Archaeological Investigations at Holmul, Petén, Guatemala
Preliminary Results of the Third Season, 2002

Residential buildings at La Sufricaya

One hundred meters to the north of Group WT4, a test excavation was placed by Jason Paling in Group WT5 in connection with a large stone slab located in the middle of a residential group. The stone slab was identified as an altar set onto an eroded plaster plaza floor immediately above bedrock. Within the thin layer of fill below the plaza floor and above bedrock, a few Terminal Classic sherds were found.

Excavation of Structure 110 in La Sufricaya Group 6 investigated the remains of what appeared to be a vaulted residential building within a well-defined courtyard group. Structure 110 was chosen for excavation because on the surface it showed collapsed architecture undisturbed by major looters’ trenches or trees. This group was chosen for excavation also because significant amounts of glyph-decorated ceramics were found in looters’ backdirt.

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Britta Watters’ excavation (ST11) in Structure 110 explored the exterior of a N-S wall built in dressed rectangular blocks (60 cm in length) and set upon a 1-course block foundation. About 3 m in length of the wall were uncovered and a corner was found in the northern end of the excavation (Figure 45, shown above). An exterior plaster floor abutted the front of the wall. Within this floor, an oval-shaped burial cut was made to accommodate a flexed individual. Remains of an earlier floor were found within this grave cut, indicating a possible earlier construction phase of the structure. The artifacts associated with the interment dated to the Terminal Classic period.

The interior of the structure was only partially investigated. Behind the N-S wall another perpendicular wall (E-W) was found under the superficial humus and rubble. This was made of roughly shaped cobbles. Behind this wall was a fill of loosely packed marl and small cobbles. Within this fill, Terminal Classic pottery and a metate fragment were found in addition to a partial human bone. On the opposite side of this wall (south) a loose fill was found comprising large and wedge-shaped blocks and slabs. This area was interpreted as the interior of a room into which the masonry vault had collapsed. The fill on the opposite side of the E-W wall was interpreted as construction fill mixed with refuse to fill-in and close-off part of the existing room space. The E-W wall feature was interpreted as a partition wall of a room perhaps built at a late stage of occupation for the purpose of supporting a falling vault.

The lack of cultural material within the rubble of the collapsed vault in the room’s interior suggested that the final collapse of the vault occurred subsequently to the abandonment of the structure and perhaps of the residential group as a whole. This would explain why the rubble heap of the disused structure was not used again as a trash dump, as structures usually had been in other residential groups in which occupation continued after the collapse of one of them.

A chultun located about 100 meters north of Group 6 was excavated by Jason Paling. A single infilling episode was documented in this chultun. Below the rubble fill, five jar fragments were found set into the bottom of the cavity. These were water jar types of Terminal Classic date. No waterproofing partition was found in this chultun indicating that it was perhaps used for rain water storage or for organic waste disposal.

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