Rio Bravo Archaeology Field School

Accepting Early Applications for 2025 (details TBA); no 2024 Season

The Rio Bravo Archaeological Survey (RBAS) is a summer Maya archaeology field school that trains students in archaeological field methods within the context of a state-of-the-art research project. The program is situated in an unexplored, tropical rainforest in northern Belize, Central America, and can be taken for 3 or 6 college credits through the University of Texas at Austin.*

Non-credit volunteers are also welcome!

Students who are interested in joining us for the 2025 season should review the information provided, including the 2019 Info Sheet (or forthcoming 2025 sheet), and contact us via email or by submitting an application.

To sign up, please fill out an application.

*RBAS operates in Belize under a permit issued from the Institute of Archaeology to Dr. Fred Valdez, Director of the Programme for Belize Archaeological Project (PfBAP). Academic credit from the Community College of Philadelphia is not available for the 2025 season.

Photo -Day trip to Lamanai (2015)

Select Publications

Walling, S.L. (2005).  "Archaeological investigation of Prehispanic Maya residential terraces, commoner housing and hydrology at Chawak But’o’ob, Belize." Antiquity 79(304). Available here

Davis, P. F., Hanna, J. A., & Nolan, E. (2006). The Soils of a Heavily Modified Escarpment Landscape in the Central Maya Lowlands. 71st annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Hanna, J. A., Davis, P. F., & Walling, S. L. (2006). Ancient Residential Terracing at Chawak But’o’ob, Belize. 71st annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, San Juan, Puerto Rico. Available here

Hanna, J. A., Walling, S. L., Davis, P. F., Parisi, T., Brodsky, S., & Manzano, C. G. (2008). Of Altars and Terraces: Domestic Ceremonialism and Residential Terracing at Chawak But’o’ob , Belize. 73rd annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Vancouver, BC. Available here

Hanna, J.A. & Walling, S.L. (2011)  “Special Report: A Summary of Research on the Residential Terraces of Chawak But’o’ob, Belize: The 2006 and 2007 Seasons,” in Mono y Conejo: The Journal of the Mesoamerican Archaeological Research Laboratory, Fred Valdez Jr. and Brett A. Houk (eds.), v.7(2). Austin: University of Texas. Available here

Walling, S. L., Taylor, C., Cornish, T., Doumanoff, I., Coughenour, C. M., & Lukach, K. (2012). The Commoner Ballcourt at Chawak But’o’ob, Belize: Myth, Ritual, and Hydrology at a Rural Maya Site. Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Memphis, TN. Memphis, TN. Available Here

Coughenour, C. M., Walling, S. L., & Frisch, D. (2014). Animating Past Places in Time: Applying Close Range Photogrammetry to 40 Stratigraphic Excavation Data. EuroMed. Available here

Walling, S. L., & Hanna, J. A. (2014). Late Classic Commoner Ritualism and its Implications for Interregional Exchange. 79th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Austin Texas.

Walling, S. L., Hanna, J. A., Cornish, T., Coughenour, C., & Taylor, C. (2014). Ballcourt, Residential Terrace, and Survey Investigations at Chawak But’o’ob, Belize 2013 . Belmopan, Belize: Institute of Archaeology, National Institute of Culture and History.

Brady, J. (2015). A Preliminary Assessment of Cave 1 at the Site of Chawak But’o’ob. Austin: Center for Archaeological and Tropical Studies, University of Texas. Available here

Beach, T., Luzzadder-Beach, S., Krause, S., Walling, S., Dunning, N., Flood, J., Guderjan, T., & Valdez, F. (2015). “‘Mayacene’ floodplain and wetland formation in the Rio Bravo Watershed of northwestern Belize,” The Holocene, 25(10), 1612–1626. DOI: 10.1177/0959683615591713

Brokaw, N., Ward, S., Luzzader-Beach, S., Cortes-Rincon, M., & Walling, S. L. (2017). 2015 Field Season Report: The Maya Forest Project, Rio Bravo Conservation and Management Area, Belize, Austin: Center for Archaeological and Tropical Studies, University of Texas.

Walling, S. L. (2017). Preliminary overview of the 2015 Rio Bravo Survey and the CCP Study Abroad Archaeological Field School. Austin: Center for Archaeological and Tropical Studies, University of Texas.

Walling, S. L., Hanna, J. A., Cornish, T., Coughenour, C., & Taylor, C. (2017). Commoner Landscape, Ritual, and Symbolism in the Shadow of Dos Hombres: Recent Investigations at the Site of Chawak But’o’ob. Annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology (SAA), Vancouver, BC. Available Here

Hyde, D., Walling, S. L., & Valdez, F. (2019). Complexity and Function Among Hinterland Communities of Northwestern Belize. Research Reports in Belizean Archaeology, v16:237–256.

Walling, S. L., Hanna, J. A., Taylor, C., Stanley, J. N., & Coughenour, C. M. (2020). Ancient Maya Commoner Agency and Inter-Site Solar Alignment in Northwestern Belize. Research Reports in Belizean Archaeology, v17:119–134. Available Here