Our February Meeting is
Monday, April 16, 2012

Courtyard by Marriott
 3347 Cerrillos Road

Social Hour:         6:00 PM
Dinner: ($27.50)   6:30 PM
Lecture:                7:30 PM

AIA Speaker:
David Lee
Coordinator for CA Archaeological Site Stewardship
Subject: “Closer Than We Think - Rock Art of Australia”

Lecture Details

Read the August 2011 Membership Newsletter

The Santa Fe Archaeological Society (SFAS), founded in 1900, is one of the oldest archaeological societies in North America. It became a chapter of the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) in 1916, and remains the only AIA chapter in New Mexico.

The purpose of the SFAS is "to promote archaeological research, to stimulate the love of art, and to contribute to the higher culture of the Southwest".

During its first century, the chapter has gone from being combined with the state archeological society, to being an adjunct with the Museum of New Mexico, and then coupled with the School of American Research. It became a separate organization in 1971 and boasts a membership that is widely traveled in world archaeology.

3D Imaging of Maya Artifacts in Underwater Sites

Heather McKillop

While walking in a shallow lagoon in southern Belize in search of “briquetage” — broken pots used to boil brine over fires to make salt — we made an accidental discovery that has transformed our knowledge of the ancient Maya. We found wooden posts and artifacts — including the only reported ancient Maya canoe paddle — perfectly preserved in a peat bog below the sea floor. The peat is mangrove peat, formed from accumulation of debris and roots as the salt-water red mangroves kept pace with rising seas. We did find lots of “briquetage,” but also the buildings and other structures associated with a massive salt production industry that reached its peak during the height of the Late Classic Maya civilization (A.D. 600-900), when demand at the inland cities for this basic biological necessity was highest. Since wood is rarely preserved in the tropical landscape of Central America, the Paynes Creek Salt Works provide a stunning example of the kinds of wooden buildings used by the ancient Maya. In this presentation, I summarize the discovery and mapping of some 4000 wooden posts between 2005 and 2009, as well as the ongoing field research excavating “Ancient Maya Wooden Architecture and the Salt Industry.” With a Site Preservation Grant from the AIA for “Underwater Maya,” I am working with the local communities to provide displays and education, including an “observation platform” at the sites, to promote tourism and protection of these ancient Maya treasures of the sea.

Heather McKillop is the William G. Haag Professor of Archaeology in the Dept of Geography and Anthropology at Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge. She earned her B.Sc. and M.A. in Anthropology at Trent University (Canada) and her Ph.D. at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She has carried out fieldwork on the coast of Belize since 1979, focusing on the ancient Mayan economy. Her initial studies focused on identifying the characteristics of ancient ports, with excavations at Moho Cay (near modern Belize City) and Wild Cane Cay (in the far south near modern Punta Gorda). Survey on the southern coast and offshore cays examined the role of the coast in long distance and coastal-inland trade of exotic and marine resources to the urban Maya at interior cities. Many of the sites were inundated by sea-level rise, including salt workshops. She has published many articles on her research, including her most recent article in "Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences" (April 2005), which has brought much press interest. Her books include "In Search of Maya Sea Traders" (2005), "The Ancient Maya: New Perspectives" (2004), "Salt: White Gold of the Ancient Maya" (2003), and "Coastal Maya Trade" (1989, with co-editor P. Healy). Her current fieldwork focuses on mapping wooden architecture preserved in a peat bog below the sea floor in southern Belize at 23 salt workshops, for which she has been awarded funding from the National Geographic Society, National Science Foundation, and FAMSI (Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies).