were excavated in the Orange Walk Dis- trict at Pulltrouser Swamp in 1979 and 1981 by B. L. 37. Hammond et al., op. cit. (in note 20); Hammond op. cit. (in note Turner II and Peter D. Harrison. 20). Widespread and large-scale construction of such fields 38. Duncan C. Pring, "The Preclassic Ceramics of Northern Belize," and their interstitial canals (which could be used for pis- unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of London (London 1977), ciculture as well as drainage and transport46)has been available through University Microfilms, Ann Arbor, Mich. Recent unpublished work by L. Kosakowsky and F. Valdez, Jr., suggests that a new ceramic complex, the Bladen, should be defined for the period 1200/1100-800 B.C., embracing the Xe pottery from Cuello and the 41. Hammond,op. cit. (in note 17) 51-57, 64-66. innovations at present placed in the last century or two of the Swasey phase. At Colha the equivalent complex is the Bolay. 42. Ibid. 64. 39. R. E. W. Adams and Fred Valdez, Jr., "First (1979) Season's 43. Freidel, 1979 op. cit. (in note 21) 45-47. Report on the Ceramics of Colha, Belize," Belizean Studies 8:3 44. Pendergast,op. cit. (in note 23) 41-42. (1980a) 12-18; idem, "The Ceramic Sequence of Colha, Belize: 1979 and 1980 Season," in T. R. Hester, J. D. Eaton, and H. J. Shafer, 45. Turneret al., op. cit. (in note 18); Turnerand HalTison,op. cit. eds., The Colha Project: Second Season, 1980 Interim Report (Center (in note 18) 403. for Archaeological Research, UTSA: San Antonio 1980b) 15-40; per- 46. J. E. S . Thompson,' ' 'Canals' of theRio Candelanabasin, Cam- sonal communications from Adams and Valdez, 1980. peche, Mexico," in N. Hammond,ed., Mesoamerican Archaeology: 40. Adams and Valdez, 1980b op. cit. (in note 39) 15-17. New Approaches (Duckworth:London 1974) 297-302. Journal of Field ArchaeologylVol. 9, 1982 357 detected using synthetic-apertureside-looking airborne Protoclassic Period (50 B.C.-250 A.C.) radar(SLAR) in a cooperativeventure between Maya Convention often separates this period or some fraction archaeologistsand the Jet Propulsion Laboratoryof of it from the Late Formative (which also formally per- NASA.47Ground confirmation of the SLAR data has sists until 250 A.C.), using the term "Protoclassic" to been achieved in several areas of northernBelize and denote the appearanceof certain precocious features char- also in Peten, but the overalltime-span of field andcanal acteristic of the Classic period.52 Although elaboration constructionfor these new discoveries has not been in sculpture and architecture have been adumbrated as ascertained. marking the Protoclassic manifestation, in general it has The several projects involved have revealed a new only been recognized where ceramics of the Floral Park economic landscapeas backgroundto the rise of Maya sphere also appear. The distributionof these, first defined civilization,since at least some of the field-canalsystems at Barton Ramie,53 is concentrated in the east-central are firmly dated to the Late Formative,thereby raising Maya lowlands,54 and three of the principal sites from the questionof how organizedMaya society at the time which the pottery is known, Barton Ramie, Nohmul, and was in termsof chiefdomor state structure. Tzimin Kax, lie in Belize (the fourth, , is in Peten, Canaland field constructionutilized chert biface chop- less than 15 km. west of the frontier). A dispute over the pers (found in situ but not firmly dated at Pulltrouser postulated intrusive character of Floral Park pottery and Swamp48),and a majorLate Formative production center its makers into the lowland is unresolved,55 although the for such tools has been investigatedat Colha,49where evidence for an essentially indigenous lowland evolution several squarekilometers of chert tool workshopsform drawing in external stimuli through established Late the largest factory site known in the Maya lowlands. Forrnativeexchange networks has become much stronger Similarorganization of Late Formativesociety may be with recent work in Belize. The importance of the in- detectedin the foothills of the Maya Mountainsin the novative Floral Park pottery and whatever social reality Cayo District of central Belize, where large areas of it reflects, however, are undisputed, and