Copan: Day 19

Hey guys! The penultimate day of digging was today. It's amazing how fast it's all gone by! It feels like we have just started and already we are finishing our work. After this week we will start our analysis of the features and artifacts we found, and embark on our community projects. This afternoon, once the rain started, we headed to CRIA (which means el Centro Regional de Inverstigaciones Arqueologias, thanks Mommy!) to help Barbara with some work that needs to be done. I've been assigned to help with the mapping of the site. Woo! Putting those drawing skills to work!

Anyway, as I mentioned last night, yesterday was Laura's 21st birthday. I thought I'd share some pictures from the festivities. Bill arranged for a special meal at Don Udo's with live mariachi music, the students bought and filled a piñata shaped like a hippo, and those who wanted to enjoyed a celebratory tequila shot. I have a short video of the mariachi band and the unveiling of the cake, but with the slow connection here I can't post it in a reasonable amount of time. I'll definitely get it up once I get back!

Beth taking a swing at the piñata. She ultimately brought it down, along with the ring that was holding it up.

There was dancing and merriment. My favorite couple, Bill and Barb, can be seen dancing in the background.

Happy birthday, Laura!

More pictures tomorrow! Miss you guys. Let me know what's going on in the states (or wherever you may be!).

Copan: Day 18

Hi guys! Quick post tonight because I am absolutely exhausted. We had a long day of excavating/sculpture-drawing followed by an amazing birthday party for Laura (a rising senior doing thesis research). Bill threw the party in her honor and it included a mariachi band, a hippo-shaped piñata, and free tequila shots (I did not partake--don't worry, Mommy!). I will post some pictures from tonight tomorrow.

For now, I am off to bed, and leave you with some photos of stelae (plural of stela) in Copan's Principal Group. Stelae were dedicated by different rulers, usually to commemorate important events. They usually have the likeness of whichever ruler happens to have commissioned the work on one side (often times dressed as various gods), and an inscription describing the important event on the other side. Unfortunately, I do not know a whole lot about each specific stela, so I'll leave these pictures for you to enjoy on your own. Find your own interpretations!

Copan: Day 17

Hey guys! More excavating today. We switched units yet again, and now may be on top of the structure's staircase. Only time will tell!

I also had my first interview today. As a part of my receiving funding from DRCLAS (David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, pronounced "doctor-clas"), I am helping Barbara and Bill with photo-elicitation interviews. The Carnegie Institution, and the Peabody Museum, have a bunch of photos from excavations in Copan over the years. Last year, Barbara worked on identifying individuals in photos from the 1890s. This summer, we are working on identifying people in photos from Gustav Stromsvik's excavations in the 1930s. As well as trying to identify as much of the unknown as we can, we are also trying to get a sense of what Copan was like back in the day.

Today, we talked to Don Felipe, aged 93, who worked with "Don Gustavo" when he first came to Copan. He continued his archaeological work until he retired in his 80s. The interview was a little intimidating, since my listening comprehension in Spanish is completely atrocious. But I had my trusty audio recorder to preserve his every last word. It turns out that Bill did most of the talking anyway, which allowed me to sit back and absorb as much as I could. Finally, my Spanish in action! It was hard for me to understand Don Felipe completely: he spoke pretty quietly and quickly. However, I understood a fair amount and am getting much better at processing these foreign sounds. When Bill speaks in Spanish (usually very clearly and slowly), I can usually understand most, if not all, of what he says. Very encouraging!

Anyway, enough with the rambling. I thought I'd show some more pictures from the Copan Sculpture Museum. Enjoy!

These two sculptures you see behind Bill were once on the temple (Temple 16 I believe) behind Altar Q. The top figure is the likeness of the first ruler, Yax K'uk' Mo', in Teotihuacano warrior garb. Below, we see the face of Tlaloc (the rain god and Teotihuacan's patron god) surrounded by a skull rack.

You can recognize Tlaloc by his goggle eyes and missing mandible. It might be hard to see, but Tlaloc only has his top teeth, a tongue, and blood spilling out on either side of his tongue. A pretty gruesome image.

