patterns of maya jade disposal at blue creek belize 1
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Patterns of Maya Jade Disposal at Blue Creek, Belize
Author(s) / Editor(s): thomas guderjan
Published: 2004
Document Type: Book / Report
Stable URL: http://core.tdar.org/document/6639
DOI: doi:10.6067/XCV8X928HB
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PATTERNS OF MAYA JADE DISPOSAL AT BLUE CREEK, BELIZE.
JANUARY 20, 2004
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Abstract (English)
Jade was the most valued material in the Classic Maya
world. Large numbers of jade artifacts have been recovered
from diverse contexts from the Maya site of Blue Creek,
Belize. This database allows for analysis of the
distribution and disposal of jade artifacts. Further,
jades role in Classic Maya political economies is unclear,
with views alternating between jade having functioned as a
currency and jade having been controlled by royal elites.
The Blue Creek database is used to test the implications of
both models.
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Abstract (Espanol)
El jade era la materia mas avaluada en el mundo Clasico de
Maya. Muchas artefactos del jade se han recuperado de
excavaciones diversas del sitio se Blue Creek en Belice.
Esta base de datos tiene en cuenta el analisis de la
distribucion y la disposicion de arefactos de jade. Aun
mas, el papel de jade en Maya Clasico las economicas
politicas son poco clara, con las vistas que alternan entre
jade funciono como una moneda y jade sidos contoladas por
elite reales. El banco de datos Blue Creek se utilza para
probar la implicacion es de ambros modela.
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Jade has always held a fascination for both
Mesoamerican archaeologists and the ancient Mesoamerican
people who regarded it as the most valuable and rare
material in their world. Extensive excavations in diverse
contexts at the Maya site of Blue Creek in Belize (Figure
1) have resulted in a database that spans numerous
prehistoric socio-economic contexts. In this paper, the
distribution of jade artifacts at Blue Creek will be
compared to other sites and used to gain insight into the
archaeology of the site. In addition, the Blue Creek
database will be used to evaluate competing views of the
role played by jade in the political economy of ancient
Maya society.
MINEROLOGY AND SOURCES OF JADE
The colloquial term, jade, has been generally used
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have not discriminated among the minerals. Effectively,
this is the same group of minerals that Norman Hammond has
referred to as social jade (1991). I do, however,
distinguish between that suite of minerals and
greenstones which are generally of lower aesthetic
quality and include minerals such as schists, shales, and
serpentines which are easily distinguished from jades or
social jades by hardness, density, and friability.
There have been several attempts to characterize the
composition of jade and to trace archaeological jades to
their sources (Bishop and Lange 1993, Gendron, Smith and
Genron-Badou 2002, Hammond, et al 1977, Harlow 1993). One
issue complicating source analyses is that jade occurs in
cobbles and boulders, each with its own distinct chemical
composition. Despite this, some groupings based on chemical
composition have been established for reference collections
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characterized chemically. The Motagua Valley with its
nearly unique geology is probably the sole source of jade
in Mesoamerica. Jadeite, the mineral that composes much of
the range of jade, has been known to co-occur with
serpentine in the Motagua Valley since 1954 (Fossag 1957),
which is probably the only location in which the high
pressures required to form these minerals exists (Johnson
and Harlow 1999).
A second possible source, particularly for some jade
used by the Middle Preclassic Olmecs, has been suggested to
be in Guerrero, Mexico (Bishop and Lange 1993, Griffin
1993). However, such a source has not been positively
identified and, if it existed, was probably largely
exhausted during Olmec times (Garber, et al 1993). As no
contemporary jade is known from Guerrero, comparison with
prehistoric artifacts is impossible. Further, the range of
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center of La Venta and for distribution to other centers
such as Chalcatzingo. At about the same time, jade enters
the record at Copan, probably because Copan serviced the
jade needs of La Venta (Garber, et al 1993). In the Late
Preclassic period, jade becomes an elite, status
reinforcing, exotic material in the Maya area. Jade remains
uncommon but not rare in the record and is generally
restricted to elite and royal contexts in burials and
caches. New depositional patterns also emerge in the Late
Preclassic. Jade artifacts were deposited in caches in
public buildings (Kresjci and Culbert 1995). However, they
also appear in non-elite caches and burials (Rathje 1970)
and are found smashed and broken in termination rituals as
public buildings were abandoned (Garber 1983, 1988, 1993).
