Early Monumentality in the Belize River Valley: Excavations of a Preclassic E-Group at Cahal Pech, Belize

Recent investigations at Cahal Pech, Belize, documented a previously unrecognized Middle Preclassic (700-500 cal BC) E-Group complex. Located in an open public plaza, the monumental complex likely functioned as a forum for communal public events. In the Late Preclassic, the E-Group was replaced by an ancestor shrine where several royal tombs are located, as well as buildings separating public civic space from private elite space. These shifts in monumental construction temporally track the development of ideological manifestations of power and provide evidence for the formalization of dynastic rulership by an emerging elite class.