Pusilha
Encyclopedia
Pusilhá is an archaeological site in Belize
. The location of this Late Classic Maya urban complex along the east and west flow of trade afford archaeologist a historical view of a secondary Maya site. Contiuning excavation has changed the overall picture of Maya social and political relationships between larger and smaller cities. The research conducted at Pusilhá began at the biginning of the 20th century and contiunes to this day.
in the town of San Benito Poité. Situated between the Poite and Pusilha rivers that run east and west may have had an impact of why the Maya
urban complex was built there. The site is also located favorably between the Caribbean to the south and the Maya Mountains to the east. Pusilhá was also situated in the region for the flow of goods and ideas from the central lowlands and southeastern periphery located in Honduras. With the major Maya urban sites of central lowlands at Caracol
and Tikal
and the southern lowland site of Copan
, Pusilhá was possibly a major transfer point for economic activates in the whole of the lowland region
. The survey yielded dates and calendrical glyphs that were included in Sylvanus G. Morley’s discussion work The Inscriptions of Petén. Thomas Joyce also conducted an extensive ceramics evaluation in 1929. In the intervening 70 years very little research has been done at Pusilhá. This state of affairs has changed with research and excavations carried out by Geoffrey Braswell and the Pusilha Archaeological Project beginning in 2001. The excavation that has continued to present has exposed three major areas at the center of Pusilhá to archaeological interpretation.
Belize
Belize is a constitutional monarchy and the northernmost country in Central America. Belize has a diverse society, comprising many cultures and languages. Even though Kriol and Spanish are spoken among the population, Belize is the only country in Central America where English is the official...
. The location of this Late Classic Maya urban complex along the east and west flow of trade afford archaeologist a historical view of a secondary Maya site. Contiuning excavation has changed the overall picture of Maya social and political relationships between larger and smaller cities. The research conducted at Pusilhá began at the biginning of the 20th century and contiunes to this day.
Location
The site of Pusilhá is located in the Toledo district of BelizeBelize
Belize is a constitutional monarchy and the northernmost country in Central America. Belize has a diverse society, comprising many cultures and languages. Even though Kriol and Spanish are spoken among the population, Belize is the only country in Central America where English is the official...
in the town of San Benito Poité. Situated between the Poite and Pusilha rivers that run east and west may have had an impact of why the Maya
Maya civilization
The Maya is a Mesoamerican civilization, noted for the only known fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas, as well as for its art, architecture, and mathematical and astronomical systems. Initially established during the Pre-Classic period The Maya is a Mesoamerican...
urban complex was built there. The site is also located favorably between the Caribbean to the south and the Maya Mountains to the east. Pusilhá was also situated in the region for the flow of goods and ideas from the central lowlands and southeastern periphery located in Honduras. With the major Maya urban sites of central lowlands at Caracol
Caracol
Caracol is the name given to a large ancient Maya archaeological site, located in what is now the Cayo District of Belize. It is situated approximately 40 kilometres south of Xunantunich and the town of San Ignacio Cayo, and 15 kilometers away from the Macal River. It rests on the Vaca Plateau at...
and Tikal
Tikal
Tikal is one of the largest archaeological sites and urban centres of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization. It is located in the archaeological region of the Petén Basin in what is now northern Guatemala...
and the southern lowland site of Copan
Copán
Copán is an archaeological site of the Maya civilization located in the Copán Department of western Honduras, not far from the border with Guatemala. It was the capital city of a major Classic period kingdom from the 5th to 9th centuries AD...
, Pusilhá was possibly a major transfer point for economic activates in the whole of the lowland region
Excavation
The initial site survey was conducted in 1927 by the archaeologists of the British Museum Expedition to British Honduras. The survey in fact was artifact collection surveys that removed the best preserved stelae from Pusilhá and reside today in the British MuseumBritish Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
. The survey yielded dates and calendrical glyphs that were included in Sylvanus G. Morley’s discussion work The Inscriptions of Petén. Thomas Joyce also conducted an extensive ceramics evaluation in 1929. In the intervening 70 years very little research has been done at Pusilhá. This state of affairs has changed with research and excavations carried out by Geoffrey Braswell and the Pusilha Archaeological Project beginning in 2001. The excavation that has continued to present has exposed three major areas at the center of Pusilhá to archaeological interpretation.
History
Pusilhá has a series of confirmed occupation date. It is known through ceramic analysis that this site is dateable to the late classic. A stelae found on site indicates a late classic occupation. According to Braswell, the current excavator of the site, “Stela P begins with the initial series date of 9.7.0.0.0 and contains a historical retrospective date of 9.6.17.8.18 (A.D. 570), implying that the kingdom was founded shortly before the beginning of the Late Classic period”. He does state that excavations from surrounding residential areas away from the complexes center seem to indicate an early classic occupation but additional excavation is required to confirm this for the rest of the site. Transitions in ceramics, burials and construction coupled with the usual cessation of inscriptions on stelae indicate continued occupation at Pusilhá through to the post classic. The last official date, which is a calendar round date, occurs at 9.18.7.10.3, or A. D. 798.Political
The initial excavation and surveys seem to show that politically Pusilhá was a second tier polity. The ceramics evidence showed that there were ties to Copan and Quirigua. It also seems likely that there were connections between Tikal and Caracol as those polities rose to prominence in the Petén. Based in part to the favorable location of Pusilhá along both east and west corridors of trade and the north and south axis of influence that had Caracol to the north and Copan to the south it seemed likely that the polity was politically dependent to one of its larger neighbors. But the current archaeological evidence indicates that Pusilhá maintained its independence.Ruling Elite
The archaeological evidence indicates that Pusilhá was a traditional Maya "elite" led urban complex. There are known to be eight rulers that are associated with the Pusilhá emblem glyph from the late Classic period with a possible two additional from the Terminal Classic. All total there are 39 named individuals that have been discovered by the epigraphers in the hieroglyphic record. Of note is an individual who at first was linked as a ruler of Copan based on the artifactual record of that polity. k’ak’ u ti’ chan is the name of Ruler B of Pusilhá as well as Ruler 11 at Copan and was first ascribed to be the same individual. Further research has shown that they were contemporaries to each other that had different known parentage.Site Significance
The site of Pusilhá has the one representation of bridge construction that has survived to modern time. The polity of Pusilhá also offers a look at the quantity and quality of the stelae available for study from a secondary urban complex. This site may represent an alternative method of looking at how the Maya govern themselves that is contrary to prevailing view of conquest and absorption of smaller cities into the larger cities in the region. To truly understand this site it must be stated that research and excavation is at a very early stage and that more work is required to fully understand the place that Pusilhá holds in the greater Maya world.External links
- Raz jade mask, Pusilha http://www.wayeb.org/drawings/raz_jade_mask.png
- Stele http://www.wayeb.org/drawings/pus_st_d.png
- Pusilha Archaeological Project (PUSAP) http://dss.ucsd.edu/~gbraswel/pusap.html