El Rayo 2010

2010 was the final year of the PAGN project. It was primarily dedicated to a complete inventory and analysis of the thousands of artifacts recovered from Tepetate and El Rayo. A brief field season was conducted at the site of El Rayo in order to resolve some specific questions, mainly at Locus 2. As usually happens, however, opportunity arose for some additional survey at Locus 3 where several additional mounds were exposed by field clearing, and shovel testing revealed an extension to the Sapoa period occupation, including more mortuary remains. In addition to the field and lab components, we also visited the site of Sonzapote on Zapatera Island, where large stone statues were encountered in the mid-19th century, and a proposal has been prepared for future excavations.