APPROVAL PAGE FOR GRADUATE THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF REQUIREMENTS FOR DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS AT CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, LOS ANGELES BY Michael J. Mirro Candidate Anthropology Field of Concentration TITLE: The Political Appropriation of Caves in the Upper Belize Valley APPROVED: Dr. James E. Brady Faculty Member Signature Dr. Patricia Martz Faculty Member Signature Dr. Norman Klein Faculty Member Signature Dr. ChorSwang Ngin Department Chairperson Signature DATE___________________ THE POLITICAL APPROPRIATION OF CAVES IN THE UPPER BELIZE VALLEY A Thesis Presented to The Faculty of the Department of Anthropology California State University, Los Angeles In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts By Michael J. Mirro December 2007 © 2007 Michael J. Mirro ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First, I would like to thank Jaime Awe, of the Department of Archaeology in Belmopan, Belize for providing me with the research opportunities in Belize, and specifically, allowing me to co-direct research at Barton Creek Cave. Thank you Jaime for sending Vanessa and I to Actun Tunichil Muknal in the summer of 1996; that one trip changed my life forever. Thank you Dr. James Brady for guiding me through the process of completing the thesis and for you endless patience over the last four years. I appreciate all the time and effort above and beyond the call of duty that you invested in assisting me. I would specifically like to thank Reiko Ishihara and Christophe Helmke for teaching me the ins-and-outs of Maya ceramics and spending countless hours with me classifying sherds. Without your help, I would never have had enough data to write this thesis. Also, Christophe, I appreciate all the discussions and ideas you have introduced me to since we first started with BVAR in 1996. Thank you Cameron Griffith for your constant support while we down in Belize. You were instrumental in solving the endless logistical problems that arose during the field season as well as making us all enjoy ourselves during the weekends. As well, I appreciate the comradely of the BVAR/WBRCP staff. Thank you Christina Halperin, Eric White, Jeff Ransom, Sherry Gibbs, Jocelyn Ferguson, Ranju Song, Pete Zubrzycki, iii Jennifer Piehl, David Lee, Bruce Minkin, Raphael Guerra, Jim Conlon, Jennifer Ehret, and Allan Moore I appreciate the efforts of Caitlin O’grady, Chris Morehart, John Spenard, Brent Woodfill, Gina Zavala, and Molly Fierer-Donaldson for helping keep operations running smooth both during investigations in Barton Creek Cave and at camp. Without all your help, it would not have been possible to accomplish that amount of research that we did. I am grateful to David and Eleanor Larsen who provided invaluable assistance through lighting, mapping, and photography. Thank you for your generosity and ingenious lighting system that made underground archaeology much easier. In addition, I appreciate the help of all the caves from the NSS who contributed time and efforts toward producing the overall map of the cave. Thank you everyone at the Cahal Pech Village for years of great food and providing a wonderful home away from home. I also thank, in Belize, Aaron and Jimmy Juan, Elton, Edwin, and Bernard Neal, Mark, Ronan, and Ted for all their help and for making us feel at home in Belize. I will never forget all of the jungle wisdom taught to me by Jose Mai, Agapito, Don Valentine, Jim Puuc, and Tigre and appreciate the twist of humor they added to our lives in the wild. Thank you Dr. Martz for your comments and assistance writing this thesis and making my days at Calstate enjoyable. Also, thank you Marie Bruno, Dr. Cristales- Baker, Dr. Oring, Dr. Ackerman, Dr. Klein, Dr. Ngin, and the rest of the Anthropology Department staff for making my days in the graduate program a positive and fulfilling iv experience. I would also like to thank every one at work, especially Susan Goldberg for giving me time and resources toward completing my