a fruitful field hillside terracing,creating artificial fields with silt-traps for research. and erosion-controlfeatures, have been mapped and foundto date from the Late Formativethrough Terminal Classic Period (250-900 A.C.) Classic periods,50with the bulk of the ceramic sherds Originally defined by the appearance of polychrome recoveredbeing of Early Classic date (250-600 A.C.). The elaborationof subsistencetechnology, public ar- pottery, vaulted stone buildings and dated stone monu- chitecture, and settlement in the Late Formative is ments in the lowlands, and placed at 300-900 A.C. on and matchedby craftdevelopment, particularly in ceramics, the basis of J. E. S. Thompson's correlation of Maya -workingand architecturalsculpture, and by the de- Christian calendars, the Classic period has been the tra- velopmentof long-distanceexchange networksthat re- ditional focus of Maya archaeology since serious explo- mained active throughthe Classic period. As Sir Eric ration of the lowland sites began in the mid- Thompsonrecognized in 1966, "the division between (several decades before any date could be given to them). Forrnativeand Classic has become meaningless,"5'and Almost all the impressive temple-pyramids, palaces, ball LateFormative society in at least some partsof the low- courts, and other buildings reported by travelers and ex- lands, includingnorthern Belize, may well meritthe so- briquet"civilized" . 52. Gordon R. Willey, in Adams, ed., op. cit. (in note 33) 391. 53. Willey et al., op. cit. (in note 15) 342-343; Gordon R. Willey and James C. Gifford, "Pottery of the Holmul I Style from Barton 47. R. E. W. Adams, op. cit. (in note 18); idem, W. E. Brown Jr., Ramie, British Honduras," in S. K. Lothrop et al., eds., Essays in and T. Patrick Culbert, "Radar Mapping, Archaeology and Ancient Pre-Columbian Art and Archaeology (Harvard University Press: Cam- Maya Land Use, " Science 213 (1981) 1457- 1463. bridge 1961) 152-170. 48. Turner and Harrison, op. cit. (in note 18) 402. 54. Duncan C. Pring, "Influence or Intrusion? The 'Protoclassic' in the Maya Lowlands, " in Hammond, ed., op. cit. (in note 18) 135- 165. 49. T. R. Hester, ed., The Colha Project, 1979: A Collection of Interim Papers (Center for Archaeological Research, UTSA: San An- 55. Ibid; Robert J. Sharer and James C. Gifford, "Preclassic Ceramics tonio 1979); T. R. Hester et al., op. cit. (in note 39). from Chalchuapa, E1 Salvador, and Their Relationships with the Maya Lowlands," AmAnt 35 (1970) 441-462; Payson D. Sheets, "An An- 50. Paul F. Healy, Catrien Van Waarden and Thomas J. Anderson, cient Natural Disaster, " Expedition 14: 1 (1971) 24-31; Willey and "Nueva Evidencia de Antiguas Terrazas Mayas en Belice," America Gifford, op. cit. (in note 53); R. E. W. Adams, The Ceramics of Altar Indigena 40 (1980) 773-796. de Sacrificios. PapPeaMus 63 No.l (1971); Payson D. Sheets, ed., 51. J. E. S. Thompson, The Rise and Fall of Maya Civilization, 2nd llopango Volcano and the Maya Protoclassic (University of Southern edn. (University of Oklahoma Press: Norman 1967) 57. Museum of Anthropology: Carbondale 1976). 358 The Prehistory of BelizelHammond

peditions over the past century and a half date to this influence at this crucial time. This dating was challenged period, which saw the florescence and then the decline by Pring because of the presence of a late Tzakol basal- of Maya civilization. flanged bowl in the assemblage. The most recent revision Neither the beginning nor the end of the Classic, how- of the ceramic sequence itself by Rattray ever, is as clear-cut temporally or culturally as they once would put the analogous vessels at Altun Ha into the seemed. Monuments earlier than 300 A.C. have been period 300-350 A.C.S9 found in the lowlands, perhaps substantially earlier in the Other evidence of contact is less striking, though it case of Polol Altar 1,56 and a Maya monumental art includes slab-footed cylinder vases at Santa Rita, Cuello, established in the Guatemalanhighland zone from at least and Moho Cay and a few scraps of green obsidian from the B.C. indicates the probable origin of the sites in northernBelize. Overall, Teotihuacan influence, glyptic tradition. At the end of the Classic period the whether transmitted directly or via in the