From the beginning of the Caracol project in 1985 we have been concerned with the identification of in situ floor deposits and what they could reveal about the Maya collapse (A. Chase 1994). At Caracol a number of latest-use in-situ deposits were recovered on the floors of specific buildings. With the exception of the temple buildings Structures A6 and B19, most multiple-vessel on-floor contexts from Caracol were found in the site’s epicentral palaces (Structures B4 and B6 from the south side of the B Plaza; Structure B64 in the “C Group,” Structure B24 in “Barrio,” Structure A39 in the “Central Acropolis,” and the various palace buildings of “Caana”), architectural descriptions of which have been presented in detail elsewhere (A. Chase and D. Chase in press). The recovered vessels are found both within and immediately outside these palace buildings. Besides sharing general ceramic forms (Table 16.2), most of these palaces are also associated with a similar set of faunal remains (Teeter 1997).
Thus far some eleven discrete on-floor contexts, exclusive of Caana (Caracol’s massive central building complex), have yielded vessel sets within Caracol’s epi-
Center; all have a bearing on the interpretation of the latest use or abandonment c : the site’s buildings and architectural complexes. Six test excavations from the outlying settlement have also yielded at least one reconstructible vessel associatec with the latest building floor or stairs. Twelve more discrete contexts have beer, identified in and around the buildings of Caana, for a total of twenty-nine rele an: contexts that have provided associated sets of on-floor reconstructible vessel> These materials may be integrated with a tightly dated set of vessels that come from more than 220 burials and over 150 caches excavated at Caracol. Few equivalent comparative on-floor materials have been derived from excavations a: other sites of the southern lowlands; one exception is Aguateca (Inomata 199"; Inomata and Triadan 2000).
Approximately 140 whole or largely reconstructible vessels are represented in these “abandonment” deposits. Contextually, these deposits and vessels can be separated into “ritual” or “domestic” deposits, although some contexts exhibit both ritual and domestic aspects. Latest-use ritual deposits include: (1) unsealed caches of pottery vessels intruded through earlier floors, as occurred in Structures B19 (Figure 16.2) and A6; (2) censerware positioned either at the base of or within “temples,” as occurred in epicentral Structures A3 (A. Chase and D. Chase 1987a: fig. 9), A6, and B19 (A. Chase and D. Chase 1987a: fig. 19) as well as in residential groups “Zero” and “Rooster” (Figure 16.5); and, in the outlying Caracol region, (3) the deposition of pottery in caves (Pendergast 1969, 1971; Helmke n. d.). Latest use-related domestic materials include: (4) in situ ceramics and artifacts within palace buildings, such as occurred in Structures B4, B6, B24, A39. and in many of the rooms on Caana; and (5) the dumping of garbage outside formal buildings, presumably for collection and movement elsewhere (Schiffer’s [1987; 65] “provisional trash”), such as is associated with epicentral Structures A39, B4, and B64 and with outlying “core” residential groups “Tabanos,” “Bayal," “Sam,” and “Cedro” (Figure 16.6). More problematic contexts combining ritual and domestic items are also seen in (6) the deposition of vessels and skeletal remains on the floors of certain “temple” buildings, such as Structures A6 and B19. Importantly, the Maya practice of dumping large quantities of refuse into abandoned rooms has not been encountered at Caracol, presumably indicating that the site’s garbage removal system was still functioning at the time of epicentral abandonment (and possibly also that portions of Caracol’s terraces were still being built and used [A. Chase and D. Chase 1998b]).
There do appear to be differences between the ritual and domestic Terminal Classic vessel sets. In particular, effigy censers occur in ritual contexts both within and without the epicenter; they are located in epicentral temples and are also found in outlying residential groups (Figure 16.5) on the basal stairs of eastern buildings that once functioned as shrines or mausoleums (A. Chase and D. Chase 1994b). The only polychrome Terminal Classic vessels derive from an unsealed cache through the summit floor of an epicentral temple (Figure 16.2).
B
16.5 Incensarios from core settlement: (a) and (b), Pedregal Modeled.
16.6 On-floor vessels from core settlement: (a) Pantano Impressed; (b) and (df possibly Tinaja Red; (c) and (f), possibly Valentin Unslipped; (e) Chaquistero Composite.
