well my wife and I had four children and
they all went to different things they
even listen to different kinds of music
and there’s 10 years between the
youngest and the oldest we never
encouraged people used to think we might
be like tennis parents pushing that our
youngest child into the same thing but
you know we sort of almost discouraged
it in a way but it was just you know
that way David started when he was not
until eight or nine being interested in
the subject because we were sitting in
the middle of a forest down there in a
thatched house with you know no
electricity and we had to boil our water
to drink it had to wait a couple of days
for it to cool and you know it was just
a different way of life and it was
boring in some ways and I guess he’d go
ahead and you know look at stuff yeah
well I mean it I remember being an
eight-year-old kid and you know living
this Maya village and at first not
liking it very much you know I came from
you know this American lifestyle and it
was plopped down in this you know
rainforest hut you know and it was a
huge adjustment I ended up loving it and
so it was that experience which really
you know I keep with me still it’s it’s
this is fun stuff that you know the work
that we’re doing and I picked up on that
at that time because I saw my dad having
fun doing it and in it I never thought
of this and still don’t think of it as
work you know it’s it’s a hobby that is
turned out to be you know one that I
could you know get a job at but it’s
it’s still the fun of it that keeps it
going and so we’re still working
together and you know writing together
and doing all sorts of stuff
I first went to Palenque when I was a
kid of course I think I was on the same
trip that 33 years old and a nice do
remember being there at that time
because I remember the the dump trucks
and the dirt you know coming off of the
palace and the excavations going on and
it I have to say that today still just
walking around that site it’s a magical
experience there’s really no other place
like it because when you walk say
through the palace pakal’s palace it’s
still there I mean it’s it’s it’s not
even really a ruin yeah there’s some
walls that are down and you know but you
the plasters on the walls here you’re
walking through these galleries through
doorways you know turning corners and
you see a bench there in a you know a
platform over there and the paintings
are still on the walls in many places
you get a sense of a lived space you
know of people and there’s really no
other myocyte and like that that has you
know such an atmosphere and in addition
to that it’s in you know the jungle was
right around you though you hear the
howler monkey is in the mornings and the
evenings and the mist from the the
forest coming off it’s just an
incredible place to be and it’ll always
have that aura about it I hope
I remember well going being that I think
it was the second person in but it felt
like I was the first person into a one
of the royal tombs at side of Rio Sol
Guatemala back in nineteen eighty-four
and we had lifted one capstone often we
could see that nothing had been
disturbed there was no dust or dirt over
everything it was just like it had been
left except everything that was you know
not not preserved was not preserved but
the pottery and the the part of the
skeleton and everything were there it
was it was going to creepy and wonderful
and strange and it changed a lot of
things I thought about no it was uh it
was wonderful and yet it was arresting
in terms of having thought about you
know the this person lying here you know
it was just like me and what the heck am
I doing here you know I felt like
getting out right away and just leaving
the person alone I think for me one of
the most amazing experiences I’ve had is
visiting a remote archaeological site in
Guatemala called San Bartolo and my
friend and student at that time bill
saturno had just discovered inside of a
looters trench you know in a pyramid
some exposed wall paintings and through
the help of National Geographic in fact
we went back about a month later to
really study it he was just there for
just you know a few moments really and
so we went and explored the site and we
didn’t know anything about it we didn’t
know the layout the size of it anything
like that and the paintings just a small
portion of them were exposed turned out
to be the earliest and best preserved my
wall paintings ever found and they’re
still being excavated right now so it’s
turned out to be one of the great
discoveries ever
I think the most important question in
the world today has it’s always been as
to realize that other people live
differently and it’s all right and that
across the Gulf of culture and across
the Gulf of time presents a whole new
set of problems for understanding and
other people and what will never know
everything and we hardly know anything
really about the Maya you know this
there’s almost 6,000 archaeological
sites and we’ve dug at 40 of them you
know we’re just at the beginning
archaeology and in this part of the
world has really only been going on for
a little over a hundred years and that’s
nothing I mean that’s just a few
generations of science and archaeology
and you know there is just more and more
out there we know it’s their discoveries
are just waiting to be done so it’s the
best time right now to be do I think to
be studying this field and you know
bringing in all sorts of knowledge to
the question of you know who were the
Maya and other people in Mesoamerica and
how did they live you know you bring
science you bring philosophy you bring
linguistics you bring all sorts of stuff
and that’s the joy of it it’s just not
being so narrow but to to rake in all of
this different kind of information and I
remember when about 30 years ago David
asked me the question is it too late to
get into my archaeology and I said no
it could teach us a little bit about
living enough an environment that may be
slightly marginal you could teach us a
lot about basic things like how to grow
enough food to feed a population and how
to operate without depending too much on
things that we have to get from
elsewhere like oil and just all sorts of
things I think we can learn to be a
little more cooperative with the earth
around us and only live in it yeah and
it’s the Maya we’re not always
successful at that and that’s the thing
that I think we should really study
closely is that you know they they
hadn’t figured out that balance they
tripped up in many areas of that
engagement with their environment and I
think for that reason in some cases they
they failed I mean they failed as
communities and they failed to kind of
reach a balanced existence like that if
we study where things worked for them
where things didn’t work for them I
think that’s where we can really benefit
because one of the fastest growing areas
of the world right now is is you know
are in these countries in the kind of
tropical lowlands you know of Guatemala
or Mexico you know the populations are
booming there and it’s in the next few
decades where everything is going to
change drastically even more than it has
already and yeah I think looking at the
past to the deep past is really
beneficial for seeing how we can plan
for for the future
you
