Landon John Hansen and Dr. Donald Forsyth, Archaeology

One of the most significant finds of Mayan archaeology in recent years has been the elaborate stucco frieze discovered in the Central Acropolis of the ancient Mayan city, El Mirador. The frieze is significant not only because of its remarkable preservation and beautiful artistic representations, but also because of its age. The frieze, which is proposed to be depicting a scene from the Popul Vuh, predates all other known sources of the Popul Vuh mythology by more than a millennium. In fact, much speculation has been done in the past regarding the level of Spanish influence in the Popul Vuh history, which bears remarkable resemblance to many of the stories found in the early Old Testament of the Bible. This frieze, however, which was originally dated to around 250 BC makes such speculations obsolete. Our research this year, however, indicates that the frieze may be even older than originally estimated.

When I originally applied for the Orca grant and to conduct research this year with the Mirador Basin project, I had applied on the premise that I would be able to do research on structure 200 in the Cascabel group and continue my study of the Middle Preclassic ceramics and architecture we had discovered there two years previously. Upon arrival to Guatemala, however, I received a lesson in funding and permits as I discovered that only students would be conducting research at the site this year due to funding, and that we would only be working in a limited section of the site. This is how I ended up excavating structure 316 in the central Acropolis which is the governing center of the city, directly in front of the Popul Vuh frieze.

Before even arriving at the site, however, I had the opportunity of meeting with my mentor, Dr. Donald Forsyth, at the Mirador Basin Project laboratory, where he provided myself and other students with a crash course in Mayan ceramics. Understanding the ceramic styles and sequences is absolutely crucial in lowland Maya archaeology as it is the most abundant and reliable data we find. Due to a dependable system of ceramic styles and methods used by the Maya, one can usually determine the time period, social status, and use of a building being excavated simply by analyzing the pottery sherds collected during excavation.

Previous excavations in the area of the Popul Vuh frieze had been carried out to get a better understanding of what appear to be large reservoirs in the center of the city with water channels connecting them where water flow can be regulated. It was while excavating one of these water channels, located on the south side of structure 316, that the frieze was originally discovered. It was also discovered that just to the north of the frieze, in the southwest corner of 316 was a doorway into a room, with a water basin in the corner and a little drain ditch that ran across the floor to the west. Only the southernmost edge of the room had been unearthed, however, and nothing had been revealed on the 316 building itself. The purpose of my excavations on the structure then, was to get a better idea of the context of the frieze in relation to the building and the water channels. I was assigned a team of 8 local workmen and collaborated with several specialists and artists in analyzing and producing data.

The first thing that became obvious as excavations were carried out was that the room was intentionally filled by the ancient Maya with loose dirt and rubble and then covered with a meterthick cap of mortar. The motive for filling in the room is still not understood but it seems most likely for the purpose of concealment. While digging out the room we soon detected an ancient intrusion in the eastern wall. It was obvious that the large square blocks that make up the rest of structure 316 had been removed to make an opening and the hole, large enough for a person to crawl through, had been stuffed with small rocks. We continued north to reveal the north wall of the room, which was constructed with a cornice style overhang that juts out about .25 meters half way up the wall. The rest of the wall raises up flush with the cornice stones a meter and a half beyond that. The west half of this upper part of the wall, however, above the level of the cornice overhang, was removed anciently for a purpose yet unknown, but the intrusion was filled, like the rest of the room, with loose dirt fill and a mortar cap. On the west side of the room we found a doorway that lead to a new room to the west that is about 2.6 meters wide and runs south to north along the west side of the building and has several interesting features including large postholes and water drains. From this room there is a doorway in the far west wall that leads down into the plaza/reservoir below. The water basin in the southeast corner of the first room flows into a little ceramic-lined ditch that runs across the floor and through the doorway to the west room where it eventually drains through a hole in the far west wall. Several large holes in the floor of the west room indicate that the floor level of both rooms was a later addition to a previous construction design of the building. It was also quite apparent by the construction styles that the wall dividing the two rooms and the doorway were constructed at a later time than the original 316 structure and causeway where the frieze is located. Further excavations on the south end of the room near the frieze revealed information that is not yet published but that confirmed that the rooms excavated, and possibly all of structure 316, were a later addition to the area and that the causeway, with its magnificent art, is most likely even older than previously calculated. We collected an enormous amount of data including hundreds of photographs, drawings, measurements and observations, and over 130 bags of artifacts and samples containing things like ceramics, stone tools, sling stones, and carbon. Several novelties including early writing, paint, stucco figures, and art were also discovered.

In addition to my excavations, I also had the opportunity to teach literacy, math, and English classes to local villagers, as well as shadow and assist the camp physician. While I was in Guatemala, a paper I had co-authored the year before on cultural adaptations and transitions between the Middle Preclassic and Classic period of the Maya was presented at the National Symposium in Guatemala City, and is being published in the XXIV Symposium journal.