Week 8 (March 13 – March 19)

The last week . . . a blur of activity. Backfilling of the Preclassic building was completed on Monday and then the four remaining men cleaned camp and did minor repairs on the two main labs so that they do not collapse in the off season (probably the end of the line for the men’s hut, however; hopefully we will have some new facilities next year). Staff finished all of the cataloguing and sherd numbering, as well as double-checking all the records. Lucas finished all of the artifact drawing; Diane and Adrian did much of the artifact photography (e.g., ceramics, obsidian eccentrics, limestone bars, bone tubes); Amy and Melissa packed up the artifacts going to the IOA and did all of the paperwork. Wednesday saw the final staff meeting and movie (Book of Life). On Thursday, everyone packed and Melissa took the artifacts out to the IOA in the afternoon; Amy packed up the rest of Lab 2 while we packed Lab 1. Angie had a much worse time of it, packing up the entire kitchen late into the night. Brian came in at noon on Thursday and began moving coolers and supplies down to permanent storage in the caretakers’ camp, eventually taking the solar freezer and the refridgerator (the stoves went later); David showed up in late afternoon and began taking down all the electrical wire and also helping with the packing and storage transport from the labs. Then, some tables and beds went into Lab 2. On Thursday evening we had our traditional end-of-season bonfire and then everyone went to bed, arising by about 4:30 the next morning to finish the final packing. I put the generator on at 5 AM and everyone packed their bedding up with light. Then the generator went down to permanent storage and the final tables and beds came into Lab 2. Angie, Linda, and Marta went out with Angie’s brother in a truck that was piled into the sky with their bedding and other kitchen items; also tied to the top were the two puppies that Angie had raised all season. We left at 7 AM and traversed a partially grated road; by 8:30 AM we had reached San Ignacio Cayo, paid social security, checked the mail (Jessica had 2 letters), and then arrived at the San Ignacio Resort Hotel. After breakfast, everyone eased into their rooms and emerged in both clean and new clothes for the end-of-season lunch with the Institute of Archaeology. Saturday afternoon was nice down time, visiting with old friends. Early Saturday morning, Brian took Amy to the airport to fly home for a race, while everyone else went on a project-sponsored day-trip to Tikal, Guatemala. Upon return to Cayo in late afternoon, Jessica went on to the Biltmore outside of Belize City for the night as she had a 7:20 AM flight to Los Angeles on Sunday (and it would have been next to impossible to get her from Cayo to the airport in the time parameters). On Sunday morning at 6:30 AM the rest of us (except for Kelsey who was staying on in Belize a few days) piled into a van and went to the Belize airport to fly home, with various flights leaving from between 11 AM (Olyvia) to 1:30 PM (Adrian). And, thus, the 33rd field season of the Caracol Archaeological Project came to a successful conclusion.

The Caana plaza trench – backfilled.

 

Hopefully the last season for this hut.

 

Final processing of catalogue cards: Ben, Kelsey, Jessica, Mel, Brooke, and Olyvia.

 

Diane and Amy with the 2017 ceramic vessels.

 

Red “brandy snifter” from a cache on Caana (C1K).

 

Cense lid from Operation C210B.

 

Worked shell artifacts from Operation C210B.

 

Worked bone tubes from Operation C210B.

 

Obsidian eccentrics from Operation C210B.

 

Limestone bars from Operation C210B.

 

Olyvia, Adrian, and Ben basking in the glow of the bonfire.

 

End of Season Lunch: Allan, Arlen, Diane, and John.

 

End of Season Lunch: Lucas, Brian, and Adrian.

 

End of Season Lunch: Jimmy, Mel, Amy, George, and David.

 

End of Season Lunch: Ben, Lucas, Adrian, Jessica, Kelsey, Brooke, and Olyvia.

One Response to “Week 8 (March 13 – March 19)

  • I very much enjoyed the photos of the obsidian eccentrics from Operation C210B. Can you give me more information on Operation C210B and these eccentrics as to their context, how they were found and what association if any with any structures, stelae or altars? Do you know if any were associated with any particular time frames?

    Thank you.

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