Chan: An Ancient Maya Farming Community

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments The Chan project was a collaborative archaeological endeavor. Over the course of eight years, between 2002 and 2009, the members of the Chan project became a team working together to explore the nature and importance of a Maya farming community. Most project members got a chance to know each other and work together during various field seasons in Belize, where we discussed our questions, goals, and interpretations. Other members worked in various specialized research laboratories largely located in the United States and were drawn into our broader conversations about the meaning of life at Chan at conferences, over the phone, or through e-mail. We came from all over the globe, mostly from Belize and the United States but also from England, Canada, and China. Most of our team were archaeologists —professionals, graduate students, undergraduate students, and volunteers. But we also incorporated multidisciplinary interests from fields such as botany, geology, geography, chemistry, computer science, and art. We, the twenty authors and coauthors in this volume, represent the lead researchers of the various field and laboratory projects associated with the Chan project, but this project would not have been possible without the hard work and dedication of our 123 project members—the team that makes archaeology such a rewarding collaborative enterprise. We have chosen to dedicate this volume to our Belizean counterparts on the Chan project, our colleagues and friends acknowledged on our dedication page. These individuals are the local field archaeologists, laboratory staff, and project staff, largely from the community of San Jose Succotz, which has been the home of generations of Belizean archaeologists since the days of Eric Thompson. Our Belizean counterparts welcomed us, made us feel at home, taught us how to live and work in Belize, listened to and critiqued our ideas about Chan, and supplied us with some of our most useful insights , as acknowledged across the pages of this volume. Everaldo Chi was the foreman of our fieldwork. Marta Puc supervised our field laboratory, as she did for the Xunantunich Archaeological Project prior to us. Glenis Smith managed our project, a position that is often undertaken by a U.S. professional. Excavation supervisors included Bernabe Camal Sr., Edwin Camal, Ifrain Chan, Ismael R. Chan, Eduardo Chi, Venura Cocom, Placido xvi · Acknowledgments Cunil Jr., Abel Goodoy, Virgilio Goodoy, Ciro Hernandez, Manuel Kent, Jose Lopez, Mariano Lopez Jr., Jose Luis Panti, Cruz Puc, and Nasario Puc. Excavation, survey, lab, and project assistants included Merle Alfaro, Nestor Alfaro, Sylvia Batty, Theresa Batty, Bernabe Camal Jr., Jonny Camal , Eduardo Chan, Heriberto Chan, Ismael Chan Sr., Ismael F. Chan Jr., Elvis Chi, Jaime Chi, Omar Chi, Roberto Cunil, Ismael Ernandez, Reina Ernandez, William Hofman, Elvis Itza, Roberto Jimenez, Sergio Jimenez, Gumercindo Mai, Susan Mai, Rosita Marin, Lazaro Martinez, Rosa Martinez , Oscar Mejia, Eder Panti, Alma Patt, Salvador Penados, Elvin Puc, Ricky Puc, Ronnie Puc, Sandra Puc, Sandra Aurora Puc, Ediberto Reyes, Carlos Salgueros, Julia Sanchez, Alex Smith, David Smith, Horace Smith, Ken Smith, Feliz Uck, Elmer Valdez, and Gerald Valdez. Additionally we thank the colleagues, students, and volunteers who worked with us in Belize and in various labs in the United States, whose valuable assistance allowed us to complete this project, including Michelle Abtahi, Yasmine Baktash, Doug Bolendar, Margaret Briggs, Jeff Buechler, Pamela Cardenas, Jonathan Dattilo, Kristin de Lucia, Brian Dema, Brian Dubin, Laure Dussubieu, Krista Garcia, Chris Hetrick, Iram Izam, Serena Jain, Tegan Jones, Kate Kanne, Kalina Kassadjikova, Shelley Khan, Colleen Kron, Kristin Landau, Michael Latsch, Lisa LeCount, Megan McGee, William Middleton, Alex Miller, Mary Morrison, Elizabeth Nolan, Lisa Overholtzer, Brad Phillippi, Jessie Pinchoff, Tamas Polanyi, Jeffrey Schecter, Elizabeth Schiffman, Holly Schumacher, Kate Stephensen, Anthony Tedeschi , Ana Tejeda, Bob Trombello, and Dan Wyman. We were fortunate to have wonderful support from the landowners who today own part of what used to be the ancient community of Chan. Ismael Chan Sr. and Derric Chan, the owners of the central portion of the site and for whom the site is named, became our friends and partners in this endeavor as their lifelong interest in protecting and understanding Chan inspired the work that we did. We were also lucky that 47 additional landowners allowed us to survey and excavate on their property, including Rosita Aguallo, Jose Alfaro, Armando Bautista, Thomas Chable, Benigno Chan, Calixto Chan, Francisco Chan, Guadalupe Chan, Ventura Chi, Adele DesRochers, Rogelio Gamez, Virgilio Goodoy, Jose Hiron, Edward Jenkins , Virginia Jenkins, Irene Jimenez, Michael Jones, Valentin Ku, Abelio Leon, Estela Leon, Ireno Magaña, Jose Mai, Amalio Matus, Fidel...