Nohoch Ek Revisited: The Minor Center as Manor

Abstract

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The Last Hurrah: Examining the Nature of Peri-Abandonment Deposits and Activities at Cahal Pech, Belize

“…This situation is clearly evident in several of the published syntheses that focus on the Terminal Classic period (cf. Demarest et al 2004), on recent volumes that address questions concerning the collapse of Maya civilization (Iannone 2014; Webster 2002), and in the numerous papers that have examined the significance of peri-abandonment deposits (Braswell et al 2004; Chase and Chase 2004; Moholy-Nagy 1997; Inomata and Webb 2003; Lamoureux-St-Hilaire et al 2015; Newman 2015, 2018; Stanton et al 2008; Taschek and Ball 2003; Tsukamoto 2017). A review of the latter publications (see Aimers et al 2020) notes that peri-abandonment deposits have been interpreted as evidence for rapid abandonment due to invasion and destruction by marauding armies, that they are associated with the termination/desecration of Late Classic buildings, that they represent squatters refuse, or that they constitute the remains of feasting events.…”

“…The more common of these interpretations include arguments that suggest the deposits represent evidence for rapid abandonment due to invasion and site destruction (cf. Chase and Chase 2004; Inomata 2008; Inomata and Webb 2003), or that they are associated with the termination/desecration of buildings, with squatters refuse, or the remains of feasting events (Braswell et al 2004; Mock 1998; Newman 2015, 2018; Stanton et al 2008; Taschek and Ball 2003; Tsukamoto 2017; also see Aimers et al [2020] for a detailed discussion of these interpretations). In this paper, we examine several peri-abandonment deposits that were recovered at the Belize River Valley site of Cahal Pech and compare their associated cultural remains with those recovered at other sites in western Belize.…”

Applying Regional, Contextual, Ethnohistoric, and Ethnographic Approaches for Understanding the Significance of Peri-Abandonment Deposits in Western Belize

“…In contrast to the major sites discussed above, Nohoch Ek and Pook's Hill are minor centers (tier 3) with medium-sized plazuela groups. A description and interpretation of the deposits at Nohoch Ek, which is located approximately three kilometers south of Cahal Pech, is available in Taschek and Ball (2003). The Pook's Hill site-core, located along the Roaring Creek tributary of the Belize River, has a small eastern shrine; several residential platforms on the northern, southern, and western perimeters of the central courtyard; and a sweat bath on the northwest corner of the courtyard (Figure 7).…”

Río Bec Settlement Patterns and Local Sociopolitical Organization

“…Each of them generally consists of fewer than 10 structures, most often multiroom, range-type buildings that are not necessarily arranged around patios or public spaces, a fact that invites us to discard the "courtyard group" term (Adams and Jones 1981). Not sufficiently nucleated together to form a settlement of some size, they do not appear to be associated in space with differing, diversified buildings as is the case in "minor centers" (Fry 2001;Haviland 1981;Taschek and Ball 2003). Scattered over extensive areas and relatively distant from one another (350 m on average), none of them qualifies as larger in terms of clustering, surface, or building volume to occupy the top of a local hierarchy with public and political prerogatives.…”