Day 6: More About our Site

I have to tell you (in case you were wondering) that by all reports, our project is being spoiled rotten in a lot of respects. People keep saying it's archaeology the way they did it back in the day. Our resort, for example, is incredible. Most expeditions that the staff have been on have apparently involved camping at the site. Given the sheer number of bugs, spiders, snakes, and scorpions at our site I cannot tell you how glad I am that we're not! I'm not kidding when I say we're in the jungle. It's so cool!

Also, all of our food is cooked for us by the restaurant next door, called Hode's. They even pack us lunch for the dig. Belizian food, by the way, involves tons of chicken, cooked every way you can think of, rice and beans (of course), and more cole slaw than any human should consume. Considering how hot and humid it is here, the food is actually remarkably heavy.

Back to the site! I mentioned something really crypic the other day about the north end of our current site and I thought I'd clear that up (can you tell I finally have more than ten minutes to write this?). Warning: this might become a little bit of an archaeology lesson so I'm sorry if I bore you. You can always skip to the pictures. So, why our site is so unique: Usually (as in prettymuch always) Maya buildings are organized in Plaza Groups. A plaza group is a cluster of buildings oriented around a central square plaza, usually oriented in the cardinal directions. These plaza groups are closed on all four sides and are the form used in all planning from huge temple plazas to individual households. So, you can see, the fact that our site differs even slightly from that norm is a big deal.

El Aguacate (that's our site) has a main plaza that's much longer than most and only bounded by monumental buildings on three sides. To the south (which is where you enter from) stands a large building that (and keep in mind that this is all covered in jungle and therefore we're not positive on any of this) is, like the Maya structures you picture, a pyramid shape with stairs going up the front and a square sunken courtyard on top, surrounded by rooms. This was probably what we would think of as the palace building. On the east and west of the plaza stand two longer buildings that were probably for administrative and elite residential purposes. And that is where the normal part of our site ends. Be excited!!

Ok, the cool stuff! To the north of the western long building stands a huge pyramid temple (presumably, of course). Not only is this in the wrong spot according to the usual Maya model (because, you recall, it should be bounding the north side of the plaza) but it also doesn't face a cardinal direction. The temple is actually slightly twisted and faces about three degrees east of north. This is unheard of! And THEN, where the temple should stand we have found a smaller mound that is of (I suspect) a significant sacred purpose. Nevertheless, it's very small. We have already found some stuff there and will continue to but I can't really go into detail online.

Ok, Archaeology lesson over! ...for today. Today my team finished up our round at GPR by scanning the eastern long building which was REALLY hard. Dragging that antenna up the side of a pyramid covered in rocks, logs, and trees sixty times over is definitely a workout. But it's exciting because tonight we get to go compile our data and take the first look at what's under there!! So it was definitely worth it!!

Here's a picture of my team! That's Sunaina, yours truly, Aaron (he's MacGyver), and James (tomorrow's his birthday!). We're working on our notes inside the thatched shelter that the workmen just finished building on our site. Cool fact? It's made entirely of materials they grabbed from the surrounding jungle! Even the logs are tied together with vines... Here's another with Sarah, the GPR specialist who ROCKS and has been teaching us lots. We have our arms crossed because we're trying to look tough and strong after traversing that MOUNTAIN of a building mound we're standing on all day.

I'm headed out to Caye Caulker this weekend with a bunch of people from the project! It's a notoriously fun, laid-back island in the Caribbean and I'm really excited! It does mean, however, that you shouldn't expect a post again until Sunday or Monday. Sorry! But I promise I'll post pictures when I get back.

Love you!
Elise