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The Ancient Maya of the Belize Valley Half a Century of
Archaeological Research 1st Edition James F. Garber
Digital Instant Download
Author(s): James F. Garber
ISBN(s): 9780813026855, 0813026857
Edition: 1st
File Details: PDF, 8.77 MB
Year: 2003
Language: english
ARCHAEOLOGY/ANTHROPOLOGY/LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES
Garber
“As Maya scholars raise increasingly clear and better informed questions about the de-
velopment of Maya civilization over two and a half millennia, the very rich data that this
The Ancient Maya

highly recommended volume discusses are certain to play a crucial role in providing new
answers and even more clarified questions.”— Journal of Anthropological Research
The Ancient Maya of the Belize Valley

“An outstanding body of evidence from Belize Valley that contributes to understanding the
of the Belize Valley

organization and dynamics of Maya society in general, and provides a stimulating basis for
further research. Strongly recommended.”—Choice
“A substantial contribution to Maya archaeology in particular, and Latin American anthro-

pology in general.”—The Journal of Latin American Anthropology
“An admirable contribution to the growing literature on Maya settlement research initiated
by Gordon Willey in the Belize Valley in the 1950s.”—Shirley B. Mock, University of Texas,
San Antonio
Half a Century of Archaeological Research
O ver half a century ago , the late Gordon Willey began his research in the Belize
Valley, and ten years later he published a synthesis of his data that is recognized
today as a classic study of ancient Maya settlement patterns. This volume looks at the
abundant research that has taken place in the region since the 1950s (and includes a ret-
rospective chapter from Willey that was submitted shortly before his death in April 2002).
The Ancient Maya of the Belize Valley presents in a single volume highlights of the extensive
data from the diverse sites in this part of Mesoamerica, one of the richest archaeological
areas in the Maya world. The collection provides a key to understanding the valley’s ancient
political and social organization by emphasizing the interconnectedness of the region’s
settlements.
James F. Garber is professor of anthropology and field school director at Texas State
University. He is the author of Archaeology at Cerros Belize, Central America, volume 2, The
Artifacts.
A volume in the series Maya Studies, edited by Diane Z. Chase and Arlen F. Chase Edited by James F. Garber
Front cover: Blackman Eddy artifact, Kanocha phase ocarina fragment.
ISBN 978-0-8130-3979-4
University Press of Florida UPF
www.upf.com
,!7IA8B3-adjhje!
The Ancient Maya of the Belize Valley
Maya Studies
University Press of Florida

Florida A&M University, Tallahassee
Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton
Florida Gulf Coast University, Ft. Myers
Florida International University, Miami
Florida State University, Tallahassee
New College of Florida, Sarasota
University of Central Florida, Orlando
University of Florida, Gainesville
University of North Florida, Jacksonville
University of South Florida, Tampa
University of West Florida, Pensacola
Maya Studies
Edited by Diane Z. Chase and Arlen F. Chase
The books in this series will focus on both the ancient and the contemporary Maya peoples of Belize,
Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. The goal of the series is to provide an integrated
outlet for scholarly works dealing with Maya archaeology, epigraphy, ethnography, and history. The
series will particularly seek cutting-edge theoretical works, methodologically sound site-reports,
and tightly organized edited volumes with broad appeal.
Salt: White Gold of the Ancient Maya, by Heather McKillop (2002)

Archaeology and Ethnohistory of Iximché, by C. Roger Nance, Stephen L. Whittington,
and Barbara E. Borg (2003)
The Ancient Maya of the Belize Valley: Half a Century of Archaeological Research,
edited by James F. Garber (2003; first paperback edition, 2011)
Unconquered Lacandon Maya: Ethnohistory and Archaeology of the Indigenous Culture Change,
by Joel W. Palka (2005)
Chocolate in Mesoamerica: A Cultural History of Cacao, edited by Cameron L. McNeil (2006)
Maya Christians and Their Churches in Sixteenth-Century Belize, by Elizabeth Graham (2011)
Chan: An Ancient Maya Farming Community, edited by Cynthia Robin (2012)
Motul de San Jose: Politics, History, and Economy in a Maya Polity, edited by Antonia E. Foias
and Kitty F. Emery (2012)
The Ancient Maya
of the Belize Valley
Half a Century of Archaeological Research
Edited by James F. Garber

Gainesville · Tallahassee · Tampa · Boca Raton
Pensacola · Orlando · Miami · Jacksonville · Ft. Myers · Sarasota
Copyright 2004 by James F. Garber
Printed in the United States of America. Printed in the United States of America. This book
is printed on Glatfelter Natures Book, a paper certified under the standards of the Forestry
Stewardship Council (FSC). It is a recycled stock that contains 30 percent post-consumer
waste and is acid-free.
All rights reserved
First cloth printing, 2004

First paperback printing, 2011
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

The ancient Maya of the Belize Valley: half a century of archaeological research /
edited by James F. Garber
p. cm. — (Maya studies)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8130-2685-7 (cloth: alk. paper); ISBN 978-0-8130-3979-4 (pbk: alk. paper)
1. Maya—Belize River Valley (Guatemala and Belize)—Antiquities.
2. Excavations (Archaeology)—Belize River Valley (Guatemala and Belize)—History.
3. Belize River Valley (Guatemala and Belize)—Antiquities. I. Garber, James. II. Series.
F1445.A63 2004
972.82—dc21 2003054096
The University Press of Florida is the scholarly publishing agency for the State University
System of Florida, comprising Florida A&M University, Florida Atlantic University, Florida
Gulf Coast University, Florida International University, Florida State University, New College
of Florida, University of Central Florida, University of Florida, University of North Florida,
University of South Florida, and University of West Florida.

15 Northwest 15th Street
Gainesville, FL 32611-2079
http://www.upf.com
Dedicated to the memory of Gordon R. Willey
(1913–2002)
Contents
List of Figures xi
List of Maps xv
List of Tables xvii
Foreword xix
Introduction
1. The Archaeology of the Belize Valley in Historical Perspective 1
Arlen F. Chase and James F. Garber
2. Retrospective 15
Gordon R. Willey
The Central Belize Valley

3. Middle Formative Prehistory of the Central Belize Valley:
An Examination of Architecture, Material Culture, and Sociopolitical
Change at Blackman Eddy 25
James F. Garber, M. Kathryn Brown, Jaime J. Awe,
and Christopher J. Hartman
4. Archaeological Investigations at Blackman Eddy 48

James F. Garber, M. Kathryn Brown, W. David Driver, David M. Glassman,
Christopher J. Hartman, F. Kent Reilly III, and Lauren A. Sullivan
5. Major Center Identifiers at a Plazuela Group Near the Ancient

Maya Site of Baking Pot 70
James M. Conlon and Terry G. Powis
6. Ancient Maya Settlement in the Valley of Peace Area 86

Lisa J. Lucero, Scott L. Fedick, Andrew Kinkella, and Sean M. Graebner
The Upper Belize Valley

7. Cahal Pech: The Middle Formative Period 103
Paul F. Healy, David Cheetham, Terry G. Powis, and Jaime J. Awe
8. The Role of “Terminus Groups” in Lowland Maya Site Planning:
An Example from Cahal Pech 125
David Cheetham
9. Buenavista del Cayo: A Short Outline of Occupational and Cultural

History at an Upper Belize Valley Regal-Ritual Center 149
Joseph W. Ball and Jennifer T. Taschek
10. Xunantunich in a Belize Valley Context 168

Richard M. Leventhal and Wendy Ashmore
11. The Royal Charter at Xunantunich 180

Virginia M. Fields
12. Buenavista del Cayo, Cahal Pech, and Xunantunich:

Three Centers, Three Histories, One Central Place 191
Jennifer T. Taschek and Joseph W. Ball
The Belize Valley: Neighboring Connections

13. The Ancient Maya Center of Pacbitun 207
Paul F. Healy, Bobbi Hohmann, and Terry G. Powis
14. Defining Royal Maya Burials: A Case from Pacbitun 228

Paul F. Healy, Jaime J. Awe, and Hermann Helmuth
15. Integration among Communities, Centers, and Regions:

The Case from El Pilar 238
Anabel Ford
16. The Classic Maya Trading Port of Moho Cay 257

Heather McKillop
The Belize Valley: Integration

17. Problems in the Definition and Interpretation of “Minor Centers”
in Maya Archaeology with Reference to the Upper Belize Valley 273
Gyles Iannone
18. The Emergence of Minor Centers in the Zones between

Seats of Power 287
W. David Driver and James F. Garber
19. The Terminal Classic to Postclassic Transition in the

Belize River Valley 305
James Aimers
20. Polities, Politics, and Social Dynamics: “Contextualizing”
the Archaeology of the Belize Valley and Caracol 320
Arlen F. Chase
Conclusion
21. Diverse Voices: Toward an Understanding of Belize Valley
Archaeology 335
Diane Z. Chase
References Cited 349

List of Contributors 403
Index 407
Figures
1.1. Plan of Barton Ramie 6

3.1. Blackman Eddy Structure B1 profile 26
3.2. Radiocarbon dates from Blackman Eddy 28
3.3. Blackman Eddy artifacts 32
3.4. Plan map of bedrock beneath Structure B1 at Blackman Eddy 34
3.5. Blackman Eddy Middle Formative vessels 36
3.6. Structures B1-4th and B1-5th at Blackman Eddy 39
3.7. Structure B1-3rd subphases at Blackman Eddy 43
4.1. Map of Blackman Eddy site core 50
4.2. Artifacts from Burial 4 on Structure B1, Blackman Eddy 53
4.3. Anonal Buff-polychrome vessel from Burial 4, Structure B1,
Blackman Eddy 53
4.4. Structure B1-2nd, Blackman Eddy 55
4.5. Drawing of upper east mask facade, Structure B1-2nd-b, Blackman
Eddy 56
4.6. Formative and Classic examples of bowls with supernatural
entities 57
4.7. Stelae drawings 63
5.1. Map of Baking Pot, showing location of Bedran Settlement
Cluster 71
5.2. Plan of the Bedran Settlement Cluster 73
5.3. Plan of the Bedran Group plazuela 73
5.4. PSS glyph band on Orange Walk Incised bowl recovered from
Burial 2, Structure 2, Bedran Group 77
6.1. Land classes in the VOPA area 89
6.2. Saturday Creek 92
6.3. Yalbac 97
7.1. Plan of Cahal Pech 104
7.2. Plan of Cahal Pech Plaza B 105
7.3. Plan of the Tolok peripheral settlement group, Cahal Pech 111
Figures
7.4. Late Middle Formative circular platforms 112

7.5. Reconstruction of Cunil phase ceramic vessels from Cahal Pech 113
7.6. Select motifs from Cunil phase ceramics, Cahal Pech 114
7.7. Formative period hand-modeled ceramic figurine heads from Cahal
Pech 115
8.1. Terminus group site plans 128
8.2. Plan of the Zopilote Terminus Group 131
8.3. North-south profile of pyramidal Structure A-1, Zopilote Terminus
Group, Cahal Pech 132
8.4. Ceramic vessels from Tomb 1, Structure A-1, Zopilote Terminus
Group 134
8.5. West-face profile of “Stela Chamber” 135
8.6. Stela 9 from Tomb 2 136
8.7. Idealized evolution of a “multiple nuclei” Maya center 143
9.1. Buenavista del Cayo 150
9.2. Middle Preclassic (Kanluk phase) twisted biface, Guerra
locality 152
9.3. Terminal Middle/Initial Late Preclassic (Umbral phase) structural
cache, Buenavista 154
9.4. Footprint plans of Buenavista del Cayo center 155
9.5. Stucco statuette of hunchbacked dwarf from primary centerline
cache, Structure BVc-3 159
9.6. The “Buenavista Device” 160
9.7. The Buenavista “Palace School” 161
10.1. Final map of central area of Xunantunich 172
11.1. Architectural friezes on Xunantunich Structure A6-2d 183
11.2. Chak Xib Chak on the Cosmic Plate 184
11.3. Limestone panel from Palenque 184
11.4. Vessel from Seibal Burial 14 186
11.5. Quirigua Stelae A and C, north faces 188
11.6. Quirigua Stelae A and C, south faces 189
12.1. The upper Belize Valley Late Classic “Jade Hearth” 192
12.2. Xunantunich 193
12.3. Cahal Pech 195
12.4. Late Classic (Paloverde ceramic phase) polychrome bloodletting
bowl from Cahal Pech 200
12.5. Stela 9, Cahal Pech 201
13.1. Plan of Pacbitun Core Zone 209
13.2. Plan of the elite residential court zone at Pacbitun 211
13.3. Artist’s rendering of the Pacbitun ballcourt (Early Classic and Late
Classic) 212
xii
Figures
13.4. Stela 6 at Pacbitun (reconstruction), dated to ca. a.d. 475 214

