The Pakbeh Regional Economy Project
Chunchucmil, Yucatan, Mexico.

Formal archaeological research at ancient Chunchucmil began in the late 1970s with David Vlcek's Master's thesis, which began as part of the Yucatan Archaeological Atlas project. Using aerial photos, Vlcek produced an initial description of the site, a map of the major architecture, and estimates of population density.

In 1993, Bruce Dahlin, a professor at Howard University in Washington D.C., initiated the Chunchucmil Regional Economy Program. During the first year of the project, two areas of monumental architecture on the periphery of Chunchucmil were mapped. Research in the following year, co-directed by Anthony Andrews, focused on the ecology and natural history of the beaches, salt flats, estuaries and swamps on the nearby Gulf Coast, the ancient port site of Punta Canbalam, the settlement archaeology of the Celestun salt flats (salinas) and the ethnoarchaeology of contemporary salt harvesting. A soil survey was initiated to get a sense of the agricultural potentials of the region surrounding what we already knew from Vlcek's survey was a gigantic urban center.

In 1996, the project turned its attention from the regional scale to mapping the Chunchucmil site center. The mapping project expanded and improved upon Vlcek's earlier map. Systematic mapping continued in 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2004, and will continue in the future. At this point we have mapped a total of 7.3 km2. Our goal is to eventually map a total of 16 km2 . In 1997 a series of systematic surface collections complemented the mapping and paleoecological research. In 1998, Traci Ardren joined Dahlin as a project co-director and initiated an off-mound test pitting program in a number of locales in the center of the site, such as the ball court, a temple complex, and broad platform groups. Test pitting continued in 1999, 2001, 2002 and 2004, and will continue in future seasons.

In 2000, assistant directors Aline Magnoni and Scott Hutson initiated horizontal excavations in residential groups. In 2000 we also changed the project name to Pakbeh Regional Economy Program in order to avoid tension caused by the fact that the ruins of Chunchucmil lie not only on land claimed by the modern village of Chunchucmil, but also on land claimed by three additional villages (Kochol, Coahuila, and San Mateo) and one town (Halacho).In 2001, Traci Ardren began horizontal excavations in a temple complex and Hutson, Magnoni and Travis Stanton began systematic excavations of non-architectural space within domestic groups. Stanton also initiated research at the site of Santa Barbara, located 13 km to the northeast. During this same year, David Hixson began a survey of archaeological sites to the west of Chunchucmil. In 2002, Dahlin conducted horizontal excavations of a potential marketplace, while horizontal excavations in domestic contexts continued. The 2003 season consisted entirely of labwork, and in 2004, we returned to the field and continued with mapping, site-center test-pitting, investigations of a second potential marketplace, and regional survey to the west of the site. During this year, Daniel Mazeau made substantial progress on a survey of sites to the north and east of Chunchucmil.

The Pakbeh project hosts four dissertation projects, one of them recently completed (Hutson), and three of them nearing completion (Magnoni, Hixson, Mazeau). The project has generated over twenty publications, 10 of which have appeared in peer-reviewed books or journals. Additionally, the project produces annual reports on fieldwork. In addition to the National Science Foundation the Project has received funding from, National Geographic Society, Howard University, and private donors.