Temporal Cycles in the Archaeology of Maya Residential Groups from Caracol, Belize

Considerations of ancient Maya cycles of time often focus on dated events obtained from texts on carved stone monuments or on Maya prophecies recorded in ethnohistoric documents. However, temporal cycles are also in evidence in the archaeological records of Maya households. Archaeologically recognizable cycles can be seen in the contextual data of Caracol’s residential groups, specifically in terms of timed ritual acts carried out in these locations that are often associated either with cache practices or with human burials. For the Caracol Maya, the dates and sequencing of residential deposits suggests that acts of veneration were linked to overarching temporal cycles rather than to individual history and events relating to household or family – or even to the death of a family member. Taken collectively, these data suggest that the ancient Maya worldview was both focused on and constrained by specific concepts related to time. Commemorating the completion of temporal cycles was important for all levels of Maya society.