Mayan Site Excavation

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In this research Dr. Fash will continue excavation of structure 10L-26 located at the site of Copan in Honduras. The site of Copan is a major Mayan center which documents the rise and subsequent decline of the Mayan civilization. Structure 10L-26 is a mound which contained a stairway which led to a temple on the top. It is one of the most important and least understood of all Maya monuments. An inscription carved in stone covered the stairway and the facade of the superstructure and this is the longest known in the aboriginal New World. Unfortunately, over half the stairway text fell and was buried. Even more seriously, the stairway inscription, exposed to the elements is deteriorating at a rapid rate. The goal of this research is to continue excavation of the buried portions of the stairway, assemble the blocks in the right order and then record, translate and interpret the inscription. Archaeologists have come to realize that different Mayan sites did not develop in isolation. Regions fought and traded, regularly with each other and thus each influenced the growth and decline of its neighbors. To understand the history of individual sites, it is necessary to set them in a regional context and in fact it probably makes more sense to think in terms of regions than individual sites. Although they have been only partially translated, it is believed that the inscriptions on the monument record a war and its outcome with a neighboring state. Through translation of the text and then incorporation of this information into a broader archaeological framework, it should be possible to both detail one aspect of intersite relations. This research is important because it will increase our understanding of complex societies such as our own. It will show, in particular how such entities emerge, are maintained and then decline. Since such processes cover not decades but thousands of years, archaeological data are particularly well suited to this purpose.