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FAMSI © 2001: Francisco Estrada-Belli (Boston U./ now Vanderbilt University) |
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Archaeological Investigations at Holmul, Guatemala Group II Group II is comprised of 7 buildings (Merwin’s A through F) built on a 13 m high rectangular platform which measures 89×110 m on the sides. Building A is the most imposing mound of the group, occupying most of the SE corner of the platform (Merwin and Vaillant, 1932:17). Building A is a masonry superstructure with roof comb. It rises on a 6 m high mound. There is only one off-centered doorway on the south side, while the north side of the building is completely covered by sloping rubble from the top of the mound. The doorway is T-shaped in profile and is surmounted by the remains of a masonry mask over its lintel, now partially eroded but still discernible. The doorway leads into an interior corridor with a finely stuccoed vault (Merwin and Vaillant, 1932:plate 3) which turns east and leads into a wide rectangular room in the center of the building with a collapsed vault. This inner room is not accessible from any other way. At the base of the South slope of the Building A mound, two deep tunnels dug by looters have exposed at least two previous phases of the building. The outer East face of Building A is decorated by a giant masonry mask (Figure 11, shown below) of which the southern half, or left cheek area, is now collapsed. Furthermore, a looter’s tunnel is located in its center, right above the snout. The southern face of Building A is also decorated by a double or stacked mask, as noted by Merwin (Merwin and Vaillant, 1932:15, plates 4, 5) which appears to be in stable conditions. The northern side of Building A faces a small elevated court onto which are buildings B and F. This court is now almost completely occupied by the rubble from the slopes of these buildings and probably from Merwin’s excavations on some of them, but it appears to be composed of two terraces, the higher one being to the west, onto which is Building B.
Building B is a small "temple" structure which was excavated and beautifully illustrated in 1911 by Merwin’s great photos (Merwin and Vaillant, 1932:plates 6-9). Here he found four construction phases including 4 vaulted rooms and several interments. Six of the burials were placed in masonry vaults and accompanied by rich offerings (Merwin and Vaillant, 1932:20-40). The sequence of the structure, from Holmul I to Holmul V, served as a basis for the site sequence which was adopted as the type sequence for the Maya Lowlands until the excavations at Uaxactún replaced it. The grave goods of burials in rooms 9, 8 and 7 (Merwin and Vaillant, 1932:plates 18, 19) are especially important because they include early polychrome ceramics which have been the subject of discussions about the nature of the "Protoclassic" phenomenon in the Maya Lowlands (Pring, 1997; 1995; Hammond, 1984; Brady et al., 1995; Laporte, 1995). Our inspection of 1992 and 2000 has revealed no new looting to this structure but recent vandalism had removed all vegetation from its roof exposing its beautifully decorated stucco frieze to the elements (Figure 12, and Figure 13, shown below). Close inspection of the frieze revealed fragments of red specular paint still in place. As a temporary measure, we built a thatch roof onto the rear of the structure to protect the stucco decoration until more permanent conservation can be applied.
Building F, a small pyramidal structure on the NE corner of Group II was originally described by Merwin as having a vaulted room in the interior and only two phases of construction, the later of which sealed the room and turned it into a "solid" mound (Merwin and Vaillant, 1932:44-45). However, a looters tunnel was apparently excavated very recently into the eastern phase of this structure. Close inspection of the interior revealed six consecutive construction stages of this building of which the two earlier ones exhibit a finely red-painted stucco facade with apron moldings. The interior of this tunnel was littered with large Sierra Red sherds suggesting the possible dating of the two earlier structures to the Late Preclassic. The remaining structures of Group II, Buildings C, D, E and G have been partially excavated by Merwin who documented their floor plans and burials associated with the later phase of construction. All are described as domiciliary masonry structures with ample room space. Building C, a low rectangular structure, seems to fit this description best as well as perhaps Buildings E and G which are long multi-room range structures with a number of benches. Building D, on the other hand, is built on an elevated platform and has two rooms with doors opened to the east and west, respectively. The west room apparently had a bench and may resemble a "residence" while the eastern room had probably a different function and was found sealed by a rubble wall. In all, this configuration does not appear to be consistent with a residence. |
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