Early Copán Acropolis Program 2000 Field Season

Conservation of Architecture

During ECAP’s 2000 field season the critical effort to preserve the Early Classic architecture of the Copán Acropolis was continued. This is an ongoing long-term process which will have to continue long after ECAP ceases its presence in Copán. Accordingly, during the 2000 field season discussions were held between the ECAP Director, Dr. Robert Sharer, and Dr. Seiichi Nakamura, Director of the Copán architectural consolidation program of the Instituto Hondureño de Antropología e Historia (IHAH), to coordinate ECAP’s consolidation efforts and to ensure compliance with long term site preservation policies. In addition, these discussions also involved planning for the future of architectural consolidation at Copán. As a result it was agreed that ECAP’s consolidation efforts will continue over the next three field seasons until they cease in 2003 when the current convenio with IHAH expires.

Due to the support by FAMSI, the effort to consolidate all major ECAP tunnels, and preserve the architecture exposed by these excavations, continued to make progress during the 2000 field season. Once again the overall supervisor of tunnel consolidation was Fernando Lopez. The focus of this effort in 2000 was the installation of masonry consolidation over the chamber of the Sub-Jaguar Tomb and in the tunnel that provides access to this chamber beneath the Acropolis East Court. The completion of this work in 2000 ensures the long-term security and access to this important excavation area. In addition to this effort, a number of stratigraphic test pits were backfilled. The critical effort of monitoring and periodic conservation of the modeled and painted plaster facades on several Early Classic buildings also continued during the 2000 field season. During the 2000 field season FAMSI funding continued to provide critical support to meet the continuing tunnel consolidation work necessitated by unusually heavy rains which fell on Copán in both 1998 and 1999.  These disastrous rains caused water infiltration and collapse in several ECAP tunnel areas. As in 1999, FAMSI funding was used to hire extra labor crews to repair this damage during the 2000 field season.

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