The Maya archaeological site of Cerros, Belize.
Located on a peninsula that juts into Corozal Bay, Cerros was initially a fishing and trading hamlet, and remained so during about 350-100 BC. Even during this early period we have evidence for long-distance trade: as far south as the highlands of El Salvador and Guatemala, and as far north as the northern coast of Yucatán.
The construction of large-scale architecture started from about 50 BC, and as David Freidel, Maynard Cliff, and Robin Robertson state, this “involved such an explosive transformation that it is fitting to speak of massive urban renewal.” The site reached its peak from about 50 BC- AD 100.
The shown monument from Cerros is ‘Structure 5C-2nd’. Thought to have been built around 50 BC, it is particularly noted for its four stucco mask reliefs, which flank either side of the stairway. Freidel & Schele (1988) write: ”The main mask on the lower west panel depicts the Jaguar Sun-second born of the Ancestral Heroes’-identified by the k’in, Sun, day or light, glyph on his cheeks (Freidel and Schele 1988; Freidel 1986a). Flanking the Sun are his objects.”
Photos taken by chistletoe1. Joyce Kelly’s An Archaeological Guide to Northern Central America: Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador (1996) was of use when writing up this post. As was David Freidel & Linda Schele’s 1988 publication ‘Late Preclassic Maya Lowlands: The Instruments and Places of Ritual Power’, in American Anthropologist, 90(3), pp. 547-567.