Xunantunich�s name means "Stone Woman" in the Maya language (Mopan and
Yucatec combination name), and, like many names given to Maya
archaeological sites, is a modern name; the ancient name is currently
unknown. The "Stone Woman" refers to the ghost of a woman claimed by
several people to inhabit the site, beginning in 1892. She is dressed
completely in white, and has fire-red glowing eyes. She generally
appears in front of "El Castillo", ascends the stone stairs, and
disappears into a stone wall.
The first modern explorations of the
site were conducted by Thomas Gann in the mid 1890s. Gann moved from
Britain and served as the district surgeon and district commissioner of
Cayo, Brazil starting in 1892. He chose this area to settle in because
he had an interest in Mayan archaeology, and he wished to be able to
explore the (at the time) unknown wonders of the indigenous people.
Gann�s successor, Sir J. Eric S. Thompson, implemented a more methodical
approach, and was able to establish the region�s first ceramic
chronology. The main recent archaeological teams to work at Xunantunich
and the surrounding region are the Xunantunich Archaeological Project
(XAP) and the Xunantunich Settlement Survey (XSS).
Farmers that fed
the people living in Xunantunich typically lived small villages, divided
into kin-based residential groups. The farms were spread out widely
over the landscape, though the center of Xunantunich itself is rather
small in comparison. These villages were economically self-sufficient,
which may be the reason why Xunantunich lasted as long as they did; they
were not dependent on the city to provide for them. Settlement density
was relative to soil quality, proximity to rivers, and localized
political histories. Since the farmers were long established on their
plots of land, they would not want to be involved with a polity that was
under constant upheaval due to invading forces and more. Other
