“When we think about the Ancient Mayans, we often think about the grand pyramids and elaborate temples they built… We know very little about how Mayan commoners lived during this time.” This is what Rachel Paul (she/her) is currently studying. Rachael is a third-year Applied Anthropology graduate student with a focus in archeology at Oregon State.
Rachel’s research looks at ancient Mayan ceramics, specifically from an agricultural site in Belize. By examining the pieces and determining their composition, she hopes to find out more about Mayan populations and their lifestyles. “If we determine that these ceramics were not made by the agriculturalists who used them, that could suggest that these farmers had access to open markets where goods were bought and sold. Until very recently, academics assumed that all Ancient Mayan peasants were entrapped in serfdom-like situations, but this may not be the case!”
Beyond her research, Rachel is a founding member of OSU’s Archeology club and won first place in the Valley Library’s Visualize Your Bibliography contest last year. “Since my thesis research uses pottery in order to find out what the lives of Ancient Mayan commoners looked like, this piece of art uses pottery fragments in order to “color in” the mural.” Her project uses pottery fragments with bibliography sources on each piece, held in a glass vase with illustrations of Mayan hieroglyphics and Mayan commoners.