Final Days

Despite the continuing political turmoil in Honduras, life in Jesus de Otoro remains quiet and calm. In order to "take our minds off things" we settled down to do a little bit of analysis before departing the country later in the week.





Bill began to chip away at the lithic analysis while Miranda slogged through the pottery. Katia got a brief tutorial in the basics of both ceramic and obsidian analysis before her parents arrived to drive her back to her home town of Santa Lucia (she called a few hours later to let us know that she arrived safe and sound).

Today Jorge and Milton (our old friends from Cofradia and Pueblo Nuevo) arrived to help us pack up the house and put everything into storage. Today we head out of town and tomorrow we fly back to the states.

Despite the shocking events of the last few days, it has been a fun and productive season!

Timing

As many of you have likely heard, there has been a coup in Honduras. During the early morning hours two significant events occurred. First, the military removed President Zelaya from power and he is now in Costa Rica. Second, the field school students from Johnson County safely flew home. Obviously, these events are unrelated but the co-directors are happy to know that their students are home safe.



We are now tuning in to news outlets to find out what's happening beyond the Jesus de Otoro valley. The project house is calm and quiet. We are attempting to get some analysis done before we head home later this week.

Stay tuned for any late breaking developments (or pot sherds).

Backfilling Party!

Well, the excavations have drawn to a close at Sinsimbla. After three weeks of digging, we have three test units dug to sterile soil. That works out to about 1 cubic meter of earth and stone pulled from the ground for each excavation.

Many of our non-archaeologist readers may wonder what happens at the conclusions of an excavation. In addition to taking final notes and completing some drawings, the last day is dedicated to backfilling. Backfilling is when all of the earth and stone removed from the excavation unit during the course of the season has to go back in the ground. Not only does this protect any remains uncovered during the season, but it leaves the surface of the site looking the same as it did when we arrived.

Our procedure is to first place a modern coin in the base of the excavation unit. In the event that a future archaeologist re-excavated this location, they would be able to identify our intrusive excavation and date it to at our era.

Because we may return to this location in following seasons, we lay down plastic at the bottom of the unit (but above the coin). In the future we can start right where we left.

Once the plastic is in place, we first replace the stones.
Next comes all of the dirt.

And finally, a special PADO protocol this season is to tamp the earth with a laughing Katia. We are convinced that this will be common practice on future Honduran archaeology projects.

...the result of all our hard work. All of the backfilling kept us in the field an hour later than usual. Lunch was great, but all felt we needed a bit more. The project decided to spring for pasteries with our afternoon coffee break.

They certainly made typing in the final notes more palatable.

Field Trip Part II: Copan

After a refreshing night in the cool highlands around Gracias, the intrepid members of PADO continued their journey northwards to Copan (scroll down to the earlier post for more about Gracias).

Though most of the archaeological remains in Honduras belonged to Lenca and other cultures, the site of Copan is a huge Maya center located just near the border with Guatemala. During the Classic period (in Copan's case, from around A.D. 426 onwards), Copan was a dominate center in the region, with contacts extending as far away as central Mexico. Its a beautiful site to visit and was a highlight of our field trip.

After relaxing and enjoying all that the modern town of Copan has to offer (think restaurants, hot showers, and a full-on, proper coffee shop), we were ready to tackle the ruins of the site itself.

Here the members of PADO take Copan by storm:


We were first greeted by a flock of beautiful macaws, seen here:


As you can see from the following shots, Copan is a very impressive place -- full of imposing buildings, elaborate stone carvings chronicling the rise and fall of kings, and even tunnels into the acropolis that allow a view of Copan's earliest history.

This image shows a stela of 18 Rabbit, the 13th ruler of Copan. Before being captured and beheaded by the ruler of Quirigua (an upstart city nearby), 18 Rabbit erected many stone monuments like this one, showing him in the guise of a god (which, given his ultimate fate, I think we can conclude he was not!):


This is a view of the ballcourt, acropolis, and hieroglyphic staircase:


This is Altar Q. It shows all 16 kings of Copan. Commissioned by the 16th ruler (seen in the center on the right), it honors the founder (Yax Kuk Mo, seen in the center on left) and chronicles the dynastic succession down through the centuries:


This image shows the Popol Na, or council house. It was built late in Copan's history as the rule of kings began to fail:




Here Jason and Jessica enter the tunnels. Because the Maya built their buildings one atop the other over time, archaeologists have been able to tunnel into the most recent versions of structures (such as the acropolis) to find earlier versions buried beneath. Many of these earlier buildings contain the tombs of kings, such the founder Yax Kuk Mo. The acropolis is now riddled with tunnels, though only a few are open to the public:


After exploring the site, we visited the Sculpture Museum. This museum houses much of the original sculpture from the site, including carved stone stela of kings, markers commemorating their kingly activities (such as the MotMot Marker, shown below), and a full-size reconstruction of one of Copan's earliest royal buildings.



