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Xunantunich (pronounced /ʃunantunit͡ʃ/) is an Ancient Maya archaeological site in western Belize, about 80 miles (130 km) west of Belize City, in the Cayo District. Xunantunich is located atop a ridge above the Mopan River, well within sight of the Guatemala border – which is a mere to the west.〔Yaeger, Jason. "Untangling the Ties That Bind: The City, the Countryside, and the Nature of Maya Urbanism at Xunantunich, Belize." The Social Construction of Ancient Cities. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 2003. 121-55. Print.〕 It served as a Maya civic ceremonial center in the Late and Terminal Classic periods to the Belize Valley region.〔LeCount, Lisa J. "Ka'kaw Pots and Common Containers: Creating Histories and Collective Memories Among the Classic Maya of Xunantunich, Belize." Ancient Mesoamerica21.2 (2010): 341-51. Print.〕 At this time, when the region was at its peak, nearly 200,000 people lived in Belize.〔Fagan, Brian M. "Xunantunich: "The Maiden of the Rock"" From Black Land to Fifth Sun: The Science of Sacred Sites. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1998. 302-31. Print.〕 Xunantunich’s name means "Stone Woman" in the Maya language (Mopan and Yucatec combination name), and, like many names given to Maya archaeological sites, is a modern name; the ancient name is currently unknown. The "Stone Woman" refers to the ghost of a woman claimed by several people to inhabit the site, beginning in 1892. She is dressed completely in white, and has fire-red glowing eyes. She generally appears in front of "El Castillo", ascends the stone stairs, and disappears into a stone wall. The first modern explorations of the site were conducted by Thomas Gann in the mid-1890s. Gann moved from Britain and served as the district surgeon and district commissioner of Cayo, British Honduras, starting in 1892. He chose this area to settle in because he had an interest in Mayan archaeology, and he wished to be able to explore the (at the time) unknown wonders of the indigenous people.〔Thompson, J. E. "Thomas Gann in the Maya Ruins." British Medical Journal 2.5973 (1975): 741-43. Print.〕 Gann’s successor, Sir J. Eric S. Thompson, implemented a more methodical approach, and was able to establish the region’s first ceramic chronology.〔LeCount, Lisa J., and Jason Yaeger, eds. Classic Maya Provincial Politics: Xunantunich and Its Hinterlands. Tucson, Arizona: University of Arizona, 2010. Print.〕 The main recent archaeological teams to work at Xunantunich and the surrounding region are the Xunantunich Archaeological Project (XAP) and the Xunantunich Settlement Survey (XSS). In 1959-60, the Cambridge Expedition to British Honduras arrived in the colony and its archaeologist member, Euan MacKie, carried out several months of excavation at Xunantunich. He excavated the upper building on Structure A-11 in Group B and a newly discovered residential structure, A-15, just outside the main complex. Using the European method of detailed recording of the stratigraphy of the superficial deposits (the masonry structures themselves were not extensively cut into) he was able to infer that both buildings had been shattered by a sudden disaster which marked the end of the Classic period occupation. An earthquake was tentative proposed as the cause; it is inferred purely on the bsis of the excavated evidence, and also on the very damaged state of the top building of Structure A-6 ('El Castillo'). He was also able to confirm the later part of the pottery sequence constructed by Thompson. The detailed report by MacKie is "Excavations at Xunantunich and Pomona, Belize, in 1959-60". British Archaeological Reports (Int. series), 251, 1985: Oxford. Farmers that fed the people living in Xunantunich typically lived in small villages, divided into kin-based residential groups. The farms were spread out widely over the landscape, though the center of Xunantunich itself is rather small in comparison. These villages were economically self-sufficient, which may be the reason why Xunantunich lasted as long as they did; they were not dependent on the city to provide for them.〔 Settlement density was relative to soil quality, proximity to rivers, and localized political histories. Since the farmers were long established on their plots of land, they would not want to be involved with a polity that was under constant upheaval due to invading forces and more.〔Ashmore, Wendy, Jason Yaeger, and Cynthia Robin. "Commoner Sense: Late and Terminal Classic Social Strategies in the Xunantunich Area." The Terminal Classic in the Maya Lowlands: Collapse, Transition, and Transformation. Boulder: University of Colorado, 2004. 302-23. Print.〕 Other nearby Maya archaeological sites include Chaa Creek and Cahal Pech, Buenavista del Cayo, and Naranjo.〔(Distribution of Early Middle Formative Period Sites )〕 ==Chronology== There is evidence of Xunantunich being settled as early as the ceramic phase of the Preclassic period. The findings have been insubstantial to prove that Xunantunich was a site of importance. It was not until the Samal phase in AD 600-670 that Xunantunich began to grow significantly in size. Architectural constructions boomed in Hats’ Chaak phase (AD 670-750) when Xunantunich’s connection with the polity Naranjo solidified. Left in a state of abandonment at approximately AD 750 due to an unknown violent event (see Euan MacKie's work in 1959-60, above, which may be relevant here), Xunantunich did not re-establish itself as a strong presence in the region until Tsak’ phase in AD 780-890.〔〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Xunantunich」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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