Marco Gonzalez 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 ...

archaeological site located near the southern tip of

Ambergris Caye Ambergris Caye ( ; Spanish: Cayo Ambergris), is the largest island of Belize, located northeast of the country's mainland, in the Caribbean Sea. It is about long from north to south, and about wide. Where it has not been modified by humans, it ...

off the coast of

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 wate ...

. It was first recorded in 1984 by Drs. Elizabeth Graham and

David M. Pendergast David Michael Pendergast, (born 1934) is an American Archaeologist, and is most famous for his work at Altun Ha and Lamanai, Belize. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology in 1955 from the University of California, Berkeley, and earned his ...

, and was named by them after their local guide. The existence of the site, which is located approximately south of San Pedro, had been known to the town's inhabitants for many years, as had most of the other sites that dot the island. The site was excavated by Drs. Graham and Pendergast between 1984 and 1994.

Topography

The ruins are about in size, and are easily visible from the air flying into San Pedro town. The low-lying area around the site is predominated by red (''Rhizophora mangle'') and black (''Avicennia nitida'')

mangroves A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evolution in severa ...

. The site itself is covered by white mangrove (''Laguncularia racemosa''),

gumbo-limbo ''Bursera simaruba'', commonly known as gumbo-limbo, copperwood, chaca, West Indian birch, naked Indian, and turpentine tree, is a tree species in the family Burseraceae, native to the Neotropics, from South Florida to Mexico and the Caribbean ...

(''Bursera simaruba''), white poisonwood (''Cameraria belizensis''), silver palmettos (''Thrinax sp.''), cabbage palms (''Roystonea oleracea'') and a variety of shrubbery. It is roughly above sea level, slightly higher than the surrounding swamps due to accumulated anthrosol, soil composed primarily of artefacts (e.g., pottery, tools), conch and other shells, building remains and other debris resulting from millennia of human habitation. The presence of artefacts beneath the mangal swamps indicates that the site was once larger than what is now exposed. Surrounded by thick jungle, access to the site is difficult, especially during and immediately after the rainy season. The trails leading there have become increasingly overgrown and visitors are rare.

Ruins

There are at least 49 distinct structures and walls within the mapped area of the site. The structures at the northern end appear to be arranged around

plaza A town square (or square, plaza, public square, city square, urban square, or ''piazza'') is an open public space, commonly found in the heart of a traditional town but not necessarily a true geometric square, used for community gatherings. ...

s, while elsewhere the building plan appears less formal. All of the structures are relatively low platforms, ranging in height from to . There are none of the

pyramids A pyramid (from el, πυραμίς ') is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge to a single step at the top, making the shape roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilat ...

typical of other Mayan sites in this region. Building foundations are composed mainly of blocks of

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed in ...

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

that was most likely quarried from local sources. Other building materials include the queen conch ''Strombus gigas'' as well as other shells. Crude

plaster Plaster is a building material used for the protective or decorative coating of walls and ceilings and for moulding and casting decorative elements. In English, "plaster" usually means a material used for the interiors of buildings, while "re ...

floors were found in some structures, and evidence suggests that many of the habitations were of pole-and-thatch-roof design. The site is littered with enormous amounts of broken

pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other ceramic materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. Major types include earthenware, stoneware and ...

, as well as conch shells, chert tools and human bones. There is considerable evidence of excessive looting.

History

The excavations conducted by Graham and Pendergast in 1989 indicate that initial occupation of the site occurred about 2,100 years ago, during the late Preclassic period. From then, the site appears to have been continuously inhabited until roughly 1500 CE, at which time it was abruptly abandoned. The peak period of occupation at the site was during the Postclassic period, from about 1200 to 1400 CE. The Maya inhabitants are believed to have been predominantly fisherfolk and later, during the late

Classic period Mesoamerican chronology divides the history of prehispanic Mesoamerica into several periods: the Paleo-Indian (first human habitation until 3500 BCE); the Archaic (before 2600 BCE), the Preclassic or Formative (2500 BCE –&nbs ...

(from about 800–500 CE), involved in intensive

salt production Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quanti ...

. Evidence suggests that, during this period, the inhabitants of Marco Gonzalez

traded Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market. An early form of trade, barter, saw the direct excha ...

extensively with other Maya sites. The abundant

that litters the site is made from mixtures of clay and quartz; since there is no available source of these materials on Ambergris Caye, they (or perhaps even the pots themselves) must have been brought to the site from overseas. Other artefacts at the site, such as chert and flint tools and other granite artefacts, minor jade and obsidian, were also obviously imported from elsewhere since the materials have no natural source anywhere on Ambergris Caye. The site's setting on the tip of the island may have given it a strategic position on maritime trade routes that existed at the time.

Theories on abandonment

In 1993, a geological history of southern Ambergris Caye and the Marco Gonzalez area was published by R.K. Dunn and S.J. Mazzullo, which provides a theory as to why the site was abruptly abandoned around 500 years ago. A representative cross-section of the site revealed evidence that, between roughly 2000 and 1000 years ago, the coastal geography changed from open, shallow sea to mangal swampland. Rapid rising in sea levels caused by the melting of the last Pleistocene glaciers caused the geography of the coastal area around Marco Gonzalez to change. As sea levels rose, the coastline shifted to shelter the surrounding area from currents, allowing mangrove swamps to completely surround the site. Eventually, the encroachment of the surrounding jungle and swamplands made the site inhospitable, and the Maya abandoned it. The discovery of artefacts below present sea level, and beneath the mangrove peats, indicated that the habitable area of the site was much larger in the past than now; and subsequently that the inhabitants moved to progressively higher ground as sea level rose and the swamps encroached upon them.

Bibliography

*Mazzullo, S.J.
Marco Gonzales
. Casado Internet Group. Retrieved 2011-04-21.

External links