The completion of this book would not have been possible without the support of various agencies, friends, and colleagues. A grant from the National Science Foundation (BCS-0004410) made the 2001 field season at Saturday Creek possible, as did support from Robert Vitolo, Robert Vannix, and Berniece Skinner, all of which is much appreciated. John Yellen, director, NSF Archaeology Program, has been particularly supportive. Permission from the Belize Department of Archaeology (now the Institute of Archaeology) is greatly appreciated, and I want to give special thanks to acting archaeology commissioner George Thompson.
Completion of the fieldwork would not have been possible without an excellent staff, including field director Andrew Kinkella and lab directors Jim Conlon and Jennifer Ehret. Jim and Jenn spent much time conducting ceramic analysis and generated a ceramic chronology critical for our goals at Saturday Creek. I also appreciate Jane Arie Baldwin, Natalie Smith, and Jennifer Kirker for taking time from their busy schedules to help me with New Mexico State University 2001 field-school students, whose assistance was critical: David Brown, Sean Graebner, Julie Jeakle, Gaea McGahee, Joseph Bergstrom, Nick Chamberlain, Yvette Coral, Sarah Field, Patrick Graham, Charles (Sonny) Hartley, Elizabeth Pugh, and Gabriela Sanchez. We all learned much about burial excavation techniques and analysis from David Lee and Jennifer Piehl; their input was crucial and appreciated. Gaea McGahee and Rachel Saurman are responsible for the fine artwork.
The field season would not have been possible without the help and friendship of our Belizean excavation assistants: Cleofo Choc, Zedikiah Scott, Stanley Choc, Juan Antonio Lopes, Vicente Cal, Besi Alvarez (Rodríguez), Isabel Ascencio (Don Luna), Joel Portillo, Jeremías Portillo, Rene Penido, Rafilo Sansores, Julio Rodríguez, and Rafael Magana. The Martínez family at Saturday Creek provided delicious breakfasts every morning and welcomed us into their home. Our living and lab quarters were kindly provided by John, Carolyn, and Lisa Carr at Banana Bank; they and their staff always made us feel at home. The Carrs also gave me permission to excavate on their property, for which I am grateful. I want to thank Bob and Nettie Jones and Paulita and Ramón Figueroa for their friendship; they made Belize feel like a second home.
Several colleagues have provided invaluable input in the long process of writing this book, especially William H. Walker, Timothy Earle, Jeremy Sabloff, and Vernon Scarborough. An anonymous reviewer’s comments were also of much assistance in revising the manuscript. Much of the writing took place at the Bean in Mesilla, a coffee shop that provided the necessary caffeine and atmosphere to complete this project, especially in the person of the owners, Debbie and Mary. The final revisions took place at the University of Pennsylvania while I was a research associate in the University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology and a visiting faculty member in the Department of Anthropology. I want to thank museum director Jeremy Sabloff and department chair Greg Urban for setting the stage for the warm welcome I received at Penn. I would like to thank Jane Arie Baldwin and James Arie for providing comments on the preface. Finally, I want to thank everyone at the University of Texas Press for all their support and guidance, especially Theresa May and Allison Faust.