Chaa Creek

This article is part of a series on the
Maya civilization
Drawing of a Mayan stone carving with elaborate decoration.
History
Spanish conquest of the Maya

Chaa Creek is a tributary of the Macal River in the Cayo District in western Belize. One of the official gauging stations of the Macal is located near the confluence with Chaa Creek.[1]

There are Maya ruins that remain largely unexcavated in the Chaa Creek catchment basin; certain early research was conducted on the archaeology at Chaa Creek in 1997 by Harvard University.[2] Significant pottery finds and other artifacts have been recovered at the Chaa Creek site, which is posited to be a satellite site of Xunantunich.[2][3]

The Chaa Creek Nature Reserve is a noted area for birdwatching. Over 300 species of birds have been sighted there.[4]

The underlying geology of this watershed can be characterised as limestone associations of foothills of the Maya Mountains.[5]

  1. ^ Belize hydrological stations Archived August 21, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ a b Harvard University: Archaeological research at Xunantunich and nearby areas[permanent dead link]
  3. ^ C.Michael Hogan, Chaa Creek, Megalithic Portal, ed. A. Burnham, 2007
  4. ^ "Central America, Belize". Surfbirds. Retrieved 23 March 2017. With 308 species of resident and migratory birds, the Chaa Creek Nature Reserve offers some of the best bird watching in Belize.
  5. ^ Arvito, Rosita et al., Geology and ecology of the Chaa Creek Nature Reserve (2004)