In the southern Maya lowlands during the Late Classic
period, the quantities of jade artifacts in the
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to the manufacture of ornamentation. This restriction
indicates that jades social value eclipsed its utility.
The vast majority (probably more than 90%) of jade
artifacts are in the form of beads in a wide range of
shapes.
Other artifact forms include anthropomorphic pendants
such as bib-shaped pendants or ahau heads. These are
frontal views of a human head with bib underneath the chin
that may represent an ahau or king. In northern Belize,
bib-head shaped pendants have been found at Blue Creek
(Guderjan 1998), Cerros (Garber 1983), Nohmul (Hammond
1987), Lamanai (Clancy, et al 1985), Santa Rita (Chase and
Chase 1986), and Chan Chich (Robichaux 1998). These bib-
shaped pendants have also been argued to be parts of royal
crowns (Freidel and Schele 1988, Hammond 1986). Aside from
bob-shaped pendants, anthropomorphic figures posed as
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Artifacts formed into plaques are another Classic
period artifact form found only rarely in northern Belize.
These are low-relief, thick, flat pendants with
anthropomorphic figures carved into them. Only one such
plaque, apparently looted from the site of Indian Creek, is
known from northwestern Belize. However, many are known
high status burials at Altun Ha (Pendergast 1979, 1982).
MAYA POLITICAL ECONOMY AND THE ROLE OF JADE
Archaeologists have often applied variants of
Wallersteins Core-Periphery and World Systems models
(1974) to prehistoric cultures to model economics and
political interaction (Chase-Dunn and Hall 1991,
Frankenstein and Rowlands 1978, Freidman and Rowlands 1978,
Peregrine 1991, Peregrine and Feinman 1996). In the Maya
area, early formulations of Maya economics examined the
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on intra-site levels (Guderjan, Baker and Lichtenstein
2003) as well as regional levels (Lewis 2003).
In the Maya area, a view of two parallel systems of
political economy and resource control has developed
(Masson 2002). One system consisted of commodities and
utilitarian goods produced and exchanged in a household
oriented mercantile system. The second system consisted of
gift exchange of prestige goods that supported and
reinforced the authority of kings and other nobles (Masson
2002). In particular, the exchange and distribution of
exotic, status reinforcing objects are seen to have been
controlled by royalty. For example, Joseph Ball argued that
Maya ceramic workshops were supported by ruling elites in
order to provide sumptuary goods for Maya palaces (Ball
1993). Therefore, the inter-site distribution of these
goods occurred through gifting among elites. Similarly,
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pendants, particularly in sets of four, have been viewed as
marking royalty (Freidel 1993; Freidel, Reese-Taylor, and
Mora-Martin 2002; Schele and Freidel 1990). Freidel also
argues that jade functioned as currency and was accessible
to anyone with the wealth to own it (Freidel 1993; Freidel,
Reese-Taylor, and Mora-Martn 2002). This would mean that
access to jade was based upon an individuals wealth and
its distribution in the archaeological record should co-
vary with status. For example, the distribution of jade
would be expected to be higher in elite households than
non-elite households. Alternatively, jade was only
exchanged and circulated among elites of different
polities, perhaps assuming the heirloom qualities
associated with Trobriand Islanders Kula and Kwakuitl
copper plaques (Malinowski 1920; Rathje 1978; Sahlins
1972). This alternative explanation sees the control of
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THE MAYA SITE OF BLUE CREEK
The site of Blue Creek is located in northwestern
Belize at the headwaters of the Rio Hondo (Figure 1). A
decade of excavations has enabled us to understand the
structure of the community (Guderjan, Baker, and
Lichtenstein 2003; Lichtenstein 2000) as well as its
fundamental temporal aspects. Blue Creek is a medium-sized
center with two plazas and two buildings approximately 15
meters tall. However, the 1350 pieces found at Blue Creek
reflect great status and wealth1
. The Blue Creek collection
derives from numerous diverse contexts and provides a
special opportunity for better understanding jade disposal
and its role in socio-political life. While much of the
collection comes from a non-funerary shaft dug into
Structure 4 on Plaza A (Guderjan 1998), nearly 400
artifacts come from other contexts.
