Cahal Pech - Cayo District of Belize
Cahal Pech is a Maya site located near the Town of San Ignacio in the Cayo District of Belize. The site was a palatial, hilltop home for an elite Maya family, and though most major construction dates to the Classic period, evidence of continuous habitation has been dated to as far back as far as 1200 BCE during the Early Middle Formative period (Early Middle Preclassic), making Cahal Pech one of the oldest recognizably Maya sites in Western Belize. More info please visit:
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Exploring Cahal Pech, San Ignacio, Belize
This is a video I shot of me going through Cahal Pech in September of 2014. For more information on this ancient Mayan site please visit my blog at
Music by Kevin MacLeod. Available under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license. Download link:
CAHAL PECH a Mayan Treasure
Cahal Pech, is minutes from San Ignacio and Santa Elena and is very easy to get to. Barb and I enjoy walking around the great Mayan cities like this one. We usually take a guide but dislike group tours. We have been to several of the cities of Mayans. Belize has so many interesting and beautiful places to visit, we have been going for almost ten years now and we are still finding new things to do and places to go.. Cahal Pech is a truly incredible place to visit, its small enough that you can easily see it in half a day. But it's big enough to impress you . please enjoy the video
Parzival by William Rosati
#DrMucker, #bonetiredflatbroke, #Belize, #williamrosati, #cahalpech,
The ruins of Cahal Pech, Xunantunich, Caracol & Tikal and the collapse of the Maya
The Classic Maya civilization was influenced by four of the five factors that Jared Diamond identifies as common amongst civilizations that lose their cohesion and descend into barbarism usually with a catastrophic decrease in population. Videos of the Mayan ruins in Belize and the Peten of Guatemala, Cahal Pech, Xunantunich, Caracol & Tikal taken in 2016 & 2018 are presented within the context of Jared Diamond's summary of theories, in Guns, Germs & Steel, relating to the collapse of the Classic Central Mayan Lowland civilization.
Some images, under fair use protocols, are from:
Museum Secrets: Rubber Balls In Mexico: A Long History And A Mayan Tradition
Cities of the Underworld: Maya Underground
L Turner, B & Sabloff, Jeremy. (2012). Classic Period Collapse of the Central Maya Lowlands: Insights About Human-Environment Relationships for Sustainability. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 109. 13908-14. 10.1073/pnas.1210106109.
J Kennett, Douglas & Breitenbach, Seb & V Aquino, Valorie & Asmerom, Yemane & Awe, Jaime & Baldini, James & Bartlein, Patrick & J Culleton, Brendan & Ebert, Claire & Jazwa, Christopher & Macri, Martha & Marwan, Norbert & Polyak, Victor & Prufer, Keith & Ridley, Harriet & Sodemann, Harald & Winterhalder, Bruce & H Haug, Gerald. (2012). Development and Disintegration of Maya Political Systems in Response to Climate Change. Science (New York, N.Y.). 338. 788-91. 10.1126/science.1226299.
H Haug, Gerald & Günther, Detlef & Peterson, Larry & Sigman, Daniel & Hughen, Konrad & Aeschlimann, Beat. (2003). Climate and the Collapse of Maya Civilization. Science (New York, N.Y.). 299. 1731-5. 10.1126/science.1080444.
Belize Cahal Pech Mayan Ruins and Belize City Sightseeing Excursion
On this Belize Cahal Pech Mayan Ruins and Belize City Sightseeing Excursion you will enjoy a guided visit to the Cahal Pech Mayan Ruins are located on the southern outskirts of San Ignacio Town in the upper Belize Valley region of the Cayo District, Belize . The center of this Mayan Ruins site sits on the crest of a steep hill on the west bank of the Macal River. The central acropolis, approximately 900 feet above sea level, provides a commanding view of the Mayan mountains to the south and the fertile valleys of the Belize River to the northeast.
Although the actual date that Cahal Pech Mayan Ruins were discovered is unknown, the first published record of the site dates to the late 1930s. It wasn't until the 1950s, however, that the first archaeological investigations of the site began. At this time, Linton Satterthwaite from the University Museum of the University of Pennsylvania, conducted preliminary mapping and excavation. Except for two brief paragraphs in a 1951 publication, Satterthwaite never produced a detailed report of this work but a copy of his notes were subsequently retrieved from the University Museum and are presently stored in the library of the Belize Department of Archaeology. In his brief summary of this research Satterthwaite concluded:
Cahal Pech is a site with an unpropitious Maya name meaning Place of the Ticks. This ceremonial center includes pyramid temples, palaces, and a ball court. Five stelae and an altar (plain) show presence of the stela cult. Some major buildings were roofed with the Maya vault, some apparently not. There was a gradual architectural growth, the occupation probably running through the entire Classic Period, and we have ceramic hints of a longer occupation. Though previously unknown to archaeologists, it is only about a mile from the suspension bridge at El Cayo.
Late Classic elite residence:
Between 1953 and 1955, Gordon Willey of Harvard University visited Cahal Pech during his settlement survey of the middle Belize River Valley region. He subsequently wrote a brief description of Cahal Pech and incorporated the center in his discussion of settlement hierarchy in the Belize River Valley.
