NIM LI PUNIT: THE PLACE OF STELAE

MAYA ARCHAELOGICAL SITE OF BELIZE
Excavations at this ceremonial center, discovered in 1976, indicated that it was important during the Late Classic Period. Of the more than 25 stelae found at the site, at least 8 are carved, one of which remains the tallest carved stela in Belize and in most of the Maya area, measuring 9 meters (31 feet). The name is Maya for "bighat" and was taken from the person wearing a very large headdress on the tallest stela.
Nim Li Punit is located off the Southern Highway about 25 miles north of Punta Gorda Town (c.a. mile.75), and is not accessible by public transportation. Buses from Belize City to Punta Gorda run 3 times per week and pass by the site.
The ruins are a fifteen minute walk from the road. The nearest accomodations are in Punta Gorda Town.

Southern Complex Connection
Nim Li Punit lacks the architectural scale of Lubaantun but complements the latter by virtue of its concentration of sculpted stelae. While it was first thought that Nim Li Punit was a subsidiary centre which functioned as a funerary cult centre for a local elite -probably that of Lubaantun- archaeological survey has now located a fairly extensive settlement associated with the centre. As a result, the site must be regarded as a ceremonial centre in its own right. Until further investigation can be undertaken the true position of Nim Li Punit within the interactions of ancient southern Belize will remain unclear. The presence of so many impressive monuments at the site is still a mystery.

The Site
Nim Li Punit ("Big Hat") is situated along the top of a ridge in the foothills of the Maya Mountains; a flat coastal plain lies to the east and south of the site. The ceremonial centre consists of two plazas, one raised about two metres higher than the other. It is here that the 25 stelae, at least eight of which are carved, and a ball court are located. The largest structure stands 10 12 metres (33 - 40 ft.) above the plaza level. A second structure is only three metres high but is 65 metres (215 ft.) long.
The centre of the site is made up of three groups: the ceremonial group described before and two civic and elite residential groups. Though the site is not a large one its architecture is very similar to that of Lubaantun.

Archaeological Work
On the discovery of Nim Li Punit by oil company workers in 1976 the Archaeological Commissioner asked Norman Hammond, then director of the British Museum-Cambridge University Corozal Project to investigate the site. An initial map was drawn, test excavations were made within the central plaza and monuments were turned over to examine hieroglyphic inscriptions and iconography. A preliminary survey of these inscriptions was conducted by Barbara McLeod; twenty-five monuments were identified, the longest being 17 metres.
The then Archaeological Commissioner, Joseph Palacio, prepared for the site to be declared an Archaeological Reserve. A caretaker was posted, the site was cleared of bush and visitors welcomed. To this date, however, the site has not been officially declared an Archaeological Reserve.
Archaeological work did not begin again at Nim Li Punit until 1983 when Richard Leventhal surveyed the site and its surroundings as part of his regional research. In 1986 he sunk test pits into the ceremonial precinct and uncovered yet another stela and a royal tomb which yielded 36 pottery vessels and numerous other artifacts. Leventhal plans to continue work but the intensity with which he can excavate at any one site depends on the amount of funds he can raise for the project.

Locale and Access
Nim Li Punit overlooks milpas (slash- and- burn gardens) and jungle. Women from Indian Creek village, in which the site is situated, use the streams which flow along the borders of the site to do their laundry.
The site is easily accessible from the Southern Highway, requiring only a half mile uphill trek in. Visitors en route for Punta Gorda can pause for a while at Nim Li Punit and its exotically sculpted monuments, taking in the tranquil lifestyle of the area.
The site is located off the Southern Highway 25 miles north of Punta Gorda town (mile 75) and is not accessible by public transport, but buses from Belize City run three times a week and pass by the site road. At the site there is a small thatched shelter for resting, but no other facilities.

LUBAANTUN: THE PLACE OF MYTHS

MAYA ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE OF BELIZE
This Late Classic ceremonial center is noted for its unusual style of construction distinctive of southern Belize. The large pyramids and residences are made of dresses stone blocks with no mortar binding them together. The buildings on top of the pyramids were made from perishable materials rather than masonry and hence do not remain. The name is Maya for "place of Fallen Rocks".
Lubaantun is located north of the Colombia River, I mile past the village of San Pedro Colombia, and is not accessible by public transportation. There is a 20 minute walk from the road to the ruins. Accomodations are available in Punta Gorda Town 20 miles away and in the village of San Antonio, 5 miles away.

Southern Complex Connection
The pyramids at Lubaantun are, in the main, man-made stone platforms on top of which stood perishable structures. While these platform-pyramids have stairways and terraces built into them, carving and other types of building decoration found in other areas are lacking; at Lubaantun such decoration would have been on the wooden structures on the pyramids' summits. Moreover, and in marked contrast to Nim Li Punit and Uxbenka, there is a surprising absence of carved stone monuments at Lubaantun.
The site was occupied only for one to two centuries and appears to have been the focal centre in the area during that period. In Norman Hammond's view, "There seems to have been a movement of people into the area after 700 A.D., who established a regional "capital' at Lubaantun which acted as the religious, administrative, political and commercial centre of this region."

