Caracol, Belize, and Changing Perceptions of Ancient Maya Society

Abstract

Archaeological research at Caracol, an ancient Maya site that was rediscovered in 1937, has become a major resource in the interpretation and understanding of the ancient Maya. Caracol, in west-central Belize, is situated in a subtropical region once characterized as being unsuitable for the development or maintenance of complex societies, yet it is one of the largest, if not the largest Classic period Maya site in the southern Maya Lowlands, home to over 100,000 people at its height between AD 600 and 700. The investigations at Caracol underscore the utility of long-term archaeological projects incorporating large-scale settlement study that combine excavation with varied research designs and the use of a contextual approach. By employing Maya epigraphic history, traditional archaeology, and modern technology like LiDAR, research at Caracol details the rise, maintenance, and fall of an ancient Maya city, affording a large window into ancient Maya lifeways. Archaeological work provides evidence of sustainable agriculture, a market economy, city planning that included a road system, the impact of warfare on the site's inhabitants, the sociopolitical status of women, the role that archaeology can play in refining written history, and the significance of commemorating the cyclical passage of time to the ancient Maya. This article

Ancient lowland Maya complexity as revealed by airborne laser scanning of northern Guatemala

“…This region had a strategic role in the expansion of the hegemonic Kaanul polity during the sixth through eighth centuries CE (96)(97)(98)(99)(100)(101)(102), so settlement nucleation here was probably conditioned by regional geopolitics in addition to local demographic processes. Finally, the urban and periurban settlement zones of Tikal extend over at least 76 km 2 , representing one of the largest continuous settlement zones in the Maya Lowlands (26).…”

“…"Causeways," elevated and paved roads of varied size, demonstrate economic and political integration by revealing formal connections between cities, smaller communities, and dispersed populations (113). Until recently, knowledge of formal political connections was restricted to epigraphic records of dynastic interaction and a small number of causeways (25,26,(114)(115)(116)(117). The lidar sample identified~106 linear kilometers of causeway construction dating to the Late Preclassic and Classic periods.…”

“…Some scholars suggest that the Maya Lowlands contained small city-state centers ruled by warring elites (10)(11)(12)(13), in settlements supported by a relatively sparse rural population practicing swidden farming (14), with only limited input from intensive agriculture (15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21). In contrast, other views point to a regional network of densely populated cities with complex integrative mechanisms (22)(23)(24)(25) that depended on heavy labor investments inside and outside urban cores (15,26,27). Even though the latter view has been ascendant in recent years, the absence of regional data has left the debate unresolved.…”

The Teotihuacan Anomaly: The Historical Trajectory of Urban Design in ancient Central Mexico

“…Huge size of the city. With 80,000 to 100,000 inhabitants living in an area of some 20 square km (Cowgill, 2015), Teotihuacan was one of the two most populous cities in Classic-period Mesoamerica; Caracol may have had an equivalent number of resients (Chase & Chase, 2017). A millennium after the fall of Teotihuacan, the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan grew to be more than twice the size of Teotihuacan (Rojas, 2012).…”

The Teotihuacan Anomaly: The Historical Trajectory of Urban Design in Ancient Central Mexico

“…With 80,000 to 100,000 inhabitants living in an area of some 20 square km (Cowgill, 2015), Teotihuacan was one of the two most populous cities in Classic-period Mesoamerica; Caracol may have had an equivalent number of resients (Chase & Chase, 2017). A millennium after the fall of Teotihuacan, the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan grew to be more than twice the size of Teotihuacan (Rojas, 2012).…”