Archaeological Reconnaissance at Chau Hiix: Agricultural, Settlement and Political Economy

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With National Science Foundation support, Dr. Anne Pyburn will conduct three seasons of archaeological fieldwork at the Mayan site of Chau Hiix located in Belize. The site was discovered in 1990 and is of special interest because it is located between the well documented sites of Lamanai and Altun Ha, themselves only 40 km apart. Chau Hiix contains about 25 large structures located on and around its central platform, the largest of which is 20 meters in height. The outlying settlement area contains a continuous scatter of platform groups and small mounds interrupted in at least 4 places by clusters of larger buildings on platforms. Dr. Pyburn and her collaborators will map the distribution of ancient features in and around Chau Hiix during three seasons combining mapping and test excavation of the settlement area with excavation in the central precinct. The methodology is designed to investigate: 1. Chau Hiix's sustaining area and satellite populations; 2. agricultural features; 3. late period settlement and civic center. Settlement data will be collected by mapping, testpitting, and surface collection. A contour map of the settlement will be constructed. and a sample of 10 to 20% of the structures in the settlement area will be excavated. Throughout the project excavators will recover pollen samples, human and non-human bone, carbon, soil, flotation samples and lithic debitage. The ecofacts will permit reconstruction of the prehistoric environment and provide insight into Mayan use of it. Archaeologists have focused on the prehistory of the Mayan peoples because these groups, spread over large portions of lowland tropical Middle America, created a civilization which supported and incorporated large numbers of individuals in regions which are today inhabited only by small numbers of people. Evidence indicates that following a high point during the Classic period, levels of population density and social integration declined rapidly and that writing ceased and no new monumental architecture was constructed. Chau Hiix was occupied during both the Mayan climax and following decline and through careful examination, Dr. Pyburn will gain insight into both aspects of this process. She hypothesizes that Mayan farmers were organized into smallholder groups which were effective productive units and that state interference with them provided the impetus for the disintegration of Mayan society. This research is important for several reasons. It will provide data of interest to many archaeologists. It will shed new light into human - environment interaction in tropical lowland regions and into the rise and decline of complex societies.