Fieldwork
Student Field Opportunities
Dr. Ebert is a co-director of the Belize Valley Archaeological Reconnaissance (BVAR) Project. The BVAR field school offers annual training in the essential aspects of contemporary interdisciplinary archaeology. Field research carried out at several sites in the Belize River Valley, including Cahal Pech and Xunantunich, provides students with hands-on experience in excavation and lab techniques, site survey, recording, archaeological drawing, and artifact processing. In addition to participating in the field school’s holistic program of archaeological field work, students attend lectures on scientific techniques used in the recovery of archaeological data, and on current archaeological research in Belize.
If you are interested in learning about how to participate in the BVAR field school, you can find more information here.
Ongoing Field Projects
Survey and Excavation in Western Belize
Ongoing fieldwork with the Belize Valley Archaeological Reconnaissance (BVAR) Project includes ground-truthing of LiDAR remote sensing data. Surveys have focused on identifying the location of rockshelters and caves with potential Archaic contexts, as well as documenting monumental architecture and household settlements impacted by modern urban growth and industrialized agriculture in the upper Belize River Valley. Excavations are currently underway at Actun Halal Rockshelter and several large Maya polities, including Cahal Pech.
Terminal Classic Cahal Pech Palace Excavations
During the 2019 field season, our excavations at Cahal Pech, Belize focused on clearing terminal architecture for conservation in Plaza D, part of the site’s Late/Terminal Classic palatial complex. Excavations in Str. D2 exposed a vaulted room, which was buried and sealed prior to the construction of terminal architecture. Sitting at bench level within the room was a dense, layered deposit containing over 2000 pieces of including polychrome vessels, and faunal remains. Our work since 2022 has been documenting the process of the deposit’s creation within Str. D2-sub, and its relationship to subsequent palatial construction to understand the dynamics of ritual activity during the Terminal Classic decline of Cahal Pech.
Terminal Classic Xunantunich
At Xunantunich, we have been conducting an on-going, multiyear project focused on documenting and conserving several structures within the Xunantunich central epicenter. Group B, an elite courtyard, and to Plaza A-III, the northern palace group, have been one of this research since 2016. Work in Group B has exposed several previously unknown enclosing structures, extended our understanding of the size and layout of earlier components of the residential group, and documented extensive Terminal Classic period (AD 750-900) peri-abandonment deposits. Future excavations and conservation work will take place in Group B in upcoming field seasons. Other excavations are ongoing at the Zapote Group.