This is the reconstruction of the building known as "Rosalila" - one of Copan's early royal buildings:


Worn out from our tour of Copan, we finished off the day at an awesome restaurant specializing in grilled meats (called MoMo's), where we stuffed ourselves with some of the best food we've yet had in Copan. With heavy hearts (and stomachs!), we drifted off to sleep to the whir of the air conditioning at the hotel...dreams of Yax Kuk Mo, Rosalila, and our long drive back to Jesus de Otoro dancing in our heads.

Weekend Part 1: Gracias and the Highlands

After a packed weekend there is no way to fit everything into a single post. The co-directors will trade off and write a bit about a few of the high points from the last few days. I'll start off with a post on the first leg of our mid-season break, Gracias and the Lenca highlands.

Friday morning was dedicated to entering notes, processing artifacts, and ceramic analysis. Once completed, we packed our bags, ate some lunch, and hit the road for the highlands. We climbed the mountain highway to the west of Jesus de Otoro and passed through La Esperanza. It's much cooler here and, because the highway turns into a dirt road, it has the feel of a frontier town.

The mountain road is relatively well maintained but can be quite rough at times. Luckily, there were no muddy patches or oncoming buses.

This is one of the most beautiful parts of Honduras. We believe that the best way to truly take in the view is from the back of a pickup truck. Dissuaded by a minor thunderstorm, all four students joined us in the cab of the truck for the last two hours of the drive.

We spent Friday night in the town of Gracias at our prefered hotel, Guancascos. It has a great view, lovely gardens, and a solid restaurant. On the other hand, it's anyone's guess whether you will have hot water in your shower. Given the cool mountain nights, you definitely want a room with working hot water. The students lucked out, the co-directors did not.

It also has hammocks strategically placed throughout the multi-level compound.

Today Gracias is a sleepy town, but in 1544 it briefly served as the Audencia for Central America. It is undergoing something of a cultural revival and there are numerous churches and parks that have been newly restored or are under renovation.

Rising above the hotel is El Castillo de San Cristobal. Built during the 19th century it offers one of the best views of the city.

View of Gracias from the hilltop fort.

Thursday is the new Friday!

Today we all celebrate the fact that our first two weeks of hard work, hot sun, and dedication are being rewarded with:

a. an early Friday (we won't be working in the field tomorrow)
b. a field trip to look forward to (tomorrow we leave for a long weekend trip to Copan)







Everyone has been putting in the hours out in the field and our excavations are coming along great. Even though its been hot and humid and the power (and water!) have both gone out periodically this week, everyone is in high spirits for our upcoming adventures.

We'll be incommunicado until next Monday, but we'll be sure to post on our trip through the highlands when we get back.

In the meantime, we thought we might share with all of you some of the great Honduran food that we've been treated to during our stay here.



First, we have to give all props to our cook, Dona Pasquale. She is only 4 feet tall and can barely reach the stovetop, but man can that woman cook! Here is a sampling of some of her tasty offerings:

Tacos de Pollo


Enchiladas (very different from our enchiladas in the States...here they make a mixture of ground beef, spices, and potato, put it on top of a fried homemade corn tortilla and top it with shredded cabbage and tomatoes...don't forget the hot sauce!)


Dona P also makes awesome fried chicken....here it is in the "fryer":


And, lest you begin to think that we are simply stuffing ourselves with rich, fried foods (which, of course, we are...), we also want to thank Jason for seeking out guava fruits in the local marketplace...yum!


When we're not inhaling Dona Pasquale's home cooking, we sometimes indulge in a favorite treat: homemade cream-filled donuts (and coffee, of course) from the Granja de Alia, an eatery on the road to Siguatepeque.



