MA, FSU
Archaeology
My interest lies in Maya archaeology, specifically the ritual utilization of caves during the Preclassic through Late Classic periods. My Master's thesis explored the idea that cave ritual was an on-going economic gift-giving transaction between the Maya and the supernatural beings that inhabited these subterranean realms. I focused on the caves in the San Francisco Hills, a range located to the northeast of the Late Classic period site of Cancuen , Guatemala . My dissertation research will expand on my Master's work and attempt to answer one main question that arose from my earlier studies. Substantial populations prior to the establishment of Cancun are unknown for the region, so who were performing rituals in these caves? I will be initiate a regional project aimed at locating rural settlements in an attempt to identify the socio-political organization of the region prior to the establishment of Cancuen based on further cave and surface excavations.