cessation of monument carving and the abandonment of Guatemalan highlands, is less palpable in Belize than in major centers through the 9th and early 10th centuries more westerly sites such as Tikal and , where both was a lingering rather than sudden cultural death. military intrusion and dynastic alliance have been sug- In Belize the practice of erecting stelae as dynastic gested as explanations for the presence of Teotihuacan monuments bearing carved images and dated inscriptions material. is not known for some two centuries after the raising of Detailed knowledge of Early Classic (250-600 A.C.) Tikal Stela 29 in 292 A.C.s even though the earliest stelae architecture has been elucidated at Lamanai with the in the country are at only 75 km. SE of Tikal. major excavation of Structures N 10-9 and N 9-56.6° A plain stela was, however, erected at Cuello ca. 100 An unusual building practice, with a structure athwart A C 57 the main stair of the pyramid rather than on top of it, The contrast between Late Formative florescence and was found to exist in StructureN 10-9 as well as at Altun Early Classic decline found at Peten centers such as Sei- Ha where it had been first noted; in N 9-56 the same bal is found in Belize at Cerros, Colha, and Nohmul, but idea may be of Late Classic date. This latter structure where the two latter sites parallel Seibal in a subsequent had a well-preserved primary building dated to ca. 500 Late Classic recovery, Cerros is apparently largely aban- A.C. by a unique tomb in which the body was covered doned.58 Contrasting with this pattern, a number of Be- by a wooden framework draped with plaster bandages lizean sites follow Tikal in having a major period of to form a cocoon. The exterior of the building was dec- growth and prosperity during the Early Classic: Santa orated with large masks with some Olmecoid features; Rita, Aventura, and in the north, Lamanai the lower mask had a reptilian headdress, one of many and Altun Ha in the center, Moho Cay at the mouth of examples of such iconography at Lamanai. The site name the Belize River, and Barton Ramie upstream all flourish, is one of the few prehispanic Maya place-names to sur- and the significance of this differential development is vive, and it has been suggested that it should have been no more explicable on the Belizean evidence than it is recorded as Lamaanayin, "submerged crocodile', re- to the west in Peten. flecting both the presence of such creaturesin the adjacent The influence of Teotihuacan, the great Mesoamerican lagoon and the Maya preoccupation with them in deco- metropolis in the Valley of Mexico, which exerted wide- rative arts;if correct, this identification indicates an origin spread influence between 100 and 700 A.C., has been on archaeological evidence for the name of the site more detected at several Belizean sites, the easternmost areas than fifteen centuries ago. reached by Teotihuacan goods. A site closely related to Lamanai in architecture is An early burial at Altun Ha was accompanied by an Altun Ha, 35 km. to the east across the swampy coastal offering of Central Mexican green obsidian, deposited plain; excavations by D. M. Pendergast in the 1960s in Teotihuacan ceremonial format, and was accompanied showed that the two public plazas had been constructed by locally-made Teotihuacan-style pottery vessels. Pen- mainly in the Early Classic, with buildings containing dergast, the excavator, assigned the burial a date in the tombs with a wealth of jade objects, thereby belying the A.C. that coincided with the emergence of Classic period culture and thus suggested Teotihuacan

59. David M. Pendergast, "Evidence of Early Teotihuacan-Lowland Maya Contact at Altun Ha" AmAnt 36 (1971) 455-460; Duncan C 56. Gary Pahl and John A. Graham, personal communications, 1980. Pring, "The Dating of Teotihuacan Contact at Altun Ha: The New 57. Norman Hammond, "A Late Formative Period Stela in the Maya Evidence," AntAnt 42 (1977) 626-628; Evelyn C. Rattray, personal Lowlands,' AntAnt 47 (1982) 396-403. communication 1980. 58. Freidel, op. cit. (in note 21). 60. Pendergast, op. cit. (in note 23) 35-40. Journal of Field ArchaeologylVol. 