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elite residences at Blue Creek (Guderjan, Lichtenstein, and
Hanratty 2003; Lichtenstein and Hanratty 2002; Hanratty
2002) and continued evidence for Late Classic population
increases (Lichtenstein 2000). At least one residential
area located 2-3 km. from the site center, was not occupied
until the Late Classic (Lichtenstein 2000).
The sites public district (Figure 2) is located on
top of the 100 meter tall Bravo Escarpment and overlooks
vast sets of ditched fields and associated residences
(Figure 3). Plaza A is the larger and is surrounded by six
buildings, the tallest being Structure 1 at about 15 meters
tall. Behind Structure 1 is Blue Creeks Early Classic
ballcourt. South of Plaza A is the Plaza B complex, a
lineal set of buildings centered on the sites second
public plaza. Plaza B is flanked by two elite residences
and the entire complex is bounded by two temples.
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the public area and below the Bravo Escarpment (Figure 3).
They largely consist of housemounds and are located
adjacent to considerable expanses of ditched fields. While
the actual situation is more complex, throughout this paper
residents of Kn Tan will be referred to as elites and
residents of Chan Cahal and Sayap Ha will be termed non-
elites.
Blue Creeks wealth was probably based upon its access
to large expanses of some of the southern lowlands best
agricultural soils that the Blue Creek Maya intensively
farmed (Baker 2002; Tim Beach, personal communication,
2003; Guderjan, Baker, and Lichtenstein 2003). In addition,
Blue Creek is situated at the terminus of the Rio Hondo
which was used intensively for water trade in both the
historic prehistoric past (Guderjan and Garber 1991). The
mounting evidence that large quantities of Caribbean and
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OTHER DATABASES FOR THE DISTRIBUTION OF JADE ARTIFACTS
While jade artifacts have been recovered from nearly
every Maya center, the other databases generally have
limited applicability because of the research designs of
the excavations. For example, 1030 jade artifacts were
recovered from Altun Ha in seven years of excavation
(Pendergast 1979, 1982). However, the excavations were
largely focused on public architecture. Consequently, there
is little comparative data about non-elite behavior.
Similarly, large or important single-event deposits of
jade artifacts dating to the Early Classic period have been
found at Calakmul (Folan, et al 1995), Chan Chich
(Robichaux 1998), Nohmul(Hammond 1987), and La Milpa(Hammond, et al 1996). However, all of these again derive
from monumental contexts and little is known of the
distribution of jade artifacts throughout those sites.
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Preclassic and Early Classic buildings (Garber 1983, 1993).
Another 31 artifacts were recovered from dedicatory caches
and only 18 from other contexts (Garber 1983, 1988). While
the jade collection from Cerros is important for a number
of reasons, it too offers limited insight into the
distribution of jade throughout the entire community.
The most relevant studies to this discussion derive
from excavations at Tikal and Uaxactun. While the Tikal
materials were described long ago by William Coe, that
report only exists in manuscript form. However, Hattula
Maholy-Nagy re-examined that collection and used the
material culture from Tikal as a basis for her doctoral
dissertation (1994). Additionally, David Maxwell examined
caches from Uaxactun as a part of his doctoral dissertation
(1996). Consequently, all of the Tikal data and a
significant part of the Uaxactun data are available. In
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patterns seen at Tikal and Uaxactun (Table 2). While ten
artifacts were deposited prior to the Late Preclassic at
Blue Creek, the vast majority of the collection derives
from ritual contexts in the Late Preclassic and Early
Classic periods. Only 28 artifacts, approximately 2%, date
to the Late Classic. Importantly 25 of these 28 artifacts
were found in a single cache dating the early part of the
Late Classic.
