THE GROWTH AND DECLINE OF THE ANCIENT MAYA CITY OF LA MILPA, BELIZE: NEW DATA AND NEW PERSPECTIVES FROM THE SOUTHERN PLAZAS

Construction histories of ancient Maya monumental centers have long been used to interpret the growth and decline of Lowland Maya polities. Changes in the built environment at monumental centers reflect labor appropriation by ruling elites and may indirectly serve to gauge changes in political clout over time. Consequently, the precision and accuracy with which archaeologists measure these changes take on increased importance when assessing the ancient Maya political landscape. Recent excavations in the monumental core of La Milpa, Belize, have generated new data that call for a re-assessment of the center’s historical trajectory. Our data indicate that La Milpa had a larger Late Preclassic foundation, likely grew much more incrementally through the Classic period, and persisted centuries longer than previously understood. The apparent persistence of occupation into the tenth century a.d. challenges the traditionally accepted dates for La Milpa’s abandonment, and, the ceramic sequence upon which it is often based. The rise to prominence and subsequent collapse of Classic Maya civilization remain complicated and multivariate problems. As more local and regional historical sequences of change are detailed throughout the Maya lowlands, the complexity of and variation within these processes have become increasingly apparent (e.g., Aimers 2007; McAnany and Gallareta Negron 2010; Webster 2002; Yaeger and Hodell 2008). Scholars of the lowland Maya often use periods of growth and stasis in the built environment to interpret the dynamics of the ancient Maya political landscape. While perhaps not an ideal proxy, construction histories among ancient Maya centers do reflect labor appropriation and prosperity, and may serve indirectly as a measure of political clout, especially in the absence of carved monuments, murals, and other material classes that display hieroglyphic texts. Changes in the built environment over time can point to periods of rapid growth, relative stasis, decline, and abandonment. Consequently, the precision and accuracy with which scholars are able to measure the growth and decline of the ancient Maya built landscape becomes of paramount importance. At the archaeological site of La Milpa, Belize, previous work in and around the monumental center pointed to: (1) a nucleated Late Preclassic monumental component largely restricted to the northern end of the site, with (2) modest prosperity during the Early Classic period, followed by (3) a massive Late-to-Terminal Classic expansion, before (4) rapid site abandonment in the early ninth century, apparently prior to the completion of numerous construction projects (Hammond and Tourtellot 2004; Hammond et al. 1998). New research calls for a reexamination of the historical trajectory originally proposed for this moderate-sized polity. In this paper, we present new data from the monumental core of La Milpa that point to a much more pronounced Late Preclassic (ca. 400 b.c.–a.d. 250) architectural foundation that extended into the southern plazas area. Our data also suggest that, while the site’s greatest phase of construction and expansion did indeed occur during the late eighth to early ninth centuries a.d., there appears to have been a more gradual build-up of the monumental core prior to these large-scale Late Classic period (ca. a.d. 600–800/ 850) expansions than previously understood. Significantly, our data also push the decline and ultimate abandonment of La Milpa into the tenth century or later, rather than suddenly collapsing in the early ninth century as previously proposed. However, political authority at La Milpa appears to have been significantly reduced during its Terminal Classic period occupation. The historical trajectory of La Milpa’s built environment and its persistence into the tenth century in the southern plazas area have significant implications for previous models of ancient Maya population growth and decline in the Three Rivers region, ancient Maya political history and abandonment surrounding La Milpa, and the ceramic chronologies upon which many of these models are based.