13.5. Plan of the Middle Preclassic structures below Plaza B at
Pacbitun 223
14.1. Stylized plan of Pacbitun BU 1–9 (tomb) interior 230
14.2. Ceramic vessels from Pacbitun BU 1–9 231
14.3. Artifacts from Pacbitun BU 1–9 232
14.4. Hollow, cut bone tubes from BU 1–9 232
15.1. Belize River Archaeological Settlement Survey area with regional
transect surveys, test excavations, and full-scale excavations 240
15.2. Map of the greater extent of the major regional center of El Pilar
(Belize)/Pilar Poniente (Guatemala) 242
15.3. A large ridgeland residential unit excavated in 1992 by the BRASS
project 246
15.4. The regional location of El Pilar 249
15.5. The El Pilar transect just south of the center of El Pilar 252
16.1. Map of Moho Cay 259
16.2. Feature 4 burial in Unit 2a 263
16.3. Feature 9 burial in Unit 2b 263
16.4. Feature 3 burial in Units 2c, 2d, and 2f 264
16.5. Feature 5 burial in Unit 8a 265
16.6. Feature 8 burial in Unit 22 included a bichrome, round-side dish,
similar to others found offshore 266
16.7. Manatee bone midden in Units 6–6c 267
18.1. Site plan of Floral Park 294
18.2. Site plan of Esperanza 295
18.3. Site plan of Nohoch Ek 296
18.4. Site plan of Ontario 298
18.5. Site plan of Ontario settlement zone 299
19.1. Paxcaman Red grater bowl 309
19.2. Augustine Red collared jar 312
19.3. Augustine Red tripod dish 315
20.1. City of Caracol 326
xiii
Maps
1. The Belize Valley 2

2. The east-central Maya lowlands 127
3. The central Maya lowlands with Maya centers indicated 239
4. The Belize Valley with 9.9-km “districts” 290
Tables
3.1. Middle Formative construction sequences by phase from Structure

B1 at Blackman Eddy 27
3.2. Radiocarbon dates from Blackman Eddy 29
4.1. Construction phases of Structure B1 at Blackman Eddy 51
4.2. Earliest dated monuments and the development of the ISIG 65
4.3. Summary of Stela 1, Blackman Eddy 66
6.1. Soil attributes and land capability classes 90
6.2. VOPA soil classes 91
6.3. Residential unit density by soil class in the upper Belize River
area 98
6.4. Average structure/residential unit per km2 99
7.1. Middle Formative radiocarbon dates from Cahal Pech site core
and settlement zone 106
7.2. Identified fauna from Formative period Cahal Pech 117
8.1. Morphological data of select terminus groups from the east-central
Maya lowlands 129
13.1. Settlement of the Periphery Zone of Pacbitun 218
13.2. List of identified taxa from Pacbitun 219
Foreword
Archaeologists are a persistent and conscientious group of individuals,

and persistence was especially necessary to see this volume through to
fruition. The idea for this book began at the Society for American Archae-
ology meetings in St. Louis, Missouri, in April 1993, at a session titled
“Recent Developments in the Archaeology of the Belize Valley.” This was
a first attempt to get the plethora of researchers with an interest in the
Belize Valley together to share and discuss the archaeological data they
had been gathering.
In the 1990s and continuing to this day, the many different projects
(and subprojects) in the valley were being undertaken by individuals from
many different universities and institutions. All of these researchers not
only hold different methodological and theoretical backgrounds but also
have varied personalities, backgrounds, and training. There is also an ele-
ment of competition among these individuals, even though many of them
have been working side by side for twenty years. The long-term nature of
these multiple projects also means that most see “next season” as provid-
ing them with crucial missing data. All of this means that it is often difficult
for other researchers to obtain information and to see any broader picture
of the Belize Valley. This volume, therefore, is the first presentation of the
diverse data collected over several decades in the Belize Valley in a single
compilation. Because the valley is one of the most intensively worked re-
gions in the Maya area, these data form an important baseline for other
interpretations.
Gordon Willey first brought attention to the Belize Valley some 50
years ago by restarting Harvard University’s presence in the field of Maya
archaeology after an absence of nearly 50 years (since that institution’s
cessation of work at Copan, Honduras, at the end of the 19th century).
By using an academic program as the launching pad for an archaeologi-
cal project, Willey was at the forefront of the integration of Maya studies
into academic curriculums following World War II. In the 1950s, a series
of universities (Harvard University at Barton Ramie, Belize; the University
Foreword
of Pennsylvania at Tikal, Guatemala; and Tulane University at Dzibilchal-

tun, Mexico) actively sought research programs in the Maya region and
integrated them into their graduate programs in anthropology. The con-
tinuation of university-sponsored research involving undergraduate and
graduate anthropology programs has prospered at the sites reported on
in this book and has exposed a whole new generation of students to the
archaeology of the Belize Valley.
Whereas Willey et al. (1965) was able to publish a synthesis of his
archaeological data less than 10 years after the close of his three-year ex-
cavation project, with a few exceptions (Bullard and Bullard 1965), there
have not been any published synthesis or site reports on the more recent
work undertaken in the Belize Valley. There are few remaining outlets
for the publication of research data in the form of site reports. Yet site
reports and recorded artifactual and contextual data retain their value
long after theoretical interpretations and “breakthroughs” become old
and hackneyed. We sincerely hope that the monograph part of our Maya
Studies series will begin to alleviate this very real publication problem
by providing an outlet for well-prepared final site reports. As an edited
volume, this book represents an intermediate step in the long-term produc-
tion of final site reports. While researchers may quibble with some of the
current interpretations and theoretical frameworks used in this volume,
the archaeological data presented are timeless and will be used and cited
by future generations of archaeologists.
Arlen F. Chase and Diane Z. Chase, series editors
xx
1
The Archaeology of the Belize Valley in Historical Perspective
Arlen F. Chase and James F. Garber
Half a century ago, Gordon Willey instituted the first formal settlement
pattern work in the Maya area. Trained by Julian Steward in cultural ecol-
ogy and already having successfully carried out similar work in the Viru
Valley of Peru (Willey 1953), he selected the Belize Valley as the locus of
investigation for demonstrating how settlement pattern archaeology could
be applied to the Maya area (chapter 2; Willey et al. 1965:15–16). His
focus on small unassuming housemounds rather than on a large spectacu-
lar Maya center revolutionized the field of Maya archaeology by causing
researchers to examine non-elite remains. This work also indirectly pro-
duced questions concerning the organizational scale of ancient Maya soci-
ety: chapters 17 and 18 (this volume) address these issues as they relate to
the function and variability of “minor ceremonial centers” as defined in
Willey’s initial study; chapters 9 and 11 (this volume) address these ques-
tions as they relate to “major ceremonial centers” as originally defined by
Willey.
The Belize Valley
The Belize Valley may be defined in terms of its waterways. It includes two
topographical subregions. The first zone is referred to here as the “upper
Belize Valley” and consists of the upland area characterized by hills and
steep slopes above (west of) the convergence of the Macal and Mopan
Rivers in western Belize. The second zone is referred to as the “central
Belize Valley” and consists primarily of broad alluvial flatlands and bor-
dering hills that occur along the western sector of the Belize River from the
Saturday Creek
Cocos Bank
Belmopan
El Pilar
Barton Camelote
Spanish Ramie
Lookout Warrie Head
R MB Ontario Village
RIVE Blackman
ZE Eddy
Yaxox LI Floral
BE Baking Park
BELIZE
Pot
GUATEMALA
Alta Vista
R M
IVE
MOPAN R A Esperanza
C
San Ignacio A
2
Cahal Pech L
Callar Cayo Y
Creek Buenavista Zopilote N
del Cayo R
Zubin I 0 1 2 3 4 5 km
V
Actuncan Nohoch Ek E
A. F. Chase and J. F. Garber
R
Xunantunich Chaa Creek Ancient Center
Pacbitun
ModernTown
Tipu
Chan Guacamayo
Melchor
Dos Chombitos
Las Ruinas
Map 1. The Belize Valley (drafted by James F. Garber). The upper Belize Valley, characterized by hilly terrain,
extends from the modern town of Melchor on the west to the conjunction of the Macal and Mopan Rivers to form
the Belize River on the east. The central Belize Valley, characterized by settlement on flatter alluvial terraces, starts
at the conjunction of the Mopan and Macal Rivers and extends to the marshy area just east of Cocos Bank. Note
that El Pilar and Pacbitun are technically not in the Belize Valley.
The Archaeology of the Belize Valley
juncture of the Macal and Mopan to an area south of the modern capital of
Belmopan, where the river begins its descent into the low-lying marshy
swamps and savanna that stretch another 30 km to the Caribbean Sea
(map 1). In terms of landmarks on the river, the Belize Valley extends from
the modern town of Benque Viejo del Carmen in western Belize to the
eastern ruins at Cocos Bank.
Ancient Maya settlement in central-western Belize was conditioned by
the Belize River and its surrounding terrain. The lowest part of the Belize
River (east of Cocos Bank and Saturday Creek) runs through savanna and
swamp that were not conducive to either large or small Maya settlements.
Agriculture was not only difficult in the coastal plain immediately adjacent
to the Caribbean, but also some 30 km inland, where poor soil conditions
still prevailed. Only the alluvial soils along rivers that flooded and carried
upland soils into these areas could readily support settlement. To some
extent, these ecological conditions determined one of the areas where the
ancient Maya would settle—in the flatter, sometimes flooded, areas along
rivers where rich alluvial soils had been deposited. Thus, the densest an-
cient Maya settlement occurs along the banks of the Belize River above the
point where it spills into the broad savanna plain.
During the rainy season from May through December, the level of water
in the rivers associated with the Belize Valley occasionally rise as much as
12 m, causing severe flooding and depositing alluvium on the river ter-
races. Willey and colleagues (1965:23) reported that “the alluvium of the
upper terraces seems to be at least 10 m. deep.” Limestone foothills domi-
nate the western part of the Belize River Valley, essentially ending where
the Macal and Mopan join to form the Belize River. The limestone foothills
of the Maya Mountains also intermittently form the southern boundary of
the Belize River between Floral Park and Cocos Bank. However, the zone
between the modern town of San Ignacio and Floral Park is characterized
by broad alluvial terraces on both sides of the river.
Probably because of the location of the modern road and the effect
that this road has had on modern settlement, the majority of the sites
known from the Belize Valley lie to the south of the Belize River (map 1).
Apart from the work done by Willey et al. (1965) at Barton Ramie and
the transect surveys carried out by Ford (1990) in the western part of the
valley north of the Belize and Mopan Rivers, there has been little ar-
chaeological reconnaissance on the northern side of the river. Undoubt-
edly, other sites and settlements will be found there in the future.
Maritime trade was always of importance to the ancient Maya (McKillop
and Healy 1989). Along with the Hondo River (D. Chase and A. Chase
3
1989) and New River (Garber 1989), the Belize River is one of the natural
transportation and communication routes between the Caribbean Sea and
the Petén heartland of Guatemala. The portage of long-distance trade
goods would have been greatly facilitiated by the use of the Belize River.
Given its position, the Belize Valley would have served as the last gate-
way for the transport of goods into the Maya interior. The archaeological
record correspondingly exhibits exotics from throughout the Maya area—
much of it material that had been transported up or down the Belize River
(Jackson and McKillop 1989). At the other end of the Belize River, Mojo
Cay served as a trade entrepôt (chapter 16).
While river traffic is possible up both the Macal and Mopan Rivers in
the upper Belize Valley, rapids are encountered in each, making travel
more difficult. South of the modern town of San Ignacio, the Macal River
is characterized by steep sides with relatively little in the way of flat alluvial
areas. Thus, the sites of Cahal Pech and Cayo Y effectively form the gate-
way community for the eastern extent of the Macal River throughout
most of the Belize Valley’s history (being replaced by Negroman-Tipu
[Graham et al. 1985] in the Postclassic and Colonial eras). Interestingly,
the jump-off station for travel to points in the interior remained on the
Macal River throughout the Historic period with the town of San Ignacio,
situated at the juncture of the uplands and plain, serving until relatively
recently as the off-loading point for most travelers coming by boat (includ-
ing archaeological projects; see pictures in Black 1990).
The Mopan River, characterized by rapids but also by a more direct
interior route, appears to have had more settlement along its banks than
did the Macal, probably because the terrain was gentler. This settlement,
however, is not as dense as that documented at Barton Ramie, Baking
Pot, or Spanish Lookout, all located along the Belize River in the central
Belize Valley. Whereas Cahal Pech was the gateway community for the
Macal River, a cluster of three sites seems to have served this purpose on
the Mopan River—Actuncan in the Preclassic, Buenavista del Cayo in
the Classic, and Xunantunich in the Terminal Classic. Ball and Taschek
(chapter 9) explore the shifting political dynamics of this portion of the
valley.
There are important compositional differences between the sites on the
Belize River in the central Belize Valley and those above the confluence of
the Macal and Mopan in the upper Belize Valley. Most of the settlement in
the central Belize Valley is clustered on the sides of the Belize River and
consists of many small mounds widely distributed over the landscape,
much like Barton Ramie and Spanish Lookout. The sites at the Belize head-
4
waters, on or between the Macal and Mopan Rivers in the upper Belize
Valley, appear to be more concentrated in their settlement and to consis-
tently exhibit larger scale architecture; this phenomenon is addressed by
Driver and Garber (chapter 18). Cahal Pech (chapters 7 and 8), Xunan-
tunich (chapters 9 and 11), Buenavista del Cayo (chapter 10), and even El
Pilar (chapter 15), all form fairly compact sites with clear focal centers. In
the central Belize Valley, Baking Pot (chapter 5) mimics this focus, but its
settlement and its habitation mounds are relatively numerous and more
widely dispersed (consistent with other ancient occupation on the flatland
alluvial terraces).
Gordon Willey and Barton Ramie in Historical Perspective
Although Willey and his colleagues (1955, 1965; Willey and Bullard
1956) excavated at several sites (Barton Ramie, Spanish Lookout, Bak-
ing Pot, Melhado) in the Belize Valley between 1954 and 1956, the bulk
of their archaeological work focused on the site of Barton Ramie, where
65 out of 262 mounds were investigated, 13 of them intensively. Barton
Ramie was seen as being typical of the settlement found in the Belize
Valley (Willey et al. 1965:561); “so dense are these mounds that they
form a ribbon strip of virtually continuous settlement for many kilome-
ters along the alluvial flats and higher banks of the stream.” Few ar-
chaeological remains were located by Willey’s project at any distance
from the river; most (like the site of Floral Park) were no more than 1 km
distant.
Barton Ramie (fig. 1.1) was a fairly unassuming site best characterized
as a settlement zone located on the floodplain of the Belize River approxi-
mately 5 miles from the Belizean district capital of San Ignacio. Unlike
other sites that had been investigated before 1950 by the Carnegie Institu-
tion of Washington and the University of Pennsylvania, Barton Ramie
was not characterized by large temple-pyramids, carved stone monuments,
or standing stone architecture. Instead, the site consisted primarily of
raised earthen mounds that upon excavation revealed stone facings and
other architectural remains. Also revealed in these tumuli was a rather
lengthy sequence of occupation. Initially, at least, these investigations were
fit into a preexisting paradigm that dictated an uncomplicated village de-
velopment with eventual abandonment of the site and valley at the time of
the Maya collapse (Willey 1956a; Willey et al. 1955). More recent research
has shown both greater complexity and time depth to this initial occupa-
tion (chapters 3 and 7).
5
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Excavated
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shown in solid
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0 100 200200300
0 100 300 400 500
400 500
LOW RIVER
TERRACES meters
meters
Fig. 1.1. Plan of Barton Ramie showing the structures excavated by Willey (drafted by
James F. Garber after Willey et al. 1965:277).
Rather than fitting neatly with what was already known about the
Maya elsewhere, however, the Barton Ramie ceramic sequence was found
to be related to, but still peripheral to, the developments in the central
Petén (Gifford 1976). The ceramics were not simply copies of those al-
ready known from Uaxactun (Smith 1955) or San Jose (Thompson 1939).
The temporal faceting of these materials was also different from that as-
signed to central Petén ceramics (Gifford 1976).
Regional Chronology
Archaeological research undertaken in the Belize Valley in the half century
since Willey et al.’s (1965) original work at Barton Ramie has served to
confirm and broaden the cultural historical sequence that he initially es-
tablished—with only slight changes. The original ceramic sequence de-
fined by Gifford (1976:23) spanned “at even a conservative estimate, per-
haps two thousand years.” With the potential exception of its earliest and
latest archaeological remains, the Belize Valley cultural sequence accords
6
well with developments known from elsewhere in the southern lowlands.

