Mapping and GPR at Nim Li Punit in the Toledo District, Belize

Since last I made an entry in the blog, I've started a PhD program at the University of California, San Diego.  I completed my first two years in the program.  During the spring quarter of my first year I collected data for a second Masters thesis for the program at UCSD.  I'm worked with my advisor, Dr. Geoffrey Braswell at the site of Nim li Punit in the southern part of the Toledo District in Belize. During the month of May we mapped the site core with a Nikon total station and Trimble GPS unit and generated a topographic map with Malerized representations of the site's structures.

Three-dimensional model of the topography of Nim li Punit, Toledo, Belize created in Surfer from the 3,450 points collected with the total station.

Malerized map of structures in the site core of Nim li Punit, Toledo, Belize overlaid on 20 cm isometric contours

 Additionally, we conducted GPR surveys of the site plazas and a few of the structures using the same GSSI SIR-3000 GPR unit that ASM Affiliates Inc. (ASM) supplied me with to do the work at Kaminaljuyu.  We were hoping to identify possible locations of tombs at the base of the structures similar to those previously uncovered at the site, but the results did not yield any anomalies that demonstrated any regular geometry that would indicate the presence of a tomb.  There are some linear anomalies in the data that may represent retaining walls in the plazas used for holding fill.  There are some other anomalies that may be worth investigating in the future as well.

Location of GPR survey grids at Nim li Punit, Toledo, Belize.

The last task was to analyze all of the obsidian that had been recovered from the excavations at both Lubaantun and Nim li Punit by Dr. Braswell and his students in previous years using a portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometer also provided by ASM. The results indicated that the majority of obsidian at both sites came from the sources of El Chayal and Ixtepeque with both sites have a small percentage of Ucareo obsidian.  Lubantun had one piece of Zacaltipan obsidian, and Nim li Punit had three pieces of Otumba, one of San Martin Jilotepeque, and one piece from Pachuca.

Counts and percentages of obsidian sources represented in the artifact assemblages from Lubaantun and Nim li Punit.

PCA including source reference groups.

Bivariate plot demonstrating San Martín Jilotepeque as a possible geological source for just one unknown sample.

Canonical discriminate analysis showing the distribution of source materials represented at the sites of Lubaantun and Nim li Punit.

I finished my Thesis during the Winter and Spring quarter of my second year.  The title of the thesis is Nondestructive Geophysical and Archaeometric Investigations at the Southern Belize Sites of Lubaantun and Nim li Punit. but the thesis is not published as I already have a Masters from Cal State Long Beach and UCSD does not give second degrees in the same discipline.  But, if anyone would like a copy I will be more than happy to send a pdf of the thesis via email.