ABSTRACT
Colha is located on a particularly chert-rich expanse of karstic atlands characterizing much of northern Belize (Wright et al. 1959:Provisional Soil Map, sheet 1). Weathering of the chert-bearing marls and limestone left large chert nodules on the surface, but it is likely that chert was also mined from subsurface marls (Shafer 1985; Tobey et al. 1994). Similar conditions on a larger scale have resulted in the occurrence of a generalized northern Belize chert-bearing soil zone. The site of Colha is located within the northern portion of this zone (Hester and Shafer 1994). Colha is small compared to more prominent Maya sites in northern Belize such as Lamanai, Altun Ha, and Cerros. Nonetheless, Colha is rich in material signicance for the Maya lowland cultural sequence. The central area of the site is about two square-kilometers in area and contains the remains of one ball court, a modest monumental center, at least seven formal plazas, at least 27 plazuela groups, and upwards of 100 individual house mounds. The total extent of the site covers an area of seven and a half square-kilometers (King 2000). Major periods of occupation at Colha include the Preceramic (ca. 3000-1000 B.C.; Iceland 1997), the Middle to Late Preclassic (ca. 1000 B.C.– A.D. 250; Hester et al. 1983; King 2000:98101), the Early Classic (ca. A.D. 250-600; King 2000:102; Shafer and Hester 1983:529), the Late to Terminal Classic (ca. A.D. 600-800; King 2000:103; Shafer and Hester 1983:529), and the Early Postclassic (ca. A.D. 900-1200; King 2000:106). Colha experienced an occupational hiatus during the ninth century and was abandoned for good in the early part of the Late Postclassic (ca. A.D. 1400; King 2000:108). There may have been scattered reoccupations of the area after this nal abandonment. Alternatively, Colha could have been occasionally visited by groups that left behind distinctive Late Postclassic arrow points and ceramic censer vessels. These temporal designations are based on radiocarbon dates, architectural styles, stratigraphic interpretation, obsidian-hydration dates, and ceramic complexes as dened by Fred Valdez and Richard Adams (Valdez 1987). The term “Terminal Classic” is used to refer to the nal phases of the Late Classic period sequence. Pinpointing a specic date for the transition between the Late and Terminal Classic periods at the site is difcult, because the divide has been identied by ceramic sequences and lithic production patterns rather than through radiocarbon assays. Project Origins
Colha was rst recorded in 1973 by the Corozal Project (Cambridge University and British Museum) under the direction of Norman Hammond (1973). Surveying and mapping was conducted during the rst year of exploration and again in 1975. Limited test excavations and surface collecting were carried out in both 1973 and 1976 under the direction of Richard Wilk (1973; Pring et al. 1975). In 1975, Hammond showed Hester and Shafer a sample of what were then called “orange-peel akes” from the “axe factories” at Colha. These were recognized to be specialized lithic production debris, very similar to stone-tool rejuvenation akes studied by Shafer (1970) in west Texas, and to blade-core platform rejuvenation akes noted by Hester et al. (1971) at Tres Zapotes, Veracruz. Hammond and Hester organized the 1976 Belize Field Symposium in Orange Walk Town in order to evaluate the state of Maya lithic studies. This First Maya Lithics Conference produced a collection of contributed studies inspired largely by the discovery of Colha (Hester and Hammond 1976). Payson Sheets (1976) delivered a summary of lowland Maya lithic research, and Hester (1976:15-16) presented a more critical review of functional studies and pointed to the almost total lack of ake analyses. Other works from the symposium focused on obsidian trade (Hammond 1976; Johnson 1976) and manufacturing technology (Rovner 1976; Shafer 1976). As researchers attending the symposium addressed the progress of lithic analysis in the Maya area, their discontent with the state of the eld served to inspire a test program centered on the site of Colha and the northern Belize chert-bearing zone. Thus, the Colha Project, under the direction of Hester, Shafer,
and Giancarlo Ligabue was initiated in 1979. A total of 16 eld seasons have been conducted at Colha since the inception of the project. The eld research has resulted in approximately 340 scholarly works including books, book chapters, dissertations, theses, journal articles, monographs, a traveling museum exhibit, and at least one lm (Buttles 2003). Testing programs at Colha and at other sites within its environs revealed the presence of largescale stone-tool production and craft specialization among the Maya of northern Belize. This began in the Late Preclassic and continued through the early Late Postclassic period (Hester and Shafer 1984; King 2000; Shafer 1982a). The massive deposits of production debris found in both specialized production localities and adjacent to domestic space preserved a stratied material record of production patterns over time, allowing Hester (1985) to develop a chronology of lithic forms for northern Belize encompassing the Late Preceramic through Early Postclassic periods. Debitage deposits at Colha have yielded a detailed record of manufacturing technology (Shafer 1985), synchronic and diachronic variation in formal tool production patterns (Gibson 1986; Shafer 1985), variability and range of deviation for specic tool forms along their design trajectory (Michaels 1987; Roemer 1984), standardization of design execution (Barrett 1999; Michaels 1987; Roemer 1984; Shafer 1985), raw material selection (Michaels and Shafer 1994), and use-wear (Nash 1986). Shafer and Oglesby (1980) also succeeded in measuring the production volume of tranchet-bit tools in Colha workshops. Estimates from one of the over 75 documented workshops in which tranchet bit tools were made suggest that up to 75,000 tools were produced in that workshop alone (Shafer and Hester 1983, 1986). Advances in the eld of lowland Maya lithic analysis greatly intensied following the work of the Colha Project and a second conference focusing on stone-tool use by the Maya was deemed necessary. The Second Maya Lithics Conference was held in San Antonio, Texas in 1982. The papers from the Second Maya Lithic Conference, edited by Hester and Shafer (1991), addressed issues of artifact taxonomy (Potter 1991); site-specic patterns of production, consumption, and trade (Clark and Bryant 1991; Fedick 1991; Mitchum 1991; Potter 1991; Shafer 1991; Thompson 1991); production technology (Hester et al. 1991; Shafer 1991); and tool function (Eaton 1991; Gibson 1991; Lewenstein 1991a, 1991b). Investigation Summary
The principal goals of the Colha Project were, from the outset, to study the organization of craft production and to evaluate evidence for lithic craft specialization (Hester 1979; see also Shafer 1976). By any measure, these modest aspirations were spectacularly exceeded. Considerable advances have been made in technological analyses through the use of linear reduction models, and the application of such a model to the Colha dataset was of particular importance in developing an understanding of the technology used in tool manufacture at the site, as well as the signicant changes reected in that technology through time. Organization and Technology of Craft Production Holmes (1919) implicitly advocated the use of linear reduction models in lithic analyses, but such models would not come into popular use for many decades. Sheets (1972, 1975) essentially used a linear reduction model in his behavioral analysis of highland Maya obsidian industries, although he did not refer to it as such. Linear reduction models produce inherent classications that illustrate the behavior of the craftsman, the production technology of the culture, and the constraints realized by raw material variability. Upwards of one hundred individual production workshops have been identied at Colha. Detailed analysis of both production discard and waste akes revealed a distinct change through
time in the organization and technology of craft production. Several researchers have described the technology of lithic production employed at Colha during various periods in lowland history (Drollinger 1989; Hester 1985; Masson 1989, 1993; Michaels 1987, 1994; Roemer 1991; Shafer 1985, 1991; Shafer and Hester 1983). Diachronic analyses of stone-tool production at Colha, aided by the use of linear reduction models, have shown a disjuncture in the modes and methods of tool manufacture at the site between the Classic and Postclassic periods (Barrett 1999; Michaels and Shafer 1994; Shafer 1985).
