What a Cache! Ritual Activities at the Medicinal Trail Community, a Small Rural Maya Site in Northwestern Belize

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

During the 2023 field season, excavations uncovered evidence for ritual activities at Group M of the Medicinal Trail Hinterland Community, an ancient Maya farming village in northwestern Belize, near the political center of La Milpa. Initial survey and brief excavations from the 2017 field season indicated the group was atypical of architectural groups from elsewhere in the community, not being residential or a work area associated with terraces. Excavations between the courtyard and Structure M-3, underneath a layer of construction fill, was a capstone supported by three upright stones, overlying a so-called Maya “God”,” or “Face” pot. Within the pot was a sap-like residue and ash. At the same level and to the east, a concentration of large Early Classic Tzakol ceramic sherds were discovered that appeared to have been placed against a platform wall, suggesting the cache was part of a termination ritual. This finding, the presence of a stela, and others, indicates that Group M may have been a primarily ceremonial space. This discovery has implications for our understanding of Group M’s function and prehistoric ritual practices of the Maya at small rural communities.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 39743.0