Abstract

Norman Hammond, Catherine Clark, Mark Horton, Mark Hodges, Logan McNatt, Laura J. Kosakowsky, and Anne Pyburn
Excavation and Survey at Nohmul, Belize, 1983
Journal of Field Archaeology 12 (1985) 177--200

The second season of investigations, in 1983, at the Maya ceremonial center and community of Nohmul, northern Belize, included mapping, test excavations in the settlement, and major excavations in the ceremonial precinct. Following developmental maxima in the Late Formative and Late Classic periods, a mosaic pattern of alternating large and small residential groups, with some areas free of mounds but yielding evidence of habitation, reached its extant form in the Terminal Classic. The surrounding wetlands contain large areas of raised/channeled fields, of dates uncertain at present, with an interesting variety of layouts. The major constructions in the East Group of the ceremonial precinct, including a massive ``acropolis'' and a large adjacent plaza, proved to date to the Terminal Formative, ca. 200--300 A.C. Following 800 A.C. the plaza was subdivided by the construction of several buildings of Yucatecan architectural inspiration; these buildings exhibit the same exotic features seen in residential buildings excavated in 1973--1974 and 1983. The rise of Nohmul in the Late Formative period, its apparent decline during the Early Classic, and its subsequent revival in the Late Classic all parallel the developmental sequence at several other medium and large Maya sites studied in recent years.

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