SOCIAL AND GEOGRAPHIC PATTERNS OF JADE DISPOSAL
Critical in evaluating jades role in the Maya
political economy are the contexts in which jade artifacts
are found. Three general contextual categories can be
discerned for Blue Creek. Monumental contexts include both
caches and burials in public buildings and the associated
site center residences. Elite residences include the large
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If jade artifacts were fungible and available to
anyone who could afford them, their distribution would be
expected to follow economic status. Few artifacts would be
expected in non-elite residences, more in elite residences,
and most in monumental contexts. Conversely, if royalty
controlled jade, relatively few artifacts would be expected
outside of monumental contexts.
Significant numbers of jade artifacts occur in caches
and burials in monumental architecture (n=1253). In Plaza
A, jade artifacts were associated with four buildings
(Table 3). In Structure 1, an Early Classic tomb and series
of related caches yielded 32 artifacts. In Structure 3, an
early Late Classic dedicatory cache yielded another 25
jade items. In Structure 4, caches associated with an event
dating to A.D. 500 yielded 966 jade artifacts. Finally, a
single fragment was found in the collapse of Structure 6.
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in a tomb and associated cache in Structure 34 (Table 4).
In the same residence, one other jade fragment was found in
a terminal deposit and another may have been incorporated
into a stucco decoration on the interior of a room. Another
fragment was found on the floor of the doorway of Structure
60, apparently deposited upon abandonment. However, it also
may be part of a Late Classic architectural composition.
The most surprising discoveries of jade were at Chan
Cahal, a non-elite residential area (n=148; see Table 5).
Nearly 100 jade artifacts were recovered from a Late
Preclassic ceramic concentration at Structure U-49.
Additionally, 31 jade artifacts were recovered from three
Late Preclassic-Early Classic caches (Caches 31, 41, and
43) and four artifacts were recovered from Burials 19 and
26, also dating to the Early Classic. Further, a burial
with eight jade pieces used as inlays in a pair of shell
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appearances, this was an elite or royal tomb, but many
years of quarrying for construction material had destroyed
much of the contextual information. This Terminal
Preclassic tomb included three individuals, 28 ceramic
vessels, and 105 finely carved jade beads. Many of the
vessels are exotic imports and the tomb itself is a
symbolic recreation of the Maya cosmos, located in a
strategic overlook above the agricultural fields and
riverine access to Blue Creek (Kosakowsky and Guderjan,
ms.). There was an Early Classic masonry structure built on
top of a Late Preclassic midden near the tomb, but little
else is known of its context and it cannot be securely
placed in any of the contextual categories used here.
The relative abundance of jade at Chan Cahal clearly
is aberrant. Regardless of which model is used, jade
artifacts are perceived to be elite goods and deposition in
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At Colha during the Late and Terminal Preclassic periods,
the vast majority of jade and other greenstone artifacts
are found in burials and caches (Buttles 1992), although
the status of the individuals is unclear. At Salitron Viejo
in Honduras, 2,212 carved jade and marble objects were
recovered, apparently all from public and elite contexts
(Hirth and Hirth 1993). However, the excavation did not
focus on residential areas, so this perception may be a
consequence of the excavation strategy rather than a past
reality. Nevertheless, in none of these cases were large
quantities of jade recovered from non-elite contexts.
Further, Hirth and Hirth report four common patterns
for the deposition of jade at Salitron Viejo (1993). In
order of occurrence, these are (1) scattering or caching in
construction fill, (2) careful placement behind facades,
(3) caches along exterior walls after construction, and (4)
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reports that during the Late Preclassic at Colha, 44% of
the ground greenstone artifacts are found in burials and
49% are found in caches. A small number are found in
middens. During the Terminal Preclassic, a greater
percentage (61%) is found in burials, but otherwise the
pattern remains roughly the same (Buttles 1992). Moholy-
Nagy notes that jade is found at Tikal predominately in
burial contexts and far fewer pieces are found in monument
and structure caches. Further, jade debitage is found in
general excavations, indicating that jade workshops may
have existed at Tikal (Moholy-Nagy 1994). With the
exception of the possible evidence for jade workshops, the
pattern at Blue Creek is quite similar. At Blue Creek, most
jade is found in (a) Early Classic caches, (b) Late
Preclassic and Early Classic burials and (c) Middle and
Late Preclassic middens (Table 6).
