Introduction: Research and Development at El Pilar

by Anabel Ford, Ph.D

Background

The seeds of the El Pilar Program are in the settlement patterns of the ancient Maya - those first agricultural pioneers of the Maya forest. The value of the lessons of the ancient Maya became clear at a research planning meeting sponsored by the Programme for Belize; there scientists working in the New World tropics examined the potential research themes,. Human influences past and present featured prominently. Maintaining occasional contact, I explained to Archie Carr III the interests that were developing around the initial El Pilar archaeological project and how I wanted to include the community at the outset. In May 1994, Carr included me at a USAID meeting in Guatemala. There I presented my initial progress with the community organization, Amigos de El Pilar. At that time, I also met with the head of Prehispanic Monuments at IDAEH. This was the birth of the notion of a contiguous park around El Pilar. June 1994 , Miguel Orrego of IDAEH and José Sanchez of CONAP mapped a major complex of El Pilar called Pilar Poniente. Miguel Orrego joined the El Pilar Program in 1995 and CCAD sponsored the first binational meeting of technical staff of Belize and Guatemala in 1996.

The 1997 El Pilar Round Table, sponsored by the Ford Foundation, brought together for the first time a number of specialists and stakeholders that had - to a greater or lesser extent - been involved with the El Pilar vision. The round table was conceived to bring specialists from a wide range of fields to identify the possibilities and address the uncertainties of the novel plan. All were familiar with the region, most knew the site, and some had met one another. No one, however , had been together to discuss, debate and hammer out the details of the El Pilar plan. With combined participation from research and development areas, a consensus on the general goals was reached that fully acknowledge troubling land tenure issues, economic development problems, differences between Belize and Guatemala, and divergent perceptions of archaeology. The results presented here represent the structural, technical and legal basis for charting the research and development of a contiguous El Pilar Archaeological Reserve. The conservation concept for El Pilar, designed to be coordinated through participating Non-Government Organizations (NGOs), will create a novel eco-tourist destination by featuring ancient community life of the Maya, provide adjacent villagers with alternative development opportunities, and conserve irreplaceable cultural as well as vanishing natural resources of our world heritage.

Goals and Purposes

Our current knowledge of the Maya forest comes from diverse yet related disciplines. These cross-cut research and development arenas and create a nexus for interdisciplinary enterprise and collaboration. Areas with great potential include:

• Research Anthropology, Ecology, Agriculture & Conservation
• Development: Community Development, Ecotourism, Reserve Management, & Institutional Framework

This uniquely collaborative program for El Pilar provides the opportunity for professionals from distinct backgrounds to perceive conservation in a way that integrates the natural and cultural aspects of both research and development. Collaboration among participants from the USA, Mexico, Belize, and Guatemala is designed to develop basic standards that spotlight the ancient Maya center of El Pilar in the context of the contemporary Maya forest. Drawing on collective insights of investigation, interpretation, conservation, and presentation, this focus on the El Pilar Archaeological Reserve for Maya Flora and Fauna Belize-Guatemala will inspire the revival of El Pilar as a monument to the past, an opportunity for the present, and a testament for the future.

The goal is to promote a model cultural and natural resource conservation program that includes an ecotourist destination, and features ancient community life of the Maya and provides adjacent villagers with sustainable alternatives and realistic opportunities to help bring them into the 21 century.