During the 1909-1910 Peabody Museum Expedition
Dr Alfred Marston Tozzer, Director of the Expedition for the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University and his assistant Raymond Merwin first visited the site of Holmul.In 1911, the next Peabody expedition returned with Raymond Merwin as director. Over the next several months what they found was different then anything previously found at a Mayan site. Raymond preformed the first stratigraphical study of a Maya ruin. This study revealed for the first time that the Maya built new structures on top of older structures. Inside the unearthed pyramid was the first royal burial tomb located in a structure, complete with a collection of ceramics large enough to produce the first ceramic sequence in Mayan studies.
What Raymond found at Holmul was different then anything seen anywhere else.
Raymond returned to Holmul a year after the first visit as the Director of the next Peabody Expedition. With him was his younger brother, Bruce Merwin as his assistant. They preformed the first stratigraphical study of a Maya ruin. This study revealed for the first time that the Maya built new structures on top of older structures. Inside the pyramid was the first royal burial tomb located in a structure, complete with a collection of ceramics large enough to produce the first ceramic sequence in Mayan studies.
Raymond made multiple trips to Holmul over the next few years and worked on the report of what was found there. The report was finished by George Vallant after Raymond’s death and published in 1932.
In 2000, Francisco Estada-Belli began work at Holmul forming the Holmul Archaeological Project. Since then Francisco and his team have uncovered many exciting finds at Holmul and surrounding related sites.
Learn more about the work being done around Holmul.
Holmul Archaeological Project
The project, known as Proyecto Arqueológico Holmul in Spanish, has been conducting research at the ancient Maya city of Holmul in Guatemala since 2000.
Holmul Archaeological Project https://liberalarts.tulane.edu/mari/outreach-education/holmul
Maya Archaeology Initiative
The objectives of the Maya Archaeology Initiative are to provide the means to protect and improve northern Guatemala.
Maya Archaeology Initiative http://mayaarchaeology.org/