Early Construction of a Maya Sacred Landscape: The Sector Y “E-Group” of Nixtun-Ch’ich’ (Petén, Guatemala)

Abstract

ABSTRACT The southern lowland Maya city of Nixtun-Ch’ich’ exhibits an atypical gridded layout imposed in the Middle Preclassic period (800–400 b.c.). Sector Y, in the monumental core, consists of a two-part sub-structural platform with an “E-Group” quasi-astronomical architectural complex (Platform Y1) and a deep natural depression or fosa, Fosa Y (Platform Y2). Earliest construction began with bedrock leveling, probably around 1100–1000 b.c., followed by late Terminal Early Preclassic and transitional Terminal Early to early Middle Preclassic building, subsequent massive Middle Preclassic rebuilding, and Late Preclassic enlargement. Excavations in Sector Y provide evidence of the early phases of construction of a sacred landscape proposed to have been based on a mythical creation-crocodile’s back. More broadly, this work contributes to studies of early societal complexity and urbanization in the Maya lowlands, in Mesoamerica, and beyond.