Early Mentions of Kaxil Uinic

The historic village that we are calling Kaxil Uinic goes by many names. In our background research, we have found it spelled "Kaxil Uinic" (Thompson 1939, 1963), "Kaxiluinic" (Jones 1977), "Kaxilvinic" (Maler 1910: 151), "Kaxi Uinic" (Thompson 1931), "Xaxe Venic" (Miller 1887; Colonial Secretary to Alcalde, Xaxe Venic, letter, March 5, 1931, Field Museum [FM]), "and "Kaxwinik" (Memorandum on a Proposed Maya Archaeological and Ethnological Expedition, 1931, FM), among others. Xaxe Venic is the earliest spelling we have found (see Miller's Map below), and it appears that variation was preferred locally and by the Belize Estate and Produce Company, the landowner in the late 1800s. Even today, the name Xaxe Venic appears on signs and trail maps at Chan Chich Lodge. J. Eric Thompson, himself, may have been responsible for changing the name to Kaxil Uinic, which is Yucatec Mayan for "forest man" or "wild man."

Miller's Map

"Xaxe Venic" is depicted on an 1887 map published by William Miller as part of his official survey of the border between British Honduras and Guatemala in the late 1880s. Miller (1887:420) was one of several surveyors who oversaw the survey and cutting of the border between the two nations, noting in his report to the Royal Geographical Society that the boundary "has been cleared through the bush…and has been cut 12 feet wide."

 

Miller's map of the western frontier of British Honduras in 1887.

Of interest on his map are the roads shown connecting Kaxil Uinic to San José to the southeast, Yalloche in Guatemala to the southwest, Ycaiche [Icaiche] in Mexico to the north, and the Peten to the west. Miller's (1887:422–423) notes, "All the roads which I have marked are mere paths through the bush, the majority of them so bad that even a mule could not travel on them." It is unclear how accurately drawn the roads are, however, or if Miller followed them all while working in the area. Miller's account gives us some information about what to expect archaeologically, if we can locate a midden at the site. He notes that the "villages shown on the map are inhabited by Indians...The Indians of these villages are not savages. They cultivate the soil and grow maize, rice, and beans, and raise pigs and fowls" (Miller 1887:422).

References

Jones, Grant D.

1977 Levels of Settlement Alliance Among the San Pedro Maya of Western Belize and Eastern Petén, 1857–1936. In Anthropology and History in Yucatán, edited by Grant D. Jones, pp. 139–189. University of Texas Press, Austin.

Maler, Teobert

1910 Explorations in the Department of Peten, Guatemala, and Adjacent Region: Motul de San José; Peten-Itza. Memoirs of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology, Vol. IV-No. 3. Harvard University, Cambridge.

Miller, William

1887 Notes on a Part of the Western Frontier of British Honduras. Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society and Monthly Record of Geography 9:420–423.

Thompson, J. Eric S.

1931 Third Marshall Field Archaeological Expedition to British Honduras: Preliminary Report. Manuscript on file at Field Museum, Chicago, Illinois.

1939 Excavations at San José, British Honduras. Publication 506. Carnegie Institution of Washington, D. C.

1963 Maya Archaeologist. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.