The earliest part (Middle Preclassic or Middle Formative) of the Belize
Valley sequence dates back to approximately 1000 b.c. (in spite of radio-
carbon dates that indicate a potentially even earlier dating; Hammond
1977:62) and is characterized by variability in the ceramic remains. Some
of these ceramics, called the Kanocha and Cunil Ceramic Complexes, have
led to the postulation that there may have been non-Maya populations in
the Belize Valley at this early date (Ball and Taschek 2000, 2003). Other
early remains, termed the Jenney Creek Ceramic Complex and dated to
approximately 600–900 b.c. at Barton Ramie (Gifford 1976), are quite
different from the Mamom-related materials (Smith 1955) excavated
throughout the central Petén of Guatemala, but still could be related to
early Maya groups. The more recent archaeological work has recovered
the Cunil Ceramic Complex from basal deposits at Cahal Pech (chapter 7),
Xunantunich (LeCount et al. 2002:42), and the Kanocha Complex at
Blackman Eddy (chapter 3).
By 300 b.c. (the onset of the Late Preclassic or Late Formative), how-
ever, the valley had been subsumed into broader ceramic traditions found
in the southern lowlands and most of the centers in the Belize Valley had
been established. However, a Late Classic florescence of Xunantunich is
argued for, based on “the overall paucity of evidence for occupation from
the Late Preclassic to Early Classic” (LeCount et al. 2002:43). The integra-
tion of the Belize Valley with the broader southern lowland area, at least
ceramically, continued from the Late Preclassic through the Early Classic
to the early part of the Late Classic period (a.d. 600–700).
Originally, the Barton Ramie archaeological data loomed large in con-
siderations of the transition from the Late Preclassic to the Early Classic
period. A ceramic complex (named Floral Park) was defined that was
viewed as being intrusive into the area (Willey and Gifford 1961), and
arguments were made for an influx of people into the Belize Valley at the
end of Late Preclassic. These migrants were viewed as being refugees
from a volcanic eruption in the El Salvadoran region. They were also
believed to have introduced a new style of pottery into the Maya low-
lands and to have helped usher in the Classic period with the introduc-
tion of new social and political systems (Sharer and Gifford 1970). The
postulated ceramic connections between Belize and El Salvador were later
forcefully refuted (Demarest 1986:173–186; Demarest and Sharer 1986),
but the appearance of a new style of ceramics in the archaeological record,
especially in burial contexts, at the onset of the Classic period has yet to
be adequately explained (see also Brady et al. 1998).
7
During the Late Classic period, the Belize Valley ceramics became in-
creasingly regionalized, focusing on types and forms generally not found in
surrounding regions. A better understanding of the Late Classic ceramic
relationships for the Belize Valley probably would be gained through clari-
fication of the archaeological picture at Naranjo, Guatemala, and a defini-
tion of that site’s ceramic sequence. Terminal Classic ceramics show wide-
spread variability at the sites in the valley and could not be faceted in the
original Barton Ramie sample (Gifford 1976:226). Both Xunantunich (in
terms of architecture) and Buenavista del Cayo (in terms of ceramics) ex-
hibit ties to the northern lowlands, raising questions about the possible
presence of “foreign” populations.
While most of the upper Belize Valley sites were largely abandoned after
the Terminal Classic (e.g., Xunantunich; LeCount et al. 2002), the exten-
sive riverine settlement in the central Belize Valley is almost uniformly
characterized by Postclassic peoples who used ceramics that are similar to
those found around the many lakes in the central Petén of Guatemala. This
could be interpreted as indicating that the Belize Valley was integrated into
broader sociopolitical and economic systems throughout the Postclassic
era. Colonial period remains, including a Spanish visita church and ceram-
ics that are very similar to the Postclassic remains in the central Belize
Valley, have been extensively documented from the upper Belize Valley site
of Negroman-Tipu (Graham et al. 1985). When viewed in conjunction
with the modern town of San Ignacio, the archaeological data from the
Belize Valley provide evidence of almost 3,000 years of continuous human
settlement.
Like its early remains, the latest ceramics from Barton Ramie were
problematic. Initially, the Postclassic occupation of Barton Ramie was
considered to be minimal. In an early synthesis of the Barton Ramie data,
Willey (1956a:781) noted that “not a single one of the numerous test
excavations in the Belize Valley has brought to light ceramic or other
evidence that would demonstrate a Postclassic period occupation of any
of the village house mounds.” Subsequent ceramic analysis actually re-
vealed it to be widespread, occurring in 62 of the 65 mounds investigated
(Gifford 1976:288; Willey et al. 1965). The relatively abundant Post-
classic artifactual material and construction levels were not recognized
during the fieldwork (possibly because no interments with recognizable
Postclassic pottery were recovered) but instead were recognized during the
subsequent ceramic analysis. Thus, the contextual linkages of this material
are not secure and even the exact relationships among the Barton Ramie
Postclassic ceramics are still largely unresolved (Bullard 1973; Cecil 2001;
8
A. Chase 1982; A. Chase and D. Chase 1983; D. Chase and A. Chase

1988; Graham 1987; Rice 1985, 1987; Sharer and Chase 1976). Even
though more recent archaeological data relating to the Terminal Classic
and Early Postclassic remains in the Belize Valley have been recovered
(e.g., chapter 19), the problematic interpretation of the sequences, dat-
ing, and meaning of the latest Barton Ramie “New Town phase” mate-
rial serves as a cautionary note for modern researchers to conjoin labora-
tory and field operations as fully as possible.
History and Retrospection
The excavations at Barton Ramie did not actually define the entirety of
that site’s settlement patterns. What they did define was the form and lon-
gevity of Maya structures and groups that were interpreted as being com-
mon households and living areas. This alone was a major advancement
for Maya archaeology (see Taylor 1948). Thus, the value of Willey’s work
at Barton Ramie lay in its emphasis on Maya remains that were consid-
ered to be typical households of the lower stratum of Maya society. These
were not elite remains. This was a level of people about whom little was
known. Only a few earlier researchers had bothered to even investigate
this class of remains (see chapter 2). Thompson (1931) had excavated a
series of test excavations within residential groups located in the Moun-
tain Cow area of the Vaca Plateau; he (1939) had also investigated larger
palacelike structures that were clearly residential at San Jose. Limited
samples of housemounds also had been intentionally excavated at Uaxac-
tun (Wauchope 1934), but these had been located in fairly close proxim-
ity to the large central architecture of that site (Ricketson and Ricketson
1937; Smith 1950).
The excavations at Barton Ramie, however, did not address issues of
how these structures and groups physically articulated with more elite
remains—even those at Barton Ramie itself, as Coe and Haviland (1966)
pointed out. This type of research was later attempted with the settlement
work undertaken at Tikal, Guatemala (Puleston 1983). Barton Ramie was
assumed to have been a small “rural” village within “a large but well-
integrated network of theocratic stations and substations” that included
three identified “ceremonial sites of middling size (Banana Bank, Bank-
ing Pot, Cahal Pech . . . )” and “one impressive ceremonial center at Xu-
nantunich” (Willey 1956a:778)—“the nearest ceremonial or organiza-
tional center of consequence . . . some 20 kilometers upriver to the west”
(Willey 1976:vii). But how this articulation actually worked was not speci-
9
fied and still engenders considerable debate (see chapters 9, 11, 17, 18,
and 20).
The concentration of settlement at Barton Ramie is substantial (Ford
1990; Fry 1990) and much denser than settlement around the larger archi-
tectural concentrations of Cahal Pech or Xunantunich in the upper Belize
Valley (but not as dense as ridgetop settlement outside of the valley proper
[chapter 15]). The comparative implications for this density were never
fully explored by Willey or others. Was Barton Ramie independent? Was it
a cluster of nonrelated households? Was it a tightly organized group of
people? Did it have different societal levels and an elite stratum? How
were these people organized socially, politically, and economically? When
Willey and his colleagues excavated Barton Ramie, Maya archaeology
was not ready to answer these questions. Rather, the collected data were
important in establishing the existence and dating of Maya residential
groups. However, Willey’s work also presaged many other questions that
continue to plague Maya researchers. For example, exotic remains were
found in association with the simple constructions at Barton Ramie and
such remains were fairly widely distributed (Willey et al. 1965). Willey
(1956a:778–779) himself contemplated what this meant for interpreta-
tions of how complex ancient Maya society was and for how it was orga-
nized, but could come to no firm conclusions regarding site or regional
organization. Since Willey’s study, the site of Blackman Eddy (chapter 4),
located less than 3 km from Barton Ramie, has been discovered and inves-
tigated, providing new clues to the integration of the Barton Ramie settle-
ment into the valley system.
All of the projects that have worked in or near the Belize Valley have
followed Willey’s tradition of emphasizing the study of ancient settle-
ment. This is specifically seen in research undertaken at Xunantunich,
Cahal Pech, Baking Pot, Buenavista del Cayo, and Valley of Peace. Where
the more modern projects have diverged from Willey has been on their
almost universal focus on large architectural concentrations. The majority
of recognizable architectural concentrations or “site centers” on the south
side of the valley have been investigated. Yet with the exception of the
Xunantunich Project (Ashmore 1998) and the work done in the western
part of the valley (Ford 1990; Fedick 1994), most of the archaeological
projects have not attempted to systematically record and test settlements
between centers or to block-map broad areas as Willey et al. (1965) did at
Barton Ramie and Spanish Lookout (see also Caracol; A. Chase and D.
Chase 2001a).
10
The Barton Ramie research undertaken by Willey and his colleagues

