Anabel Ford
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Anabel Ford (born 22 December 1951) is an American
archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...
specializing in the study of
Mesoamerica Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area that begins in the southern part of North America and extends to the Pacific coast of Central America, thus comprising the lands of central and southern Mexico, all of Belize, Guatemala, El S ...
, with a focus on the lowland Maya of
Belize Belize is a country on the north-eastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a maritime boundary with Honduras to the southeast. P ...
and
Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...
. She is recognized for her discovery of the ancient Maya city
El Pilar El Pilar is an ancient Maya city center located on the Belize-Guatemala border. The site is located north of San Ignacio, Belize and can be accessed through the San Ignacio and Bullet Tree Falls on the Belize River. The name "El Pilar" is Spa ...
. Ford is currently affiliated with the Institute of Social Behavioral and Economic Research (ISBER) and is the director of the MesoAmerican Research Center (MARC) at the
University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an ...
.


Early life

Ford was born the oldest of three children, all of whom were born in
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
. Her father, Joseph B. Ford, was a professor of Sociology at
California State University, Northridge California State University, Northridge (CSUN or Cal State Northridge), is a public university in the Northridge neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. With a total enrollment of 36,848 students (as of Fall 2024), it has the ...
and spoke German, Italian, French, Spanish, and Japanese and could read and write in Latin. Anabel Ford's mother, actress Marjorie Henshaw, was also known by her stage name Anabel Shaw. Ford's interest in Mesoamerican prehistory—
Teotihuacan Teotihuacan (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Teotihuacán'', ; ) is an ancient Mesoamerican city located in a sub-valley of the Valley of Mexico, which is located in the State of Mexico, northeast of modern-day Mexico City. Teotihuacan is ...
,
Monte Albán Monte Albán is a large pre-Columbian archaeological site in the Santa Cruz Xoxocotlán Municipality in the southern Mexico, Mexican state of Oaxaca (17.043° N, 96.767°W). The site is located on a low mountainous range rising above the plain i ...
,
Chichen Itza Chichén Itzá , , often with the emphasis reversed in English to ; from () "at the mouth of the well of the Itza people, Itza people" (often spelled ''Chichen Itza'' in English and traditional Yucatec Maya) was a large Pre-Columbian era, ...
—led her to choose a research career around the jungles that enveloped Maya sites. In 1981, Ford received her
PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...
at the University of California, Santa Barbara based on a settlement survey of the transect (La Brecha Anabel) she established between
Tikal Tikal (; ''Tik'al'' in modern Mayan orthography) is the ruin of an ancient city, which was likely to have been called Yax Mutal, found in a rainforest in Guatemala. It is one of the largest archaeological sites and urban centers of the Pre-Col ...
and Yaxha in the Peten of Guatemala. She began her research career as a research scientist at UCSB. In 1986 Ford became the director of the Mesoamerican Research Center.