This temple, as well as Altar Q in front of it, is a tribute to the founder by the 16th, Yax Pasaj. Above all, it emphasizes Yax K'uk' Mo' as a foreigner, really playing up the Teotihuacano imagery. According to Altar Q's top inscription, Yax K'uk' Mo' walked all the way to Teotihuacan (Central Mexico), took part in an accession ritual, walked 153 days (give or take a day) back to Copan, and "rested his feet." The founder's original power came from Teotihuacan. Although it is debated where Yax K'uk' Mo' was originally from (new evidence shows he may have been a lord of Caracol), he was definitely an outsider in the Copan Valley. Starting with Ruler 12, monuments and altars began to emphasize his ties, and therefore Copan's ties, with the great city of Teotihuacan.

This is the Motmot marker, one of the earliest inscriptions at Copan.

It covers a tomb, or offering, of a young woman. Both Rulers 1 and 2 appear on the marker, and it was probably dedicated by Ruler 2 (the Founder's likely son). The marker is interesting in a lot of ways. Throughout the Maya area, limestone was the preferred stone to carve. Limestone is much scarcer in Copan, however, volcanic tuff being much more prevalent. The Motmot marker is made of limestone, which seems to suggest that the first carvers at Copan spent a lot of time and effort finding a stone they were comfortable carving. Even more telling is the fact that all monuments after this are carved out of the volcanic tuff. It mustn't have taken them long to figure out that the tuff is much softer and easier to carve! The marker also covers a circular tomb, which is highly uncommon for Maya burials, but very Teotihuacano. Again, ties to that great ancient city. And if anyone is wondering where the term "Motmot" comes from, it was the Maya way of describing the sound a bird makes.

Below is a stucco macaw. I believe it would have been found on the side of the earlier versions of Copan's ballcourt.

As you can see, his feathers all have macaw heads at the end, and there is some saurian figure emerging from his groin area. Would you believe that both characteristics are Teotihuacano in nature?

And one of my favorite pieces: the old men!

We see these figures a lot, and they play a big role in Maya mythology. Unfortunately, I don't know much more on that topic--I'll have to look into it. Nonetheless, these things crack me up. He only has two teeth! Ha!

Love you and miss you all! More tomorrow!

Copan: Days 15 & 16

Hi guys! Sorry I didn't get in another post last night. I had everything set up on Blogger to do so, and for some reason it wasn't allowing me to connect to the site. The web connection here has been pretty spotty recently, I apologize.

Unfortunately, I don't have time to do two posts today (one for yesterday and one for today) so I'll have to cram it into one. Sorry!

The two Chinese students arrived on Saturday, so yesterday we took them out to see the site. I love going to the Principal Group: each time you learn something new. I finally got a chance to look at the mysterious Altar L (which I missed both previous times I've been to the ruins), but more on that later. The rest of the day was pretty relaxing, and I got a chance to catch up on some reading.

Today we continued excavations, with a twist. In order to learn all aspects of the archaeological process, in this case directing a site, each unit is in charge of a local worker. The man assigned to our unit is Don Fidensio, and he is an expert excavator. He cleared out an entire level in one day essentially by himself. It took three of us about 2 days to do the same. Intense! We basically spent the whole day at the sifter trying to keep up with him.

Anyway, since I didn't take any pictures from today, I can post some of the ones from yesterday. The topic today: Altar L! This is either one of the last or the last monument created at the site of Copan. What makes this altar so unique is that it is unfinished. One side is carved, and the opposite side was started, but the other two sides are completely blank.

Here you can see the fully carved side at the front, and a blank face on the side to the left.

Here is the partially-carved side on the left.

Here is the partially-carved side on the right, and another blank side on the left.

