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Pusilha

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Pusilhá
LocationPusilá Abajo, Toledo district,  Belize
RegionToledo district
Coordinates16°06′16.65″N 89°14′34.42″W / 16.1046250°N 89.2428944°W / 16.1046250; -89.2428944
History
Founded570 AD
Abandoned798 AD
PeriodsEarly Classic to Post Classic
CulturesMaya
Site notes
Excavation dates2001 to Present
ArchaeologistsGeoffery Braswell and the Pusilha Archaeological Project
Architecture
Architectural stylesClassic
Responsible body: Belize's National Institute of Culture and History

Pusilhá is an archaeological site in Belize. The location of this Late Classic Maya urban complex, along the east and west flow of trade, made the city a major transfer point for economic activities in the whole region. In addition, the city gave archaeologists a historical view of a secondary Maya site. Large and extended excavation efforts have changed the overall picture of Maya social and political relationships between larger and smaller cities and challenged the prevailing view of conquest and absorption of smaller cities into the larger cities in the region. The research conducted at Pusilhá began in 1927 and continues to this day.

Location

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The site of Pusilhá is located in the Toledo district of Belize in the town of San Benito Poité. Situated between the Poite and Pusilha rivers that run east and west, this may have impacted why the Maya urban complex was built there. The site is also located favorably between the Caribbean to the south and the Maya Mountains to the east. Pusilhá was also situated in the region to facilitate flow of goods and ideas from the central lowlands and southeastern periphery located in Honduras.[1] With the major Maya urban sites of the central lowlands at Caracol and Tikal and the southern lowland site of Copan, Pusilhá was possibly a major transfer point for economic activities in the whole of the lowland region.[2]

Excavation

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The initial site survey was conducted in 1927 by archaeologists from the British Museum Expedition to British Honduras, led by Thomas Joyce. The survey led to the removal of the best-preserved stelae from Pusilhá to the British Museum in London.[3][4] The survey yielded dates and calendrical glyphs that were included in Sylvanus G. Morley's discussion work, The Inscriptions of Petén. Thomas Joyce also conducted an extensive ceramics evaluation in 1929.[5] In the intervening 70 years very little research has been done in Pusilhá.[6] This state of affairs has changed with research and excavations carried out by Geoffrey Braswell and the Pusilha Archaeological Project beginning in 2001. The excavation that has continued to present has exposed three major areas at the center of Pusilhá to archaeological interpretation.[7]

History

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This article is part of a series on the
Maya civilization
Drawing of a Mayan stone carving with elaborate decoration.
History
Spanish conquest of the Maya

Pusilhá has a series of confirmed occupation dates. It is known through ceramic analysis that this site is dateable to the late classic. A stela found on site indicates a late classic occupation. According to Braswell, the current excavator of the site, "Stela P begins with the initial series date of 9.7.0.0.0 and contains a historical retrospective date of 9.6.17.8.18 (A.D. 570), implying that the kingdom was founded shortly before the beginning of the Late Classic period".[8][9] He does state that excavations from surrounding residential areas away from the complex center seem to indicate an early classic occupation, but additional excavation is required to confirm this for the rest of the site. Transitions in ceramics, burials and construction, coupled with the usual cessation of inscriptions on stelae, indicate continued occupation at Pusilhá through to the post-classic. The last official date, which is a calendar round date, occurs at 9.18.7.10.3, or A. D. 798.[10]

Political

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The initial excavation and surveys seem to show that politically, Pusilhá was a second-tier polity. The ceramics evidence showed that there were ties to Copan and Quirigua.[11] It also seems likely that there were connections between Tikal and Caracol as those polities rose to prominence in the Petén. Based in part on the favorable location of Pusilhá along both east and west corridors of trade and the north and south axis of influence that had Caracol to the north and Copan to the south it seemed likely that the polity was politically dependent on one of its larger neighbors. However, the current archaeological evidence indicates that Pusilhá maintained its independence.[8]

Ruling Elite

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The archaeological evidence indicates that Pusilhá was a traditional Maya "elite" led urban complex. There are eight rulers known to be associated with the Pusilhá emblem glyph from the late Classic period with two possibly additional from the Terminal Classic. In total, 39 named individuals have been discovered by the epigraphers in the hieroglyphic record. Of note is an individual who at first was linked as a ruler of Copan based on the artifactual record of that polity. K'ahk' Uti' Chan is the name of Ruler B of Pusilhá as well as Ruler 11 at Copan and was first ascribed to be the same individual. Further research has shown that they were contemporaries to each other and had different known parentages.[12]

Site Significance

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The site of Pusilhá has one representation of bridge construction that has survived to modern times. The polity of Pusilhá also offers a look at the quantity and quality of the stelae available for study from a secondary urban complex. This site may represent an alternative method of looking at how the Maya used to govern themselves, which is contrary to the prevailing view of conquest and absorption of smaller cities into the larger cities in the region. Some say that research and excavation are at a very early stage and that more work is required to understand the place that Pusilhá holds in the greater Maya world.[13]

