Well, as seems to be the case every year, the field season moves along faster than we anticipate and next thing we know it is over.  The students went home about a week and a half ago, the lab has been all packed up, we presented two papers at the Belize Archaeology and Anthropology Symposium, and now everyone is home or on their way there.  Even with the challenges of heavy rains and vehicles that were in poor health, we had a very successful season full of unexpected finds including architecture and landscape modifications in strange places, caches, production centers, and more early settlement.  Keep a lookout on our presentations page for where we’ll be presenting this material over the next year.

We are well into our second week and the students have settled in nicely.  They are splitting their time between a plaza with early structures buried beneath it, and a pyramid at the end of an ancient roadway.  We’ve found a possible production center out in the periphery of the settlement, and the cave project is finding lots of unexpected constructions.  Overall, its been a great season, outside of our seemingly never ending quest for a well-working van to transport the staff in.

We are t-minus one week from heading down to the field for what is looking to be another great season with lots of cool new tech in tow.  We’ll have a few days of logistical prep to take care of before the students arrive and then its all hands on deck.  Hopefully we’ll have better internet connectivity this year so that we can post more updates as the season progresses.

Check out our new conference calendar under the “presentations” tab.  Be sure to check back regularly for updates.

Check out our field school tab for information on the upcoming 2012 field school taking place in June 2012

Whew!  That went fast.  The season has been over for about two weeks now and we are all back home recovering from the whirlwind season.  Unfortunately we did not have good internet service and so updates were few and far between.  What we will be doing instead is providing regular updates reflecting back on our time on the season.  Stay tuned for further updates in the coming weeks as we get back to our desks and get our school years underway.

Well, this was a short week.  We are moving along nicely with our work in the periphery of the site and are ready to move back into the epicenter.  The students have been climbing mountains, digging in caves and ancient roads, and are now relaxing in Caye Caulker, one of the barrier islands of Belize that is in the second largest barrier reef in the world!  Next week is their last full week, then they have two more days before they are done for the season.  Next up for the staff is beginning to wind down our investigations for the summer and then start writing papers for the archaeology conference.

Three more days until we board our planes and get the field season underway.  Lots of running around, last minute shopping, and of course packing to do.