(1965) was heralded as a breakthrough in methodology for Maya archae-
ology (Sabloff 1994:68–72). It was multidisciplinary and regional in scope
and examined non-elite Maya settlement. Of particular note, it was fully
published with relative speed. All of these were goals aspired to by later
long-term Maya archaeological projects. Willey’s work firmly entrenched
settlement pattern studies in Maya archaeology (e.g., Ashmore 1981). Yet
it is only with the more extensive, often small-scale, research projects that
have been carried out subsequent to Willey’s work that we have actually
started to gain a sense of the broader settlement patterns of the Belize
Valley.
The Belize Valley in Current Archaeological Perspective
It is rare in Maya archaeology, especially in the southern lowlands, for

large areas to be mapped and surveyed so that the various settlement
nodes, locales, and distributions situated in a given region can be com-
pared and contrasted. This is possible in the southern lowlands with the
sites of Tikal (Puleston 1983), Calakmul (Folan et al. 2001), and Caracol
(A. Chase and D. Chase 2001a; A. Chase et al. 2001). Laporte (1994,
1996a, 2001) also has provided much regional data for the southeast
Petén. The Belize Valley is the only other part of the southern lowlands
that has comparable areal coverage. Thus, the true value of the Belize
Valley archaeological data lies in the continued, incrementally additive
regional research that has ensued in this location since Willey’s Barton
Ramie Project in the 1950s.
It was fortuitous that Willey (chapter 2) selected the Belize Valley for his
settlement research. While the settlement and farming activities in the
valley can be destructive, they also can be conducive to archaeological sur-
vey. Willey and colleagues (1965:15) noted that “the bulldozer-made clear-
ings” at Barton Ramie were “worth thousands of man-hours to the archae-
ologist” and “too good to pass up.” Since Willey’s research, development
in the Belize Valley has kept pace with the modern world, revealing (and
destroying) more sites and Maya settlement (as testified to by many of the
chapters in this volume). But the proximity to modern urban communi-
ties has also lured archaeologists to the Belize Valley because of the abil-
ity to maintain some semblance of modern creature comforts rather than
having to effect an “Indiana Jones–Early Explorer” mode of archaeology
of the kind still found in archaeological camps in the more undeveloped
11
parts of the southern lowlands. Given this proximity to “civilization,” the

Belize Valley has become one of the most intensively worked areas in the
Maya lowlands.
Even before Willey (1998) had relaxed in the Stork Club and the West-
ern Club in San Ignacio, others had already sought temporary haven in
these refuges (chapter 2). But none of the other early researchers had car-
ried out a long-term project in the Belize Valley. Rather, their efforts were
fleeting. Linton Satterthwaite (1950, 1951) of the University Museum
(University of Pennsylvania) had gotten Willey interested in doing archae-
ology in the Belize Valley and had carried out limited work at both Cahal
Pech and Xunantunich. J. Eric S. Thompson (1940), no stranger to jungle
fieldwork, had worked briefly at Xunantunich (Pendergast and Graham
1981). Gregory Mason (1940:98) had popularized the ruins in the area by
writing about a spur-of-the-moment excavation at an undesignated site 4
km south of San Ignacio. Two Harvard students also carried out short-
lived excavations in the upper part of the Belize Valley, specifically at
Nohoch Ek in 1949 (Coe and Coe 1956).
In the midst of this earlier work, however, two focal sites emerged. Xu-
nantunich on the Mopan River was repeatedly investigated from both a
research and a tourist perspective (chapter 11; Ashmore 1998; LeCount et
al. 2002; Leventhal and Ashmore, this volume; MacKie 1961; Thompson
1940; Willey et al. 1965:315–316) with its stucco facade receiving early
attention and restoration (Satterthwaite 1950). Another focal site was
Baking Pot, first excavated by Ricketson (1929), then by Anderson (Willey
et al. 1965:304), then by Willey (et al. 1965:305), then by a Royal Ontario
Museum expedition (Bullard and Bullard 1965), and most recently by the
Belize Valley Archaeological Reconnaissance Project (Awe, personal com-
munication, 2002; Moore 1997).
Subsequent projects have added significant coverage to these two fo-
cal sites, both inside and immediately outside the Belize Valley. In the
upper Belize Valley, research has been undertaken not only at Xunan-
tunich and its immediate settlement area (Ashmore 1998) but also at the
major sites of Buenavista del Cayo (chapters 9, 12; Ball and Taschek
1991) and Arenal (Las Ruinas; Taschek and Ball 1999), as well as at
Negroman-Tipu (Pendergast et al. 1993) and Chaa Creek (Connell 2000).
Cahal Pech has been the subject of more research than any other upper
Belize Valley site, actually having been excavated by two different proj-
ects. One project focused on earlier remains and outlying settlement (chap-
ters 7 and 8; Awe and Grube 2001; Awe and Healy 1994; Healy and Awe
1996). The other focused on the excavation and stabilization of the site’s
12
palace compounds (Ball 1993). Settlement has also been examined north
of the Mopan River (Fedick 1994; Ford and Fedick 1992) with most re-
search focusing on the site of El Pilar (chapter 15; Ford 1990:chap. 15)
just outside the Belize Valley proper. In the valley itself more work has
been undertaken at Baking Pot (Awe, personal communication, 2002;
Moore 1997), and the site of Blackman Eddy has also been a locus of
major research (chapters 3 and 4; Garber et al. 1998). Investigation im-
mediately south of the valley has focused on the sites of Ponces (Morris,
personal communication) and Pacbitun (chapters 13 and 14; Healy 1992,
1999; Healy and Awe 1996). To the east, salvage work has been under-
taken in the Valley of Peace (chapter 6; Awe and Topsey 1984; Morris
1984). Taken together, this research permits a better understanding of
regional development and spatial relationships in the Belize Valley that
both complements and supplements that gathered for Barton Ramie by
Willey and his colleagues (1965) some 50 years ago.
Summary
Fifty years of research have expanded our knowledge about the archaeol-
ogy of the Belize Valley. Based on the continued excavation of unassum-
ing housemounds and smaller sites in the valley, we know much more
archaeologically about this part of the Maya world than we do about
most other regions. The Belize Valley exhibits a continuous occupation
history from the dawn of Maya civilization to the present. Its riverbanks
are lined with almost solid ancient settlement. The larger nodes of settle-
ment that have been identified in the valley display a uniformity in their
distribution that seems to be consistent with central place theory; we
have no answer for exactly why this is. In spite of all the data that have
been collected and all the sites and transects that have been mapped, the
ancient organizational systems and internal and external relationships
that must have existed in the Belize Valley are still a matter of debate. To
some extent the debate is due to the use of conflicting models in an at-
tempt to answer broad anthropological questions. And, to some extent
there is simply healthy disagreement over the interpretation of the extant
archaeological data. In spite of the disagreements, the archaeological data
that have been gathered as a result of 50 years of research in the Belize
Valley are key to understanding Maya social and political organization
both here and elsewhere. When Willey undertook his initial settlement
research at Barton Ramie so long ago, he could not have foreseen that he
was laying the groundwork for such long-term regional archaeology.
13
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank Diane Chase, Norman Hammond, and an anony-

mous reviewer for comments on an earlier version of this chapter. Ham-
mond also kindly related details (which he attributes to Joseph Ball) about
why Gordon Willey did not find Buenavista del Cayo, one of the largest
sites in the Belize Valley: “According to one of Willey’s local informants
from the 1950s in the Western Club, he ‘asked about little mounds like
those at Barton Ramie, but he didn’t ask about big mounds, so nobody
told him.’”
14
Retrospective
Retrospective
Gordon R. Willey
The Belize Valley and its archaeology are associated in my mind with my
beginnings in Maya archaeology. As it happened, these beginnings did not
come about until I was well into my career. I had spent some years in the
archaeology of the Southeastern United States; I had gone to Peru for two
long field seasons, the earlier of which resulted in my doctoral dissertation
and, subsequently, had carried out two expeditions in Panama. The second
of these Panamanian adventures had been run out of my base at Harvard
University, where, since 1950, I had been Bowditch Professor of Mexican
and Central American Archaeology. I was set to continue my Central Amer-
ican investigations by digging my way northward in Panama and on into
Costa Rica when my distinguished predecessor at Harvard, Alfred M.
Tozzer, told me that I should stop fooling around down in “no man’s land”
and work in the “Maya Area,” which was what Mr. Bowditch really had in
mind when he bestowed his professorship on Harvard (see Willey 1988). I
took his advice on this, as I usually did on other matters, and I am glad that
I did. Although defining archaeological phases and working out culture
sequences in Panama and Costa Rica would have been useful, lowland
Maya archaeology had gone beyond the basics of culture history and pre-
sented more interesting challenges to me.
I was, though, admittedly awed by these Maya challenges. To begin
with, there was a vast literature on the ancient Maya. While I could,
through reading, assimilate much of the more routine “dirt” archaeo-
logical information such as ceramics, artifacts, and architecture—I would
need more time than I had to master the more arcane aspects of the old
Maya—such as their hieroglyphics, calendrics, art, and iconography. Given
15
G. R. Willey
my background, what could I do that would contribute most effectively to

the field in the time that I had? In this frame of mind I was struck that I
should lead from my strengths. In the second season of my Peruvian field
researches, I had tackled the problem of “settlement patterns,” in effect,
total archaeological site layouts, not only temples, palaces, and public
buildings, but residences, their natures, numbers, and distributions. In
such patterning and their changes through time we inevitably had clues to
the ecological adaptations and to the social and political formations of
ancient societies. My monograph on this Peruvian fieldwork carried out in
1946, had just been published (Willey 1953) as I was contemplating my
first foray into Maya studies. As I began to review the literature of Maya
archaeology, it struck me that settlement study would also be a useful con-
tribution.
Until that time, Maya field research emphasis had been upon the great
sites—Tikal, Uaxactun, Piedras Negras, and Chichen Itza. This was in no
way surprising: such centers or cities, with their impressive architecture,
monuments, and arts justifiably captured the archaeological imagination,
as they still do. Early archaeological explorers in the area would have been
considered out of their minds if they had ignored these glories to concen-
trate on small residential structures scattered through the forests. How-
ever, now I thought a reasonable argument could be advanced that the
glories of the mysterious lost cities of the jungle might be better understood
if archaeologists were able to view them in what had been their more com-
plete social and demographic settings. In brief, a king, to be properly ap-
preciated, must be viewed in a context that also includes his subjects.
When I turned to experienced Mayanists, they were not very enthusias-
tic about my “settlement research” proposals. Professor Tozzer said yes,
he could remember seeing little, presumably residential, mounds in the
jungle as he had ridden mule back along trails near Tikal in his youth. They
seemed to turn up more or less everywhere, as everyone knew. Search for
such things was hardly something to build a Maya research career around.
Other very distinguished Mayanists—Eric Thompson, Tatiana Proskou-
riakoff, and Harry Pollock—who were in the building of the old Carnegie
Institution of Washington’s Historical and Archaeological offices, in those
days just across the alley from the Peabody Museum, also knew about
these small mounds scattered through the Petén and Yucatecan bush, but
they didn’t seem very interested in them. To be sure, they were then begin-
ning to map such small residential mounds within the encircling walls of
the site of Mayapan, but this was a site proper, defined by a wall. Thomp-
son pointed out that he had excavated a small Maya ceremonial center in
16
Retrospective
British Honduras (Thompson 1939), at San Jose. It had been interesting,