During the 1960s, A.H. Anderson, Belize's first archaeological commissioner, made several visits to Cahal Pech. Because of its easy access and location, Anderson recommended to the government that the site be left unaffected by private lands, and that the center and its immediate periphery be developed as a National Park.
After your guided Belize cruise shore excursion of the Cahal Pech Mayan Ruins, it is time to return to Belize for a sightseeing tour of Belize City before returning to the comforts of your ship. A great way to explore unique Mayan Ruins and get to know Belize!
Why Archaeology at Cahal Pech?
WHY CARRY OUT RESEARCH AT CAHAL PECH?
Archaeology is one of our surest ways of learning about the past through material remains, says Mark Zender, when asked about what was so special about archaeology. He goes on to state that it's the most certain way of unearthing the past, as most of the time there are not perfectly preserved documents telling of the culture and people of the earlier periods. To him, and most archaeologists, every site is fascinating and surprising, giving new insight to what the old cultures and civilizations were like. He speaks about how Cahal Pech, a site closely tied to the history of Belize, and smaller sites are becoming more and more relevant to archaeologists and historians as they tell us about the relationship smaller sites and older sites had, for example how they negotiated tributary obligations and political alliances with the larges sites. Cahal Pech in particular is unique due to its longevity; the site has structures dating from the preclassic, midclassic, and late classic periods, well over one thousand five hundred years of habitation--all in one center. This longevity truly distinguishes Cahal Pech because it deepens the pool of knowledge about the Maya and the relationships between big and small sites, according to Zender.
Description by Karina Hooda--Horace Mann School Class of 2016
Cahal Pech (Mayan Ruin) pt.1
Ghosts of Cahal Pech
This is a marimba solo I composed called Ghosts of Cahal Pech. It's loosely inspired by a trip I took to Belize, a country very near to where the modern marimba was developed. Much of this piece was inspired by my visit to Cahal Pech (meaning 'place of ticks'), a site of Mayan ruins. Despite once being the site of savage human sacrifices, this place has become peaceful and relaxed. This piece holds the idea that it has been so long since these massacres, the ghosts of Cahal Pech are now resolved.
I'm aware that my shirt sucks and the camera's audio sucks.
Cahal Pech Fun
San Ignacio, Belize
Tibor's Backflippin' 'Round the World
Belize - Cahal Pech
Checking out the Myan Ruins of Cahal Pech
Hidden Treasures of Belize, Cayo
The Cerros Collection from Belize
This short video (no audio) shows a rotating, 3D view of a Cao-Modeled Effigy from the Maya Postclassic Period, an object in the Florida Museum of Natural History's research collections. The video provides an example of how other items from the Florida Museum's Cerros collection could be digitized and made viewable online through the Cerros Research Online Catalogue database project. The database will feature a recently accessioned collection of materials from an important early Maya site in northern Belize. The government of Belize transferred the materials to the Florida Museum of Natural History in November 2009. The total Cerros collection at the Florida Museum is comprised of about 350 cubic feet of material, including Precolumbian ceramics and artifacts made of other materials, such as chipped and ground stone, jade, coral, worked shell and bone, copper, gold, plaster, as well as zooarchaeological remains, and soil, carbon and macrobotanical samples. This project will focus on intact artifacts, including more than 100 whole and reconstructable pottery vessels and about 1,500 additional objects.
NICH at 10 Video Presentation
Exploring Belize: Mayan Ruins
We hiked all over Xunantunich and Cahal Pech today. We learned about the rituals, history, religion, and architecture. It was breathtaking. Also, flashbacks to “Road to Eldorado”.
Belize Burpees.MP4
Burpees at the ancient Mayan runes of Caracol in Belize.
Museum of Belize
Typical day at the Museum
San Ignacio Belize River Challenge - La Ruta Maya 2013
Cahal Pech Village Resort was there to film as the horn blew and the race began. Starting on the Hawksworth Bridge in San Ignacio/Santa Elena town, as the canoes race the lower bridge, the first one to past under that bridge wins the first station prize.
For accommodations for next year's race visit:
The Mayan ruins of Altun Ha explained by our Belizean guide
Jenivieve Lamby was our most excellent guide for the start of our tour at the Mayan ruins of Altun Ha in Belize! Altun Ha is the name an ancient Maya city in Belize, located in the Belize District about 50 kilometres (30 miles) north of Belize City and about 10 kilometres (6 miles) west of the Caribbean Sea. The site covers an area of about 8 square kilometres (5 square miles) but did not come to the attention of archeologists until 1963.
Altun Ha was occupied from about B.C. 900 to A.D. 1000. Most of the information on Altun Ha comes from the Classic Period from about A.D. 400 to A.D. 900, when the city was at its largest.
Here's my personal webpage about history:
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02-12-2015
Lamanai
Jaguar Temple at Lamanai - Belize 2009
belize ruins
Visiting ruins in Belize. Shore excursion from our Royal Caribbean cruise Navigator of the Seas August 2014.