Christophe Helmke

Survey, Settlement, and Population History at the Ancient Maya Site of Pacbitun, Belize

Abstract Survey and excavations of mounds on the outskirts of the site of Pacbitun in western Belize provide insights into the ancient Maya settlement pattern at this medium-sized regional center. This research employed two methods: analysis of structural remains from four separate 1000 m transect surveys,and a subsequent complete (100%) survey of intervening and adjacent quadrant areas. The overlap of quadrant zones with portions of the transect units permits an examination of the accuracy of transect surveys. Excavation of a 22% sample of all identified mounds provides chronological and functional information. An estimate of 200 persons for the resident elite population of the Epicenter of Pacbit un is offered. Initial settlement occurred in the Epicenter of the site during the Middle Preclassic period (900–300 B.C.), with a population rise through time until the final phase of the Late Classic period (A.D. 700–900), when density reached 550 persons (periphery Zone) to 950 persons (Core Zone) per sq km. The impact on settlement size and distribution of topography, soils,water resources,and intensive agriculture (hillside terracing) is assessed and found to be significant. At the time of florescence,the population of the 9 sq km site is estimated to have been about 5000–6000 persons. This population estimate is compared with several coeval lowland Maya centers,and found to be reasonable for a medium-sized, Late Classic Maya center.

Evidence for Maya Household Subsistence and Domestic Activities: Use-Wear Analysis of the Chipped Chert Assemblage from Pook's Hill, Belize

Abstract From 1999–2005, the Belize Valley Archaeological Reconnaissance Project excavated Pook’s Hill (PKH-1), a single plazuela group located in the Roaring Creek Valley, Cayo District, Belize. Artifacts recovered at Pook’s Hill date predominantly to the Late and Terminal Classic (A.D. 700–950) and can be stratigraphically segregated into two distinct occupation phases, namely a Late Classic (A.D. 700–830) and a Terminal Classic-Early Postclassic (A.D. 830–9507+) phase. The chipped chert and chalcedony tools from the two phases were included in a combined program of low- and high-power use-wear analysis to reconstruct aspects of the socioeconomy. The results of the analyses reveal that the site’s inhabitants produced and used both formal and informal tools for a wide variety of subsistence and domestic tasks, and for the production of some utilitarian items. Stone tool use-wear evidence and the recovery of small quantities of other artifacts suggest that the Maya from Pook’s Hill produced more valuable objects of bone, stone, and shell, although it is difficult to accurately identify craft-production activities at the site from the context of recovery. Despite some variation in the specific activities undertaken with the chipped stone tools over time, the organization of lithic technology at Pook’s Hill did not change significantly from the Late Classic into the Early Postclassic period.

Contextualizing the glyphic texts of Tipan Chen Uitz, Cayo District, Belize

The 2011 investigations of the Caves Branch Archaeological Survey at the large and recently documented Maya site of Tipan Chen Uitz resulted in the discovery of the sites first monument with a glyphic inscription. Prior to this discovery, the sites glyphic corpus was limited to a small collection of texts rendered on fragmentary ceramics. In this paper, we describe these sherds as well as the monument (Monument 1), report on their archaeological contexts, provide an epigraphic analysis of the texts, and consider these written sources relative to our growing understanding of Tipan and its place in the ancient political landscape. The discovery of Monument 1 is important, for it stands to contribute to sociopolitical reconstructions in this part of the central Maya Lowlands and has significant implications for the possible presence of other, as yet undiscovered, Late Classic period (A.D. 550-830) monuments at Tipan.

POLYDACTYLY AND THE MAYA: A REVIEW AND A CASE FROM THE SITE OF PELIGROSO, UPPER MACAL RIVER VALLEY, BELIZE

Abstract A single right fifth metatarsal found in Tomb 1 at Peligroso, Belize exhibited a small deformity in the form of a small (7 mm) accessory digit emanating from the plantar surface at mid-shaft. This Type A postaxial polydactyly is the first archaeological example of polydactyly reported for Mesoamerica. Polydactyly is one of the more commonly reported morphological anomalies and thus its appearance in Maya populations would have been prevalent enough to demand explanation. A review of related terminology in pertinent Amerindian languages is presented as a means of exploring the manners in which digits and the human body are conceptualized. Maya iconographic representations of polydactyly at Palenque have parallels to other Mesoamerican renderings of supernumerary digits used to identify divinities and deified ancestors. However, the Peligroso mortuary context comprised disarticulated and commingled bones, suggesting that the individual did not have a distinctive social role related to the presence of an extra digit.

A Case Study of Funerary Cave Use from Je’reftheel, Central Belize

Bioarchaeological analysis of mortuary deposits from Je’reftheel, a small cave located in the Roaring Creek Works of central Belize, focused on characterizing the nature of mortuary activities conducted in the cave to determine whether the site was used for funerary or sacrificial purposes. In contrasting caves and cenotes, ethnographic, ethnohistoric, and epigraphic accounts of cave use by the Maya fairly consistently mention mortuary events that occur in caves, as funerary. The combined osteological and isotopic analyses from Je’reftheel are also consistent with models of funerary behavior among the Maya. The skeletal deposits comprise both primary, articulated bodies, and secondary deposits. Other data suggest that most of the individuals were of local origin and may have been closely related. Together, these results provide a strong analogy to funerary behavior documented in tombs throughout the Maya region and beyond.

