Archaeological Field School in Belize 2008

January 6 - February 17, 2008

The San Estevan Archaeological Project 2008 field school carries on a UAlbany tradition of providing undergraduate and graduate training in archaeological field methods. A number of sites have been investigated in Belize since 1997 and numerous research questions addressed. The 2008 San Estevan Archaeological Project will document changes that occurred in the area of San Estevan during the Late Archaic through the end of the Formative period (3000 BC – AD 200). The project will investigate 1) the origins of village life, 2) the transition from a horticultural adaptation to one dependent on intensive agriculture and 3) the first monumental architectural construction projects initiated at San Estevan as the site became one of a handful of political centers that emerged in the region by 100 BC. Each of these is a significant topic of anthropological inquiry and will contribute to understanding local processes and cross-cultural comparisons. Who were the earliest occupants of San Estevan? Were they Maya? How did life change once people began to use ceramics and live in permanent villages? How were village leaders able to consolidate political power and build planned cities with monumental architecture? Join us this winter in Belize and help answer these questions.
Project Team 2005	Screening for artifacts
Since 1997, The University at Albany-SUNY Belize field schools have trained over 150 undergrads and 40 graduate students at numerous sites across northern Belize. In 2001, during a field school visit to the San Estevan site we discovered that the earliest villages had been exposed by recent land disturbance. During the 2002 season, preliminary test pits confirmed the integrity a very early Maya village buried under the mounds at the center of the site. During the summer of 2005, all of the field school energies were focused on documenting the Middle Formative (900-300 BC) and Late Formative (300 BC – AD 200) occupation of San Estevan’s civic-ceremonial central core. We documented a Middle Formative prepared cobble surface with the remains of house walls built on it as well as less formal occupation along with deep trash deposits. We also documented a Late Formative ballcourt as well as four construction phases of the sites 15 m high central mound. The initiation of this architecture has been dated to 50 BC based on new AMS dates. The project runs from January 6 through February 17, 2008 and offer students nine (9) undergraduate credits for the Spring 2008 semester. Students returning to UAlbany will be able to enroll in an additional six (6) credits. Students will be required to pay a $2300 field fee, UAlbany tuition and airfare. You will also need to budget for medical insurance and spending money (see Project Briefing for details). TO SIGN UP: 1) Fill out an application form and email it to rrosenswig@albany.edu . 2) Then log on to the UAlbany Study Abroad website and fill out an application. 3) Then send a check payable to "University at Albany,SUNY" for $200 (non-refundable) to: Dr. Robert M. Rosenswig, Department of Anthropology The University at Albany-SUNY 1400 Washington Ave, AS 237 Albany, NY 12222 4) YOUR POSITION IN THE FIELD SCHOOL WILL BE GUARANTEED UPON RECEIPT OF YOUR FULL FIELD FEE OF $2300.  THERE IS ROOM FOR ONLY 20 STUDENTS.

Mound XV (under the trees) & Some 2005 Excavations Weekly Site Tour The Archaeological Field School in Belize is sponsored by the Office of International Education, the College of Arts and Sciences, and the Department of Anthropology.