Cuello: An Early Maya Community in Belize.

Cuello: An Early Maya Community in Belize. Although Cerros and Cuello show signs of occupation as late asPostclassic times (15th century AD), both communities thrived muchearlier in the Preclassic or Formative Period. Coastal Cerros is bestknown for its Late Preclassic phase, from c. 300 BC to AD 150, andCuello for its long Preclassic sequence extending from the Swasey phasein 1200 BC to the Terminal Preclassic, c. AD 200. The terms'Preclassic' and 'Formative,' not unlike the term'pre-dynastic' used in Mesopotamian and Egyptian studies,reflect the history and orientation of the discipline as much as theyreflect ancient reality. We anchor ourselves to a time in which rulers,or someone who knew about them, left records of their reigns, andeverything is seen to fall before, after or in-between. Mayaarchaeologists have always been anchored to the Classic Period oflowland tropical urban splendour, when the writing media of dynasticrecording expanded beyond perishable per��ish��a��ble?adj.Subject to decay, spoilage, or destruction.n.Something, especially foodstuff, subject to decay or spoilage. Often used in the plural. materials such as bark-paper andwood to include monumental stone and painted pottery. Though temples insome lowland Maya cities reached their greatest heights by LatePreclassic times, it was during the Classic Period that masonryarchitectural expansion and renewal seem to have been the order of theday.Despite its Classic tether tetherto tie an animal up by the head or neck so that it can graze but not move away. See also barton tether. , the Preclassic now suffers in name only.Intensive excavations like those carried out at Cerros and Cuello arehelping us to see what we have always called 'Classic' Mayaachievements as part of a continuum with deep roots in the lowland Mayapast. A viable parallel in the Old World would certainly be the Ubaidand Uruk periods on the Mesopotamian flood-plain, when what would cometo be known as the culture and religion of the Sumerian dynasties wereformed.Of the two Belize publications in question, both essential readingfor Mayanists, the Cuello volume will be found easier to use bynon-Mayanists for two reasons. The first is that it is a complete finalreport on excavations, and includes 11 separate chapters on differentaspects of the work by different authors; thus anyone with an interestin a particular aspect of reporting or analysis would find his or herway easily to the relevant section. The Cerros volume is part of alarge, multi-volume series on the site's excavations edited byDavid Freidel. Except for its focus on the Preclassic,Scarborough's volume is not comparable to the Cuello publication incoverage or format. The second reason why non-Mayanists might find theCuello report more interpretable is that the first chapter is geared toa general audience. It summarizes what is known about Maya prehistory prehistory,period of human evolution before writing was invented and records kept. The term was coined by Daniel Wilson in 1851. It is followed by protohistory, the period for which we have some records but must still rely largely on archaeological evidence to and sets the Cuello work within this frame. Beyond this, however, andlike the Cerros volume, the remaining chapters have the most meaning forthose in the field of Maya studies. In the Cerros volume, Scarborough isconcerned with the settlement and environment of the Preclassiccommunity. As ruins were mapped, so also were the different types ofstanding vegetation that covered the site. The mapping of vegetation wasimportant because it served to indicate areas of prehistoric quarrying,canal construction and intensive settlement build-up. From this and fromexcavation data Scarborough has been able to reconstruct the environmentat the time of initial colonization colonization,extension of political and economic control over an area by a state whose nationals have occupied the area and usually possess organizational or technological superiority over the native population. through the changes brought about byincreasingly intense settlement and trade activity. He tracks the growthof the community from the nucleated village A nucleated village is one of the main types of settlement pattern found in England and it is one of the terms used by landscape historians to clasify settlements.[1] stage during the Ixtabaiphase (c. 300-200 BC) when the inhabitants :This article is about the video game. For Inhabitants of housing, see Residency Inhabitants is an independently developed commercial puzzle game created by S+F Software. DetailsThe game is based loosely on the concepts from SameGame. were dependent on localresources, through the C'oh phase (200-50 BC) when the main canalwas excavated around the site, to building expansion and residentialaggregation in the Tulix phase, (50 BC-AD 150), when the community wascharacterized by regional interaction and long-distance coastal trade.The canal, one of the highly interesting features at Cerros, allowedcanoes access to interior portions of the site but also served as adrainage device, although water run-off is also believed to have beenheld in reservoirs or 'canal basins' for use during the dryseason. During the Tulix phase there was a great deal of construction inthe central precinct, and the agricultural landscape included raisedfields. Scarborough's comprehensive and well-planned chapter on thesettlement excavations is expectedly the longest in the volume, becauseit presents the raw data that were ultimately synthesized to present anoverall picture of the Cerros settlement pattern. A mound typology typology/ty��pol��o��gy/ (ti-pol��ah-je) the study of types; the science of classifying, as