Director
Timothy Pugh is a professor in the Department of Anthropology at Queens College and The Graduate Center of the City University of New York. His archaeological research, which is funded by the National Science Foundation, focuses on the Maya of Petén, Guatemala. His work revealed that the ancient Maya planned and built a gridded city at Nixtun-Ch’ich’ during the Middle Preclassic period (800-300 BCE). Based upon intensive investment in public works, the occupants appear to have had a much more cooperative system of governance. He also conducts research on the Contact (CE 1525-1697) and Colonial (CE 1697-1821) periods with an emphasis on mission churches.
Director
Evelyn Chan Nieto (M.A.) is a Guatemalan archaeologist specializing in prehispanic architectural restoration. She graduated from the University of San Carlos of Guatemala and is a director of Proyecto Itza. Her archaeological research focuses on the Mayan of Petén, Guatemala, and includes the Middle Preclassic (800-300 BCE), Late Postclassic (CE 1400-1525), Contact (CE 1525-1697), and Colonial (CE 1697-1821) periods. She has experience working at various archaeological sites in Guatemala.
Postclassic Director
Ph.D., The Graduate Center (CUNY) 2019
Yuko Shiratori is an archaeologist who focuses on the livelihoods of people around Lake Petén, Itzá, Guatemala, during the 15-18th century. Her research focuses on the understanding of Chaka’an Itza who were the faction of the Itza Maya living on the western side of the lake, which rests Nixtun-Ch’ich’, at the Spanish conquest. She employs archaeological excavation, as well as the study of historical documents to better understand the dynamics of “communities” and sociopolitical organization of the Itza kingdom. Collaborating with scholars who specialize in the study of animal bones, obsidian tools, and paleoethnobotanical analyses, she attempts to reconstruct the Chak’an Itza community.
Lab Supervisor
Sheily Hernández Constanza
Técnico en Arqueologia, Centro Universitario del Petén
Especialización en análisis de cerámica.
(Sheily specializes in ceramic analysis.)
Zooarchaeologist
Jemima Georges
Ph.D. Candidate, The Graduate Center (CUNY)
Jemima is a Ph.D. candidate at the Graduate Center (CUNY), who is studying animal use at Nixtun-Ch’ich’. She is interested in patterns in consumption and disposal behaviors of faunal material during the Preclassic Period within households and public structures. Her work is supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation (BCS-2112519) and the Dienje Kenyon Memorial Fellowship.