ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES: CAVES
Actun Halal
Actun Halal, which translates to Dart Cave, is located in the Macal River Valley, Belize, Central America. Project members were informed of the existence of the cave by a number of parties, including landowners Ken and Phyllis Dart, former landowner Hilberto Puc, and William Pleytez, a friend of the project.
Actun Halal is a relatively small cave with two clamshell-shaped entrances. Although the cave does have a small dark-zone component the majority of the cave's surface area is within the light-zone of the entrances. This makes Actun Halal more closely resemble a rock shelter than a true cavern. Entrance 1 faces east and measures 8.5 meters in width and approximately 5 meters in height. Entrance 2 faces north by northeast and measures 4.75 meters in width and approximately 4 meters in height. The passage between the two entrances is 26 meters long and varies in width from 4.5 to 8 meters.
The floor of the cave is dusty, light-brown dirt mixed with bat guano. Numerous ceramic sherds are present on the surface, and in Entrance 2 there is a small concentration of shattered glass and fragments of metal cans. Two areas with concentrations of charcoal and ash suggest that at least two modern campfires were recently burned in the cave. The floor is also covered with leaves, cohune nuts, and heart of plum seeds. The floor just within the dripline in entrance 2 is a downward slope (25º) that is 4 meters long. The slope has numerous breakdown rocks, speleothems, and humus. One of the rocks at the south end of the slope appears to be cut limestone.
There are flowstone formations throughout the cave, although there are significantly more stalactites and stalagmites in the area around entrance 2. In the northwest end of the cave there is a flowstone waterfall, where the entire wall is covered with thin, vein-like formations of sparkling calcium carbonate. This flowstone waterfall contains 5 petroglyphs carved in the flowstone.
To the south and west of the flowstone waterfall there is a small chamber (chamber 1) that may be accessed from two small, constricted passages. The flowstone that separates these two passages contains a carved petroglyph. Chamber 1 measures 3.5 meters north-south and 4 meters east-west. The ceiling of chamber 1 is approximately 1 meter high. Apart from the openings that permit access from entrance 2 of the cave there are two small passages leading out of chamber 1. One passage is to the north, which leads to chamber 2, and the other is to the west, which is too tight to permit human access. At the time of reconnaissance chamber 2 was filled with bees, which prevented mapping of this feature.
Due to time constraints the 1999 investigations in Actun Halal were limited. A detailed map was produced and a surface collection of artifacts was performed. The petroglyphs were documented, photographed, and sketched. A preliminary analysis of ceramics recovered from the surface collection was conducted and a preliminary GIS spatial analysis was performed.
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