Details in the Archaeology of Caracol, Belize: An Introduction

Our archaeological project at the Maya site of Carneol in the Vaca Plateau of Belize has been ongoing since 1985. 11ris decade of archaeological investigation has resulted in a much better understanding' of the extensive Maya city we now call "Carncol.'l And the data gathered by the project within these ten years have helped to augment our understanding of Classic Maya civilization in the Southern low-lands. The studies contained within this volume represent but a small part of the archae. ological data that has been collected at Carncol; it results from the efforts of more than four hundred individual project members who have each spent four or more montbs of their lives living on-site. Taken as a whole the twelve studies presented here provide a brief overview of many aspects of this once great Maya center, taken individually, however, each study documents important archaeological details that have applicability not just for Caraeol, but also for our overall understanding of Maya civilization. ~ ~ Prior to the first field season of the Caracol Archaeological Project in 1985, the site of Caracol was viewed as a relatively small center with little impact on the Maya world. Carneal's prinwy significance lay in its supposed defeat of its neighbor, the Guatemalan site of Naranjo, after a series of wars in the 7th century A.D. (Stone et aI. 1985). By the time the first Caracol monograph was published (Chase and Chase 1987a) discoveries had been made that somewhat altered this provincial view of the site. Not surprisingly, beginning fieldwOlk proved the site to be substantially larger than had been suggested by previously published maps (Beetz and Satterthwaite 1981); somewhat unexpected, however. was the discovery of a series of intrasite causeways radiating out from Carneal's epicenter, the longest initially believed to be some 3.5 kilometers in length. Yet, the one find that had the most impact on changing the archaeological view of Caracol was the A Group ballcourt marker encountered in 1986 (Chase and Chase 1987a; Chase 1991). The hieroglyphic text on this monmnent recorded a series of historic activities relating to Caracol's cummt king, Kan II, including Caracci's apparent defeat of the Guatemalan site of Tikal nearly 80 kilometer's distant by Kan II's father, Lord Water (Houston 1987:93; 1991). Nevertheless, opinions about CaracoI's impact on the Classic Maya world were sharply divided. A general Mesoamerican text referred to Caracol as a "rela-tively small city" and …