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"It's hard work. It's serious work. You cannot participate in this program if you think it is some kind of vacation. Our work at Ek Balam involves very important archeological research, and the dedication level that it demands is pretty high." |
MICAS
founder Dr. George Bey, Associate Professor of Anthropology and Archeology
at Millsaps, explains that MICAS offers undergraduates the opportunity
to engage in graduate level, hands-on research. In other words, Millsaps
students are treated like young scholars. "If you go to larger institutions,
opportunities are going to be limited, because they have a commitment to
their graduate students," states Bey. "Here at Millsaps, the undergraduates
do what graduate students do. The work we have going on in the Yucatan
is important. Our students don't just read about archeology, they
actually get to practice it."
The site in the Yucatan is called Ek Balam, which means "Black Jaguar" in Mayan. Bey has been working the site since his days as a graduate student at Tulane. Peering behind the obligatory spectacles of an academic, he quickly becomes animated when discussing Ek Balam, a south-of-the-border passion that Millsaps students find highly contagious. He explains that he and another graduate school colleague — Dr. William Ringle of Davidson College — were searching for uncharted territory to study, a little something they could hang their scholarly caps on en route to successful academic careers. When they first began to explore Ek Balam, they believed the structures they were excavating might be dated anywhere from 700 to 1000 A. D. and figured the dig would be a small one. But with a National Geographic grant that allowed them to continue their work, they soon realized they had encountered something significant. In fact, they had discovered an entire city. An old city, too- Ek Balam remains can be dated back as far as 400 B.C., right through the colonial period. According to Bey, this represents a long sequence of development that can provide important details in filling out Mayan history. Everything from simple pottery to some of the largest pyramids in the Mayan world are at Ek Balam. "We're discovering a wide range of artifacts and architecture: houses inhabited by poor people, palaces, pottery, tools. We're finding shell-bead jewelry in dwellings of the lower classes and elaborate jade jewelry in the elite dwellings. From this we are given an important glimpse of how the Mayans developed over time," Bey explains. While such a site is an exceptional opportunity for any archeologist, the fact that Millsaps undergraduate students are now involved is all the more remarkable. "We've convinced the Mexican government to allow us to excavate the second largest building on the site," states Bey. "It's as large as a football field and sixty feet high. This would be the biggest Maya building the Mexicans have let Americans be involved in, in the last fifty years." Bey's former dissertation advisor, Dr. E. Wyllys Andrews, now director of Tulane's prestigious Middle American Research Institute, is very impressed with the work at Ek Balam: "George has worked in the Maya area for many years. He's an expert in archeological pottery. He's developed some very interesting ideas about Mayan architecture and residential units. The work being done at Ek Balam is important and original research." Andrews believes it is all the more extraordinary given that undergraduates are participating. "It is a very unusual opportunity," he says. "This is cutting edge research. Mexico generally does not want undergraduates digging its ruins. The fact that Millsaps students do this speaks highly of George." PREVIOUS PAGE | PAGE 2 OF 5 | NEXT PAGE |