Work

Ford began her work in the Maya lowlands in 1972. In 1978 while working on her doctorate, Ford mapped a
transect A transect is a path along which one counts and records occurrences of the objects of study (e.g. plants). It requires an observer to move along a fixed path and to count occurrences along the path and, at the same time (in some procedures), obt ...
between the Maya cities of
Tikal Tikal (; ''Tik'al'' in modern Mayan orthography) is the ruin of an ancient city, which was likely to have been called Yax Mutal, found in a rainforest in Guatemala. It is one of the largest archaeological sites and urban centers of the Pre-Col ...
and Yaxhá in the Petén of northern
Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...
. In 1983, Ford initiated the Belize River Archaeological Settlement Survey, or BRASS, project in order to better examine the settlement patterns and cultural ecology of the Maya region. In the course of that survey she and her team discovered the ancient Maya city, El Pilar. In the following years the BRASS team excavated many sites from under the
forest canopy In biology, the canopy is the aboveground portion of a plant cropping or crop, formed by the collection of individual plant crowns. In forest ecology, the canopy is the upper layer or habitat zone, formed by mature tree crowns and includ ...
. From 1983 to 1989, Ford and her team focused on the residential settlement patterns of the El Pilar area. From 1990 to 1992, Ford and her team focused on the full-scale excavation of representative residential of the El Pilar area. Investigations that began in 1993 at El Pilar resulted in detailed maps and site chronology for the monuments. Now that El Pilar is protected in Belize and Guatemala, and destined to be a
peace park A transboundary protected area (TBPA) is an ecological protected area that spans boundaries of more than one country or sub-national entity. Such areas are also known as transfrontier conservation areas (TFCAs) or peace parks. TBPAs exist in ma ...
, current field research is focused on mapping the residential component of El Pilar, identifying undiscovered sites and monuments. The team has worked with
Lidar Lidar (, also LIDAR, an acronym of "light detection and ranging" or "laser imaging, detection, and ranging") is a method for determining ranging, ranges by targeting an object or a surface with a laser and measuring the time for the reflected li ...
since 2013, field protocol funded by
National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine ...
, which led to the discovery of The Citadel, a hilltop temple complex. While Ford's work was focused on the landscape of the Maya region, she developed an increasing understanding of local knowledge and practices. She developed a conservation strategy called Archaeology Under the Canopy. This strategy promotes forest conservation in order to preserve
cultural heritage Cultural heritage is the heritage of tangible and intangible heritage assets of a group or society that is inherited from past generations. Not all heritages of past generations are "heritage"; rather, heritage is a product of selection by socie ...
. The forest surrounding El Pilar serves as protection for the monuments and artifacts created by the ancient city's residents. Therefore, conserving the forest ultimately protects the region's cultural heritage. Her efforts helped set aside nearly 2,000 Ha in the El Pilar area. Ford's work at El Pilar and with master Maya Forest gardeners is profiled in ''The Modern Maya Incidents of Travel and Friendship in Yucatan'' (University of Texas Press 2012), a work on the living Maya by Macduff Everton. Everton's narrative breadth shows the importance of historical perspectives on Maya landscapes for the conservation and development of the Maya Forest. Ford's work converges with Everton's and they have collaborated in the field and with presentations and publications that demonstrate the value of traditional Maya knowledge. Ford also collaborates with Ronald Nigh, an ethnologist and ecological anthropologist working with traditional Maya farmers. Their book, ''The Maya Forest Garden: Eight Millennia of Sustainable Cultivation of the Tropical Woodlands'', examines both contemporary tropical farming techniques and the archaeological record to make the argument that these ancient techniques, still in use today, can support significant populations over long periods of time. They argue that traditional Maya practices serve as solutions to contemporary problems, such as sustainability, climate change, and natural resource scarcity. Ford is president of Exploring Solutions Past: the Maya Forest Alliance, which is a
nonprofit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...
promoting the global significance of the Maya culture. Ford suggests that traditional Maya practices potentially serve as solutions to contemporary problems, such as
climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...
and natural resource scarcity. Exploring Solutions Past: Maya Forest Alliance teams up with the Maya farmers of El Pilar Forest Garden Network in order to support
sustainable agriculture Sustainable agriculture is agriculture, farming in sustainability, sustainable ways meeting society's present food and textile needs, without compromising the ability for current or future generations to meet their needs. It can be based on an ...
in the region. In 2000, she was an Associate Laureate for Cultural Heritage sponsored by the Rolex Awards for Enterprise. In addition to her archaeological work in the El Pilar region, Ford, as of 2013, is a board member of the Duke of Edinburgh Awards.


Notable publications

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References


External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ford, Anabel 1951 births American archaeologists University of California, Santa Barbara alumni American Mesoamericanists Women Mesoamericanists Mesoamerican archaeologists Mayanists 20th-century Mesoamericanists Living people American women archaeologists 20th-century American women scientists 21st-century American women scientists 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers