The beginning of the week started out like the beginning of the field season – very wet. We had torrential rain on Monday and some drizzle on Tuesday. The only good part of this weather is that it got rid of the high temperatures that we had last week. The rain did not really impact our archaeological work since we had already backfilled the excavations (last week) and everyone was working in the laboratory on artifact processing.
The final week was a fairly stressful with long nights as we strove to make sure that all of the materials were properly processed, drawn, and photographed. But, the team effort paid off, and we were finished by Thursday night. Most larger artifacts were drawn and described by mid-week. Mo and the rest of the staff executed drawings of smaller artifacts through Thursday morning. I finished all of the photography by noon on Thursday as well. Rumari took charge of packing all the artifacts going to the IOA in Belmopan, and six large plastic bins, one medium plastic bin, two sizeable plastic bags, and a large ceramic olla went out with her on Thursday afternoon courtesy an Institute of Archaeology (IOA) scheduled vehicle trip.
On Thursday night we celebrated the end of the field season with the traditional Caracol bonfire (where some of our older ripped and ruin clothing was burned). David Griffith did the honors of lighting the piled wood and debris this year, shortly after having removed most of the electrical line and camp lights, as well as after transporting much of our equipment into more secure storage facilities. Friday morning, Brian Woodye came into Caracol by 6 AM to help move the rest of the equipment and kitchen items to storage – and to aid in getting individuals and luggage from Caracol to San Ignacio, Soccotz, and Benque Viejo. Our formal group lunch with the IOA took place at 12:30 PM on Friday in the San Ignacio Hotel with everyone talking about how busy and wonderful the 39th field season had been. Some video of the new finds were also shown to the IOA, and plans were made for the next field season in 2026 (which will be the 40th).
On Saturday morning, Brian came to Cayo before 7 AM – and he and I drove everyone to the Belize City airport. We picked up David along the way in Belmopan so that he could drive the black truck back to Belmopan for Brian. All of us were at the Belize City airport by 10 AM for their afternoon flights. And, so ended the formalities of the 39th field season at Caracol.
A news release will follow that actually concludes the field season and emphasizes the importance of the archaeological work carried out in 2025.