From the glyphs that were actually carved, archaeologists can guess that this altar was dedicated by a mysterious ruler who tried to impose himself after the rule of Yax Pasaj, the 16th and final ruler of Copan. Altar L is a good piece of evidence for how little control this man had, for the altar he commissioned wasn't even finished. It's a pretty neat window into the past: Copan was in such dire straits that the stone carvers didn't have enough time to finish the altar before the city's administration completely collapsed. One of the more interesting pieces at the site.

And finally, I got a slightly better picture of two, yes two, agoutis while at the site. It's impossible to get a good picture of these critters, but I do my best:

There is one just to the right of the farthest left tree, and one to the right of the next tree over. They're evasive, but someday I will nail an awesome shot of them. And you will see it, of course.

Now I have to go work on my Spanish. Night!

Copan: Day 14

Saturday was a pretty relaxing, uneventful day. While some kids decided to go horseback riding in the morning, and others went zip-lining through Copan, I decided to stay in the town and do some shopping. It was nice to have some time to myself to explore a little bit. The town is pretty bustling, especially on weekends. There are vendors on the sides of streets selling cooked meats and sweets, colorful parades, and an interesting mix of musical styles blasting from various speakers.

The roads are all cobblestone and very uneven, sometimes intimidatingly steep. The sidewalks also vary in height, being anywhere from one to 3 feet off the ground. When it rains, these streets turn into rivers, which is why the sidewalks are so high. When I first got here, I had the weird feeling that every street seemed like an alley.

While I was out shopping, I took some pictures so you could get a better look at the town. Here is one of the more touristy streets, with tables full of altar replicas, jewelry, and hand-woven items.

This is a shot of the town square.

Here are two random shots of the town, so you can get a better idea of what everything looks like.

I have another full weekend of shopping left, and I'm trying to get as many cool things as possible. Don't forget to let me know if you want something! I love you all, and will try to get in a post about today's adventures later tonight!

Copan: Day 13

Hey guys! So I finally managed to take some pictures of the excavations. Woo! And on top of that, I had a little adventure trekking to Stela 12 which provided some great picture-taking opportunities. So, let's get started!

Here is the site where we have been working:

My unit is the one where Sarah (red shirt) is sitting. All of those rocks she's sitting on are probably wall stones that have fallen over, and a large, flat piece of limestone found in our unit may even be part of the room floor. Pretty exciting!

We also found an inchworm that seemed to take a liking to us. He hung around the unit for a while, exploring what we had dug up, and crawling on our shoes. I'm sure he's poisonous.

After lunch, one of the grad students Lauren took Sarah and I to learn how to use the total station. Archaeologists have been playing with the theory that Rastrojon is where it is because it serves at an excellent sentry point. Anyone entering the Copan Valley from the west would have to pass within the line of sight of Rastrojon. Stelae in the valley may also have served as distance markers, since many can be seen from Rastrojon. On the trip I took, Lauren was measuring the distance from Rastrojon to Stela 12, and from Stela 12 to the Acropolis. Archaeologists have been trying to do these measurements for a year and a half, but until now the distances have been too great to measure. Lauren has been taking some of the longest measurements ever taken with the total station.

The hike up to Stela 12 is very intense, especially for someone as pitifully out of shape as me. Bill and Barbara actually camped out at Stela 12 overnight when they hiked up there because the climb is so long and taxing. I had made it most of the way when my asthma started kicking in and I couldn't catch my breath. I was very embarrassed since I felt I was holding up the group, but everyone was amazing. They made me sit down, gave me a bottle of water, and shaded me with a jacket until my pulse returned to normal. Jorge, the co-director of the excavations at Rastrojon, offered his hand to help me up the rest of the way. Our guide, Don Chevelo even offered a homeopathic remedy: he found a lime tree, chopped off one of the limes with his machete, cut the lime in half, and rubbed each half on my wrists. He said it helped the pulse slow down. Apparently, lime can cure anything! I was lucky to have such compassionate people around me--thanks!

