Some Observations and New Discoveries Related to Altar 3, Pacbitun, Belize

Authors

Sheldon Skaggs, CUNY Bronx Community CollegeFollow
Christophe Helmke, University of Copenhagen
Jon Spenard, University of California San Marcus
Paul F. Healy, Trent University
Terry G. Powis, Kennesaw State University

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

10-2017

Abstract

The Pre-Columbian Maya city of Pacbitun, Belize (Fig. 1) is distinguished by the high number of stone monuments (n- 20) identified during the roughly three decades of archaeological research conducted there (Healy et al. 2004:213). Altar 3, recovered in a cache within the main pyramidal structure of the site in 1986, was one of those monuments, but, unlike most of the others from the site, it is carved and bas a short hieroglyphic text. Yet, similar to several of the others, it had been broken in the past and, its pieces scattered. Archaeological excavations in 2016 recovered another piece of the same monument, this one having been used as part of a wall foundation in antiquity.

Comments

This article was originally published in mexicon.