Slowing Down the Archaeological Process in Dolores, Petén, Guatemala
Photo by Nancy Greene.
Photo by Tim Rast, Backdirt screening on Baffin Island.
Illustration by artist Stephen Snake
The CAA is a national organization that advances the development and dissemination of archaeological knowledge in Canada through research, publication, advocacy, collaboration, student support and Indigenous partnership.
- EN
- FR
Journal Article
Slowing Down the Archaeological Process in Dolores, Petén, Guatemala
Maxime Lamoureux-St-Hilaire1 and Rubén Morales Forte2
Author affiliations
1 Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Mount Royal University, 4825 Mount Royal Gate SW, Calgary, AB T3E 6K6 Canada
2 PhD candidate, Department of Anthropology, Tulane University, 101 Dinwiddie Hall 6823 St. Charles Avenue, New Orleans, LA 70118 USA
Canadian Journal of Archaeology 49(1) (2025)
Abstract
Maya archaeology has always relied on the labour and expertise of field technicians hired from heritage communities across the modern nations of Guatemala, Mexico, Belize, Honduras, and El Salvador. Some of these communities, such as Dolores, Petén, Guatemala, have been continuously engaged with archaeological projects for several decades, granting its members multi-generational expertise on both Maya civilization and archaeological practice. These field technicians—or, as we prefer to call them, grassroots archaeologists—and academic archaeologists have fruitful episodic collaborations. Yet, a disjuncture exists between (1) grassroots archaeologists and the production of archaeological knowledge and (2) academic archaeologists and the heritage communities that are home to grassroots archaeologists. The Dolores Slow Archaeology Program aims to address these disjunctures by slowing down the archaeological process to adequately integrate grassroots archaeological professionals from the Dolores community as active agents in the design of an enduring and collaborative project. In this paper, we expand upon the concept of slow archaeology, describe the professional archeological community of Dolores, contextualize our research program, and share some results from our first field season.
Resume
L’archéologie maya a toujours dépendu du travail et de l’expertise des travailleurs de terrain recrutés dans les communautés patrimoniales des nations modernes du Guatemala, Mexique, Belize, Honduras et Salvador. Certaines de ces communautés, telle celle de Dolores, Petén, Guatemala, sont restées impliquées dans des projets archéologiques durant plusieurs décennies, ce qui leur a conféré une expertise multigénérationnelle sur le plan de la pratique archéologique et de la civilisation maya. Ces techniciens de terrain—que nous préférons appeler « archéologues du peuple »—collaborent régulièrement et efficacement avec les archéologues universitaires. Cependant, il existe une faille entre (1) les archéologues du peuple et la production du savoir archéologique et (2) les archéologues universitaires et les communautés patrimoniales dont proviennent les archéologues du peuple. Le Dolores Slow Archaeology Program vise à combler cette faille en ralentissant le processus archéologique pour intégrer comme il convient les membres de la communauté archéologique de Dolores en tant qu’agents actifs de la planification d’un projet durable et collaboratif. Dans cet article, nous discutons du concept d’archéologie lente, décrivons la communauté archéologique professionnelle de Dolores, contextualisons notre programme de recherches et partageons des résultats préliminaires de notre première saison de terrain.
CJA Access
Published in:
About the CJA
The Canadian Journal of Archaeology is published by the Canadian Archaeological Association.
Aspen Woods Postal OutletBox 15075, Calgary, AB T3H 0N8 Canada
ISSN: 0705-2006 (print)
ISSN: 2816-2293 (online)