Out of Sight

THE POSTCLASSIC AND EARLY COLONIAL PERIODS AT CHAU HIIX, BELIZE

Christopher R. Andres and K. Anne Pybum

His paper examines evidence from the ancient Maya community of Chau Hiix, Belize, dating to the Terminal Classic through the Postclassic period (a. d. 900-1525) and the early years of Spanish influence (post-A. D. 1525) in Central America. While many lines of evidence are contributing to our emerging understanding of Chau Hiix, this paper remains a preliminary analysis focusing on three categories of data we see as basic to assessing early Colonial-period occupation of the site. These bodies of information include the community’s physical setting, the Postclassic ceramic assemblage, and post-A. o. 900 architecture and architectural modifications. These data are comparable to data from contemporary communities in Belize and allow us to begin considering the extent to which the community’s inhabitants were affected by European presence in the southern lowlands. The Chau Hiix data are relevant to the ongoing reconstruction of the political and economic relationships that existed between indigenous communities in Belize and Peten at the time of Spanish contact and before.

AN ISLAND IN THE ]UNGLE

After ten years of research we have drawn a number of conclusions about the ancient community that left us the archaeological site of Chau Hiix, but sometimes it takes a while for the obvious to sink in. Although the site’s physical location has clear implications for trade and subsistence (Pybum n. d.), Chau Hiix’s setting was probably also important for protection during the Postclassic

And Colonial periods (Andres and Pybum 1999). Settlement pattern work in Peten has demonstrated populations shifted from mainland to island and peninsular locations at the end of the Classic period (Rice 1986: 339, 1988: 236; Rice and Rice 1990). Although the precise reason(s) for these movements is uncertain, shifting settlement probably reflects increasing use of waterways and aquatic resources but may also reflect a need for defense (Rice 1986: 236). Although not located on an Island, Chau Hiix’s setting is extremely defensible, as discussed below.

Postclassic settlement patterns in other parts of Belize often mirror lacustrine defensibility noted in Peten. Although associated with a somewhat wider range of environments than Guatemalan centers. Postclassic communities in Belize are similarly closely associated with major bodies of water: Lamanai is found at the head of the New River Lagoon (Pendergast 1986a: 245), Santa Rita Corozal lies on Chetumal Bay (D. Chase 1990: 199), Marco Gonzalez is at the southern tip of Ambergris Caye (Graham and Pendergast 1989), and Cerros (which was reoccupied during the Postclassic period) is situated on Lowry’s Bight in Chetumal Bay (Freidel 1986c: xiii). Chau Hiix lies on Western Lagoon near its outlet into Spanish Creek, which in turn flows into Black Creek. The site is accessible by water year-round and a mere two-kilometer portage from Dawson’s Creek allows canoe access to Lamanai on the New River (Figure 18.1). During the rainy season, backed up floodwater in the Belize River results in a reversal of current that allows canoes to float down the Belize River from Peten and then up Black Creek to Chau Hiix (Pybum n. d.).

Both Chau Hiix’s location and Classic-period trade goods ranging from hematite and jade to saltwater pearls, Spondylus shells, and obsidian indicate the residents were active members of an extensive network during the Classic period. Particularly distinctive trade items recovered linking Chau Hiix with Classic-period centers in Peten and beyond include an inscribed bone hairpin mentioning a site in the Petexbatun (Rosemary Joyce, personal communication) and a lidded, stuccoed cylinder tripod from Teotihuacan (Robert Fry, personal communication). As discussed below, excavation results at Chau Hiix indicate the center was far from isolated during the Postclassic, although the size of Chau Hiix’s interaction sphere most likely contracted as population levels dropped off at the site in the Late Postclassic or Early Colonial period.

Chau Hiix’s defensible riparian setting gives the site more in common with Peten sites than initially might meet the eye. Presently, Chau Hiix sits beside a savanna in the dry season that becomes a lagoon in the wet season. Water level in the lagoon is unpredictable and we never know when the water will go up or down and strand us in the mud. Despite spending much of our time and resources coping with the logistics of mud, we were slow to realize that the Maya residents would have had to cope with similar circumstances if they wanted to leave or if they wanted to participate in a trade network. After talking with the people who currently live in the area, it is clear that the unpredictable rainfall

18J Selected archaeological sites and waterways in northern Belize.

Makes a wretched situation for farmers, a situation that would have been as difficult one thousand years ago as it is today. What emerges from this picture is that while Chau Hiix is not situated on an actual island, it often might as well be. Located close to Spanish Creek and literally bounded by expanses of water (or mud) six months of the year, Chau Hiix’s physical setting is similar to that of contemporary Peten Postclassic communities such as Nojpeten (Jones 1998). As considered below, Chau Hiix’s island-like qualities may have been a significant factor that minimized (or prevented) contact between the site’s Maya residents and members of Spanish expeditions that began making forays into the region in the 1550s (Pendergast 1991).