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Actuncan Site
Actuncan was an ancient Mayan urban center located in the Mopan River valley in Western Belize near the present-day Guatemalan border. The site sits on a ridge on the western banks of Mopan River, a tributary river to the Belize River. The site was first settled in the Middle Preclassic period around 1000 BC. During its approximate 2000 year occupation history, Actuncan, along with surrounding Mayan sites, experienced a large change in political power during the Terminal Classic period. This change in power led the urban centers to restructure their own political institutions, as well as their spiritual relationship and ritual practices, or face having their centers collapse. While many centers did fail, Actuncan was successful in its ability to effectively restructure their way of life by changing their practices and physically changing their surrounding to address those changes. Actuncan was first excavated by James McGovern in the early 1990s, who was the first to map the 14 ha s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maya Civilization
The Maya civilization () of the Mesoamerican people is known by its ancient temples and glyphs. Its Maya script is the most sophisticated and highly developed writing system in the pre-Columbian Americas. It is also noted for its art, architecture, mathematics, calendar, and astronomical system. The Maya civilization developed in the Maya Region, an area that today comprises southeastern Mexico, all of Guatemala and Belize, and the western portions of Honduras and El Salvador. It includes the northern lowlands of the Yucatán Peninsula and the highlands of the Sierra Madre, the Mexican state of Chiapas, southern Guatemala, El Salvador, and the southern lowlands of the Pacific littoral plain. Today, their descendants, known collectively as the Maya, number well over 6 million individuals, speak more than twenty-eight surviving Mayan languages, and reside in nearly the same area as their ancestors. The Archaic period, before 2000 BC, saw the first developments in agricul ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mopan River
The Mopan River is a river in Central America spanning the Petén Department of Guatemala and the Cayo District of Belize. It merges with the Macal River at Branch Mouth, Belize, forming the Belize River, which ultimately discharges to the Caribbean Sea. The drainage area of the combined watershed is . Tributaries of the Mopan include Chiquibul Branch, Ceiba Grande, Salisipuedes, and Delores. Hydrology The Mopan River's rate of discharge has been measured regularly since 1981 at the river gauge station in Benque Viejo, Belize. According to these measurements, the river's annual mean discharge varies between 20 and 40 m3/s. The highest rate ever recorded was 404 m3/s in November 1990. Although the Mopan may contribute to downstream flooding during the rainy season, it responds much slower to rain storms than the other major tributary of the Belize River, the Macal. Both rivers yield similar volumes on average, but the Mopan watershed is less mountainous than the Macal watershed, g ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Xunantunich
Xunantunich () is an Ancient Maya archaeological site in western Belize, about 70 miles (110 km) west of Belize City, in the Cayo District. Xunantunich is located atop a ridge above the Mopan River, well within sight of the Guatemala border – which is to the west.Yaeger, Jason. "Untangling the Ties That Bind: The City, the Countryside, and the Nature of Maya Urbanism at Xunantunich, Belize." The Social Construction of Ancient Cities. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 2003. 121-55. Print. It served as a Maya civic ceremonial centre to the Belize Valley region in the Late and Terminal Classic periods.LeCount, Lisa J. "Ka'kaw Pots and Common Containers: Creating Histories and Collective Memories Among the Classic Maya of Xunantunich, Belize." Ancient Mesoamerica21.2 (2010): 341–51. Print. At that time, when the region was at its peak, nearly 200,000 people lived in the Belize Valley.Fagan, Brian M. "Xunantunich: "The Maiden of the Rock"" from ''Black Land to Fifth S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sacbe