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Well-made, high quality round and sub-spherical shaped
beads were common in many locations. In particular, the 105
beads found in the Late Preclassic Tomb 5 were consistently
round and sub-spherical. Probably, most of them were strung
together as a single necklace. The high quality of the jade
in Tomb 5 strongly supports the idea that the individual
interred there was of very high status, despite the fact
that the interment was approximately 4 kilometers from the
monumental center of the site.
Interestingly, the distribution of anthropomorphic and
zoomorphic pendants, bib-shaped pendants, and earflares is
much more restricted than the general collection and all
date to the Early Classic (Table 7). By far, most of these
objects were found in the Structure 4 caches. However,
other important locations yielded these artifacts. In
particular, Tomb 7 contained an acrobat pendant and was
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dated to approximately A.D. 500 by two radiocarbon dates
(Guderjan 1998)
3
.
SYMBOLIC ASPECTS OF BEADS AND PENDANTS
It is also worthwhile to examine the nature of the
symbolism portrayed in the pendants recovered from Blue
Creek. This area is distinctly difficult to interpret, but
some patterning and meaning are clear. At Blue Creek, all
anthropomorphic and zoomorphic beads and pendants, with two
notable exceptions, derive from the A.D. 500 caches in
Structure 4.
Nine anthropomorphic and zoomorphic beads and pendants
were recovered from the Structure 4 caches. These include
two tubular beads carved into anthropomorphic figures
(BC671, BC857). These have been described previously by
Dale Pastrana (1999) and her descriptions are largely
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1998: plate 163). The other Blue Creek example, BC857, is
considerably smaller, weighing 7.2 grams, 7.2 cm. long, and
1.45 cm. in diameter. The piece is very similar in style
and execution as BC671. However, crude, secondary engraving
converted the image into a skull or deaths head.
Also from the Structure 4 caches is an especially well
made pendant (BC729) that depicts God K (Kent Reilly,
personal communication, 2000). The figure wears a headpiece
of topknot of hair, a sloping forehead with something,
possibly a celt, protruding. Most distinctively, a large
scroll begins under the eye and extends to the neck below
the jaw (Figure 4b). BC674 is also quite distinctive,
depicting a human face with a protruding tongue that
appears to be laughing (Figure 4c). This individual also
appears to be wearing a skullcap or a distinctive
hairstyle.
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Classic. Their contexts, usually royal tombs, link them
directly to kingship (Hammond 1987; Schele and Freidel
1990). If so, their presence in the Structure 4 indicates
to the event with royalty. Interestingly all were recovered
intact except BC984, which was intentionally broken andrecovered from significantly different elevations within
the shaft. With them was a bib-head representing not a
human face, but a monkey (BC513). Another zoomorphic found
in the Structure 4 caches is BC540 which depicts an
alligator head.
The only two anthropomorphic and zoomorphic pendants
not found in the Structure 4 caches are BC6753, an acrobat
pendant (Figure 4e) found in Tomb 7 in an elite residential
setting and the zoomorphic pendant found in Burial 23 in
Structure X-34, a non-elite residence at Chan Cahal. The
individual interred in Tomb 7 appears to be a member of an
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First, the sheer quantity of jade artifacts found at
Blue Creek is surprising. No other site of Blue Creeks
size has yielded nearly as many artifacts; a clear marker
of the sites wealth. The fact that Blue Creek imported
such significant amounts of jade and other valuable exotic
materials raises the question of what was exported in
return. Blue Creeks two major economic resources were
highly fertile agricultural lands and its strategic
location at the terminus of a significant riverine trade
route. A combination of production of exportable
agricultural products and a location that facilitated the
export of these products appears to have greatly benefited
Blue Creek.
