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Proyecto Maya-Colonial, supported by National Science Foundation (NSF) awards DBS-9222373 and SBR-9515443, is a program of archaeological and archival research into the development of Postclassic (ca. AD 900-1525) and early Historic (AD 1525-1700) period Maya society in the central part of the Department of Petén, in northern Guatemala. The research is designed as a comparative investigation of historically known sites in Maya lineage territories of Yalain, Kan Ek' (who with their allies the Yalain were known to the Spaniards as the Itza) and Kowoj, groups thought to have dominated the political geography of the central Petén in the latter decades of the17th century. Proyecto Maya-Colonial was proposed to explore certain aspects of this late Maya political geography, in particular: questions of population and settlement continuities from the Classic (ca. AD 500-900) through Postclassic period; variations in the "ethnic identities" and political relations of central Petén Postclassic populations; and, the reality of Spanish-documented scenarios of Maya social unrest in the late 1690s. The project has taken a direct historical approach to its understanding of this political geography, beginning with investigation of archivally documented occupation at specific towns and excavating structures at these locations to understand the development of Postclassic and Historic period settlements. In 1994-95, the NSF-supported (DBS-9222373) surveys, mapping, and limited excavations documented Postclassic- and early Historic-period settlement at 22 locations in the lake basins of Macanché, Salpetén, Petén Itzá, Quexil, Petenxil, Picú, and Sacpuy, lying in the three major Maya lineage territories (Yalain, Kan Ek', and Kowoj) that partitioned the central Petén in the latter decades of the 17th century. Results of analyses of ceramic assemblages from surface collections and test-pit excavations at some sites, and from limited architectural clearing were consistent with political regionalization suggested by documentary descriptions of late17th-century Maya settlements. The second phase of the research program (SBR-9515443) is an intensive comparative study of seven of those mapped sites in the three archivally-defined territories: Yalain and Muralla de León in the basin of Lake Macanché; Zacpetén in the basin of Lake Salpetén; Ixlú, the eastern port of Lake Petén Itzá; the Ekixil Islands in Lake Quexil; Nixtun-Ch'ich', the western port of Lake Petén Itzá; and the peninsular site of Sacpuy in Lake Sacpuy. These investigations are designed to obtain comparative data on site histories, and on functions of specific civic-ceremonial and domestic architectural types at these sites and in these territories, by means of extensive clearing and intensive excavations of structures representing known Postclassic architectural-form variants. Sites in the Yalain and Kowoj territories east of Lake Petén Itzá were studied during the period 1996-1999, and sites in the Kan Ek' territory will be the subject of work in 2001-2003. Excavations at the peninsular site of Zacpetén in Lake Salpeten in 1997, the isthmian site (between lakes Salpeten and Peten Itza) of Ixlu in 1998, and the mainland site of Yalain in the basin of Lake Macanche in 1999 supported the impression of inter-regional antagonisms between Maya groups, conflicts exacerbated by increasing contact with the Spaniards. Work at Ixlú, the historically-known port town of Saklamakhal, and Yalain, the historically-known town of Yalain, both in Yalain territory, confirmed shared civic-ceremonial architectural plans of "open halls" facing one another across plazas and patterns of caching numerous human skulls in multiple lines. These together with particular ceramic pastes serve as a marker for the Yalain. At Ixlú, Kowoj presence can also be detected in a different pattern of caching skulls in pairs, which overlay earlier Yalain cached skull lines. The overlay confirms Spanish accounts that Saklamakhal was a contested site in the late17th century and under the control of the Kowoj at the time of the Spanish conquest in AD1697. At Zacpetén, the historically known site of Sakpeten, the presence of architectural "temple assemblages" suggests strong cultural and historical connections between this Petén site and the Yucatecan site of Mayapán, excavated by the Carnegie Institution of Washington in the 1950s. These confirm the17th-century Petén Maya Kowoj lineage claim of genealogical descent from Mapayán. The incorporation of earlier components of Postclassic architecture into the temple assemblage is indication that the Kowoj came late to Sakpeten, as late as the 15th century, and encroached upon Yalain territory. The presence of a fortification at the north end of the peninsula, artifacts suggesting armaments, and numerous deposits of human bone and skulls all lend credence to Spanish descriptions of endemic warfare in the region at the close of the17th century, in large part prompted by the arrival of the Kowoj. A project bibliography is available on request.
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