Archaeological Reconnaissance at Tixan: Explorations in the Southern Sierra del Lacandón National Park, Petén, Guatemala

Oso Negro

While conducting reconnaissance at UMI, local inhabitants reported the existence of a major archaeological site located to the north of the community in an area known locally as Oso Negro. The site name is in reference to a black anteater (oso hormiguero negro in Spanish) that was seen in a cave near the epicenter of the site. With the assistance of a local guide, members of the SLRAP were led to Oso Negro on the first day of field work, and conducted initial reconnaissance and mapping of Oso Negro over a period of five days.

The center of Oso Negro is dominated by a palace structure known as Las Puertas (Figure 11). Due to a lack of time in our brief field season, members of SLRAP were able to map only the site core of Oso Negro and conduct minimal investigations of its architecture. Thus, the plan in Figure 11 must be treated as preliminary until further reconnaissance, mapping, and excavation of Las Puertas is possible. Las Puertas is a five room, double-galleried palace situated atop a modified hill. One gallery of rooms faces west, while the other faces east. The east and west galleries were separated by a wall that appears to have lacked doorways. The palace itself was once vaulted, though the vault has since collapsed. However, the external doorway of the southeast entrance is still intact (Figure 12, shown below).

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Although looting in the palace is extensive, it appears to be the work of amateurs, as the majority of the trenches are through the collapsed roof with very little of it penetrating beneath the original floor of the structure. Within the looter's trenches, it is possible to see some of the original walls of the structure. Thus, although the roof is destroyed, the structural walls appear to be largely intact. Wall niches were observed in both the southeast and northwest rooms. The axis of the structure is 0º magnetic north.

Click on image to enlarge.

While documenting Las Puertas, red lines were noted on the lintel of the one intact doorway (Figure 13, shown above). These lines correspond to the width of the door and were likely used by the builders to either determine the width of the lintel needed to span the doorway or to assist in centering the lintel during construction.

The palace itself is located atop a large, modified natural hill consisting of at least five different levels. On the top level, the vaulted palace structure shares a platform with another smaller mound. To the north, two small mounds are located atop a lower platform. To the south of the structure, at least one walled structure sits atop a lower platform. A second, lower platform is located further to the south, featuring another three mounds. The southern platforms appear to have been accessed by a series of small stairways not shown in the plan of the site.

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Although only one stairway is shown on the map, it is likely that stairways fronted both the east and west façades of the Las Puertas platform. The western stairway is still visible in profile, though it is eroding down the face of the platform (Figure 14, shown above). A low platform extends off the base of the western face of the complex. Another small mound is located in front of the western staircase. Although not shown in the drawing, preliminary observations of vault stones protruding from the rubble along the eastern slope of the hill suggest that a series of small vaulted structures were located on the lower platform of the eastern face of the complex. Such multi-level, acropolis-like arrangements of vaulted structures are found at other sites in the region, such as Bonampak and Tecolote. Overall, collapse and erosion of the Las Puertas group has been hastened by recent burning of the forest at Oso Negro by invaders from Centro Campesino.

Beyond the Las Puertas group, settlement at Oso Negro is relatively sparse. There is a second large platform to the north of the main group, though it lacks vaulted architecture. Beyond the site core, the majority of settlement consists of modest residential mound groups located along a series of arroyos (now dry) that drain from the Sierra del Lacandón from the northeast. This settlement consists of patio groups of three to five low mounds (1-2 meters high), usually situated atop a platform.

No excavations were conducted at Oso Negro, so it is difficult to precisely date the site. However, ceramic sherds were recovered from the surface and in the looter's trench of Las Puertas (Figure 15). All of these sherds date from the Late to Terminal Classic periods, indicating that occupation at Oso Negro was probably contemporaneous with that of UMI nearby. Oso Negro is apparently like La Pasadita and Tecolote in that it was only occupied during the latter part of the Classic period. Also similar to La Pasadita and Tecolote, the ceramics of Oso Negro are unlike anything encountered at Piedras Negras (Muñoz 1999, 2000, 2004a) and are more similar to what is known of the ceramics of Yaxchilán (Lopez-Varela 1989, 1992, 1994, 1995). However, Oso Negro is distinct from La Pasadita and Tecolote in that the surrounding settlement appears to be quite sparse. This may indicate that Oso Negro was only settled for a short time before it was abandoned, or may simply reflect a gap in our limited survey.

The Las Puertas palace also bears a striking similarity to the monumental architecture of Tecolote and La Pasadita (see Golden 2003b). These similarities include the use of monumental door lintels, the shape of building cornices, and the overall masonry style that incorporates a mix of fine-lajas with larger stones. Although no monuments have yet been found at Oso Negro, the architectural and ceramic parallels between Oso Negro, Tecolote, La Pasadita, and Yaxchilán itself strongly suggest that Oso Negro was part of the Yaxchilán kingdom. As a system of sites, Oso Negro, La Pasadita, and Tecolote (and presumably other as of yet unidentified centers) formed part of Yaxchilán's defensive, Late Classic northern border.

In fact, if we consider the location of Oso Negro, Tecolote, and La Pasadita in relation to one another and to Yaxchilán, it is possible to predict the location of other secondary sites. First, the mean distance from Yaxchilán to Oso Negro, Tecolote, and La Pasadita is 14 km.  Second, Tecolote is approximately 5 km from La Pasadita, and Oso Negro is approximately 15 km from La Pasadita. Third, these secondary sites are all built on hill-slopes. Thus, it is reasonable to expect two more secondary centers to be located on hill-slopes somewhere in the 15 km stretch between La Pasadita and Oso Negro, approximately 14 km from Yaxchilán and roughly 5 km apart from one another (Figure 16). The SLRAP plans to test this hypothesis in future field seasons.

Aside from being located near Yaxchilán's northern border, there are other significant aspects to Oso Negro's location. The site is located on the edge of a bajo, near the foothills of the Sierra del Lacandón. Thus, the site appears to be situated to take advantage of potential agricultural terrain. However, Oso Negro is also strategically located near a pass that leads through the Sierra del Lacandón to the sites of La Joyanca, Pajaral, and Zapote Bobal, now known to comprise the ancient kingdom of Hix Witz (Breuil-Martinez, et al. 2004) (Figure 17). In fact this same route was used as a trocopas (logging road) in the early part of the 20^th century and is still used today as an overland route by inhabitants of the modern town of Naranjo to illegally enter the Sierra del Lacandón for illicit activities such as looting and to cut xate (a plant used in floral arrangements in the United States).

Further evidence for the strategic positioning of Oso Negro comes from reconnaissance in the foothills to the north of the site. During this survey, members of the SLRAP encountered isolated mounds atop some of the tallest peaks. It is unlikely that these isolated structures served as residences for rural farmers considering their distance from arable land and the difficult climb necessary to reach the top of these hills. Rather, these sites likely served as observational outposts. In fact, atop at least one of these hills it was possible to see Yaxchilán in the distance (Figure 18, shown below), though unfortunately this photograph was taken with a digital camera not equipped with a zoom lens.

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