Life in Field Camp

       You will live and work in a very comfortable and well established archaeological field camp that is shared by Maya research teams from seven universities.  The camp, known as

Richard E.W. Adams Research Facility

the Richard E.W. Adams Research Facility is operated by the Programme for Belize Archaeology Project (PfBAP), which is directed by Fred Valdez of the University of Texas at Austin.   The Rio Bravo Project and Field School is one of eight separate projects that operate under the general umbrella of the PfBAP.  Camp typically has about 80 people in it during the four weeks we are there.  The Rio Bravo contingent consists of up to about 30 students and staff.

        Other than the University of Texas at Austin, universities sponsoring research in the PfBCMA are the University of Pennsylvania, Bowdoin College, the University of Massachusetts at Boston, the University of Northern Illinois, Howard University, the University of Cincinnati, and the University of Texas at San Antonio.  Typically, each school-sponsored project takes a region or site as its study focus.   These schools have been investigating the ancient villages, towns, and cities of the PfBCMA cooperatively over the last decade in a very successful effort to increase our understanding of the latter half of Classic Maya history.

Student/volunteer dormitory

Camp includes a number of structures built over the last ten years -- a student/volunteer dormitory, a large dining hall, a field laboratory, a communal lounge, a generator station that provides electrical power, and covered cement-based tent stations.  The project provides 4-person tents that are typically occupied by one or two students or volunteers.  A covered

In camp field lab

cement patio serves as the informal social and relaxation center for camp.  The dining hall often serves this function as well, typically after an evening lecture or movie.   

Movies are usually shown in the dining hall two nights a week. Lectures on archaeological topics are given two nights a week in the dining hall or in the library in the neighboring PfB research camp.  Lectures on ancient settlement, ceramics, Maya cultural history and similar topics are provided by the directors of the various projects or visiting scholars.  Hired cooks prepare three meals a day in camp and laundry is done once a week off-site by Mennonite farming families.  Covered shower stalls with cement bases provide field showers.   

This well organized camp is one of the most comfortable remote archaeological field camps in the world.  Twenty-four-hour electricity is now available in camp and telephone and internet access are provided to participants during weekly visits to a Mennonite general store a half-hour beyond the limits of the wildlife reserve in which camp is located.