The sixth week of excavation started off much like the first – with heavy rains. Beginning on Sunday night, it rained almost continually through early Wednesday. Thus, Monday and Tuesday were spent doing necessary laboratory work, with the students washing and cataloging materials and the men numbering sherds. Hugo piled sherds into our little red wagon and hauled them to the kitchen under a tarp. Sherd numbering and other laboratory work continued for two full days, with a disruption to our regular schedule on Wednesday.

Wednesday was national election day in Belize and almost everyone went out to vote, especially as Wednesday was declared a national holiday (Red prevailed over Blue). The “election machine” brought the men went out to vote on Tuesday after work and brought them back in just in time (ca. 7:15 AM after a rough 3 hour ride on the road) for the beginning of Thursday. The cooks went out on Wednesday morning after breakfast and got back in about 7:30 in the evening; all of them were shaken by how bad the road was after the rain.

In the field, the project used Wednesday as a catch-up day in the field and laboratory. Zumba was completely finished and drawn, leaving only Terraza and Dos Aguadas open. The Dos Aguadas tomb took the rest of the week – and weekend – to process. At least 26 vessels and multiple individuals came out of this benched chamber into bedrock. In Terraza, the two tombs also continued with excavation, each producing vessels and bone. These were still not finished by the end of Sunday, but they were almost there.

This past weekend was also a holiday weekend – Baron Bliss Holiday and the Ruta Maya canoe race. We had our traditional hard-wood barbeque on Sunday at Caracol with our “one barrel” chicken and the special Caracol sauce. . . . the calm before the rush to the end….

Rain day numbering in the Caracol kitchen.

Rain day cataloguing in the back of Caracol Laboratory 2.

Fish design in the bottom of one of the dishes from the Terraza lower tomb.

Floor of the excavated Dos Aguadas tomb looking south.

Diane on the north end of the excavated Dos Aguadas tomb.

An open-air jungle barbeque with the cooks tending the chicken and fire.

The 2012 Baron Bliss meal in the Caracol kitchen.