Excavations at the Marco Gonzalez Site, Ambergris Cay, Belize, 1986

Abstract

Abstract Excavations at the small site of Marco Gonzalez at the tip of an offshore cay, for coral island, off the northern coast of Belize yielded evidence of occupation from early in the Christian era to perhaps as late as the beginning of the Spanish contact period, ca. A.C. 1544. During the community's apogee, ca. A.C. 1150–1300, its material culture closely resembled that of the Postclassic center of Lamanai on the New River Lagoon in northern Belize. The resemblance suggests that other cultural links also tied the two communities to each other. The data add significantly to a growing body of information on Maya use of the cays; they also extend our understanding of southern lowlands Postclassic developments and of Lamanai's role therein.