LSU Maya Archaeology News 3
2001
“Field Guide to Archaeology on the Southern
Belize Coast”
By
Heather McKillop
The ancient Maya lived on the coast and offshore islands in
southern Belize, not just at the big sites in the interior, such as Lubaantun and
Nim li punit. The Maya archaeologist Dr. Heather McKillop has done archaeology
between Punta Gorda and Punta Negra since 1981, with permits from the Belize
government Departments of Archaeology and Forestry, and permission of
landowners. Many Belizeans and
foreigners have helped in the search for ancient sites and in their
excavation. She continues to study
excavated artifacts seasonally in Punta Gorda and to carry out additional
fieldwork, including documentation of the damage from Hurricane Iris and
efforts to preserve the fragile ancient sites that were just beginning to
provide ecotourism income for local tour guides and communities along the
coast.
Hurricane Iris swept across southern Belize the evening of
October 8, 2001 with winds of 140 mph and devastated the area. The coastal towns of Monkey River and Punta
Negra were virtually destroyed, fortunately with no loss of human life. Farther south in the Port Honduras Marine
Reserve and Paynes Creek National Park, the landscape was denuded, with fallen
trees littering the land. Relief and rebuilding efforts on the coast are being
carried out by TIDE (Toledo Institute for Develop-ment and the Environment) (www.belizeecotours.org)
in Punta Gorda. Many inland communities, both Maya and Creole, were wiped out,
with an estimated 8,000 people homeless in the Toledo District. TIDE, DEMO
(District Emergency Management Organization), the Toledo Maya Cultural Council
in Punta Gorda (phone: 07-22774), and the Belize Red Cross are working on
relief and rebuilding inland and on the coast (see www.belize.gov
for
contact information).
Interested in coastal Maya archaeology? Remember that it is
illegal to search for sites or to excavate them without a permit from the
Belize government Department of Archaeology, in Belmopan (phone 08-22106) and
that anyone doing archaeology should be able to show you such a permit! All
recovered artifacts are property of the government of Belize, in trust for
Belizeans. In addition, whether doing
archaeology or visiting sites, you must also obtain permission to go on private
or public land, and in the case of Paynes Creek National Park and Port Honduras
Marine Reserve, which together make up most of the coastal lands between Punta
Gorda and Monkey River, contact the managers of these protected areas, TIDE
(Toledo Institute for Development and the Environment) in Punta Gorda (www.belizeecotours.org).
This newsletter provides basic information for tour guides
and the public, in the interests of promoting and conserving the valuable
cultural heritage of the south coast of Belize. Check this web page for
periodic newsletter updates (http://www.ga.lsu.edu/mckillop.html).
Port Honduras Marine Reserve
The ancient Maya lived on the coast and offshore islands in
the Port Honduras and not just on the mainland at such big sites as Lubaantun
and Nim li punit. A dramatic rise in sea level about 1100 years ago submerged
many island communities and settlements along the Port Honduras shoreline. We
discovered and documented that the seas had risen by the discovery and
excavation of sites below the modern sea level. You can explain this either by an actual rise in the seas and/or
by sinking of the land. Of course, the alternative is that the ancient Maya
were even more marvelous than we thought and they lived underwater…
The rising seas submerged and preserved actual food remains
at several sites in the Port Honduras. This gives us a rare glimpse of the
coastal Maya diet! They ate available food—fish, turtle, and periodically even
manatee. We’ve found all these animal bones in our excavations in the Port
Honduras. The ancient Maya of the Port Honduras also grew trees with edible
fruits and nuts on the cays, which would provide considerable food in the
limited land available. We found many seeds and shells from edible plants in
our excavations! Much like the modern coconut palms (introduced by the
Europeans and not indigenous to Belize!), we found several kinds of native
palms that have edible fruits, such as cohune, coyol, and poknoboy. Craboo,
that tasty little yellow fruit so common in the Punta Gorda market in July, and
mammee apple, available in June and July in the market, were also found in our
excavations!
