[MSN] Archaeologists let looters do some of the work

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Archaeologists let looters do some of the work 
Posted 2/11/2007 5:43 PM ET

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade, goes the old saw. But when you
are an archeologist and life gives you looters, often all you can do is make
lamentations. Looting afflicts archaeological sites worldwide, from the
wide-spread plundering of ancient Sumerian sites in Iraq, to pot-hunters in
the American Southwest, to the looting of Inca and other sites in the
Peruvian Andes.
However, a few archaeologists have figured out a way to put the looters to
work for them, as archaeologist Lisa Lucero of New Mexico State University
in Las Cruces demonstrated in a recent talk about her team's study of the
ancient Maya ceremonial center at Yalbac in Belize. Visitors to the
Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in Washington D.C., may
not realize that one of the nation's largest anthropology departments is
housed at the museum, but dozens of researchers packed a large seminar room
deep in its collections to hear Lucero's talk last week.

The ancient, or classic, low-land Maya are renowned for the pyramid-packed
ceremonial centers they left in the jungles of Guatemala, Mexico and Belize,
abandoning them sometime before 900 A.D. Although millions of Maya
descendants are alive today, and Maya culture continued at sites in the
Yucatan after the arrival of the Spaniards in the 1500s, the mystery of that
abandonment remains fascinating to scholars.

At Yalbac, Lucero and her colleagues with the Valley of Peace Archaeology
Project are faced with unraveling the riddle of three sets of pyramids and
other structures surrounding three broad plazas in central Belize, all
buried under dirt, vegetation and decay at the site.

Belize antiquities officials want more information about the archaeological
site, but also want as few excavations as possible to limit damage at
Yalbac. "So I only have looter's trenches, and I'd rather stick with that
than destroy more temples," Lucero says. Making the best of the situation,
her team has catalogued the structure and building of the marred temples
using the looter's diggings. The trenches are basically open pits gouged
into the sides of the pyramids, dug down to the structure's base, and in one
case more than 30 yards long.

"Preliminary results support the suggestion that both royals and non-royals
built temples for specific gods," Lucero says, based on the different types
of items and stone found lining the walls of the looters trenches at five of
the six pyramids. Nine temple trenches have been dug by looters at the site,
two of them dug since the project started in 2001. They are both deep and
large, Lucero says, just filling them in would take the archaeology team an
entire field season's work. A few test excavations on the plazas have also
helped the team.

Among other findings, Lucero says that although the remains of one palace
towers about 50 feet high at Yalbac, it was a secondary center among the
Maya from perhaps 300 B.C. to 900 A.D, more a minor league ballfield than a
Yankee Stadium.

Maya centers are famous for their public architecture and researchers feel
that they understand why the structures were erected in the first place. "It
was like a neon light for local farmers," Lucero says, drawing them to each
center during the dry season, when reservoirs supplied people's water needs,
and ceremonies supplied the entertainment and opportunity for people to
trade and mingle.

But who built what at these centers, Lucero asks? At Yalbac, two distinct
sets of pyramids and palaces surround their own plazas (Plaza Two and Plaza
Three to the archaeologists), while a royal acropolis, thought to be a
palace residence, abuts a third one (Plaza One.) A total of six pyramids,
ranging from 25 to 50 feet tall, line the three plazas. All were used in the
Late Classic Maya era, from about 600 to 900 A.D. Maya rulers typically
erected stone markers, or stelae, celebrating their status at centers, so
researchers know that royalty occupied the sites. But the researchers are
unsure why kings would go to the trouble of building multiple plazas at a
center.

The temple pyramids surrounding each plaza appear to have been built as a
group. At Plaza Two, the pyramids are overall more massive than the ones at
Plaza Three, using larger stone blocks, better fill material and more "face"
stones to decorate the structures, the researchers conclude. Plaza Two was
more accessible as well, suggesting it was a more central focus of
ceremonies at the center.

At Plaza Two, recovered items include speleothems, stalactite pieces from
caves that figure in the Maya origin myth, found at the site of a sacred
ball court and a figurine of "God N," a sky god (Maya researchers generally
just designate deities by letters to standardize discussion of these
little-understood sacred figures). These are items symbolic of royalty.

At Plaza Three, in contrast, the structures appear more residential, with
housing wings on some pyramids and human burial remains at others, Lucero
says. And a buried, polished jaguar tooth and obsidian lancets found at
Plaza Three trenches connote "more earthly purposes," linked to the
agricultural cycle, she says.

Overall, the plethora of temples suggest the Maya had choices of which
temple to attend and support, a more complex picture of their society than a
simple one of farmers led autocratically by their leaders. "Yalbac's six
temples could have served as arenas for competition among royals, non-royals
and a priesthood for worshippers," Lucero says.

Looters have done researcher's work for them in Maya studies before.
Vanderbilt archaeologist Arthur Demarest in 2003 reported the recovery of a
Maya altar stone looted from a sacred ball court.

Of course, researchers would prefer to have their sites remain undisturbed,
Lucero says. She and her colleagues hope to begin a more thorough survey of
Yalbac, starting in 2008, to settle whether their suggestion of a diverse
religious life among the Maya can be determined from the temples themselves,
and by comparison with temples at other sites. Even though there is a guard
at Yalbac, there is concern about more looting there before that work can
begin.

Each week, USA TODAY's Dan Vergano combs scholarly journals to present the
Science Snapshot, a brief summary of some of the latest findings in
scientific research. For past articles, visit this index page.
 

  
 
  
 

  
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