but he didn’t feel that more research was necessary in this particular direc-
tion, at least for the present. In general, all of these experienced Mayanists
were essentially of the same opinion. I would be wasting my time on any
all-out, long-term “settlement pattern” approach to Maya archaeology. In
retrospect, I can understand their feelings. They had devoted the prime
years of their research lives to specialized, and highly important, aspects of
Maya archaeology: hieroglyphic studies, calendrics, art, iconography, and
elaborate architecture. What I wanted to do seemed of minor importance
and without interest to them.
Fortunately, I finally did get some encouragement—and from a very
respected Maya source. I turned to Linton Satterthwaite, at the University
of Pennsylvania. He had had years of experience in the Maya field at
Piedras Negras and elsewhere. After listening to my plans, Satterthwaite
told me that he thought I was on the right track. Indeed, he said that if he
were a young man, starting out on a career in Maya archaeology, he would
set about doing just what I said I wanted to do: investigate and obtain
knowledge of the ancient Maya settlement arrangements, from individual
households up through lesser centers to major centers. Moreover, Satter-
thwaite offered some practical help to get me started. He had been carrying
out fieldwork in British Honduras, and he was returning there that winter
of 1953. While he was planning to excavate at the large, and at that time
little known, major center of Caracol in the southern part of the colony, he
would be glad to show me a small Maya center, a place called Cahal Pech,
near the town of El Cayo (now San Ignacio), in the Belize Valley of British
Honduras. He had been working at Cahal Pech in the previous season, and
he thought it might be the place to begin my research.
Taking advantage of Satterthwaite’s kind offer, I began by inviting a
graduate student of mine, Bill Bullard (see Willey 1988) to go along with
me on my introductory “settlement survey” field trip. Bill had worked the
previous winter-spring season with Harry Pollock and the Carnegie group
at Mayapan and he was planning to return there in the present winter. So
I asked him if he would be willing to precede this with a month with me in
British Honduras. We could look things over down there and hopefully,
make plans for long-term settlement pattern research beginning in 1954.
After arranging with the Carnegie for his late arrival at Mayapan, Bill
accompanied me to Belize City where, by appointment, we met up with
Satterthwaite and a graduate student of his, Jerry Epstein, also destined to
become a Maya archaeological researcher in the upcoming years.
After a short time in Belize City, where Satterthwaite introduced us to
17
G. R. Willey
the governor and other officials of the colony, including Hamilton Ander-
son, the archaeological commissioner, we went on up to the town of El
Cayo, the capital of the colony’s Western District and located only a dozen
kilometers or so from the border of the Guatemalan Petén. We hired a car
to drive from Belize City to El Cayo, a relatively easy three-hour journey
with this mode of transportation. In so doing, we had it easy compared to
the way the trip was made in earlier years when archaeologists came into
the Petén bush via British Honduras. Back then, after a ship’s landing in
Belize City, one transferred yourself and your gear, plus the mountain of
food supplies you purchased there in the city, to a small river steamer.
This mode of transportation went back to Tozzer’s and Morley’s time, and
Harry Pollock, who was with Ricketson and other Carnegie archaeolo-
gists at Uaxactun, told me about it. There were sleeping accommoda-
tions of a sort on the steamer, although some, and Harry remembered the
late George Vaillant in this select group, who would sit up all night and
play poker. This kind of journey, although nonstop, took three days and
three nights. On arrival in El Cayo, they were then met by an efficient
agent, a gentleman of Chinese-Maya parentage by the name of Leocandio
E. Hopun. Hopun organized the mule trains there, and he would have
these in readiness for his archaeological patrons. After a night’s sleep in El
Cayo, you were ready to go next morning, with personnel and bundles of
supplies mounted on mules, for what then was to be another three-day
journey, this time with night camps along the way, to Uaxactun.
This same Hopun, who still lived in El Cayo and was still dedicating his
services to archaeology, met us when we arrived there after our relatively
brief auto journey. He had been employed by Satterthwaite in previous
seasons, and he agreed to help our Harvard party if we decided to work in
the Belize Valley. El Cayo then having no hotel, Hopun had arranged for
the four of us to sleep in the Church of England Rectory, a then uninhab-
ited building there in the town. After a night in these quarters, we break-
fasted in a nearby restaurant that had been recommended to us by Hopun.
While so doing, a member of the Black Colonial Constabulary appeared at
an open window of the dining room, calling a fulsome welcome to Linton
Satterthwaite. After going over to the window for an amiable exchange
with this representative of the law, Linton returned to the table with the
remark “Swell fellow! It is always good to keep in with these boys, it’s
something for you to remember if you’re going to work around here.”
Ten minutes or so passed as we worked our way through the eggs,
frijoles refritos, and tortillas. Then, once more, Satterthwaite’s policemen
friend came to the window. “Doctor,” he said, addressing Satterthwaite, as
18
Retrospective
he pulled a small slip of paper from his shirt pocket, “this is a parking
violation ticket from last year when you left your Jeep in an unauthorized
zone here in El Cayo. It’s a two dollar fine, Doctor. You can take it over to
the Police Station to pay it, but I thought it would be more convenient for
you just to pay me.”
I mused then upon El Cayo’s parking and traffic problems. In the short
time we had been there, I didn’t think I had seen more than one other
vehicle in addition to our rented one, at least in what might be called “the
downtown business district.” Nevertheless, it was a lesson to me that
parking violations would not be tolerated if we should decide to base
ourselves here in the capital of the Western District.
Breakfast over, we drove out of town, up the hill for a short distance to
Cahal Pech. This small Maya ceremonial center, aptly named in that lan-
guage as “the place of the tick,” was on the hilltop, which overlooked El
Cayo and the Macal branch of the Belize River. As I recall, it numbered
two or three plazas, had a sizable pyramid, and a single plain stela. Satter-
thwaite had done some digging there in the previous season, but as will be
revealed by the chapters in this volume, his knowledge of the place was still
superficial. It appeared to him to be a minor center, presumably drawing
its support from a sustaining area of residences stretching for a few kilome-
ters along the river and quite probably being subordinate to the much
larger center of Benque Viejo (now known as Xunantunich and discussed
elsewhere in this volume) located several kilometers to the west. In any
event, Cahal Pech appeared to Satterthwaite to be a suitable place from
which to begin a settlement pattern survey.
Two workmen, armed with machetes and dispatched there by Hopun,
awaited us at the site. Satterthwaite outlined his plan of action. We would
begin on the lower slopes of the Cahal Pech hill and cut a breccia, or path,
through the bush in an easterly direction from the center, down toward the
river, which was about a kilometer away. In this way we would begin to get
some idea of how densely or sparsely residential mounds were grouped
around a center and, eventually, how far out they extended. Did they, for
example, continue right along, more or less evenly distributed until we
came to another ceremonial center? So we set to our task. It was about
8:00 in the morning, and the fog had not yet burned off when we began.
Satterthwaite had not only arranged through Hopun for the workmen but
had borrowed machetes for the four of us. The use of the machete, Linton
advised, was absolutely essential for anyone aspiring to be a Maya archae-
ologist, and this was especially so in my case given my “settlement pat-
tern” ambitions. How else would I find all the little mounds, and so com-
19
G. R. Willey
prehend “total settlement,” except by its use. So I took my turns on the

breccia and swung away uneasily with my unfamiliar weapon. Bullard, by
way of contrast, enjoyed it thoroughly, with a display of swordsmanship
that alternated between low, close-to-the-ground sweeps and overhead
slashes. The sun came out. We continued to whack away. Satterthwaite,
although more experienced than I, was also a good bit older. The two of
us began to spend more time at the rear of the column than on the front
line. By about 11:00, we had progressed 200 m or so into the thicket that
seemed to grow more overwhelming as we penetrated it. By this time we
had discovered two or three little mounds. I wondered aloud if maybe we
shouldn’t stop and reflect on all of this for a bit. After all, we didn’t want
to discover everything on the fist day. Bullard was for going on, but Linton
and I overruled him. Linton suggested that we might go back in town for a
little while where we could have a cold beer and reflect on the whole ques-
tion of Maya settlement survey. Besides, as he told us, Hamilton Anderson,
the colony’s archaeological commissioner, who was driving up from Belize
should be in town shortly, and we ought to be on hand to meet him. This
settled, we retreated to city life in El Cayo.
Linton took us to a bar known as the Western Club. In El Cayo, at least
in those days, one didn’t just patronize a bar, one “belonged” to a “club.”
Satterthwaite assured us that he was a member in good standing at the
Western, that we would be welcomed there as his guests, and that there
would be no trouble in “putting us up for membership” if we so desired.
The Western was located at one end of the town’s main thoroughfare,
actually not far from the restaurant where we had eaten breakfast only a
few hours before. The other club in town was the Stork, situated at the
opposite end of the same street. Despite the more fashionable associations
of the Stork’s name, we were given to understand that the Western was
really the “in” place in El Cayo.
The Western’s interior was quite dark, especially as one entered from
the bright sunlight. Light came in only from two open windows at the
front whose wooden covering had been raised and propped up by sticks.
Window glass, in those days anyhow, tended to be rare in El Cayo. A bar
ran along the back of the room. In the row of bottles behind the bar, I saw
one with a sign on it: Have a Drink on Dr. Satterthwaite. Linton told me
that, yes, he was the “sponsor” of this particular bottle and that it dated
from last year’s season at Cahal Pech. It was a good “public relations”
idea, he said. I noticed that the bottle was empty so his “public image”
must have benefited for a time, however brief. There were some tables in
front of the bar, and we found our way through the gloom to one. The
20
Retrospective
bartender or proprietor—or as the principal functionaire of the club he