When we reached the top, we started setting up the total station. Here is Sarah helping to set it up (Stela 12 in the background):

And Will, with a fantastic view behind him:

While we waited for the prism to be set up in the Acropolis, we checked out Stela 12. It still has remnants of the original red paint on its surface. Sarah was nice enough to take a picture of me in front of it:

I survived! The journey was totally worth it. The view was amazing and the experience equally so. There was a lot of hopping barbed wire fences, fording creeks, and sloshing through mud. My shoes are probably beyond the point of repair now, unfortunately.

And Don Chevelo is hilarious and awesome. He speaks slowly enough that I can understand his Spanish, which makes his stories all the better. He told us stories about the ancient Maya in the Copan Valley, mainly their sex lives and drug use. I'll have to tell you some of those stories later. When Lauren found that one of the trees was in her way of measuring the distance to the Acropolis, Don Chevelo climbed that tree and chopped off the top branches with his machete. All at the tender age of 58!

But the expedition was a success! Lauren got the measurements they needed, and there was much rejoicing. The hike back down was nice and relaxing, and by the time we got back to the hotel, there was running water! Hooray!

The day ended with a bumpin' party that got shut down by the hotel because we were too loud. Oops. But it was a lot of fun, and I am sure many incriminating pictures will be on the internet soon.

I'm rambling. More tonight! Love you all.

Copan: Day 12

Hey guys! You're going to hate me, but I didn't get to take any pictures today of the excavations. I was planning on it, and before I knew it we got the warning sign that rain was coming and had to get out of there. I will take pictures first thing tomorrow to avoid that crisis again. Sorry!

Today was an exciting day, though. We were visited by a snake after lunch. It was trying to slither up a tarp to no avail, poor thing. He finally found his way off of it and raced away. I'm not sure if it was venomous or not (black body with yellow stripes following the length of his body), but we decided not to try and find out.

Some workers at Structure 12 also found the fragments of a human skull today (we are excavating at Structure 4, for reference). The TF and resident human bone expert Molly started cleaning the bones in the lab later today. Apparently, the skull only has baby teeth and unerupted molars, which means this person was likely younger than six years when s/he died.

Have I told you about the water situation here? I haven't?! Well, in a very confusing irony, the town of Copan Ruinas has less water in its reserves during the rainy season (which is now). This year has been unusually rainy, so there is currently a water shortage in the area. I'm not quite sure why this is, but whatever work that is done during the day in order to fix the problem gets washed away with the rainstorms. Anyway, for the past half week we have not had running water at the hotel. No washing your hands, no flushing the toilet, no taking a shower. Don Udo has been kind enough to turn on the water at night for a couple hours when rainwater gathers in the cisterns, but a few nights this week we have not had that luxury. There has been a lot of yellow mellowing, if you know what I mean. We are all smelly archaeologists over here.

I digress. Today: pictures of Altar Q! Altar Q was dedicated by Ruler 16 (Yax Pasaj), the last ruler of Copan. It depicts all 16 rulers in order on its four sides, while telling the story of the Founder (Yax K'uk' Mo) on its top. I may have talked about it a little in previous posts. This is the front of the altar:

It may be hard to see, but there are four figures. The two on the left face right, and the two on the right face left. The second from the left is the Founder, sitting on a glyph that reads ajaw or "lord." He is holding a lighted torch, and seemingly passing it to the figure third from the left, the 16th ruler Yax Pasaj. It represents a dynasty coming full circle, legitimizing the rule of Yax Pasaj. The leftmost figure is Ruler 2, thought to be the Founder's son, and the rightmost figure is Ruler 15.

Below you can see, from right to left, Ruler 3, Ruler 4, Ruler 5, and Ruler 6. Relatively little is known about these rulers, and we are lucky to have visual representations of them on this altar as well as their name glyphs (on which each ruler is sitting).

