Draw of the sacred water: An archaeological survey of the ancient Maya settlement at the Cara Blanca Pools, Belize

This research focuses on ancient Maya settlement patterns as they relate to a string of 23 freshwater pools, located in an area of west central Belize called Cara Blanca near the present-day settlement of Valley of Peace village. I have used the collected data to analyze how the pools inform issues of water ritual at poolside archaeological sites, and I compare the role that water ritual played in the location of ancient Maya sites versus that of soil quality. Several aspects of poolside settlement are examined, including the nature of the settlement at the pools (i.e., pilgrimage center versus commoner household), the relationship between the pools and the larger sites in the area (Yalbac and San Jose), and similarities between the Cara Blanca Pools and other poolside sites throughout the Maya area.;The core of the data collected for this dissertation consists of Maya settlement recorded on a 400-meter-wide transect that connects the Maya site of Yalbac to the Cara Blanca Pools and traverses 16 of the pools. Data also include information from test pits dug at all pools with settlement, as well as limited underwater investigations. The data used in this dissertation were collected during the 2002--2005, 2007, and 2008 seasons of the Valley of Peace Archaeological Project (VOPA).;The focus of this project on poolside settlement provides a rare opportunity to explore issues of water ritual in its natural setting, and compare it to water ritual as practiced in the built environment of large, established Maya centers. Research on water ritual and its related settlement patterns at the Cara Blanca Pools will contribute to current settlement pattern theory by integrating poolside settlement data into established settlement pattern studies, and will aid future examinations of the relationships of pools to other known sites in the Maya area. The ideas generated from examining settlement patterns as they relate to pools and associated water use may be applied cross-culturally, and this study will provide a rich comparative dataset focusing on a dynamic location of Maya ritual that will expand our knowledge of Maya ritual history.