The University of Texas at Austin and the Programme for Belize (PFB) are working together on an intensive survey and site inventory project with some 50 archaeological sites already identified.   Dr. Fred Valdez of the University of Texas is responsible for the development and management of a long-term archaeological research and Maya studies program in northwest Belize.  This year he and his students worked at the Late Classic center of Dos Hombres.  The University has a well-established field camp near Lamanai to accommodate all those involved in the archaeological research project.

At the end of April, 2002, a study tour for the students made a tour of nine Maya sites in Belize and the southern Mexico states of Quintana Roo and Campeche.  We left camp at 7:00 am with our driver Sr. Chell  in his “fresh air bus” which accommodated the ten of us.  We drove north to Orange Walk and Chetumal through well  kept Mennonite farms of maize, rice, sugarcane and pastures where Brahma cattle grazed.  Workers were harvesting the sugarcane and huge truckloads of cane were parked along the road.  The roads are narrow, potholed and very rough; distances are judged in hours, not kilometers.  We spent the night in Bacalar at the Laguna Hotel – a beautiful lake to swim in, hot showers, a room with a comfortable bed and an overhead fan.  The only major outpost of the Spaniards in this region, a fort, was built on this lake.

The next two days were unforgettable.  We drove west on 186, a paved two-lane road passing through small Maya villages with the sort of houses the Maya have always built – thatched dwellings with stone or pole walls, raised on a platform.  Bouganvillas and hibiscus of every color were in bloom – growing as trees by the Maya dwellings.  Near the village of Nachi Chon, approximately 50 km west of Chetumal, we turned at the sign pointing to Dzbinche and Kinichna.  A deeply potholed one-lane road runs through maize and cane fields to the deserted sites. The Mayan sites of this area were mostly known only to archaeologists until recently and the small villages are unaffected by tourism. There are no services at the sites so be sure to take lots of water and food if desired.  Petrol stations are few and far between, until the station in Xpuhil there was only one other place to fill up since leaving Chetumal --if you are driving be aware of this! 

 Thomas Gann was the first to explore Dzbinche in 1927.  The beautiful plaza is covered with giant Ceiba trees and tropical birches and birds and butterflies are everywhere. It was a major Maya site from Preclassic to Terminal Classic times.  There are two giant plazas and at Structure VI, the “Building of the Lintels,” original wooden lintels still exist,  one with a date of AD 733.  Structure XIII, “Building of the Captives”, has a stucco mask of a spirit monster and glyph inscriptions on the steps.  Structure II is a huge pyramid dividing the two plazas with two levels of galleried chambers at the top. 

Our next stop was Kohunlich a major Mayan city from the Preclassic until the Terminal Classic.  This magnificent site is enclosed by huge palms, which form a dense canopy of jungle overhead.  The main plaza contains the greatest treasure of Kohunlich, the Pyramid of the Masks.  Six huge heads are modeled in stucco.  Each face is different and they rate among the greatest surviving works of Mayan sculpture.  Another large plaza, recently restored, is on a trail to the west and some residential complexes are further out in the woods.

Down the road from Dzbinche is Kinichna, which means “House of the Sun.”  An effigy of the sun god was found here.  There are a few small platform structures and one huge building, the Acropolis.  One needs to be very athletic to climb this pyramid!  The structure has three complete levels, each from a different era.  The temple on top contained the tomb of two people buried with some of the richest Maya jade offerings ever found. 

We drove on to the village of Xpuhil and our lodgings for the night at Hotel Calakmul.  In the middle of the village we were stopped at an army checkpoint (there is still some controversy between Campeche and Quintana Roo as to where the dividing line actually is).   Soldiers with rifles entered the bus and looked us over carefully.  They are probably there to stop drug and arms smuggling. The site of Xpuhil was just north of the village so we decided to have a quick tour before settling in at the hotel.  It had been a long, hot, strenuous day, but we wanted an early start the next morning.  Xpuhil is a small site but contains an extraordinary temple, Structure 1 with three giant towers. The extravagant structure was built between AD 500 and 700 in the Rio Bec architectural style.  It has 12 rooms and a platform on top whose center is a recess surrounded by a head of a serpent.  A mask like a tiger faces Becan. 

The next morning we headed for Calakmul which is located in the southeastern part of the state of Campeche inside a tropical rain forest reserve biosphere.  The entrance is through a paved one-lane road, 60 km off 186 hwy.  Lush jungle borders the road and we met no vehicles, no tourists and no persons except the “guardian” at the site.  We had  a blowout on the way in, but Sr. Chell had a spare and with the help of Yoav, we were soon on the road again.  The Calakmul Biosphere Reserve of Campeche was created in 1989 and covers an area of 723,185 hectares.  It is the largest in Mexico – a vast jungle territory with 800 plant species, 250 identified bird species, more than a hundred types of mammals, 75 species of snakes and innumerable butterflies. 

The first archaeological investigation took place in 1932 under the sponsorship of Carnegie Institute and was supervised by Sylvanus G.Morely.  Recent excavations have been done by Joyce Marcos, Peter Schmidt, William Folan and Ramon Carrasco.  Calakmul was a great regional capital during the mid Preclassic period, 900  to 300 B.C,   reaching its apogee between AD 600 and 800.   More than 100 stelae have been uncovered with dates ranging from AD 431 to 790.   Jaguar Claw’s birth is registered on stela 9 at Calakmul and his eventual capture in AD 695 by Ah-Cacaw of Tikal is registered as a warrior saga on Temple 1 at Tikal.

The archaeological site covers an area of 70 square km and has more than six thousand structures, most of which are covered by jungle.  Visitors to the site are restricted to a central nucleus of the Great Plaza, Great Acropolis and a few groups of residential areas.  The Great Plaza was used for ceremonies and rituals.  Structure 1V is divided into three sections, and has 14 stelae that refer to a period ranging from AD 642 to 810.  Standing on the stairway of Structure VI, facing east, a person would see the sun rise on the summer solstice behind Structure IV-A, on the winter solstice behind structure IV-C and on the equinoxes behind Structure IV-B.  Stelae at Structure V depict a royal couple and bear the date March 21, AD 623.

Structure II rises to a height of 55 meters and covers several acres, the largest of all Mayan pyramids.  After excavations of portions of the structure, multiple construction layers have been left exposed for the visitor.  Folan’s excavations revealed nine rooms with 38 hearths, metates for grinding corn, and three tombs.  The exceptionally rich tombs were found at the top, one of them possibly that of Jaguar Paw with his jade funeral mask – the most important such mask to be unearthed since the discovery of the mask of Pacal at Palenque. The levels extend from Late Preclassic  to the Late Classic period.