Recent archaeological investigations at the Prehispanic Maya site of Chawak But'o'ob in north-western Belize by the Rio Bravo Archaeology Project (RBAP) have brought to light the remains of an unusual Late Classic-period (c. AD 600-850) farming community characterised by residential terraces, densely distributed commoner housing, and complex water management systems (Walling n.d.a, n.d.b, Walling & Misdea 1996, Walling et al. 1999, Walling et al. 2001).

The seven closely situated residential groups that compose Chawak But'o'ob cover an area of 1/2km² on the inclined surface of the 60m-tall Rio Bravo Escarpment, one of three similar escarpments in the RBCMA (Figure 2). Relic domestic settlement at Chawak But'o'ob consists of 350 platforms, most of which exhibit very humble proportions and construction techniques. No formal ritual or administrative structures, such as pyramidal platforms, have been found at the site. Commoner homes, which constitute the vast majority of the housing, have an unusually small average surface area of 12m².

Figure 1.

Map of the Three Rivers Region showing the core of the Programme for Belize Conservation and Management Area and significant sites (after Adams et al. 2004 and Reference HoukHouk 2003).

Figure 2.

Map of Group E, Chawak But'o'ob.

Chawak But'o'ob (Yucatec Maya for 'long land' or 'long terraces') is one of a number of recently discovered sites in the Rio Bravo Conservation and Management Area (RBCMA) within the research region of the long-running Programme for Belize Archaeology Project (Figure 1) (Adams & Valdez 1994, Dunning et al. 1999, Scarborough et al. 2003).

Artefacts consist almost entirely of utilitarian ceramics and lithics. From the site's lithic artefacts (Kaplan n.d.), it is inferred that the principal occupation of the inhabitants was farming, which several lines of evidence suggest was carried out as recessional agriculture on the adjacent Rio Bravo flood plain. Ceramics date construction almost exclusively to middle to late, Late Classic period (Tepeu 2-3 ceramic phases, c. AD 700 - 850). The degree of settlement expansion during this time was on the order of several hundred percent, as perhaps a handful of early Late Classic farmsteads were supplemented by more than 300 domestic structures by the end of the Classic period. The fact that the number of construction events in evidence in excavated commoner homes is at most two suggests that the substantial settlement growth here took place during an extremely short period of time. This, in turn, suggests that internally driven population growth was supplemented by immigration (cf. Adams et al. 2004).

It is conservatively estimated that half of the site's 350 platforms were occupied when Chawak But'o'ob was at its population maximum, probably in the late eighth or early ninth century. From this figure is derived an estimated peak population of approximately 850 residents, which makes this one of the most densely occupied non-urban communities in the Prehispanic Maya lowlands.

Among the architectural tools used by Chawak But'o'ob's ancient residents to regulate the flow of water across the site's suburban landscape were dry-slope and cross-channel terraces. Other mechanisms were residential patios that functioned as collection surfaces, interconnected water basins, and a large central reservoir that funneled water over the face of the escarpment to occupation areas below. The scale and disposition of these features suggest that water management at the site was centrally planned, which is unique among known water-control systems at lowland Maya settlements of this size.

More than 3.3 linear km of relic terracing occurs at Chawak But'o'ob, of which 2.7km consists of sizeable dry-slope contour terraces. Among these terraces are distinctive spiral terraces, in which a continuously-sloped level of terracing serves as a ramp to the apex of a knoll. The site's residential dry-slope terraces, which support the remains of more than 60 small domestic platforms and foundation braces (stone alignments outlining ancient house structures), are the first reported examples of ancient Maya housing on linear dry-slope terraces (cf. Reference WallingWalling 1994, Reference CuddyCuddy 1997). The occurrence of these occupied terraces begs the question of whether some of the thousands of dry-slope terraces at other Prehispanic Maya sites have been misidentified as exclusively agricultural features. If only a small proportion of the dry-slope terraces recorded so far in the lowlands had a residential function, population estimates for the Maya area in the Classic period, which are already substantial (Culbert & Rice 1990, Adams et al. 2004), would need revision upward.