Caves Branch Caves: Archaeological Field Report

Caves Branch Rock Shelter (C.B.R.S.)

In 1994 the Department of Archaeology of Belize was informed that a cave in the Caves Branch Region was being looted. During our first visit in May 1994, we determined that this cave was, in fact, a rock shelter with many ceramics and human remains. Looters’ activities destroyed almost the entire central area of the cave and its only chamber. In 1994 with the generous help of the Belize Valley Archaeological Reconnaissance Project, test units were excavated in the cave to retrieve information about the chronology and burial patterns. Due to the large number of burials and the enormous archaeological potential of this cave, during June and July 1995 the Department of Archaeology of Belize organized the Caves Branch Field School, which furthered our understanding of the cave. The C.B.R.S. has been looted recently at least four times, complicating the planning of the project. However, with these salvage excavations we have retrieved important information about caves and ancient Maya burials. There are no more than fifty Maya caves with burials, and C.B.R.S. is assumed an important place among them because of the number of internments, its clear burial pattern, and its specialization.

Caves Branch Rock Shelter is located close to the Caves Branch River. In front of it, there must have existed once between 15 and 20 mounds, of which only five still remain in good condition due to current bulldozing. The rock shelter is 35 m. long, 15.20 m. in height and with a maximum depth of 10 m. from the drip line. Just above the C.B.R.S. there is a cave which was partially explored. This upper cave has been looted also.

An area of approximately 20 m² had been the center of attention of the "treasure hunters" as well as the near totality of the cave’s interior. Hundreds of sherds and copious amounts of bone fragments were recovered from the outer part of the C.B.R.S., and the information that was therefore lost seemed to be considerable. However, the intensity of the looting was not enough to deprive us from some data, since the looters only destroyed the two uppermost levels of the four that were encountered.

Excavation

Unit N. 1 (1 m. - 2 m.).
We found a concentration of human and animal bones on level two under which we came upon a burial (Burial N0. 1), located in the third level.

Unit N. 2 (2 m. - 1.5 m.).
We located an infant’s burial (Burial N0. 2). This excavation was situated in the cave’s interior one meter from the entrance.

Unit N. 3 (1.5 m. - 1.5 m.).
Unit N. 4 (1.5 m. - 1.5 m.).
In these two units we only excavated the first two levels. Abundant sherds and human bones were found (mainly in Unit 3), but without a clear anatomic disposition.

Unit N. 5 (2 m. - 2 m.).
It was situated in the north side of C.B.R.S., because we visually detected a small vessel rim on the surface. It was not a complete one and seemed to contain some bone fragment in its interior. In this unit we found few ceramic materials. The excavation was discontinued at 20 cm. deep.

Unit N. 6.
Located at the opening of the small C.B.R.S.s cave, it had the original measurements 1.5 m. by 2 m. At the end of the excavation these measurements were enlarged according to the amount of burials found. This unit was eventually joined with Unit 3.

LEVEL I: Surface level (0-2 cm.). Sedimentary earth in dark brown color. Pottery sherds, small stones and snails ("jute").

LEVEL II: Level (2-20 cm.). Big concentration of human bones, faunal material, sherds, some "adornos" and numerous freshwater snails. The burials were found in complete disorder and without a clear disposition. They may be secondary burials of, at least two individuals, one of them possibly a child. We did not observe any anatomic arrangement in these human bones.

LEVEL III: Level (20-45 cm.). Burials N0. 7, 8 y 9. The great quantity of small stones covering and surrounding the burials was characteristic of this level. The human bones were found in regular condition, and it was therefore possible to see them in an anatomic position. All of them had been inhumed having been placed one on top of the other without any specific orientation. A complete vessel and a fragmented one were found, the latter one being placed under a stone. These two vessels probably represent the only indication of ritual offering in the whole excavated area.

LEVEL IV: Level (45-?? cm.). We observed an almost total disappearance of the ceramic material and small lithic, that was previously present (in a burned state) in the upper two levels. In this level we encountered Burials 3 and 6, the latter one having been interred in a flexed position with the arms crossed and the legs pressed against the body.

Unit N. 7 (1.5 m. - 1.3 m.).
This unit was opened in order to corroborate the continuation of the profile from Unit 6; that is the small and burned lithic material and to see if this feature only occurred in the central area of the rock shelter. Within a few centimeters we encountered two burials and due to lack of time the unit was discontinued.

Unit N. 8 (1.5 m. - 2 m.).
It does not appear on the general plan of the rock shelter, but it was situated between Units 2 and 7. It was excavated until level two was reached. The stratigraphy corresponds with the one from Unit 6. Here we found two more burials in a regular state of preservation.

We documented 31 burials in a small excavation area (approx. 10 sq. m.) and estimate the number of individuals buried at the rock shelter at around a hundred, including those excavated by us, those destroyed by looters, those removed by the Maya in ancient times, and those that have not yet been excavated. As an indicator, Unit 6, with an excavated volume of a cubic meter, contained more than 7 burials. The ceramics obtained during excavations span from the Middle Preclassic Period (Jocote Orange-Brown and Joventud Red), early phase of the Jenny Creek complex (900-600 B.C.) [Gifford, 1976:61], through the Classic Period (Dos Arroyos Orange Polychrome and San Ignacio Brown on Red) Hermitage complex (300-600 A.D.), (Frenchmans Composite, Frenchmans Variety), Spanish Lookout complex (700-900 A.D.) and into the Postclassic period (Río Juan Unslipped) New Town complex, A.D. 900. Burial 26 was securely dated by an in situ Late Preclassic Red Sierra dish, with a black cross on its bottom. The dish covered the skull of the buried individual. Unfortunately, looters destroyed this burial before we were able to excavate it completely. Luckily we already had taken photographs, drawn the Burial, and removed the ceramic material.

As mentioned above only one Burial (Burial 26) can be dated confidently. The quantity of burials concentrated in such a small space caused not only the destruction and removal of the offerings found above or near the individuals buried previously, but also the partial removal of older interments to make space for the new burials.

The data from the Rock Shelter show an important difference between the rituals practiced by the ruling elite of powerful and large sites, and the rituals practiced by smaller communities lacking elite residents. These are two different rituals that reflect two different ways of envisioning the world, and two different ways of living in that world. The traditional way to see ritual even in the most insignificant things of the Maya existence does not work in the rock shelter, nor in this part of Caves Branch Region, where the religion and rituals were more "domestic" than we thought at first. The cave does not contain human remains from sacrifices (according to preliminary analysis), nor secondary burials. All of the burials are primary interments and the cave was evidently used as "cemetery" by the inhabitants of the settlement area located in front of it.

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