Archaeological Reconnaissance in Southeastern Campeche, México: 2002 Field Season Report

Concluding Remarks

The sites with architectural remains recorded so far in southeastern Campeche all share some common properties. Structures are regularly arranged in patio groups, which occur in structure-focused or group-focused clusters (cf. Ashmore 1981: 51ff, Figs. 3.5 & 3.6). Elaborate patio groups often have a major structure on the east side, exhibiting the configuration labeled Plaza Plan 2 by Becker (1971; 1991). Large courtyards or plazas are present at major sites. While chultuns are commonly found within the sites, and aguadas nearby, it should be recalled that the artificial depressions at Altar de los Reyes may represent another relic of water management techniques.

All the archaeological sites known so far in the area of reconnaissance pertain to the Maya culture, largely to the Classic period (ca. A.D. 250–900), though vestiges of earlier occupation, including Late Preclassic monumental architecture, have also been found (cf. Šprajc et al. 1996; 1997a; 1997b; Šprajc and Suárez 1998a; 1998b; Šprajc 2001). Architectural remains are remnants of structures and spaces that had residential, religious, administrative and other functions. Although standing architecture is rarely preserved, the size and characteristics of architectural and other remains at several sites suggest they can be defined as "centers" (Ashmore 1981; Willey 1981: 391ff); a few of them were evidently major foci of regional territorial organization.

The most interesting of the sites recorded in the 2002 season is undoubtedly Altar de los Reyes, both because of the eponymous altar with its extraordinary series of emblem glyphs and because of the size and configuration of what must have been an extensive and long-living urban center. It may be recalled that numerous clusters of monumental architecture, recorded in 2001 with the name El Sacrificio (Šprajc 2001), are scattered in the surrounding area with a radius of some 3 km. Altar de los Reyes is thus the most recent, though not the only proof of the importance of southeastern Campeche for archaeological investigations, as well as an example of what further reconnaissance expeditions, particularly in the largely unknown Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, may still expect to find.

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