Investigating an Inland Maya Port:
The 2003 Field Season at Trinidad de Nosotros, Petén, Guatemala

Future Research at Trinidad de Nosotros

Future investigations at Trinidad, scheduled for the spring of 2005, will build upon the results of the 2003 season. The second phase of research will include additional mapping, test-pitting, and household excavations. Intensive excavations will also focus on Trinidad’s port facilities and monumental architecture. Excavations in the harbor area will seek to clarify the chronology of harbor construction and to test additional features that may be artificial. Dating and describing Trinidad’s principal structure and ballcourt will provide information critical to our understanding of the site’s long-term growth and function within the Late Classic polity centered on Motul de San José.

In order to identify variations in the function of the port both through time and in relation to events at Motul de San José, future research will explore the level of access that Trinidad’s residents had to trade goods. The 2005 field season will emphasize the identification and excavation of middens associated with residential groups throughout Trinidad’s long occupation.

Finally, future research will also include a number of specialized studies designed to provide a chronology for long-term variation in lake level (Figure 19, shown above). Lake Petén Itzá’s water level changes considerably during the course of the year and is believed to have fluctuated significantly during the occupation of Trinidad de Nosotros. Understanding the correlation between these changes and the site’s occupation will be critical to studying Trinidad’s long-term port function.

Previous Page  |  Table of Contents  |  Next Page

Return to top of page