Design and Function of Lowe and Sawmill Points from the Preceramic Period of Belize

To date, 81 stemmed and barbed preceramic (Archaic) points (8000–900 B.C.) have been identified in Belize. Fifty-four are Lowe points; 21 are Sawmill points. Four more are provisionally classified as Allspice and two as Ya’axche’ points. These stemmed bifaces are frequently beveled on alternate-opposite edges and demonstrate variable degrees of resharpening and reworking, which affects blade shape and tool size. Numerous functions have been attributed to these artifacts; specifically, they have been called spear points, dart points, harpoons, and knives. Metric data from these bifaces, limited macrowear and microwear analyses, and design features, such as barbs and alternate-opposite edge beveling, have been used to interpret likely tool functions. Results suggest that Lowe points were affixed to throwing/thrusting spears and also served as knives, whereas the Sawmill points were used as spear-thrower dart points and as knives. New dating information suggests that alternate-opposite edge beveling and consequently beveled bifaces may be much older than 2500–1900 B.C., which is the date currently assigned to these specimens.

Maya mortuary landscapes, Central Belize

The Central Belize Archaeological Survey (CBAS) was initiated in 2005 as a sub-project of the Belize Valley Archaeological Reconnaissance project (BVAR; directed by Jaime Awe) to investigate the prehistoric Maya cemetery site of Caves Branch Rockshelter. Subsequently, we began to survey other nearby cave and rockshelter sites (Hardy 2009) and to excavate the monumental civic-ceremonial centre of Deep Valley (Jordan 2008). CBAS became an independent project in 2009, with an increasing focus on sites in the neighbouring Roaring Creek Valley (Figure 1). This slight geographic shift was in part intended to expand bioarchaeological investigations to include dark zone cave contexts identified during the late 1990s by BVARs Western Belize Regional Cave Project. In the area around these caves, we identified two large, previously unreported civic-ceremonial centres and a network of raised roads (sacbeob) connecting them and other sites. Our survey and excavations at Tipan Chen Uitz (Figure 2) have yielded evidence that it was a regional capital with ties to powerful foreign polities, as attested by the discovery of multiple carved stone monuments (Figure 3; see Andres et al. 2014; Helmke & Andres 2015; Andres et al. in press in Antiquity). We have also continued our investigations of mortuary rockshelters, including Sapodilla Rockshelter in the Caves Branch Valley.

REINTERPRETING THE PLAZA DE LOS GLIFOS, LA VENTILLA, TEOTIHUACAN

Abstract We present a reinterpretation of the unique group of painted glyphs of the Plaza de los Glifos, in the La Ventilla residential area (ca. a.d. 300–450) situated in the ancient central Mexican metropolis of Teotihuacan. Based on a careful review of previous interpretations of the glyphic La Ventilla floor, the writing system, and the possible language(s) of Teotihuacan, we suggest that the majority of the 42 glyphs are not references to toponyms or titles, but are related to disease-causing entities and curing rituals. Crucial to this proposal is the identification of two glyphic representations of a ‘deer-snake,’ a supernatural creature closely tied to diseases and ailments known throughout most of Mesoamerica and beyond, before and after the conquest. We further argue that contemporary and colonial concepts and practices concerning illness and curing offer ways of understanding several other glyphs from La Ventilla and may serve to account for the unusual placement of the signs.

Down the T’uhl Hole: Technological, Metric, and Functional analyses of Chipped Stone From an Ancient Maya Chultun

ABSTRACT Technological, metric, and microscopic use-wear analyses of the chipped chert and obsidian artifacts from the Chaa Creek chultun present a complex use-history in this underground space. Most, if not all, of the lithics are secondary refuse deposited at this location from other areas of initial production and use. The lithic sub-assemblages within the chultun represent at least two discrete deposition events of expediently produced flakes of local chert used for various domestic/household tasks. The lithics from the construction core of the platform on the surface appear to be secondary refuse that is the product of different formation processes. The number of large whole chert flakes with use wear resulting from contact with wood and stone from the platform construction core suggests an origin from a location or locations in which crafting occurred. By focusing on the stone tools from discrete stratigraphic deposits, it is possible to provide more detailed reconstructions of the various episodes of chultun use.

Ritual responses to drought: An examination of ritual expressions in Classic Maya written sources

Planting and rain-beckoning rituals are an extremely common way in which past and present human communities have confronted the risk of drought across a range of environments worldwide. In tropical environments, such ceremonies are particularly salient despite widespread assumptions that water supplies are unproblematic in such regions. We demonstrate for the first time that two common but previously under-appreciated Maya rituals are likely planting and rain-beckoning rituals preferentially performed at certain times of the year in close step with the rainy season and the Maya agricultural cycle. We also argue for considerable historical continuity between these Classic Maya ceremonies and later Maya community rituals still performed in times of uncertain weather conditions up to the present day across Guatemala, Belize, and eastern Mexico. During the Terminal Classic period (AD 800-900), the changing role played by ancient Maya drought-related rituals fits into a wider rhetorical shift observed in Maya texts away from the more characteristic focus on royal births, enthronements, marriages, and wars towards greater emphasis on the correct perpetuation of key ceremonies, and we argue that such changes are consistent with palaeoclimatic evidence for a period of diminished precipitation and recurrent drought.