Archaeology International No. 15, 2011-2012, 24-28 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5334/ai.1510

Recent Investigations on Ambergris Caye, Elizabeth Graham* and Scott Simmons†

In June and July of 2012, a second season of the students in sorting ceramics, and Petra fieldwork directed by Elizabeth Graham and Cunningham and Lisa Duffy, from the Uni- Scott Simmons was carried out on Amber- versity of Florida at Gainesville, who worked gris Caye, an island off the north coast of with students in identifying fauna. Duffy also Belize and a popular tourist destination for studied the diverse ground stone inventory. divers (Fig. 1). In Precolumbian times the Simmons obtained a grant to fund a com- caye supported a number of towns, the Maya munity engagement project, in partnership residents of which engaged in wide-ranging with Belize’s Galen University and the local commercial activities (Guderjan and Garber, site-preservation group, Marco Gonzalez 1995). The ancient Maya are best known Maya Site, Ambergris Caye, Ltd (MGMS), through accounts of the rise and fall of cit- headed by Jan Brown, its founder. The grant ies such as (Martin and Grube, 2008); supported two anthropology students who less well known is the degree to which Maya came to the caye to assist in laboratory villages, towns, and cities were dependent work with the field school, but their pri- on water-borne trade and commerce. So mary objective was to act as ‘Ambassadors enduring was this commercial framework to the Past’. Victor Cucul is Kekchi Maya, that coastal towns flourished despite the from Toledo (Belize’s southernmost district), ‘collapse’ of inland cities in the 9th and 10th and Ismael Teul is Mopan Maya from Cama- centuries. lote village, in the Cayo District. Victor and This season we concentrated on lab work Ismael gave a series of talks on both general under the aegis of a field school organised Maya and Marco Gonzalez history, in part in by Simmons. Most of the material sorted their respective , to primary and analysed was excavated from the site of and secondary schools and colleges in San Marco Gonzalez, at the caye’s southern tip Pedro (Fig. 3). All in all, they reached over (Fig. 2; Graham and Pendergast, 1989; Gra- 300 school students during a 3-week period. ham and Simmons, 2011). We also worked on For our ‘lab’, Jan Brown secured a hangar at ceramics derived from a series of rescue exca- the local airport, courtesy of local business- vations carried out in 1991 and 1993 in the man John McAfee. The Marco Gonzalez arte- town of San Pedro, situated c.8km north of facts, many of which are in an excellent state Marco Gonzalez. Other members of the team of preservation, came from excavations car- comprised Jim Aimers, from the State Uni- ried out in 1986 and 1990, directed by Eliza- versity of New York at Geneseo, who assisted beth Graham and David Pendergast, and from Graham and Simmons’ first joint effort in the field in 2010. Prior to 2010, the site was in * UCL Institute of Archaeology, danger of being covered by a condominium London WC1H 0PY, United Kingdom [email protected] resort development, but it is now San Pedro’s † University of North Carolina Wilmington first official Archaeological Reserve/National (UNCW), United States Park, created on 1 April 2011. Since 2010, [email protected] Recent Investigations on Ambergris Caye, Belize 25

Fig. 1: Map of Belize showing the location of Marco Gonzalez on Ambergris Caye. the MGMS, through Jan Brown’s efforts, has Although Marco Gonzalez today is located been raising funds to support site preserva- in the middle of a mangrove swamp, the site tion and development. There is now a park in the past was open to windward breezes. employee for security and grounds mainte- It functioned as a port and probable trading nance, an entry hut and an on-site palapa centre for hundreds of years, although its (a thatched-roofed, open-sided, building to character changed through time. We know shelter people when it rains). that the people at Marco Gonzalez invested 26 Recent Investigations on Ambergris Caye, Belize

Fig. 2: The Marco Gonzalez site, Belize, at the caye’s southern tip (looking south-west).

