Mesoamerican Archaeology Laboratory
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO
Welcome to the Mesoamerican Archaeology Laboratory at UCSD. Our research focuses on the emergence of political and economic complexity among the ancient cultures of Mexico and Central America, particularly the Maya. Faculty and graduate students are currently conducting field research in the modern nations of Mexico, Belize, and Guatemala. We also have long-standing research interests concerning the non-Maya peoples of Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, and central Mexico.
Our Mission
The mission of the Mesoamerican Archaeology Laboratory is to engender, conduct, and disseminate research concerning the ancient peoples of Mexico and Central America, as well as to train graduate students in the fields of anthropological and scientific archaeology, epigraphy, and ethnohistory. We conduct our research in the field, laboratory, and archives.
The Facility & Personnel
The Mesoamerican Archaeology Laboratory is located in Rooms 315B and 348 of the Social Science Research Building at UCSD. Directed by Professor Geoffrey E. Braswell, the facility is currently home to graduate students and undergraduates engaged in research. Our facility contains seminar space, computing equipment, specialized digital photography and video equipment, a metallurgical microscope, and limited analytical chemistry instrumentation. We also house surveying and excavation equipment for our field expeditions.