Cuello

Cuello is a Maya archaeological site in northern Belize [1]. The site is that of a farming village with a long occupational history [1]. It was originally dated to 2000 BC, but these dates have now been corrected and updated to around 1200 BC [1]. Its inhabitants lived in pole-and-thatch houses that were built on top of low plaster-coated platforms [1]. The site contains residential groups clustered around central patios [1]. It also features the remains of a steam bath dating to approximately 900 BC, making it the oldest steam bath found to date in the Maya lowlands [1]. Although Cuello appears to have been a typical, relatively unimportant rural village in the Preclassic era, it participated in regional trade networks with obsidian being imported from the Maya highlands from 800 BC onwards, and a small amount of jade arriving in the community a few centuries later [1]. Two Late Preclassic mass burial areas have been uncovered at Cuello, one of which contained 26 or more males who had been sacrificed [1].