The Site
Lubaantun ("Place of Fallen Stones") is a Late Classic ceremonial centre with 11 major structures grouped around five main plazas. Hammond's study showed that, "it consisted of three concentric zones of different functions: an inner zone of religious buildings, then one of ceremonial structures including ball courts and ... finally a zone of residential buildings.
The centre lies on a high ridge 20 miles inland. Rather than levelling off the top of the ridge as they did at Xunantunich, the Maya here undertook the task of systematically shaping and adding fill to the slopes, making them vertical rather than slanted so as to widen and flatten out their summits into platforms.
One of Lubaantun's most astonishing features is that its structures were constructed entirely without the aid of mortar: each stone used at the site was carefully measured and cut to fit exactly with the stones it adjoins. The strength of the structures was thus entirely dependent on this fit rather than on any form of cement.
The tallest structure at the site stands 11 metres (36 ft.) above its plaza with a view of the foothills of the Maya Mountains and the coastal plain from the summit.

Archaeological Work
Lubaantun was first reported to the government late last century by the inhabitants of the Toledo settlement near Punta Gorda and in 1903 the Governor of the then colony commissioned Thomas Gann to investigate it. Gann explored and excavated the main structures around plaza IV and concluded that the site's population must have been large; his report was published in England in 1904.
In 1915 R. E. Merwin of Harvard University investigated the site, locating many more structures, recognizing a ball court and drawing the first plan; he also took the first photographs of the site. His excavation of the ball court revealed three carved stone markers, each depicting two men playing the famous Maya ball game. These ball court markers were taken to the Peabody Museum of Harvard University. Merwin died before he could publish his account.
In 1926 the British Museum sent an expedition to Lubaantun under the directorship of T. A. Joyce and in 1927 the expedition was joined by J. Eric S. Thompson, who was to become the leading Maya scholar of his time. Thompson controverted Joyce's conclusion that Lubaantun's architecture was of the "in and out" style, showing that the alternating courses of protruding and recessed stones were due to root action. Thompson excavated several phases of construction in the structures but at the end of the season he was sent to investigate the newly-discovered stelae at Pusilha near the Guatemalan border.
Work was not resumed at Lubaantun until 1970 when Norman Hammond, then a doctoral student at Cambridge, began excavations. Spurred on by the lack of information on this region of the Maya lowlands, Hammond mapped the ceremonial centre and its surroundings, gave its period of occupation as 730 - 890 A.D. and reconstructed the site's history.
Though there is presently no large-scale project planned specifically for Lubaantun, Richard Leventhal of the State University of New York is including the site and its surroundings in his ongoing survey which is designed to elucidate the interrelationships between the sites in the southern complex.

Locale and Access
Lubaantun lies on a ridge above a valley cut by a tributary of the Columbia River, which is a quarter of a mile from the site. Streams flow around the base of the ridge and below the site is an expanse of tropical forest. On the banks of the Columbia is situated the traditional Maya village of San Pedro Columbia, one of the larger Maya communities in Toledo District.
Lubaantun can be reached either by the public route, a 1.5 mile uphill trail from the village, or by crossing the Columbia in a canoe and making a shorter but steeper climb across private, cultivated land.
Lubaantun is not accessible by public transport. The site has restrooms and a picnic area, but no drinking water. Accommodation is available in Punta Gorda town, 20 miles away or in San Antonio village, five miles from the site.

The Living Lubaantun
The archaeologist's job is essentially to reconstruct the past on the basis of the raw data he or she obtains through excavation. Norman Hammond's analysis of the Lubaantun data is an excellent example of how such reconstruction can bring to life the societies of the past.
Hammond first estimated the extent of the region controlled by Lubaantun -an area bounded by the Maya Mountains in the northwest and the Caribbean coast on the southeast and along the other axis by the edges of the basin of the Rio Grande.
The produce of the various environmental zones within this region of control was brought to the regional market at Lubaantun and thence redistributed:
"From the mountains came volcanic stone for axes and corn-mullers, game and skins; in the foothills dwelt the bulk of the population, growing corn and beans and hunting deer, peccary, gibnut and wild birds; in the coastal plain game could be hunted, wildfowl and medicinal grasses found in the swampy areas, and a variety of plant products including food delicacies and copal incense gathered from the trees. The Rio Grande led across the coastal plain to the Caribbean, where a secondary centre of population existed on the coast and cayes, hunting sea creatures, fishing and gathering shellfish. These were shipped up river to Lubaantun and the foothill settlements in exchange for maize: forty per cent of the animal bones and many of the shells found at Lubaantun in 1970 were of marine origin, and corn-mullers have been found on the coastal sites. Some of the fishbones were of deep-water species, indicating that the coastal dwellers sailed out beyond the cays in search of such species as frigate mackeral and shark."
But while these combined forms of production made Lubaantun largely self-sufficient within its region of control, several items had to be imported from highland Guatemala: jade (found only in Guatemala's volcanic highlands), obsidian (black volcanic glass used for knife- blades), and lava cornmullers. Clearly, Lubaantun had to be producing something to exchange for these items; Hammond concludes that this was cacao beans, the universal currency of pre-Conquest Mesoamerica. The area around Lubaantun is a zone of prime cacao soil, and has the high rainfall and humidity required for the crop's production; moreover, Eric Thompson had noted in 1930 that it was still being bought by traders from Coban in highland Guatemala and sixteenth and seventeenth century sources show that such a trade to the highlands had existed not long after the Conquest. The clinching piece of evidence was unearthed in the 1970 excavation at Lubaantun -a figurine of a musician wearing a cacao- pod pendant, showing that cacao was known at the site in the eighth century; another figurine demonstrated contact between Coban and Lubaantun.
Hammond's elegant reconstruction, based on excavation, ecological analysis and knowledge of related sites brings Lubaantun to life -another step towards understanding the heritage of Belize and Mesoamerica as a whole.

