Tabasco Regional Anthropology Museum, Villahermosa

Posted on 05/10/2023 by Michael

Museo Regional de Antropología Carlos Pellicer Cámara is supposed to be Mexico’s second largest collection of anthropological artefacts in a museum opened in 1980.

It’s in the CICOM complex, a 15-minute walk from Zona Luz and just south of the Paseo Tabasco bridge.

This is a fine museum with some quite unique (Mayan) artefacts, the like of which I haven’t seen elsewhere – and I’ve seen a lot by now. My only criticism is that items from the different cultures were all mixed up and it became difficult to get any idea of development as you moved from different cultures over different time periods.

It will be a better place to arrive when the malecon is completed but even before then it’s well worth making the effort.

In the slide shows below I’ve tried to separate the Mayan artefacts from the other cultures represented. I think I got it right – if not I apologise and my only defence being a, perhaps, faulty memory.

Location:

Periférico Carlos Pellicer Cámara 511

86080 Villahermosa

How to get there;

The museum is in a new building that is part of a cultural complex that includes the Teatro Esperanza Iris. This area is at the southern end of the malecon (the pedestrian path that follows the shore of the river) which is presently under construction.

Entrance;

M$28

Maya

Olmec, Nahua and Zoque

Lamanai – Belize

Posted on 12/09/2023 by Michael

Lamanai

Lamanai – Belize

Location

This site is situated on the west bank of the New River lagoon. It is the second-largest site in Belize and, due to its extraordinary setting and architecture, one of the most visited. It is located in an archaeological reserve covering nearly 4 sq km. The name of the site is registered in Spanish sources as Lamanay and Lamayna, possibly a reference to Lama’anayin, which means ‘submerged crocodile’. The same sources also mention the Mayan name for the New River, Dzuluinicob, which Awe translates as ‘strangers’. Lamanai has restrooms, souvenir shops and a largish visitor centre/museum.

Pre-Hispanic history

Lamanai boasts the longest sequence of occupation in Belize: from 900 BC to AD 1675. However, this sequence was not continuous – in AD 1554 the Spaniards arrived and controlled the site for nearly a hundred years until the local population staged an uprising in 1640 and renounced their Christian beliefs. During this period, which can be regarded as a hiatus, the inhabitants of Lamanai struck an alliance with the people of Tipu, an important city in the Cayo district, a few kilometres south of Lamanai.

Site description

A tour of this site is extremely enjoyable, taking in the temple of the Masks, the Great Temple, Complex N10, the residential groups, the ball court, the Christian church (16th century) and the site museum. If you have the time and are interested in industrial archaeology, it is worth taking the walk to the 19th century sugar mill a little further south.

Temple of the masks (N9-56).

This is situated in the northern section of the site. The masks on the facade are unique in that their construction technique differs considerably from that used for other Maya masks. Instead of being modelled in stucco on a stone armature, they are made of blocks of limestone and then with a thin layer of grey stucco. Each anthropomorphic face has a headdress representing a crocodile. The presence of this symbol possibly validates the site name registered by the Spanish: Lamanay, ‘place of the crocodile’. Its construction commenced in 200 BC and it was remodelled on several occasions until AD 1300. Inside the temple is a sub-structure from the Preclassic with masks like those found in Structure 5C-2nd at Cerros. Two tombs, one of a male and the other of a female, were found inside the building. The male’s grave goods comprised objects of jade and shell, various textiles, matting and artefacts made of perishable material.

Great Temple (N10-43).

At 33 m, this is the highest structure on the site. The earliest construction, dated to around 100 BC, was of the same height. The building remained largely unchanged until AD 700 and was then abandoned around AD 900. Subsequently, during the Early Postclassic, an offering was placed inside the structure. Complex N10 is a group of residential and administrative structures. The dominant structure of the complex is the building (N10-9) known as the Temple of the Jaguar, built during the Early Classic and remodelled in the Late Classic and Postclassic. At the foot of the stairway are various small altars, the latest additions to the temple dating from after AD 1400. Structures N10-1, 2, 4 and 7 correspond to the Late Classic and Postclassic and had domestic and ceremonial functions. South of Complex N10 lie the main residential groups, which were still inhabited when the Spaniards arrived. These residences accommodated the Lamanai elite. The scattered layout of the houses is very similar to that found in the present-day towns and villages.

