Early Construction of a Maya Sacred Landscape: The Sector Y “E-Group” of Nixtun-Ch’ich’ (Petén, Guatemala)

ABSTRACT

The southern lowland Maya city of Nixtun-Ch’ich’ exhibits an atypical gridded layout imposed in the Middle Preclassic period (800–400 b.c.). Sector Y, in the monumental core, consists of a two-part sub-structural platform with an “E-Group” quasi-astronomical architectural complex (Platform Y1) and a deep natural depression or fosa, Fosa Y (Platform Y2). Earliest construction began with bedrock leveling, probably around 1100–1000 b.c., followed by late Terminal Early Preclassic and transitional Terminal Early to early Middle Preclassic building, subsequent massive Middle Preclassic rebuilding, and Late Preclassic enlargement. Excavations in Sector Y provide evidence of the early phases of construction of a sacred landscape proposed to have been based on a mythical creation-crocodile’s back. More broadly, this work contributes to studies of early societal complexity and urbanization in the Maya lowlands, in Mesoamerica, and beyond.

KEYWORDS:

• lowland Maya
• Middle Preclassic
• urban grid
• E-Group
• crocodile

Acknowledgements

Our work at Nixtun-Ch’ich’ was carried out under permits issued by the Instituto de Antropología e Historia de Guatemala. We thank Roberto Vergara and family and the Centro Universitario del Petén for their assistance. We also thank Victoria Reyes, Deybi Sandoval, Jemima Georges, and Sheily Hernandez for their hard work. We are grateful to Don Rice for creating Figures 1, 4, 6, and 11.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no financial interest or benefit, or other conflicts of interest associated with this research.

Notes on Contributors

Prudence M. Rice (Ph.D. 1976, Pennsylvania State University) taught at the University of Florida from 1976 to 1991, and then at Southern Illinois University Carbondale from 1991 to her retirement 2011, where she served as department chair from 1993 to 1999 and then as Associate Vice Chancellor for Research from 2002 to 2011. She has worked with Maya archaeology in the central Petén lakes region of Guatemala since the early 1970s except for a brief sojourn to the Spanish Colonial wine industry of Moquegua, Peru, in the 1980s.

Timothy W. Pugh (Ph.D. 2001, Southern Illinois University Carbondale) is professor in anthropology at Queens College of the City University of New York. He is the director of Proyecto Itza in Petén, Guatemala.

Evelyn M. Chan Nieto (Licenciatura, 2014, Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala) is pursuing her masters degree in Restoration of Monuments (Facultad de Arquitectura) at the Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala. She is the co-director of Proyecto Itza in Petén, Guatemala.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by grants to Timothy W. Pugh from the National Science Foundation (grant BCS-1734036), the Wenner-Gren Foundation (grant 9284), and grants from The City University of New York.