may have been known as the “steward”—came over and exchanged greet-
ings with Satterthwaite that were as hearty as those that had passed earlier
that morning between Linton and his lawman friend. They had some con-
versation about replenishing the Have a Drink on Dr. Satterthwaite bottle,
then our new friend took our order for four cold beers and went back to
the bar to see to it.
As we sat there drinking our beers, which turned out to be so good that
we ordered seconds, and mused over the future of cutting breccias through
the undergrowth in search of housemounds and the mysteries of old Maya
settlement—two members of the club showed up and took a table next to
ours. They were English and very amiable fellows, one a labor foreman
and the other an accountant, both from the Barton Ramie Estate Project of
the British Colonial Development Corporation. The Barton Ramie Estate
was located a few kilometers down river, to the east of El Cayo. It was then
in its third year of operation. We were told that ramie was a very tough
tropical fiber plant of southeast Asiatic origin, whose long fibers were used
for making such things as fire hoses or fishing lines. The ramie had been
planted on the extensive alluvial flats near the Barton Creek tributary of
the Belize River and the hope was that it would become an important
factor in vitalizing the British Honduran economy. Unfortunately, the en-
terprise was failing because it was found that the ramie would not grow to
its appropriate height without annual costly fertilization that would ex-
ceed the profits to be made from the sale of the fibers.
On our side, we kept the conversation going by identifying ourselves as
archaeologists and describing our interests of the moment. We were, we
said, not so much concerned, with big Maya pyramids or fancy sculptures:
instead, what we were really looking for were the small, simple mounds
that marked ordinary household residences. We suspected that such were
around in great numbers although because of the jungle growth they were
hard to find. At that point, our new clubmates assured us that if that was
what we were looking for we had better come back to Barton Ramie with
them where, they exclaimed, “There were more bloody little mounds than
you could count.” At about that time, Hamilton Anderson showed up at
the Western; he had just driven up from Belize. He, too, knew of the Barton
Ramie mounds, and he wanted to see more of them. So we all went out
and, following our new English friends in the Barton Ramie Estate Land-
Rover, made the short trip out to Barton Ramie.
We were met there by Marcus Chambers, the estate manager, who was
our courteous host for the rest of the day and, as it turned out, for the
21
G. R. Willey
following season when we began our surveys and excavations of the Bar-
ton Ramie “little mounds.” These were, indeed, impressive in their num-
bers. The agricultural clearing was about 2 km2 in extent, and the mounds
were seen everywhere. The ramie plants were then, in their stunted con-
dition, only about knee high, disastrous commercially, but ideal for ar-
chaeological survey. The mounds averaged about 2 m in height and 20 to
30 m in diameter. They were located, on the average, perhaps 50 to 60 m
apart. Eventually, we were to map and count 264 of them in the cleared
agricultural area. There were a few larger ones, and one unit, in particular,
consisted of a little plaza group that included a small pyramid mound
about 12 m high. This unit, thus, had the appearance of a ceremonial
center of a very minor sort but one much smaller than, say, Cahal Pech.
After this view of Barton Ramie, we spent the rest of the week looking
at sites in the Belize Valley. We saw Xunantunich, then called Benque
Viejo, where Thompson (1940) had once done some digging and where,
later, Anderson had carried out some excavation-restoration work. We
also looked at a number of other sites in the region, including Baking Pot,
where Ricketson (1929) had dug before going into Uaxactun. Baking Pot
was only about 6 km upriver, to the west of Barton Ramie. It had a larger
ceremonial center than the little one at Barton Ramie and was also sur-
rounded by numerous small, residential-type mounds, although the Bak-
ing Pot clearing was not as large as the one at Barton Ramie.
Before leaving El Cayo, I had an argument with Satterthwaite about my
plans for subsequent seasons. I had made up my mind, I said, that I would
begin with mapping and excavations at Barton Ramie. Linton thought this
was a grave mistake, a setting off down the wrong path in settlement pat-
tern research. If I did that, he warned, I’d be beginning “in the middle of
nowhere.” The Barton Ramie tiny ceremonial unit was too small to even
qualify as a “minor center.” In his opinion, I should begin with some place
like Cahal Pech and work out radially from there. In this way, I could get
some idea of the size and nature of the “sustaining area” for a reasonably
well-defined center. I countered by saying that Maya settlement pattern
studies were so little developed that we didn’t know where we were any-
way. Why not begin with Barton Ramie and take advantage of the huge
clearing? Satterthwaite responded that I was “afraid of the bush,” that I
didn’t like to cut breccias. I’m afraid I couldn’t deny that I would like to
bypass as much machete work as possible. Later, I talked the matter over
with Bill Bullard. After all, he would be a key figure in our project. What
did he think? He agreed that Satterthwaite had a logical point that concep-
tually, anyway, we had to work and think “from center outward.” At the
22
Retrospective
same time, he agreed with me that we couldn’t afford to pass up the prac-
tical advantages of the Barton Ramie clearing.
So we began our intensive instrument surveys and excavations at Bar-
ton Ramie in the early winter of 1954, and we continued there, as well as
at nearby Spanish Lookout and Baking Pot, through the winter of 1956. In
addition to Bullard and myself, we had three other graduate student super-
visors over the three seasons so we were able to dig several of the Barton
Ramie residential mounds in detail. In addition, we test-pitted almost 60
others. Bullard, I might add here, was particularly effective a this work. He
had a sense for structures and the stratigraphic complexities of structures
plus refuse that enabled him to get a maximum amount of information
from the clay, plaster, and rough stone levels of the little mounds. It is of
interest to note that of the mounds excavated or test-pit sampled, all had
been occupied in the Late Classic period. Significant numbers of these also
had Early Classic and Late Preclassic levels, and in a few cases evidence of
Middle Preclassic construction levels and refuse was found. In the chapters
of this volume, the reader will find substantiations of this domestic mound
sequencing at other sites in the valley.
In addition to our Barton Ramie and nearby digging, we also traveled
around on weekends and in this way began to get some overall picture of
the archaeology of the valley, with its several ceremonial centers, their
geographical spacing and their relationships to small, residential mounds.
We wondered about Maya occupation of other types of terrain, especially
the hills lying back from the river bottoms. Had these been occupied by the
ancient Maya? We didn’t have time to explore these to any extent, but it
seemed reasonable to assume that the Maya also had occupied them. Still,
it was our opinion—or perhaps I should qualify this and say my opinion
for I think Bullard may have had his doubts—that the immediate valley
floor was where most of the residential mounds, as well as the ceremonial
centers, were to be found. In writing about this at the time, however, I did
add a little cautionary note, which is amusing in retrospect. In the conclud-
ing section of the Willey et al. (1965) monograph, I said, “This probably
should not be taken to mean that the hills and hillsides were unsuited to
residence for if we had extended our survey several kilometers north or
south of the Belize Valley we might have come upon clusters of house
mounds in hill terrain” (591).
Now, in the light of Anabel Ford’s surveys of those uplands lying back
of the river flats (chapter 15), we do, indeed, know that we would have
come upon “clusters of house mounds” if we had moved farther into the
hills. For while the immediate foothills at the edges of the valley bottom in
23
G. R. Willey
the vicinity of Barton Ramie were not heavily occupied, the higher ridge-
lands behind these foothills have turned out to be thick with residential
mounds. In addition to these, Ford also has discovered an important cer-
emonial center, El Pilar, which lies in the ridgelands 10 km north of the
river. El Pilar is a site that compares favorably in monumental architectural
size with centers nearer the river, such as Xunantunich, Buenavista, and
Baking Pot. It is also surrounded by a dense settlement of residential units.
In brief, as the chapters in this volume make abundantly clear, there is a
universe of Maya settlement in the Belize Valley of which we were unaware
when my colleagues and I began our work there in the 1950s. The reader
will find this volume an exciting record of work in progress. As will be
seen, none of the authors feels that he or she has answered all of the ques-
tions with which they began their respective researches. Rather, they all
point to new questions and problems that lie ahead. Nevertheless, I am
amazed and gratified by the ground that has been gained. I shall not at-
tempt to summarize it. Diane Chase does that very ably in the concluding
chapter of the book. I will only point, again, to the Belize Valley’s impor-
tance as a sector of the Maya lowlands. It is fully a part of that story of the
Maya rise from Preclassic beginnings, through Classic achievement, into
the Postclassic decline that we know, in general, from other parts of the
area; and yet, as these chapters indicate, it displays peculiarities unique to
the region. James Garber, the editor of the volume, as well as a significant
contributor to Belize Valley archaeology, is to be commended for focusing
our attention upon this very important portion of the Maya past.
24
Exploring the Variety of Random
Documents with Different Content
us zephyr alone, while the other four little breezes set down and
made smart remarks. There was considerable feeling aroused during
this lesson.
Five little zephyrs took her back to the hotel, and then one little
zephyr went home and packed up his burro. That one little zephyr
had a vision of a big blow coming and wanted to get out of the road.
Magpie tried to plead with us, but me and the mule remained firm.
Magpie’s voice was full of tears, but I shook my head, packed my
jassack and went to live a while with “Dirty Shirt” Jones, who lives
several miles away from the center of disturbance.
Dirty Shirt ain’t neither sane nor sanitary, but he appreciates me a