9, 1982 359 site's small size and apparentinsignificance. Publication in Peten, 45 km. to the NNW.67In general, Caracol fits of the final reporthas begun.6l into the NE Peten pattein of long stela sequences, while The Late Classic (600-900 A.C.) saw the growth of the rest of Belize has only sporadic and short-term oc- bothsites andpopulations in Belize to an extentparalleled currences of the practice of erecting monuments. only in the Late Formative.Lamanai and Altun Ha con- Apart from the excavations at Lamanai and Altun Ha, tinuedto flourishinto this period, and majorexpansions majorbuildings of the Classic period have been examined are documentedat Nohmul62and Colha63in the north. only at Xunantunich, where the Belize Department of In southernBelize a new center was establishedat Lu- Archaeology has concentrated on the exposure and con- baantun64ca. 700 A.C. in a region strikinglylacking in servation of the largest structure, A-6. Work in other earlier sites, while to the sw at on the Peten Classic ceremonial precincts, including , Noh- bordera series of dated stelae was erectedbetween 574 mul, Lubaantun, El Pozito, and Colha, has been mainly and 731 A.C. Northeastof Lubaantunthe small site of on small structures, including chert and obsidian work- has several recently-discovered stelae shops at the two latter sites. erected between 721 and 790 A.C.,65while Lubaantun Most recent work on the Classic period in Belize has itself had three ballcourtmarkers dated stylisticallyto taken the form of surveys, test excavations, and studies 780-790 A.C.66but lacked stelae entirely. The relation- of subsistence and settlement. The shift away from major ship betweenthe two sites has been suggestedas thatof architecturalinvestigation is a result in part of economic a politicalcapital and a dynasticcult center;Nim li punit factors, and a reaction to the previous of is unusualin its small size (a single plaza) and in the 24 effort in this field throughout the Maya lowlands, which monumentspacked into it, of which 6 were carvedand it was widely felt had led to sufficient quantities of data, the rest apparentlyplain. One of the carvedmonuments, and a lack of balance at the same time in other aspects Stela 14, has a Long Count date of 9.18 10.0.0. in the of Maya studies. Maya calendar(790 A.C.), but the CalendarRound po- sition for 9.18.0.0.0. (780 A.C.); it was probablynever erected, but at 9.5 m. (31 feet) it is among the tallest Maya stelae known, suggestinga link with Quiriguato the south. Postclassic Period (900-1550 A.C.) North of the Maya Mountainsstelae were erected in The formal beginning of the Postclassic coincides ap- the Late Classic at and Lamanai,and several proximately with the cessation of stela erection. The latest were dedicatedat Xunantunichin 849 A.C. The earliest Initial Series currently known, from Tonina, Chiapas, is site with inscribedstelae in Belize, Caracol,has also the of 10.4.0.0.0. (909 A.C.), and few stelae are later than longest span of dates, terminatingin 889 A.C, and its 10.3.0.0.0. (889 A.C.), which is also the latest date for monumentsinclude a numberof altarscarved with giant any monument in Belize. Ahau glyphs as an expression of their calendardates. The system collapse that resulted in not only this ces- Littleis known at presentof the architectureor ceramics sation but also the abandonment of most of the major of Caracol,but the workof the LateLinton Satterthwaite, centers in Belize, Peten, and adjacent areas of Mexico, Jr., continuedby Carl P. Beetz, has led to the identifi- Honduras, and Salvador has been exhaustively analyzed cationof threerulers at the end of the EarlyClassic and over the past decade.68 Recent work in Belize, however, to therecognition of strongties withthe centerof has suggested that some sites continued to be occupied through the collapse period, albeit at a reduced level of population size and social complexity. The most detailed 61. David M. Pendergast, Excavations at Altun Ha, Belize, 1964-1970 (Royal Ontario Museum: Toronto 1979) (1980) 62. Norman Hammond, ed., Archaeology in northern Belize: British 67. Carl P. Beetz, "Caracol Revisited," Expedition22:3 Museum-Cambridge University Corozal Project 1974-75 lnterim Re- 4-11. port (Centre of Latin American Studies, Cambridge University: Cam- 68. T. PatrickCulbert, ed., The Classic Maya Collapse (University bridge 1975) 73-108 . of New MexicoPress: Albuquerque 1973); idem, "MayaDevelopment 63. Hester, op. cit. (in note 49); idem et al., eds. op. cit. (in note andCollapse: An EconomicPerspective," in Hammond,ed., op. cit. 39). (in note 18) 509-530; RobertJ. Sharer,"The Maya CollapseRevis- ited:Internal and ExternalPerspectives," in ibid. 531-552; Dorothy 64. Hammond, op. cit. (in note 5). Hosler,Jeremy A. Sabloff, and Dale Runge, "SimulationModel De- 65. Norman Hammond, ';A New Maya Ceremonial Centre in Be- velopment:A Case Study of the Classic Maya Collapse, in ibid. lize," lLN Archaeology Section 2919 (1976) 49-50. 