ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines what is known about the four principal sites of the inland Southern Belize Region (SBR). Chabij and later Acbi phase names, reflecting initial difficulties distinguishing the pottery of the phase from what came before and after it. The lack of evidence for Preclassic villages and local chiefdoms implies that the period of initial population of the SBR was during or after the Preclassic Collapse. Nim li Punit is a small but exciting site known to the inhabitants of Indian Creek Village since its founding but first reported to Belizean authorities in 1976 by oil prospectors. Leventhal and his students also conducted the first research at Xnaheb, a nearby site with many more low mounds than Nim li Punit and three stelae with hieroglyphic texts. The tomb is a cenotaph dedicated to a large anthropomorphic eccentric chert placed like a human body in the tomb.
