84 UNIT 1 PREHISPANIC MESOAMERICA
artifacts of the northern/eastern sites of Mayapán, Cozumel, and Tulum, and in the
Late Postclassic centers in the Petén and Belize.
Ritual paraphernalia such as deity effigy censers and sculptured turtles linked to
calendrical rituals are shared by Mayapán and its hinterland sites (Figures 2.5, 2.6,
2.7). The lagoons and rivers of northeastern Belize were well-populated during this
period, likely because of an abundance of fresh water, rich agricultural soils, and
riverine access to trading networks of the Caribbean. Some refugees from the col-
lapsing Classic period centers of the interior likely resettled in these areas, and these
southern aquatic localities have an enduring history of housing refugees during later
exoduses of the Postclassic, Colonial, and Caste War periods (as discussed in Chap-
ters 5 and 7 to follow). According to the Yucatecan chronicles, Itzá migrants from the
fallen Chichén Itzá fled to the Petén and established a new capital on an island in
Lake Petén Itzá (see Chapter 3). From their remote capital of Noh Petén (Tayasal),
as it was called by the Spaniards, the Itzá came to dominate the southern Mayan low-
lands’ rebellious frontier during Colonial times, resisting conquest for nearly
200 years. But that story will be told in Chapter 4. Further details about the Late
Postclassic Mayas appear in the Lowland Mayas profile that follows.Figure 2.6 Segment of painted murals from Santa Rita, Corozal, Belize, located in the
semiperiphery of the Caribbean Coast. The figure on the right holds up the head of the
merchant deity opposite the drummer; he also wears a merchant deity mask (redrawn from
Thomas Gann, Mounds in Northern Honduras, in the Nineteenth Annual Report of the Bureau
of American Ethnology,1987–1998, Part 2, Washington, D.C., 1900: Plate XXXI.