Markus Eberl is director of the Tamarindito Archaeological Project (the Guatemalan co-director is Claudia Vela who teaches at the Colegio Evelyn Rogers). Tamarindito, the capital of a Classic Maya kingdom, was occupied during Preclassic and Classic times (300 B.C.E.–900 C.E.) and served as the capital of a kingdom from 400–800 C.E. Previous investigations concentrated on Tamarindito’s center with elite residential groups, royal palaces, and temple-pyramids; terraces were noted during the mapping of the center. I started the archaeological project at Tamarindito in 2009 and completed the ninth field season in 2022. While my team and I are still analyzing the results of our work, we are wrapping the Tamarindito project up and pivoting to the site of Tzikin Tzakan.

Sarah Levithol, Byron Hernández, and I surveyed and mapped Tamarindito. Excavation crews that included the project directors, Juan Manuel Palomo, Laura Velásquez, Sarah Levithol, Sven Gronemeyer, Andrea Díaz, and Omar Schwendener test-pitted and excavated especially non-elite residential groups. We built up a comprehensive database on architecture and artifacts. Sven Gronemeyer completed a new catalog of all monuments at the site. Paul Graf measured ground conductivity and flew a drone to detect ‘invisible’ buildings in the southern and western part of the site. Phyllis Johnson took soil samples from dozens of residential groups to analyze them for microdebitage, that is, evidence for ancient stone knapping. In 2016, Marie Vela and I summarized our archaeological findings in the edited volume Entre reyes y campesinos.

Community archaeology has been a key component of our project. We have been working very closely with local communities, in particular the residents of Las Maravillas, a village about 30 walking-minutes from the site. In 2017, Santiago Cho Coc and I published a book – Xch’och’el li Kiib’ Tenamit. Tierra de las Dos “Razas” – that describes the history of Las Maravillas and contains local stories.

Wikipedia Page on Tamarindito

Facebook page of the Tamarindito Archaeological Project
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Community outreach

Members of the Tamarindito Archaeological Project have worked closely with local communities in the vicinity of the archaeological site. Most of our local collaborators live in Las Maravillas and El Excarbado II and they often struggle to access basic necessities. Dirt roads make it difficult to get around especially in the rainy season. Only about ten years ago did they get access to electricity. Sayaxché, the closest town, is about two car-hours away and locals have to travel there to use bank services, go to the hospital or attend a secondary school. As part of the Tamarindito project, we have helped to build a community health center at El Excarvado. We have also given talks to school children at the primary school of Las Maravillas and given them site tours. With funding from the Henkel Foundation, we conducted an ethnographic survey and in-depth interviews at Las Maravillas in 2016 and 2017.

The health center in El Excarbado II

Giving school children from Las Maravillas a tour of the site

Field Crews

(2009)

(2010)

(2011)

(2012)

Maps

Local DEM by Sarah Levithol.

Map of Tamarindito’s Plaza A (right) and Plaza B (left; map by Markus Eberl and Sarah Levithol).

Database

Artifacts

Cylinder Vessel (drawing by M. Eberl).

Perforated shell (drawing by M. Eberl).

Owl figurine (drawing by M. Eberl).

Monuments

Stela 2, right side (drawing by Sven Gronemeyer).

Step from Hieroglyphic Stairway 1 (drawing by Sven Gronemeyer).

Publications

2013             (Gronemeyer, Sven) The Monuments and Inscriptions of Tamarindito, Peten, Guatemala. Acta Mesoamericana 25. Verlag Anton Saurwein, Markt Schwaben.

2012            (Eberl, Markus and Claudia Vela) Patrón de Asentamiento y Organización Social del Sitio Maya Tamarindito. Manuscript submitted for publication in the conference proceedings of the XXVI Simposio de Investigaciones Arqueológicas en Guatemala. Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología, Guatemala City.

2012            (Levithol, Sarah) The visibility factor in the choice of plaza placement and construction at the Maya site of Tamarindito, Guatemala. Manuscript submitted for publication in the conference proceedings of the XXVI Simposio de Investigaciones Arqueológicas en Guatemala. Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología, Guatemala City.

2012            (Gronemeyer, Sven, and Markus Eberl) Recent Archaeological and Epigraphic Investigations in Tamarindito, Petén. In Proceedings of the 1st Cracow Maya Conference: Archaeology and Epigraphy of the Eastern Central Maya Lowlands, edited by Christophe Helmke, Jarosław Źrałka and Monika Banach, pp. 63–87. Contributions in New World Archaeology, 3. Cracow: Polska Akademia Umiejętności and Uniwersytet Jagielloński.

2011            (Eberl, Markus, and Claudia Vela) Agricultura durante el período clásico en Tamarindito (La Temporada 2011 del Proyecto Arqueológico Tamarindito). Manuscript submitted for publication on July 19 to the Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología de Guatemala.

2011            (Eberl, Markus, Claudia Vela, and Sven Gronemeyer) Investigaciones recientes del Proyecto Arqueológico Tamarindito: La Temporada 2010. In XXIV Simposio de Investigaciones Arqueológicas en Guatemala, 2010, edited by Bárbara Arroyo, Lorena Paiz Aragón, Adriana Linares Palma, Ana Lucia Arroyave, pp. 237–246. Museo Nacional de Antropologia e Historia, Ministerio de Cultura y Deportes, Instituto de Antropología e Historia, Asociación Tikal, Guatemala.

2010            (Eberl, Markus, Claudia Vela González, and Juan Manuel Palomo) Investigaciones recientes del Proyecto Arqueológico Tamarindito: La Temporada 2009. In XXIII Simposio de Investigaciones Arqueológicas en Guatemala, 2009, edited by Bárbara Arroyo, Adriana Linares Palma, and Lorena Paiz Aragón, pp. 620–628. Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología, Ministerio de Cultura y Deportes, Instituto de Antropología e Historia, Asociación Tikal, Guatemala.

 

Field reports

2012            (Eberl, Markus, Claudia Vela, Sarah Levithol, Sven Gronemeyer, Andrea Díaz, and José Aguilar) Informe Annual del Proyecto Arqueológico Tamarindito. Cuarta Temporada 2012. Field report submitted to the Instituto de Antropología e Historia de Guatemala Dirección General del Patrimonio Cultural y Natural, Ministerio de Cultura y Deportes, Guatemala.

2012            (Eberl, Markus, Claudia Vela, Laura Velásquez, Byron Hernández, Sarah Levithol and Sven Gronemeyer) Informe Annual del Proyecto Arqueológico Tamarindito. Tercera Temporada 2011. Field report submitted to the Instituto de Antropología e Historia de Guatemala Dirección General del Patrimonio Cultural y Natural, Ministerio de Cultura y Deportes, Guatemala.

2010            (Eberl, Markus, Claudia Vela de Bellamy, Juan Manuel Palomo, and Sven Gronemeyer) Informe Anual del Proyecto Arqueológico Tamarindito: Segunda Temporada 2010. Field report prepared for the Instituto de Antropología e Historia de Guatemala, Guatemala.

2009            (Eberl, Markus, Claudia Vela González, Juan Manuel Palomo, Miriam Salas, and Omar Schwendener) Informe Final del Proyecto Arqueológico Tamarindito: Temporada 2009. Field report prepared for the Instituto de Antropología e Historia de Guatemala, Guatemala.