Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-v9fdk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-18T09:13:23.659Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

PUBLIC ARCHITECTURE, RITUAL, AND TEMPORAL DYNAMICS AT THE MAYA CENTER OF BLUE CREEK, BELIZE

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2004

Thomas H. Guderjan
Thomas H. Guderjan
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, Criminal Justice and Anthropology and Maya Research Program, Texas Christian University, TCU Box 298760, Fort Worth, TX 76129, USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper summarizes more than a decade of excavations in the monumental core precinct of the Maya center of Blue Creek in northwestern Belize. Extensive and intensive excavations at Blue Creek have been undertaken since 1992. Consequently, a large database has been accumulated, particularly regarding the Early Classic period. Although occupation at Blue Creek dates to the Early Preclassic period (900 b.c.), complex society and, probably, the installation of Blue Creek's first king occurred at about a.d. 100, in the Late Preclassic period. For the next several hundred years, Blue Creek grew in population and complexity, finally being abandoned at some time in the ninth century a.d.

Type
Research Article
Information
Ancient Mesoamerica , Volume 15 , Issue 2 , July 2004 , pp. 235 - 250
Copyright
© 2004 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Ashmore, Wendy 1991 Site-Planning Principles and Concepts of Directionality Among the Ancient Maya. Latin American Antiquity 2:3:199–226.Google Scholar
Baker, Robert 1996 Status Report on the Settlement Survey. In Archaeological Research at Blue Creek, Belize: Progress Report of the Fourth (1995) Field Season, edited by Thomas H. Guderjan, W. David Driver, and Helen R. Haines, pp. 109–117. Maya Research Program, St. Mary's University, San Antonio, TX.
Beach, Timothy, Sheryl Luddazer-Beach, and Jon Lohse 2002 Maya Wetland Agriculture and Environmental Change at Blue Creek. Paper presented at the 67th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Denver.
Bozarth, Steven, and Thomas H. Guderjan 2004 Results of Biosilicate Analysis of Residue in Maya Dedicatory Cache Vessels. Journal of Archaeological Science 31(2):205–215.Google Scholar
Coe, William R. 1990 Excavations in the Great Acropolis, North Terrace and North Acropolis at Tikal. Tikal Report 14. 5 vols. University Museum Monograph 61. University Museum, Philadelphia.
Driver, W. David 1995 Architecture and Ritual at Structure 1. In Archaeological Research at Blue Creek, Belize: Progress Report of the Third (1994) Field Season, edited by Thomas H. Guderjan and W. David Driver, pp. 27–44. Maya Research Program, St. Mary's University, San Antonio, TX.
Driver, W. David 1996 Continuing Excavations at Structure 1. In Archaeological Research at Blue Creek, Belize. Progress Report of the Fourth (1995) Field Season, edited by Thomas H. Guderjan, W. David Driver, and Helen R. Haines, pp. 27–36. Maya Research Program, St. Mary's University, San Antonio, TX.
Driver, W. David 1999 Excavations in Plaza A. In The Blue Creek Project: Working Papers from the 1997 Field Season, edited by W. David Driver, Helen R. Haines, and Thomas H. Guderjan, pp. 12–39. Maya Research Program, St. Mary's University, San Antonio, TX.
Driver, W. David 2002 An Early Classic Collonaded Building at the Ancient Maya Site of Blue Creek, Belize. Latin American Antiquity 13(1):63–84.Google Scholar
Driver, W. David, and Phil Wanyerka 2002 Creation Symbolism in the Architecture and Ritual at Structure 3, Blue Creek, Belize. Mexicon 24(1):6–8.Google Scholar
Driver, W. David, Elizabeth Boyd, and Stephen Pilcher 2002 Excavations in the Core Zone. In The Blue Creek Project: Working Papers from the 1998 and 1999 Field Seasons, edited by Thomas H. Guderjan and Robert J. Lichtenstein, pp. 49–58. Maya Research Program, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth.
Driver, W. David, Helen R. Haines, and Thomas H. Guderjan (editors) 1999 The Blue Creek Project: Working Papers from the 1997 Season. Maya Research Program, St. Mary's University, San Antonio, TX.