thesis. I appreciate the constant encouragement of all my friend and family that kept me on track and working forward toward finishing the thesis. Thank you Mom and Dad for being great parents and supporting my endless stream of interests and pursuits. Vanessa and Isabella, you have been so great and patient waiting for me to finish this thesis. I could never have gotten through this without you Vanessa. Thank you for your support, love, encouragement, companionship, comments, and for being such a wonderful wife and best friend. I dedicate this thesis to you. Finally, I also dedicate this thesis to Doug Weinberg who brought happiness and good times into my life and of all the lives of all the people he met. v ABSTRACT Political Appropriation of Caves in The Upper Belize Valley By Michael J. Mirro The problem of associating caves with specific centers or polities has been a problem in the field of cave archaeology for some time. This thesis explores new methods for documenting the political appropriation of caves distant from centers in the Belize River Valley during the Late Classic Maya period (A.D 590 to 890). It focuses on polities that may have been utilizing Barton Creek Cave and draws on methods developed in settlement archaeology for assessing relationships between small sites and large centers and for defining political boundaries. Specifically, the thesis examines several ceramic types whose distribution in the Belize Valley is thought to follow political boundaries. Examination of the ceramic sample at Barton Creek Cave suggests that it is affiliated with a polity in the eastern part of the Belize Valley. Analyses of ceramic data from other caves in the valley support this claim and demonstrate that several different patterns are evident. These three patterns are as follows: 1) caves can be affiliated with one single polity through time; 2) caves may be in contested areas and that their affiliation changes over time as political powers vi expand and diminish; and 3) caves are in politically neutral areas and accessible by multiple political entities. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ……………………………………………………….. iii ABSTRACT ……………………………………………………………………….... vi LIST OF TABLES ………………………………………………………………... xiii LIST OF FIGURES ………………………………………………………………. xiv 1.0 INTRODUCTION ………………………………………………………………. 1 2.0 LITERATUREREVIEW ………………………………………………………. 3 2.1 The Development of Cave Archaeological Studies ……………............... 3 2.1.1 The Early Period (1840 – 1917) ………………………………. 3 2.1.2 The Inter-War Period (1917 -1945) …………………………… 4 2.1.3 The Post-War Period (1945 -1985) …………………………… 5 2.1.4 The Recent Period (1985-present) …………………………….. 7 2.2 Development of Cave Archaeological Theory ………………………….. 9 2.2.1 Early Cave Archaeological Theory (1950 -1985)…………….. 9 2.2.2 Recent Cave Archaeology Theory (1985 to present) ………….. 12 2.2.3 Political Appropriation of Caves ……………………………… 15 3.0 BARTON CREEK CAVE ………………………………………………………. 21 3.1 Settlement in the Belize Valley ………………………………………….. 21 3.2 Political History of the Belize Valley …………………………………… 23 3.3 Background on Cultural Use of Karst Features in the Belize Valley …… 24 viii 3.4 Barton Creek Cave ………………………………………………………. 27 3.5 History of Research ……………………………………………………… 33 3.6 Research Methods at Barton Creek Cave ………………………………. 35 3.7 Detailed Results of Archaeological Investigations at Barton Creek Cave. 37 3.7.0 Introduction ……………………………………………………. 37 3.7.1 Ledge 1 ………………………………………………………… 43 3.7.2 Ledge 2 ………………………………………………………… 45 3.7.2.1Area A ……………………………………………….. 47 3.7.2.2Area B……………………………………………….. 48 3.7.2.3Area C ……………………………………………….. 49 3.7.3.4Area D……………………………………………….. 51 3.7.3.5Area H……………………………………………….. 52 3.7.3.6Area E……………………………………………….. 53 3.7.3.7Area F ………………………………………………... 53 3.7.3 Ledge 3 ……………………………………………………….. 54 3.7.3.1 Area A ……………………………………………….. 54 3.7.3.2 Area B ……………………………………………….. 56 3.7.4 Ledge 4 ………………………………………………………… 57 3.7.5 Ledge 5 ………………………………………………………… 59 3.7.6 Ledge 6 ………………………………………………………… 61 3.7.6.1 Area A ……………………………………………….. 61 ix