Map of El Rayo
By Andrew Califf The site of El Rayo is massive and abounds with artifacts. Renewed excavations at the lakeside site of El Rayo lead [...]
Uncovering Individual #4
By Andrew Califf The sky is blotted out by ominous grey clouds as the removal of the human remains belonging to Individual #4 began. [...]
Crafted and Looted Pottery
By Andrew Califf Chortega archeological sites are littered with ceramic sherds, including incised and painted pieces of polychrome pottery and intricate figurines. These ceramic [...]
Re-Writing the Books
By Andrew Califf Every pile of dirt poured into the sieve at El Rayo has the potential to change what history books preach. Imported [...]
Zapatera and Other Mysteries
By Andrew Califf The motionless, yet seemingly sentient, stone figure peers through the dangling vines and swaying leaves to get a glimpse of Lake [...]
Spiders, Scorpions and Snakes
By Andrew Califf Students clear foliage around exposed burial urns at El Rayo’s Locus 3 to further excavate the cemetery. One of Geoffrey [...]
First Day Breaking Dirt
Grid lines being laid out at Locus 3, the cemetery. The cracked urn in the foreground is one of four visible on the [...]
Visit to the National Palace
By: Andrew Califf We visited the grand National Palace and Ivonne Miranda Tapia, the director of Nicaragua’s Institute for Culture, gave us a tour. [...]
A Day in Granada
By Andrew Califf and contributions by Jerry Walter, Simone Judea Muhammad, Philip Hutton, Anna Brown and William Robison. Geoff McCafferty’s IFR team arrived in [...]
The Story Artifacts Tell: “Calcophones” at the Italy: Incoronata Field School
By Dr. Giulia Saltini Semerari, Research Affiliate at the Museum of Anthropological Archaeology, University of Michigan & Co-Director of Italy: Incoronata The plateau [...]