This was one of the hottest weeks at Caracol with no rain whatsoever and temperatures in the 90s each day. The week was mostly spent making sure that everything was finished. Most staff moved into the laboratory for processing. The excavations in both residential groups were completely backfilled, as was the investigation in the Northeast Acropolis. All of the tools were brought into camp from the field and cleaned. All of the loose sherds were numbered and stored and the last of the materials from the special deposits were sorted and glued together for photographs and analysis.

There is a lot of artifactual material from this field season that needs to be catalogued, drawn, and photographed. One reason that things progressed as well as they did was an influx of support from the Chase clan; Diane, Adrian, and Elyse all came down from the States to help with a week of drawing artifactual materials. Another reason that the laboratory work moved forward is that all of the staff is working overtime to ensure that things get finished. Most of the cataloguing of basic artifacts (lithics, ground stone, pottery artifacts) was completed this week, permitting individuals to move on to working on the last special deposits and on drawing the small artifacts. The huge quantities of limestone bars and obsidian eccentrics collected during the field season all had formal drawings done this week and the bulk of the pottery vessels were also formally recorded and drawn.

Besides the concentrated efforts in the lab, the week was also disrupted by the Belizean national election. Eight of our Belizean excavators went out on late Tuesday with a prearranged ride in order to vote in Benque, Soccotz, or San Ignacio Cayo, along with one of the cooks. On Wednesday morning after breakfast I drove the remaining two cooks out to Soccotz to vote. Along the way, we picked up a cooler full of hard-frozen chicken and a few supplies. We next picked up Carlos in San Ignacio in front of the police station and proceeded to Soccotz where the cooks left the vehicle to vote. Then, on to the Benque to collect all the excavators and finally back to Soccotz. Shortly after 11 AM, the last vote had been cast and we were all on our way back to Caracol. Thanks to the new road construction, we reached camp shortly after 1 PM. All of us were back at work for the afternoon, and some of us worked into the night until the generator was turned off at 9 PM.