Of even more interest, the only clearly identifiable cooking vessels in the site epicenter occur on the floor of Structure A6, a ritual building with the greatest longevity of use at Caracol (approximately one thousand years). Because cooking vessels are not associated with Caracol’s palaces (presumably because elite food was brought from a communal kitchen located outside the palace itself [A. Chase and D. Chase in press]), then their presence in the Structure A6 temple requires some explanation. The Postclassic cooking vessels (Figure 16.4b) may represent the desecration of an important ritual building, perhaps by individuals other than native Caracolehos. Alternatively, these vessels may represent late food offerings left in place by Postclassic peoples, similar to the situation known for Late Postclassic Santa Rita Corozal (Structure 81; D. Chase and A. Chase 1988, 2002).
Following extended analysis and vessel reconstruction, however, the Caracol deposits form recognizable ceramic groupings (Table 16.2) that are distinct from the ceramics known from Late Classic contexts (as represented by the fmewares, plainwares, and censerware from the site’s burials and tombs). Thus, unlike the situations reported for Altar de Sacrificios, Seibal, and Tikal, the Caracol mated-als can be sequenced into an identifiable entity or phase. This diverse ceramic corpus exhibits ties to Terminal Classic materials found at other sites.
Ceramically, the Caracol refuse deposits are characterized by:
1. Tinaja Red footed bowls (some decorated) with incurving rims (Figures 16.7a, 16.7b);
2. flaring-walled deep bowls (some can be called “cups”) that can be plain or associated with ridging and/or incision (Figures 16.7c, 16.7e);
3. footed cylinders with diagonal incision and/or fluting framed with raised ridges (Figures 16.7d, 16.7g);
4. flat-based, rounded-rim plates with oven-shaped tripod feet and occasional basal flanges and incision, both black-and red-slipped (Figures 16.7f, 16.7h; see also A. Chase 1994: fig. 13.11b, c, e, o);
5. incurved-rim molcajetes or grater bowls, some Fine Orange (Figure 16.7i);
6. large ridged barrels (Figure 16.7j);
7. collared bowls, both incised (Figure 16.7k) and Fine Orange (Figure 16.7q);
8. Fine Orange vessels or copies that exhibit modeled-carving and a variety of forms (low dish, pedestaled barrel, footed cylinder, collared bowl) of both Belizean (Figure 16.71; see also Graham, McNatt, and Gutchen 1980) and central Peten extraction (Figure 16.7n; see also Sabloff 1975);
9. special forms, both small—such as candeleros (Figure 16.7o), some with handles (Figure 16.6e)—and large—such as dmms (Figure 16.7v);
10. jars with minimal impressed shoulder decoration (Figure 16.7m);
11. large incurved bowls, both plain and decorated on their shoulders with stamping, impressing, punctated designs, or rocker incision (Figure 16.7r);
12. non-striated plainware ollas, some fairly wide-mouthed (Figure 16.7p; see also A. Chase 1994: fig. 13.1 l. k)
13. large, usually interior-slipped, platters (Figure 16.7s); and
14. a great diversity in censers (Figures 16.7t and 16.7u; see also A. Chase and D. Chase 1987a: figs. 9 and 19), possibly including portable burners (Figure 16.7w).
Importantly, many types believed to be diagnostic of a Terminal Classic date in Peten (A. Chase and D. Chase 1983; Culbert 1993a, n. d.) and Pasidn regions (Sabloff 1975), such as Encanto Striated, Chaquiste Impressed, Suhin Red, and Cameron Incised, either do not occur or are extremely rare in the Caracol sample. And elaborately stamped Pantano Impressed jars (Sabloff 1975)—dated to the
16.7a. On-floor vessels from epicentral Caracol: (a) Tinaja Red; (b) eroded San Julio Modeled; (c) Cohune Composite; (d) possibly Holtun Gouged-incised; (e) Cameron Incised (variety unspecified); (f) Infierno Black; (g) Cohune Composite; (h) Platon Punctated-incised (variety unspecified); (i) Trapiche Incised; (j) possibly Bambonal Piano-relief; (k) Conchita Incised.
16.7b. On-floor vessels from epicentral Caracol: (1) related to Sahcaba Modeled-carved (see Graham et al. 1980); (m) and (r), possibly Pantano Impressed; (n) Pabellon Modeled-carved; (o) Chaquistero Composite; (p) Valentin Unslipped; (q) Altar Orange; (s) possibly Valentin Unslipped.
16,7c, On-floor vessels from epicentral Caracol: (t) possibly Pedregal Modeled; (u) unnamed incised; (v) and (w), Cohune Composite.
Terminal Classic elsewhere (Culbert 1973c)—appear to be stratigraphically earlier at Caracol.
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