Water and Continued Research Into Ideology, Politics, and Administration at Actuncan, Belize

In the Maya Lowlands, too little water shrivels crops, while too much water transforms the land to mud and misery. To manage this challenge, some pre-Colonial Maya captured water in sustainable drainage systems and reservoirs, in turn removing the water and capturing it for later use. Plazas, often themselves water collection zones, were conceptualized as watery portals to the primordial sea. The practical challenges and cosmological significance of water meld together and were collectively leveraged to legitimize the authority of Maya rulers.During the 2024 field season, the Actuncan Archaeological Project (AAP) investigated three spaces that border on the site’s real and metaphorical watery zones. First, our continued excavations in the site’s Triadic Group focused on the staircase of the largest pyramid. If plazas are pools and portals, then stairs provide a performative opportunity to emerge from the portal. Second, we began new excavations into an architectural group on the banks of the site’s main water reservoir to understand how stored water was administered at Actuncan. Finally, we initiated research in neighborhoods across the water to the east of the Mopan River from Actuncan to understand the way(s) river water divides and connects the polity.