bacteria according to type. typologythe study of types; the science of classifying, as bacteria according to type. ,devised on the basis of form, size and groupings, has been used tostratify strat��i��fy?v. strat��i��fied, strat��i��fy��ing, strat��i��fiesv.tr.1. To form, arrange, or deposit in layers.2. the sample. The lack of standing masonry architecture meansthat emphasis has been placed on size of mounds and their groupings. Anunexpected result of the Cerros survey and excavation is the lack ofburials from the settlement zone, in contrast with the 31 burials thatwere recovered from an area underlying the central ceremonial precinctthat was sealed and apparently protected by plaza floors. Scarboroughbelieves that, outside the central precinct in the settlement zone, thehigh seasonal water-table coupled with the stone construction core ofthe mounds promoted rapid decomposition decomposition/de��com��po��si��tion/ (de-kom?pah-zish��un) the separation of compound bodies into their constituent principles. de��com��po��si��tionn.1. of bone and organic matter. Thedearth of burials in the settlement zone is perhaps made up for by thepresence of two Late Preclassic ball-courts. Scarborough feels that thedegree of similarity of the two courts suggests that the ball-game wasalready standardized by Preclassic times. In the final chapter of thevolume, Scarborough places Cerros within a wider northern Belize andgreater lowlands context. The most unusual feature about the site is itsalmost complete abandonment during the Early Classic period. Forarchaeologists, this turned out to be an advantage in that thePreclassic remains were not buried by masses of Classic construction.Why Cerros was abandoned is a fascinating question, and it is in thefinal chapter that Scarborough addresses the issue. He proposes thatCerros' demise was connected to realignments in political power.Elsewhere in the lowlands, some centres began consolidating largeconstituencies, while others lost their support. This is not an unknownphenomenon in the growth of urban civilizations, and Scarborough'ssuggestion is intriguing. The upshot is that some centres grew at theexpense of others, and part of this growth involved monopolizing symbolsof power. Cerros' position as a centre of regional trade throughwhich luxury goods passed may have made it particularly vulnerable inthis regard. The Cuello volume, because it is multi-authored, provides awide variety of information about the site. In addition to the generalintroduction that discusses Maya civilization and Cuello's positionin Maya prehistory, the remaining chapters cover: the history of thework at Cuello from 1975 to 1987; the reconstruction of the Preclassicsequence from earliest to latest phases; the ecology and economy of thesite; the ceremonial core; household and settlement change; the skeletalpopulation; craft production; external contacts and trade; and ritualand ideology. The final chapter by Hammond summarizes the results of thework, and in fact provides a range of information that is most helpfulas an introduction to the volume; it should be read first, along withChapter 1.Hammond's contributions, but also the volume in general, arewell written. Hammond's prose is polished, his grasp of comparativeliterature is impressive and his organization of the volume well done.His editing has produced consistency and clarity in explanation, and thevolume succeeds admirably not only in presenting a wide range ofinformation about the site but also in integrating the information in away that enables us to envision a three-dimensional, living community.This is particularly important in view of Cuello's considerabletime-depth. As Hammond notes in Chapter 1, by the mid 1970s EarlyPreclassic occupation had been documented in other regions ofMesoamerica such as the Pacific Coast of Guatemala and Chiapas, the GulfCoast, Oaxaca and the Maya highlands. It began to seem odd that EarlyPreclassic occupation in the Maya lowlands was so elusive. Cuello was tochange this with the discovery of occupation dating to the late 2ndmillennium BC a phase now widely known to Mayanists as'Swasey'.Both of these volumes are valuable contributions to Maya studies.Although their approaches differ, both provide integrated pictures ofthe substantial population growth and centralization cen��tral��ize?v. cen��tral��ized, cen��tral��iz��ing, cen��tral��iz��esv.tr.1. To draw into or toward a center; consolidate.2. that took place inthe Maya Preclassic Period. They also help to document the emergence ofelites, the emergence of a coherent iconography iconography(ī'kŏnŏg`rəfē)[Gr.,=image-drawing] or iconology[Gr.,=image-study], in art history, the study and interpretation of figural representations, either individual or symbolic, religious or secular; and the trend towardcentralized control 1. In air defense, the control mode whereby a higher echelon makes direct target assignments to fire units. 2. In joint air operations, placing within one commander the responsibility and authority for planning, directing, and coordinating a military operation or group/category of . Knowing more about the deep roots of such forces atthese two lowland centres has already begun to help us make a lot moresense of Maya civilization's florescence.ELIZABETH GRAHAM Elizabeth Graham can refer to several people, including: Elizabeth Jennings Graham, a black woman who refused to give up her seat on a bus in 1854 Elizabeth Graham (academic), senior lecturer in Mesoamerican archaeology at University College London. Department of Anthropology, York University York University,at North York, Ont., Canada; nondenominational; coeducational; founded 1959 as an affiliate of the Univ. of Toronto, became independent 1965. , Ontario