La Pasadita Archaeological Project

Results of Reconnaissance

Our party gained access to La Pasadita with the help of guides from Cooperativa Agricultura Centro Campesino on March 19^th. We left the Usumacinta River approximately 2 km downstream from Yaxchilán, on the northern bend of the river that surrounds the site. According to our information, if loaded with cargo, this is the only point of access from the river to the valley within which La Pasadita lies. Traveling with pack-horses, the trip takes approximately five hours, though an individual on foot can make the same journey in under four. We established our camp on the banks of an arroyo that runs north-west from the Laguna La Pasadita.

To enter La Pasadita, once across the hills which line the approach from the Usumacinta, one enters a relatively wide valley area, along which runs a brecha cut by surveyors mapping the boundaries of the Selva Sierra Lacandón Biosphere. Though flat in comparison to much of Usumacinta drainage, significant hilltops still present minor obstacles to travel down the valley. Ancient habitation along the majority of the brecha is continuous and heavy between Yaxchilán and La Pasadita. Mounds of two to three meters in height are not uncommon. Unfortunately, we were not able to reconnoiter these structures due to time constraints on our work.

The majority of work which we accomplished at La Pasadita consisted of the identification and mapping of probable residential areas within approximately 2 km to the south of the Laguna La Pasadita. We conducted mapping using tape and compass, with structures given a fixed position using a GPS system (Figure 4). We have expanded upon the map of the site created by Graham, and are able to contrast the occupation of La Pasadita with areas to the south towards Yaxchilán, as well as around Piedras Negras to the north.

The landscape in and around La Pasadita itself is dramatic, with high cliffs rising from low hills and narrow valleys, all surrounding a small, deep lake. Settlement in the valleys around this lake (within 2 km) is sparse. Structures on the valley floor tend to take advantage of lower hill slopes or low rises, which were leveled out with small terraces. Small platforms, which almost certainly held perishable superstructures, were constructed atop these terraces, but only occasionally exceed 1.00 m in height. There are notable exceptions to this pattern, including a large, vaulted structure (now collapsed) associated with several caves. We observed no evidence for agricultural terracing in the immediate vicinity of La Pasadita.

By far the majority of settlement at La Pasadita is focused on hilltops. Every hilltop that presented suitable space for occupation contained at least one structure. Patio groups are organized around the constraints imposed by the natural landscape. The Main Group is the most dramatic example of this, overlooking a vertical drop of at least 50 m (Figure 5). In contrast to occupation on the valley floor, platforms on hilltops tend to be larger, commonly with mounds of up to 2.00 m in height.

Caves and other similar geological phenomenon also figure prominently in the organization of the settlement. As mentioned earlier, cliff faces rise out from most of the hills at La Pasadita, and a majority of these cliffs have caves with evidence of use in antiquity. Ceramic collections recovered from these caves provide the bulk of material available for analysis from La Pasadita. In addition to these caves, several hilltops are bisected by chasms, some of which are well over 30 m in depth.

These settlement patterns contrast markedly with settlement to the south of La Pasadita, as well as those observed in the periphery of Piedras Negras. Our entrance to La Pasadita was made via an overland route that took us on a path of approximately 10 km. Walking up the valley within which La Pasadita lies, settlement is almost continuous. Structures between 3 and 5 m in height are not uncommon on the valley floor. Though we were unable to inspect the hilltops in the area around our path, this occupation of low-lying areas clearly differentiates the region from La Pasadita proper. In the near periphery of Piedras Negras, settlement is largely restricted to the lower slopes of hillsides and valley floors as well, largely avoiding hilltops (David Webster, personal communication, 1998). To our knowledge, settlement data for Yaxchilán and its periphery have not been published, making comparisons with that site impossible.

Our primary source of information regarding the occupation of the La Pasadita area comes from ceramic collections made from three caves, designated Yax Ik, Zac Ik, and Tepescuintle. Ceramics from the Early through Late Classic were found in both Yax Ik and Tepescuintle. In Zac Ik, however, a number of Late Pre-Classic and Proto-Classic types were identified, including Sierra Red and Lechugal Incised. Occupation of the valley, then, can be postulated to extend back into at least the Late Pre-Classic, though unfortunately no structures can be securely assigned to this period.