Fash, Barbara, William Fash, Sheree Lane, Rudi Larios, Linda Schele, Jeffrey Stomper, and David Stuart 1992 Investigations of a Classic Maya Council House at Copan, Honduras. Journal of Field Archaeology 19(4):419–442.Google Scholar
Freidel, David 1985 Polychrome Painted Facades of the Lowland Maya Preclassic. In Painted Architecture and Polychrome Monumental Sculpture in Mesoamerica, edited by Elizabeth H. Boone, pp. 5–30. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC.
Freidel, David A., Linda Schele, and Joy Parker 1993 Maya Cosmos: Three Thousand Years on the Shaman's Path. William Morrow, New York.
Garber, James F. 1989 Archaeology at Cerros, Belize, Central America. Volume II: The Artifacts. Southern Methodist University Press, Dallas.
Gilgan, Elizabeth 1996 Excavations in the Structure 13 Courtyard Complex. In Archaeological Research at Blue Creek, Belize: Progress Report of the Fourth (1995) Field Season, edited by Thomas H. Guderjan, W. David Driver, and Helen R. Haines, pp. 69–77. Maya Research Program, St. Mary's University, San Antonio, TX.
Gilgan, Elizabeth 1997 Excavations in the Structure 13 Courtyard Group. In The Blue Creek Project: Working Papers from the 1996 Field Season, edited by W. David Driver, Heather L. Clagett, and Helen R. Haines, pp. 33–38. Maya Research Program, St. Mary's University, San Antonio, TX.
Glassman, David, Trent C. Stockman, W. David Driver, and Pamela J. Weiss 1995 Osteology of the Burial from Tomb 4. In Archaeological Research at Blue Creek, Belize: Progress Report of the Third (1994) Field Season, edited by Thomas H. Guderjan and W. David Driver, pp. 121–128. Maya Research Program, St. Mary's University, San Antonio, TX.
Grube, Nikolai 1990 The Ahua Sign as Nik, “Flower.” Ms. on file, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
Grube, Nikolai 1992 Classic Maya Dance: Evidence From Hieroglyphs and Iconography. Ancient Mesoamerica 3:210–218.Google Scholar
Grube, Nikolai, Thomas H. Guderjan, and Helen R. Haines 1995 Late Classic Architecture and Iconography at the Blue Creek Ruin, Belize. Mexicon 17(3):51–66.Google Scholar
Guderjan, Thomas H. 1996 Investigations at the Blue Creek Ruin, Belize. Los Investigadores de la cultura maya 4:330–34.Google Scholar
Guderjan, Thomas H. 1998 The Blue Creek Jade Cache: Early Classic Ritual in Northwest Belize. In The Sowing and the Dawning: Termination, Dedication and Transformation in the Archaeological and Ethnographic Record of Mesoamerica, edited by Shirley Boteler Mock, pp. 101–112. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.
Guderjan, Thomas H. 2002 A Summary of Research at Blue Creek. In The Blue Creek Project: Working Papers from the 1998 and 1999 Field Seasons, edited by Thomas H. Guderjan and Robert J. Lichtenstein, pp. 3–37. Maya Research Program, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth.
Guderjan, Thomas H. 2004a Recreating the Maya Cosmos: Early Classic Caches from Blue Creek, Belize. Acta Mesoamericana, in press.Google Scholar
Guderjan, Thomas H. 2004b Patterns of Jade Disposal at Blue Creek, Belize. Ms. on file, Maya Research Program, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth.
Guderjan, Thomas H. (editor) 1991 Maya Settlement in Northwestern Belize: The 1988 and 1990 Seasons of the Rio Bravo Archaeological Project. Labyrinthos, Culver City, CA.
Guderjan, Thomas H., and Robert J. Lichtenstein (editors) 2002 The Blue Creek Project: Working Papers from the 1998 and 1999 Seasons. Maya Research Program, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth.
Guderjan, Thomas H., Jeffery Baker, and Robert J. Lichtenstein 2003 Environmental and Cultural Diversity at Blue Creek. In Heterarchy, Political Economy, and the Ancient Maya: The Three Rivers Region of the East-Central Yucatan Peninsula, edited by Vernon L. Scarborough, Fred Valdez, Jr., and Nicholas P. Dunning, pp. 71–91. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.