See also

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Footnotes

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  1. ^ Blanton, Richard W.; Gary M. Feinman. "The Mesoamerican World System". American Anthropologist. 86: 673–682. doi:10.1525/aa.1984.86.3.02a00100.
  2. ^ Braswell, Geoffrey (2004). "The rise of secondary statesin the southeastern periphery of the Maya world; a report of recent archeological and epigraphic research at Pusilhá, Belize". Ancient Mesoamerica. 15 (2): 219–233. doi:10.1017/s0956536104040143.
  3. ^ British Museum Collection
  4. ^ Joyce, T. A. (Jul–Dec 1929). "Report on the British Museum Expedition to British Honduras". Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute. 59: 439–459. doi:10.2307/2843895. JSTOR 2843895.
  5. ^ Joyce, T. A. (Jan–Jun 1932). "1932 Presidential Address. The "Eccentric Flints" of Central America". Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute. 62: xvii–xxvi. JSTOR 2843874.
  6. ^ Braswell, Geoffrey E.; Sherry A. Gibbs (2006). "In the land of the Avocado: Recent Archaeological Investigations at Pusilha, Toledo District, Belize". Research Reports in Belizean Archaeology. 3: 271–286.
  7. ^ Braswell, Geoffrey E.; Christian M. Prager; Cassandra R. Bill (2005). "The Kingdom of the Avocado: Recent Investigations at Pusilha, A Classic Maya City of Southern Belize". Anthropological Notebooks. 11: 60–88. ISSN 1408-032X.
  8. ^ a b Braswell, Geoffrey E.; Christian M. Pager; Cassandra R. Bill; Sonja A. Schwake; Jennifer B. Braswell (2004). "The Rise of Secondary States in the Southeastern Periphery of the Maya World". Ancient Mesoamerica. 15: 219–233. doi:10.1017/s0956536104040143.
  9. ^ Braswell, Geoffrey; Christian M. Prager; Cassandra R. Bill; Sonja Schwake (2004a). "Recent Archaeological and Epigraphic Research at Pusilha, Belize: Report on the 2001 and 2002 Field Seasons". Research Reports in Belizean Archaeology. 1: 333–345.
  10. ^ Foias, Antonia E. (1996). "Changing Ceramic Production and Exchange Systems and the Classic Maya Collapse in the Petexbatun Region". PhD. Dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Vanderbilt University.
  11. ^ Sheptak, Russel N. (1987). Eugenia J Robinson (ed.). "Interaction between Belize and the Ulua Valley". In Interaction on the Southeast Mesoamerican Frontier: Prehistoric and Historic Honduras and El Salvador. Bar International Series (327).
  12. ^ Braswell, Geoffrey E.; Sherry A. Gibbs (2006). "In the Land of the Avocado: Recent Archaeological Investigations at Pusilha, Toledo District, Belize". Research Reports in Belizean Archaeology. 3: 271–286.
  13. ^ Braswell, Geoffrey E.; Christian M. Prager; Cassandra R. Bill (2005). "The Kingdom of the Avocado: Recent Investigations at Pusilha, A Classic Maya City of Southern Belize". Anthropological Notebooks. 11: 60–88.

References

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  • Blanton, Richard W.; Feinman, Gary M. (1984). "The Mesoamerican World System". American Anthropologist. 86: 673–682. doi:10.1525/aa.1984.86.3.02a00100.
  • Braswell, Geoffrey E.; Christian M. Pager; Cassandra R. Bill; Sonja A. Schwake; Jennifer B. Braswell (2004). "The Rise of Secondary States in the Southeastern Periphery of the Maya World". Ancient Mesoamerica. 15: 219–233. doi:10.1017/s0956536104040143.
  • Braswell, Geoffrey; Prager, Christian M.; Bill, Cassandra R.; Schwake, Sonja (2004a). "Recent Archaeological and Epigraphic Research at Pusilha, Belize: Report on the 2001 and 2002 Field Seasons". Research Reports in Belizean Archaeology. 1: 333–345.
  • Braswell, Geoffrey E.; Prager, Christian M.; Bill, Cassandra R. (2005). "The Kingdom of the Avocado: Recent Investigations at Pusilha, A Classic Maya City of Southern Belize". Anthropological Notebooks. 11: 60–88.
  • Braswell, Geoffrey E.; Gibbs, Sherry A. (2006). "In the Land of the Avocado: Recent Archaeological Investigations at Pusilha, Toledo District, Belize". Research Reports in Belizean Archaeology. 3: 271–286.
  • Braswell, Geoffrey (2009). "The cultural modification of teeth by the ancient Maya : a unique example from Pusilha, Belize". Mexicon. 31 (1): 24.
  • Culbert, T. Patrick, and Don S. Rice (eds.). 1990. Precolumbian Population History in the Maya Lowlands. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press
  • Foias, Antonia E., 1996, Changing Ceramic Production and Exchange Systems and the Classic Maya Collapse in the Petexbatun Region. PhD. Dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Vanderbilt University, Microfilms, Ann Arbor.
  • Prager, Christian (2006). "Petroglyph found at the Classic site of Pusilha, Belize". Mexicon. 28 (3): 45.
  • Sheptak, Russell N., 1987 Interaction between Belize and the Ulua Valley. In Interaction on the Southeast Mesoamerican Frontier: Prehistoric and Historic Honduras and El Salvador, edited by Eugenia J. Robinson. BAR International Series 327, Oxford.
  • Thompson, John 1928 Some new dates from Pusilha. Man xxviii:95.
  • Joyce, T. A. (1932). "Presidential Address. The "Eccentric Flints" of Central America". The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. 62: xvii–xxvi. doi:10.2307/2843874. JSTOR 2843874.
  • Joyce, T. A. (1929). "Report on the British Museum Expedition to British Honduras". The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. 59: 439–459. JSTOR 2843895.
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