Investigating an Inland Maya Port:
The 2003 Field Season at Trinidad de Nosotros, Petén, Guatemala

Overview of Investigations at Trinidad: Research Goals

Investigations in 2003 constituted the first step in a multi-year investigation at Trinidad de Nosotros. Research at Trinidad has a variety of specific objectives, but is guided by two overall goals: (1) to study the long-term development and function of an inland Maya port; and (2) to identify Trinidad’s relationship with the nearby ceremonial center of Motul de San José.

The first of these goals involves examining the long-term function and development of Trinidad. As a way to study the site’s function, data from Trinidad are being compared to a number of existing port and coastal site models. These models range from that of a relatively simple coastal site, focused on the extraction of lake resources, to that of a highly specialized trading port, involved in the movement, administration, and distribution of local and long-distance trade goods. Trinidad’s function as a port or coastal site will, of course, have changed considerably over time and in relation to patterns in trade routes, local settlement, and larger historical processes.

The second interrelated goal of research is to study Trinidad’s relationship with the site of Motul de San José. During the Late Classic period, Motul was a capital in an important local polity. Its Late Classic development and apogee appears, however, to have been rapid with little antecedent or subsequent development. Trinidad, in contrast, had a very long occupation. Under these conditions, investigations at Trinidad provide the opportunity to study changes in political economy in relation to the development of Motul de San José as a political power during the Late Classic. It is likely, for example, that varying degrees of involvement in the management of local and long-distance exchange on the part of Motul’s Late Classic rulers will have had a variety of different effects on the function and operation of Trinidad de Nosotros as an ancient Maya port.

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