Today, it's difficult to grasp the immense difficulties that Mayanist
archaeologists faced in the early years of the twentieth century. The
University of Pennsylvania Museum's excavation of Piedras Negras provides
both a reminder of those early days and a cautionary tale of innocence lost
and experience hard won. Illustrated with archived photographs, this talk
went behind the published reports to focus on the archaeologists, their
problems and the unusual steps they took to overcome them.
    Dr Danien is a research associate in the American S