Ceramics collected from caves did allow us to begin to address two of the primary issues which we had guided our work at La Pasadita: Is there ceramic, architectural, or settlement evidence for a frontier between La Pasadita and Piedras Negras, and if so, is La Pasadita more closely associated with Yaxchilán? Though caves do not provide a representative sample, we still feel that we can make some provisional statements regarding the ceramics of La Pasadita.

In our collection, many types common at both Piedras Negras and La Pasadita express very different modes at La Pasadita, from at least the Early Classic onwards. In fact, many vessel forms seem to approximate those which are common at Piedras Negras, while their surface decoration often varies. Monochrome basal flange dishes are common in Early Classic deposits at Piedras Negras, in Aguila Orange, Balanza Black, and Pucte Brown. In Cueva Yax Ik, however, we recovered a monochrome gray plate of a type unknown at Piedras Negras. Some varieties of Dos Arroyos polychrome also appear to differ at La Pasadita. Once again there is similar vessel form, but painting patterns more closely resembling modes known from the central Petén. Such differences appear to continue into the Late Classic as well. At present, however, our small sample and the limited publication of ceramic data from Yaxchilán (López Varela, 1989), do not allow us to postulate an artifactual connection between La Pasadita and Yaxchilán.

Unfortunately, our greatest sources of information regarding the material history of La Pasadita, apart from artifacts recovered in caves, were the abundant looters’ pits (Figure 7). These trenches provided us with our only stratigraphic data for La Pasadita. The site is heavily looted, and nearly every plaza group contains at least one looters’ pit. So intense and destructive, in fact, is the looting at La Pasadita that the structure just to the west of the Mural Building in the Main Group (Structure 2 on Graham’s map) contains at least six such pits. Three of these contain empty burial chambers, in the form of crypts that had been methodically cleaned out.

In an attempt to recover some data from the looters’ trenches in the Main Group, these were cleaned out and their profiles were drawn. Evidence from these pits, though minimal, seems to indicate a burst of construction at La Pasadita during the Late Classic. Epigraphic evidence would seem to indicate that this took place coincident with the reign of Tilo:m, during the second half of the eighth century A.D.  Only two phases of construction are in evidence within these pits. The few datable sherds can be attributed to the Late Classic, though we can be no more precise. No more than a single phase of construction, in fact, was apparent in any looters’ pit elsewhere at the site, though such pits outside of the main group were not thoroughly cleaned and recorded.

Another of the primary goals of work at La Pasadita was the documentation and the preservation of the murals that remain at the site. Those mural fragments recovered by Graham depict dancers carrying flapstaffs, objects associated with summer solstice rituals at Yaxchilán and almost always connected in some way to Bird Jaguar IV (Stephen Houston, personal communication, 1998; Mathews, 1988). We were disappointed to find that the Structure 1, which contains these murals, had collapsed within the last five years.

Despite the complete destruction of the vaults of the structure, many of the walls, though damaged, are still articulated. On the northern wall of the central room in the building we were able to expose a portion of the mural (approximately 80 x 50 cm) depicting a being which appears closely related to the being represented in the headdress of Tilo:m on Lintel 2 (Figure 8). This fragment, painted with a basic palette of red, blue, yellow and green, would have been part of the uppermost register of the mural. Supernaturals are similarly depicted along the top of the Bonampak murals. That this fragment was in situ, with well-preserved polychrome paint, gives a promising sign that much of the mural, which clearly covered most of the building’s interior, is still intact. The mural appears to have been painted in a basic palette of red, blue and yellow, combinations of which provided maroons and greens. We photographed and drew the headdress and other smaller mural fragments. It soon became evident, however, that due to the heavy damage to the structure, further excavation would prove destructive to any remaining portions of the mural.

Work on the building itself was halted, but we took several steps towards the future consolidation and restoration of the murals. We removed several small pieces of fallen painted stucco for subsequent analysis. The exposed mural fragments were covered with a non-perishable fabric (Tyvek), which was in turn covered with dirt. In order to help protect the architecture from further damage, a pole and thatch roof was constructed over one wall which appeared to be in particular danger of collapse (Figure 9). Finally, several fallen trees, as well as dead trees in danger of falling, were removed in order to prevent further damage to the structure.

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