“We know that people lived at Lamanai by around 1500 B.C., this is from radio carbon dating a sample of corn pollen. No houses or structures have been found from this period but by about 600 B.C. small ceremonial buildings and platforms for houses had spread along the lagoon as far south as where the Churches now stand. Lamanai has an unusual settlement pattern in which the plazas and buildings are not in the central area but are spread along the lagoon shore. The name Lamanai is the ancient May name for the site. In A.D. 1582 it appeared on a church list as “Lama’an ayin” which means submerged crocodile. There are carvings of crocodile headdresses on buildings such as the Mask Temple, and also crocodile images appear on many pots and figurines dating from Preclassic times right up to the Historic period, showing that the crocodile was an important symbol to the people of Lamanai.”