"BUCKET!!" A volunteer raises his arm and yells out, and a native worker picks up another bucket full of soil and carries it to the screening station. It is incredibly hot, but mercifully, a steady breeze from the river keeps us reasonably cool as we kneel, squat, lie, dig and scrape in a landscape that looks like the cratered surface of the moon.

We are at 'Lamanai South', located in Northern Belize on the New River Lagoon. The excavation we are working on as volunteers is an ancient Maya mound containing several levels of human habitation which we are exposing one by one by carefully scraping off layers of soil, in an effort to find out who lived here, and why. The theory is that Lamanai continued to function long after the other large Maya centres had collapsed (it is thought that it was occupied from about 1500 BC right up to the 19th Century), perhaps serving as a control point or stop-over for trade up and down the New River, and 'our' mound contains strata from the pre-classic period right up to Spanish and subsequently British levels. The classification of the various periods runs from pre-classic (1800 BC - 250 AD), early classic (250 - 600 AD), late classic (600 - 900 AD), to post-classic (900 - 1500 AD), and then on to the early 1700's, the time of the Spanish, and later, British arrivals.

Our journey into the past started with an ad in 'Archeology Magazine', seeking volunteers to work on the dig. My husband and I have always been interested in archaeology and have seen many of the great Maya ruins in the Yucatan, but this was the first time we decided to try a 'hands-on' experience rather than just being tourists.

As we arrived at Belize International Airport, we met the rest of our group of 10 who had flown in from various points in the U.S. We are a mixed lot indeed, of all ages and professions, but with a common love of archaeology, a desire for knowledge and respect for the ancient people we are trying to learn more about. We were greeted by a representative from the Lamanai Outpost Lodge, where we would be housed, and driven to the New River in Orange Walk District, where we were picked up by the Lodge's pontoon boat for the last leg of our trip to the Lodge, a beautiful one-hour ride on the river in the early evening. A lovely beginning to our adventure, with the soft, warm, humid air hanging over the still river and literally hundreds of different birds perching on trees and bushes along the tangled riverbank.

Lamanai Outpost Lodge turned out to be a little slice of paradise in the middle of the jungle, overlooking the lagoon. We were housed in individual wooden cabanas with thatched roofs, each with its own front porch, located on beautifully landscaped grounds, where orange trees, coconut palms, banana trees, and countless other bushes and trees grew.

On Day One, our archaeologist, Dr. Herman Smith, took us on a 3-hour walk through the jungle to view the impressive ruins of Lamanai. One of the pyramids is the tallest one of that period (about 100 BC) and is 108 feet tall. There is also a Late Classic ballcourt, and houses built over ceremonial structures, and post-classic temples over classic houses. These ruins are not cosmetically restored like those at some other Maya sites, which to us made them almost more imposing. The pyramids are overgrown with vegetation which has forced itself between and under the stone blocks, forcing them apart. Some of the houses of the elite of the time are basically just foundations and partial walls, and it takes some imagination to picture a thriving community.

The vegetation in the forest is fantastic and overwhelming, trees and vines grow into and around each other, choking each other and fighting for the little sunlight available to them. High in the tree canopy we spotted black howler-monkeys, which are also being studied at Lamanai. Everything seems to be larger than life in the jungle - palm trees, lianas, bromeliads, orchids, all the tropical plants we pay dearly for at nurseries at home run riot here. Dr. Smith pointed out a tree whose trunk is covered with evil-looking large spines which apparently are extremely painful when touched. Strangely enough, that same tree's leaves, when mashed up and applied to stings from these thorns, acts as an 'antidote' to the injury! The thing I did wonder about was, how would you get at the leaves up in the tree canopy without touching the spines...? We also came across Allspice trees, where our popular spice comes from - the scent is heavenly when one of its leaves is crushed! There is also the chiclet tree, which produces the gummy substance used in chewing gum. The jungle is full of noises, insects humming, birds calling in a myriad of different tones, punctuated once in a while by the roar of a howler monkey. No alarm clock needed here to get up early in the morning - the call of a howler monkey can be heard one and a half miles away!