Toledo Complex:
Three sites in the Toledo District are included together under this heading, the reasons being:
1. the proximity of the sites to each other2. their relationship with each other in historic times 3. their complementary nature 4. stylistic similarities5. in practical terms, the sites are now open to the public and are receiving increasing attention
The different sites in this complex fully demonstrate the variation in organization of the ancient Maya in southern Belize. Hence for example, while Lubaantun has impressive architecture but not stone monuments, Nim Li Punit has numerous sculpted stone monuments but lacks large, impressive structures. The following descriptions of the sites include some discussion as to why these variations occur.

MAINTZUNUN: THE HUMMINGBIRD

MAYA ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE OF BELIZE, CENTRAL AMERICA

Historical Context
Ex-Archaeological Commissioner Elizabeth Graham points out that "For all the work that has been carried out we know tantalizingly little about the pre-conquest Maya in the (Dangriga) district." In fact, although the archaeological work that has been done has been largely exploratory, it has resulted in some preliminary conclusions. There is concrete evidence from the Pomona Valley of a flourishing Late Preclassic - Early Classic population in that location. Luxury items like jade and even agricultural necessities like flint had to be imported into the district, and many of the district's sites may have depended considerably for both subsistence and trade on their access to the sea. Such access may have been a factor in the longevity of some of the sites: Mayflower 3, close to Maintzunun, exhibits evidence of Postclassic occupation -an effigy of the diving god.

The Site
Maintzunun is too small to be considered as a minor ceremonial centre but much too large to be a simple residential structure. The first building at the site involved substantial labour and quarrying: large amounts of sand and boulders were used to construct a series of platforms which were surmounted by pole and thatch structures. A large pit was dug in front of the mound and burnt offerings of food were made. A subsequent phase of occupation was destroyed by fire; later excavations recovered a small cylindrical incised vessel in a pit dug into the debris, around which a platform was built to support a simple, thatch-roofed structure. The site's residents left a small incised slab, a "patolli board" on the surface of plaza 1.

Archaeological Work
Maintzunun ("Small Hummingbird") is part of the Mayflower complex, which consists of two main sites: Maintzunun and T'au Witz ("The Place of the Local God of the Hill").
The complex was first recognized by Ernest Gongora, a tree planter with the Forestry Department. The site was later visited by Joseph palacio and surveyed by Elizabeth Graham who, at the end of the 1975 field season postulated that Maintzunun was first occupied during the Late Classic, c. 600 A.D., and abandoned during the Terminal Classic, c. 900 A.D.
In 1987 a group of Cambridge University students under the direction of the Department of Archaeology's Allan Moore worked at the site; their report is still pending. In the same year, in conjunction with
Eric Gibson of Trinity University, he led a student field school with four goals: clearing the site and mapping it, test pitting, and planning for future excavation.

Locale and Access
Driving down the Hummingbird Highway from Belmopan you enter the Stann Creek (Dangriga) District, one of the most diverse areas in the country in terms of its fauna and flora. The rough road winds through cloud- shrouded, rain-forested hills interspersed with isolated milpas. En route you pass cacao and then citrus plantations as you enter Stann Creek Valley.
Maintzunun lies between swampy areas, banana and citrus groves and rain forest, among foothills above the coastal plain.Cockscomb Wildlife Sanctuary, with one of the largest populations of studied jaguars, is about 10 miles south of the site.
Public but relatively infrequent transport is available along the Hummingbird and Southern Highways, but private transport is necessary to reach the site, at which no facilities are available.

PILAR: PROTECTION OR DESTRUCTION

MAYA ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE OF BELIZE, CENTRAL AMERICA

Historical Context
Since Pilar has not yet been excavated, its historical context is still in question, but there are some initial indicators. On the basis of size alone, the site was unquestionably an important one: certainly archaeologist Anabel Ford believes it to be of significantly greater scale than Xunantunich. The mysterious wall which apparently runs from the site into the Peten remains unexplained.
It is imperative that funding is obtained for excavation, consolidation and salvage before further looting destroys forever our chances of understanding the site and its artifacts.