Below, from right to left, are Ruler 7, Ruler 8, Ruler 9, and Ruler 10. Ruler 7 is the only ruler to number himself in the line of the Founder. On another inscribed monument (which one I can't remember), Ruler 7 says he is 7th in the line of Yax K'uk' Mo. The fact that he is in the 7th position on Altar Q is very reassuring. We also know that Ruler 7 was the father of Ruler 10. The relations of Rulers 8 and 9 are unknown. The interesting thing is that while Ruler 7 had a relatively long reign, Rulers 8 and 9 only last about 10 to 15 years each. My guess is that Rulers 8 and 9 are the younger brothers of Ruler 7, already old when they came to power.

Below, from right to left, are Ruler 11, Ruler 12, Ruler 13, and Ruler 14. As I talked about before, Ruler 12 was the longest reigning Copan king. Instead of sitting on his name glyph, he sits on 5 Katuns, symbolizing his advanced age (between about 80 and 100 years) when he died. Ruler 13, his successor, is the notable "18 Rabbit." His name, we know now, is actually "18 are the Images of K'awiil." K'awiil is the lightning god, I believe, so the name is a cool way of describing a bolt of lightning forked into 18 different paths. 18 Rabbit (I know, not his real name, but it's easier to type) was actually captured by Copan's vassal city Quirigua and beheaded. It was a shocking reversal of power that silenced Copan for 17 years.

I might mention that this isn't the original Altar Q, but a cast that sits where the real Altar Q once stood. The real thing is in the Sculpture Museum nearby.

More tomorrow--with excavation pictures! Much love.

Copan: Day 11

We continued excavations today, and although I did remember to bring my camera, I got so wrapped up in the work that I forgot to take it out and record some memories... Oops! I'll do it tomorrow, promise! The unit we are working on has a lot of cool stuff going on that I'd like you to see.

It's a real shame that I forgot to take pictures, because there were some pretty priceless moments today. For example, the unit of boys got their hands on a machete and had fun being masculine for a while. Apparently all Hondurans get their machetes from Connecticut. Who knew?

Anyway, I'll be sure to post some excavation photos tomorrow. For now, it's Macaw Day!

Those birds are noisy! And they walk right up to you. And poop right on you. It's great! I love Honduras!

More tomorrow!

Copan: Day 10

Hi folks! We continued our excavations today, and even though we have been working for a day and a half, none of the units have finished digging their first level (10 centimeters down). Very slow work! Exciting nonetheless.

No pictures today, although I should really bring my camera to the site to take some pictures of our work for you. I'll definitely do that tomorrow!

For now, how about some more pictures from my trip through the tunnels? Forgive me, I don't remember all the details.

This is a set of pictures, with and without flash, of a stela that now lies on its side. I don't know how it ended up inside Structure 26. It may simply have been used to wall up an older structure in preparations for a newer one. I believe the text talks about Ruler 4, one of the lesser-known rulers of Copan. I mainly posted these so you could get a sense for how dark those tunnels really were--the flash is misleading!

This is a picture of one of the tunnel walls.

The big white stripe in the middle is plaster, and was once the floor of a structure before someone else built upon it. Yay, stratigraphy!

Here's a picture of Will inside Ruler 12's tomb.

Ruler 12 was the longest reigning ruler of Copan: he ruled for some 67 years! In fact, while most rulers depicted on Altar Q sit on their name glyphs, Ruler 12 sits on a glyph that reads 5 Katuns. He was greatly celebrated for entering the fifth Katun of his life, a Katun being a period of 7,200 days, or about 20 years. When he died, his successor Ruler 13 (also known as "18 Rabbit" or, more accurately, "18 are the Images of K'awiil") saw to it that Ruler 12 was properly honored. The first version of the Hieroglyphic Stairway (much shorter than the final version dedicated by Ruler 15) is inscribed as being the stairway which covers the tomb of Ruler 12. That's actually the only reason they knew whose tomb it was.

The tomb was also filled with effigies of the previous rulers and other valuable offerings. Bill was actually the one to excavate it. Apparently, when they uncovered it, they had to excavate each 10cm x 10cm x 10cm cube separately in order to preserve as much of the original context as possible. It took him and his team ten years to finish excavating the thing. Talk about tedious.

