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Punta de Chimino is a
Maya Maya may refer to: Ethnic groups * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Mayan languages, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (East Africa), a p ...
archaeological site in the Petexbatún region of the department of Petén in
Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...
. Occupation at the site dates to the Preclassic and Classic periods of
Mesoamerican chronology Mesoamerican chronology divides the history of pre-Columbian, prehispanic Mesoamerica into several periods: the Paleo-Indian (first human habitation until 3500 BCE); the Archaic (before 2600 BCE), the Preclassic or Formative (2500 BC ...
.Demarest 2006, p.124. Punta de Chimino experienced a population surge in the Late Preclassic, followed by a reduction in occupation levels in the Early Classic and another increase in the Terminal Classic when the city became one of the few population centres to survive the political disintegration of the Petexbatún region after the collapse of the kingdom based at Dos Pilas. The neighbouring city of Seibal on the Pasión River appears to have intervened at Punta de Chimino at this time and to have politically dominated the smaller site.


Location

The site is located on a peninsula on the western side of Lake Petexbatún.Sharer & Traxler 2006, p.386. In the Late Classic a series of defensive ditches were excavated across the base of this peninsula in order to fortify the site. The peninsula possessed deep fertile soils overlying
limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...
bedrock and gave easy access to the rich aquatic resources of the lake. Punta de Chimino is one of the better investigated sites along the Pasión River and its tributaries. The site is located south of the modern town of Sayaxché.Velásquez 1994, p.349.


History

Punta de Chimino was first settled in the Middle Preclassic period. By the Early Preclassic the city had a sizeable population. In the Early Classic population levels at Punta de Chimino decreased from their earlier Preclassic levels, this may represent a shift in population towards nucleated settlements at the nearby Petexbatún cities of Tamarindito and Arroyo de Piedra. Terminal Classic economic activity at Punta de Chimino appears to be a reduced continuation of the earlier Classic Period economic activity and shows no sign of any foreign influence that might have caused the
Classic Maya collapse In archaeology, the classic Maya collapse was the destabilization of Classic Maya civilization and the violent collapse and abandonment of many southern lowlands city-states between the 7th and 9th centuries CE. Not all Mayan city-states ...
. The site is one of very few locations in the Pasión drainage to have erected major
architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...
during the Terminal Classic, including a
corbel In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal keyed into and projecting from a wall to carry a wikt:superincumbent, bearing weight, a type of bracket (architecture), bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in t ...
-vaulted temple, large palace platforms and a very large ballcourt. The inhabitants maintained areas of intensive agriculture protected by the defensive moats and the site became the last centre of elite activity to survive in the Petexbatún, at a time when other cities in the region had been reduced to tiny hamlets among the Classic period ruins.Demarest 2005, p.115. The clay used in two styles of Terminal Classic
ceramics A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant, and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porce ...
from Punta de Chimino was from the same source as that used for Seibal ceramics, and had very similar styles of decoration.Demarest & Escobedo 1997, p.395. The stylistic similarities between the two sites indicate that Seibal may well have taken advantage of the political fragmentation of the Petexbatún region in order to take control of Punta de Chimino and exact tribute payment. Punta de Chimino was probably the last of the Petexbatun capitals to fall when the region fragmented after the defeat of Dos Pilas by its former vassal Tamarindito. Evidence was found by archaeologists that the site had been attacked sometime after AD 760, with the innermost and deepest ditch having a large burnt area scattered with flint spearheads, with more spearheads recovered from the wall lining the top of the ditch. The site declined and was finally abandoned in the 10th century AD. In the Postclassic period the site underwent a limited reoccupation by people from the central Petén, whose ceramics showed no continuity with the earlier Petexbatún ceramic styles.Demarest 2005, p.117.


Modern history

Punta de Chimino was badly looted in the second half of the 20th century, extensive damage was caused, including the removal of all exposed sculpture at the site. T. Inomata of the Petexbatún Regional Archaeological Project mapped the site in 1989. The Project carried out further investigations at Punta de Chimino from 1990 to 1991 and in 1994 under the direction of Claudia Wolley and from 1996 to 1997 under the direction of Arthur Demarest.