That same afternoon, it was lesson time in the lab at the Lodge, where Dr. Smith explained the workings of a dig and the objective of this particular excavation, which was to find out why this site had continued to function well after the other major Maya centres had collapsed.

Our second day, when we got down to some 'serious digging', started with a 7.00 a.m. breakfast, and then off to the site by pontoon boat at 8.00 a.m.

We were divided up into teams of two, each of which was assigned a one-square metre plot which is designated with a lot number, arrived at by coordinates of longitude and latitude. Each team received a plastic bag bearing that lot's number to store any artifacts found in their area so that later on, a clear picture will emerge of what was found where, and perhaps a pattern can be detected. The work is mostly done with trowels, scraping off layer after layer of soil, which is dumped into a bucket. The bucket is then brought to the screening station where the soil is screened for any artifacts that may have been missed.

The mound we were working on contained, at one time, at least one square building, and a round building on a level above it. We found obsidian blades, spear points, lots of snail shells (escargots, anyone?!), the remains of a hearth, easily distinguished by the much darker soil and traces of wood ashes, pottery shards of every shape and colour, some still bearing traces of the original painted decoration, small clay fishnet weights, British clay pipes, as well as human teeth and bones. The bones are extremely fragile and need to be worked on carefully with brushes so they don't disintegrate. Of the skeletal remains found, some are proper burials, which can be identified as such, as the skeleton usually has a broken pot or plate placed over its head; but there were also other skeletons found by previous groups of volunteers, of what looked like murder victims, as some were found with spear points still buried in their chest cavity. We speculate what may have taken place here so many hundreds of years ago...a rebellion against the elite, a raid by a neighbouring community?

My handiwork...washing, sorting, numbering and cataloguing pottery shards



Some of the weird and wonderful pottery found at the site

There is a thatched roof next to the site where we were able to take rests in hammocks when we got too hot, and where ice-water and juice were available to us. At noon, we finished up at the site, as it gets too hot to work in the afternoon, and headed back to the Lodge by boat, with the day's "haul" of full plastic bags.

Here I am cataloguing artifacts at the lab


Afternoons were usually free for us to do as we wished, although volunteers are always needed in the lab to sort and wash the pottery found that day, and catalog all artifacts. One day we sorted the hundreds of obsidian blades recovered from the site by their origin. Obsidian is volcanic glass, and depending on its colour, transparency and pattern, it is possible to narrow down which volcanic area the glass came from, an important clue to trading patterns in the area.

Flint spearheads found at the site. The small black objects on the left are obsidian blades.












Lots of patience is needed...





In the evenings, we all had dinner together at one long table in the Lodge, comparing notes of the day's finds and just getting to know each other. After dinner, we would sit on the Lodge's deck having our coffee, listening to all the different insect sounds emanating from the jungle, enjoying the cooling breeze off the lagoon, until it was time for our nightly 'lecture'. These were held in the lab and were not at all what the word conjures up...they were fun, educational and interesting. Dr. Smith explained the Maya calendar in detail one night; on another evening, we were treated to a slide show and talk by a lady studying for her PhD in animal behaviour who was observing black howler monkeys near the Lodge.

And so the week passed, all too quickly, working at the site each morning, with exciting artifacts being found every day, catching up in the lab in the afternoons, and get-togethers in the evenings. Before we knew it, it was time for us to leave, and we all regretted not having signed up for a longer period of time! We have made new friends, both of our native workers and our fellow 'diggers', and saying goodbye is hard.

Instead of returning to Belize Airport via boat and van, we are flown out of the Lodge in small planes, which affords us the special treat of seeing the jungle and the meandering New River from the air. As we look down, we promise ourselves to return, if not to Belize, perhaps to another dig site somewhere in the world, to continue our own learning process and help to excavate and preserve the precious heritage that lies buried beneath the soil, just waiting to be re-discovered.