Well, I'm rambling now! I'll be sure to bring my camera along tomorrow. Maybe I'll catch a glimpse of the creepy centipedes for you. For now, sweet dreams!

Copan: Days 8 & 9

Hey guys! Sorry for the lack of a post yesterday. Some of the other field-schoolers and I had to switch hotels for a night due to some previous bookings, and unfortunately there was no internet service there. Please forgive me!

Yesterday I traipsed around town for the first time. It was nice to finally discover what Copan Ruinas had to offer. There are a ton of souvenir shops, so I picked up a few things to bring home with me. If you guys want me to get you anything, please let me know! Comment here or send me an e-mail. They have t-shirts, jewelry, replicas of famous monuments and what-not, everything! So let me know!

I also had pizza for dinner last night and place called Jim's Pizza. And it was really good. Amazing: I'm in Honduras eating pizza. That is not right.

Today was our first day of excavations at Rastrojon. Woo! We all got our own trowel, line level, and measuring tape. The place where we are digging is at the top of Structure 4, which they think is the residence of some noble or other person of power. It doesn't look like that, of course. More like a giant hill spattered with pieces of stone and creepy orange centipedes. Over time, temples and structures succumb to the wrath of earthquakes and other forces of nature and tumble apart. It is our job to uncover and piece back together what we can.

We actually got rained out of the excavations today. The units are covered with tin roofing, which made standing on the top of a structure during a lightning storm even more frightening, so we got the heck out of there.

Anyway, no pictures in the past two days. Here are some of the panoramic shots I took on the second day I was here, touring the Principal Group.

I believe this is a picture of Temple 16. I apologize for not being more familiar with the area in advance, but it is easy to get lost in the numbers.

Here is the view from the top of the river cut by the Acropolis. The river unfortunately washed away a few buildings which would have been in the picture otherwise. Instead, we are left with this view. We have to thank the mighty Gustav Stromsvik for diverting the river and saving the rest of the Acropolis in the 1930s.

This is a view of Structure 32, I believe, which is a royal residential center right behind the Acropolis. It is thought that the last ruler of Copan lived here.

And the ballcourt! Can't you just imagine the games they played here? Behind it, you can see the tarp covering the Hieroglyphic Stairway.

Don't forget to tell me if you want something!! I am here to serve. Love you all!

Copan: Day 7

Hey folks! My laptop crashed last night, so I wasn't able to update the blog--sorry! My hard drive is having some issues connecting to the computer, probably due to the humidity. Fortunately, the problem seems to go away if it sits for a few hours, but it can come back unpredictably. I will do my best!

For now, it is working, so a blogging we will go. Today we had our pool party at another nearby hotel, which was a blast (despite the rain). We also discovered a mutual love of Arrested Development at lunch, which led to a screening of Season 1 in the lounge later that night. It was quite the adventure. The DVD player in the lounge didn't recognize the DVD, so we opted to use a laptop instead. But, the sound wasn't loud enough to overcome the pouring rain outside, so we ended up ripping the audio from a couple episodes, uploading the files to an iPod, and playing the sound through an iPod speaker system simultaneously with the video on the laptop. Where there is a will, there's a way! The timing was a little off, and it was still a little hard to hear, but it worked and the golden goodness of Arrested Development was enjoyed by all.

Anyway, no pictures from today, but I still have a few from the first day that, for whatever reason, weren't published.

Here's a good look inside my room: a little fuzzy, I know, but the only was to capture the cozy feeling was without the flash.

This is the courtyard, which we haven't been able to use much due to the rain.

A view of the restaurant where we eat most of our meals. You can't see from this picture, but to the left would be the courtyard sans wall in between. Wherever you are, you still feel like you are outside. It makes for a really enjoyable atmosphere.

The marker out front: Don Udo's! Udo is this crazy Dutch man, but he takes good care of us.

Today, we might go visit Macaw Mountain which is a bird park 6 minutes from here. If we go, I'll be sure to post the pictures! Until then, have a great day. Miss you all!