The History of Excavations at Lamanai

Archaeological excavations began at Lamanai in 1974 under the direction of David Pendergast, who was then a curator in the Department of New World Archaeology at the ROM and is now the museum's Vice President for Collections and Research. In 1979, after her term as Archaeological Commissioner in Belize, Elizabeth Graham joined Dr. Pendergast at Lamanai, where excavations continued until 1986. At that time, Graham and Pendergast turned their attention to other sites in Belize, mainly Tipu, along the Macal River in western Belize, and Marco Gonzalez, on Ambergris Caye.

The first stage of the Lamanai Project, from 1974 to 1986, was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRCC) and the Royal Ontario Museum. The second stage of the project took shape in the spring of 1997, and Dr. Graham now serves as the Principal Investigator. Lamanai Outpost Lodge, the hotel situated at the edge of the Lamanai Reserve, played a critical role in stimulating new interest in the site and in sponsoring new excavations. The Department of Archaeology in Belize continues to improve tourist facilities on site and is also continuing consolidation and reconstruction of buildings in the site centre. Excavation and conservation programs directed by Dr. Graham will now continue at Lamanai in conjunction with other field research and education programs sponsored by the Lamanai Field Research Centre (LFRC). Work at Lamanai in 1997 was sponsored by the Lamanai Field Research Centre, the Royal Ontario Museum, and York University. In addition, Lamanai Outpost Lodge provides accomodation, food, and logistical support for the Lamanai Project.

 

Pendergast, David M.

1974 Boats, Burials, and Beans - Or, Life at Lamanai Lodge. Royal Ontario Museum Archaeological Newsletter, n.s., No. 110.
1975 (a) The Church in the Jungle: The ROM's First Season at Lamanai. Rotunda 8(2):32-40. Royal Ontario Museum.
(b) Lamanai 1975: The Goods Are Oft Interr'd With Their Bones. ROM Archaeological Newsletter, n.s., No. 122.
1976 Lamanai 1976: Architecture at Last. ROM Archaeological Newsletter, n.s., 132.
1977 (a) A Face from the Past. Rotunda 10(1):4-11.
(b) Royal Ontario Museum Excavation: Finds at Lamanai, Belize. Archaeology 30:2, 129-131.
(c) In the Soup, as well as Other Structures. ROM Archaeological Newsletter, n.s., No. 144.
(d) Lamanai 1977, Episode Two: Languishing on Lag. ROM Archaeological Newsletter, n.s., No. 151.
1978 (a) Lamanai 1978: Un Ballo In Maschera. ROM Archaeological Newsletter, n.s., No. 156.
(b) Lamanai 1978, Part II: Crocodiles and Crypts. ROM Archaeological Newsletter, n.s., No. 163.
1979 Prolegomena to a Treatise on the Parameters of Euphoric Disorientation as a Measure of Disfunctional Complexity in the Tropical Ecosystemic Logistics/Excavation Interface. ROM Archaeological Newsletter, n.s., No. 170.
1980 (a) A Dusty Tunnel. ROM Archaeological Newsletter, n.s., No. 176.
(b) Lamanai (Indian Church): Cross-Section of Belize's Past. Belizean Studies 8:3, 19-32. St. John's College, Belize City.
(c) Lamanai 1980: As Easy as Picking Up Quicksilver with a Fork. ROM Archaeological Newsletter, n.s., No. 180.
(d) Lamanai 1980, Episode Two: More Is Less. ROM Archaeological Newsletter, n.s., No. 187.
1981 (a) The 1980 Excavations at Lamanai, Belize. Mexicon 2(6):96-99.
(b) An Ancient Maya Dignitary: A Work of Art from the ROM's Excavations at Lamanai, Belize. Rotunda 13(4):5-11.
(c) Lamanai, Belize: Summary of Excavation Results, 1974-1980. Journal of Field Archaeology 8:1, 29-53.
(d) Lamanai 1981: A Regular Three-Ring Circus. ROM Archaeological Newsletter, n.s., No. 192.
(e) Lamanai, Belize: 1981 Excavations. Mexicon 3(4):62-63.
(f) Lamanai 1981 (II): Buds, Sweat, and Gears. ROM Archaeological Newsletter, n.s., No. 199.
(g) Lamanai. Brukdown 5(6):6-13, 34. Belize City.
1982 (a) The Old Man and the Moon. Rotunda 14(4):7-12.
(b) Lamanai 1982: Ottawa, Stella Dallas, and the Woodlice. ROM Archaeological Newsletter, n.s., No. 203.
(c) Ancient Maya Mercury. Science 217(4559):533-535.
(d) The 19th-Century Sugar Mill at Indian Church, Belize. IA (The Journal of the Society for Industrial Archaeology) 8(1):57-66.
(e) Lamanai 1982 (II): Headaches in Ottawa as Stella Remains Dateless. ROM Archaeological Newsletter, n.s., No. 208.
(f) Lamanai, Belice, durante el Post-Clásico. Estudios de Cultura Maya XIV:19-58. Seminario de Cultura Maya, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City.
1983 (a) Lamanai 1983: A Real Glyph-Hanger. ROM Archaeological Newsletter, n.s., No. 215.
(b) Lamanai 1981. Belizean Studies 11(3):4-7.
1984 (a) Excavations at Lamanai, Belize, 1983. Mexicon 6(1):5-10.
(b) The Hunchback Tomb: A Major Archaeological Discovery in Central America. Rotunda 16(4):5-11.
(c) Carved Bones from Lamanai: More Treasures from the Hunchback Tomb. Rotunda 17(3):46-47.
1985 (a) Lamanai 1984: Digging in the Dooryards. ROM Archaeological Newsletter, Series II, No. 6.
(b) Lamanai, Belize: An Updated View. In The Lowland Maya Postclassic, ed. by Arlen F. Chase and Prudence M. Rice, pp. 91-103. University of Texas Press, Austin.
(c) Lamanai 1985: Stop Me Before I Dig Again. ROM Archaeological Newsletter, Series II, No. 11.
1986 (a) Historic Lamanay: Royal Ontario Museum 1985 Excavations at Lamanai, Belize. Mexicon 7(1):9-13.
(b) The Ancient Maya: Life in the Slow Lane. Rotunda 18(4):18-23.
(c) Stability through Change: Lamanai, Belize, from the Ninth to the Seventeenth Century. In Late Lowland Maya Civilization: Classic to Postclassic, ed. by Jeremy A. Sabloff and E.Wyllys Andrews V., pp. 223-249. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.
(d) Under Spanish Rule: The Final Chapter in Lamanai's Maya History. Belcast Journal of Belizean Affairs 3(1&2):1-7. Belize College of Arts, Science, and Technology, Belize City.
1988 (a) What's In A Name? Lamanai and Early Maps of Mayaland. Rotunda 20(4): 38-42. (b) The Historical Content of Oral Tradition: A Case from Belize. Journal of American Folklore 101(401): 321-324.
(c) Lamanai Stela 9: The Archaeological Context. Research Reports on Ancient Maya Writing 20. Center for Maya Research, Washington, D. C.
1989 The Loving Couple: A Mystery from the Maya Past. ROM Archaeological Newsletter, Series II, No. 30.
1991 (a) Up from the Dust: The Central Lowlands Postclassic as Seen from Lamanai and Marco Gonzalez, Belize. In Vision and Revision in Maya Studies, ed. by Flora Clancy and Peter D. Harrison, pp. 169-177. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.
(b) The Southern Maya Lowlands Contact Experience: The View from Lamanai, Belize. In Columbian Consequences, Vol. 3, ed. by David Hurst Thomas, pp. 336-354. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D. C.
1992 Noblesse Oblige: The Elites of Altun Ha and Lamanai, Belize. In Mesoamerican Elites: An Archaeological Assessment, ed. by Diane Z. Chase and Arlen F. Chase, pp. 61-79. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.
1993 Worlds in Collision: The Maya/Spanish Encounter in Sixteenth and Seventeenth-Century Belize. In The Meeting of Two Worlds: Europe and the Americas, 1492-1650, ed. by Warwick Bray, pp. 105-143. Proceedings of The British Academy 81. Oxford University Press, Oxford.

