Excavations at Nohmul, Belize, 1985

The third season of investigations, undertaken in 1985, at the Maya ceremonial center and community of Nohmul, northern Belize, included major excavations in the East Group of the ceremonial precinct and the probing of drained-field complexes in the surrounding wetlands, reported here, together with mapping and test-excavation of the settlement area. Further evidence of a major timber building of ca. A.C. 200-300 on top of the "acropolis" was found, with associated green obsidian of central Mexican origin. The acropolis had then been abandoned until recolonization ca. A.C. 800 by domestic settlement. Three major buildings excavated in the East Group included a "range" (or long) multidoored " palace" structure, a pyramid, and a ballcourt. All three proved to date to the Terminal Classic/Early Postclassic period of A.C. 800-1000 in their final form, although the first two involved the adaptation of abandoned structures several centuries old as part of their construction. The ballcourt proved to overlie densely-packed perishable structures of the period A.C. 700-900 and to be of very late date. A detailed understanding of both the early (A.C. 200-400) and late (A.C. 800-1000) periods of major activity in the core of Nohmul is now possible. Two zones of drained fields in the Rio Hondo wetlands were tested: both channelized fields abutting the mainland and raised fields in the swamps were found, all dating to the period A.C. 700-1000, coeval with the second florescence of Nohmul and its reoccupation by people with a non-local architectural tradition.