Cancuén Regional Archaeological Project: Highland-Lowland Influence and Exchange along a Geographical Boundary

Introduction

The Upper Pasión region in the southern portion of the Department of Petén, Guatemala and the adjacent Alta Verapaz (Figure 1) is poorly known archaeologically. Its remote, difficult to reach location made access a challenge and Guatemala’s long civil war and the illicit drug trade made the region hazardous. The end of the war in 1996 and the widening and paving of the road from Cobán have made the area more accessible, although the drug trade is still a problem. This improved access facilitates research but at the same time endangers sites in the region. Looters can now simply drive into some of the sites and dismantle ancient structures in search of valuable artifacts and convenient fill material for construction projects. Thus, while the primary goals of this FAMSI-funded project are scientific in nature, we are also preserving and recording the cultural patrimony of the Upper Pasión region in the face of this new threat.

The region was first explored by archaeologists early in the 20^th century when Teobert Maler traveled to Cancuén by river from the distant confluence of the Pasión and Usumacinta rivers as part of his quest to explore the length of those river systems from their mouths to the Gulf of México (Maler 1908). Sylvanus Morley returned to Cancuén for two days in 1915 while recording Maya inscriptions (Morley 1938). Patricia Carot spent two months in the adjacent Alta Verapaz in 1975 exploring caves and producing sketch maps of nearby sites (Carot 1989). Research in the region resumed briefly in 1967 when a small group of scholars from the Harvard Seibal project spent four days at Cancuén (Tourtellot, et al. 1978). The first large-scale research project in the Upper Pasión commenced in 1999 under Arthur Demarest of Vanderbilt University (Demarest and Barrientos 1999).

The current research sought to further explore the region, identifying, mapping, and testing additional archaeological sites. This project benefited from the work of the Vanderbilt Cancuén project, including my own regional reconnaissance in 1999 while part of that project (O’Mansky 1999). Some of the sites identified by my regional reconnaissance were test excavated by myself and my local crew and also by members of the Vanderbilt Cancuén Regional Archaeological Project during its 2002 field season.

The completion of the FAMSI-funded research in 2002 consisted of the complete mapping of four sites (Figure 2)–Raxruja Viejo, El Achiote, El Guaraní, and La Caoba–using a Nikon DTM-520 total station. These sites were then tested using sometimes contiguous 2 x 2 meter excavations, in most cases placed behind structures in the hope of striking middens for dating purposes. Analysis of the ceramics recovered was conducted by Cancuén Project ceramicists Cassandra Bill, Michael Callaghan, and Jeanette Castellanos.

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