In Press (a) Intercessions with the Gods: Caches and Their Significance at Altun Ha and Lamanai, Belize. In Sowing and Dawning in the Archaeological and Ethnographic Record of Mesoamerica, ed. by Shirley B. Mock and Debra Selsor-Walker. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.
(b) Lamanai. In The Archaeology of Ancient Mexico and Central America: An Encyclopedia, ed. by Susan T. Evans and David L. Webster. Garland Publishing, New York.

Pendergast, David M., and Elizabeth Graham
1993 La Mezcla de Arqueología y Ethnohistoria: El Estudio del Período Hispánico en los Sitios de Tipu y Lamanai, Belice. In Perspectivas Antropológicas en el Mundo Maya, ed. by Maria Josefa Iglesias Ponce de León and Francesc Ligorred Perramon, pp. 331-353. Sociedad Española de Estudios Mayas y Instituto de Cooperación Iberoamericana, Madrid.

Graham, Elizabeth, Grant D. Jones, and David M. Pendergast
1989 On the Fringes of Conquest: Maya-Spanish Contact in Colonial Belize. Science 246:1254-1259.

Helmuth, Hermann, and David M. Pendergast
1989 Lamanai Tomb N9-56/1: Analysis of the Skeletal Evidence. Ossa 13:109-117.

Loten, H. Stanley
1985 Lamanai Postclassic. In The Lowland Maya Postclassic, ed. by Arlen F. Chase and Prudence M. Rice, pp. 85-90. University of Texas Press, Austin.

Smith, Marvin T., Elizabeth Graham, and David M. Pendergast
1994 European Beads from Spanish Colonial Lamanai and Tipu, Belize. Beads 6: 29-47.

White, Christine D., Lori E. Wright, and David M. Pendergast
1993 Biological Disruption in the Early Colonial Period at Lamanai. In In the Wake of Contact: Biological Responses to Conquest, ed. by Clark S. Larsen and George R. Milner, pp. 135-145. Wiley-Liss, New York..

In Press Early Colonial Childhood Morbidity in the Maya. In The Archaeology of Contact: Processes and Consequences. Department of Archaeology, University of Calgary.