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3 The Preclassic Skeletons from Cuello Located in northern Belize between the Rio Hondo and New River, the Preclassic Maya site of Cuello has been extensively excavated since 1975 (Hammond 1991). Excavations were concentrated on Platform 34, a raised area of about 80 X 70 m upon which sits what is now known to be a small Late Formative pyramid. When test excavations in 1975 revealed continuous occupation from about 1200 B.C. onward, large-scale excavations were undertaken in order to understand the antecedents of Classic Maya civilization better through an increased understanding of the Preclassic Maya. Platform 34, dating to the Late Formative period, was· constructed over an earlier Middle Formative (Swasey, Bladen, Mamom phases, 1200-400 B.C.) patio group. Initial occupation , consisting of low platforms built on the old ground surface, developed into a household patio group of residential platforms around a patio. Most Swasey and Bladen graves (1200-650 B.C.) were cut into house platforms during house 28 Julie Mather Saul and Frank P. Saul construction, use, and abandonment. Some few others were placed outside the house platforms themselves, but still seemingly within a "domestic " context. During the Mamom period (650-400 B.C.), while the patio floor apparently shifted from a primarily domestic to a more ceremonial function , most burials continued to be located in or under houses or ancillary structures. The largest number of burials come from the Chicanel phase (400 B.C.-A.D. 250). The Marnom patio group was covered by a limestone rubble fill more than 1 m in depth during construction of Platform 34 at about 400 B.C. A depression of about 4 X 5 m in the top center of the rubble contained Mass Burial I (approximately 32 individuals), sealed by the plaster surface of Platform 34. Over time, successive plaza floors were laid as Platform 34 was remodeled, and in about A.D. 100 a plain stela was erected in the center of the plaza in front of the pyramid. At about this time Mass Burial II (approximately 12 individuals) was introduced into the plaza floor directly above ~,lass Burial I and east of the stela. Seven other burials also appear to be '~sacrificial events" in honor of the construction of Platform 34. A succession of what were probably ceremonial structures were constructed on the western side of the plaza, culminating in the Late Preclassic pyramid (Structure 350) and its Early Classic successor, Structure 35. Here, only one burial was found, an adolescent axially placed (east-west) within one of the earlier buildings. Such placement was usually reserved for both prestige and sacrificial burials during later Maya times. The skull of a child was deposited in a bowl as a dedicatory offering for Structure 35. The remainder of the known Chicanel burials wer~ interred in residential platforms to the north of the plaza (those on the south having been almost entirely removed by erosion). As during S\vasey, Bladen, and Mamom times, grave placement indicates continued use of structures after burial of the dead. We have previously published information on 122 Preclassic burials, excavated from 1975 to 1980, in the site report (Saul and Saul 1991 ). Further excavations in 1987, 1990, 1992, and 1993 have increased the Middle Formative population by raising the number of Swasey individuals from 1 to 6, Bladen from 11 to 19, and Mamom from 8 to 30, making this possibly the largest skeletal sample from the Middle Formative period. The total numher of Preclassic (Middle and Late Formative) individuals is now 166, although 180 burial sites have been discovered at Cuello. Some of the 14 "extra" burials were part of a settlement survey and, as none are definitely Preclassic, will not be discussed here. In at least one case, two burials were "collapsed" into one: the extra pair of tibiae found with Bladen Burial 7 (and given the burial number 8) were found to have been part of Swasey Burial 171 (excavated several years later), whose legs were displaced by the much later cut for Burial 7 and reinterred with Burial 7. .Nlany burials at Cuello were disturbed during subsequent demolition and construction events, as well as cut through by later burials, \\'ith skeletal material usually "disappearing" into fill, or added to the burial whose cut displaced it. In one instance, the grave cut for Mamom Burial 161 disturbed four earlier burials (three Mamom, one Bladen), and Burial 161 was placed into the cut with the shaft of his left...

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