By Heather McKillop

The sea shimmers with early morning light, reflecting off the project dories anchored at Frenchman’s Cay. I’ve brought one of our new plastic chairs into my tent to watch the sun rise and catch up on notes on the computer. My tent has become a storage unit for field notes, cameras, the computer and printer, GPS (global positioning unit), transit, tripod, 2 meter radio, battery chargers of various kinds (we have a solar panel charging car batteries), as well as duffel sacs for transporting gear. The other staff members—Rachel Watson, Shannon Ascher, Mai Dinh, Aline Magnoni, and Mirtha Martin—have more field and lab equipment in their tents. We need a lot of gear to live on this remote, deserted island for six months, in order to eat well, sleep, and carry out major excavations in the coral architecture at the site.

The South Coastal Archaeology in Belize or “SCAB” project has expanded since my dissertation fieldwork at the trading port of Wild Cane Cay in 1982. Investigations at that island site indicated that the community was occupied from the Late Classic (A.D. 300-900) through much of the Postclassic (A.D. 900-1500) and that the islanders participated in long distance sea trade along the Yucatan coast. Trade goods from distant areas were recovered at the site, including obsidian from north of Mexico City and from the highlands of Guatemala and Honduras. Exotic pottery included Tohil Plumbate from the Pacific coast of Guatemala, as well as Tulum Red. It was not just the presence of these and other exotic trade goods, but their abundance at a relatively minor community, as well as the relative lack of conservation in making tools from exotic materials (notably obsidian), that argue for the role of Wild Cane Cay as a trading port.

Between 1988 and 1994 fieldwork expanded to the “Port Honduras,” where several rivers and a lagoon feed into a coastal bight. Regional survey revealed ancient and historic settlement on the mainland and offshore islands, despite the virtual absence of modern settlement in the area. The modern diminution of settlement may be attributed, at least in part, to a rise in sea level that has submerged sites and transformed the landscape. The sea level rise was identified by our project in the course of survey. Fieldwork is challenging when sites are underwater or submerged below the water table on the offshore islands. However, we have discovered that the Wild Cane Cay Maya were not an isolated trading port in an unsettled area, but rather that they participated in a vibrant local and regional trade involving the coast and nearby inland cities.

The 1997 field season, from January through June, focused exclusively on the role of Frenchman’s Cay in the trading network. We established a research station on the island and settled in to conduct major excavations in the island’s coral architecture. Our research station established our project as the largest modern population in the Port Honduras. (Virtually no one else lives in the area). With a post office box and a 2 meter radio frequency, we have communication with the modern town of Punta Gorda (eight miles away by sea) and the outside world.

When we arrived on Frenchman’s Cay in January, it was barely possible for me to imagine we could create a field station. We stepped out of the Adel 2 (a 32 foot mahogany dory with a 20 HP engine) and the Seirita (a 24 foot Santa Maria dory) into a mangrove swamp. Machetes in hand, we cleared spaces for our tents, including those for our Earthwatch volunteers. Over the course of several weeks, we cleared bush from the camp and the site and transformed the island—with help from the arrival of the dry season—into a pleasant research station. The staff members erected a US military tent that serves as a kitchen and lab.

The objectives of the 1997 field season are to investigate the coral architecture on Frenchman’s Cay. Along with Wild Cane Cay and Green Vine Snake, these are the only known Maya sites in the area where coral was used as a building stone. My previous excavations with Earthwatch volunteers between 1988 and 1992 at Wild Cane Cay revealed that the coral mounds at that site contained the remains of as many as six buildings. The coral foundations of each building, as well as the dirt floors, remained. The pole and thatch structures had decayed, but left thatch-impressed clay in our excavations.

During the 1997 field season, we expanded trenches in each of the Frenchman’s Cay mounds we had initially excavated in 1994. The goals for excavations in the three mounds differ. Rachel Watson is supervising a 16 meter trench across Spondylus Mound for her M.A. thesis at LSU. She is comparing the construction with that at nearby Wild Cane Cay. The trench has revealed two construction episodes. They are searching for the base of the coral construction, which was discovered in our 1994 test trench on the eastern side of the mound.

Aline Magnoni is supervising trench excavations in Crown Conch mound for her M.A. thesis at LSU, with assistance from Lyra Spang. The focus of the research is to examine the relationship between sea level and mound construction, since the mound continues into the sea. The trench cuts across the mound from the main plaza to the sea. The base of the coral construction is 80 cm below the water table, indicating a change in sea level since the initial construction. The construction was a coral platform made of staghorn coral, brain coral, and star coral. Finger coral was placed on top of the coral rock to serve as a sub floor for a dirt floor. Coral rocks placed above the floor are the remains of a subsequent building. Below the construction there is a layer of sandy clay, with mangrove mud below.

Excavations in the largest mound, Great White Lucine, were carried out in order to reveal coral construction but also to estimate the size and shape of the buildings. These goals called for trenching to search for walls, as well as horizontal excavations to view the individual buildings. Shannon Ascher, Mai Dinh, and I are supervising the excavations in this mound, with assistance from Nathaniel Spang.

We re-opened a 1 by 3 meter trench where we had uncovered sandstone slabs on our last day of the 1994 field season. For the last 2 ½ years we had patiently waited to discover if the slabs marked a burial or a wall. We expanded the trench 16 meters across the mound and three meters in width to fully expose the slabs and to find the exterior walls.

