Lisa J. Lucero, a professor of anthropology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is studying ancient Maya underwater offerings in central Belize under the auspices of the Belize Institute of Archaeology, National Institute of Culture and History.  There are 25 pools at Cara Blanca, and we have only just begun plumbing their depths. In 2010, divers explored eight pools and, in addition to gauging their size and depth, extracted 10-foot-long sediment cores using four-inch-diameter PVC pipe from two pools: Pool 2 (16 feet deep) and Pool 6 (60-feet deep). The history of changing climate and landscape is slowly emerging from the cores via pollen and soil analyses. Radiocarbon dating shows that the Pool 6 core covers a period before and after the Classic period (around A.D. 550-850), the time when the Maya population was at its peak and kings were at their most powerful.  Then kings disappear from history in the southern Maya lowlands. I have told this story before. But now results from several field seasons increasingly demonstrate that something was going on between A.D. 800 and 900. That something is drought. Several multiyear droughts occurred, and all of the water jars date to this 100-year period. Coincidence? I don’t think so. Incredibly, Maya farmers persevered.  Now, I will apply for grants to cover the next several seasons of underwater and above-ground explorations at Cara Blanca. Surface excavations will begin at Structure 1, the ceremonial building and possible water shrine. Looting, which continues to be a problem throughout the Maya area, has left it structurally compromised. Three of the six rooms have been destroyed and emptied of their contents. The untouched rooms we plan to excavate will reveal another side to the ceremonial story and tie in to what we find in the cenote.  Archaeology is not just about human history. It is about the setting where humans live and its role in the history people create. For the Maya, this means the tropical environment, the annual wet and dry seasons, and how both the tropical setting and seasons affected social, political, economic and religious decision-making. These topics are important, especially when archaeologists cull lessons from the past. And with the world facing the increasing effects of global climate change, it’s worth looking at ancient societies whose farmers continue to survive. Sustainable farming practices got the Maya through the climate instability that perhaps brought an end to the Maya kings.  With this in mind, my plan is to bring in many different types of experts. A tropical tree specialist could help date and identify some of the hundreds of trees at pool bottoms to assess landscape change. A paleontologist would also be useful to help identify not only the varied megafauna species, but also to learn how these huge beasts lived and died. A paleobotanist could help conduct a botanical survey of the surrounding landscape to assess ancient forest management. This multipronged approach will bring us closer to understanding the Maya world and how they lived in it.  Until next year, we bid you farewell.  P.S. The world will not end on Dec. 21 or 23, 2012. The Maya calendar just starts at zero again.
After finding more water jar pieces, researchers plan their return to Cara Blanca, Belize, to further study the Maya world and how its inhabitants survived multi-year droughts.