The Site
Pilar is one of Belize's largest Classic Maya centres. At least 15 courtyards or plaza groups cover an area of 20 hectares (50 acres), making it three to four times larger than Xunantunich. The complexity of the site suggests a long building sequence and the settlement density around the centre doubles that of the surrounding area.
The centre of Pilar consists of temples, palaces and elite structures, the tallest structure standing metres (70 ft.) above the Plaza. At least one ball court has already been located and stepped walls elevate certain platforms and plazas above others. Water catchment reservoirs have already been located and one of the most interesting features of the site is a I to 1.5 metre (3.3 to 5 ft.) wall which runs westward from the site and probably into Guatemala. It is not yet known what the purpose of this wall was, nor has the end of it yet been found. It's interesting to note in this connection that the largest lowland Maya site of Tikal lies about 32 miles west of Pilar in Guatemala.
Projected research would focus on the circumstances of the development of Pilar into the powerful site that it clearly was.

Archaeological Work
"Pilar", Spanish for "pillar" was named after the army camp in its vicinity, but that is exactly what the site may have represented to the modern inhabitants of the locality, for the site looms in the bush in the hills above the western branch of the Belize River near Bullet Tree Falls.
Our earliest report of Pilar was in 1972 when the Archaeology Commissioner visited the site following a report of looting there. But the site could have been known to residents for decades before that; the Department of Archaeology has made repeated visits to the site since then, each time observing more looters' tunnels and trenches.
When Anabel Ford of the University of California at Santa Barbara began her Belize River Archaeological Settlement Survey in 1982, Pilar was at last included in scientific research. In that and the following two years, Ford began mapping the centre, but further research depends on the availability of funding.

Locale and Access
Pilar lies in a part of Cayo District which has been cultivated for years; although much of the area is under secondary growth many milpas are situated nearby. One of the site's greatest potential assets is that once cleared and exposed, its panorama will probably be matched only by that from Xunantunich; it may indeed be possible to see one site from the other, and to speculate on their relationship and domains.
El Pilar is about 12 miles north of San Ignacio beyond the village of Bullet Tree Falls. Taking the Bullet Tree Road north of San Ignacio and crossing the Mopan River Bridge you will see signs directing you to the El Pilar Road. The Reserve is located 7 miles from Bullet Tree on an improved all-weather limestone road that ascends 900 feet above the Belize River Valley. It is easily reachable by vehicle or horseback and there are even bicycle rentals available in San Ignacio for those who wish to mountain bike up. Hiking is recommended only for experienced hikers (carrying plenty of water) as the road is unshaded and can be a very hot walk. The caretakers live in a modern green-roofed house along the road at the south end of the site and are very happy to show the visitor around. In addition, the BRASS/El Pilar Program has worked closely with the Cayo Tour Guides Association to train local guides about the Reserve and any licensed tour guide can arrange for a visit and tour. There are picnic facilities in the center of the monumental site core as well as beautiful photographic vistas of both Guatemala and Belize. Several rest stops have been constructed along the trails and the Reserve also has bathroom facilities. One of the longer trails (1 ½ miles) ends at a wonderful small waterfalls with pools which make a refreshing stop after a hike. El Pilar is considered by many as one of the finest bird-watching sites in Western Belize.
The unavailability of public transport to the site makes private vehicles a virtual necessity. From San Ignacio the route is through Bullet Tree Falls; villagers can be asked for further directions.
The El Pilar Archaeological Reserve for Maya Flora and Fauna- Bullet Tree Falls, Belize
The El Pilar Archaeological Reserve for Maya Flora and Fauna is located just 12 miles (approximately 19 kilometers) north of the western Belizean town of San Ignacio, astride the Belize-Guatemala border. The ridge land escarpment where El Pilar is situated extends from Guatemala's Peten into Belize, north of the Belize River valley. The center was recorded by Belize's Department of Archaeology in the 1970's, but its full extent was then unknown. A preliminary map of the site was made by the Belize River Archaeological Settlement Survey (BRASS) in 1984 and the first full-scale investigation of El Pilar was finally begun in 1993. The BRASS/El Pilar Program, an international, multi-disciplinary project headed by Dr. Anabel Ford of the University of California Santa Barbara, is now (1999) in its seventh year of excavation at El Pilar. In May 1997 a statutory instrument was signed designating the nine square kilometer reserve as Belize's newest national park and in 1998 Guatemala also made it a protected reserve. El Pilar has been highlighted by the World Monument Fund's 100 Most Endangered Sites in the World list (1997) along with sites such as Pompeii, the Taj Mahal and Ankor Wat. A preliminary chronology, based on ceramic comparisons, has revealed that monumental constructions at El Pilar began in the Middle Preclassic (450 B.C.) And continued with major remodeling completed in the Terminal Classic (1000 A.D.). This long sequence spans more than 15 centuries and testifies to a continuous and methodical development in the area. El Pilar has more than twenty-five identified plazas in an area of approximately 100 acres (38 hectares), ranking it equal with major centers of the lowland Maya region. It is the largest center in the Belize River area, more than three times the size of other well-known centers such as Baking Pot or Xunantunich. There are more than a dozen large pyramids and many range buildings. The site is divided into three primary sectors: Xaman (North) Pilar, Nohol (South) Pilar, and Pilar Poniente (West). The eastern and western sections are connected by an offset causeway system extending between two large public plazas. Survey and excavations have been concentrated in the eastern side of El Pilar within Belize. The western section, Pilar Poniente, is across the border in the Republic of Guatemala and surveying conducted in 1998 and 1999 has proven that there is still more monumental architecture to be found. While the site is quite large, visitors still experience a sense of discovery while walking through the plazas, as most of the structures have been left intentionally uncleared. In contrast to neighboring Maya sites, El Pilar remains essentially the same as when archaeologists first identified it. The large-scale clearing of rainforest and structures has been rejected in favor of environmental trails and the exposure of choice examples of architecture, a stair here and a room there. This concept prevents the degradation of exposed structures and preserves important archaeological information for future generations and archaeological technologies. There are, however, significant consolidated structures open for the public including an underground corbeled tunnel, a standing temple and examples of elite architecture. In addition the preserved rainforest is home to hundreds of species of birds and animals which will delight the visitor. One significant area of the site is the site of an ongoing project to recreate a Maya "forest garden" surrounding an elite residence with recreated Maya structures. The area has long carried the name of El Pilar and while the origin of this name is obscure, the numerous natural sources of water speak to the old Spanish word for watering basin or pila, whose collective would be designated in Spanish as El Pilar. Two local streams have their origins at El Pilar, one to the east, which we call El Pilar Creek, and one on the west referred to generally as El Manantial (the Spring). About 1.2 miles (or 2.3 KM) east is Chorro, a lovely delicate waterfall. Not far from this waterfall is a minor center named Chorro, after the falls. The abundance of water in the vicinity of El Pilar is rare in the Maya area; the venerable ancient city of Tikal (just 50 KM west) had no natural water sources at all. Currently the Reserve has a total of six trail systems, three archaeological and three primarily nature trails. These range in length from 1/10 of mile to a mile and a half long and are of different degrees of difficulty.
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CAHAL PECH: THE TEMPLES ABOVE THE VALLEY