Site description

The neck of the peninsula was fortified with three moats, one of which was deep, each moat was topped by a
palisade A palisade, sometimes called a stakewall or a paling, is typically a row of closely placed, high vertical standing tree trunks or wooden or iron stakes used as a fence for enclosure or as a defensive wall. Palisades can form a stockade. Etymo ...
d wall.O'Mansky & Dunning 2005, p.95. The creation of the moats involved the excavation of of the limestone bedrock, which was then used to build up the ramparts.Martin & Grube 2000, p.67. The innermost and deepest moat was flooded to create an artificial island. The area between these moats was used for intensive agriculture and included box gardens divided by crude stone walls. One of the excavated box gardens was dated to the Terminal Classic and measured and was deep.Quezada et al 1997, p.399. The box gardens were probably fertilised with organic material dredged from the swampy area immediately south of the peninsula, with the addition of
night soil Night soil is a historical euphemism for Human waste, human excreta collected from cesspit, cesspools, privies, pail closets, pit latrines, privy middens, septic tanks, etc. This material was removed from the immediate area, usually at night, by ...
s from the inhabitants.Demarest 2005, p.111. The combination of moats and walls that protected the peninsula made Punta de Chimino the best defended site in the entire Maya lowlands. The artificial island created by the excavation of the moats was densely occupied during the Terminal Classic but only one residence was excavated in the area between the moats. The Terminal Classic palaces at the site consisted of wide platforms measuring approximately and thickly coated in plaster. The site is divided into three main groups; the North, East and West Groups, with a Main Plaza and an
Acropolis An acropolis was the settlement of an upper part of an ancient Greek city, especially a citadel, and frequently a hill with precipitous sides, mainly chosen for purposes of defense. The term is typically used to refer to the Acropolis of Athens ...
. Structure 2 is a small altar platform to the south of the ballcourt and west of Structure 7. The area around it was used for the placing of altars and
stelae A stele ( ) or stela ( )The plural in English is sometimes stelai ( ) based on direct transliteration of the Greek, sometimes stelae or stelæ ( ) based on the inflection of Greek nouns in Latin, and sometimes anglicized to steles ( ) or stela ...
. The structure measures and is tall. Structure 2 was virtually destroyed by a looters' trench sunk into the upper section and measuring and deeper than the structure itself. Rescue excavations discovered a variety of small greenstone artifacts in the spoil including an earspool, two beads and a necklace with a roughly carved face. Three human bones were also recovered although their original context is unknown. Structure 2 had two phases of construction, both tentatively dated to the Late Classic. Structure 7 is a high
pyramid A pyramid () is a structure whose visible surfaces are triangular in broad outline and converge toward the top, making the appearance roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be of any polygon shape, such as trian ...
on the south side of the Main Plaza. The south and west sides of the pyramid have been damaged by looters. Two burials (Burials 4 and 8) were found under the pyramid. Structure 7 overlies an earlier substructure known as Structure 7 Sub 1, the floor of which lies under the summit of the later phase of construction.Escobedo 1997, pp.404-405. Structure 59 is one of the main structures in the West Group.Velásquez 1994, p.351. Structure 70 is one of the principal buildings in the West Group. It is a residential structure located to the northwest of the Main Plaza and stands tall. It was built upon a natural hill that was levelled to form a supporting platform. A Late Classic ceramic incense burner was excavated from the summit of the structure, it was modelled to form the Maya sun deity G3. Five low status burials were discovered, four of them interred directly under the floor and one in a crude cist, none of them were accompanied by offerings and all are dated to the Late Classic. Structure 72 is a large platform located immediately to the east of Structure 70. It measures and has a base of finely worked stone. The structure was a mid-status residential building dating to the Late Classic and included a kitchen measuring where more than 600 ceramic fragments were excavated together with animal bones. Structure 76 is a high platform situated in an open area west of Structure 7. It has been badly damaged by looters. Rescue excavations by archaeologists uncovered Burial 10 at a depth of under the building.Escobedo 1997, p.403. Structure 79 is a large elite platform grouped with Structures 80 and 81 in the North Group.Demarest & Escobedo 1997, p.395. Quezada et al 1997, p.400. It was associated with Seibal-style artifacts and has been dated to the Terminal Classic. Structure 80 is in the North Group.Quezada et al 1997, p.400. It is on the north side of the group comprising Structures 79, 80 and 81. It was a large elite platform associated with Seibal-style artifacts. It dates to the Terminal Classic and was completely coated in
stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and ...
. Structure 81 is grouped with Structures 79 and 80 in the North Group. It is also a large elite platform dating to the Terminal Classic associated with Seibal-style artifacts. It was a vaulted building built completely from worked stone, although it has now collapsed. Excavations under the floor of the building revealed three ceramic vessels associated with animal remains that included
jaguar The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large felidae, cat species and the only extant taxon, living member of the genus ''Panthera'' that is native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the biggest cat spe ...
teeth. A well-preserved decorated vessel was under these and on top of some fragments of human remains, also including teeth. The Ballcourt at Punta de Chimino dates to the Terminal Classic. It is the largest yet found in the Petexbatún region and is similar in both size and style to the Terminal Classic ballcourt C-9 at the city of Seibal, on the bank of the Pasión River. The ballcourt has open end zones and is unusually large for such a small site, perhaps owing its construction to the political intervention of Seibal. The site's Hieroglyphic Stairway was buried under a
midden A midden is an old dump for domestic waste. It may consist of animal bones, human excrement, botanical material, mollusc shells, potsherds, lithics (especially debitage), and other artifacts and ecofacts associated with past human oc ...
dating to the Postclassic period.


