Archaeological Investigations in the Candelaria Caves and La Lima, Alta Verapaz, Guatemala

The Candelaria Settlement Survey

The Candelaria settlement survey began in 2003 by the Guatemalan Ministry of Culture (Aguilar 2004), and follow-up excavations were conducted by VUPACS with the help of FAMSI (Segura and Monterroso 2004). Two significant sites (see Figure 1) were discovered by the Ministry and VUPACS–Muqb'ilha' Viejo, an Early Classic settlement in the center of the cave system, and La Lima, a Late Classic village at its eastern edge. Surface collection at Muqb'ilha' has revealed Tzakol-sphere ceramics strongly reflecting modes typical of the Central Petén (Woodfill and Monterroso 2005), while La Lima contains a variant of Late Classic Alta Verapaz wares.

Both sites are approximately the same size, consisting of 3-5 plaza groups, although site organization is completely different. While Muqb'ilha' Viejo is organized with a more typical settlement density (mound groups are 30-50 meters apart), La Lima is spread out over more than a kilometer of narrow valleys, with each group approximately 300 meters from the next. The site is book-ended by two larger mound groups at its extreme edges, both of which front the principal entrances for Los Nacimientos, the furthest down-river cave in the Candelaria system and the principal focus of Late Classic ritual activity. In addition to its low density, the site is organized in a typical northern highland manner, with larger mounds built into the valley walls (Ohnstad 2005, A.L. Smith 1955) with a rubble and earth fill. Exterior stones are irregular in shape and size and roughly hewn, heavily eroded and pitted on the non-visible sides.

A total of 18 units were opened in La Lima in 2003 (Figure 5), exposing a back-structure midden and a corridor between structures two and three. The midden contains large pieces of daub intermingled with the ceramics, obsidian, chert, and other refuse. In addition, three units were placed in the entrance of the nearby cave Ratón de los Dientes (100 meters to the northeast).

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