Work during the LFRC Maya architecture
field school session at Lamanai from July 12th through 31st focused
on the northern units of the Plaza [N-10]3 complex of residential/administrative
structures, and on a portion of the plaza that they border. In
addition to the students' excavation of a variety of modifications
to the basic forms of Structures N10-15 and N10-28, such as doorway
seals, room additions, and benches, Claude Belanger and David
Pendergast covered the costs of a crew of 10 to 12 labourers
whose primary focus during the three weeks was the removal of
a further part of the great filling of the plaza that was put
in place during Terminal Classic and later times, and was partially
examined and removed during the excavations of 1981 and 1982
.
The students' work included examination of two masonry benches
in the rooms of Structure N10-28 and one in Structure N10-15.
In each case the examination provided information on construction
characteristics and sequence, and in addition two of the three
produced evidence of previously undetected earlier benches, almost
entirely obliterated by succeeding construction events. In N10-28
the probing of a series of bench units and a related doorway
seal revealed an unusual stair-access bench that followed initial
bench-building in the room and was succeeded by further bench
construction and the sealing of one of the room's doorways. Stair-access
benches are also known in N10-15, but are very rare in the Maya
area as a whole; together with smaller bench details and many
aspects of both platforms and Buildings, the unusual access form
bespeaks an idiosyncratic approach to construction that is pervasive
in the complex, and clearly warrants fuller examination in future
years.
Elsewhere in N10-28 excavation revealed
evidence of a room addition at the eastern face of the platform,
an event not recorded elsewhere at the site and extremely rare,
in fact unreported in this configuration, in the Maya area as
a whole. Time limitations prevented complete excavation of the
room owing to the mass of later core that overlies the unit;
further work on the feature is obviously desirable, and will
be included in scheduled efforts when prospects for additional
investigation of the entire complex become clear.
Beyond the data on room modification
and addition, student excavations yielded significant evidence
regarding the demolition of the rear (northern) face of the N10-28
Building in Terminal Classic times, part of a major step preparatory
to the filling of the plaza. At the same time, labourers' efforts
at the front of N10-28 made possible the recovery by students
of portions of the structure's demolished moulded and painted
stucco upper zone, much of which was revealed in 1981-1982 excavations
at the front and the west side of the building. At the rear,
removal of further core in an area initially examined in 1982
permitted provisional assessment of the condition of the N10-28
platform at this side as well as preliminary judgement regarding
the construction sequence in the area. As in other circumstances,
the data recovered argue strongly for extension of the investigations
both to clarify construction dating and to reveal additional
structural features that would enhance visitors' appreciation
of the plaza complex.
Structure N10-15 received less attention
than N10-28, owing partly to the complexity of its construction
history and partly to the very heavily damaged condition that
characterises most of the rooms of the Building. Student efforts,
which were concentrated mainly on elucidating bench and floor
construction sequences, made clear not only a previously indecipherable
series of events in the structure's northern rooms but also a
structural stability problem in the original northern perimeter
wall that confronted the Maya builders. Here, as in the western
rooms of N10-28, students and labourers undertook considerable
clearing of earth, stone, and mortar from filled rooms, with
result that N10-15 now stands as a somewhat more comprehensible
residence, while N10-28 has been made vastly more understandable
to visitor and archaeologist alike.
While the students worked largely
within the two structures, the hired crew strove to remove material
that filled the plaza, to extend work carried out in 1981 and
1982. Commencing at the west front of Structure N10-28, the crew
lifted out of the plaza a mass of boulders and earth 3 metres
and more in depth and ranging from 2.5 to 4 metres in width,
extending from west of the N10-28 stair to the easternmost portion
of the N10-15 stair. The excavation, which resulted in removal
of approximately 40 tons of stone, brought the amount removed
to between 20% and 25% of the total core mass that fills the
plaza. It also revealed the western part of the N10-28 platform
front, cleared additional space in the interval between the structure
and its western neighbour, and revealed for the first time the
eastern front of N10-15 as well as part of its stair. The 1981-1982
excavations cleared part of the west end of the N10-15 stair,
but only with the work in 1999 did we come to have sufficient
data to produce a full plan of the feature.
Although all excavations undertaken
in 1981 and 1982 were fully recorded, and all structural elements
revealed were planned, both the recovery of new data and the
opportunity to train students in complex architectural recording
dictated that Structures N10-15 and 28 be re-planned. The work,
directed by Claude Belanger, resulted not only in complete new
plans of both buildings, which can be compared and integrated
with the 1981-1982 plans, but also in the production of long
transects and sections not created during the earlier work. The
latter recording allows us for the first time to begin to create
a comprehensive picture of the entire group and its development
through time, a process that will serve importantly in any future
excavations that may be undertaken.
The numerous 1999 excavations, though
separated by moderate distances in many cases, all confirmed
the Terminal Classic date of the major revision to the complex
that began with the filling of the plaza. Important new additions
to the ceramic inventory from the period resulted from several
of the excavation efforts, especially at the north side of N10-28.
Furthermore, near-surface excavations produced further evidence
of Late and Terminal Postclassic (15th-16th century A.D.) use
of the area, as well as of the Middle Postclassic (13th-century)
presence that was well documented in the 1981-1982 work. Although
neither caches nor burials emerged during excavation, the concurrence
of evidence from many individual excavation efforts provides
important new support for the chronological frame indicated by
the earlier investigations. What is lacking at present is secure
dating evidence bearing on the construction of Structures N10-15
and 28, which excavations of the sorts carried out this year
might have been expected to yield. At other sites, benches might
be expected to yield burials, and offerings might be expected
to have accompanied some construction efforts, but neither of
these patterns is widespread at Lamanai, and neither is in evidence
in the structures examined. It is therefore clear that deep probing
of building core will be necessary if secure dating evidence
is to be recovered.
During and after excavations both
the labourers and the students engaged in extensive cleaning
of the two structures, including removal of accumulated organic
rubbish and soil, clearing of floor surfaces not fully excavated
in 1981-82, removal of dark earth from selected wall tops and
other surfaces, and collection of facing stones excavated in
earlier years and reserved for reconstruction use. In addition,
the labour crew undertook cleaning in other areas of the complex.
This work has materially enhanced the attractiveness of the complex
for visitors, and will enable them to appreciate the structures
far more fully than has been possible until now. This should
add an important element to guides' presentations on the site,
and their requests for information have set in motion the production
of an augmented site brochure that will provide basic usable
information on the complex while it addes to the information
available on other structures and groups at Lamanai.
The work in the Plaza [N10]3 complex
has lent great additional emphasis to the recognition of the
group's importance in Lamanai's history that emerged from the
1981-1982 investigations. Limitations in time and funding, as
well as the necessity of examining other parts of the site's
physical and chronological record, forced a halt to the initial
investigations well short of the point at which a clear picture
had emerged. Although of short duration, the 1999 field school
work has now added many significant features to that picture,
sufficient in number to argue very convincingly for the mounting
of a comprehensive project focused on the clarification and expansion
of the knowledge already recovered. Full excavation of the complex
would provide us with extensive data on a group of buildings
that are replete with features atypical of the Maya architectural
repertory; it would give us a solid chronological sequence for
upper-echelon elite residential construction in a highly important
ancient social and political centre; it would very probably tell
us a great deal about succession and the wielding of power in
Classic and Postclassic times; and it would certainly leave Lamanai
with a greatly enhanced element in its attractiveness for tourists.
It is our hope to develop a project with these and related aims.
.
