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One of the few remaining initial ancient Maya city names indicated by the Maya that still exists today is Lamanai. This internetlocation itself is located in northern Belize on the west bank of the New River Lagoon. The ancient name of Lamanai was recorded by the Spanish in the 16th century and brought to light again by historian Grant Jones through his work in the archives in Seville, Spain. The name Lamanai is loosely translated as “Submerged Crocodile”. Knowing these two facts tells us two very important things, one, the ancient Maya were still residing at Lamanai when the Spanish arrived. And two, the website name suggests the importance of the Morelets’ Crocodile whose remains are seldom found in midden deposits indicating they were seldom consumed due to their essential status within the community. As one visits this website it becomes apparent that this translation is fitting because there are galore representations of crocodiles that appear on ceramics, stone, architecture and accompanying stucco facades. An approximated 30 – 60,000 Maya may have resided at Lamanai for the duration of the height of the civilization and the occupational history well surpasses a lot of other Maya cities with 3,000 years of unbroken humane history. This history of occupation carries right through to contact period, and it surely is the case that the Spanish would not have constructed two churches at this Maya internet site if there were not a population residing at Lamanai to convert. The firstborn Spanish church, Structure N12-13, dates to approximately AD 1570; it was constructed a heap of time after Lamanai became percentage of the Spanish encomienda scheme (royal grant to a Spaniard for the right to labor and tribute a native population, who is also responsible for christianizing the natives). This introductory church was built over an existent Tulum-style Postclassic building that contained painted murals; in this case it appears the Spanish were attempting to convert the Maya to Catholicism by interchanging one religious exercise for another. Conversion was difficult and the archaeological proof for this exists in the form of a burned and destroyed basi church and the caching of respective statuettes around and near the churches in conventional Maya fashion. Although a second Spanish church was constructed, Structure N12-11, at last the Spanish were never capable to establish a strong hold in this area. It was in AD 1638 that there was a widespread revolt by the Maya that ended in the retreat of the Spanish at least for the time being. The Late Postclassic and historic/colonial periods at Lamanai are surely arousing and attention holding and are what the majority of current exploration is focusing on. But the fact that Lamanai has one of the tallest securely dated Preclassic structures in the Maya world, Structure N10-43, gives evidence of that it surely had a strong foundation upon which to build and thrive. This Preclassic stronghold may have been one of the reasons why Lamanai pulled through what some other major city-states suffered for the duration of the 9th century. It was for the duration of the Late Classic amount of time that there was a decline or collapse of the Maya civilization that consisted of a political and/or economic breakdown, a possible drought, and perhaps a population increase that severely stressed the feed supply. This decline affected some Classic amount of time city-states such as Tikal, Copan, Palenque, and Caracol. During this time these city-states were almost totally abandoned and monumental architecture was no longer constructed, production of pottery declined, and carved stone monuments no longer told the stories of the elite ruling class of the Maya. Lamanai pulled through this decline or collapse and there are various theories why, one already cited is the strong Preclassic foundation, and a second being the construction of the city on a big body of fresh water today called the New River Lagoon. During ancient times, as well as modern, this lagoon provided food, a means of transportation, drinking and bathing water, a sacred haven for the revered crocodile, and a suitable setting to carry out sacred rituals. Due to Lamanai’s close proximity to the New River Lagoon the ancient Maya residing there may have escaped the possible environmental degradation seen elsewhere. It has also been suggested that Lamanai was reasonably apart from other major cities, we recognise the Maya never had a central, capital city, and that there were uninterrupted conflicts for the duration of the Classic period. It may have been the case that Lamanai’s more or less isolated location, to numerous extent still the case today, again protected it from this decline or collapse. Ancient and more recent history of Lamanai (see Belize History: The Maya, Spanish, and British Occupation, by L. Howard) mirrors the development of the young nation of Belize with occupation by the Maya, Spanish, and British. The British mercantile pursuits for the duration of the colonial amount of time at Lamanai included production of 200 acres of sugar cane by the British who constructed a mill whose success was genuinely never seen for the duration of the 15 years of operation from 1860 – 1875. The broad iron works that were once one of the only steam-operated mills in Belize is located in the western percentage of the Lamanai Archaeological Reserve. |