heap. Dirty is cockeyed, but he believes in handing you bokays while
you are yet in the land of the living and not waiting until you are
ready for your weight of sand.
Dirty squints at me and says:
“I know you’d show up, Ike. It’s about time for Piperock to make a
fool of itself again. What’s itchin’ the old town this time?”
“Interpretive dancing.”
“Oh yeah. I don’t know what in ⸺ that is, Ike; but it sounds like
Piperock might adopt it. Magpie’s the ring-leader, ain’t he? Sure.”
Dirty knows Piperock as well as I do. For a week I helped him on
a copper prospect, and not a word of Piperock’s doings percolated
into our happy home.
Then Dirty got dry. When Dirty Shirt gets dry there ain’t nothing
short of sudden death will stop him this side of Buck Masterson’s
place.
Therefore we packs our burros and pilgrims to the city of Baal, as
Testament calls it every Sunday. Testament has just got two
sermons. One is on temperance and the other is on the evils of
strong drink.
We has to pass Mighty Jones’ place on our way in, and we finds
Mighty settin’ on his wood-pile, playing with a coyote pup. He squints
at us.
“Goin’ to Piperock?”
I admits our ultimate destination.
“Better go home. Testament Tilton says that Piperock is goin’ to
run a dead heat with Sodom and Gomorrah, whatever pair of horses
them two is.”
“What’s the matter with Piperock?” asks Dirty.
Mighty hitches up his pants and spits very expressive-like.
“High-toned. Yessir, Piperock is gettin’ uppity—part of ’em, and the
rest are packin’ two guns per each. Tonight means trouble in that
town, y’betcha.”
“Tonight? Why tonight, Mighty?”
“Social affair tonight, that’s why. Two dollars per ticket, and not a
gun allowed into the hall. I’ve got a ticket, which I’ll sell yuh.”
“Goin’ to save my money for ca’tridges,” grunts Dirty, and we
pilgrims on.
We went right down the street of Piperock, looking neither to the
right nor left, and heads straight for Magpie’s cabin. Looking into the
open door we sees Magpie bending over the cook-stove, frying
meat.
“Klahowya,” says Dirty.
Magpie drops the pan on the floor and whirls with a gun in each
hand.
“Dancing makes you jumpy?” I asks.
Magpie shoves his guns back inside the waistband of his pants,
kicks the hunk of meat into the skillet and turns back to the stove.
“How’s Miss Harrison?” I asks.
Magpie turns and squints at me.
“She’s gone, Ike.”
“De-mised?”
“De-parted.”
“Kinda busts up the show, don’t it, Magpie?”
“Like ⸺ it does!”
“How comes she to de-part thataway?” asks Dirty.
Magpie flops the meat and sets it on the back of the stove. Then
he sets down on a bunk and combs his mustache.
“You ain’t heard, have yuh, Ike? No. Well, here’s the how of it all.
You left hereabout the time that all the married womin are faunchin’
around, organizin’ a vigilance committee to hang their own
husbands, didn’t yuh? Well, Wick and Pete and Old Testament and
Art Wheeler and Judge Steele decides that Piperock and posterity
needs ’em more than jealous wives do, so they up and orates that
for th’ interests of the furtherance of Piperock they’re goin’ to stick to
their original idea of learning the latest thing in dances.
“Them womin combines against such proceedings, and locks their
doors against said husbands, with the result that we puts up bunks in
the Mint Hall for all them errant husbands. Miss Harrison hangs on to
her room at the hotel and Mrs. Holt enlists with the belligerent wives
and hives up at Judge Steele’s.
“Inside of three days them husbands are plumb anxious to go to
their wives, but wifie has nailed the front door shut. Them there
dancin’ lessons has improved us wonderful, Ike. I gets old Sam Holt
to dance in your place.
“Then we finds out somethin’.
“Judge Steele goes sneakin’ around home late at night after our
lessons, and he peeks under the curtains in his house, and he sees
Miss Harrison teachin’ them womin to dance, and the judge swears
that they ain’t got enough clothes on to flag a hand-car.
“The judge so forgets himself that he raps on the window, and he
gets a lot of bird-shot sprayed into the seat of his pants.
“Miss Harrison has double-crossed us, and the next night we
chides her about it. She gets kinda woolly and informs us that the
ladies invited her to teach them so they could do their part in the
performance. She was teachin’ ’em the ‘Dance of the Raindrops.’
“‘My ⸺!’ grunts Wick. ‘My wife ain’t no raindrop.’
“‘I ain’t goin’ to permit Mrs. Tilton to appear in no mosquito nettin’
and bare feet—not in public,’ declares Testament.
“Things got kinda deadlocked, Ike. The tickets are all sold for the
performance, and the church realizes over two hundred dollars. Me
and the judge goes as a committee to confer with Mrs. Smith and
Mrs. Tilton, and they refuses to arbitrate. They opines that what’s
good enough for their husbands is good enough for them. Mrs. Tilton
says:
“If Testament can wear a gee-string and imitate a willer-tree, why
can’t I wear a porous-knit undershirt and imitate a drop of rain?’
“What could we do? We went back and held a council of war. Pete
said he’d be ⸺ if his wife was goin’ to be a spectacle. They all
declared that they wasn’t goin’ to let the world at large gaze upon
their property in the rough. Miss Harrison declares that it must go
through. There yuh are, Ike.
“Miss Harrison was taken to Paradise this morning and was put
aboard the train. Art Wheeler drove the stage, and Pete Gonyer,
Judge Steele and Testament Tilton acted as shotgun guards. Our
premier dancer has went.”
“Which busts up the show, eh?” says Dirty.
“Not while Magpie Simpkins roams the plains, it don’t. Piperock is
goin’ to get a look at interpretive dancin’, y’betcha. How much civic
pride has you two snake-hunters got?”
Me and Dirty don’t say a word, being as we don’t sabe his wau-
wau. Then he hauls out a jug of pain-killer and we sets down to do
homage.
After all danger from drought is a long time past, Magpie points
out the duty of a real honest-to-grandma citizen. He orates openly
that the future of a city is only as broad as the inhabitants will allow.
He asks Dirty Shirt if his views are narrow.
“Wide as the ocean, and beggin’ to expand,” says Dirty.
“I’m the widest human bein’ yuh ever seen, Magpie. Dog-gone me
if I ain’t wider than anythin’ anybody ever seen. How about you, Ike?”
“I’ve got you skinned about four ways from the jack,” says I, and
somehow I believed it.
Magpie got in between us and took Dirty’s gun away from him.
“Killin’ ain’t expansion,” explains Magpie. “Piperock has
entertained too many times in the interests of the undertaker.
Piperock is so far behind the times that the seventeenth generation
of Montana’s human race has started and finished and we’re still
runnin’ the wrong way of the track.”
“Are we that far behind the rest of the world?” asks Dirty, tearful-
like.
“Further,” assures Magpie.
“Then let’s be up and doin’,” urges Dirty. “My ⸺, I never realized
that we was runnin’ in the dust. How does we start in to speed up the
old buggy?”
“I,” says Magpie, “I am the little jigger who is goin’ to lead Piperock
to th’ promised land. I am the pelican which is goin’ to make
Piperock a place of honor and glory and a social center. I has been
throwed down by the best citizens, you know it? Puttin’ their personal
feelin’s ahead of the best interests of the city, they has laid down
upon their labors, willin’ to let poor old Piperock slumber and waller
in the dust of decay; but the womin can see what it means to the city,
and they’re firm as rocks. I have got one of the best dances yuh ever
seen, gents.
“The ordinary poetry of motion is the weavin’s of a drunken
Siwash with a sprained ankle beside this here dance of mine. Miss
Harrison said it had anythin’ beat she ever seen.”
“Do yuh have music for this kind of dancin’?” asks Dirty.
“Well, kinda,” assures Magpie. “Frenchy Deschamps’ jew’s-harp
and Bill Thatcher on his wind-pipe. Bill bought it a short time ago.
Said that ever time he got a bull-fiddle busted it cost him ten dollars
for a new one; so he buys him a wind-pipe. If anybody shoots holes
in that thing he can patch it up.”
“That’s a new instrument on me,” says Dirty.
“That’s it,” says Magpie. “We’re so far behind the times, Dirty, that
we don’t recognize things that the rest of the world has been usin’ for
years.”
“My ⸺!” wails Dirty. “This is awful, Magpie. I’m grateful to yuh for
callin’ my attention to same. Ain’t you grateful, Ike?”
“Remains to be seen, as the feller said when he dug into a Injun
grave.”
“Ike’s grateful,” says Magpie. “Ike’s the gratefulest human bein’ on
earth.”
“That ain’t no ways true,” objects Dirty. “I’m the most gratefulest.”
I gets between Magpie and Dirty and makes ’em put up their
guns. Then we all took a last look at the inside bottom of the jug of
pain-killer.
Piperock appreciates art, there ain’t no question about that.
There’s fellers in town for this social event that ain’t been outside
their dug-outs since the big blow. Plain and fancy horse-thieves,
unsuccessful rustlers, hairy old shepherds that says “Ya-a-a-ss” and
“No-o-o-o,” just like a sheep, and others too numerous and or’nary to
mention.
Scenery Sims is setting in front of the Mint Hall with a sawed-off
shotgun on his lap, but he lets us in.
“How does she look, Scenery?” asks Magpie.
“Well,” squeaks Scenery, “everythin’ is all right so far, but them ex-
dancers is all back from Paradise. The women is all up there in the
hall now. Bill Thatcher is drunker’n seven hundred dollars, and
somebody has hit Frenchy in the mouth and kinda crippled his part
of the orchestra. Shouldn’t be s’prized if there’d be buzzards circlin’
Piperock in the mornin’.”
We went up into the hall, which is all fixed up for the social doings.
They’ve got the stage all curtained off and the room is full of chairs.
Mrs. Smith, Mrs. Tilton, Mrs. Gonyer, Mrs. Holt, Mrs. Wheeler and
Mrs. Steele are there. Magpie leads me and Dirty up to the stage
and in behind the curtain.
“My ⸺!” gasps Dirty. Sheep!”
“There’s four sheep tied up back there—all rams.”
“Sheep—yes,” agrees Magpie. “Them is what Miss Harrison calls
‘atmosphere.’”
“At⸺ Oh, my!” gasps Dirty. “What’s she mean, Magpie?”
“Accessories to my dance,” explains Magpie. “I’m the star
performer in ‘The Shepherd’s Awakening.’”
“What do we do?” asks Dirty.
“You fellers are fauns.”
“I’m the old buck deer—me,” declares Dirty. “You’re more
cockeyed than me, Magpie, if you can see me with four spindle legs
and a spotted hide.”
“A faun,” says Magpie, “a faun is a thing that looks like a human
bein’, but ain’t. It wears skin pants, but from there on up it’s plumb
nude. On its head is little horns, and it’s got a tail like a goat. It plays
a tune on a wooden whistle.”
Me and Dirty looks at each other, kinda foolish-like.
“I think it’s lovely of you two gentlemen to step in the breach,” says
Mrs. Tilton.
“Step in the—oh—!” croaks Dirty, wild-eyed. “This is terrible!”
“It will be a big thing for Piperock,” says Mrs. Gonyer, “and it will
teach the male sex that the women are the real progressives. Don’t
you think so, Mr. Harper?”
“There’s goin’ to be a lesson taught,” says I. “Experience is a great
teacher, but I ain’t never learned much. I thought I was wise, but I
finds that— Well, I ain’t never wore a tail like a goat and blowed on a
wooden whistle yet.”
“I hope that Testament’s skin pants will fit Mr. Harper,” says Mrs.
Tilton. “Mr. Harper is a little wider across than the Reverend.”
“Mr. Jones will be a little snug in Sam’s,” opines Mrs. Holt, “but he
don’t have to do only one little dance.”
Dirty’s bad eye rolls a complete circle and then stops with a dead
center on the tip of his nose. He grabs me by the arm and flops
down in a chair.
“Ike,” he gasps, “Ike, shoot me while there is yet time.”
“Shoot yourself—you’ve got a gun,” says I.
“I know it, bub—but I’m so nervous I’d miss.”
Dirty just sits there and sweats.
“Them sheep—has they been trained?” I asks.
“They’ve been here two days,” says Magpie. “They ought to be
used to the stage.”
Sudden-like we hears a crash down-stairs, the sound of loud

