September 13, 2025 Drs. Arlen F. Chase and Diane Z. Chase (University of Houston): ‘“I Did It My Way:” Variation between the Ancient Maya of Caracol and their Contemporaries.‘
Once seen as a small back-water site, forty archaeological field seasons have demonstrated that Caracol was a major Maya city covering some 240 square kilometers with an even broader political reach. The center’s archaeological history goes back to approximately 600 BCE and its hieroglyphic record starts around 330 CE. One goal of the current project has been to correlate the archaeological and historical records of the Maya. In 2025 a tomb was recovered in the Northeast Acropolis that was identified as the initial ruler of the site, Te’ Kab Chaak. Related deposits recovered in Caracol’s Northeast Acropolis shed light on what appears to be a peaceful Maya relationship with Teotihuacan in central Mexico prior to the more warlike “entrada” of 378 CE seen in the central Peten. Later archaeological remains recovered at Caracol underscore the city’s cultural variations and wealth that distinguished Caracolenos from other contemporaneous Maya populations. This ended in the Terminal Classic Period when Caracol’s political and economic situation was compromised, resulting in the city’s eventual abandonment.
Arlen F. Chase (PhD. in Anthropology, Pennsylvania, 1983) serves as Chair, Department of Comparative Cultural Studies, University of Houston. He has served as a faculty member at the University of Central Florida (1984-2016), the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (2016-2019), Pomona College (2019-2023), and the University of Houston (2023-present). He is Co-Director of the Caracol Archaeological Project in Belize (with Diane Chase), carrying out 40 field seasons since 1985. He is a Fellow in the American Association for the Advancement of Science and has authored over 190 articles and book chapters as well as twelve monographs and edited books, including Ancient Mesoamerican Population History: Urbanism, Social Complexity, and Change (2024, Univ. of Arizona Press). Many of his publications are available at http://www.caracol.org.
Diane Z. Chase (Ph.D. in Anthropology, Pennsylvania, 1982) serves as Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, University of Houston System; Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost, University of Houston; and Theresa M. Monaco Chair. She has held positions at the University of Central Florida (1984-2016), at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (2016-2019), at Claremont Graduate University (2019-2023), and currently at the University of Houston (2023-present). She is Co-Director of the Caracol Archaeological Project in Belize (with Arlen Chase) and a Fellow in the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She has authored more than 175 articles and chapters as well as five monographs and edited books, including the co-edited and well-used Mesoamerican Elites: An Archaeological Assessment (Univ. of Oklahoma Press: 1992, 1994, 2003, 2013). She is currently completing a co-authored book entitled Maya Archaeology and Caracol, Belize: Reconstructing an Ancient Civilization (Univ. of Oklahoma Press). Many of her publications may be found at http://www.caracol.org.