Ball Court

In terms of the play area, this is one of the smallest courts and yet it boasts the largest-known marker. A highly unusual offering was found below the marker: a lidded vessel containing miniature vessels and other objects, placed in a pool of mercury. This was the first time that mercury had ever been found in the Maya lowlands and the find was therefore unique. East of the court stands a small temple (N10-27) where Stela 9 was found, face down at the bottom of the temple stairway. Dating from the Late Classic, this is the only stela that was found in its original place. The figure represented is an ancestor of one of the most important Lamanai rulers, Smoking Shell. The stela commemorates the end of year (tun) 7 Ahau 3 Pop and the anniversary of Smoking Shell’s reign. The festivities to mark the occasion took place on 7 March 625 (9.9.12.0.0). The remains of five infants without any traces of violence were found at the foot of the stela. As Awe points out, this offering must have had a special significance because it is unusual to find infant burials associated with the erection of monuments. The original stela can now be found at the entrance to the site museum, which accommodates a collection of artefacts discovered during the excavations. The most outstanding pieces are the Postclassic polychrome ceramics and the eccentric flints.

Christian church.

Known as the Indian Church, this was built by the Spanish with masonry from the pre-Hispanic constructions. The massive walls with their large angular stones are representative of 16th century European architecture. During his excavations, Awe found a cemetery and evidence that in 1544 the Spanish had built an earlier church in the upper part of the one of the temples. In the mid-19th century the area was given over to sugar production. At Lamanai there are remains of a sugar mill with machinery imported from New Orleans in 1868. According to Kelley, the mill was abandoned around 1883 and the area was subsequently exploited for timber until the 1970s.

From: ‘The Maya: an architectural and landscape guide’, produced jointly by the Junta de Andulacia and the Universidad Autonoma de Mexico, 2010, pp271-272, pp274-275.

Lamanai

Temple of the Masks; 2. Great Temple; 3. Ball Court; 4. Temple of the Jaguar.

How to get there;

From Orange Walk. Not easy, especially if you visit during the rainy season and you don;t have access to a 4×4 vehicle. Almost certainly the most convenient, and most attractive, way is to travel by boat from just south of Orange Walk which takes you on a tortuous route through the many channels of the New River to the site, taking in along the way the local wildlife, especially the birds but also crocodiles and turtles. These can be organised locally and cost in the region of B$110 for an excursion which includes transport from your accommodation, the boat trip, lunch and entrance to the site – all accompanied by a local guide.

Entrance;

Included in the tour price but would be B$10 if you arrived independently.

Nim Li Punit – Belize

Posted on 06/09/2023 by Michael

Nim Li Punit

Nim Li Punit – Belize

Location

This settlement from the Late Classic period (AD 600- 800) is situated south of the Golden Stream basin on a natural elevation in the Maya Mountain foothills known as the Toledo Beds, a complex series of sedimentary, sandstone and slate rocks from the Oligocene and more recent limestone from the Cretacious period. Towards the east, the coastal plain stretches to the Caribbean and there are maize fields with hardly any rainforest in the area around the site; running along both ends of the hill on which it sits are small streams that the ancient Maya used for their own consumption and for irrigation purposes, just like their modern descendants today. The site is located near the village of Indian Creek, some 50 km from the town of Punta Gorda in the Toledo district, and 1.5 km west of the Southern Highway, mile 75. The site has a small museum for safeguarding the stelae with reliefs and hieroglyphic inscriptions, earthenware vessels and figurines, and other minor discoveries.

History of the explorations

The initial investigations in 1976 were undertaken by Norman Hammond of the University of Cambridge and Barbara McLeod of the University of Texas at Austin, who studied the iconography of the sculpted monuments and their hieroglyphic inscriptions; as a result of this research a map of the pre-Hispanic settlement was drawn up, the monuments were classified and the principal group was excavated. In 1983, as part of his survey of southern Belize, Richard Leventhal excavated the upper plaza on behalf of the Belizean government and with foreign funding. In 1986 he identified another stela and a royal tomb containing the remains of five individuals as well as over 35 ceramic vessels and countless grave goods.

