Editing Altun Ha (section)

==Caches at Altun Ha==

Caches occur in two categories at Altun Ha. The largest class is in communally built structures that were dedicated to public ritual, the second occurs in residential structures with usually a single-family focus. The primary axis was the principal determinant of cache position in communally built structures. The primary axis functioned as the main avenue of communication with deities. In other public and domestic contexts, there are offerings that are away from the primary axis, and this is based on a matter of exclusion. Late Preclassic caches at Altun Ha can be defined by the round platform. Jade objects become significant in offerings by 450−300 BC. Classic Period caching practices at Altun Ha consisted of single, highly varied offerings in context with structural modification. The caches during this time period had a high scale of ceremonial value and made a forceful statement of the site's prominence.<ref name= "Caches">Pendergast, David M., Intercession with the Gods: Caches and Their Significance at Altun Ha and Lamanai, Belize 1998 in The sowing and the dawning : termination, dedication, and transformation in the archaeological and ethnographic record of Mesoamerica, edited by Shirley Boteler Mock, 1st ed. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.</ref>

{{wide image|Altun_Ha_overlook2009.jpg|1400px|align-cap=center|Overlook of the Site from Temple of the Masonry Altars}}