MAYA ARCHAELOGICAL SITE OF BELIZE

Historical Context
Cahal Pech is a major Maya centre located on a hill overlooking the town of San Ignacio. The name of the site is a combination of Yucatec and Mopan Maya meaning "Place of Ticks", a name given to the site in the 1950's when the area around it was used for pasture.
Work conducted by Belizean archaeologist, Jaime Awe, in 1988 investigated a total of 10 mounds within 6 of the 7 courtyard groups at the site. Preliminary analysis of data recovered from these excavations indicate that Cahal Pech was settled by 1000 B.C. and abandoned around 800 A.D. The discovery of several large, Late Preclassic (300 B.C. - 250 A.D.) temples directly beneath Middle Classic (500 - 700 A.D.) modifications also suggests that these were the periods of greatest development at the site.

The Site
The central precinct of Cabal Pech is situated on an imposing acropolis on the west bank of the Macal River, with a panoramic view of San Ignacio town and the Belize River Valley. The site centre consists of 34 structures compacted in a small area covering slightly more than 2 acres. The majority of these structures are located around 7 courtyards and include temple pyramids and several long-range, residential-type buildings. The tallest temple is Structure A- I which stands 77 feet high. The site also contains 2 ball courts, 5 plain stelae, I altar and possibly a sweat-house.

Archaeological Work
While we do not know the exact date of its discovery, reports of the site go back as early as the 1950's. At this time Linton Satterthwaite of the University Museum of Pennsylvania did some preliminary mapping and excavation of the centre. Unfortunately, except for two paragraphs in a 1951 publication, Satterthwaite never published a report of the work he conducted.
A few years later (1953-55) Gordon Willey of Harvard University visited the site during his study of the settlement of the Belize River Valley. Although he did not carry out any investigations, Willey subsequently wrote a very brief description of the site in his Belize Valley Report (1965).
During the 1960's, Belize's first archaeological commissioner, A.H. Anderson, visited the site on several occasions. Because of its easy access and ideal location, Anderson recommended to the government that the site be left unaffected by private lands and that the centre and its periphery be developed as a National Park. Anderson's recommendations, however, were never implemented.
In 1969 Peter Schmidt, having recently arrived in Belize to take over the post of Archaeological Commissioner a year after the death of Anderson, conducted a small salvage operation following his investigation of looting at the site. His work concentrated on a royal tomb within a large temple (Str. B-1) in the central plaza (Plaza B). Here a Late Classic (600 -700 A.D.) ruler had been laid to rest with a number of onate jade objects, obsidian blades, shell and bone ornaments plus several pottery vessels. The most magnificent find was a jade and shell mosaic mask which probably formed the centre piece of an elaborate belt worn by the noble interred in the grave. Schmidt, like his predecessors, never published a report of this work. Nonetheless, the artifacts he recovered from the tomb may still be seen in the National Collection at Belmopan.
Between 1970 and 1985 the site was vandalized on numerous occasions by looters. The destruction caused by these activities became a major concern to the San Ignacio Town Board and the Cayo Branch of the Belize Tourism and Industry Association who recognized the site's cultural value and its potential as a tourist attraction. After several requests for help from the latter group, Jaime Awe eventually organized the first major archaeological investigation of the site in 1988. This project, funded jointly by the Canadian Commission for UNESCO and Trent University, drafted a detailed map of the site, surveyed and demarcated an area to be declared as a National Park, and excavated several of the larger structures at the site. Awe and the Belize Tourism Association hope to continue excavating and developing the site if funds for the continuation of the project become available.