Burials

Burial 4 was interred in a small cist measuring , located under Structure 7. By the time the cist was excavated it had been practically destroyed by tree roots, scattering the bones. A rough greenstone pendant was associated with the remains, together with a greenstone bead, a tripod plate, a polychrome ceramic bowl and perforated seashells. The burial has been dated to the beginning of the Late Classic period.Escobedo 1997, p.404. Burial 8 was deposited under the summit of Structure 7. It was not placed within a tomb but rather scattered within the infill of the pyramid. Some of the bones showed evidence of burning. The burial was accompanied by an offering of four ceramic vessels, a broken fragment of obsidian knife and a piece of greenstone. One of these was painted with a hieroglyphic text that indicated that it was the ''
atole ''Atole'' (, believed to come from Nahuatl ''Aztec cuisine, ātōlli'' or from Mayan), also known as ''atolli'', ''atol'' and ''atol de elote'', is a traditional hot masa-based beverage of Mexicans, Mexican origin. Atole can have different flav ...
''-drinking vessel of a lord from the nearby Petexbatún city of Tamarindito. Based on the offerings, Burial 8 has been identified as a Late Classic elite status burial. Burial 10 consists of a collapsed vaulted tomb found under Structure 76. Various
chert Chert () is a hard, fine-grained sedimentary rock composed of microcrystalline or cryptocrystalline quartz, the mineral form of silicon dioxide (SiO2). Chert is characteristically of biological origin, but may also occur inorganically as a prec ...
and
obsidian Obsidian ( ) is a naturally occurring volcanic glass formed when lava extrusive rock, extruded from a volcano cools rapidly with minimal crystal growth. It is an igneous rock. Produced from felsic lava, obsidian is rich in the lighter element ...
chippings were associated with the tomb, a feature common to many elite burials across the Petén region. The chamber of the tomb measured by high. The bones of the deceased were well preserved in spite of being fragmented by the collapse of the ceiling. The remains were probably that of an adult male and the body was laid out on its back with the head towards the east. The burial was accompanied by only two offerings consisting of a ceramic bowl and a plate, the style of which date it to the Late Classic sometime between AD 600 and 830.


Notes


References

* * * * * * * * * * * {{Maya sites Maya sites in Petén Department Archaeological sites in Guatemala Former populated places in Guatemala