Day 3: My First Archaeological Find!

We went to our site for the first time today! It's called Aguacate (for now) and it is a never-before-excavated minor to midsize site on Mennonite land about a 45 minute drive away from our resort. The Mennonites, who farm corn in huge fields, left this particular part of the jungle untouched. Thank goodness! This is because they knew that there was a Maya site there and because there is a lagoon about a half kilometer from the site to the south that the Mennonites still enjoy today. Our site is in the heart of the jungle, and we hike about fifteen minutes to get to it. Working in the jungle means that there are CRAZY amounts of bugs including ginormous spiders, tons of leafcutter ants, and god knows what else. Ok, its almost dinner time, so here are some pictures really quick!

"Maya Ruins -->"

That mound in the back there is a building! Our site consists of a long rectangular plaza with buildings like this along three sides. The North end of the plaza is different and distinctly strange for a Maya site (!!!) but I'll have to get to that later.

And lastly...
My first find!! It is a round nodule of chert or quartz (too round. definitely made by human hands) found in the as-of-yet mysterious North end of the plaza. My prof was actually really interested in it! I don't know what it was used for or anything yet, I'm just stoked that I found something so apparently unique on what was just a survey day! If that was on the surface, image what's underground!!

Love you!
Elise