Locale and Access
Although work at Cahal Pech is still at a preliminary stage, visitors can experience the full range of archaeological investigations of a Maya centre. The site is also within a beautiful jungle-type environment which is the home for many colourful birds and exotic plants. This dramatic contrast between the town and the jungle, which are in such close proximity, makes Cahal Pech a unique place to visit. In only a few minutes walk a person leaves the hustle and bustle of present-day San Ignacio and enters an atmosphere where life remains in its natural state and ancient monuments become silent testimony of a vigorous civilization that once was.
There are no facilities at the site, which is a 10 minute walk south of the Benque Viejo junction of the Western Highway.

PACBITUN: THE ENTRANCE TO THE PINE RIDGE

Pacbitun is one of the oldest known Middle Preclassic sites in Western Belize, having been first occupied c. 1000 B.C. The site flourished particularly during the Late Preclassic (400 B.C. 250 A.D.) and Late Classic (600 - 900 A.D.) periods. The discovery of a green obsidian point in a cache at Pacbitun suggests a trade connection with Teotihuacan during the Early Classic. The site is surrounded by hills which the Maya terraced.

The Site
Pacbitun is a major ceremonial centre covering about 30 ha. (75 acres) with a core of .5 sq. km. There are at least 24 major temple pyramids at the site, the highest measuring 16.5 metres, as well as elite residences, a ceremonial ball court, eight carved and uncarved stelae and raised causeways, one of which is more than a kilometre long. Excavations have unearthed a wealth of artifacts, many of which are elite goods, most notably musical instruments made of carved and moulded pottery.

Archaeological Work
Pacbitun, meaning "Stones Set in the Earth", was known to the villagers of San Antonio, Cayo for many years and it was they who gave the site its name. It was not until 1971 that the site was registered at the Department of Archaeology by Peter Schmidt.
In 1980 members of the Trent University project examined the site while searching for ancient Maya terracing in the area. In 1984 the Trent team carried out ground surveys around Pacbitun and found agricultural terraces on hills within a .5 km. radius of the centre and as far as 3 km. to the east and west of the site. Ancient Maya housemounds, probably farmsteads, were also located interspersed among the terraced zones.
In 1986 Paul Healy of Trent began large-scale excavations at Pacbitun. Mapping continued and excavations focused on the ceremonial core area of the site At the end of both the 1986 and 1987 seasons consolidation and reconstruction of structures was carried out. The project continues and will focus on agricultural practices and settlement patterns.

Locale and Access
Pacbitun is situated in the Cayo District about 3 km. east of San Antonio village and 7.5 km. east of the Macal River. The site is set in an area that has been extensively cultivated for many years. It is 230 metres above sea level and being on the periphery of the Mountain Pine Ridge it lies between a lowland forest environment and the highlands.
The trip to the site is many-faceted. You can visit San Antonio village which is one of the few villages in the Cayo District where the Mayan language is still spoken and is also the home of the well known healer Don Elijio Panti. In the village there is also a small, family business that carves authentic Maya designs on local slate.
The site is about a 30 minute drive from Santa Elena, Cayo, up the Cristo Rey road. Pacbitun is on privately owned land: please contact Mr. Tzul about I kin. after leaving San Antonio. There are no facilities at the site.