Sacbe at Dzibilchaltun in the Yucatán Arch at the end of the sacbé, Kabah, Yucatán A sacbe, plural sacbeob (Yucatec Maya: singular ''sakbej'', plural ''sakbejo'ob''), or "white way", is a raised paved road built by the Maya civilization of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica. Most connect temples, plazas, and groups of structures within ceremonial centers or cities, but some longer roads between cities are also known. The term "sacbe" is Yucatec Maya for "white road"; white perhaps because there is evidence that they were originally coated with limestone stucco or plaster, which was over a stone and rubble fill.Roys and Shook 1966, 43 Etymology The word "Beh" operates as the root term for "Sacbe" it is a Mayan term for "road, pathway, or trail." Beh is spelled alternately as Be, bej, bey, be, bih, as well as "beel" in the possessive. It has many distinctions from English concepts of roads, pathways, or trails. Beh's metaphoric meanings are just as important if not more important tha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mesoamerican Ballcourt
A Mesoamerican ballcourt ( nah, tlachtli) is a large masonry structure of a type used in Mesoamerica for over 2,700 years to play the Mesoamerican ballgame, particularly the hip-ball version of the ballgame. More than 1,300 ballcourts have been identified, 60% in the last 20 years alone. Although there is a tremendous variation in size, in general all ballcourts are the same shape: a long narrow alley flanked by two walls with horizontal, vertical, and sloping faces. Although the alleys in early ballcourts were open-ended, later ballcourts had enclosed end-zones, giving the structure an -shape when viewed from above. Ballcourts were also used for functions other than, or in addition to, ballgames. Ceramics from western Mexico show ballcourts being used for other sporting endeavours, including what appears to be a wrestling match. It is also known from archaeological excavations that ballcourts were the sites of sumptuous feasts, although whether these were conducted in the contex ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
E-Group
E-Groups are unique architectural complexes found among a number of ancient Maya settlements. They are central components to the settlement organization of Maya sites and, like many other civic and ceremonial buildings, could have served for astronomical observations. It has been a common opinion that the alignments incorporated in these structural complexes correspond to the sun's solstices and equinoxes. Recent research has shown, however, that the orientations of these assemblages are highly variable, but pertain to alignment groups that are widespread in the Maya area and materialized mostly in other types of buildings, recording different agriculturally significant dates. Origin of the name E-Groups are named after "Group E" at the Classic period site of Uaxactun, which was the first one documented by Mesoamerican archaeologists. At Uaxactun, the Group E complex consists of a long terraced platform with three supra-structures arranged along a linear axis oriented north- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Disturbance (archaeology)
A disturbance is any change to an archaeological site due to events which occurred after the site was laid down. Disturbances may be caused by natural events or human activity, and may result in loss of archaeological value. In some cases, it can be difficult to distinguish between features caused by human activity in the period of interest and features caused by later human activity, or by natural processes. Causes Natural causes The soil scientist Francis D. Hole identified nine natural processes resulting in soil disturbance, including the movements of animals and plants (especially burrowing, root growth and treefalls), freezing and thawing, movement under gravity (including earthflow and rockslides), swelling and shrinking of clays, the actions of wind and water, the growth and dissolution of salt crystals, and movement caused by earthquakes. Different sites are subject to different degrees, combinations, and interactions of these processes, and archaeologists working ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maya Sites In Belize
Maya may refer to: Civilizations * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Maya language, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (Ethiopia), a population native to the old Wej province in Ethiopia Places * Maya (river), a river in Yakutia, Russia * Maya (Uda), a river in Khabarovsk Krai, Russia * Maya, Uganda, a town * Maya, Western Australia, a town * Maya Karimata, an island in West Borneo, Indonesia * Maya Mountains, a mountain range in Guatemala and Belize ** Maya Biosphere Reserve, a nature reservation in Guatemala * Mount Maya, a mountain in Kobe, Japan ** Maya Station, a railway station in Kobe, Japan * La Maya (mountain), an alp in Switzerland * Al Maya or Maya, a town in Libya Religion and mythology * Maya religion, the religious practices of the Maya peoples of parts of Mexico and Central America ** Maya mythology, the myths and legends of the Maya civilization * Maya (relig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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