With the help of Earthwatch volunteers in February and March, we exposed and drew the uppermost layer of coral rocks. These rocks would have been the foundation for a platform with a floor that has not survived the centuries. Since April, with Maya workers from San Pedro Colombia and LSU field school students, we removed the coral rocks and exposed an underlying floor from a previous building. This dirt floor rested on a sub floor of finger coral, which was supported by a coral rock foundation. The coral rock foundation continued one meter below the water table. Below the mound construction we found a midden rich in plant and animal remains, which predates the coral architecture. Mangrove mud similar to that encountered below Crown Conch mound was discovered below the midden in Great White Lucine.

Perhaps the most exciting discovery in 1997 (and certainly most interesting for visitors to the excavations) was a limestone façade on three sides of Great White Lucine. The façade was first recognized during surface clearing on the western periphery in May in an area with a scatter of sandstone and limestone slabs. Three courses of limestone slabs were exposed along a six-meter section of the façade facing the main plaza. The slabs were placed to form the smooth façade of the coral building platform. The platform consisted of vast quantities of coral rock. Between the slab veneer and the coral rock masonry platform we discovered loose finger coral. In fact, the slabs were set into the bed of finger coral that served as a backing masonry for the coral rock building.

The façade was exposed at each end of the main trench across Great White Lucine. We were able to follow the façade along 3 sides of the coral platform, but on the seaward side there was no evidence of the façade, so perhaps it has eroded into the sea. The façade was submerged below the water table on the mangrove swamp side of the mound. Each slab was located underwater by Junior Staff member Nathaniel Spang and mapped using a stadia rod, metal tape, and transit. The slabs we had originally found in our 1994 trench were part of another wall.

When we set off in the Adel 2 and the Seirita, we will be sad to leave the island that has become our home and where we have made new friends, while uncovering the ancient Maya’s coral buildings.

Acknowledgments

Fieldwork in 1997 was made possible by permit 97/1/282 from the Department of Archaeology, Ministry of Tourism and the Environment, through Archaeological Commissioner John Morris and the Honorable Henry Young. Funding was provided by Earthwatch and its corps of volunteers, by Louisiana State University, and by private donations. The fieldwork was accomplished by the project staff—Rachel Watson (camp director), Shannon Ascher, Aline Magnoni, Mai Dinh, Mirtha Martin, Lyra Spang, and Nathaniel Spang—under my field direction. Earthwatch volunteers—Pam Pulver, Todd Orland, Wayne Chatfield, Marge Stanbury, Bob Furlong, Lois Whippen, Mike Riordan, Ted Krezosowski, Russell Roberts, Matthew Crompton, and Ken Benson were enthusiastic and capable members of the project. LSU field school students include Sally Gaubert, Joel Escamilla, Renny Bergeron, Cliff Luhn, Mark Carpenter, Jessica Jasper, and Jay Cleymaet. Our capable Maya workers included Manuel Coc and Andres Ash. Our cook, Barbara Frasier, enhanced our diet. Our borrowed dog, “Black Dog,” from Punta Gorda replaced the project dog, “Tiger,” who had retired. Others who provided valuable field assistance include Marshall Fisher, Tony Rath, Ellen Devine, and Robin Walters.

I appreciate the assistance of many people in Belize, especially in Punta Gorda and the surrounding Toledo District, notably John Spang, Tanya Russ, Amber Carpenter, Robert Hangii, Paul Carpenter, Harry Gomez, Carl Gomez, Osmond Chan, Winnel Branche, Alistair King, Max Stout, Miss Sylvia, Felix, Dr. Marenco, Brian Holland, Irene and Peter Mahung, Jack Nightingale, Wallace and Felice Young, Bobbie Polonio, Thomas Matthew, Julio and Leonore Requena, Lucille Johnson, Chet Schmidt, William Tate, Anthony, Linden, and many others. The people of Punta Gorda and the Port Honduras make the archaeological work both possible and enjoyable. I hope that we can work with the government and local people to develop a Maya coastal site for tourism for the cultural and economic benefit of the people.

Up-Coming 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.

Fieldwork Opportunities

The LSU Archaeological Field School is occasionally offered in Belize during the summer, at one or more sites in the Port Honduras.

Recent M.A. Theses on the Project

Steiner, Ted

1994 Prehistoric Maya Settlement Along Joe Taylor Creek, Belize. M.A. Thesis, Dept. of Geography and Anthropology, Louisiana State University.

Brandehoff-Pracht, Jodi

1995 Test Excavation at Pork and Doughboy Point, Belize. M.A. Thesis, Dept. of Geography and Anthropology, Louisiana State University.

Braud, Melissa

1996 Evidence for Salt Production at the Inundated David Westby Site, South Coastal Belize. M.A. Thesis, Dept. of Geography and Anthropology, Louisiana State University.

Recent Project Publications

McKillop, Heather

1997 “Prehistoric Maya Use of Palms: Archaeobotanical and Ethnobotanical Evidence,” In The Managed Mosaic. Edited by Scott L. Fedick, pp. 278-294, University of Utah, Salt Lake City.

1996

Ancient Maya Trading Ports and the Integration of Long-Distance and Regional Economies.” Ancient Mesoamerica 7:49-62.

Donations

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.

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.

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