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Cerros
Cerros is an Eastern Lowland Maya archaeological site in northern Belize that functioned from the Late Preclassic to the Postclassic period. The site reached its apogee during the Mesoamerican Late Preclassic and at its peak, it held a population of approximately 1,089 people. The site is strategically located on a peninsula at the mouth of the New River where it empties into Chetumal Bay on the Caribbean coast. As such, the site had access to and served as an intermediary link between the coastal trade route that circumnavigated the Yucatán Peninsula and inland communities. The inhabitants of Cerros constructed an extensive canal system and utilized raised-field agriculture.
The core of the site immediately abuts the bay and consists of several relatively large structures and stepped pyramids, an acropolis complex, and two ballcourts. Bounding the southern side of the site is a crescent-shaped canal network that encloses the central portion of the site and encloses several raised-fields. Residential structures continue outside of the canal, generally radiating southwest and southeast; raised-fields are also present outside of the canal system.
From the time of its inception in the Late Preclassic Era, around 400BC, the site of Cerros was a small village of farmers, fishermen and traders. They made use of its fertile soils and easy access to the sea, while producing and trading product amongst the other Maya in the area. Around 50 BC, as their economy grew and they began to experiment with the idea of kingship, the inhabitants of Cerros initiated a great urban renewal program, burying their homes to make way for a group of temples and plazas.
The first of the new constructions was the Structure 5C-2nd, which has become the most famous piece of architecture at the site. Aligned with its back at the edge of Chetumal Bay, it marked the northernmost point of the sacred north–south axis of the site, which was complemented by a ballcourt (Str. 50) which lies at the southernmost point. As kings died, others came along and new temples were constructed in their honor. The last of the substantial constructions at the site (Str. 3A-1st) occurred around AD 100, and many of the other structures appear to have been abandoned before then. During the Protoclassic, Cerros ceased to function as a locus of elitist activity but continued as a location for mundane domestic activity. From then on, any new construction was probably limited to the outer residential area, as the population began to decline severely.
Apart from a small occupation at the end of the Late Classic period as a village community, Cerros has been abandoned since AD 400. This once glorious site was left for ruin and remained virtually unnoticed until Thomas Gann made reference to "lookout" mounds along the coast in 1900, drawing interest to the site.
Archaeological work at Cerros first began around 1973 when the site was purchased by the Metroplex Corporation of Dallas, who intended to build a tourist resort around the ancient Maya ceremonial center, and to eventually donate the archaeological site to the government of Belize to create a national park.
They contacted Ira R. Abrams, who was teaching in Dallas in the Anthropology Department of Southern Methodist University (SMU), and had extensive experience working with the Maya in that part of what was then the colony of British Honduras (it was renamed Belize in June 1973 and became an independent country in 1981). Abrams worked with President of Metroplex, John Love, and their employee, John Favro, and local arts patron, Stanley Marcus, to create the Cerro Maya Foundation to fund excavations and the partial restoration of the site.
To accomplish this, Abrams became director of the Cerro Maya Project and member of the board of the Cerro Maya Foundation, and hired archaeologist David Freidel to supervise the excavations. Abrams also made initial arrangements with Joseph Palacio, the Archaeology Commissioner of British Honduras, for a permit to excavate the site, and hired workers from the nearby Xaibe village to work at the site. When plans for the proposed resort later fell through, the site was turned over to the government of Belize as promised.
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Cerros
Cerros is an Eastern Lowland Maya archaeological site in northern Belize that functioned from the Late Preclassic to the Postclassic period. The site reached its apogee during the Mesoamerican Late Preclassic and at its peak, it held a population of approximately 1,089 people. The site is strategically located on a peninsula at the mouth of the New River where it empties into Chetumal Bay on the Caribbean coast. As such, the site had access to and served as an intermediary link between the coastal trade route that circumnavigated the Yucatán Peninsula and inland communities. The inhabitants of Cerros constructed an extensive canal system and utilized raised-field agriculture.
The core of the site immediately abuts the bay and consists of several relatively large structures and stepped pyramids, an acropolis complex, and two ballcourts. Bounding the southern side of the site is a crescent-shaped canal network that encloses the central portion of the site and encloses several raised-fields. Residential structures continue outside of the canal, generally radiating southwest and southeast; raised-fields are also present outside of the canal system.
From the time of its inception in the Late Preclassic Era, around 400BC, the site of Cerros was a small village of farmers, fishermen and traders. They made use of its fertile soils and easy access to the sea, while producing and trading product amongst the other Maya in the area. Around 50 BC, as their economy grew and they began to experiment with the idea of kingship, the inhabitants of Cerros initiated a great urban renewal program, burying their homes to make way for a group of temples and plazas.
The first of the new constructions was the Structure 5C-2nd, which has become the most famous piece of architecture at the site. Aligned with its back at the edge of Chetumal Bay, it marked the northernmost point of the sacred north–south axis of the site, which was complemented by a ballcourt (Str. 50) which lies at the southernmost point. As kings died, others came along and new temples were constructed in their honor. The last of the substantial constructions at the site (Str. 3A-1st) occurred around AD 100, and many of the other structures appear to have been abandoned before then. During the Protoclassic, Cerros ceased to function as a locus of elitist activity but continued as a location for mundane domestic activity. From then on, any new construction was probably limited to the outer residential area, as the population began to decline severely.
Apart from a small occupation at the end of the Late Classic period as a village community, Cerros has been abandoned since AD 400. This once glorious site was left for ruin and remained virtually unnoticed until Thomas Gann made reference to "lookout" mounds along the coast in 1900, drawing interest to the site.
Archaeological work at Cerros first began around 1973 when the site was purchased by the Metroplex Corporation of Dallas, who intended to build a tourist resort around the ancient Maya ceremonial center, and to eventually donate the archaeological site to the government of Belize to create a national park.
They contacted Ira R. Abrams, who was teaching in Dallas in the Anthropology Department of Southern Methodist University (SMU), and had extensive experience working with the Maya in that part of what was then the colony of British Honduras (it was renamed Belize in June 1973 and became an independent country in 1981). Abrams worked with President of Metroplex, John Love, and their employee, John Favro, and local arts patron, Stanley Marcus, to create the Cerro Maya Foundation to fund excavations and the partial restoration of the site.
To accomplish this, Abrams became director of the Cerro Maya Project and member of the board of the Cerro Maya Foundation, and hired archaeologist David Freidel to supervise the excavations. Abrams also made initial arrangements with Joseph Palacio, the Archaeology Commissioner of British Honduras, for a permit to excavate the site, and hired workers from the nearby Xaibe village to work at the site. When plans for the proposed resort later fell through, the site was turned over to the government of Belize as promised.
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