they all went to different things they
even listen to different kinds of music
and there’s 10 years between the
youngest and the oldest we never
encouraged people used to think we might
be like tennis parents pushing that our
youngest child into the same thing but
you know we sort of almost discouraged
it in a way but it was just you know
that way David started when he was not
until eight or nine being interested in
the subject because we were sitting in
the middle of a forest down there in a
thatched house with you know no
electricity and we had to boil our water
to drink it had to wait a couple of days
for it to cool and you know it was just
a different way of life and it was
boring in some ways and I guess he’d go
ahead and you know look at stuff yeah
well I mean it I remember being an
eight-year-old kid and you know living
this Maya village and at first not
liking it very much you know I came from
you know this American lifestyle and it
was plopped down in this you know
rainforest hut you know and it was a
huge adjustment I ended up loving it and
so it was that experience which really
you know I keep with me still it’s it’s
this is fun stuff that you know the work
that we’re doing and I picked up on that
at that time because I saw my dad having
fun doing it and in it I never thought
of this and still don’t think of it as
work you know it’s it’s a hobby that is
turned out to be you know one that I
could you know get a job at but it’s
it’s still the fun of it that keeps it
going and so we’re still working
together and you know writing together
and doing all sorts of stuff
I first went to Palenque when I was a
kid of course I think I was on the same
trip that 33 years old and a nice do
remember being there at that time
because I remember the the dump trucks
and the dirt you know coming off of the
palace and the excavations going on and
it I have to say that today still just
walking around that site it’s a magical
experience there’s really no other place
like it because when you walk say
through the palace pakal’s palace it’s
still there I mean it’s it’s it’s not
even really a ruin yeah there’s some
walls that are down and you know but you
the plasters on the walls here you’re
walking through these galleries through
doorways you know turning corners and
you see a bench there in a you know a
platform over there and the paintings
are still on the walls in many places
you get a sense of a lived space you
know of people and there’s really no
other myocyte and like that that has you
know such an atmosphere and in addition
to that it’s in you know the jungle was
right around you though you hear the
howler monkey is in the mornings and the
evenings and the mist from the the
forest coming off it’s just an
incredible place to be and it’ll always
have that aura about it I hope
I remember well going being that I think
it was the second person in but it felt
like I was the first person into a one
of the royal tombs at side of Rio Sol
Guatemala back in nineteen eighty-four
and we had lifted one capstone often we
could see that nothing had been
disturbed there was no dust or dirt over
everything it was just like it had been
left except everything that was you know
not not preserved was not preserved but
the pottery and the the part of the
skeleton and everything were there it
was it was going to creepy and wonderful
and strange and it changed a lot of
things I thought about no it was uh it
was wonderful and yet it was arresting
in terms of having thought about you
know the this person lying here you know
it was just like me and what the heck am
I doing here you know I felt like
getting out right away and just leaving
the person alone I think for me one of
the most amazing experiences I’ve had is
visiting a remote archaeological site in
Guatemala called San Bartolo and my
friend and student at that time bill
saturno had just discovered inside of a
looters trench you know in a pyramid
some exposed wall paintings and through
the help of National Geographic in fact
we went back about a month later to
really study it he was just there for
just you know a few moments really and
so we went and explored the site and we
didn’t know anything about it we didn’t
know the layout the size of it anything
like that and the paintings just a small
portion of them were exposed turned out
to be the earliest and best preserved my
wall paintings ever found and they’re
still being excavated right now so it’s
turned out to be one of the great
discoveries ever
I think the most important question in
the world today has it’s always been as
to realize that other people live
differently and it’s all right and that
across the Gulf of culture and across
the Gulf of time presents a whole new
set of problems for understanding and
other people and what will never know
everything and we hardly know anything
really about the Maya you know this
there’s almost 6,000 archaeological
sites and we’ve dug at 40 of them you
know we’re just at the beginning
archaeology and in this part of the
world has really only been going on for
a little over a hundred years and that’s
nothing I mean that’s just a few
generations of science and archaeology
and you know there is just more and more
out there we know it’s their discoveries
are just waiting to be done so it’s the
best time right now to be do I think to
be studying this field and you know
bringing in all sorts of knowledge to
the question of you know who were the
Maya and other people in Mesoamerica and
how did they live you know you bring
science you bring philosophy you bring
linguistics you bring all sorts of stuff
and that’s the joy of it it’s just not
being so narrow but to to rake in all of
this different kind of information and I
remember when about 30 years ago David
asked me the question is it too late to
get into my archaeology and I said no
it could teach us a little bit about
living enough an environment that may be
slightly marginal you could teach us a
lot about basic things like how to grow
enough food to feed a population and how
to operate without depending too much on
things that we have to get from
elsewhere like oil and just all sorts of
things I think we can learn to be a
little more cooperative with the earth
around us and only live in it yeah and
it’s the Maya we’re not always
successful at that and that’s the thing
that I think we should really study
closely is that you know they they
hadn’t figured out that balance they
tripped up in many areas of that
engagement with their environment and I
think for that reason in some cases they
they failed I mean they failed as
communities and they failed to kind of
reach a balanced existence like that if
we study where things worked for them
where things didn’t work for them I
think that’s where we can really benefit
because one of the fastest growing areas
of the world right now is is you know
are in these countries in the kind of
tropical lowlands you know of Guatemala
or Mexico you know the populations are
booming there and it’s in the next few
decades where everything is going to
change drastically even more than it has
already and yeah I think looking at the
past to the deep past is really
beneficial for seeing how we can plan
for for the future
you
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