Holmul

Holmul is a pre-Columbian archaeological site of the Maya civilization, located in the northeastern Petén Basin region in Guatemala, near the modern-day border with Belize.

Location

In spite of its relatively modest size, Holmul was important to both the Tikal and the Kaanul (Kan) dynasties.

According to archaeologist Estrada-Belli, Holmul occupied a strategic position for both these kingdoms. Holmul lay along the best east-west route between Tikal and the coast. And it also lay on the north-south route between the Kaanul capital Dzibanche and the Guatemalan highlands. The latter route did not pass through Tikal territory, and was very important for trade, because of the strategic materials that could be imported from there.

Archaeological research

The site was first visited by an archaeological research team in 1911, led by Harvard archaeologist Raymond Merwin. The initial work by Merwin at Holmul (later expanded by George Vaillant) produced the first stratigraphic ceramic sequence to be defined at a Maya region site. However, the results of this Peabody Museum expedition were not formally published until some twenty years afterwards, and subsequently the site remained relatively little-studied. Excavation and research at Holmul resumed only in the year 2000, as an archaeological group from Boston University, organized by Dr. Francisco Estrada Belli, began to explore the site. Shortly after its start, this archaeological project received funding from Vanderbilt University, until 2008, when Boston University took over the exploration's funding again.

Holmul (disambiguation)

Holmul may refer to: