The First Settlers on Chetumal Bay

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn Reese-Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Monumental Architecture ◽  
Community Interaction ◽  
Bay Area ◽  
Preclassic Period ◽  
Marine Products ◽  
Middle Preclassic

Chapter 2 reviews recent data on the original settlement of the Chetumal Bay region. There is evidence for habitation in northern Belize during the Archaic and Preceramic periods on Progresso Lagoon and other parts of the interior, but the first evidence for settled life on the bay itself stems from the early Middle Preclassic period, specifically around Santa Rita Corozal in Belize and Oxtankah in Mexico. By the late Middle Preclassic a trading port was established on Tamalcab Island, indicative of organized community interaction and trade in highland imports such as jade and obsidian, probably exchanged for salt and other marine products. By the end of the Late Preclassic, the bay area population had increased dramatically, and both ports and inland centers exhibited monumental architecture.

At the Foot of the Hills

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomás Gallareta Negrón
Keyword(s):  
Social Interaction ◽  
Monumental Architecture ◽  
Open Spaces ◽  
Social Differences ◽  
Funerary Monuments ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
Preclassic Period ◽  
Middle Preclassic

This contribution is about Xocnaceh, an early Yucatecan site with monumental architecture located on the edge of the Puuc escarpment. A program of excavations at the Acropolis, a trapezoidal basal platform whose surviving volume exceeds 100,000 m3, has identified building episodes and artifacts dating from the Middle Preclassic Period (800-300 B.C.) This chapter focuses on the evidence for identifying the construction stages and the associated artifacts useful for dating these contexts and for inferring commercial contacts outside the region. Instead of pyramidal temples or funerary monuments, these early structures were designed to accomodate large numbers of people, at least on special occasions. These great complexes with large open spaces suggest that social differences had not yet hardened suffiently for restricting social interaction.

Regroup On “E-Groups”: Monumentality and Early Centers in the Middle Preclassic Maya Lowlands

2012 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 355-379 ◽  
Author(s):  
James A. Doyle
Keyword(s):  
Information Systems ◽  
Geographic Information Systems ◽  
Geographic Information ◽  
Political Authority ◽  
Maya Lowlands ◽  
Monumental Architecture ◽  
Viewshed Analysis ◽  
Preclassic Maya ◽  
Preclassic Period ◽  
Middle Preclassic

AbstractFor nearly a century, scholars have used astronomical evidence to explain the Lowland Maya architectural type known as “E-Groups” as solar observatories and, by extension, as locations for rituals related to solar and agricultural cycles. This article departs from the usual focus on the observational properties of E-Groups and places them in the context of early Maya monumentality during the Middle Preclassic period. Specifically, E-Groups are seen as the earliest monumental social spaces in the Maya Lowlands, with multifaceted functions and placements that indicate a shared social map of the landscape. Geographic information systems viewshed analysis of Middle Preclassic E-Group sites demonstrates that populations constructed E-Groups in places that maximized visibility of the nearby landscape. Viewsheds conducted at sites with Middle Preclassic E-Groups in the central Maya Lowlands suggest that the large plazas and similar monumental architecture represent the centers of comparable, mutually visible communities. Settlers founding these communities consciously created distance from neighboring monumental centers, perhaps as means of defining and buttressing group identity and undergirding spatial claims to political authority. Recent archaeological evidence affords clues that such spaces were civic, allowing architectural settings for social gatherings and access to resources.

