Milestone Anniversary for Ancient Maya Trent Anthropology Research Project
Lost ancient Maya city at risk of agricultural development
Milestone Anniversary for Ancient Maya Trent Anthropology Research Project
Lost ancient Maya city at risk of agricultural development
2017 marks the ten year anniversary that Trent University Durham-GTA Anthropology professor, Dr. Helen Haines has been travelling to a small village in Belize to continue her work uncovering the lost ancient Maya city of Ka’Kabish.
Each year, Prof. Haines brings a group of Trent students with her to uncover, document and preserve the ancient city. Founder of what is now called the Ka’kabish Archaeological Research Project (KARP), Prof. Haines has worked with graduate and undergraduate student teams to uncover over 100 structures since 2007, which are distributed among nine plazas and courtyard complexes.
Of late, the Ka’kabish site had been earmarked for agricultural development and is at risk of being stripped of trees and vegetation, and the ancient temples and buildings are to be leveled by bulldozers. The land is currently registered as agricultural and most of the land around the site has been cleared for farming. “Pressure is mounting for this site to be demolished in the same way,” warns Prof. Haines. “We are working with the Institute of Archaeology, a division of the National Institute of Culture and History, in Belize, to buy back this section of land and stop the impending destruction.”
Prof. Haines has personally launched a crowd funding campaign, in an effort to purchase the land so that it can continue to be explored by the Trent KARP teams for years to come.
“Through continued archaeological work at the Ka’kabish site and engagement with the surrounding communities, our students have better understanding of the value of cultural heritage to make future rescue efforts like this one unnecessary.”