La Milpa

La Milpa is an archaeological site and an ancient Maya city within the Three River region of Northwest Belize bordering Mexico and Guatemala. La Milpa is located between the sites of Rio Azul and Lamanai. Currently, La Milpa lies within the nature preserve owned by the Programme for Belize, a non-profit organization. PfB acquired land for the preserve from the Coco-Cola Company, who purchased land in Belize in 1988 with the goals of tearing down the rainforest to create a citrus plantation, however donated the land to conservation and management project in 1990 and 1992. Following Caracol and Lamanai, La Milpa is the third largest site in Belize with the Main Plaza alone covering 18,000 square meters, making it one of the largest in the entire Maya region.

This site was first discovered in March 1938 by Sir J. Eric S. Thompson. Thompson’s work at La Milpa entailed mapping and excavating the Main Center, recording a total of 12 different stelae. Thompson noted that there was a line of stelae along the Great Plaza, however they were badly weathered. These stelae were made of a soft limestone that came from the bedrock within the PfB area. According to Nikolai Grube, the composition of this material accounted for why the stelae were so eroded. Nonetheless, Thompson was able read a date on Stela 7 of 9.17.10.0.0. (November 30, 780). Thompson’s work was short lived at La Milpa however, due a bout of dysentery that cut his season short.

After Thompson, La Milpa was not explored again until the 1970s, when David M. Pendergast and Stanley Loten conducted a field project at the site. Their work largely centered on adding to the existing map of the main plaza. After Pendergast and Loten, two archaeologists in 1979 from the Department of Archaeology in Belmopan went to La Milpa to confirm reports of looting. Their surveys confirmed that the site had been heavily looted. In 1985, the Department of Archaeology revisited La Milpa again because of reports of looting and additionally due to the speculation of the presence of marijuana fields. On this expedition, they confirmed both reports, noting that all the main structures within the site center had large trenches revealing older constructions and/or tombs.

...
Wikipedia