I think that the recent experiences of my University of Illinois colleague Dr. Lisa Lucero, described in her recent blog post titled Rescuing ancient Maya history from the plow, speak to the critical need for archaeology in the world today.
Not unlike what has been happening to ancestral Native cultural sites in the United States for 200 years, what remains of Indigenous, ancestral Maya history-in-the-ground is today being destroyed as mechanized farmers bulldoze and plow through what used to be fragile jungle topsoil. Ripped out of the ground in the process are the details of history books that will never be written—not without archaeologists recovering information about what a particular Maya person, family, or community did here or there in a particular season, year, or era.
It happens everywhere like this… even in Illinois today. Our main job at ISAS is simply to record what would otherwise be lost! We need your help and support.
