Three Tyler Junior College archaeology students went back in time for the summer.
During the months of June and July, they conducted field studies in Guatemala, analyzing unearthed ceramic pieces from El Perú-Waka’, a ruined classic Maya city that was inhabited between about 200 B.C. and 1150 A.D.
“I’ve been part of a large-scale archaeological project in Guatemala since about 2003, and I’ve been a co-director of this project since about 2015, along with about four other people from other institutions,” said Dr. Keith Eppich, TJC history and anthropology professor, who joined the TJC faculty in 2018. “This is a multi-institutional project involving five institutions of higher learning: Wooster College in Ohio, Bloomsburg University in Pennsylvania, Universidad del Valle in Guatemala, The Universidad de San Carlos and TJC.”
Not only is TJC the only Texas institution to participate in this annual project, it’s also the only community/junior college in the nation.
“We fly the students down and stay at the lab house in San Lucas Sacatepéquez, Guatemala,” Eppich said. “What we mostly do is count and sort ceramic sherds, which were excavated in 2022 and 2024. Primarily, the analysis of the ceramics dealt with two questions to each of these excavated assemblages: What was the function of the nearby structures and what was the duration of the occupation of the nearby structures? This can be determined through the careful analysis of hundreds of tiny little broken pottery pieces.”
Ernesto Novelo graduated from TJC in December and just finished his first semester as an archaeology major at The University of Texas at San Antonio.
Eppich and the team can determine what occurred at a particular site based on the color and structure of the pieces.
“That’s what it comes down to,” he said. “Different types of assemblages will have different mixes. Domestic assemblages are going to have a high percentage of striated sherds and monochromatic serving wares. We also examined vessels from one of the tombs. The site is perhaps most famous for the eight major tombs that have been discovered there over the last 20 years, and this is the last one that was discovered in 2022. It was a small tomb inside a main temple, and we analyzed the funerary goods.”
The tested items are then turned over to the Guatemalan government, where they are cataloged and become property of the national museum.
This year’s participating TJC students were graduates and anthropology majors Elena McCary, who graduated from TJC in May and started at The University of Texas at Austin this fall; Ernesto Novelo, who graduated from TJC in December and recently finished his first semester at The University of Texas at San Antonio; and Jack Riddell, who graduated from TJC in May and began his studies at Texas State University in San Marcos this fall.
Eppich laid out three primary objectives for his students during the summer project.
“For one thing, they are dealing with ancient artifacts firsthand, literally touching it, feeling and weighing it, and establishing a sort of personal, tactile connection with the ancient past,” he said. “It’s Indiana Jones-type stuff.
TJC archaeology major Elena McCary takes in the sights during a tour of Tikal National Park, one Guatemala’s major sites of Mayan civilization.
“Secondly, they are in a non-traditional, social learning environment where they say things like, ‘Keith, why are we looking for this particular type of ceramic?’ And I’ll give them a little 20-minute lecture on Fine Orange ceramics. They’ll interact with the Guatemalans and, in the process, practice their Spanish. We also have these continuous lecture discussions going on all the time in the lab where they learn about the Guatemalan history, the history of the indigenous people of the Americas, ceramic technology, archaeology, the people and personalities involved in the modern science of archaeology. Lastly, we go on weekend adventures, which would mean going to the old colonial city of San Juan, or the even older ruined colonial city of Antigua. They also get a feel for learning to move around in a foreign country.”
While sorting and analyzing ceramic pieces could be described as tedious, the students gain valuable, practical experience in conducting detailed, scientific analysis. “The lab work helps to develop incredibly important skills for archeologists and even provides an edge in the job market for those who specialize in them,” Novelo said.
Another benefit of the travel-study trip is the opportunity to be published academically.
“When we turn in the big ceramics report at the end of each summer, all of the students are listed as co-authors,” Eppich said. “They each have to write and contribute a section, which includes a drawing, two charts and an 800-word description and analysis of their examined ceramic materials. So, they come out on the other side of this not just with the lab experience and our little side adventures, but they literally have an academic credit as a published co-author.”
Novelo said, “Being able to draw maps, have specialized knowledge of ceramic types, and specialized knowledge of how to take care of the ceramics are all skills that we developed that do just that. The time I spent with other archeologists made strides in my career as well, by developing a network and getting to hear about the type of work the field is doing.
“I know that I can have a successful career if I continue to curate the skills I learned with the TJC lab and pursue the connections I made there.”