Mary Jane Acuna will conduct archaeological research at the southern Maya lowland site of El Achiotal located in northwestern Petén, Guatemala, under the supervision of Dr. David Freidel and Dr. Marcello Canuto. The site's primary occupation appears to have been between 400 BCE and 550 CE, the Late Preclassic period, and perhaps beginning earlier in the Middle Preclassic, between 800 and 400 BCE. Preliminary explorations by Ms Acuna in 2009 revealed the presence of a sequence of architectural construction episodes in the temple locus of the site that reflect significant changes through time in the social and political status of the center, including the establishment of a royal dynasty. Evidence for royalty is painted on a mural that depicts royal insignia of divine kingship in a style yet unknown elsewhere in the Petén lowlands. Moreover, the iconographic representation suggests an affiliation with imagery associated with the earlier Olmec civilization of the Gulf Coast.
El Achiotal's location to the west of the core area of Petén is perfect for understanding what relationship existed between early core Maya centers and frontier sites connecting the region with the western lowlands and the Gulf Coast. The Middle and Late Preclassic are critical periods in the history of emerging city-states in the Maya lowlands, and El Achiotal is likely to reveal exciting new data about the role that smaller frontier sites played during these changes. Alternative explanations about Preclassic political organization and its emergence are needed. The presence of a small site like El Achiotal with evidence for early kingship located in a strategic location along an important trade route provides a unique opportunity to elucidate the importance of the political economy in the consolidation of kingship. With its strategic location west of the core region and its unusual features, El Achiotal provides an opportunity to explore early Maya socio-political integration at a local and regional level. Ms Acuna's research will contribute to the theoretical models explaining the rise of socio-political complexity in the Maya area and help clarify how interregional relations influenced the artistic canons and political ideology that subsequently became widespread in the Maya region.
Both foreign and Guatemalan graduate and undergraduate students, will receive training in field methods and in the archaeological history of the region. In addition to the archaeological significance of this project, the work bears directly on the efforts to protect the rainforest in the region. The rapid deterioration of the Laguna del Tigre National Park, west of El Achiotal, resulting from modern settlement and eastern encroachment makes this project opportune. Archaeological collaboration with local populations will facilitate the dissemination of results and highlight the importance of cultural value and protection of cultural and natural patrimony, thus discouraging looting and deforestation.
Archaeological investigations were conducted in 2010 at the ancient Maya site of El Achiotal with support from the National Science Foundation (NSF grant # 1016787). El Achiotal is located on the flat summit of a limestone ridge in northwestern Guatemala, west of the seasonally swampy central karstic plateau known as the Mirador Basin. This area forms the cradle of early civilization in the central Maya lowlands. Because of its strategic location and geographic characteristics, we propose that it was a frontier town and trading center during the Late Preclassic period (250 BCE – 250 CE). El Achiotal likely served as a main transportation route linking the large and early cities and towns on the plateau, especially the uniquely large city of El Mirador, to important communities like La Venta and Tres Zapotes in the Olmec heartland of Tabasco-Veracruz to the west. In this way, research at El Achiotal reveals the important relationship between these early civilizations in Mesoamerica. Occupation at the site began in the Middle Preclassic period during the apogee of the Olmec site of La Venta (600-250 BCE), strengthening during the subsequent Late Preclassic when Maya civilization eclipsed the Olmec, and continued into the Early Classic (250 – 600 CE) after the fall of El Mirador. The main focus of the excavations supported by the NSF was the exploration of the site’s principle temple. This building was severely damaged by looters in the 1970s, 80s and 90s, penetrating deep into the heart of the mound. These illegal tunnels revealed that this mound was composed of a complex series of building episodes reflecting changes in socio-political organization, approximately between the 3rd century BCE and the 4th century CE. During the course of our investigations we recovered important evidence for understanding the transition from corporate authority to the adoption of sole rulership in the form of a divine king at the site. Understanding these transitions contributes to our knowledge of tropical lowland state formation for the ancient Maya civilization. NSF funds were specifically directed towards the investigation of two buildings, dubbed Sip and Jonon, which were intermediate phases in the long architectural history of the pyramid. In order to investigate Sip and Jonon it was necessary to excavate tunnels so as to preserve later buildings that covered them, as well as to maintain the integrity of the mound. These two buildings were the first in this location to be decorated with murals and sculptural programs on the exterior, which provided us with the main source of information for determining political transitions at El Achiotal. The evidence that survives from structure Sip suggests it was decorated quite simply, although perhaps with important connotations about ruler accession and ancestor bundling, a significant component in the legitimization of power for the ancient Maya that has its origins in Olmec ideology. The building that replaced Sip, Structure Jonon, was decorated on the exterior walls with murals painted in bold red over cream plaster. Enough survives of these murals to identify important elements suggesting the inhabitants of El Achiotal performed ancestor veneration and recorded symbolism of divine rulership and authority. In addition to the murals, this building was also decorated with a modeled stucco mask placed directly on the centerline of the front staircase. Both the murals and the mask are direct indications of the symbolic meaning of the building within the parameters of ancient Maya ideology, alluding to incipient state formation processes in the Maya lowlands. Their unique artistic style indicates the new kings of El Achiotal participated in the regional ideology of the Maya lowlands, yet showed knowledge of symbolism attributable to the Olmec, perhaps reflecting interregional relationships and/or ancestry. In summary, the architectural sequence of the main temple at El Achiotal allows for observations about the center’s political development in the Late Preclassic, when the Maya were reaching state level complexity. Evidence suggests that the earliest masonry architecture represented the emergence of royal authority whose sponsorship of monumental art reflects local (Maya) and foreign (Olmec) influences. The buildings and their decoration indicate attempts to legitimize the power of the new ascending lineage. The uniqueness of the artistic programs also tell us about degrees of political autonomy of small peripheral sites with respect to larger core centers like El Mirador. This discovery provides valuable evidence that contributes to theoretical models about state formation and political integration of Preclassic centers in the Maya lowlands. The NSF award provided the means to initiate this investigation and address the first stage of scientific research at this important Preclassic Maya center. Analysis and interpretation of the findings are ongoing and continuing exploration at the site will contribute to our understanding of ancient Maya history.
