Background
Holmul is a major Maya city in northeastern Petén, an area of the Maya Lowlands that is still vastly unknown. Despite early exploration of the site, little was known about the extent of its urban area and the relative size of its ceremonial center when compared to other Maya cities. Holmul is one of the longest-lived Maya centers, having been continuously occupied from 800 BC to AD 900. A large number of settlements are closely spaced around it with a multiplicity of histories and functions.
Holmul, as a site and as a region, presents an excellent opportunity to study the emergence of centralized power among the ancient Maya, the relationship between emerging rulers and their constituencies, between urban populations and rural settlements, the nature of the Maya cultural landscape, as well as their abrupt demise in the 9th century AD.
As archaeologists, we approach these problems by examining the material correlates of human behavior such as the structured use of artifacts, secular and sacred built spaces, landscapes, as well as in the history recorded in hieroglyphic inscriptions.
History of the Holmul Archaeological Project
The Holmul Archaeological Project began in 2000 under the direction of PI Dr. Francisco Estrada Belli, now a professor at Tulane University. Interest in Holmul was motivated by the well-known results of R.E. Merwin's excavations at the site in 19111. Aside from being the first scientific excavation of a Maya ruin in the history of Maya archaeology, Merwin’s work produced the first ceramic sequence in the Maya Lowland, which has continued to serve as a reference.
The 1911 research showed elaborate architecture and burial data dating to the Early Classic Period. At the same time revealing more complex palaces, temples and burials of the Late Classic which are among the most spectacular in the Maya Lowlands. Remarkably, the early architecture was relatively unobstructed despite the Late Classic surge in construction. The long, uninterrupted cultural would prove to be of great importance for future research.
Merwin’s team did not produce a site map or explorations outside of the main plazas. Homul’s lack of carved monuments and remote location likely contributed to the lack of further study for almost 90 years. Regrettably, the site was affected by several waves of looting, first during the 1970s then during the late 1990s as it remained unguarded.
Current Research
The first priorities of the Holmul Archaeological Project were the protection of the site and the determination of the extent and complexity of architecture at Holmul and in its hinterland. A mapping program was initiated with several methods of intensive survey, including traditional survey methods, GPS navigation aided by land use maps, and predictive models generated by GIS and satellite image analysis. Using this strategy, most of the site center has been mapped and several large ceremonial centers have been discovered at an average distance of 4.5 km from Holmul center.
Data was collected through test excavations in plaza floors and by rescuing stratigraphic profiles from looters trenches. A comprehensive dataset was created for a re-assessment of the site’s ceramic sequence and its occupational history2. In addition to revealing buried architecture and burials, these explorations led to the discovery of several important epigraphic monuments and looted structures with intact iconographic decorations. Among these important discoveries is the Preclassic monumental sculpture at Cival, an additional “Protoclassic” burial at Holmul, and two sets of Early Classic mural paintings at La Sufricaya which have been the focus of further research and conservation in recent years3,4,5.
A number of sub-projects have developed under the umbrella of the Holmul Project that focus on specific areas of investigation under the direction of the PI and which form the basis for a number of dissertations6,7,8,9. Among these are topical research at Cival, K'o, and La Sufricaya. Currently, new interest is being directed to the sites of Holmul, Hamontun and Hahakab because of their early architectural complexity. In addition, the documentation and conservation of murals, monumental sculpture and associated architecture has been the focus of an important efforts with the help of US, Italian, and Guatemalan conservators.
Summary of Research Themes
Our research has emphasized the study of the emergence of the first foci of centralized power in this region during the Preclassic era and how the ideological and political underpinnings of ruling institutions underwent transformations in the Classic era and ultimately experienced collapse.
The past two decades of work by the Holmul Archaeological have resulted in major findings with significant implications on Maya studies. Researchers have been able to make the following conclusions:
- Holmul was a sprawling sub-urban city with massive plazas and ceremonial architecture in the Classic period with a peak in occupation in the Late/Terminal Classic era (ca. AD 700-900). More than 24 plain stela monuments found at the site date to this period. Several coeval ceremonial centers were directly related to Holmul by distance (less than 5km), forming peripheral nodes of elite residence, administration, and ceremonial activity in a well-integrated system centered at Holmul which represents the "Late/Terminal Classic Holmul kingdom."
- Some centers in the Holmul vicinity (less than 7 km) experienced a peak in occupation and ceremonial construction before Holmul in the Preclassic (Cival and Caracol) and in the Early Classic (La Sufricaya), and the possibility exists for a series of shifting capitals through time in this region. It is a theory that if proven correct, could have interesting implications for the nature of Maya dynastic politics.
- Mural paintings, complex architecture, and carved inscriptions on stela monuments at a site in the vicinity of Holmul, La Sufricaya, suggest a foreign presence at the site, from Teotihuacan, or minimally Tikal. The in-depth study of these data could lead to conclusive evidence to revolutionize the accepted consensus on the relationship between the Maya and Teotihucan civilizations in the Classic era (especially the AD 300-550 period).
- While Holmul is one of the latest Maya cities to be abandoned, at least two sites (Cival and Holmul) have produced preliminary evidence of defensive walls encircling most of the ceremonial plazas and elite palaces. There is a strong suggestion of a final siege during the latest period of occupation, and this evidence may have great implications for our understanding of the Maya collapse (ca. AD 900) in the Southern Maya Lowlands.
1Merwin, Raymond E., and George C. Vaillant
(1932) The Ruins of Holmul, Guatemala. Memoirs of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology No. 2., Vol. 3. Harvard University, Cambridge.
All other references can be found on the Research page.
2Kosakowsky 2001
3Estrada-Belli 2001
4Estrada-Belli 2003
5Estrada-Belli et al. 2003
6Callaghan 2008
7Mongelluzzo 2011
8Velázquez 2011
9Tomasic 2009