Site description and monuments

The name Nim Li Punit is Kekchi Maya for ‘Big Hat’ and was assigned by Joseph Palacio, the Archaeological Commissioner for Belize at the time the site was discovered by oil company workers in 1976. It makes reference to the prominent headdress of the figure depicted on Stela 14. Although Nim Li Punit has neither the impressive architecture nor the exquisite stonework to be found at Lubaantun, it is relatively similar in general terms and compensates for these omissions with a collection of 26 stelae, seven of which are sculpted; the largest is Stela 14, which at 9.5 m is the longest discovered in Belize and the second longest monument in the Maya area after Stela E at Quirigua. This site was initially believed to be a secondary centre dependent on Lubaantun, but archaeological studies have demonstrated that it was a large settlement and must have served as the ceremonial centre for the surrounding population. Even so, its relationship with other large centres in Belize and southern Peten remains unclear.

The principal constructions are distributed on the crest of a group of low hills and comprise three groups: a ceremonial complex and two civic-residential groups for the ruling elite, situated north of the main group. The ceremonial precinct is composed of two plazas, one of which stands 4 m higher than the other. The stelae were erected in the lower, and larger, of the two plazas. This plaza is in turn situated approximately 5 m above the natural level of the terrain and the various stepped sections of the platform provided access to the main group via a ramp or stairway. The largest pyramid structure stands some 11m high, while another measures 65 m in length and 3 m in height. The upper, smaller plaza is delimited by the large pyramid, two square-plan pyramid structures – one of these (structure 7) contained a rich collective tomb excavated by Leventhal in 1985 – and three elongated platforms, two small ones and a longer one at the west end measuring 40 m in length and 2 m in height. The north-east end of this plaza opens on to the Ball Court, situated a few metres below these two platforms. The court is open-ended and approximately 20 m in length, with a smooth, circular marker at its centre. North-west of the Ball Court, in the West Group, the hill slopes were levelled with retaining walls to create two terraces on which stand low platforms and a pyramid structure 6 m high, which due to its topographical position is the most imposing construction of the group, despite not being excessively high. East of the West Group and north of the Ball Court lies the East Group, composed of various stepped terraces on which are numerous residential structures; the highest terrace resembles a small irregular plaza, delimited by four pyramids and various smaller mounds.

The main group contains 26 monuments – carved in the sandstone and slate found in the geological strata of the Toledo district – although this figure may change if the stela butts are included; these are still embedded in situ and surrounded by the fragments of a few scattered stelae. Seven monuments have reliefs and hieroglyphic inscriptions (stelae 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 14 and 15). No altars or stone slabs have been found, only the smooth ball court marker. The earliest monument, Stela 15, is inscribed with the Long Count date 9.14.10.0.0 (AD 741), while the latest, Stela 3, possibly corresponds to the Maya date 10.0.0.0.0 (AD 830). A distinctive feature of the monuments is their wide range of sculptural styles and formats, each one displaying a different treatment in terms of its inscriptions, apparel and other details. The sculptural tradition lasted approximately four katuns (80 years), but the sculpted monuments reveal great creativity for a centre that was apparently secondary in the hierarchy of settlements in southern Belize; besides, the site even has its own emblem glyph. Uxbenka, a smaller site, and Lubaantun, larger than Nim Li Punit, as well as other sites in the region formed the sociopolitical mosaic towards the end of the Classic era. The sudden emergence of small polities seeking to legitimise their ruling elites gave rise to instability and political fragmentation in the southern area of the Maya lowlands.

From: ‘The Maya: an architectural and landscape guide’, produced jointly by the Junta de Andulacia and the Universidad Autonoma de Mexico, 2010, pp254-256.

How to get there:

From Punta Gorda. The Belize bound bus leaves the centre of Punta Gorda at 08.00 and 10.00 (there are later departures but these are the best for visiting the site). The road leading to the site is on the north-eastern edge of the settlement of Indian Creek – about an hour from Punta Gorda. Bus fare B$5. The site is about 800m metres up a steepish hill from the main road. You might have a long wait to get back as the bus from Belize passes at around 11.30 and 12.30.