voices raised in anger, and then up the stairs comes Judge Steele,
Wick Smith, Pete Gonyer, Art Wheeler and Sam Holt. They’ve got
Scenery Sims in their clutches, and he’s squeaking like a rusty gate.
They files into the door, and Magpie greets ’em with a gun in each
hand.
“Come ye in anger?” asks Magpie.
“Kinda,” admits Pete. “This whangdoodle tried to stop us.”
“Put your hands up!” snaps Magpie, and the whole gang reach
upward. “Take their guns away, Scenery.”
“Now,” says Magpie, “what’s eatin’ you backsliders?”
“Ma-a-a,” wails Testament. “You ain’t aimin’ to carry out your
threat, are ye?”
“I’m goin’ to dance—if that’s what you mean,” says Mrs. Tilton,
mean-like.
“Arabellie, does you mean that you womin—” begins Wick.
“Wick Smith, you started this,” says Mrs. Smith. “You told me I
was narrer. You said I was fifty years behind the times, didn’t you?”
“That ⸺ Magpie Simpkins put them words in my mouth,
Arabellie.”
“I won’t stand for it!” yelps Pete. “No woman of mine can⸺”
“Pete, you shut your face!” whoops Mrs. Gonyer. “If you don’t want
to see me imitate a raindrop—vamoose. I sure am goin’ to rattle on
the roof.”
“I’ll git out a injunction,” says Judge Steele. “By mighty, I’ll declare
it a public nuisance! I’ll stop this here⸺”
“You’ll set down and keep your face shut,” says Magpie. “You five
pelicans are goin’ to set right down and look and listen. Has you all
got tickets?”
None of ’em has bought a ticket, and they opines they won’t.
“Scenery,” says Magpie, “take two dollars from each of ’em.”
Them five arose up an yelped like a pack of wolves, but Scenery
got ten dollars out of the bunch, and then we made ’em take front
seats.
We hears some gosh-awful sounds coming up the stairs, and into
the door comes Bill Thatcher. He’s got one of them Scotch wind-pipe
instruments and it’s wailing like a lost soul. Behind him comes
Frenchy Deschamps. Neither of ’em are in any shape to make music
for anything except a dog-fight, but they flops down in their chairs at
the front of the stage and acts like they meant business.
Scenery recovers his sawed-off shotgun and sets down on the
corner of the stage, where he can watch them disgrunted husbands.
Me and Dirty follows Magpie to a place he’s got partitioned off for
a dressing-room. Through the curtain we can hear Yaller Rock
County beginning to come in. Me and Dirty are just sober enough to
kinda be indifferent to death or taxation.
Magpie gives us our costumes, which consists of cowhide pants
with a tail tied on, and a jigger made like a cap, with yearlin’ calf
horns sticking out the side. He also gives us each a little whistle
made of a willer.
“Where’s the shirt?” asks Dirty.
“Fauns don’t wear shirts.”
“What do you wear, Magpie?”
Magpie holds up a mountain-lion skin and a breech-clout. Dirty
looks things over and then says to Magpie:
“If you escape, Magpie, will yuh do me a favor? In my cabin—in a
old trunk, is a suit of clothes. I paid sixteen dollars for it the year
Bryan run for free silver, but I never wore it. Will yuh see that they
lays me out in it? Lawd knows I don’t want to be buried in a outfit like
this.”
From outside we hears “Fog-horn” Foster’s voice—
“We-e-e-ll, come on, you mockin’-birds!”
“The house must be full,” opines Magpie, fastening his lionskin.
“Full of hootch and ⸺” sighs Dirty, sliding into his cow skins. “I’m
goin’ to die like a ⸺ cow, I know that.”
“My gosh!” grunts Magpie. “I’ve plumb forgot we ain’t got no
announcer since the judge quit. Ike, will you do the announcin’?”
“Then I won’t have to dance?”
“Sure you’ll have to dance, but all you’ve got to do, Ike, is to tell
’em what is comin’ next. The first thing on the program is a solo
dance, which is knowed as ‘The Gatherin’ Storm,’ by Mrs. Smith; and
then she gets assisted by the five ‘Raindrops,’ consistin’ of Mrs. Holt,
Mrs. Tilton, Mrs. Steele, Mrs. Gonyer and Mrs. Wheeler. Mrs. Smith
is doin’ the solo in place of the departed champeen dancer of the
world. Will yuh do this for me, Ike?”
“Do it for Magpie,” urges Dirty. “Do anythin’ to get it over.”
I went on to the stage, and I got the shock of my life. Them
females are out there, and I’m a danged liar if they ain’t undressed
about as much as possible. I takes one look and staggers for the
curtain. I hears one of them women bust out in a “haw! haw!” as I
went past, but I never stopped to think that I wasn’t wearing any
more than the law allows.
I steps out through the curtain and looks around. Never did the old
hall hold as many folks. Fog-horn Foster and Half-Mile Smith are
settin’ in the front row, across the aisle from each other. They stares
at me for a moment; then both gets up like they was walking in their
sleep, steps for the aisle and bumps together.
Fog-horn hit Half-Mile and Half-Mile hit the floor, after which Fog-
Horn went right on up the aisle. Half-Mile got up, looks at me again,
and follers Fog-Horn, but he ain’t tryin’ to catch Fog-Horn—he’s tryin’
to go past him.
“My ⸺” gasps “Cinch” Culler, lookin’ wild-like around. “Won’t
somebody please hold me? I won’t be responsible⸺”
“Ladies and gents,” says I. “I’m out here to let yuh know what’s
comin’ off.”
“Wait a minute,” says Abe Mudgett, standing up. “I’ve got my two
sisters here with me, and if anything more’s comin’ off⸺”
“Set down!” squeaks Scenery, waving his shotgun at Abe, and
Abe sets down.
“Now,” says I, “I’m out here to announce that the first thing on the
program is Mrs. Smith. She’s goin’ to imitate a storm comin’ up, and
then Mrs. Holt, Mrs. Tilton, Mrs. Wheeler, Mrs. Steele and Mrs.
Gonyer are goin’ to show yuh what raindrops look like. This here
⸺”
“Haw! Haw! Haw!” roars Pete Gonyer, but his laugh don’t show
that he’s tickled so awful much.
“Haw! Haw! Haw! Mrs. Smith is goin’ to imitate— Haw! Haw!
Haw!”
“Haw! Haw!” howls Wick. “My wife looks as much like a storm as
yours does like a raindrop, Pete.”
“My wife,” states the judge, standing up, “my wife ain’t goin’ to do
no ⸺ fool thing of the kind. I’ll show her⸺”
“Set down!” yelps Scenery. “Set down, you old Blackstone blatter!
This is once when you don’t hand down no decisions.”
“Git off the stage and let ’er rain!” howls Telescope Tolliver. “I’ll see
it through if I have to wear a slicker.”
“Ready for us to play?” asks Bill Thatcher, kicking Frenchy to
wake him up.
“Use your own judgment, Bill,” says I. “I’ve done all I can, and now
I’m goin’ to let nature take her course.”
I starts to step back through the curtain, when “Polecat” Perkins
yells—
“Ike, I was wrong—you’re only half-cow.”
I gets back inside. Them women are all scared plumb stiff, but
Mrs. Smith wheezes—
“Ladies, we’ve made our bluff—let ’er go!”
Just then Bill Thatcher’s instrument begins to wail and wail,
shutting off all chances for Frenchy Deschamps to be heard.
“Sweet Marie!” howls Mrs. Smith. “Gee cripes, don’t he never
learn a new tune?”
I ducks out of sight and the curtain slides back.
If Mrs. Smith knew anything about dancing she forgot every step.
She trots out on the stage and starts something like Kid Carson used
to call “shadow-boxing.” Then she turns around about three times,
stubs her toe and falls down. Standing in a line across the stage is
the rest of them females, with their hands up in the air like they was
being held up by somebody with a gun.
“A-arabellie!” wails Wick. “My ⸺, woman, git out of sight!”
Mrs. Smith gets to her feet and yelps back at Wick:
“Git out of sight yourself—if you don’t like it! I’ll teach you to flirt
with a dancer. Start the music over again, Bill.”
“Em-m-m-i-lee!” shrieks Sam Holt. “Ain’tcha got no modesty? Go
put on your shoes and socks!”
Bill Thatcher starts squealing on his instrument again, and Mrs.
Smith starts doing some fancy steps.
Wow! Here comes Judge Steele, Art Wheeler, Pete Gonyer,
Testament Tilton, Wick Smith and Sam Holt, climbing right over the
top of folks.
“Git ba-a-a-ck!” squeaks Seenery, waving his shotgun. “Stop it!
Whoa, Blaze!”
“Look at the wild man!” howls somebody, and here comes Magpie
across the stage hopping high and handsome.
“Stop ’em, Scenery!” whoops Magpie. “Dog-gone ’em, they can’t
bust up my show!”
Man, I’ll tell all my grandchildren this tale. Them outraged
husbands came up on that stage, while Yaller Rock County yelled
itself hoarse and made bets on whether it would be an odd or even
number of deaths. Magpie hit Pete in the neck and Pete lit with one
leg on each side of Bill Thatcher’s head. Wick Smith got hold of his
wife and them two started a tug of war.
Me and old Sam Holt got to waltzing around and around, which
wasn’t a-tall pleasant, being as I’m barefooted and Sam ain’t. I seen
Mrs. Wheeler and Art locked in mortal combat, and just then I hears
Dirty Shirt Jones yelp—
“Heavy, heavy hangs over your head—”
I whirls just in time to see what’s coming, but I can’t escape. Dirty
Shirt has turned the atmosphere loose. Them four he-sheep—four
ungentlemanly woollies, with corkscrew horns, are buck-jumping
across that stage, seeking what they may hit. I swung around to
meet the attack, and I reckon the leading sheep hit him a dead
center, ’cause I felt the shock plumb to me.
Maybe it hit Sam a little low, because it knocked all four of our feet
off the floor, and the next in line picked us in the air and stood us on
our heads.
I seen Wick Smith, braced against the edge of the stage, trying to
pull his wife over the edge, the same of which is a invitation to a
sheep, and the old ram accepted right on the spot. Mrs. Smith
grunted audibly and shot into Wick’s arms. Scenery Sims starts to
skip across the stage, but a ram outsmarted him, and I seen Scenery
turn over gracefully in the air and shoot, regardless, with both barrels
of that sawed-off shotgun.
Them load of shot hived up in the chandelier, the same of which
cut off our visible supply of light.
I heard the crashing of glass, and I figures that the hallway is too
crowded for some of the audience. I lays still, being wise, until the
noise subsides, and the crowd has escaped. Then I moves slowly to
my hands and knees. I feels a hand feeling of my legs, and then a
hand taps gently on my horned cap.
“I—I thought,” whispers old Sam’s voice kinda quavering-like, “I—I
thought they was all old ones, but a sheep’s a sheep to me.”
Bam! Something landed on my head, and I seen more bright lights
than there is in a million dollars worth of skyrockets. Then things
kinda clear up, and I hears old Sam saying to himself:
“Well, I killed one of the ⸺ things. If I go carefully⸺”
I can dimly see old Sam sneaking for the front of the stage. I’m
mad. I got up and sneaked right after him. No man can mistake me
for a sheep and get away with it. I jumps for old Sam’s back, and just
then he seems to kinda drop away from me. I reckon he forgot about
the five-feet drop from the stage, and I know danged well I did. I
reckon I sort of lit on my head and shoulders on top of somebody.
There comes a squeak from Bill Thatcher’s instrument, and then all
is quiet.
I wriggled loose and starts to get up, but a strong hand grabs me
by the ankle, yanks me off my feet, and I hit my head on a chair. I
kinda remember being dragged down them stairs, and then I feels
my carcass being dragged over rough ground. It was a long, hard
trip, and I reckon I lost about all the skin on the upper half of my
body. Finally I bumps over a step, gets yanked inside on to a carpet,
and then I hears a voice very dimly—
“Sweetheart, I brought thee home.”
Then a light is lit, and I sees Mrs. Smith putting the chimney on a
lamp. Without turning she says—
“I reckon you’ll confine your love to me after this, eh?”
Then she turns and looks at me, setting there on the floor with my
back propped up against a chair. I looks around. Just inside the door,
sitting on the floor, is Wick. Mrs. Smith looks at me and then at him.
Then she wipes her lips and stares at Wick.
“Sweetheart, eh?” grunts Wick, getting to his feet. “Arabellie, ain’t
you got no shame? Dancin’ up there without nothing on to speak of,
and then you has the gall to bring your sweetheart home with yuh.”
“Did—did—didn’t I—bring you home, Wicksie?”
“You—know—danged—well—you—didn’t. I always knowed you
was kinda sweet on Ike Harper.”
“On that!” She actually yelped, and pointed her finger at me.
“Sweet on him?”
I gets to my feet, but my legs ain’t very strong. I says:
“Lemme a-alone. I don’t want no man’s wife’s love—especially
one what hauls me home by the ankle. When I git married I want a
clingin’ vine—not a pile driver.”
I never did have much sense. A feller in my condition ought to
keep his mouth shut and sneak away soft-like. I turns my head
toward the door, and just then the weight of the world hit me from
behind, and it was a lucky thing for that house that the door was
open.
I landed on my hands and knees in the yard, with all the wind
knocked out of my system. Wick has got some rose-bushes in his
yard. Like a animal wounded unto death, I reckon I tried to crawl
around on my hands and knees to find a spot to die in.
All to once I sees one of them ⸺ sheep. It’s only a short
distance from me. I know if I move it’s going to hit me sure as ⸺ so
I remains still. I’ll bet that me and the sheep never moved a muscle
for fifteen minutes.
Then all at once the sheep spoke.
“For ⸺’s sake, if you’re goin’ to butt—butt and have it over with!”
I got to my feet.
“Get up, Dirty Shirt Jones,” says I. “What kind of a way is that to
act?”
Dirty weaves to his feet and stumbles over to me.
“Ike, thank the Lord, we’re alive!”
“Don’t presume too much. Medical science says that a man can
live after losin’ a certain amount of skin, but I’m bettin’ I’ve passed
that certain limit. Let’s sneak home and save what life we’ve got left.”
We sneaked around the Mint Hall and Wick’s store, and at the
corner we stumbles into somebody.
“Who goes there?” asks Dirty.
“Go ⸺!” wails Magpie Simpkins. “Help me, will yuh? I wrastled
all the way down here with one of them ⸺ sheep and now I’m
afraid to let loose.”
“You and your ⸺ atmosphere!” groans Dirty.
“I’m settin’ on it,” wails Magpie, “I’ve got a kink in my neck. Will
yuh hold it down until I can get up?”
Just then a voice from under him starts singing very soft and low
—
“There’s a la-a-a-nd that is fairer than this⸺”
Magpie gets to his feet and takes a deep breath.
“Testament,” says he, “what made yuh blat like a sheep?”
But Testament’s mind is not dwelling on sheep—not the kind of
sheep that Magpie meant.
Then the three of us starts limping toward home.
“Mebbe,” says Magpie, kinda painful-like, “mebbe we progressed
too fast. Piperock don’t appreciate it, gents, but this night the old
town jumped ahead at least fifty years.”
“Jumpin’,” says Dirty, reflective-like, “Jumpin’ don’t hurt nobody,
but, holy hen-hawks, it sure does hurt to jump that far and light so
hard.”
We pilgrims along, everybody trying hard to make their legs track.
Finally Magpie says—
“Personally, I think that interpretive dancin’ has anythin’ skinned I
ever seen.”
“Me too,” says I, “and parts I never have seen.”
Transcriber’s Note: This story appeared in the April 30, 1922

issue of Adventure Magazine.
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The Ancient Maya of the Belize Valley

of the Belize Valley

“A substantial contribution to Maya archaeology in particular, and Latin American anthro-

University Press of Florida

Salt: White Gold of the Ancient Maya, by Heather McKillop (2002)

Edited by James F. Garber

University Press of Florida

First cloth printing, 2004

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

University Press of Florida

The Central Belize Valley

4. Archaeological Investigations at Blackman Eddy 48

5. Major Center Identifiers at a Plazuela Group Near the Ancient

6. Ancient Maya Settlement in the Valley of Peace Area 86

The Upper Belize Valley

9. Buenavista del Cayo: A Short Outline of Occupational and Cultural

10. Xunantunich in a Belize Valley Context 168

11. The Royal Charter at Xunantunich 180

12. Buenavista del Cayo, Cahal Pech, and Xunantunich:

The Belize Valley: Neighboring Connections

14. Defining Royal Maya Burials: A Case from Pacbitun 228

15. Integration among Communities, Centers, and Regions:

16. The Classic Maya Trading Port of Moho Cay 257

The Belize Valley: Integration

18. The Emergence of Minor Centers in the Zones between

19. The Terminal Classic to Postclassic Transition in the

References Cited 349

1.1. Plan of Barton Ramie 6

7.4. Late Middle Formative circular platforms 112

13.4. Stela 6 at Pacbitun (reconstruction), dated to ca. a.d. 475 214

1. The Belize Valley 2

3.1. Middle Formative construction sequences by phase from Structure

Archaeologists are a persistent and conscientious group of individuals,

of Pennsylvania at Tikal, Guatemala; and Tulane University at Dzibilchal-

The Archaeology of the Belize Valley in Historical Perspective

Arlen F. Chase and James F. Garber

The Belize Valley

Gordon Willey and Barton Ramie in Historical Perspective

well with developments known from elsewhere in the southern lowlands.

A. Chase 1982; A. Chase and D. Chase 1983; D. Chase and A. Chase

History and Retrospection

The Barton Ramie research undertaken by Willey and his colleagues

The Belize Valley in Current Archaeological Perspective

It is rare in Maya archaeology, especially in the southern lowlands, for

parts of the southern lowlands. Given this proximity to “civilization,” the

We would like to thank Diane Chase, Norman Hammond, and an anony-

my background, what could I do that would contribute most effectively to

British Honduras (Thompson 1939), at San Jose. It had been interesting,