The Growth and Decline of the Ancient Maya City of La Milpa, Belize: New Data and New Perspectives From the Southern Plazas

Abstract

Construction histories of ancient Maya monumental centers have long been used to interpret the growth and decline of Lowland Maya polities. Changes in the built environment at monumental centers reflect labor appropriation by ruling elites and may indirectly serve to gauge changes in political clout over time. Consequently, the precision and accuracy with which archaeologists measure these changes take on increased importance when assessing the ancient Maya political landscape. Recent excavations in the monumental core of La Milpa, Belize, have generated new data that call for a re-assessment of the center's historical trajectory. Our data indicate that La Milpa had a larger Late Preclassic foundation, likely grew much more incrementally through the Classic period, and persisted centuries longer than previously understood. The apparent persistence of occupation into the tenth century a.d. challenges the traditionally accepted dates for La Milpa's abandonment, and, the ceramic sequence upon which it is often based.

The Late and Terminal Classic Ceramic Sequence at La Milpa, Belize: Implications for Its Occupation History

“…Indeed, new radiocarbon dates and a deposit with true Fine Orange Wares from excavations at La Milpa (Zaro and Houk 2012) lend additional evidence that the site was likely occupied beyond a.d. 850 (see also Sagebiel 2005a:756, 762).…”

“…Overall, the lack of Plumbate and the rarity of Fine Orange do not necessarily imply that La Milpa was completely abandoned by a.d. 850. Indeed, new radiocarbon dates and a deposit with true Fine Orange Wares from excavations at La Milpa (Zaro and Houk 2012) lend additional evidence that the site was likely occupied beyond a.d. 850 (see also Sagebiel 2005a:756, 762).…”

“…Late Classic III is also marked by the addition and prevalence of “nail head-shaped” rims on monochrome bowls (Figures 10a–b), gouged-incised decoration and impressing, widely outcurved monochrome plates, and pyriform vases with pedestal bases. Types that can be described as locally made “imitation” slate wares and fine orange wares also appear, along with small amounts of imported slate and fine orange wares (Zaro and Houk 2012). Polychromes are virtually nonexistent.…”

Contextual and Compositional Comparisons of Abandonment-Related, on-Floor Deposits at Chan Chich, Belize

“…As the papers in this Special Section demonstrate, archaeologist have employed a wide range of methods and approaches in attempts to ascertain the origin and significance of on-floor deposits like those at Chan Chich. Although an exhaustive review is beyond the scope of this paper, in western Belize contextually or compositionally similar examples are known from Dos Hombres (Houk 2000, 2016), La Milpa (Houk 2016; Sullivan et al 2013; Zaro and Houk 2012), Blue Creek (Clayton et al 2005; Guderjan 2004; Guderjan and Hanratty 2016), Aguacate Uno (Koenig 2015), and Baking Pot (Helmke et al 2017; Hoggarth et al 2020), among others. Elsewhere in the eastern lowlands, Hammond (1970:196–199) excavated a deep, midden-like deposit, which contained human bone, piled in the corner of a closed plaza in the core of Lubaantun (Norman Hammond, personal communication 2019); Pendergast (1979) reported extensive post-abandonment activity at Altun Ha—some of which may actually be abandonment-related deposits, as noted by Stanton and colleagues (2008); and Lamoureux-St-Hilaire and colleagues (2015) report on apparent termination deposits compositionally similar to the Chan Chich on-floor deposits from residential courtyards near Minanha, which date to several centuries after the abandonment of the site center.…”

“…The first features discovered at Chan Chich in the late 1990s included a scatter of artifacts apparently smashed on the steps to a palace in the Western Plaza and two deposits in the Norman's Temple courtyard ( Figure 1)-a dense deposit of artifacts piled at the base of a temple-pyramid and an artifact scatter on the steps to a range building (Ford and Rush 2000; Houk 2012Houk , 2016Meadows 1998). More recent excavations have uncovered another on-floor deposit-another example of piled artifacts-in the Norman's Temple courtyard (Booher 2016).…”