Colha, Belize

Colha, Belize is a Maya archaeological site located in northern portion of the country, about 52 km. north of Belize City, near the city of Orange Walk. The site is one of the earliest in the Maya region and remains important to the archaeological record of the Maya culture well into the Postclassic Period. According to Palma Buttles, “Archaeological evidence from Colha allows for the interpretation occupation from the Early Preceramic (3400-1900B.C.) to Middle Postclassic (A.D. 1150-1300) with population peaks occurring in the Late Preclassic (400B.C.- A.D. 100) and again in the Late Classic ( A.D. 600-850)”. These peaks in population are directly related to the presence of stone tool workshops at the site. Colha’s proximity to an important source of high quality chert that is found in the Cenozoic limestone of the region and well traveled trade routes was utilized by the inhabitants to develop a niche in the Maya trade market that may have extended to the Greater Antilles. During the Late Preclassic and Late Classic periods, Colha served as a primary supplier of worked stone tools for the region. It has been estimated that the 36 workshops at Colha produced nearly 4 million chert and obsidian tools and eccentrics that were dispersed throughout Mesoamerica during the Maya era. This made it an important player in the trade of essential good throughout the area.

The first archaeological excavations at Colha were in 1973. As part of the British Museum-Cambridge University Corozal Project, Norman Hammond mapped, named, tested, and reported the site for the first time In 1975, Hammond returned to Colha for further investigations which uncovered large deposits of lithic production debitage and showed that the site had a long history of occupation. At the 1976 Maya Lithic Conference, a discussion on the possible importance of Colha in the archaeological discussion of Maya lithics and craft specialization prompted a call for a long term investigation at the site. It was decided that Thomas R. Hester and Harry J. Shafer should be in charge of this project due to their experience with lithics. The result was a 14-year project by Hester, Shafer, and colleagues under the auspices of the University of Texas at Austin's Colha Project (discussed below).

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