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    KaʼKabish is an archaeological site located near other Maya sites in Belize. It was once a moderate sized Maya city occupied from around 400 BCE to 1200 CE. The site contains over 90 structures arranged around plazas, including temples, a ball court, and high status residences. Archaeological investigations since 2007 have involved mapping and limited excavations to understand the site's layout and role in the ancient Maya world. Efforts are ongoing to purchase the land to protect it from damage and establish it as a national park.

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    KaʼKabish

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    KaʼKabish is an archaeological site located near other Maya sites in Belize. It was once a moderate sized Maya city occupied from around 400 BCE to 1200 CE. The site contains over 90 structures arranged around plazas, including temples, a ball court, and high status residences. Archaeological investigations since 2007 have involved mapping and limited excavations to understand the site's layout and role in the ancient Maya world. Efforts are ongoing to purchase the land to protect it from damage and establish it as a national park.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    14 views2 pages

    Ka Kabish

    Uploaded by

    Irma Monsalve
    KaʼKabish is an archaeological site located near other Maya sites in Belize. It was once a moderate sized Maya city occupied from around 400 BCE to 1200 CE. The site contains over 90 structures arranged around plazas, including temples, a ball court, and high status residences. Archaeological investigations since 2007 have involved mapping and limited excavations to understand the site's layout and role in the ancient Maya world. Efforts are ongoing to purchase the land to protect it from damage and establish it as a national park.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
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    of 2

    KaʼKabish

    KaʼKabish is an archaeological site in the Orange Walk District of Belize, Central America, located near the Maya sites of Lamanai,
    El Pozito, and Blue Creek. It was once a moderate sized city, built as part of the Maya civilization,[1] and has been determined to
    have been largely autonomous throughout its history. The modern communities of Indian Church and San Filipe are in close
    proximity to KaʼKabish, and the Mennonite community of Blue Creek is slightly further afield. A road connecting Indian Church to
    [2][3]
    San Filipe separates the site into two areas, the North Complex and the South Complex.

    Alfredo Barrera Vasquez's Diccionario Maya defines the name as; "KAʼKAB-IS-AX 10: (place name); kaʼkab: village, the seat of
    population, high land and strong; is: Ipomoea batatas, Lam: sweet + ax: wart; name of the archaeological ruins located near Numkʼini
    (Nun kʼini, Campeche)."[4]

    [1]
    The current name of the site is believed to be relatively modern, but its origin has resisted attempts to be traced.

    Contents
    History
    Site description
    Archaeological Investigations
    Fundraising and Purchase
    Fieldschool
    Sources
    External links

    History
    KaʼKabish is believed to have been initially occupied during the Maya Late Pre-Classic Period (ca. 400 BCE- 200 CE) with one
    temple securely dated to this time and a second tentatively dated to this period.[1] Material recovered from the tops of some of the
    buildings suggest that the city was in use at least until end of the Classic Period (900 CE), while evidence from the residential zone
    [1]
    surrounding the city indicates a thriving occupation as late as the end of the Early Post-Classic Period (1200 CE).

    Site description
    The site has only recently become the focus of intensive investigation. A mid-1990s study of the site core revealed a total of 27
    [5]
    monumental structures arranged around two plazas, a subsequent study increased the number of structures to 55.

    Within several of these structures the looted remains of tombs belonging to high status, possibly royal individuals, were discovered.
    One of these tombs was found to have possessed painted glyphs. The style is part of a tradition of painted tombs first noted at Rio
    Azul in Northern Guatemala.[6]

    Archaeological Investigations
    KaʼKabish was first visited by David M. Pendergast of the Royal Ontario Museum while he was working at the nearby site of
    Lamanai, although the lack of a reliable road made work at the site unfeasible at that time. What was noted at the time was the
    [7]
    evidence of wholesale illicit excavations, in which virtually every structure had been looted.
    The site was identified initially for potential study in 1990 by members of the Maya Research Program. Due to potentially dangerous
    conditions in the area, a team did not return to KaʼKabish until 1995, when formative mapping and surveying of the site was
    conducted.[2][8]

    Dr. Helen R. Haines (TUARC, Trent University) began establishing the groundwork for the KaʼKabish Archaeological Research
    Project (KARP) in 2005, with the permission of Belize's Institute of Archeology, a branch of the National Institute of Culture and
    History (NICH).[9] KARP's first field season was 2007, with a focus on clearing vegetation from, and remapping, the site's South
    [2]
    Complex. The North Complex of the site was remapped in 2009.

    Since its inception, the KaʼKabish Archaeological Research Project has expended efforts on mapping the site to gain an
    understanding of the extent of the site and the types of buildings present.[5] Knowledge of the architectural arrangements provides
    significant clues as to the importance of the site and the role it might have played in the larger Maya political landscape.[5] Under a
    grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, first excavations at KaʼKabish began in 2010 and have
    1, 2013, and 2015.[2]
    continued in the intervening years, with excavation seasons in 201

    As of 2013, survey and excavations have located 90 structures, located in 8 groups.[2] Architectural features include two major
    temples, a ball court with circular ball court marker, and several large platforms (or range buildings) that likely served as royal or
    high status elite residences and/or administrative structures. Research has also been conducted on the numerous chultuns located at
    KaʼKabish.

    Fundraising and Purchase


    Previously, the site sustained damage during the construction of the Indian Church to San Filipe Road, and two buildings were
    removed and their limestone material used for road fill for the road.[3] Looting has also been a problem, and several structures have
    been destabilized through looter's trenches.[10]

    Until 2015, the land on which the site is located was administered by the San Filipe Land Committee, and was owned by three
    different landowners.[3] Though the owners were supportive of archaeological research, KaʼKabish was in danger due to encroaching
    agricultural expansion. This prompted an attempt to purchase the land and, under the auspices of NICH, establish KaʼKabish as a
    National Park. A fundraising campaign raised $20,030 CND of a needed $70,000 CND, providing enough money to make a down
    payment on the site in July 2015. The funds for the campaign were managed by Trent University, and the land was successfully
    .[11]
    removed from the Agricultural Land Registry

    Fieldschool
    In 2013, field school credit for college archaeological students began being offered via Trent University. Students participating in the
    field school stay in the village ofIndian Church during their time with the project.[12]

    Sources
    1. Haines, Helen R. 2008. "Causeway T ʼKabish, A New
    erminus, Minor Centre, Elite Refuge, or Ritual Capital? Ka
    Puzzle on the Ancient Maya Landscape of North-Central Belize". InResearch Reports in Belizean Archaeology
    Volume 5. Institute of Archaeology, NICH, Belize
    2. Haines, Helen R. 2014. "Six Years and Counting!: Overview of the 2013 Field Season". InThe 2012 Archaeological
    Report of the KaʼKabish Archaeological Research Project (KARP). Final Report of the 2012 field season submitted
    to The Institute of Archaeology, NICH, Belmopan, Belize, edited by Helen R. Haines, pp. 7-11. KaʼKabish
    Archaeological Research Project, Trent University, Peterborough.
    3. Tremain, Cara G. and Haines, Helen R. 2013. "Overview of the 2012 Research at KaʼKabish." In KaʼKabish
    Archaeological Research Project (KARP) Interim Report on the 2012 Field Season, edited by Cara G.remain
    T and
    Helen R. Haines, pp. 7-17. KaʼKabish Archaeological Research Project, T
    rent University, Peterborough.
    4. Barrera Vasquez, A. 1995. Diccionario Maya, 3rd edition. Mexico, DF: Editorial Porrua, S. A.

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