CARACOL: THE SUPREMACY OF LORD WATER -MAYA ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE - PART VII

The ruins of Caracol are located in the Vaca Plateau of the Cayo District. Caracol Camp, adjacent to the ruins, is located at approximately Mile 46 of the Chiquibul Road which connects the Western Highway with the western slopes OF the Maya Mountains.
Unfortunately, Caracol, meaning "Snail", is one of the most inaccessible ruins in Belize, but conversely, it provides one of the most scenic drives in Belize. You must obtain permission from the Department of Archaeology, as well as the Forestry Department in Augustine, in order to visit Caracol. Because of the limited accessibility and the necessity for permits, it is advisable to use a reputable travel and tour operator for your adventure.
Currently in the state of excavation and restoration Caracol is the largest known Maya center in Belize. The largest pyramid in Caracol, "Canaa" (Sky Place), rises 140 feet high, and it is the tallest manmade structure in all of Belize. Since Caracol is located in the Chiquibul Rain Forest, there is a plethora of flora and fauna to enhance the true beauty of this magnificent Maya center.
This is an enormous ceremonial center, perhaps the largest site in Belize. The site sits on a low plateau deep in the Chiquibul Forest Reserve where primary rain forest jungle is still evident. The tallest temple structure there stands 42 meters above the plaza floor with an expanse at its base rivalling anything at Tikal. Caracol was once a powerful center controlling a very large area, some of which is still being discovered. From the numerous carved monuments at the site, information has been gained that Caracol and Tikal underwent conflicts during ancient history with each succumbing to the other at different times. The name is Spanish for " snail shell" and was given to the site by a previous Commissioner of Archaeology because of the inordinate numbers of snail shells found at the site.
Caracol can be reached through Augustine in the Mountain Pine Ridge. However, although this site is only 30 miles away from Augustine, the road there is extremely rough and usually requires 4-wheel drive vehicles for the journey. Accomodations are available at the many "jungle inns" and hotels in and around the major towns of the Cayo District.
Historical contextCaracol is news in Belize. The word is around that the site - discovered only in 1936 by chicleros- was supreme in the region, and indeed that is only a slight overstatement, for in 1986 an altar was found in the centre of one of the site's ball courts with a glyphic record of a military victory by Lord Water of Caracol over the warlords of Tikal. News too because USAID has provided funds to help develop the site for tourism.
So Belize has indeed a site which, in the sixth century, rivalled the mightiest and most complex of them all. Why such a powerful site as Caracol should have been located in an area bereft of running water is one of the site's mysteries. Yet in a sense, the Maya created their own fertility: the main reservoir at Caracol is an engineering masterpiece providing water to this day and, again in the context of warlords and fertility, it is apropos to bear in mind the name of the supreme Caracol warlord - Lord Water.

Caracol, the largest known ancient Maya site in Belize, is a Classic Period urban centre comprising a central ceremonial area converged on by causeways which linked the centre to its outliers -to the areas whose production supported the nucleus. The site centre is 1.5 sq. km. (.9 sq. mile) in area with structures extending out over 3 sq. km. (1.75 sq. miles). The tallest structure, standing 42m. (137 ft.) above the plaza level has ousted Xunantunich's A-6 as the tallest Maya building in Belize.
The site's special features include the buildings surrounding the A court, which functioned during the Early Classic as an astronomical observatory. Following a now familiar pattern, many of the site's pyramids were constructed in the Early Classic, and later surmounted by further and hence ever more impressive structures. Interestingly, one of the burials -in the Machete group, and dated 613 A.D.- was desecrated by the Late Classic Maya and then re-buried.

Archaeological Work
A.H. Anderson explored and named the site- Caracol, Spanish for "Snail Shell"- in 1938. In 1950, 1951 and 1953 Linton Satterthwaite of Pennsylvania University excavated primarily to recover the numerous sculpted stone monuments at the site. In 1954 Anderson, and Gordon Willey, William Bullard and John Glass of the Peabody Museum of Harvard, and Michael Stewart and Charles Wright excavated a masonry chamber in structure B-2. In 1977 Pennsylvania University Museum sent Carl Beetz to complete the volume started by Satterthwaite (now deceased) on the Caracol monuments.
In 1978 Elizabeth Graham sent a team to the site to recover Stela 21, a beautifully sculpted slate monument currently curated by the Department of Archaeology in Belmopan. The three finest monuments from Satterthwaite's excavations are now displayed in the Bliss Institute, Belize City; many more remain at the site.
In 1978 and 1979 Paul Healy of Trent University investigated the Maya agricultural terraces surrounding the site. In 1985 Arlen and Diane Chase of the University of Central Florida began the first full-scale excavation of Caracol; that excavation, which they anticipate
will take at least a decade, will focus on all aspects of Maya society and culture and especially on the importance of Caracol as a regional centre.

