The Archaeological Project

_______The preliminary archaeological survey of the Rio Bravo Conservation Area was accomplished over a week period beginning on the 15th of August, 1988, with a crew of five archaeologists: Anabel Ford, Director, Scott Fedick, Field Director, and Michael Glassow, Lisa Moore, and John Steinberg as field crew. Our schedule included (1) general reconnaissance adjacent to the main road of the area to gain a familiarity with the terrain, (2) air survey to obtain an appreciation of the Gallon Jug Region and to ascertain the location of unusual surface features, (3) ground survey of the center La Milpa, and (4) settlement survey in the vicinity of La Milpa and other areas representative of the region and accessible from the road. The combination of these activities provided a balanced preliminary review of the archaeology of the Rio Bravo Conservation Area and a basis for developing an archaeological management strategy.

General Surface Reconnaissance

_______The first project objective was to familiarize ourselves with the survey area. Using the main road that links Gallon Jug to north Blue Creek, our first day of work was spent locating topographic features and plotting the course of the main road and lateral trails on our topographic maps. Each day we were on this road we were able to increase our knowledge of the natural and cultural resources on either side of the road. This gave us the requisite information for the selection of several settlement survey areas.

Air Survey

_______Our study of the topographic maps including the Rio Bravo Conservation Area indicated a fundamental distinction between the western and eastern sections of the area, as discussed above. We determined that features of the eastern Lowlands Subregion were analogous to zones to the north, with riverine associated swamps, and that aspects of the western Hills Subregion were analogous to the areas south and east, with well-drained uplands. Given the diversity of the Rio Bravo Conservation Area, we felt that it was imperative to gain a general air survey overview of the context of the Conservation Area as well as air survey concentrated within the study area.

_______The air survey included the mornings of August 17th and 19th, 1988. The first morning involved a review of the Rio Bravo Conservation Area as well as adjacent areas to the north and south for comparative purposes. The second morning focused specifically on the Rio Bravo Conservation Area with special attention to the eastern, and inaccessible, Lowlands Subregion. These surveys were very useful in gaining an overall perspective of the Rio Bravo Conservation Area and provided a basis for comparison with adjacent, better known, areas.

_______During the first morning of air survey, our first objective was to review areas in Northern Belize where raised and drained fields had been securely identified in zones surrounding specific riverine swamps. These swamp situations are similar to several areas within the Rio Bravo Conservation Area. Air reconnaissance of those previously recorded areas provided the key to identifying similar feature signatures in archaeologically unknown zones. The second objective was to review a known upland area around El Pilar in the upper Belize River area, where a comprehensive archaeological survey had been conducted (Ford 1990). This provided a comparison of upland forested zones where ancient Maya settlement densities could be as high as 200 structures per km2. The initial air survey, in short, provided the comparative basis for evaluating features observed in the Rio Bravo Conservation Area.

_______The second morning's air survey focused on the lands within the project boundaries. Features identified in the first air survey were reviewed and examined, and other topographic features were identified. Special effort was made to view areas with riverine swamp associations, tops of escarpments, and the known La Milpa area of the western section of the Conservation Area. In all, it was very difficult to identify features in the air over the vast, forested Hills Subregion in the western part of the property. The eastern Lowlands Subregion, however, was very easy to review from the air, and, given the inaccessibility of that region during the wet season, this visibility enhanced our ability to asses the archaeology of the area.