553-590; RobertL. Hamblinand Brian L. Pitcher,"The Classic Maya Collapse: Testing Class Conflict Hypotheses," AmAnt45 (1980) 66. Hammond, op. cit. (in note 5) 376. 246-267. 360 ThePrehistory of BelizelHammond

evidence so far has come from Lamanai69and Nohmul,70 associated Middle Postclassic cache76 arguably the lat- while research at Colha has produced evidence of con- est Maya stela yet known and the small offshore island tinued utilization of the chert outcrops to manufacture a of Wild Cane Cay. On this site77Postclassic pottery from new range of tools including triangular adzes and loz- both northernYucatan and the Pacific piedmont of Gua- enge-shaped bifaces; ceramic evidence shows a small temala has been found, as well as jade, obsidian, and community at Colha in the region of the Classic cere- metal objects attesting to its position on the long-distance monial precinct.71Similar continuity into the Early Post- sea trade route around the Yucatan Peninsula. classic is demonstrated at Barton Ramie, where the level In northern Belize several dozen sites have yielded of occupancy in the New Town phase is almost as high effigy incense burner fragments of Chen Mul Modeled as the Late Classic maximum.72 type and provincial Mayapan iconography, mainly from At Lamanai the early occurrence (on the basis of ra- superficial deposits on and around abandoned Classic diocarbon dates) of ceramic motifs found later at May- period structures. Most of the sites lack Postclassic do- apan has led Pendergast73to argue for a south-to-north mestic pottery and other evidence of habitation in the movement of culture traits, but at Nohmul the evidence immediate vicinity of the ritual deposits, and were ap- indicates that the reverse occurred: the architecture of parently visited during local pilgrimage ceremonies, al- Phase Z of Structures 139 and 141, excavated in though the construction of small stone-walled platforms 1973-1974; the "patio-quad" plan of Structure 20 and atop some Classic structures suggests habitual visits; its intrusive nature in the ceremonial precinct layout; and these may be local versions of the "pilgrimage fairs" the circular plan of Structure 9 adjacent to Structure 20, hypothesized by D. A. Freidel as explanatory of Maya resembling the "Caracol" buildings of Chichen Itza and regional settlement patterns.78No buildings as ambitious Mayapan, all indicate southward movement of Yucatecan as those reported for the coeval Lobil phase in Quintana ideas and probably peopleS as postulated by Joseph W. Roo to the north are known,79 although Gann's Santa Ball.74On the basis of the Nohmul architecturalevidence, Rita excavation report suggests one such construction cultural and ethnic occupation of northern Belize by over the mural-decorated structure there.80 southward migration of Yucatec Maya seems as valid an Resetting of Classic period stelae at this time is known interpretationas does one of cultural continuity. from several sites in northernBelize, including Lamanai, The later part of the Postclassic, after 1250 A.C., coeval where it accompanies massive incensario offerings with the florescence of Mayapan and the subsequent po- around Structure N 9-56, and the small site of Chan litical fragmentation of the still-populous northern Yu- Chen, where the stela does not appear from its material catan Peninsula, is also best-known from work in to be of local origin.81 The practice in known also from northernBelize: only sparse material is known from south Tikal, Seibal, and sites in QuintanaRoo, but lacks precise of Lamanai, although historical evidence exists for oc- dating beyond the general Postclassic context.82 cupation.75Two archaeological exceptions are the May- flower group of sites south of Stann Creek, where Elizabeth Graham excavated a plain granite stela with an 76. Graham,op. cit. (in note 16); idem, "ArchaeologicalInvesti- gations in the Stann Creek District," Belizean Studies 6:4 (1978) 16-26. 