Brett A. Houk

THE GROWTH AND DECLINE OF THE ANCIENT MAYA CITY OF LA MILPA, BELIZE: NEW DATA AND NEW PERSPECTIVES FROM THE SOUTHERN PLAZAS

Abstract Construction histories of ancient Maya monumental centers have long been used to interpret the growth and decline of Lowland Maya polities. Changes in the built environment at monumental centers reflect labor appropriation by ruling elites and may indirectly serve to gauge changes in political clout over time. Consequently, the precision and accuracy with which archaeologists measure these changes take on increased importance when assessing the ancient Maya political landscape. Recent excavations in the monumental core of La Milpa, Belize, have generated new data that call for a re-assessment of the centers historical trajectory. Our data indicate that La Milpa had a larger Late Preclassic foundation, likely grew much more incrementally through the Classic period, and persisted centuries longer than previously understood. The apparent persistence of occupation into the tenth century a.d. challenges the traditionally accepted dates for La Milpas abandonment, and, the ceramic sequence upon which it is often based.

Evidence for Ritual Engineering in the Late/Terminal Classic Site Plan of La Milpa, Belize

Proponents of site-planning studies argue that the Ancient Maya expressed both political and cosmological symbolism in architecture and site plans, while detractors fault site-planning advocates for not being scientifically rigorous in their meth ods. Recently, the debate between the two sides has focused on whether or not the Maya created cosmograms in the layouts of their sites. Our recent investigations at La Milpa, Belize attempt to redirect site-planning studies back to a more encom passing approach that searches for meaning at various scales. In doing so, we propose that planning and engineering be considered together and that engineering can include ritual or symbolic components. This paper focuses on two contem poraneous caches, each of which contains incised jar lids decorated with a mat design. We argue the caches are ritually engineered deposits that integrate otherwise discrete architectural components into a coherent Late/Terminal Classic royal precinct plan. Furthermore, the mat design on the jar lids suggests royal sponsorship of the engineering and construction of the plaza. While much of the symbolism in the caches is unclear, we are able to recognize that political and/or cosmo logical symbolic communication has occurred as part of a ritually engineered component of Plaza B at La Milpa.

Kaxil Uinic: Archaeology at a San Pedro Maya Village in Belize

The binary model of acculturation and resistance conventionally used to describe indigenous experiences in colonial contexts dichotomizes historical periods into phases of cultural extinction or change versus cultural continuity or persistence that hardly explain the multifaceted nature of native responses to European colonization as they were experienced or enacted in the past. Such is the case of British–Maya relations in British Honduras during the late colonial period (ca. 1800–1900), a time period typically divided into four basic phases of indigenous resistance, avoidance, military conflict, and finally incorporation into the colonial superstructure of British Honduras. Conversely, data from Kaxil Uinic, a San Pedro Maya village in northwestern Belize, suggest that identities are fluid and constantly negotiated. Identity, therefore, is both strategic and positional, and, as evidence from Kaxil Uinic demonstrates, this deliberation is manifested in the archaeological record. This group chose to participate selectively in the colonial economy as it suited their needs, strategically interacting with logging firms, chicleros, and the colonial administration in British Honduras to gain access to imported goods and cash necessary to maintain their social, political, and economic autonomy. Our analysis of data from Kaxil Uinic shows that, as time went on, San Pedro Maya participation in the British colonial economy of Belize did increase, and certain imported goods largely replaced locally produced objects to perform similar functions in food preparation activities more efficiently. Prohibited from owning land, the San Pedro Maya needed to participate in the cash economy of the colony to pay rent for the land they inhabited. With less time to produce goods locally, they chose to participate selectively in the colonial economy of British Honduras as it suited their needs. The material record at Kaxil Uinic ultimately reflects an archaeological paradox, then, as most of the items purchased from colonial merchants were used in the perpetuation of local practices. The residents of Kaxil Uinic actively negotiated alliances with various groups in the face of restrictive colonial political and economic policies to better navigate the colonial landscape of British Honduras.