“…Figure 4.Map of Chiapa de Corzo. Drawing by Victor Castillo based on Bachand et al 2008:Figure 2.Figure 5.Map of San Isidro. Drawing by Victor Castillo based on Lee 1974:Figure 3.Figure 6.Map of La Libertad.…”
The Ceibal-Petexbatun Archaeological Project has been conducting field investigations at the lowland Maya site of Ceibal since 2005. Previous research at this site by Harvard University allowed us to develop detailed research designs geared toward specific research questions. A particularly important focus was the question of how lowland Maya civilization emerged and developed. Comparison with contemporaneous sites in central Chiapas led us to hypothesize that the residents of Ceibal established a formal spatial pattern similar to those of the Chiapas centers during the Middle Preclassic period (1000–350b.c.). Through excavations of important elements of this spatial pattern, including a probable E-Group assemblage and large platforms, we examined how the Ceibal residents participated in interregional interactions with Chiapas, the Gulf Coast, and other areas, and how construction activities and architecture shaped the course of social change.
“…Figure 4.Map of Chiapa de Corzo. Drawing by Victor Castillo based on Bachand et al 2008:Figure 2.Figure 5.Map of San Isidro. Drawing by Victor Castillo based on Lee 1974:Figure 3.Figure 6.Map of La Libertad.…”
The Ceibal-Petexbatun Archaeological Project has been conducting field investigations at the lowland Maya site of Ceibal since 2005. Previous research at this site by Harvard University allowed us to develop detailed research designs geared toward specific research questions. A particularly important focus was the question of how lowland Maya civilization emerged and developed. Comparison with contemporaneous sites in central Chiapas led us to hypothesize that the residents of Ceibal established a formal spatial pattern similar to those of the Chiapas centers during the Middle Preclassic period (1000–350b.c.). Through excavations of important elements of this spatial pattern, including a probable E-Group assemblage and large platforms, we examined how the Ceibal residents participated in interregional interactions with Chiapas, the Gulf Coast, and other areas, and how construction activities and architecture shaped the course of social change.
“…Five out of eleven celts (45.5 per cent) were employed for carving wood before their deposition in caches. Caches 132 and 160 were deposited in cruciform arrangements that closely resemble those found at Chiapa de Corzo (Bachand 2013), San Isidro (Lowe 1981), La Venta (Drucker et al 1959) and Cival (Estrada-Belli 2006), suggesting that elites at Ceibal shared ritual practices with those of neighbouring centres, possibly through direct contact. Cache 132 contained five polished greenstone celts.…”
“…Though it is hard to prove, it is very possible that Burial 7 represents an offering-like dedicatory interment containing the remains of one or two sacrificial victims. It should be stressed here that in many Maya and non-Maya sites, E-Groups bear caches or burials placed on their major east-west axis, some of which may be interpreted as offertory (Bachand 2013;Estrada-Belli 2006;Laporte & Fialko 1995). At Tikal a mass grave of a dedicatory character with the remains of 17 individuals (who most probably were sacrificed) was found in front of the central structure of the eastern platform of an E-Group (and on its major east-west axis, as in the case of Nakum) located in the so-called Mundo Perdido Group (Laporte 1995, 23;Laporte & Fialko 1995, 56).…”
Section: E-group and The Earliest Monumental Architecture At Nakummentioning
Recent investigations at the Maya centre of Nakum (in Guatemala) enabled the study of the evolution of an interesting complex of buildings that started as the so-called E-Group, built during the Preclassic period (c. 600–300 bc). It was used for solar observations and rituals commemorating agricultural and calendrical cycles. During the Classic period (ad 250–800), the major building of the complex (Structure X) was converted into a large pyramidal temple where several burials, including at least one royal tomb, were placed. We were also able to document evidence of mortuary cults conducted by the Maya in the temple building situated above the burials. The architectural conversion documented in Structure X may reflect important religious and social changes: a transformation from the place where the Sun was observed and worshipped to the place where deceased and deified kings were apotheosized as the Sun Deity during the Classic. Thus the Maya transformed Structure X into one of the most sacred loci at Nakum by imbuing it with a complex solar and underworld symbolism and associating it with the cult of deified ancestors.
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