Clearly, in the Late Preclassic and Early Classic
periods, Blue Creek was importing large quantities of jade
artifacts. At the same time, public construction projects
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diminished access to jade after approximately A. D. 600 may
have been due to a political transformation at Blue Creek
itself. I have argued that by this time, Blue Creek was
probably no longer an independent kingdom. If royalty
controlled access to jade and there were no royalty at Blue
Creek in the Late Classic, the lack of jade would be
clearly understandable. However, there is a regional Late
Classic pattern of declining access to jade (Maxwell 1996;
Moholy-Nagy 1994; Rathje 1970) that equally well explains
the decline of jade at Blue Creek. Further, public
construction slowed at Blue Creek in the Late Classic.
However, many elite residences were greatly expanded, new
residential areas were established, and large-scale public
works projects in the agricultural systems appear to have
occurred. So, it is still uncertain whether this Late
Classic decline in access to jade was related to internal
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associated with public rituals such as building dedication
and burial. While the nature of the ritual associated with
the caches in Structure 4 in uncertain, it, too, was highly
public.
While in much lesser quantities, jade artifacts were
also recovered from elite residential and non-elite
residential contexts. In elite residences, disposal is also
associated with ritual activities such as caching behavior
and burial. However, a few small jade artifacts also may
have been integrated into building ornamentation.
Interestingly, only about a third of the 148 artifacts from
non-elite residences were associated with caches and
burials. Others were found seemingly randomly in
excavations. In one case, the Late Preclassic ceramic
concentration in Structure U-49, 48 jade artifacts were
recovered. The meaning of this feature is still far too
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economy? One view is that jade was a fungible currency, the
possession of which is limited only by economic means. The
other position sees jade as controlled by royalty and only
distributed outside of royalty through gifting.
In the case of the currency model, jade disposal
would be expected to be concentrated in the public district
as royalty also controlled the most resources. However, it
would be expected that jade would be more common in the
elite residences than the non-elite residences, which is
not the case. This is particularly surprising given the
extensiveness of excavations in the elite residences of
Blue Creek.
The royalty view would also anticipate jade to be
concentrated in the public district, but for other reasons.
Ostentatious, public display of jade disposal during ritual
events would have reinforced the authority of royal
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view more completely explains the pattern of disposal seen
at Blue Creek.
While the Blue Creek pattern fits the royalty model
somewhat better that the currency model, neither is
clearly precluded. The Blue Creek data base gives us great
information regarding the wealth of the community and the
ways in which jade was used by the Maya, but no concrete
appraisal of who controlled it and how.
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Acknowledgements: The research at Blue Creek has been
undertaken under the auspices of the Maya Research Program,
a non-profit organization affiliated with Texas Christian
University. Fieldwork has been conducted under a series of
permits granted by the Belize Department of Archaeology.
The various commissioners and staff members of the
Department of Archaeology have been more than simply
regulators of this work. They have been friends and
colleagues. I also wish to thank the many staff members,
students, and volunteers who contributed their efforts to
this research. I especially want to thank Dale Pastrana for
years of tireless support, including the analysis of the
jade reported here as well as Jason Barrett and Jo Mincher
for the illustrations included in this report. I also
appreciate the reviews of an earlier version of this paper
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NOTES
1. While numerous, the artifact count for Blue Creek
probably under-represents the numbers actually once
present. Numerous reports have reached us of massive
amounts of jade being looted from Blue Creek in the 1970s,
including a jade mask from a tomb in Structure 9.
2. Population studies at Blue Creek are underway but in
their infancy. A reasonable guesstimate of Late Classic
population would be in the vicinity of 15,000-20,000
persons, however.
3. The A.D. 500 date is based upon two radiocarbon assays
from the interior of the shaft. Beta-75432, 1440 +/- 110
B.P., and Beta-76278; 1450 +/- 110 B.P. (Driver 2002: 83;
Guderjan 2002; 15).
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Table 1.
Jade by Temporal Period.
Prior to Late
Preclassic
10 0.7%
Late Preclassic 191 14.2%
Early Classic 1120 83.0%Late Classic 29* 2.1%
1350 100.0%
Note: Only securely dated artifacts are included.
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Table 2.
Occurance of Jade in Caches at Tikal & Uaxactun
Time
Period
Tikal Uaxactun Blue
Creek
MPC 3
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Table 3.
