The Piedras Negras Project: Preliminary Report of the 2000 Field Season

In the Land of the Turtle Lords:
Archaeological Investigations at Piedras Negras, Guatemala
Stephen Houston, Héctor Escobedo, Mark Child, Charles Golden, Richard Terry, and David Webster

Conclusion and Prospects

Excavations in 2000, the most ambitious to date, resulted in a collection of evidence that, with earlier seasons, crowned the most abundant information on Precolumbian urbanism in the Usumacinta basin and perhaps in the western Maya Lowlands. Data came from all periods, in both extensive and intensive excavations, stripping and test pitting. Historical information lent a rich texture to this work, embroidering it with the alliances and antagonisms of the Turtle dynasty of Piedras Negras.

Future projects will need to build on these results with even more attention to surburban, residential, and rural zones. These form the majority of settlement at the site but still, despite our best efforts, a minority of the excavations. An undated memorandum from the late 1940s by Linton Satterthwaite, the leader of the University Museum expedition (Shook Archive, Universidad del Valle), urged a return to Piedras Negras to focus on precisely these features. Regrettably, that initiative was neither approved nor funded. The laurels of being a settlement pattern pioneer in the Maya Lowlands went instead to Gordon Willey, who introduced the approach in Belize several years later, partly with Satterthwaite’s advice and encouragement (Willey et al., 1965:vii, xi, 15).

With renewed excavations the osteological sample at Piedras Negras could be tripled, given reasonable estimates based on the Brigham Young/del Valle project. Complete mapping could extend beyond the brechas cut in 1997 and 1998 to embrace the full constellation of settlement, from suburban zone to the negligible constructions more than one hour’s walk from the epicenter. Concentrated sectors of settlement exist in the valley leading to Corregidora Ortíz in México, and these, with the Macabilero to the south and the northern limits of the Yaxchilán kingdom around La Pasadita, merit the closest attention. An ecological survey, combined with radar survey, ground reconnaissance, and test-excavation to introduce a temporal dimension, could produce a fine-grained, mosaic perspective on adaptations to varied micro-environments in the region. This would aid immeasurably in the difficult work of the Parque Nacional, which seeks to inventory, protect, and develop its cultural treasures. Within Piedras Negras, the Northwest Group Court piqued our interest because of its unusual deposits, and it too requires more investigation, as do selected parts of the South Group. Yet, the current project is well-satisfied with its efforts, now to be refined with additional labwork. May Piedras Negras and its kingdom yield additional insights to those tenacious enough to work in this taxing but rewarding zone.

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