UC Santa Barbara Archaeologist Dr. Anabel Ford Works to Restore Ancient Forestry in Belize
 

For nearly half a century, Dr. Anabel Ford — archaeologist, research scientist, and director of UC Santa Barbara’s MesoAmerican Research Center — has dedicated her working life to questioning conventional wisdom about Maya agricultural practices.

Through much of her research, Ford has challenged Western assumptions that Mesoamerican forests were inadequate for sustaining communities, and that Maya people had damaged the forests with overpopulation and “slash and burn” practices. After decades of studying the land, the people, and the ancient ways, Ford is looking to prove the viability of the long-abandoned “art of the Maya forest garden.”

On Monday, Ford took the stage at Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History’s Fleischmann Auditorium to give a lecture to a packed house, where she spoke about her experiences rebuilding a site in western Belize called El Pilar, which she hopes to establish as a real-life example of the ancient Maya “milpa forest gardens.” The lecture was the latest in a series of free events presented by the Santa Barbara County Archaeological Society.

Read the full article here:
https://www.independent.com/2025/01/07/reviving-the-art-of-the-ancient-…

Watch the talk here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkqwOYt1M10