Presentated at:

Maya at the Playa 2010, September 30, 2010

In 1909, Dr Alfred M. Tozzer and Raymond E. Merwin left Harvard University on expedition for the Peabody Museum.  The main goal of their expedition was to produce a map of Tikal and complete the work needed to publish the Museum's report started by Teobert Maler. During the expedition they visited the site of Nakum, a visit that would provide the information needed to produce a report in the Museum Memoirs on that site. The discovery of the city of Holmul was the high point for Raymond of the trip as he noted in his personal journal.

Using information from Raymond's unpublished journal, in 2009, Keith Merwin retraced the expedition, visiting both Boston and Central America.  Starting with a visit to Harvard University to dig through the Peabody Museum's archives, Keith found records of the official reports prepared by Raymond following each expedition. Many items of Holmul ceramics brought back by Raymond have been on display at the Museum since the 1930s. The trip to Guatemala included visits to Nakum, Yaxha, Tikal and Holmul. Dr Francisco Estrada-Belli of Boston University, who heads the Holmul Archaeological Project, was host for the visit to Holmul. At Nakum, Guatemalan archaeologist Vilma Fialko provided a tour of the lab and artifact storage area. The presentation summarizes the information gathered during these trips.