Belize Archaeological Symposium to Feature 40 New Research Papers

Forty new research papers are expected to be presented at the upcoming 19th annual Belize Archaeological Symposium. The three-day event will be held at the San Ignacio Hotel and Resort from June 26 to 28. The papers will be presented in thirty-minute segments with twenty minutes designated for presentation and ten minutes allocated for question-and-answer sessions. Dr. Melissa Badillo, Director of the Institute of Archaeology, says that the symposium is used to share updated archaeological research with the public. She added that the information is relevant for students and teachers, but also for tourism industry stakeholders given the close link between tourism and archaeology.

Dr. Melissa Bachillo, Director, Institute of Archaeology: “This year we actually have a little twist to the event. We have partnered with the Mundo Maya organization and so we will have some presentations on archeological research happening in our neighboring countries. We also have four papers talking about archeology and tourism best practices. So it would really be important for us to share that information with the Belizean public. We know that archaeology and tourism are a big part of our daily lives here in this country. So anybody who has any interest please do come on out. Our special topic this year is also focused on the ancient Maya adaptation and resilience to climate change. And that is absolutely a relevant topic to everyone. We see the effects of climate change affecting us today. And so it is important for us to look at the past. Archaeology has a whole lot of data over 3,000 years worth of data that we can look back and learn from the ancient Maya and how they were able to sustain their communities and their households in the same landscape that we are today. And they were dealing with the same kind of factors that we’re dealing with today. So you know, it is a whole heap of data that we can definitely learn from their examples, maybe even what not to do that are definitely relevant in today’s environment for sure.”

Badillo says that the papers will be compiled and made available for the public on the Institute’s website by next year. Papers from last year’s symposium were recently made available for the public.