Editing Xunantunich (section)

==Monuments==

The core of the city Xunantunich occupies about one square mile (2.6&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>), consisting of a series of six plazas surrounded by more than 26 temples and palaces. As an entire polity, Xunantunich contains 140 mounds per square km, as discovered in the surveys done by the XSS.<ref name="Social" /> One of Xunantunich's better known structures is the pyramid known as "El Castillo" (not to be confused with the [[El Castillo, Chichen Itza|El Castillo]] at [[Chichen Itza]]). 
The site is broken up into four sections – Group A, Group B, Group C, and Group D, with Group A being central and most significant to the people. Prior to the seventh century, the site was mainly occupied by small houses, forming the occasional village. With the architectural boom in the Samal phase, we see the extreme importance of cosmological and political placing of the monuments in relation to the axis mundi (the intersection cardinal axis of the site; the heart of the site).<ref name="Spatial">Ashmore, Wendy, and Jeremy A. Sabloff. "Spatial Orders in Maya Civic Plans." Latin American Antiquity 13.2 (2002): 201–15. Print.</ref>

===El Castillo===
[[File:Friese, El Castillo, Xunantunich (7981048802).jpg|thumb|Carvings on the peak of the El Castillo pyramid (Structure A6) at Xunantunich, Belize]]
It is the second tallest structure in Belize (after the temple at [[Caracol]]), at some 130 feet (40 m) tall.  El Castillo is the “axis mundi” of the site, or the intersection of the two cardinal lines. Evidence of construction suggests the temple was built in two stages (the earlier dubbed Structure A-6–2nd, which dates to around 800 AD, and the later Structure A-6–1st). Structure A-6–2nd had three doorways, whereas Structure A-6–1st only had doors on the north and south. The pyramid lies underneath a series of terraces. The fine stucco or "friezes" are located on the final stage. The northern and southern friezes have eroded, and the others were covered during the reconstruction and over time. There is a plaster mold on the Eastern wall frieze. The frieze depicts many things. Each section of the frieze is broken up by framing bands of plaited cloth or twisted cords (which represent celestial phenomena).<ref name="Royal">Fields, Virginia M. "The Royal Charter at Xunantunich." The Ancient Maya of the Belize Valley: Half a Century of Archaeological Research. Gainesville: University of Florida, 2004. 180-90. Print.</ref> The frieze depicts the birth of a god associated with the royal family, gods of creation, as well as the tree of life (which extends from the underworld, the earth, and the heavens).<ref name="Maiden" /><ref name="Belize Valley" />

===Structure A-1===

Structure A-1 was built in the Late Classic, at around 800 AD. It bisected Plaza A-I, which had until then been the most important plaza in the site. It now lies on top of the original [[ball court]] of Xunantunich between Structure A-6 (El Castillo) and A-11. It became a ritual space solely for the rulers and elite, which doubled as an impediment to other public spaces.<ref name="Belize Valley" />

=== Burial chamber ===
On July 19, 2016, a team led by [[Jaime Awe]] discovered an untouched burial chamber attached to a larger building. It is considered to be one of the largest Maya burial chambers found within the last 100 years. The chamber contained the corpse of a male, aged between 20 and 30 years. The chamber also contained a number of ceramic vessels, obsidian knives, jade pearls, animal bones and some other artefacts made of stone. Osteologists believe the man was athletic and quite muscular when he died.<ref>{{cite news |last=Yuhas |first=Alan |date=August 7, 2016 |title=Maya tomb uncovered holding body, treasure and tales of 'snake dynasty'|url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/aug/06/maya-snake-dynasty-tomb-belize-ruins }}</ref><ref>[http://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/mensch/archaeologen-entdecken-unberuehrte-maya-grabstaette-a-1106486.html ''Belize: Archäologen entdecken Maya-Herrschergrab'']. Spiegel Online, 7. August 2016 (German)</ref>