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The 2012 Season of the Chan Chich Archaeological Project
San José to Kaxil Uinic during Easter week in
1931. As I argue in this chapter, the two sites
are not the same place, and it is probable that
Thompson never even saw the ruins that are
today known as Chan Chich.
Because, as it turns out, the historic village
and the prehistoric Maya site of the same name
are located 0.5 km apart, the two are spatially
and temporally distinct entities, nevertheless
linked by proximity and name. I treat them as
such here, discussing first the historic village
and second the prehistoric ruins. To minimize
confusion, I refer to the historic settlement as
Kaxil Uinic village and the prehistoric site as
Kaxil Uinic ruins.
A comment about the name shared by the two
places is in order. The literature review and the
archival study demonstrate that the name of the
place is spelled in a wide variety of ways. In
my research, I found it spelled “Kaxil Uinic”
(Thompson 1939, 1963), “Kaxiluinic” (Jones
1977), “Kaxilvinic” (Maler 1910: 151), “Kaxi
Uinic” (Third Marshall Field Archaeological
Expedition to British Honduras: Preliminary
Report [3MFAEBH:PR], Field Museum
Archives, Chicago [FM]), “Xaxe Venic”
(Miller 1887; Colonial Secretary to Alcalde,
Xaxe Venic, letter, [Colonial Secretary] March
5, 1931, FM), “and “Kaxwinik” (Memorandum
on a Proposed Maya Archaeological and
Ethnological Expedition [Memorandum], 1931,
FM), among others. Xaxe Venic is the earliest
spelling I have found, on a map by William
Miller published in 1887, and it appears that
variation was preferred locally and by the Belize
Estates and Produce Company, the landowner
in the early 1900s. Even today, the name Xaxe
Venic appears on signs and trail maps at Chan
Chich Lodge. J. Eric Thompson, himself, may
have been responsible for changing the name
to Kaxil Uinic, which is Yucatec Mayan for
“forest man” or “wild man.”
The Historic Maya Village of
Kaxil Uinic
The Archival Evidence
“Xaxe Venic” is depicted on an 1887 map
published by William Miller as part of his
official survey of the border between British
Honduras and Guatemala in the late 1880s.
Miller (1887:420) was one of several surveyors
who oversaw the survey and cutting of the
border between the two nations, noting in his
report to the Royal Geographical Society that
the boundary “has been cleared through the
bush…and has been cut 12 feet wide.”
Of interest on his map (Figure 4.1) are the
roads shown connecting Kaxil Uinic to San
José to the southeast, Yalloche in Guatemala to
the southwest, Ycaiche in Mexico to the north,
and the Peten to the west. Miller (1887:422–
423) notes, “All the roads which I have marked
are mere paths through the bush, the majority
of them so bad that even a mule could not
travel on them.” It is unclear how accurately
drawn the roads are, however, or if Miller
followed them all while working in the area.
He notes that the “villages shown on the map
are inhabited by Indians...The Indians of these
villages are not savages. They cultivate the soil
and grow maize, rice, and beans, and raise pigs
and fowls” (Miller 1887:422).
Another interesting element on the map is Chan
Chich Creek (spelled Chan Chiich on the map,
but Chan Cheëch in his report text). Chan Chich
Creek begins in Guatemala where it is a series
of small pools during the dry season. It and
Little Chan Chich Creek both flow generally
southwest to northeast, joining to become the
Rio Bravo a few hundred meters north of the
ruins of Chan Chich. The ruins, which take their
name from the creek, are located on a bend in
Chan Chich Creek, on its west bank. Near the
ruins, the creek flows year round, being fed by
small springs. Miller’s (1887:422) description
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