69. Pendergast,op. cit. (in note 23) 43-52. 77. Hammond,op. cit. (in note 5) 277. 70. Hammond,op. cit. (in note 17) 57-58; ArlenF. Chaseand Diane 78. David A. Freidel, "The PoliticalEconomics of ResidentialDis- Z. Chase, "ArchaeologicalInvestigations at Nohmuland SantaRita, persionAmong the LowlandMaya,'' in Ashmore,op. cit. (in note Belize, 1979-1980," Mexicon 3:3 (1981) 42-44; DianeZ. Chaseand 16) 371-382. NormanHammond, "Excavation of NohmulStructure 20," Mexicon 4:1 (1982) 7-12. 79. PeterD. Harrison,"The Lobil PostclassicPhase in the Southern Interiorof the YucatanPeninsula," in N. Hammondand G. R. Willey, 71. NormanHammond, ed., British Museum-Cambridge University eds., Maya Archaeology and Ethnohistory (Universityof TexasPress: Corozal Project 1973 lnterim Report (Centreof LatinAmerican Stud- Austin 1979) 189-207. ies, CambridgeUniversity: Cambridge 1973) 57; idem, op. cit. (in note 62) 13-72; Adamsand Valdez, 1980b op. cit. (in note 39) 27. 80. Gann, 1900 op. cit. (in note 7) 663-665. 72. Willey et al., op. cit. (in note 15) 384. 81. Pendergast,op. cit. (in note 23) 51; personalobservation, on a visit to ChanChen in 1974 by courtesyof R. V. Sidrys. 73. David M. Pendergast,"Lamanai (Indian Church): Cross-Section of Belize's Past," Belizean Studies 8:3 (1980) 28. 82. LintonSatterthwaite, Jr., The Problem of Abnormal Stela Place- ments at Tikal and Elsewhere, Tikal Report 3, in Tikal Reports Nos. 74. Joseph W. Ball, "A CoordinateApproach to NorthernMaya 1-4 (UniversityMuseum: Philadelphia 1958) 61-83; GordonR. Wil- Prehistory,A .D . 700- 1200," AmAnt 39 (1974) 85-93. ley, Excavations at Seibal, Department of Peten, Guatemata: Intro- 75. J. E. S. Thompson,The Maya of Belize: Historical Chapters duction: The Site and lts Setting. MemPM 13 No. 1 (Cambridge1975) Since Columbus (Benex Press:Belize City 1974). 30. Journal of Field ArchaeologylVol. 9, 1982 361

Although this ritual activity presumably resulted from around the Maya Mountains is beginning to link with the devotions and social interaction of the local popu- surveys of hill-terraces and renewed interest in such cer- lation in each case, only two substantial Late Postclassic emonial centers as Caracol and Tzimin Kax to form an- settlements are so far known in northern Belize, at La- other substantial focus of activity. Problems under manai and Santa Rita. At Lamanai occupation continued explicit scrutiny by these projects include the initial oc- beyond the formal end of the Postclassic, since a visita cupation of the humid tropical lowlands, the establish- church was founded for the benefit of its population ca. ment of settled farming communities there, the 1570 and remained in use until abandonmentof the region emergence of complex society and the floruitand dis- by the Spanish friars in the 1640s, with post-Christian of that society during the 1st millennium A.C., burials being made around it until the 1670s. The ce- and the interplay of Maya and Spanish colonial societies ramics in these later burials, typologically identical with in the contact period. those of a century earlier, demonstrate that European Cross-cutting these studies of crucial transformations penetrationdoes not necessarily lead to detectable change in the trajectory of Maya prehistory are other projects at the level of craft production.83 (or sections of those mentioned) investigating the dia- Santa Rita, probably the eponymous provincial capital chronic exploitation of chert as a basic industrial re- of protohistoric Chetumal, has a large Postclassic oc- source, and the development of a complex agricultural cupation centered on public buildings, at least one of base for Maya civilization by the construction of artificial which was decorated with murals of Mixteca-Puebla in- econiches on the hillsides and in the wetlands. spiration derived from southern Mexico and related to Potential exists in Belize for the study of other little- codex art, in what Donald Robertson has termed "the understood