THE FIRST MAYA TRADE WARE? NEW DATA ON MIDDLE PRECLASSIC-PERIOD MARS ORANGE PASTE WARE FROM HOLTUN, GUATEMALA

2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 821-827 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael G. Callaghan ◽  
Daniel E. Pierce ◽  
William D. Gilstrap
Keyword(s):  
Neutron Activation Analysis ◽  
Activation Analysis ◽  
Neutron Activation ◽  
Short Distance ◽  
Maya Lowlands ◽  
The West ◽  
Preclassic Period ◽  
Production And Distribution ◽  
Middle Preclassic ◽  
Combined Data

This study reports on type: variety-mode classification, digital stereomicroscopy, petrography, neutron activation analysis, and previously published reports and characterizes production and distribution of Mars Orange Paste Ware in the Middle Preclassic-period Maya Lowlands. The sample consists of 2028 sherds of Mars Orange Paste Ware from Holtun, Guatemala, and 4105 sherds reported from sites in Central Belize and Peten Guatemala. The combined data suggest Mars Orange Paste Ware was a “short-distance” trade ware produced in the northeastern Maya Lowlands and distributed from Central Belize to the west.

El Achiotal

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Jane Acuña
Keyword(s):  
Geographic Location ◽  
Political Authority ◽  
Maya Lowlands ◽  
Preclassic Period ◽  
Middle Preclassic ◽  
Conventional Models ◽  
And Control

This chapter summarizes the archaeological and iconographic evidence from Structure 5C-01 that indicate rulership was established at the small center of El Achiotal in the Late Preclassic period. The symbolic vocabulary at El Achiotal suggests rulers were knowledgeable of the widespread ideology that was being institutionalized in the southern Maya lowlands as well as the more ancient symbolic vocabulary that represented the institution of kingship developed by the Middle Preclassic at La Venta and other centers in Mexico. Variables such as geographic location and control over knowledge provided Late Preclassic centers with leverage to negotiate their status and power within the broader regional geopolitics, thus challenging conventional models used to understand early political authority and its organization over the landscape.

Middle Preclassic Maya Shell Ornament Production

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bobbi Hohmann ◽  
Terry G. Powis ◽  
Paul F. Healy
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Scale Production ◽  
Large Scale Production ◽  
Belize River Valley ◽  
Preclassic Maya ◽  
Preclassic Period ◽  
Non Local ◽  
Degree Of Control ◽  
Middle Preclassic ◽  
Marine Shell

Extensive archaeological investigations at the site of Pacbitun, a medium-sized Maya center located in west-central Belize, have revealed the large-scale production of marine shell ornaments during Middle Preclassic period (900-300 B.C.). Non-local marine shell and the restricted nature of its distribution indicate that some degree of control may have been exerted over the production and/or distribution of marine shell or the finished shell products. The sheer quantities of shell working debris in the site core of Pacbitun suggest that these ornaments were intended for intra- or extra-community exchange. Two different scenarios are presented to account for the quantity and spatial distribution of Middle Preclassic shell and shell working materials at Pacbitun and in the Belize River valley.

The History, Function, and Meaning of Preclassic E Groups in the Cival Region

Maya E Groups ◽  
2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisco Estrada-Belli
Keyword(s):  
Initial Function ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Place Making ◽  
Archaeological Data ◽  
Preclassic Period ◽  
Archaeological Project ◽  
Middle Preclassic ◽  
Ritual Behavior ◽  
Single Locality

This chapter summarizes archaeological data and interpretations regarding 13 E Groups from the Cival region mapped and excavated by the Holmul Archaeological Project between 2000 and 2015. In the Middle (1000-350 BCE) and Late Preclassic (350 BCE-0 CE) periods Cival was the main political and ritual center in this region of northeastern Petén. Over the course of the Late Preclassic Period, four additional E Groups were built at Cival and nine more have been found so far at surrounding minor centers. These data from E Group complexes provide a coherent sample of architectural chronology, dimension, orientation and evidence of ritual behavior. Excavations in the Cival Main Plaza provide the most complete example of a Middle Preclassic E Group available to date. The ritual function of Cival’s earliest E Group focused on solar hierophanies that uniquely connected, calendrical, metereological and geomantic observations within a single locality. Subsequent Late Preclassic complexes in the region were built following the same principles according to each site’s peculiar topographic setting. In accordance with their initial function as place-making devices for emerging communities, E Groups in the Late Preclassic Period were associated with the emergence of regional political systems as centers of religious and political interactions.