Guderjan, Thomas H., Robert J. Lichtenstein, and C. Colleen Hanratty 2003 Elite Residences at Blue Creek, Belize. In Maya Palaces and Elite Residences, edited by Jessica Christie, pp. 13–45. University of Texas Press, Austin.
Guderjan, Thomas, Helen R. Haines, Michael Lindeman, Ellen Ruble, Dale Pastrana, and P. Weiss 1994 Excavations at the Blue Creek Ruin, Northwestern Belize: 1993 Interim Report. Maya Research Program, San Antonio, TX.
Guderjan, Thomas H., Helen R. Haines, Michael Lindeman, Shirley Mock, Ellen Ruble, Froyla Salam, and Lea Worchester 1993 Excavations at the Blue Creek Ruin, Northwestern Belize: 1992 Interim Report. Maya Research Program, St. Mary's University, San Antonio, TX.
Haines, Helen R. 1995 Summary of Excavations at the Temple of the Masks. In Archaeological Research at Blue Creek, Belize: Progress Report of the Third (1994) Field Season, edited by Thomas H. Guderjan and W. David Driver, pp. 73–98. Maya Research Program, St. Mary's University, San Antonio, TX.
Haines, Helen R. 1996 1995 Season Excavations at Structure 9. In Archaeological Research at Blue Creek, Belize: Progress Report of the Fourth (1995) Field Season, edited by Thomas H. Guderjan, W. David Driver, and Helen R. Haines, pp. 59–66. Maya Research Program, St. Mary's University, San Antonio, TX.
Haines, Helen R. 2000 Intra-Site Obsidian Distribution and Consumption Patterns in Northern Belize and the North-Eastern Petén. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Institute of Archaeology, University College, London.
Hall, Grant 1987 The Discovery of Tomb 23 and Results of Two Other Tomb Investigations at Rio Azul, Season of 1985. In Rio Azul Reports Number 3, edited by R.E.W. Adams, pp. 107–151. University of Texas, San Antonio.
Hammond, Norman, Laura J. Kosakowsky, K. Anne Pyburn, John R. Rose, J.C. Staneko, Sara Donaghey, C.M. Clark, Mark Horton, Colleen Gleason, Deborah Muyskens, and Thomas Addyman 1988 The Evolution of an Ancient Maya City: Nohmul. National Geographic Research 4(4):474–495.Google Scholar
Hanratty, C. Colleen 2002 Excavations in the Structure 37 Plazuela. In The Blue Creek project: Working Papers from the 1998 and 1999 Field Seasons, edited by Thomas H. Guderjan and Robert J. Lichtenstein, pp. 73–81. Maya Research Program, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth.
Houk, Brett 1996 The Archaeology of Site Planning: An Example from the Maya Site of Dos Hombres, Belize. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Texas, Austin.
Kosakowsky, Laura, and Thomas H. Guderjan 2004 The Implications of a Terminal Preclassic Tomb at Blue Creek. Ms. on file, Maya Research Program, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth.
Kosakowsky, Laura J., W. David Driver, and Sarah Clayton 2002 Rubbish or Ritual? An Examination of Terminal Deposits at Blue Creek. Paper presented at the 67th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Denver.
Lichtenstein, Robert J. 1997 Preliminary Report of the Excavation of the Structure 19 Courtyard. In Archaeological Research at Blue Creek, Belize: Progress Report of the Fourth (1995) Field Season, edited by Thomas H. Guderjan, W. David Driver, and Helen R. Haines, pp. 78–85. Maya Research Program, St. Mary's University, San Antonio, TX.
Lichtenstein, Robert J. 1998 The Structure 19 Courtyard. In The Blue Creek Project: Working Papers from the 1996 Field Season, edited by W. David Driver, Heather L. Clagett, and Helen R. Haines, pp. 39–50. Maya Research Program, St. Mary's University, San Antonio, TX.
Lichtenstein, Robert J. 2000a Settlement Zone Communities of the Greater Blue Creek Area. Occasional Paper 2. Maya Research Program, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth.
Lichtenstein, Robert J. 2000b Tomb 5, a Late Preclassic Elite Burial at the Blue Creek Ruin. Paper presented at the 65th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Philadelphia.
Mathews, Jennifer P. 1998 The Ties That Bind: The Ancient Maya Interaction Spheres of the Late Preclassic and Early Classic Periods in the Northern Yucatan Peninsula. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Riverside.