episodes in the Maya cultural sequence, such InternationalStyle of the Late Postclassic' 9.84 The murals as the nature of the Middle Formative period, the role can be seen as a product of the same coast-oriented set- of the Protoclassic manifestation in the emergence of tlement and trading pattern represented by the fortified Classic civilization, the eclipse of some major sites in towns of (with similar murals) and Ichpaatun in the Early Classic, and the equally enigmatic persistence Quintana Roo and by Wild Cane Cay in southern Belize, of occupation at others during the collapse of Classic tied to the major circum-peninsular canoe route between society in the 9th and 10th centuries A.C. The environ- Xicalango on the Gulf of Mexico and and Naco on mental diversity of Belize, with ancient metamorphic rivers flowing into the Gulf of Honduras at the eastern highlands merging into limestone foothills and undulating margin of the Maya lands. Thus the polity of Chetumal, ridges within a few kilometers' distance, and these low which probably reached south to the vicinity of Lamanai, ridges in turn descending to bajos and coastal savannas remained linked to the mainstream of Mesoamerican cul- and swamps, makes Belize a microcosm of the Maya ture through the . area within which the changing relationship of people to their landscape can fruitfully be studied. Future Directions Archaeological research in Belize is governed by the Belizean archaeology in the 1980s is advancing in the Department of Archaeology, headed by the Archaeolog- two fields of problem-oriented research and of a devel- ical Commissioner (the incumbent being a grad- oping national policy for culturalresource management.8s uate in Archaeological Sciences) and administratively The north of the country, with projects working on field/ within the Ministry of Trade, Industry, Cooperatives and canal systems at several locations and in important sites Consumer Protection. The antiquities legislation of 1924 at Lamanai, Colha, Cerros, Santa Rita, Nohmul, and was updated in 1971 to produce one of the most com- Cuello, is one of the most densely populated areas of prehensive statutes governing the protection of cultural research in the Maya area, while the study of caves resources of any nation in the Americas. Guidelines for the management of these resources have now been intro- duced, including an obligation on the part of a project to devote 15% of its budget to conservation and resto- 83. Pendergast,op. cit. (in note 23) 52. ration of structures disturbed by excavation, or to other 84. Gann,op. cit. (in note7); DonaldRobertson, "The Tulum Murals: mutually agreed contributions to the development of Be- The InternationalStyle of the LatePostclassic" in Verhandlungen des lizean archaeology.86 XXXVlll Amerikanistenkongresses, Stuttgart-Munchen 1968 2 (1970) The number of qualified staff in the Archaeology De- 77-88. partmentis being increased by a joint program with Trent 85. HarriotW. Topsey, "New Developmentsin the CulturalResource Managementof Belize," paperpresented at the IV Mesa Redondade Palenque,June 1980, and on file at the Departmentof Archaeology, . 86. Ibid. 362 ThePrehistory of BelizelHammond

University, Ontario, and the Royal Ontario Museum, in which both formal academic training in archaeology and practical experience in museology and conservation are provided for; the program is scheduled to run for six years from the fall of 1979. Looting and illegal export of archaeological material remain a major problem, as in the other countries of the Maya area, exacerbated by the connivance of dealers, museum directors, and private collectors in the and to a lesser degree in West , , and ;87joint action with neighboring countries and with U.S. Customs has begun. The planned con- struction of a national museum in the capital, Belmopan, will make Belize's Maya treasures available to public view and will help to develop a cultural consciousness and pride in the past in the country's multi-ethnic society. As formal independence from colonial rule becomes es- tablished, Belize is finding itself a nation with a past as well as a future.

87. Ibid.

Norman Hammond is Director of the Archaeology Program at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey.