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Chan Chich: 2012 Investigations of the Upper Plaza
Krystle Kelley, Kevin A. Miller, and Ashley Booher
Introduction
During the 2012 field season of the Chan
Chich Archaeological Project (CCAP),
excavations were conducted for the first time
in over a decade in the Upper Plaza of the
site. This season’s work at the Upper Plaza
was designated Operation CC-10, and began
on May 23, spanning a four-week period in
which the authors and a total of 12 students,
rotating in teams of 6 at a time, worked under
the overall guidance of project director Brett A.
Houk. These excavations were the first season
of a two-year plan of archaeological work to
be conducted in the Upper Plaza, focused on
deposits in the plaza. The main goal of the
2012 investigations was to gather preliminary
data on which the 2013 research design would
be based. These future excavations will be
aimed at uncovering details surrounding the
utilization of space in the Upper Plaza during
the Maya occupation of Chan Chich, which
began sometime in the Middle Preclassic
and carried on into the Late Classic period
(Robichaux et. al. 2000).
This was not the first season of archaeological
excavation in Chan Chich’s Upper Plaza, but
rather an expansion on previous excavations
conducted in the 1997–1999 CCAP field
seasons led by Hubert Robichaux (2000). The
Upper Plaza was first documented by Thomas
Guderjan (1991), but it was not until the late
1990s when the CCAP was established that
the first archaeological excavations were
completed in this critical part of the site. Over
those early seasons of investigation, the Upper
Plaza was fully mapped, and a Middle Preclassic
midden and a royal protoclassic tomb were
documented in excavations beneath the plaza
(Moses 1999; Robichaux 1999; Robichaux et.
al. 2000; Robichaux 2000). These previous
excavations also focused on the structures
associated with the Upper Plaza, specifically
Structure A-13 on the eastern edge of the plaza,
and the long range building, Structure A-1, on
the northern side dividing the elite Upper Plaza
from the Main Plaza below (Robichaux et. al.
2000). Our research design for the 2012 season
concentrated on the plaza itself.
Five suboperations were opened over the
course of the 2012 CCAP season in the Upper
Plaza, and are depicted in Figure 3.1. This
season’s excavations were located primarily in
the west-central area and the northeast corner
of the plaza.
Research Design and
Methodology
The 2012 CCAP investigations utilized field
methodologies outlined in The La Milpa Core
Project Field Manual by Houk and Zaro
(2011). However, this season also incorporated
a new database system that utilized iPads to
streamline the field reporting process (see Houk,
this volume). This system allowed data entry
for operations, suboperations, lots, artifacts,
special finds, maps, and photographs directly
Kelley, Krystle, Kevin A. Miller, and Ashley Booher
2012 Chan Chich: 2012 Investigations of the Upper Plaza. In The 2012 Season of the Chan Chich Archaeological
Project, edited by Brett A. Houk, pp. 19–30. Papers of the Chan Chich Archaeological Project, Number 6.
Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work, Texas Tech University, Lubbock.
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