Cahal Pech is a

Maya Maya may refer to: Civilizations * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Maya language, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (Ethiopia), a popul ...

site located near the town of San Ignacio in the

Cayo District Cayo District is a district located in the west part of Belize. It is the most extensive, second-most populous and third-most densely populated of the six districts of Belize. The district's capital is the town of San Ignacio. Geography Being ...

Belize Belize (; bzj, Bileez) is a Caribbean and Central American country on the northeastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a wa ...

. The site was a palatial, hilltop home for an elite

family, and though the most major construction dates to the

Classic A classic is an outstanding example of a particular style; something of lasting worth or with a timeless quality; of the first or highest quality, class, or rank – something that exemplifies its class. The word can be an adjective (a ''c ...

period, evidence of continuous habitation has been dated to as far back as 1200 BCE during the Early Middle Formative period (Early Middle Preclassic), making Cahal Pech one of the oldest recognizably

Maya sites This list of Maya sites is an alphabetical listing of a number of significant archaeological sites associated with the Maya civilization of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica. The peoples and cultures which comprised the Maya civilization spanned more ...

in Western

Location

The site rests high above the banks of the Macal River and is strategically located to overlook the confluence of the Macal River and the

Mopan River The Mopan River is a river in Central America spanning the Petén Department of Guatemala and the Cayo District of Belize. It merges with the Macal River at Branch Mouth, Belize, forming the Belize River, which ultimately discharges to the Caribbe ...

. The site is a collection of 34 structures, with the tallest temple being about 25 meters in height, situated around a central acropolis. The site was abandoned in the 9th century CE for unknown reasons.

Archaeology

The earliest pottery in western

is found here.

"Emerging information from western
Belize Belize (; bzj, Bileez) is a Caribbean and Central American country on the northeastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a wa ...
suggests that ceramic-using populations may have been in place as early as ca. 1200 B.C. at Cahal Pech and perhaps elsewhere (Awe 1992; Clark and Cheetham 2002; Garber et al. 2004; Healy and Awe 1995). While these complexes, termed "Cunil" at Cahal Pech and "Kanocha" at
Blackman Eddy Blackman Eddy is a village located on the banks of the Belize River in the Cayo District, Belize.SIB
, S ...
, remain to be broadly documented across the
Belize River The Belize River runs through the center of Belize. It drains more than one-quarter of the country as it winds along the northern edge of the Maya Mountains to the sea just north of Belize City (). The Belize river valley is largely tropical ra ...
Valley, they are the earliest established ceramic technologies recorded in western
Belize Belize (; bzj, Bileez) is a Caribbean and Central American country on the northeastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a wa ...
."

The name ''Cahal Pech'', meaning "Place of the Ticks" in the

Yucatec Maya language Yucatec Maya (; referred to by its speakers simply as Maya or as , is one of the 32 Mayan languages of the Mayan language family. Yucatec Maya is spoken in the Yucatán Peninsula and northern Belize. There is also a significant diasporic com ...

, was given when the area was used as pasture during the first archaeological studies in the 1950s, led by

Linton Satterthwaite Linton Satterthwaite Jr. (1897–1978) was a Maya archaeologist and epigrapher and is primarily associated with the University Museum at the University of Pennsylvania. He is well known for his works at Caracol, Piedras Negras, Cahal Pech and Be ...

from the

University of Pennsylvania Museum The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology—commonly known as the Penn Museum—is an archaeology and anthropology museum at the University of Pennsylvania. It is located on Penn's campus in the University City neighb ...

. It is now an archaeological reserve, and houses a small museum with artifacts from various ongoing excavations. The primary excavation of the site began in 1988. Restoration was completed in 2000 under the leadership of Dr.

Jaime Awe Jaime José Awe is a Belizean archaeologist who specializes in the ancient Maya,Awe, Jaime J. (2011). On Becoming a Developing Country Archaeologist. The SAA Archaeological Record, March 2011:7-9. a Professor of Anthropology at Northern Arizona ...

, Director of the National Institute of Archaeology (NICH),

.Awe (2006) Other nearby Mayan sites include

Chaa Creek Chaa Creek is a tributary of the Macal River in the Cayo District in western Belize. One of the official gauging stations of the Macal is located near the confluence with Chaa Creek. There are Maya ruins that remain largely unexcavated in the C ...

Xunantunich Xunantunich () is an Ancient Maya archaeological site in western Belize, about 70 miles (110 km) west of Belize City, in the Cayo District. Xunantunich is located atop a ridge above the Mopan River, well within sight of the Guatemala bord ...

Baking Pot Baking Pot is a Maya archaeological site located in the Belize River Valley on the southern bank of the river, northeast of modern-day town of San Ignacio in the Cayo District of Belize; it is downstream from the Barton Ramie and Lower Dover a ...

, and Lower Dover.

Gallery

File:Cahal Pech Jul 10 2015 110.jpg, Aerial of Cahal Pech Image:Belize, Cahal Pech Laslovarga009.JPG, Main courtyard Image:Cahal Pech Jul 10 2015 107.jpg, Main courtyard Image:Cahal Pech Jul 10 2015 49.jpg, Main courtyard Image:Cahal Pech Jul 10 2015 16.jpg, Remains of a ball court Image:Cahal Pech Jul 10 2015 43.jpg, Another building

Notes

References

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External links