This week marked the conclusion of our various field operations; the last orange row was walked, the last precious artifact surface collected, and the last structure mapped.

SCRAP 2015 Field Crew: (L-R) Brittany Johnson, Dr. Shawn Morton, Jesucita Guerra, Mr. J. Paquiul, Mr. G. Choc, Mr. J. Cal, Mr. I. Cal, Lisa Green, Dr. Meaghan Peuramaki-Brown, Tawny Tibbits

Beyond day-to-day field operations, over the last week we’ve learned new words in Mopan (if not proper spellings)—botik (thank you), kay (ok/yes/good), kosh (let’s go), kosh ti maia (let’s go to work), kosh ti si (let’s get firewood), kosh xi xna (let’s go home). We’ve tried new foods—santa maria (tastes like liquorice and makes your mouth go numb), wild bananas (little fruit…HUGE seeds), heart of palm, water vines. We even made some new toys…

How to make a natural rubber ball:

Step 1 – Find a rubber tree.

Step 2 – Slash the bark (don’t worry, it heals quickly).

Step 3 – Wait two or three days for the sap to harden (it coagulates and begins to turn brown/black).

Step 4 – Peel off the stretchy and slightly sticky strips and wrap, and wrap, and wrap.

We finished the week with a show-and-tell in Maya Mopan over breakfast, and had some friends come by to register the amazing artifacts they found in the creek while washing.

Meaghan showing and talking about the artifacts found during surface collection in the settlement

Shawn showing and talking about the topographic map of the epicentre he has been generating with help from Mr.s Choc, Paquiul, Cal, and Cal

Some excited Maya Mopan residents registering one of their surface finds from the nearby creek

Our focus for our final week lies with the equally important process of photographing, drawing, measuring, describing, identifying, counting, and prepping artifacts for further analysis, export, and local storage.

Until next time!

SCRAP 2015