@article{1ecb992dd0ce49e7920afcf30ce6bafb,
title = "An early royal Maya tomb from Chan Chich, Belize",
abstract = "In 1997, the Chan Chich Archaeological Project excavated a Terminal Preclassic/Early Classic period Maya tomb at Chan Chich, Belize. Tomb 2 represents the earliest royal tomb in the Three Rivers Region of the east-central Yucatan Peninsula and has striking similarities to Burial 85 at Tikal, the tomb of the dynastic founder Yax Ehb' Xook. This paper describes Tomb 2 and its contents and considers its significance within the context of the significant political and cultural changes that marked the transition from the Late Preclassic to the Early Classic period. We argue that the tomb is an early example of a regional expression of elite competition for status and power in the Central Lowlands that included the use of a subcomplex of ceramics and exotic artifacts to express prestige. Tomb 2 is also an example of an early royal burial pattern that may be more widespread than believed but has been overlooked due to excavation bias.",
author = "Houk, {Brett A.} and Robichaux, {Hubert R.} and Fred Valdez",
note = "Funding Information: The authors wish to thank all the students and staff of the Chan Chich Archaeological Project who participated in the discovery, excavation, and analysis of Tomb 2 during the 1997–1999 seasons. Ashlyn Madden illustrated the artifacts from the tomb, Dr. Frank Saul and Julie Saul examined the skeletal material for us, and Dr. John Jones analyzed a number of special samples from the tomb. Audra Pineda Strubbe served as our laboratory director in 1998 and edited this manuscript. We are grateful to John Miller and Alexandra Miller, who not only donated a vehicle to the project but also made a generous gift to support the tomb{\textquoteright}s analysis in 1997. The Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies, Inc., partially funded the analysis of the tomb in 1997 through an emergency grant (No. 97004), as did the National Geographic Society. The students involved in the project were participating in an archaeological field school run through Trinity University, and we would like to thank Dr. John Donahue for making that possible. The research could never have happened without the support of Tom and Josie Harding, Norman Evanko, the staff of Chan Chich Lodge, and Barry Bowen, the landowner. The research was conducted under a permit issued by the former Department of Archaeology (DOA), Government of Belize. We would like to thank the staff of the DOA (now Institute of Archaeology) at the time, including Dr. John Morris, Dr. Allan Moore, Brian Woodeye, Paul Francisco, and Carmen Blanco. Finally, we would like to thank the following individuals who provided comments on various versions of this manuscript: Dr. R. E. W. Adams, Dr. James Brady, Dr. Norman Hammond, and Dr. Laura Kosakowsky.",
year = "2010",
month = sep,
doi = "10.1017/S0956536110000301",
language = "English",
volume = "21",
pages = "229--248",
journal = "Ancient Mesoamerica",
issn = "0956-5361",
number = "2",
}