Current Research

The Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH) has issued a call for papers for the Third Palenque Round Table, which will take place June 28–July 4, 1999. The meeting will be dedicated to Linda Schele, and the theme will focus on the social organization of the prehistoric through modern Maya, from the perspectives of epigraphy, iconography, anthropology, and history. Special emphasis will be placed on current interpretations of family organization and institutions. In addition to the main conferences, there will be sessions on recent discoveries in the Maya area, as well as the Premio Palenque. The main conference will be followed by an optional three-day weekend workshop on Maya epigraphy.

Three kinds of papers will be given:

1. Featured papers, by invitation only.
2. General papers. If you wish to contribute a paper, send a two-page abstract no later than February 28, 1999.
3. Papers on new finds. Please submit a two-page abstract by April 30, 1999.

The Premio Palenque

All participants in the Round Table, up to 35 years old, who submit their complete paper addressing the main topic of the meeting no later than February 28, 1999, will participate in the Premio Palenque. The five finalists will be invited to the Round Table with all expenses paid. The first place carries a prize of $20,000.00 pesos and a certificate. Registration for speakers will cost $500.00 pesos. A limited number of refunds will be available on request. In order to assure prompt publication, the final version of papers must be turned in at the latest during the meeting.

For more information, contact:
Vera Tiesler Blos
Córdoba 45, 1er. piso,
Col. Roma, C.P.06700
México, D.F.
MEXICO
Tels. (525) 514-2981 o (525) 514-1560, fax (525) 525-3089;
e-mail: inahstec@yahoo.com;
inahstec@mail.internet.com.mx;
website: www.inah.gob.mx/palenque

West Mexico

José Beltrán of the Centro INAH Nayarit (CINAHNay) is directing a salvage project at Punta Mita, located at the extreme northwest of Bahía Banderas, Nayarit, where two large tourist developments are endangering archaeological remains. The project, aimed at locating, studying, and protecting the archaeological remains, began in 1994 and is scheduled to end in 2001. So far one paleontological site, 39 archaeological sites, and one historical-period site have been located within an area of 2,000 ha, including the Marieta Islands. A long habitation sequence has been identified, starting with Capacha (800–500 B.C.), continuing with the shaft tomb tradition (300 BC.–A.D. 300), red/brown (A.D. 200–800), Aztatlán (A.D. 900–1250), and Banderas, a local development. The exploitation of the coral reef that surrounds Punta Mita appears to have been an important part of the productive activities of the area.

Lisa J. Lucero (lislucer@cnmailsvr.nmsu.edu), from New Mexico State University (NMSU) reports on the 1998 field season of her Valley of Peace Archaeology Project in Central Belize. The major goals of the season (May 23–July 7) were four, three of which focused in an area with natural pools and caves, the Cara Blanca area: (1) survey for pools, caves and nearby settlement; )2) explore a pool for offerings; (3) test excavate a presumed ceremonial structure at the edge of a pool; and (4) map the river center of Saturday Creek. Of the 16 pools noted on the No. 19 UTM map, Zone 16, six have been located. She dove one of the pools, but was unable to explore the bottom because it was too deep (ca. 40 m) for regular scuba diving. She mapped Saturday Creek, a river settlement system very similar to Barton Ramie, that is, dense hierarchical settlement along the north side of the Belize River with numerous architectural types, from temples (ca. 12 m high) and large plazuela groups to small single mounds. It has over 100 structures, 75 of which we were able to map using dirt roads and the river as boundaries. Most of the site is located in a completely cleared, mechanically plowed field; however, a large portion of it (ca. 350 x 300 m), the center core and surrounding settlement, has been protected (not plowed) by the landowner and shows little evidence of looting in the numerous structures located in the bush. Analysis conducted on surface ceramics collected from throughout Saturday Creek demonstrates at least Middle Preclassic through Postclassic occupations (ca. 900 B.C.–A.D. 1450), a pattern comparable to settlement throughout the Belize River area. The 1999 field season will focus on a variety of architectural types and contexts at Saturday Creek in order to collect formal and temporal data on the wide spectrum of ritual data. Research goals are to assess how aspiring leaders early on appropriated traditional rituals to suit a political agenda.