Jade from Monumental Architecture.
Structure Context Date Pieces of Jade
Structure 1 Cache 4A AD 500-550 10
Cache 6A AD 550-550 6
Cache 6B AD 550-550 14
Tomb 4 AD 500-550 2
Structure 3 Cache 45 Tepeu 2/3 25
Structure 4 Caches
associated withthe jade shaft
AD 500 9661
Structure 6 Collapse debris 1
Structure 12 Cache 28 AD 450-550 7
Cache 30 AD 450-550 78
Structure 24 Burial 32 Early Classic 2
Cache 48 Early Classic 2
Backdirt 1Subtotal=
1253
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Table 4.
Jade from Elite Residences.
Structure Context Date Pieces of JadeStructure 25 Burial 20 Middle/Late
Preclassic?
1
Structure 31 Room Late Classic 1
Structure 33 1
Structure 34 Tomb 7 Early Classic 2
Cache Early Classic 25
Structure 36 Terminal
Classic?
1
Structure 45 Tomb 8 Early Classic 1
Structure 60 Doorway Late/TerminalClassic?
1
Subtotal=33
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Table 5.
Jade at Chan Cahal and Sayap Ha.
Structure Context Date Pieces of Jade
U-2 Burial 26 Early Classic 2
U-5 Tepeu 2/3 1
U-9 Midden EMPC to
LPC/EC
2
U-14 Below humus ??? 3
U-17 Cache 43 Late Preclassic 2
U-18 Room fill ??? 1
U-19 Burial 34 Late Preclassic/Early Classic
transition
1
U-49 Cache 31 Late Preclassic 24
Cache 41 Early Classic 5Burial 15 2
Ceramicconcentration
Late Preclassic 46
Other ??? 47
U-50 Humus ??? 2
U-54 Midden EMPC-LPC 1
Sayap Ha 1 Midden Early Classic 1Sayap Ha 2 Burial Early Classic 8
Subtotal = 148
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Table 6.
Contexts of Jade at Blue Creek by Time Period.
Time Period Representative Deposits General
ContextsPrior to Late Preclassic Midden (8)
Burial 20 (1)
Core area
middens
Late Preclassic Tomb 5 (105) Uncertain
Dedicatory Cache in housemound
(24)ceramic concentration (46)
Cache 31 (24)
Cache 43 (2)Burial 34 (1)
Chan Cahal
Early Classic Str.1: T2 and associated caches(34)
Str 4 caches (966)
Str 12 dedication caches (85)Str 24, Burial 32 (2)
Str 24 dedication caches (2)
MonumentalArchitecture
Str. 34, Tomb 7 (2)Str. 34, Cache (25)
Str. 45, Tomb 8 (1)
Western Group
Burial 26 (2) Chan Cahal
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Table 7.
Contexts of Pendants and Earflares
General
Context
Specific
Context
Pendants Earflares Totals
by general
contexts
Public
Architecture
Structure 1,
Tomb 4
0 2
Structure 3,
Cache 45
0 2
Structure 4 20 37 61
EliteResidential Structure 34,Tomb 7 1 0 1
Non-EliteResidential
Structure X-34 1 1
Totals 22 41 63
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FIGURE CAPTIONS
Figure 1: Location of Blue Creek
Figure 2: Planview of the Core Area of Blue Creek.
Figure 3: Known Components of Blue Creek.
Figure 4: Anthropomorphic Beads and Pendants. A. Large
Anthropomorphic Bead (BC671). B. God K Pendant (BC729). C.
Bib Head Pendant with Extended Tongue(BC674). D. Bib Head,
Olmecoid (BC505). E. Acrobat Pendant from Structure 34,
Tomb 5 (BC6753).
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Str 7
Ballcourt
PlatformBallcourt
Str 8
Str 11
Str 9
Str 10
Str 12Str 14
Str 15
Str 13
Courtyard
Ramp
Plaza B
Str 19
Courtyard
Str 21
Str 23
Platform
Str 24
Blue Creek, Belize
Central Precinct
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