So, rest assured...we may be burning a ton of calories every morning in the field, but we are more than replacing them with all this good food!!

Reality sets in

During every season there is a point at which the reality of archaeological field work sets in. Whether it is the heat or the repetition of removing 10 cm lot after 10 cm lot, everyone has a moment where they wonder if it's all worth it.

The excitment of digging through the tumble zone has worn off in SubOp B. Now, Jason and Jessica are searching for a plaza surface. It could be 10 cm beneath them or 1 meter further.

Katia and Jordon have been doing an excellent job in SubOp C. Over the past two days they have slowly worked thier way through a hard concrete-like matrix. The soil is so tough that trowels lying near the excavation unit go dull.

The co-directors are having serious second thoughts about opening their own excavation unit. Not only is it devoid of shade but this afternoon we exposed the tumble zone. This means that with each swing of the pick there's a good chance it will fly back after hitting a rock. Between excavation and supervising the students, this is begining to feel like work.

Moreover, Miranda exposed a nest of ants who frantically sought to collect their eggs. Against my suggestion, Miranda relocated the ants and their eggs to the brushline several meters away. I'm certain that they will move back into the excavation unit overnight.

I spent the rest of the morning high on the structure, under a thorny tree for shade, well away from the ants, and beyond the reach of Miranda and her erratic pick.

Following on today's theme, I though t a few pictures of the local flora are in order. These images are of anti-social plants which surround our excavation and line the hiking trail to the site. I am particularly impressed with the following tree.

Each branch is covered in horn-like spikes. The spikes are quite sharp and easily puncture thin fabric and scratch the skin. These trees have a symbiotic relationship with a nasty variety of ant (pictured in closeup, below). From personal experience I can tell you that the bite of these ants is more like a bee sting than a regular ant bite.

Lest our readers think that we are complaining, I should point out that today was one of the more productive days this season. All excavations are moving along at a quick pace, ceramic analysis began in earnest this afternoon, and we had a lively discussion in class tonight. Although the work can take it's toll, everyone is happy to be in the field and doing archaeology.

Cake is always better on Mondays

Monday morning dawned cool and misty after a weekend of intermittent rain, but the PADO crew was undaunted and ready for work. Our truck is running smoothly after its purging of transmission fluid on Saturday and Sunday and our excavations are proceeding very well.

Jason and Jessica have made it through the tumble from Structure 1 and are digging into a layer of bajareque (chunks of wattle-and-daub from the Structure's summit), burnt earth, and artifacts. Soon they should come down on the ancient plaza surface. Meanwhile, Jordan and Katia have uncovered a bajareque surface in their excavation unit. It may be the remains of a collapsed wall or it could be a patio surface.

Bill and Miranda are giving the students a little more independence by starting an excavation of their own off the east side of Structure 9. More to follow on that in future posts.



But, today was about more than just work...it was also Jordan's 20th birthday!
To properly celebrate the event, we all feasted on cake from the local bakery topped off with vanilla ice cream (who says we're being deprived down here!).





After consumption of this pure sugar confection a general frenzy of energy (followed by the inevitable crash) ensued.

Abrazos till next time!

Comayagua

This weekend we took the students to Comayagua, the colonial capital of Honduras. The intinerary included a leisurely drive through the mountains, a trip along the highway to the Comayagua valley, a tour of the museum and the plaza, lunch, and a stop off in Siguatepeque for next weeks groceries on the way back to town. Unfortunately, a repair to the project truck took precedence.

A quick inspection of the undercarriage revealed a broken transmission fluid line. Once the line was repaired and the fluids refilled to their proper level, we were off!

Our first stop was the history and archaeology museum. The museum offers a complete history of the Comayagua valley. Moreover, the Pre-Columbian collection allows everyone an idea of the complete versions of the broken pots we've been finding in the fields. Needless to say everyone is anxious to get back to our excavations.

After the museo we paused for a bite to eat on the main park. A few of the lunch items were a bit disappointing (the horchata was not recommended). Jordan found the chicken tacos to his liking (and provided some dining entertainment for everyone else).

The central district of Camayagua is dominated by the church, which proved to be a useful landmark for our excursions around town.

Luckily, the church was open after lunch so we could take a tour inside. It is an excellent example of baroque architecure.