Monumental Landscapes, Changing Ideologies, and Political Histories in the Mopan Valley

2020 ◽  
pp. 290-312
Author(s):  
M. Kathryn Brown ◽  
Jason Yaeger
Keyword(s):  
Political Development ◽  
Classic Period ◽  
The Political ◽  
Late Classic ◽  
Monumental Architecture ◽  
Sociopolitical Organization ◽  
Political Landscape ◽  
Middle Preclassic ◽  
Key Sites ◽  
Divine Kingship

In Chapter 14, Brown and Yaeger discuss the sociopolitical organization of several key sites in the Mopan Valley from the early Middle Preclassic through the end of the Late Classic period. Through an examination of monumental architecture, public art, and ritual practices, the authors describe the political development over this 1,600-year period beginning with Early Xunantunich, the first major political center beginning in the early Middle Preclassic, to the latest, Classic Xunantunich, which was abandoned in the 9th century. The centers of Actuncan and Buenavista del Cayo filled a vacuum in the valley in the intervening centuries, playing major roles on the political landscape during the Late Preclassic and Early Classic periods, respectively. The authors trace how political authority and ideology became more centralized and the institutions of divine kingship developed as each center succeeded one another. It is clear from the data presented in this chapter that monumental constructions are at the forefront of our understanding of the development of the political landscape in the Mopan Valley, a landscape where ritual and religion played key roles in the rise of complexity.

FACELESS HIERARCHY AT NIXTUN-CH'ICH’, PETEN, GUATEMALA

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 248-260
Author(s):  
Timothy W. Pugh ◽  
Evelyn M. Chan Nieto ◽  
Gabriela W. Zygadło
Keyword(s):  
Urban Planning ◽  
Social System ◽  
Preclassic Period ◽  
Centralized Planning ◽  
Middle Preclassic ◽  
The City

AbstractSocieties vary in how they approach the challenges of increased population, inequality, and occupational specialization. The city of Nixtun-Ch'ich’ and its satellite, T'up, in Peten, Guatemala exhibit orthogonal urban grids—a trait absent from all other known Maya cities. Such grids require extensive planning and the ability to mobilize the population. The present data suggests that Nixtun-Ch'ich’ was substantially larger than any of the surrounding settlements and was, therefore, a primate center during the Middle Preclassic period. The extensive urban planning of the site, as well as that of T'up suggests centralized planning. Yet, we have not encountered evidence of a central ruler propagated as a unifying symbol of the polity. The gridded public streets and lack of a rulership cult suggest that Nixtun-Ch'ich’ had a more collaborative social system.

scholarly journals Chemical paste characterization of Late Middle Preclassic-period ceramics from Holtun, Guatemala and its implications for production and exchange

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 334-345 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael G. Callaghan ◽  
Daniel E. Pierce ◽  
Brigitte Kovacevich ◽  
Michael D. Glascock
Keyword(s):  
Preclassic Period ◽  
Middle Preclassic

Preclassic Round Structures of the Upper Belize River Valley

2000 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
James J. Aimers ◽  
Terry G. Powis ◽  
Jaime J. Awe
Keyword(s):  
River Valley ◽  
Architectural Form ◽  
Maya Architecture ◽  
Belize River Valley ◽  
Preclassic Maya ◽  
Preclassic Period ◽  
The World ◽  
Middle Preclassic ◽  
Maya Site

Round structures are considered a rarity in Maya architecture. Four late Middle Preclassic period (650-300 B.C.) round structures excavated at the Maya site of Cahal Pech demonstrate that this was a common architectural form for the Preclassic Maya of the upper Belize River Valley. These open platforms are described, and compared to similar forms in the Belize Valley and elsewhere. An interpretation of their significance is offered that uses information from artifacts, burials, and ethnohistory as well as analogy with round structures in other parts of the world. We suggest that these small round platforms were used for performance related to their role as burial or ancestor shrines.

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