Gabriel D. Wrobel

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.

Brief Communication: A likely case of scurvy in a rural Early Classic Maya burial from Actun Uayazba Kab, Belize

A Maya burial of a late adolescent (Burial 98-3) found in the rockshelter entrance of Actun Uayazba Kab (AUK), Belize, displays a combination of lesions that is consistent with scurvy. Signs include large, active lesions on the posterior surfaces of maxilla; relatively mild porotic hyperostosis along the midline of the skull on the parietals and occipital; cribra orbitalia; potential pinprick lesions on the greater wings of sphenoid and temporal; reactive lesions on the palate, temporal lines of frontal and parietals, and external and internal surfaces of zygomatics; small lesions on the popliteal surfaces of both femora; and periodontal disease. Identification of scurvy at AUK potentially informs the analysis of other primary burials and scattered bone found there and at other nearby sites, which often reveal evidence of nonspecific lesions that are usually attributed to anemia and infection, but that are also consistent with scurvy. The social and ecological context of this Protoclassic (0-AD 300) individual, who lived in a rural agricultural community with no evidence of complex social hierarchy, contrasts with typical discussions of disease among the Maya, which tend to focus on the degrading effects of overcrowding and resource deficiencies. While scurvy has been largely overlooked in the Maya area, this study supports earlier arguments for its presence that were based largely on clinical and ethnographic analogies and suggests the need to incorporate scurvy into broader synergistic models of ancient health.

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.

THE VIEW OF MAYA CAVE RITUAL FROM THE OVERLOOK ROCKSHELTER, CAVES BRANCH RIVER VALLEY, CENTRAL BELIZE

Archaeological investigations of the Overlook Rockshelter in the Caves Branch River Valley of central Belize offer a unique view of ancient Maya cave ritual through the complete recovery and analysis of all artifacts within the sites two small activity areas. In general, the assemblage contains many of the same types of objects documented from other nearby caves and rockshelters. However, the nearly 1700 ceramics sherds showed almost no refits, demonstrating that sherds were deposited at the site individually, rather than as complete vessels. The human bone assemblage represents three or four individuals, with the majority of the bones comprising a single individual, and all of these were deposited as incomplete secondary interments. Analogies for this depositional behavior based on archaeological and ethnographic studies suggest that this rockshelter may represent a waypoint within a ritual circuit composed of multiple locations over which fragments of complete items such as ceramic vessels and secondary burials were spread.

Ancient maya stone tools and ritual use of deep valley rockshelter, Belize

This paper discusses the technological and microscopic use-wear analyses of the chert debitage excavated from Deep Valley Rockshelter. This rockshelter, located in the Caves Branch River Valley of central Belize, was primarily used by the ancient Maya from the Late Preclassic to Terminal Classic periods (AD 80–950) and may demonstrate a pattern of rockshelter usage by the Classic period Maya. To test whether such a pattern exists, lithic data from Caves Branch Rockshelter and other rockshelters in Belize, specifically those in the Sibun Valley and the Ek Xux Valley, are compared. Interpretations are complicated, however, by the severe mixing of deposits, which makes segregating the lithic artifacts into different reduction or use events nearly impossible. Moreover, this mixing severely hampers reconstructions of diachronic change in stone-tool use in the rockshelter. While acknowledging these limitations, our analysis suggests that the lithics in the rockshelter are primarily the result of reduction and use-related activities that originally occurred at other nearby surface sites rather than in the rockshelter itself. Consequently, the chipped-stone artifacts recovered from this rockshelter most likely result from secondary deposition of debitage for ritual purposes and represent accumulation over many years. We suspect this type of secondary deposition of debitage was also occurring at other rockshelters in Belize, based on comparisons to the chipped stone assemblages from these locations. We cannot discount the possibility that some stone tool production and use may have originally occurred in Deep Valley Rockshelter, but support for this is minimal.

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.

The Buk Phase Burials of Belize: Testing Genetic Relatedness Among Early Postclassic Groups in Northern Belize Using Dental Morphology

Archaeological comparisons of Classic and Postclassic contexts from the Central Precinct at Lamanai, northern Belize, reveal that the community managed to maintain economic and social stability at the same time that the material culture underwent significant change. A key element during this transition was economic reorganization, which benefited from access to trade facilitated by a riverine location and a cosmopolitan culture established in the Classic period. The aim of this paper is to use dental morphology to test whether the Early Postclassic cultural changes reflected in the appearance of Zakpah ceramics and distinctive mortuary treatments among elites signal an influx of nonlocal people.

Two Classic Maya ballplayer panels from Tipan Chen Uitz, Belize

Abstract Recent archaeological investigations at Tipan Chen Uitz, Belize, yielded two remarkable Classic Maya ballplayer panels. Iconographic and glyphic analysis of these panels within a regional context provides new insights into large-scale socio-political relationships, demonstrating that the ballgame was an important means and mechanism for macro-political affiliation in the Maya Lowlands. The panels suggest that Tipan was part of a wider system of vassalage that tied it to other Maya centres, including Naranjo, a regional capital under the dominion of Calakmul where the Snake-Head dynasty held sway. The data presented here underpin a more general discussion of archaeological approaches to ancient interaction spheres.

A likely case of scurvy in a rural Early Classic Maya burial from Actun Uayazba Kab, Belize.

A Maya burial of a late adolescent (Burial 98-3) found in the rockshelter entrance of Actun Uayazba Kab (AUK), Belize, displays a combination of lesions that is consistent with scurvy. Signs include large, active lesions on the posterior surfaces of maxilla; relatively mild porotic hyperostosis along the midline of the skull on the parietals and occipital; cribra orbitalia; potential pinprick lesions on the greater wings of sphenoid and temporal; reactive lesions on the palate, temporal lines of frontal and parietals, and external and internal surfaces of zygomatics; small lesions on the popliteal surfaces of both femora; and periodontal disease. Identification of scurvy at AUK potentially informs the analysis of other primary burials and scattered bone found there and at other nearby sites, which often reveal evidence of nonspecific lesions that are usually attributed to anemia and infection, but that are also consistent with scurvy. The social and ecological context of this Protoclassic (0-AD 300) individual, who lived in a rural agricultural community with no evidence of complex social hierarchy, contrasts with typical discussions of disease among the Maya, which tend to focus on the degrading effects of overcrowding and resource deficiencies. While scurvy has been largely overlooked in the Maya area, this study supports earlier arguments for its presence that were based largely on clinical and ethnographic analogies and suggests the need to incorporate scurvy into broader synergistic models of ancient health.