The week opened first with a Baron Bliss celebration and then with a nasty storm that blew over a series of trees throughout epicentral Caracol.  One fell over and through one of the stabilizer’s huts near the site museum; another large branch took out part of the men’s outhouse.

In spite of the storm, the final excavations were undertaken at the beginning of this week.  In Ramon, the excavation of the Protoclassic burial was completed and the trench was drawn.  In Chalpat, the rear tomb in Structure F14 was finished and recorded.  The last open excavations were in the Northwest Group, where a final bedrock cut was made in Structure F3 and the burial in the chultun was fully excavated and removed.  The Northwest Group produced some of the earliest material yet found at Caracol. The chultun burial consisted of a single prone individual set on stone slabs with 4 vessels, a spondylus shell, and a stingray spine; the tibia of a second individual were found beneath an upper slab set between lower slabs along with a jadeite pendent.  The most unusual vessel from the chultun was a deep red chocolate pot.

Backfilling also started on Monday and was finished by Friday.  Baja Vista was backfilled on Monday.  Alta Vista was backfilled on Monday and Tuesday.  Chalpat was backfilled on Tuesday and Wednesday.  Ramon was backfilled on Wednesday and Thursday.  And, finally, Structure A1 was backfilled on Thursday and Friday.

Laboratory work and artifact drawing proceeded throughout the week.  By week’s end, artifact photography was also started.  The laboratory work is ahead of schedule at this point.

Seven men went home on Friday afternoon with four remaining to undertake camp repair and next week’s surveying.  The stabilization continued this week on Structure B32.

Backfilling Structure F38

2011 Baron Bliss barbeque lunch

Cataloguing artifacts

Examining sherds before reconstruction

Chocolate Pot from Northwest Group chultun

Burial in bottom of Northwest Group chultun

Recording the section for Structure F3

Studying in the trenches

Washing sherds and bone in camp

The "drawing room"