ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES: CAVES
Actun Chapat
The cave site of Actun Chapat is located approximately 30 kilometers south of the modern town of San Ignacio, in the foothills of the Maya Mountains. Preliminary reconnaissance of the site was conducted by members of the Belize Department of Archaeology in 1982, and identified such architectural features as walls, terraced and raised platforms, as well as human remains, and disturbed ceramic artifacts dating between 300 B.C. and A.D. 1000. Additional investigations of Actun Chapat were conducted by the Western Belize Regional Cave Project during the 1999 Field season, and which focused primarily on the ongoing mapping and reconnaissance of the cave, and excavations in the area immediate to Entrance 2. Ceramic sherds dominate the caves artifactual assemblage, however, a number of lithic and faunal items have also been recovered. The largest and most abundant form of construction in this cave are terraced platforms, of which there are over 30. Other artificial constructions identified in Actun Chapat include platforms, staircases, and a bench. Over 200 caves have been identified in Belize, however, fewer than 10 have been intensively examined by archaeologists and report architecture within them. As such, Actun Chapat potentially holds the largest corpus of artificial constructions in western Belize, perhaps the country. The site of Actun Chapat thus presents a formidable opportunity to conduct a case study in the examination of architecture within Maya caves.
The main objective of the Actun Chapat research is to contextually examine the occurrence of architectural constructions within the cave from a holistic perspective, and to ascertain what these constructions can relay to us about the use of Actun Chapat by the Precolumbian Maya. Data retrieval will not be limited to the investigation or architecture, but will include the examination of regularities and disparities in temporal, distinctive and associative patterns of architectural constructions within specific cave locus and with associated artifactual materials. Investigation of Actun Chapat during the 2000 field season will focus on the area adjacent to Entrance 1. These data will subsequently be compared to that recovered from other caves within the research territory of the WBRCP, and throughout Belize. This investigation will lead to a broader understanding of the social, ritual and temporal purpose and significance of architecture within caves to the Precolumbian Maya. The investigation of Actun Chapat is of great significance to archaeology and to Belizean peoples, as increases in looting, and the popularity of cave tourism are threatening the survival of the archaeological data, and thus an understanding of this aspect of Belizean heritage.
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