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

Raxruja Viejo

The center of the site of Raxruja Viejo (Figure 3) is located approximately two kilometers south of the modern town of Raxruja at 15º51’31"N, 90º03’00"W. It is nestled among the foothills of the Alta Verapaz (Figure 4, shown below) and is bounded by the Río San Simón to the south. Patricia Carot briefly examined the site in 1975 while studying caves in the area (Carot 1989). She produced a sketch map of the site center but did not conduct any excavations.

Raxruja Viejo is in a poor state of preservation overall due to looting and the mining of architectural fill for use in roadbeds and other construction projects. Much of this destruction occurred in the 1960s and 1970s when the Raxruja-Rubel Santo road was built. The current landowner reports that entire buildings in the epicenter were bulldozed. The foundations of several of these are at least partially visible today. Subsequent damage to the site was done by plows and mining of large structures for stone continued in the summer of 2002 (Figure 5, shown below) until the Institute of Anthropology and History intervened.

The central plaza of Raxruja Viejo measures approximately 175 x 135 meters and includes 14 structures (two of which were bulldozed) and 21 monuments–19 stelae and 2 altars, all plain and loosely clustered toward the northwest corner of the plaza. Most of the monuments are broken and many are not in situ due to the bulldozers. The limits of the plaza are defined by the Río San Simón to the south and cave-riddled karst towers on the east and west sides. A 60 meter long range structure, probably the palace, measures up to eight meters tall, closes off the north side of the plaza, and continues along the east side of the plaza, abutting one of the karst towers (Figure 6, shown below). Looting indicates that this massive structure was built in a single phase. A pass between the two eastern towers is blocked by a low, looted mound that reportedly once contained a tomb. A four-meter tall platform near the northwest corner of the plaza is built into the western karst tower. Five stelae line the front of the platform. Two structures are located high up the face of the slope. Both of these are looted through their central axes and, like the looted mound across the plaza, both reportedly contained tombs. On the south side of the same karst tower, a large cave mouth is situated just above the river (Figure 7, shown below). All of the karst hills around the site are riddled with caves.

Visible settlement beyond the central plaza is limited. Approximately 60 structures were identified and mapped. However, numerous additional structures fell victim to the bulldozers and plows and there are likely hidden structures at the site. Remnants of ancient structures are also evident several kilometers from the site center under modern Raxruja. Raxruja Viejo appears to have been a fairly extensive settlement.

Excavations and Artifact Analysis

Limited excavations in plaza groups outside of the central plaza yielded small amounts of badly eroded pottery. While analysis is preliminary due to the small artifact assemblage, the Raxruja Viejo utilitarian wares appear to be different from the Cancuén ceramic system with different pastes and forms. There are some similarities, though, in fine wares (Bill, et al. 2002). All of the Raxruja Viejo pottery recovered in 2002 dates to the Late Classic period.

The date of the ceramics, in conjunction with the evidence for a single massive construction phase and the abundant plain monuments, suggests that Raxruja Viejo was settled late, perhaps in an attempt to control the lucrative Pasión River system trade route as Cancuén lost power and was abandoned around A.D. 800.

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