heavily in salt processing from about AD cessing has enhanced soil fertility. 600–750, and exported salt cakes to main- Many Maya inland cities in the Petén land cities and towns (for Maya trade in salt, region of , and in parts of Campe- see McKillop, 2002). One of our plans is to che in , are known to have declined study the environmental impact from salt in the late 8th through 10th centuries (see processing, and Graham has been fortunate Martin and Grube, 2008), but the occupants to receive – in partnership with her col- of Marco Gonzalez were highly active in trade league Julia Stegemann (UCL Department and exchange during this period which sug- of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engi- gests that much of the Maya world was still neering) – funding from UCL’s Institute for up and running. It was during the late 8th to Sustainable Resources for a PhD student to mid-11th centuries that the town grew and focus specifically on assessing the long-term expanded its involvement in the transport environmental impact of salt processing of goods around the coast of the Yucatan activities on the caye. Although salt process- Peninsula. We know this because pottery ing clearly involved cutting down vegetation recovered from this period originates from and burning huge amounts of fuel to drive , Guatemala, Belize, Yucatan and off water in forming the salt cakes for ship- the Gulf Coast. There is even green obsid- ment, the soil at Marco Gonzalez is astound- ian from central Mexico. It is not yet known ingly fertile. In fact, the main problem in site exactly when the town was abandoned, but protection is the tide of people who come to excavations so far indicate that the commu- take away its soil. One possibility is that the nity thrived until c.1200, when mangrove carbon debris from burning fuel in salt pro- encroachment affected its utility as a port, Recent Investigations on Ambergris Caye, Belize 27

Fig. 3: Victor Cucul and Ismael Teul talking to students at the San Pedro Roman Catholic School, Belize.

Fig. 4: Ceramic vessels from under-floor burials at Marco Gonzalez: (left) a vessel depicting a man on one knee, from highland Guatemala; and (right) a red-slipped vase with ped- estal base, from the central Belize mainland. 28 Recent Investigations on Ambergris Caye, Belize

and its occupants moved north to what is traders were not affected by collapse, then now San Pedro. Individual families, however, clearly had a resilience that has continued to live at the site until the Spanish heretofore been downplayed. In addition, colonial period. Marco Gonzalez provides us with a model Although the site is densely covered with for human-environmental interaction over sherds, much of the pottery has been recov- a long and continuous period. Although the ered whole from burials (Fig. 4). Individuals, Maya were, like any civilisation, exploita- at least during the late 8th-11th centuries, tive, it is of interest that Maya sites on the were interred, as is ancient Maya custom, caye are characterised by highly fertile soils beneath the floors of houses. The unusual which have been cultivated at least since the feature at Marco, however, is that they were 16th century, and very likely earlier. We are buried face-down (occasionally face-up) with therefore hoping to illuminate not only the their legs bent backward. Although a large ancient activities of the Maya, but also the quantity of potsherds date from the 12th chemistry and transformational qualities of and 13th centuries, they are mainly from these activities that resulted in the creation the surface and from deposits overlying the of an environment of rich soils and vegeta- buildings; we do not yet have any primary tion. deposits from this period and cannot tell with which buildings, or phases, the pottery References is directly associated. Not surprisingly for a Graham, E and Simmons, S 2011 The 2010 coastal community, we have recovered large Excavations at Marco Gonzalez, Ambergris quantities of fish bones and shells (mostly Caye. Annual Report submitted to the species of conch). The shells have the charac- Institute of Archaeology, National Insti- teristic small punch holes near their crowns tute of Culture and History, Belize. which indicate that the conchs were removed Graham, E and Pendergast, D M 1989 for eating. There is also evidence in the form Excavations at the Marco Gonzalez Site, of shaped fragments and other debris that Ambergris Caye, Belize. Journal of Field selected conch shells were worked to make Archaeology 16(1): 1–6. tools – or to form blanks for jewellery-pro- Guderjan, T H and Garber, J F (eds) 1995 duction. Conch middens left by centuries of Maya Maritime Trade, Settlement, and Pop- Maya activity lie everywhere, and the shells ulations on Ambergris Caye, Belize. Lancas- are used today by hermit crabs for their ter, California: Labyrinthos. houses – an excellent example of recycling. Martin, S and Grube, N 2008 Chronicle Marco Gonzalez provides a fascinating of the Maya Kings and Queens. London: opportunity to explore Maya civilisation that Thames & Hudson. did not collapse. The coastal economy was McKillop, H 2002 Salt: White Gold of the critical to Maya development, but its impor- Ancient Maya. Gainesville, Florida: Univer- tance is generally undervalued. If coastal sity Press of Florida.