Archaeology symposium opens Wednesday
For most of us, our nation’s numerous ancient Maya sites are places you visit on a school trip or carry tourists to as a guide. As for the science of archaeology, that was usually left to foreigners who had the patience and money to spend years at prestigious universities, followed by more years digging in the dust and mud of places considered remote even by Belizean standards. But the world is changing. Belizeans now earn PhDs in archaeology and many more who don’t, show an increasing interest in the nuts and bolts of Belize’s ancient history. The strength of this trend will be determined Wednesday morning when Belize’s first Archaeology Symposium kicks off at the Princess Hotel. More than two dozen of the top local and foreign names in Belizean archaeology, some working here over a quarter century, will hold forth over three days, under the sponsorship of the newly created National Institute of Culture and History. According to NICH President, Yasser Musa, while some of the talks may tend toward the technical, there will be some real gems of knowledge for those members of the public willing to invest in the effort.
Yasser Musa, President, NICH
“We have to face the current reality, nobody is going to libraries anymore. Nobody is going to take the responsibility of going into a research facility and say oh, I want to do this and do that. We have to face certain facts about modern culture. We have to deliver a service now to the Belizean public.”
“I think that archaeology has a bad legacy in terms of how it’s perceived, because all we grow up with is the international people coming and looking at our sites and then going and supposedly taking a lot of important information that we hardly get access to. So I think this is a great opportunity for us have access, so it will be our fault I think this time that we have an entire week dedicated to all kinds of research papers, topics and agenda in terms of what is happening today, in archaeology in Belize.”
“The excitement will be determined by the presenters. As you know, you put ten PhD persons in a room and two or three of them will probably be interesting. The other seven will probably be good in the field or good as academics. So it’s hard to hype an academic presentation. However, I think that it is the responsibility also, for us to bring a bit of sensitivity and a bit of patience to this process. It is new. A lot of people think that archaeology is an old thing and so forth, but it is something that is only recently gaining momentum in what you’d call current or mass culture.”
Registration for the conference begins at eight Wednesday morning, with the first presentation set for nine. Registration fee for the three-day symposium is thirty dollars.
