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THE RISE OF SECONDARY STATES IN THE SOUTHEASTERN PERIPHERY OF THE MAYA WORLD: A report on recent archaeological and epigraphic research at Pusilha, Belize

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2004

Geoffrey E. Braswell ,
Christian M. Prager ,
Cassandra R. Bill ,
Sonja A. Schwake  and
Jennifer B. Braswell
Geoffrey E. Braswell
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, M.C. 0535, La Jolla, CA 92093-0532, USA
Christian M. Prager
Affiliation:
Institut für Altamerikanistik und Ethnologie, Rheinischen Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität zu Bonn, Römerstraße 164, D-53117, Bonn, Germany
Cassandra R. Bill
Affiliation:
Middle American Research Institute, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA 70118, USA
Sonja A. Schwake
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, M.C. 0535, La Jolla, CA 92093-0532, USA
Jennifer B. Braswell
Affiliation:
Center for Research in Biological Structure, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, M.C. 0043, La Jolla, CA 92093-0043, USA
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Abstract

How does state-level political organization develop in small polities located in peripheral areas? The Pusilha Archaeological Project, which has completed two field seasons, is studying political and economic development at the ancient Maya city of Pusilha, Toledo District, Belize. Pusilha emerged in the Early Classic period (a.d. 250–600) as a small regional polity, but throughout much of the Late Classic period (a.d. 600–800) it may have been influenced by larger neighbors such as Copan and Caracol. Our goals are to study both the political and economic trajectories of the site to better understand processes of integration and state formation from the perspective of a marginal, second-order polity. Our research entails (1) the detailed epigraphic and iconographic study of the 46 monuments known from the site, (2) systematic mapping of the entire 6- to 9-km2 city, (3) test-pitting operations in non-architectural contexts, (4) excavation and consolidation of select structures, and (5) artifact analyses. During the 2001 and 2002 field seasons, described in this report, we conducted systematic survey of a 1.5-km–long transect through the site core, mapped many additional groups at the site, excavated 24 test pits in various architectural groups, excavated and consolidated a partially destroyed structure occupied during the Postclassic period, developed a multi-phase ceramic chronology, and analyzed the many hieroglyphic inscriptions that describe Pusilha's 700-year–long dynastic and mythological history.

Type
Research Article
Information
Ancient Mesoamerica , Volume 15 , Issue 2 , July 2004 , pp. 219 - 233
Copyright
© 2004 Cambridge University Press

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