NICH Revisits Protocols in Place at Archaeological Sites

Neil Hall

Just last year, there was a murder committed at the Cahal Pech Archaeological Site in San Ignacio. Unknown to rangers, the site was accessed via paths at nights by residents who converge to drink and socialize. According to Communications Officer Neil Hall, NICH is looking at the protocols in place to ensure that incidents like these do not reoccur.

Neil Hall, Communications & Marketing Officer, NICH

“We would like to take this opportunity to draw everybody’s attention to the fact that these are our Belizean national heritage archaeological cultural and very sacred sites and we would like to remind the public that they should not follow this trend; that they should be the ones doing the right. They should not be taking bottles out to the archaeological sites for two reasons: one, if you are intoxicated and going either up or down one of those temples, it could be a risk for not only yourself, but the people below you as it could become what is known as a snowball effect where one person falls and ends up catching three or four others. Two, people who take bottles on to our archaeological sites probably would end up littering those bottles on the sites as well and that causes destruction. So we are again, imploring the public and from the feedback that we can see on Facebook people are outraged and they are seeing why it is wrong and we appreciate that. Since we have the ear of the public, we would like to ask for their assistance because there are people when they visit the sites, do practice vandalism and even graffiti. We’ve heard stories of people spending an hour removing letters on our signs that are near to or at the site and I am sure there are better things that person can do with their time. Also there is the fact that people do visit the sites and they want more than just a photograph; they want to become a part of it and they etch their names into either the actual site itself, a monument or even the trees in the archaeological site. And we would like to ask them to please stop. If you see someone doing this, bring it to their attention that it is wrong because okay, maybe they just don’t know. And if they continue, please bring it to the ranger’s attention.”