Brian S. Ebers 21

D.E. Campus Life Editor

Perched upon a ledge 300 feet above the thick forest floor of the Belize jungle, Heather Clagett searches for clues that might provide a better understanding of the daily lives of an early Mayan civilization.

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Clagett, an SIUC doctoral student in anthropology, returned from her third digging season in Belize in July. A digging season generally runs from May until July.

Belize is a heavily forested country in Central America located south of Mexico and east of the Petn region in Guatemala. For more than 50 years, SIUC students and faculty have been digging for clues into the life of the Mayans in Belize.

Clagett is interested in understanding the daily living patterns of the average Mayan family rather than the examining larger city areas. There has been an increased interest in the last 30 years in looking at smaller Mayan residences.

I’m interested in how the average Joe made a living, Clagett said. I want to know what resources they used, and the collapse around the lowlands (area around Blue Creek escarpment), and the political changes of the time.

The common Mayan dwelled in a household, used stone tools and engaged in hunting and farming, Clagett said.

We have discovered interesting artifacts like pottery and blades, she said. But the Mennonite (local) farmers have plowed over some of the residential structures, and some of the platforms have been disturbed.

Clagett is studying the period of Mayan culture known as the Early Classic. The Early Classic was a period of time between 250 and 600 A.D.

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Clagett is examining an area directly to the lower east of the Blue Creek site. She recently studied an area of about 40 mounds. A mound is a small residential area where Mayan families lived. A typical mound is 10 feet long and 15 feet wide.

We have a controlled excavation (site) where we’re finding animal bones, trash dumps, pottery and residential structures, she said. These outlying structures were part of the Blue Creek site. The site was a residential area of Blue Creek.

In a different area of Belize, located 12 miles southwest of Blue Creek, Jon Hageman is studying the time period of the Mayan civilization right before its culture collapsed between 850 and 1000 A.D. at the end of the Late Classic Period.

Hageman, a doctoral student in anthropology, has spent his last three summers near the Belize and Guatemala border. Hageman is interested in studying the social structures of the Mayans and discovering settlement patterns.

Hageman is working in an area located between two cities, La Milpa and Dos Hombres, 12 miles apart. He is examining the area between the two cities in an area about 400 feet wide.

We’re covering several types of terrain, and we’re finding some plaza group arrangements [a big central structure with smaller structures scattered around it] at regular intervals, he said.

Hageman said that if he can understand the socio-economic and political organizations of the Mayan civilization in the Late Classic Period, then he can have a better idea of how they disappeared from the area.

If the (structures) I have been finding were groups of houses of lineage heads, then it would support that family membership was important, he said. I’m looking for indicators to show if the social groups were based on a class system or a kin system.

A class system is a hierarchical structure based on social status. A kin system deals with families and heads of households who make decisions in the community.

Hageman said searching the area for structures is sometimes difficult because of the dense forest lowlands. Many dangerous animals and natural deterrents reside deep in the jungle.

We had an encounter once where one of my crew was walking and mapping the area, he said. The person stepped right over a fer-de-lance. A fer-de-lance is a pit-viper just like a rattle snake without the rattle and with more attitude.

Hageman said he will continue to study the late civilization in February for indicators of how their social structure was designed.

My goal is to get at the basic social organization of the Mayans, and I hope to clarify the political and economic relationships of the Late Classic Period, he said. This is an important period of time because it’s right before the collapse (of the civilization). If I can understand the social collapse, then I think it will provide insight into the collapse that occurred in the lowlands.