Michelon, Oscar (editor) 1976 Dicconario de San Francisco. Ms. written before 1649. Biblioteca Linguistica Americana, vol. II. Akademische Druck- u. Verlag Sansltalt, Graz, Austria.
Neivens, Mary 1991 Operations at Blue Creek. In Maya Settlement in Northwestern Belize: The 1988 and 1990 Seasons of the Rio Bravo Archaeological Project, edited by Thomas H. Guderjan, pp. 51–54. Labyrinthos, Culver City, CA.
Pastrana, Dale Victoria 1995 Excavations at Structures 5 and 6. In Archaeological Research at Blue Creek, Belize: Progress Report of the Third (1994) Field Season, edited by Thomas H. Guderjan and W. David Driver, pp. 63–72. Maya Research Program, St. Mary's University, San Antonio, TX.
Pastrana, Dale Victoria 1996 Excavation of Structures 5 and 6. In Archaeological Research at Blue Creek, Belize: Progress Report of the Fourth (1995) Field Season, edited by Thomas H. Guderjan, W. David Driver, and Helen R. Haines, pp. 43–58. Maya Research Program, St. Mary's University, San Antonio, TX.
Rathje, William L. 1970 Socio-political Implications of Lowland Maya Burials: Methodology and Tentative Hypotheses. World Archaeology 1:359–374.Google Scholar
Ricketson, O.G., and E.B. Ricketson 1937 Uaxactun, Guatemala, Group E, 1926–1937. Carnegie Institution of Washington Publication 477. Washington, DC.
Robertson, Merle Greene 1983 The Sculpture of Palenque, Volume II. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ.
Roys, Lawrence, and Edwin M. Shook 1966 Preliminary Report on the Ruins of Aké, Yucatan. Society for American Archaeology, Memoir 20. Kenosha, WI.
Roys, Ralph L. 1954 Political Geography of the Yucatec Maya. Carnegie Institute of Washington, Washington, DC.
Santley, Robert S., Michael J. Berman, and Rani Alexander 1991 The Politicization of the Mesoamerican Ballgame and Its Implications for the Interpretation of the Distribution of Ballcourts in Central Mexico. In The Mesoamerican Ballgame, edited by Vernon L. Scarborough and David R. Wilcox, pp. 3–25. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.
Scarborough, Vernon L. 1991 Courting the Southern Maya Lowlands: A Study in Pre-Hispanic Ballgame Architecture. In The Mesoamerican Ballgame, edited by Vernon L. Scarborough and David R. Wilcox, pp. 129–159. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.
Schele, Linda, and David A. Freidel 1990 A Forest of Kings. William Morrow, New York.
Stuart, David 1991 The Iconography of Flowers Among the Classic Maya. Ms. on file, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN.
Thompson, J. Eric S. 1939 Excavations at San Jose, British Honduras. Carnegie Institute of Washington, Washington, DC.
Thompson, J. Eric S. 1962 A Catalog of Maya Hieroglyphs. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.
Valdes, Juan Antonio 1987 El Grupo H de Uaxactun: Evidencias de un centro de poder durante el Preclassico. Paper presented at the 2nd Coloqio Internacional de Mayistas, Campeche, Mexico.
Wagner, Elisabeth 2000 An Alternative View on the Meaning and Function of Structure 22A, Copan, Honduras, the Sacred and the Profane: Architecture and Identity in the Maya Lowlands. Acta Mesoamericana 10:25–50.Google Scholar
Weiss, Pamela 1995 Architecture and Ritual at Structure 4. In Archaeological Research at Blue Creek, Belize. Progress Report of the Third (1994) Field Season, edited by Thomas H. Guderjan and W. David Driver, pp. 45–62. Maya Research Program, St. Mary's University, San Antonio, TX.
Weiss, Pamela 1996 The Continuation of Excavations at Structure 4. In Archaeological Research at Blue Creek, Belize: Progress Report of the Fourth (1995) Field Season, edited by Thomas H. Guderjan, W. David Driver, and Helen R. Haines, pp. 37–42. Maya Research Program, St. Mary's University, San Antonio, TX.
Williams-Beck, Lorraine A. 2002 Whole Vessels from Blue Creek. Ms. on file, Maya Research Program, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth.