Archaelogy of K'axob and Xibun

Find out what’s happening in the lab and in the field!

Patricia A. McAnany (Professor, Boston University) is the Principal Investigator for the Xibun Archaeological Research Project (XARP) and Maya Area Cultural Heritage Initiative (MACHI). Here she is shown photographing a shrine structure at the Hershey site in Belize. When in Boston, she divides her time among teaching, coordinating K’axob, XARP, and MACHI research, and writing on a range of archaeological topics.	Sandra L. López Varela (Professor, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos) is the ceramic analyst for both the K’axob Project and XARP. Specializing in Type-Variety classification and techniques of pottery production, Professor López Varela analyzes sherd in the field lab at Monkey Bay Wildlife Sanctuary.
Rebecca Storey (Professor, University of Houston) specializes in the analysis of human bone including the determination of age, sex, and patheopathologies. She has conducted an osteological examination of human bone for both the K’axob Project and XARP and is shown here at work in the XARP field lab at Yam Wits measuring bone fragments, each of which has been carefully wrapped in aluminum foil.	John Jones (Professor, Washington State University) conducts palynological analyses, often on cores retrieved from perennially wet contexts such as the oxbows of the Sibun Valley and the wetlands adjacent to K’axob. Here, he has just successfully sampled an oxbow called Boat-billed Heron Pond near the site of Pechtun Ha.
Pat Farrell (Professor, University of Minnesota at Duluth) is a geographer who specializes in soils analysis and has contributed her expertise to both the K’axob Wetlands Project and XARP. Currently, she is working on anthropogenic impacts on soil development in the Sibun Valley.	Kimberly Berry (Ph.D. candidate, Boston University), is analyzing the data from two seasons of excavation in the wetlands of K’axob. Lab director during the 2001 XARP season, she is shown in the field lab at Monkey Bay Wildlife Sanctuary.
Ben Thomas (Ph.D. candidate, Boston University) is compiling a GIS program with XARP data as a first step towards examining site location and site hierarchies. He is shown here making a “low tech” map of a Sibun Valley site called Juana Pond.	Polly Peterson (Ph.D. candidate, Boston University) is studying the cultural uses of caves located in the Sibun-Manatee and Hummingbird karst. All of her fieldwork is done underground.
Eleanor Harrison-Buck (Ph.D. candidate, Boston University) is studying the artifacts and architecture of the Terminal Classic occupation in the Sibun Valley and is shown here at work at the Augustine Obispo site.	Norbert Stanchly (Ph. D. candidate, University of London) studies the fauna from the Sibun Valley settlement and cave sites. Here, he instructs field school student Dan Leonard (right) on the fine points of species identification.
Satoru Murata (Ph.D. candidate, Boston University) coordinated the survey and excavation program within Transect 2 of XARP, making extensive use of differential GPS data. He is shown here at the screen during excavations at Queso Blanco.	Donna Yates (Boston University '04) analyzed the obsidian from the 1995 K’axob season for her Independent Work for Distinction. Here she relaxes in the Rio Blanco pools after a daring dive off of a steep cliff in southern Belize.
David G. Buck (Ph.D. candidate, University of Florida) collected and processed GPS data in the course of surveying archaeological sites in the Sibun Valley during the 2001 and 2003 field seasons.	Daniel Finamore (Maritime Curator, Peabody Essex Museum) specializes in the Colonial archaeology of Belize, particularly the Anglo-Colonial period. Here he uses a traditional mode of transportation, owned and powered by Gracy Bank resident Vaughn Brakeman, to survey historical sites along the Sibun River.
Thomas F. Bullard (Ph.D., Desert Research Institute) specializes in the geomorphology of tropical fluvial systems. Here, he is shown examining a gravel bar along the Sibun River.	Kirsten Tripplett (Ph.D., University California, Berkeley), shown here in the field lab, is analyzing the plant remains from the Xibun Archaeological Research Project with the goal of identifying ancient cacao fragments and other archaeobotanical evidence pertinent to understanding the environment and economy of Xibun Maya peoples.
Steven Morandi (Ph.D. candidate, Boston University) is studying the Spanish-Colonial Period in the Xibun valley, particularly the historical-period material from Cedar Bank. Here, he demonstrates a technique of dry-laid masonry found at the Sibun Valley site of Pakal Na.	Daniel Welch (Training Specialist, Geophysical Survey Systems Inc.) is an expert in remote sensing techniques and successfully used a cesium vapor magnetometer, shown here, to detect buried and burned features at the Sibun Valley site of Pakal Na.