Archaeology under the Forest Canopy at El Pilar

Presentation by Dr. Anabel Ford
University of California, Santa Barbara

Tuesday, June 23, 2009 at 7.00 p.m.
at the George Price Centre for Peace and Development

The Maya forest, once home to the ancient Maya civilization, is now the focus of intense management scrutiny and pressures of growing land use needs. To meet demands of both resource conservation and human development, innovative management planning with strategic and dynamic designs need to be encouraged. Over the past decade, the El Pilar Program has explored a progressive interdisciplinary strategy for the El Pilar Archaeological Reserve for Maya Flora and Fauna of Belize and Guatemala. As a regional resource shared by two countries by virtue of an ancient Maya causeway, El Pilar is now destined as an unique tourism destination embracing the regional qualities of the and the local traditions of the Maya forest garden. The aim is to landscape the ancient monuments with the forest garden practice.

All are welcome to join this presentation !

Biography Anabel Ford
Anabel Ford has distinguished her as a Mesoamerican archaeologist in the field of settlement and environmental studies of the lowland Maya of Guatemala and Belize. Here landmark investigation of the settlement patterns between Tikal and Guatemala challenge the perceptions of rural and urban divides, demonstrating that preferred locations for Maya settlements are equally occupied where near or far from centers. Living in the Maya forest for nine months and relying on the resources that were native to that place, she began to gain an appreciation for the local knowledge of and economic value inherent in what first looked like a jungle but really was a garden. Her current focus at El Pilar, a new tour destination in the Maya world, integrates her growing academic knowledge of the ancient occupations and her investment in the people living in the region today. Since 1994, Anabel Ford has spearheaded a unique development that focuses on one cultural and natural resource of Belize and Guatemala. The model development of El Pilar is an inclusive management model with government protection, local leadership and community participation, along with academic research input. Anabel Ford brings her extensive field experience and broadly inquisitive mind to address what has popularly been know as the mysterious Maya.