The Maya Research Program (MRP) is a non-profit organization that has sponsored archaeological excavations at the Blue Creek site in northwestern Belize since 1992. MRP research has been supported by the National Geographic Society, the National Science Foundation, the Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies (FAMSI), the Heinz Foundation and the American Council of Learned Societies. Each year, the MRP sponsors a field school, certified by the Register of Professional Archaeologists, that is open to the participation of students and volunteers, ages 18 to 80.
The Maya Research Program's flagship project is focused on Blue Creek, a Classic Maya city located in northwestern Belize. Blue Creek was an important city for the Maya, located on the 100-meter high Bravo Escarpment overlooking the headwaters of the Rio Hondo. This strategic location allowed the inhabitants to control important agricultural and exchange networks both above and below the escarpment.
Between 200-600 AD, Blue Creek had an estimated population of 20,000 inhabitants, supported by wide-ranging trade and maize agriculture. Blue Creek's decline began about 800 AD, and it was almost completely abandoned by 1100 AD.
During the summer of 2011, one of MRP’s excavations focused on several elite residential households associated with the site of Nojol Nah (or "Northern Group" – a city center within MRP’s permit area. This site is located approximately 15 kilometers west of the Blue Creek site center. This essay examines the May-June 2011 excavation of one of those elite houses at Nojol Nah: Toucan House.
