The Rainforest? That sounds wet.
Due to a few tropical depressions/storms/hurricanes (one of which was ironically named Arthur), we cut our field season short after five solid days of rain, flooding roads, campsites, and even latrines (don't ask). However, for a first run at excavation and coordinating logistics, everything was largely successful.
!!BATTERY DEAD!!
My foray into surveying with total station was a mix of excitement, frustration, yelling, and an intense desire to destroy expensive optical equipment. I suppose that sounds more negative than positive, but I actually got into a rhythm that worked before the rains washed away my motivation. Here is what I saw 90% of the time for a few weeks:
To E or not to EOther interesting things came up during our mapping and preliminary excavations. It seems that the site I'm working on is an excellent case study to examine the transition into the Classic Maya Period (ca. AD 250), especially looking at environmental and perhaps sociopolitical changes in the region. Here is a look at the team of excavators:
Although the site is not heavily looted, there are a few places where looters have uncovered some very well-preserved architecture.
Also, it looks as though a solar observational building complex (a.k.a. "E-Group") exists, possibly to observe the sun rise over a large seasonal swamp, visible in Google Earth and shown from ground level below.
And finally, we explored a very large platform complex, with evidence of water management, that merits further attention next season. It rises sharply from the edge of the swamp:
And contains some very well preserved architecture. My adviser noted that the buildings at the sight have a sort of "melted" quality that indicates a depth of time since its last use.
Baatz'.
Overall, it was a very positive first field season. Now we turn attention to preparing reports for the Guatemalan government and presentations for the Symposium of Archaeological Investigations of Guatemala at the end of the summer.
Saludos,
J. o. t. J.
1 comment:
So James and Caitlin, that solar observational building complex looks like an idea place to conduct a soundscape. Perhaps even an interpretive dance. I can see Caitlin now, spreading her arms and running her hands along the rough surface of the passageway, then furiously taking field notes about the embodied experience of The Space. Then, James, tuning his ears to the swooping screams of the howler monkeys as they alert their kin to a predator, perhaps a jaguar or a snake...
Hehehehe.
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