Skeletal material from San José ruin, British Honduras / by Wilfrid D. Hambly -- Field Museum-Carnegie Institution Expeditions to British Honduras; 3 text figures. Paul S. Martin -- editor.

AbstractThe excavation of two structures in 1959 showed that the end of the Classic came suddenly at the end of Benque Viejo IIIb. One building, probably a palace, had completely collapsed and buried Benque Viejo IIIb pottery; the other, probably residential, was badly damaged at the end of Benque Viejo IIIb and its ruins were reoccupied in Benque Viejo IV, probably by local peasants. No attempt to reconstruct either building was made and this, with the nature of the post-destruction occupation of one of them, suggests that the whole of Period IV was Postclassic. The severe damage to both structures seems to imply that an earthquake hit this center at the end of Period IIIb and the geology of the area supports this idea. The fact that the Classic had disappeared after this event suggests that an earth tremor could actually have caused the collapse of the authority of the hierarchy at this site. At Uaxactún and San José the Classic continued well into the final phase at each site, equivalent to Benque Viejo IV, so it seems that the old order at Benque Viejo declined some time before that at the other two sites. It is therefore possible that the abrupt and unusual fashion of the decline at Benque Viejo, whatever its cause, played a significant part in the end of the Classic culture at some neighboring centers.

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The Composite or “Assemble-it-Yourself” Censer: A New Lowland Maya Variety of the Three-Pronged Incense Burner

American Antiquity ◽

10.2307/276678 ◽

1959 ◽

Vol 25 (1) ◽

pp. 51-58 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Stephan F. Borhegyi

Keyword(s):

Classic Period ◽

16Th Century ◽

San Jose ◽

Maya Lowlands ◽

British Honduras ◽

Lowland Area ◽

Highland Maya ◽

Incense Burner ◽

Lowland Maya

AbstractA slit-sided, tubular “incense burner” with three holes in the top, three solid, curved and tapering cylinders called “chili-mashers,” and a flat, striated dish called a “griddle” or “comal” from sealed Cache B3 at San Jose, British Honduras are presented as separate units of a composite Lowland Maya variety of the three-pronged incense burner known from Highland Maya sites. Only the “comal” shows signs of burning. The cylinders are removable prongs which fit the holes in the top of the tubular “censer,” and the “comal” rests on the prongs as the cover on which the incense was burned. Thus, many so-called censers are probably stands or supports rather than receptacles for burning incense. A classification is offered for the several forms of the composite three-pronged censer which is distributed throughout the Maya Lowlands primarily during the Classic period. Since the San Jose “griddles” shown here to be censer covers are the only “comales” claimed for the Maya Lowlands, this identification establishes the pre-16th century absence of the comal and the tortilla in the lowland area. Doubt is also expressed that the comal forms of Highland Guatemala were used for making tortillas.

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