PADO Background

The co-directors first visited the Jesus de Otoro valley during the summer of 2004. At that time we had completed the field work for our dissertations and were searching for a new research area. As it turned out, the Honduran Institute of History and Anthropology was looking for someone to follow up on a valley survey recently completed by Institute Archaeologist Oscar Neill Cruz. We were in the right place at the right time.

The valley has a number of pre-Columbian sites and a few Colonial sites as well. There is some variation in the pre-Columbian sites. For example, we are working at Sinsimbla, one of several sites with monumental architecture. Not all of the site are quite so large and at least one site in the mountians has no architecture at all, but rather is a rock art site with many images carved in stone.

The primary research interests for the co-directors are related to identity and political economy in southeast Mesoamerica. Through the archaeological record we hope to understand how individuals and societies define themselves and make decisions about resources. Questions that emerge from our interests are especially important in this region because people from many different cultural and ethnic groups interacted with each other creating a rich a varied archaeological landscape.

Of course, addressing our broad research goals will take many years of research. So, in the short-term we are attempting to better understand the nature and extent of the archaeological sites in the valley. In 2006, the co-directors conducted a foot survey around the site of Sinsimbla. We were pleased to note the presence of previously undocumented structures and disappointed to find that many more structures were destroyed as a result of modern farming practices.

During the following season, students from the JCCC International Archaeological Field School conducted excavations in two structures on the north end of Sinsimbla. We designated this cluster of structures as Operation 2. Initial analysis revealed that the structures were occuppied from the Late Preclassic through Terminal Classic periods (250 BC to AD 900).

This season we have turned our focus to the Main Plaza of Sinsimbla, designated as Operation 1. It is a centrally located site and we hope to better understand when the site was first settled, the cultural affiliations of people living at the site, and when the site was abandonded.

Structure 1 at Sinsimbla is a monumental pyramid and when it is clear of vegetation an outset stairway and second platform are visible. Given the short season of our field school we have placed two test excavations in prime (we hope) locations to identify stratified remains and associated construction episodes. The first is a one meter by three meter trench along the western wall of Structure 1. The second excavation is a similar trench along the western wall of Structure 9. The location of these test units is marked in red below.