Last night, we gave you a short excerpt of our story on the exciting archaeological find made at the Xunantunich archaeological site in Western Belize.
But, because our team had to rush back to make in time for the news, we were unable to provide you with all the important elements of the story. Here's that full report now:
After months of excavation at the Xunantunich Maya Site, the archaeologists proudly laid out artifacts which they found buried under the dirt and forest from western Belize.
They're all from this mound, which they've been slowly and carefully exposing as they try to preserve the structural integrity of the Temple hidden underneath.
Kelsey Sullivan – Northern Arizona University
"Over here, we just have a very small display of the types of artifacts that we're finding. Over here the first one we have is a bark beater it's made out of limestone and then we have a fragment of a matate and a mono used to grind items mostly corn. We have two types of fresh water shell that we recovered and this is an axe that would have been used to chop wood or other items. This here is a ritual cash that we found placed right under the base of the stela which has fallen, we've also found one right in the front of the stairs as well so these types of objects were placed as an offering prior to placing the stela or building the building the consecrates the space and makes it sacred. These ones all made out of chirp but they also are typically made of obsidian as well and then these are just example of the types of ceramics we're finding."
The experts found them here in this area of the mound which required them to dig nto the ground at the base of the temple
Dr. John Morris – Director, Institute of Archaeology
"We have been out here from January combine all the buildings out here so and we'll be out here for another two months."
But the most important discovery from this excavation so far is this Stela. For the Archaeologists, it is exciting, and it fills in another piece of the narrative on how Xunantunich fits in with the other Maya City States during the height of their dominance in Belize, Guatemala and the surrounding Central American countries.
Diane Haylock – President, NICH
"When you do manage to find something I mean you really feel good that the looters have not been able to go with everything so that is one. It's also that discovery of a heritage that you really don't much or anything about and you can begin to put the pieces together."
Dr. John Morris – Director, Institute of Archaeology
"The Panel has on it hieroglyphic inscriptions so we have a set of four glyphs there and those glyphs tell us a story, it tells us a story about the people who lived here at Xunantunich they royalty of Xunantunich literally but it's a very intriguing story because on side of the panel there is a date and it's 2nd of December 638 A.D and it commemorates the death of a woman and her name is Lady Bat Ek and she was literally the wife of the ruler of Caracol and that particular point in time. Lord Kaan Tu and he is famous for his military exploits, Caracol was at the time defeated a number of the other major cities in the area, major cities like Tikal, Naranjo; Caracol had defeated those sites."
"This finally tells us the remaining puzzle about why Xunantunich in the later terminal classic be 700-900; why Xunantunich became such a city in this area."
But, for the general public, which might look at the stone tablet and not see the rich cultural heritage which will now be preserved, it comes at a very high cost, which the Institute of Archaeology cannot afford without the help of the international community.
This particular dig happened with the partnership Between the Belize Government and the Northern Arizona University.
For Belize, the country gets to continue its excavation, and for the University, its archaeology students get hands-on experience while working in the field.
Dr. John Morris – Director, Institute of Archaeology
"We are a little department but we do a lot of fund raising. We go abroad but encourage a number of Universities in this particular case we are working with the Northern Arizona University where my good old esteemed friend Dr. Awe teaches now so he was able to generate some funds there. We work with the University of Texas San Antonio who also provided some funds. We have a private donor who has generously given us 50 thousand dollars to carry out work here. NICH provide some funds, it's all a fund raising thing that we do."
The Minister of State with Responsibility for Youth, Sports and Culture, made sure to attend the unveiling of this important historic find. He told us that he wants to see more discoveries like this one, which means that funding challenges will have to be met.
Hon. Elodio Aragon Jr – Minister of State/Culture
"Most of these sites say a great history of this country, saw a lot about the Maya in Belize and it's all about our Belizean Cultural heritage and it's always an opportunity that comes along that we must take to highlight these to our Belizean people across this country."
Dr. John Morris – Director, Institute of Archaeology
"We are excited we were hoping we would find a matching panel on the right hand side of it but it's not there but clearly when we tunnel further into this building more than likely it's a very important temple, it's a very important shrine so we are hoping that there might be a tomb in there."
Hon. Elodio Aragon Jr – Minister of State/Culture
"These are some of the things I would like to see more being done in Belize because our heritage, the Maya heritage in this country is enormous. We don't have the kind of money to unearth every single Maya mount that we but working in collaboration with Universities and with our people here we are able to slowly do the kind of work that needs to be done in Belize in terms of our Maya sites."
The excavation continues and because the evidence suggests that this was a ceremonial burial site, and the hope is that when the team finally exposes the entire buried temple, there will be a Mayan Royal tomb located in the center. We'll keep following it.
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