Excavations at Nohoch Ek, British Honduras

The course of Maya archaeology has been characterized for the most part by an intensive interest in large ceremonial centers, and justifiably so in view of their clearly rich and rewarding content. Yet the nature of these excavations has necessarily restricted knowledge of preconquest developments in this region to a highly hierarchic level, as witnessed by work in such sites as Kaminaljuyu, Copan, Uaxactun, and Piedras Negras. Remarkably little is known of conditions on a less spectacular level, but a recent trend in this direction is evident in the house-mound and population studies by Carnegie at Mayapan and by Gordon Willey in British Honduras. And we hope that Nohoch Ek, about as insignificant as Maya sites of this type come, may help to illustrate the evolution and workings of an obviously minor ceremonial center.

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Maya: revelation and re-evaluation

Antiquity ◽

10.15184/aqy.2015.141 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 89 (348) ◽

pp. 1503-1510

Author(s):

Norman Hammond

Keyword(s):

Population Studies ◽

Maya Lowlands ◽

Major City ◽

Site Specific ◽

Maya Archaeology ◽

Central Highland ◽

British Colony ◽

General Readership ◽

Ninth Edition ◽

El Peten

Maya archaeology is flourishing; across three millennia, four countries and an impressive range of intellectual and practical approaches, the eight books under review here make that point well. One is the ninth edition of a deservedly successful book for a general readership, one the catalogue of the first Maya exhibition to be held in Britain in nearly half a century. A further volume deals with sites in the northern Maya lowlands of the Yucatan Peninsula, another with those in the eastern lowlands, the former British colony of Belize. Two are site-specific: the major city of El Perú-Waka’ in the southern lowland Maya heartland of El Petén, Guatemala, and the idiosyncratic élite centre of Cacaxtla in central highland Mexico where Maya influence on the famous murals is both striking and puzzling. Finally, two have a scientific bent: collections of papers on bioarchaeology/population studies and archaeoastronomy respectively. All draw their evidence, and their illustrations, largely from the Classic Period (AD 250–900), although there are forays into both the Preclassic (1200 BC–AD 250) and Postclassic (AD 900–1500+).

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A Unique Maya Shrine Site on the Mountain Pine Ridge of British Honduras

American Antiquity ◽

10.2307/278640 ◽

1963 ◽

Vol 29 (1) ◽

pp. 98-99 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

William R. Bullard

Keyword(s):

Ancient Maya ◽

Maya Archaeology ◽

Pine Ridge ◽

Mountain Pine ◽

British Honduras ◽

Granite Outcrop ◽

Lowland Maya

AbstractA small ruin of presumed ancient Maya origin is described. This ruin is the only certain prehistoric structure discovered on the Mountain Pine Ridge of British Honduras, and it is associated with a natural granite outcrop of monumental appearance in such a way as to suggest that the two formed a shrine of a type not previously reported in Lowland Maya archaeology.

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