In Belize with Jaime Awe

Dr. Jaime Awe, field lecture at Xunantunich, Belize on 25 June 2011

While in Belize, we spent some time with Dr. Jaime Awe (his name is best pronounced Hi-me Ah-way) who serves as the Director of the Institute of Archaeology for the Belizean government. Although he is a native of Belize, he studied in Canada, the U.S. and England before returning to Belize to head up the Belize Valley Archaeological Reconaissance Project (BVARP).










This project focuses on the western region of Belize along the Guatemala border, where Maya cities were most highly concentrated during the Classic era (250 - 900 AD). A printable version of this map can be found by clicking here.

During our time with Jaime Awe we made site visits to Xunantunich (pronounced Shoe-none-to-nich), Cahal Pech, and Lamanai. All of these sites are considered important Classic Maya cities, both for the architecture built at each location as well as for the influence they had on the region.

Dr. Jaime Awe on site at Xunantunich, Belize

Prior to each site visit we were to read texts about the location. One of those texts was a field report, entitled "Architectural Manifestations of Power and Prestige: Examples from Classic Period Monumental Architecture at Cahal Pech, Xunantunich and Caracol, Belize" authored by Jaime Awe. Caracol, another important Classic Maya city that we visited, is also in Belize. Although Jaime Awe was not with us for that excursion, he had performed recent restoration work at Caracol.

The central idea about the three sites (Xunantunich, Cahal Pech and Caracol), as identified in the field report, was that "spatially distinct units represent socially distinct segments of society" (170). In other words, in this region of the Maya world, buildings were placed and constructed to represent the power of the individuals inhabiting the structures. In Classic Maya society different social classes have been identified. They include commoners (those who worked in the fields), artisans (those who possessed specialized skills and worked for the elites) and the elites. This latter category appeared to be stratified as well, into high elites who were royalty or directly related to the royal family and low elites who worked for the king but may not have been blood relatives. Furthermore, this hierarchy was very important to the elites as it reinforced their power and authority. In short, they needed physical symbols to project their position when commoners, artisans and outsiders came to visit the city. Thus, access to some buildings was restricted as one kind of manifestation of power, and that "architecture was purposely and effectively used by the ancient Maya to distinguish between private elite space and public space" (169). This restriction to access was exhibited in three important ways:

north side of the Castillo at Xunantunich

1) access was restricted by elevating a building above others. For the Maya, "elevation was a much more important criterion than cardinal direction for distinguishing status in Classic period . . . cities" (170) and "elite living in the more elevated . . . plazas may have enjoyed a higher status than elite living in less elevated . . . courtyards" (170). Thus, it would appear that in Maya society, the most important people inhabited the tallest buildings or the buildings at the highest elevation;

2) access was restricted by creating Audiencias, which is an architectural form associated with doorways. An Audiencia is created on a structure by limiting the number of doorways through which individuals below can access the ruler above. Many Maya buildings have multiple levels or stories. As the staircase ascends the various levels, access can be restricted by reducing the number of doorways that open out from a staircase. A good example of the use of Audiencia can be found at the Castillo at Xunantunich. Take note of the central staircase that ascends to an intermediary level about halfway up the structure. Although it's difficult to see in this photo, there are thirteen doorways facing the plaza. Yet only one doorway -- the central or seventh doorway -- provides access higher up the structure. This is an Audiencia. According to Awe, it "marks a point of transition between private space (the upper sections of the Castillo) and public space (the plaza courtyard)" (166). Thus a person could ascend the staircase up to the midway point but only one of the doorways at the midway point would allow further access to the higher portions of the temple.

It might also be important to point out that the number thirteen is symbolic to the Maya as it represents the levels of the Upper World. Thirteen is also an important number in the Maya calendar so it's probably not a coincidence that their architects would design temples that incorporate it.

A view of the Audiencia from above;
note access is restricted to only one opening by counting seven from the left

Furthermore, it is believed that the ruler would stand in doorway seven (the center of the thirteen doorways, which represents the center of the world) and look out over the public sphere below. This served to reinforce his power and reassure the people in the plaza below. "The Xunantunich rulers could have used this building to view public events in [the] Plaza from a discrete vantage point. That [the] Plaza was used for events that allowed public participation is suggested by the fact that the site's two major causeways [known as sacbes] terminate at the [Plaza] courtyard, just below this Audiencia at the eastern and western base of the Castillo" (166);

Side view of the Audiencia;
note the restricted access between the portals on the right and the rooms on the left
(photo courtesy of Jaime Awe)

Artist's recreation of Xunantunich, courtesy of Jaime Awe

3) access was restricted by entry points into plazas. Sacbes (roads within and between Maya cities) would channel the public into open plazas. Typically the open plazas would be accessible from three or more directions. Other smaller, more restricted plazas could only be accessed by one or two directions and, in some cases, only by going through a restricted access building. These are what Awe calls "restricted and semi-restricted access plazas" (166). These restricted access plazas "are indicative of private space reserved for the upper echelon of the society. Conversely, some semi-restricted access plazas probably served as residence for elite of lower status" (170).

In this artist's recreation of the core of Xunantunich, the sacbes are the roads entering the site at the bottom of the image. Adjacent to the two sacbes are three numbered plazas. Plazas 2 and 3 are more easily accessible by the sacbe on the right. Thus Plaza 2 is not restricted and Plaza 3 is semi-restricted, thus both are, to varying degrees, accessible to the public. Plaza 1, however, is a restricted access plaza located halfway up the Castillo. The only way to access Plaza 1 is by way of the Audiencia. It should be pointed out, though, that because the sacbe on the left runs right below Plaza 1, scholars believe that "the Castillo represents a large, multi-function, acropoline, complex that included the dwellings, private shrines and administrative hub for the elite rulers of Xunantunich" (166). The elites who used Plaza 1 would watch the comings and goings of the commoners on the sacbe below.

The take away message from this is that the Classic Maya of western Belize used architecture to depict and project power, and to identify public from private spaces.

View from the top of the Castillo, looking north, Xunantunich, Belize