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Jules Vasquez reporting
Benque Viejo Town now has its own Maya site. Xunantunich in the nearby village of of Succotz still casts a long shadow - but here a few miles away, Benque is holding its own with more than just the sweet sounds of the Marimba Youth Academy.

Hilberto Rancharan, Mayor, Benque Viejo
"The Benque site has been restored. A temple among and within the town isn't that special enough?"

Dr. John Morris, Director of Archaeology, NICH
"We said, 'look, you know there's an archeological site right in the middle of Benque that we want to preserve. We can do some work here, let's come together apply for some funds and this will attract people who come here' and not only people who come to Xunantunich but people coming to Benque will have an area to go to."

A tourist attraction for Benque and a part of the Xunantunich archeological puzzle:

Dr. John Morris, Director of Archaeology, NICH
"This side is actually a rural household of the main inside of Xunantunich, so if we can think in terms of Xunantunich as a city around 700 A.D. This site over here would be a part of that city."

It was like a suburb - something like Belama - but strictly for the elite:

Dr. John Morris, Director of Archaeology, NICH
"Because this was actually an extremely wealthy suburb of the main site of Xunantunich. That is why your find around the site, several palace structures and a temple shrine and in fact some of the artifacts that we have recovered from the site indicate that the site was very significant. It was actually a part of Xunantunich. One of the things that is very convenient about this site, is that from here you have direct line of view to the main temple at Xunantunich. If you can see in the background, you have a direct line to the main temple A 6, el Castillo. So these people who lived here, I would hazard, I guess that they were probably children of the elite at Xunantunich."

Of course all this was buried by overgrowth and getting it to look like this was not small task:

Dr. John Morris, Director of Archaeology, NICH
"It took us almost an entire year of excavations to understand what was going out here before we can even begin the conservation and preservation, because if you don't know what you're preserving, then you won't do a good job."

The US Embassy paid for it through the Ambassador's Fund for Cultural Preservation:

H.E. Carlos Moreno, U.S. Ambassador to Belize
"In the program, generally seeks to preserve cultural sites, objects, collections having intrinsic cultural value."

And the value of this site - while not at all major is great because it tributes the towering Xunantunich:

Jules Vasquez
"Looking at it now, is this an expression of how politically powerful Xunantunich was?"

Dr. John Morris, Director of Archaeology, NICH
"Well, Xunantunich dominated the Mopan Valley, it was the largest political power in this area in 700 - 900 A.D. they dominated this valley, in fact, at the time when Xunantunich was at its peak power they probably had more control over the area than let's say Caracol or some of the other sites."

NICH Plans to build a visitors center at the site which is now open to the public.