S5 E1 Ed’s Origin Story at Copan
Ever wonder how Ed became an archaeologist? Well here’s the story. The year was 1990 and the place was Copan, Honduras. Ed’s first field school experience was quite an adventure!
Show Notes:
“Protecting the Sacred: Rosalila’s Eccentric Chert Cache at Copan and Eccentrics Among the Classic Maya” by Julia Guernsey and Kent Reilly, 2006 – a great article on the eccentric flints with photos of each.
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Fascinating! So looking forward to this season. It certainly opened with a bang!
Thanks Allen! Glad you liked it.
Hi Ed! I have a goofy Copan story from 1987. I remember meeting and chatting with David Stuart at the ruins when we were both about 20 years old and there were lots of piles of stones all over the place. I was traveling solo and stayed a few days and was running low on cash the final night, with just enough honduran cash to get across the border into guatemala the next morning. So, as one does, I decided to sleep outside under one of the standing stelea, in a pasture a ways from the main ruins, to save the cash for the hotel. Plus it seemed like a fun adventure.
I was sound asleep in the middle of the night when I heard a rearing horse above me. Right above me! It was rearing up and I frantically rolled over and the horse stamped down hard where I was sleeping. Holy crap it scared me witless! I did not get back to sleep that night.
The storytelling mixture of archaeology and barroom brawls and memories like the bus crash tragedy captures the spirit of real life adventure that glued it all together. Like it was yesterday.