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Blue Creek |
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Archaeology Programs in Belize - Summer 2009 |
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Did you know that the official Government of Belize tourist poster features this exotic lidded pot found at Blue Creek by MRP? |
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The Site and Past Projects. Since 1992, research at the Maya center of Blue Creek as been MRP's flagship effort. Blue Creek was a wealthy polity with a city center incorporation major monumental architecture. We have excavated much of the public architecture, discovered one of the Maya area's largest caches of jade, and found a large-scale ancient agricultural system. Blue Creek represents one of the most well-studied and longest-continuity excavations in the Americas. MRP's work at Blue Creek has produced an academic book, dozens of published papers, five doctoral dissertations and more than ten master's theses. Hundreds of undergraduate students and volunteers have participated in the project. The current blue Creek project team includes faculty members and graduate students from a dozen universities. The blue Creek Project has also been instrumental in documenting and protecting many Maya sites in northwest Belize. In May and June of each year, MRP hosts multiple two-week sessions for students and volunteers at Blue Creek. Everyone is a full participant in the effort, being involved with field excavations and laboratory work. Current Project: Rosita Group. Our current efforts at Blue Creek are focused on excavation of the Rosita Group, a large elite residential area on a hilltop. This effort was begun in 2006 and will be continuing for several years. This project is revealing a great deal about the relationships among the elites living in the city center and the "sub-elites" living some distance away. What was going on here as the Classic period drew to a close and Maya civilization began to collapse? New Project: The Birds of Paradise Fields. MRP has discovered what is likely to be the oldest, best preserved ancient Maya wood house ever found. The Birds of Paradise fields were late Classic period agricultural fields where intensive, irrigated (ditched) agriculture was practiced. Our affiliated scholars and members of our staff will be excavating this incredibly well-preserved ancient field house -- another breakthrough for the Blue Creek Project. New Project: Nojol Na. Equally exciting is a newly discovered center of monumental architecture in our survey area. This may represent a suburban center connected to an allied polity of Blue Creek or even an entirely separate city-state. There is much to be learned from this new, major discovery in the context of a well-studied site like Blue Creek, and it will be a focus of MRP's work at the Blue Creek Field Station for years to come. Mapping of the new site by Blue Creek staff and volunteers began in the 2008 excavation season and will continue in 2009. MRP's Maya Area Scholarly Imperative: Understanding the Classic Collapse. What happened to Classic Maya civilization? Why did the entire society collapse -- region wide -- during a short crisis in the mid-ninth century A.D.? Was it persistent warfare? Agricultural or environmental collapse? Overpopulation? Drought? Or some combination . . . of some other factor altogether? Because of the extent of the Blue Creek site (from Middle Pre classic to the Terminal Classic collapse), and because of the length of time and extent of our studies, MRP is in a unique position to analyze a wealth of data that may provide critical insights into this mystery. An overarching focus of research over the coming years, into which all of our new projects will feed. This will be an effort at the vanguard of scholarship, impacting the debate about the Classic Maya collapse among scholars and institutions around the world.
A required donation of $1500 is required for a single session;
$1200 for students. Each subsequent session is an additional $1000. You are also
responsible for getting to and from Belize City. Additional Information: |
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Scholarships and student support available. |
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