Locale and Access
Caracol is situated 36 km., as the crow flies, southwest of the Augustine Forestry Station in the Mountain Pine Ridge. As part of the Chiquibul Forest, it displays classic rain forest and jungle vegetation, the natural home of a wide variety of fauna, ranging from colonies of butterflies to families of howler monkeys and a diversity of birds and felines. Gigantic trees with trunks 2 metres in diameter are adorned with orchids and a plethora of interwoven vines. The forest canopy, trapping the humid air beneath, is broken only by the summits of the ancient man-made structures.
Eight miles south of Caracol are the vast Chiquibul Caves, the longest cave system in Central America with the largest cave room in the Western Hemisphere and the fourth largest cave room in the world. Only the lucky few have entered Chiquibul.
To reach Caracol one must travel through the Mountain Pine Ridge, superb in itself, with granite and limestone mountains, waterfalls, pools and wildlife.
At the site there are caretaker-guides; a guide book with fold-out map is available on sale from them. But no drinking water is available at the site, nor is there any public transport to the locale. Your options are renting a vehicle or joining a guided tour offered by travel agencies and hotels around the country. Although the site is only thirty miles from Augustine, the road is extremely rough and often impassable during wet weather. Four-wheel drive, high clearance vehicles are usually required for the journey.
Please note that it is imperative for the Department of Archaeology and/or the Forestry Department, Western Division, to be informed prior to any visits in order to obtain entry permission and advice on accessibility. There is no gas available at Augustine and visitors are responsible for ensuring they have enough gas to complete the journey. Camping is only allowed with a permit from the Forestry Department in Belmopan.

Recent Changes
New work at Caracol makes it tourist friendly - News 5, January 22, 2003
It is not what you'd call an easy drive, particularly following a heavy rain. But on Monday we finally made it to an ancient Maya site in Cayo that, thanks to a multi-million dollar facelift, may one day become one of the nation's most popular destinations.
Guatemala may have Tikal; Honduras Copan; Mexico Chichen Itza but in Belize, Caracol is king. Translated to mean snail in English, the remnants of Caracol are slowly emerging from beneath the jungle to claim a place of prominence in the modern Mundo Maya. Since it's rediscovery in the early 1920s, archaeologists have discovered the earliest dated carved stellae in Belize at Caracol, dating back to 400 A.D., and unearthed the massive structure called Caana or "Sky Place", believed to have been completed around 800 A.D. nation's most popular destinations.
At the peak of its existence, the Mayan city of Caracol covered some sixty-five square miles and was home to more than a hundred thousand people. Today, archaeologists from all over the world have a field day excavating its more than seventy-five structures. nation's most popular destinations.

Jaime Awe, Archaeological Coordinator: "Caracol is certainly one of the most amazing sites that we have in Belize. It has the tallest and largest human made structure in this country." nation's most popular destinations.
According to archaeological coordinator, Dr. Jaime Awe, Caracol's influence in the region spans thousands of years. nation's most popular destinations.

Dr. Jaime Awe: "Besides constructing large monumental structures, we know that they were politically involved with other sites in the region. We know that Caracol entered wars against cities like Tikal, Naranjo and Bital, Ukanal and that in many of those occasions, Caracol was the triumphant site. But Caracol is also important to us as a country, as a culture, because it gives us a symbol of what the ancient first Belizeans or ancient Belizeans, were able to accomplish in our own country." nation's most popular destinations.

Janelle Chanona: "For the past two years, the Government of Belize has invested two point seven million Belize dollars to restore Caracol to some semblance of its former glory. By all accounts, they have succeeded." nation's most popular destinations.
But it has not been easy. More than a hundred and sixty people call the archaeological site home...working from dawn to dusk shifting through soil for secrets. Nestled deep in the Chiquibul Forest, accessibility to Caracol has proved challenging. nation's most popular destinations.

Dr. Jaime Awe: "Everything that we use here has to be trucked in. We have no water here, so we have to bring in water from twelve miles away from the Guacamayo Bridge. All the food, we have a hundred and sixty people who work here full time. It's taken us two years, but in the two years that we've been here, we have converted what used to look like just hills with trees to some of the beautiful temples and palaces that you can now see when you come to the site." nation's most popular destinations.
Financed through a fourteen million U.S. dollar loan from the Inter-American Development Bank, the rebirth of Mayan sites like Caracol is part of the Ministry of Tourism's, Tourism Development Project. The plan is to turn the trickle of tourists into a steady stream of visitors. nation's most popular destinations.

Mark Espat, Minister of Tourism: "Like the reef, like the rainforest, like the caving, archaeology is a particular brand of tourism that attracts literally hundreds of thousands of people to Belize. So I think the excavation work, the new visitor's centre, access to Caracol will open up the Cayo District certainly to a lot more archaeology enthusiasts to visit Belize. And it will certainly develop offshoot industries, hotels nearby, gift shops, restaurants. So the work here really is firstly to preserve certainly our very profound Mayan culture, and secondly, it is promote and build tourism to this district and to Belize." nation's most popular destinations.

Dr. Allan Moore, Director, Tourism Development Project: "If we may look at Xunantunich, which gets about two hundred people per day on an average, and that's going up because the cruise ship tourism is increasing. So we might look at Caracol somewhere around four, four-fifty, five hundred a day, providing the accessibility is taken care of. The road condition is not too pleasant right now, but we hope to address that situation pretty shortly." nation's most popular destinations.
But at this rate, setbacks aside, it won't be long before the magnificence of Caracol captures more of the world's attention and respect. nation's most popular destinations.
Anytime but the dry season potential visitors may want to check with the B.T.B. before embarking down the road to Caracol.
( Conversation takenfrom an interview with Channel 5 Reporter Janelle Chanona)