[1] Its unique lowland environment facilitated the agricultural and economic growth of an Ancient Maya Civilization and has been a source of attention over many years, for numerous specialized archaeologists.

[4] A 2016 case study on the role of kings at Blue Creek, suggests their responses to significant environmental issues such as drought or soil degradation[5] and their handling of resources, may have been a factor in the society’s collapse.

As Blue Creek exists in an area with multiple environmental ecotones, it has significant variation in types of land and soil, which historically provided the Maya people with constancy in their food production throughout the year.

[6] Furthermore, archaeological remains uncovered in the upland terrain of Blue Creek, show that the Ancient Maya people used solar observation, water management, and the manipulation of soil fertility to their gain.

[2] The Quincunx group in the hinterland, just 2.5 km behind Blue Creek, is an architectural design consisting of five structures placed in a strategic square, with one construction in the middle.

[1] Blue Creek’s core area of 20 square kilometers is believed to have been the social hub of the district where historians uncovered the remains of two plaza complexes, a ball court constructed in the early classic period, and two courtyards whose purposes are still debated.

[1] The organization of the Blue Creek site was highly intentional and deliberately calculated by the Maya people, to build structures that reflect sacred and cultural significance.

Another excavation revealed an early classic colonnaded building at Blue Creek, which was an unusual architectural form as compared to typical Maya structures, which were composed of thick masonry.

[15] The discovery of a cache (Hoard) vessel inside a small temple as a part of the 1998 field season at Blue Creek, reveals much about the importance of cosmology in Maya religion and creation theory.

[16] The Tonina shrine, located inside structure 3, consists of mountain and hearthstone depictions, which are thought to be direct references to concepts surrounding creation as a valued cultural belief.

[16] Generally, it is now thought that Mayan communities specialized in specific resources and functioned independently and freely, which contrasts the classic ideology where larger hegemonic Maya centers governed production schedules.

Evidence of the riverine trade system between pre-Columbian communities consists of a dock and dam complex found on the Hondo River just above the Blue Creek site.

[18] Archaeological evidence of stone tools from Colha displays that industrial manufacturing was also occurring during the pre-Columbian period and sent to Blue Creek through a communications and commerce network.

[12] Conflict in the late classic era is thought by many to be the result of Blue Creek’s increasing population and decreasing agricultural productivity and thus competition for soil as a resource, positioning it in a degree of high importance.

[19] El Chayal is an ancient site located just outside of the modern Guatemala City that had high levels of obsidian deposits, and pre-Columbian communities such as the Maya people, used it as a resource industry.

[20] The residue of nine dedicatory cache (Hoard) vessels indicates that sponge and plant remains from the Caribbean coast were valued resources at Blue Creek, in religious and ritual practices.

[21] Commonly, they consisted of two ceramic bowls, with the second inverted on top of the first to create a spherical structure, with precious materials such as jade, obsidian, shells, and coral placed inside.