Kelly with one of the figurine heads her team found this week

Week 8 was another big one for the Izapa Household Archaeology Project. We expanded excavations this week and now have six pits open at once, and opened five new units on three new mounds. The new units have already yielded some exciting finds, including stone architecture and more complete vessels. This week we also found our first figurine heads, a rarity at Izapa. Everyone is working very hard to keep up with all the cool new finds, but we’re feeling very lucky!

Reconstructing the wall in preparation for photos

Excavations continued as usual this week. We finished up some of our long-open excavation units in preparation for opening up new pits next week. This week’s highlight was a visit from Lizzie Wade, a writer for Science magazine. Lizzie plans to write an article featuring the Izapa Household Archaeology Project within a article on the archaeology of neighborhoods.

Update: Wade’s article was released on May 16, 2014. The article is now free to access and can be found here: http://www.sciencemag.org/content/344/6185/684.full