Title
A Tale of Two Projects: Comparative Findings of the CRAS and Yalahau Projects
Document Type
Contribution to Book
Publication Date
2015
Abstract
I have worked with Justine M. Shaw in the Yucatán peninsula for more than 20 years, and it is a real pleasure to see the summation of her project's work thus far in this edited volume. As codirector of the Yalahau Regional Human Ecology Project (with Scott Fedick), I have worked to the north of the CRAS project in the Yalahau region of Quintana Roo. The CRAS and Yalahau projects have shared a similar trajectory for many years. Although both projects have focused several seasons on individual sites (for example, El Naranjal, T'isil, Vista Alegre, and Xuxub in the Yalahu region) with detailed mapping, excavations, and artifact analysis, the broader goal has been to address large areas of coverage, with relatively few excavations into buildings. Both projects have focused on site location, with the use of local people as informants and guides. Additionally, we have both attempted to balance out the bias of working at the large sites shown to us by informants by taking advantage of the seasonal cleared areas in agricultural fields to locate smaller architecture. This has been an effective methodology, and to date the Yalahau project has documented over 100 sites.
Editor
Justine M. Shaw
Publisher
University of New Mexico Press
City
Albuquerque
ISBN
9780826348647
Repository Citation
Mathews, J. P. (2015). A tale of two projects: Comparative findings of the CRAS and Yalahau Projects. In J. M. Shaw (Ed.), The Maya of the Cochuah region: Archaeological and ethnographic perspectives on the northern lowlands (pp. 257-268). University of New Mexico Press.
Publication Information
The Maya of the Cochuah Region: Archaeological and Ethnographic Perspectives on the Northern Lowlands