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Over 720 buildings have been identified
as the result of the Royal Ontario Museum's excavations, directed
by David Pendergast from 1974 to 1986. The total now exceeds
800 as the result of investigations begun in 1996 under the direction
of Elizabeth Graham, University College London. Major funding
for both projects has been provided by the Social Sciences and
Humanities Research Council of Canada. In 2002, the National
Geographic Society provided major support, with funding for a
hieroglyphics recording project provided by the British Academy. |
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Lamanai is a Maya site located
in northern Belize, Central America. Belize, once known as British
Honduras, is a nation of about 200,000 people; it's bordered
on the north by Mexico, on the west and south by Guatemala, and
on the east by the Caribbean Sea. Lamanai is spread out along
the west bank of the New River Lagoon at a point where the New
River flows from the lagoon on its 80-mile journey -- about 40
miles as the crow flies -- north to Chetumal Bay and the Caribbean.
The New River, known to the Maya as Dzuluinicob ("foreign
men") was one of the arteries used by the conquering Spaniards
and missionizing friars as they attempted to penetrate the forests
of the Maya lowlands. The name "Lamanai," in fact,
appears in 16th and 17th century documents as a Spanish rendering
of a Maya name, which we think was originally Laman'ayin ("submerged
crocodile").
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