Editing Cahal Pech

{{Short description|Maya site in the Cayo District of Belize}}
{{Infobox ancient site
| name           = Cahal Pech
| alternate_name = 
| image          = Cahal_Pech_Jul_10_2015_49.jpg
| image_size     = 250px
| alt            = 
| caption        = 
| map            = Cahal_Pech_Site_Map.png
| map_type       = Mesoamerica#Belize
| map_alt        = 
| map_caption    = Location within [[Mesoamerica]]##Location within Belize
| map_size       = 
| iso_region     = 
| relief         = 1
| map_dot_label  = 
| coordinates    = 
| location       = [[San Ignacio, Belize|San Ignacio]],&nbsp;[[Cayo District]],&nbsp;[[Belize]]
| region         = [[Cayo District]]
| built          = 1200 BCE
| abandoned      = 900 CE
| epochs         = [[Classic]]
| cultures       = [[Maya people|Maya]]
| event          = 
| excavations    = 1988 - 2000
| archaeologists = [[Jaime Awe]]
National Institute of Archaeology (NICH)
| architectural_styles = [[Classic]]
| architectural_details =

| notes          = 
Responsible body: Belize Department of Archaeology

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| precolumbian = yes <!-- non-functional tracking parameter, do not remove/change -->
}}
'''Cahal Pech''' is a [[Maya civilization|Maya]] site located near the town of [[San Ignacio Cayo|San Ignacio]] in the [[Cayo District]] of [[Belize]]. The site was a palatial, hilltop home for an elite [[Maya people|Maya]] family, and though the most major construction dates to the [[Maya Classic Era|Classic]] period, evidence of continuous habitation has been dated to as far back as 1200 BCE during the Early Middle Formative period (Early Middle [[Preclassic Maya|Preclassic]]), making Cahal Pech one of the oldest recognizably [[Maya sites]] in Western [[Belize]].<ref>Awe ''et al.'' (1990)</ref><ref>Awe (2000)</ref>

==Location==
The site rests high above the banks of the [[Macal River]] and is strategically located to overlook the confluence of the [[Macal River]] and the [[Mopan River]]. The site is a collection of 34 structures, with the tallest temple being about 25 meters in height, situated around a central acropolis. The site was abandoned in the 9th century CE for unknown reasons.{{citation needed|date=November 2019}}

==Archaeology==
The earliest pottery in western [[Belize]] is found here.

<blockquote>
"Emerging information from western [[Belize]] suggests that ceramic-using populations may have been in place as early as ca. 1200 B.C. at Cahal Pech and perhaps elsewhere (Awe 1992; Clark and Cheetham 2002; Garber et al. 2004; Healy and Awe 1995). While these complexes, termed "Cunil" at Cahal Pech and "Kanocha" at [[Blackman Eddy]], remain to be broadly documented across the [[Belize River]] Valley, they are the earliest established ceramic technologies recorded in western [[Belize]]."<ref>{{cite journal |first=Jon C. |last=Lohse |first2=Jaime |last2=Awe |first3=Cameron |last3=Griffith |first4=Robert M. |last4=Rosenswig |first5=Fred |last5=Valdez, Jr. |display-authors=1 |title=Preceramic Occupations in Belize: Updating The Paleoindian and Archaic Record |journal=Latin American Antiquity |volume=17 |issue=2 |year=2006 |pages=209-226 |doi=10.2307/25063047 }}</ref>
</blockquote>

The name ''Cahal Pech'', meaning "Place of the Ticks" in the [[Yucatec Maya language]],<ref>Awe (2006)</ref> was given when the area was used as pasture during the first archaeological studies in the 1950s, led by [[Linton Satterthwaite]] from the [[University of Pennsylvania Museum]]. It is now an [[archaeological reserve]], and houses a small museum with artifacts from various ongoing excavations.

The primary excavation of the site began in 1988. Restoration was completed in 2000 under the leadership of Dr. [[Jaime Awe]], Director of the National Institute of Archaeology (NICH), [[Belize]].<ref>Awe (2006)</ref>

Other nearby Maya sites include [[Chaa Creek]], [[Xunantunich]], [[Baking Pot]], and [[Lower Dover]].

== Gallery ==
<gallery>
File:Cahal Pech Jul 10 2015 110.jpg|Aerial of Cahal Pech
Image:Belize, Cahal Pech Laslovarga009.JPG|Main courtyard
Image:Cahal Pech Jul 10 2015 107.jpg|Main courtyard
Image:Cahal Pech Jul 10 2015 49.jpg|Main courtyard
Image:Cahal Pech Jul 10 2015 16.jpg|Remains of a ball court
Image:Cahal Pech Jul 10 2015 43.jpg|Another building
</gallery>

==See also==
*[[Cuello]]
*[[Colha, Belize]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
{{refbegin|indent=yes}}<!--BEGIN biblio format. --> 
* {{cite journal |last1=Awe |first1=Jaime |author2=Cassandra Bill |author3=Mark Campbell |author4=David Cheetham |date=1990 |title=Early Middle Formative Occupation in the Central Maya Lowlands: Recent Evidence from Cahal Pech, Belize |journal=[[Papers from the Institute of Archaeology]] |url=http://www.ucl.ac.uk/archaeology/pia/prevcont/vol1/2.pdf |format=[[PDF]] online reproduction |volume=1 |pages=1–5 |location=London |publisher=[[UCL Institute of Archaeology]] |issn=0965-9315 |oclc=231692266 |access-date=2008-08-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090617094110/http://www.ucl.ac.uk/archaeology/pia/prevcont/vol1/2.pdf# |archive-date=2009-06-17 |url-status=dead }}
* {{cite journal |last=Awe |first=Jaime   | date=June 2000 |title=Cahal Pech |journal=[[Archaeology Magazine]] |url=http://www.archaeology.org/online/features/belize/cahalpech.html }}
* {{cite book |last=Awe |first=Jaime | date=2006 |title=Maya Cities and Sacred Caves |publisher=Cubola Productions |isbn=978-976-8161-10-9}}
{{refend}}<!-- END biblio format style -->

== External links ==
*{{Commons category-inline}}

{{coord|17.1457|N|89.0741|W|region:BZ_type:landmark|display=title}}
{{Maya sites}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Maya sites in Belize]]
[[Category:Maya Preclassic Period]]
[[Category:Cayo District]]
[[Category:Macal River]]
[[Category:Populated places established in the 2nd millennium BC]]
[[Category:Former populated places in Belize]]
[[Category:13th-century BC establishments]]
[[Category:2nd-millennium BC establishments in the Maya civilization]]
[[Category:9th-century disestablishments in the Maya civilization]]
[[Category:San Ignacio, Belize]]