Wild Cane Cay
Dr. Heather McKillop has carried out excavations at Wild
Cane Cay since 1982. The island was mapped, showing its six artificial coral
mounds, and excavations were carried out on the land, in five of the mounds
(the last is the historic Cabral Family Cemetery), and offshore. Including a
large offshore area, the site was once a 10 acre village and trading port. It
served sea traders transporting obsidian, pottery vessels from the Yucatan
(“Tulum Red”) and from the Pacific coast of Guatemala (“Tohil Plumbate”), and
other materials that have not preserved over the last millennium.
During the Late Classic period, 1400 to 1100 years ago, Wild
Cane Cay was a trading port for coastal-inland trade. Salt, stingray spines
(for ritual bloodletting!), fish, and seashells were transported inland. We
found pieces of figurine whistles (similar to those found at Lubaantun) at Wild
Cane Cay and other sites in the Port Honduras region, as well as pottery sherds
(pieces of pottery) with distinctive impressed decoration (called
“unit-stamping”).
Excavations in five of the six
coral mounds on the island between 1982 and 1992 revealed the mounds contained
buildings constructed of coral rock foundations, earthen floors, and walls and
roofs of perishable pole and thatch—not unlike the typical modern Ketchi or Mopan Maya house in the Toledo District of southern Belize.
This distinctive building style, using
coral rock, is quite different from the
sandstone and limestone used at ancient
Maya cities on the mainland and needs
to be preserved. McKillop hopes to continue the excavation of the mounds
and to ultimately have some of the construction visible for visitors.
Frenchman’s Cay
Frenchman’s Cay is a large,
privately owned mangrove island on the outer range of the Port Honduras cays.
Excavations at Frenchman’s Cay in 1994 and 1997 revealed that it was a trading
port with the same coral architecture as previously excavated at nearby Wild
Cane Cay. Why were there two trading
ports? Although the study of recovered artifacts is still underway seasonally
at the project LSU Maya Archaeology Lab in Punta Gorda, preliminary indications
are that Frenchman’s Cay was used as a trading port earlier than Wild Cane Cay.
The main occupation of Frenchman’s Cay was in the Late Classic, from about 1400
to 1100 years ago. Wild Cane Cay also was occupied at that time, but grew
larger and expanded its trade afterwards.
Paynes Creek National Park
Punta Ycacos Lagoon, a large shallow lagoon in Paynes Creek
National Park, is not only a fabulous place for fly-fishing, but it was an
ancient factory for salt production! We discovered and excavated several salt
workshops where brine was boiled in pots over fires to produce salt cakes. You
know that salt is a biological necessity for daily human existence. Lack of
salt intake leads to tiredness, achy joints, dehydration, and eventually death.
The Classic Maya at inland cities needed salt, in quantity. At least for the
nearby inland cities of Lubaantun, Nim li punit, and Uxbenka, their supplies of
salt were the salt works in Paynes Creek National Park! Don’t disturb these
fragile salt sites if you encounter them while fishing or exploring. Not only
are they protected by the Belize Antiquities legislation, they provide a
valuable cultural record for Belize.
Upcoming Events
LSU Maya Archaeology Night, consisting of slide
presentations on exciting new research in the Port Honduras, is generally in
early November at Louisiana State University. Public slide talks about Port
Honduras archaeology are also given seasonally in Punta Gorda through local
groups or organizations, or schools.
LSU Maya Archaeology News is an occasional publication in electronic and print form
produced by Heather McKillop, Dept. of Geography & Anthropology, Louisiana
State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803-4105.
The objective is to inform the interested public in Belize, Louisiana,
and elsewhere about LSU Maya Archaeology.
To make a tax-deductible donation
to support LSU Maya Archaeological Research, please send a check payable to
“LSU Maya Archaeology Support Fund” and mail it to the LSU Foundation,
Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803-4105. Private donations
provide a significant source of financial support for the project.