Cayo Scoop! The Ecology of Cayo Culture

El Pilar is having its 30th anniversary.  Yes, it might be more like 1730 years since it was at its height in the early Classic Period, but the site has been open to the public for 30 years.  To celebrate, there will be an exhibition and presentation on El Pilar at the Cayo Welcome Center on October 25th, from 9:00am until 4:00pm. 

The festivities continue on the 26th, when the Duke of Edinburgh Award Belize will be having a day hike, starting at 6:00am, from El Pilar to the Cayo Welcome Center, and then, starting at 3:00pm, they'll have the big ceremony to celebrate the special event.

Dr. Anabel Ford, from the University of California at Santa Barbara, has done extensive research at El Pilar, and has a great website on it.

http://www.marc.ucsb.edu/

While the list of Belize's amazing Mayan archaeoligical sites should be a top 20, out of the 5 on this list, Cayo has 3: Xunantunich, Caracol, and Actun Tunichil Muknal.  They forgot Cahal Pech and El Pilar.  The article gives great descriptions of the sites, and describes Cayo too: 'laid-back San Ignacio is the quintessential traveler’s hub, the launch pad for exhilarating adventures in the remote Cayo District, a wild place where ancient mysticism and incredible biodiversity coalesce to provide a sensual and cerebral adventure of epic proportions.'

"What Xunantunich may lack in scale, it makes up for in its supreme location, crowning a limestone ridge that affords panoramic views of the Cayo District and the patchwork terraces of neighboring Guatemala...  Radiating from the site’s ceremonial axis -- the pyramid of El Castillo -- are a series of residences built for the city’s elite denizens, in addition to a ball court, all which date from the Classic Period, circa A.D. 200 to 900.  Rising from the jungle to a vertigo-inducing 135 feet, El Castillo features restored stucco reliefs that during the city’s heyday would have adorned the perimeter of the entire pyramid.  Despite being one of the most heavily touristed of Belize’s Maya ruins, in part due to its accessibility, a supernatural aura holds sway.  The name, Xunantunich, translated as 'Stone Woman,' dates to the late 19th century when, so myth and legend has it, a female figure dressed in white ascended the stairs of El Castillo before vanishing into the temple’s stone walls.  The city reached its zenith around A.D. 750 before an earthquake, interpreted by the Maya as the wrath of God, precipitated its demise."

Cahal Pech is in the middle of having more excavations done, and they are chronicled on archaeological.org.  They have some great information about the site there, along with some historical information, including the fact that excavations started in the 1950's, and that it might be one of the earliest settlements in Belize.  There are also videos, pictures, and journals from the digs.

"Cahal Pech covers approximately 10 square miles and includes 34 large buildings, the largest of which is around 24 meters tall, and a possible sweathouse.  The site was founded in the Early Middle Preclassic period and continued to thrive as a Maya city until at least the end of the Classic period, though there is ceramic evidence of a longer occupation.  Recent excavations have suggested that Cahal Pech, which was most likely settled by Maya from Guatemala, is one of the earliest Maya settlements in Belize."