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Here is a view of the west side of the Temple XX pyramid before we started our excavations early in February, 2002.

Another view of the Temple XX pyramid before this season's excavations. We are beginning by working on the west side of the pyramid and eventually will be working on the north side.

One more view of the west side of the Temple XX pyramid, pre-excavation.

Excavation in progress. We are finding lots of well-preserved terrace walls, which is a nice change from our experience on the south and east sides of the building. Note the rope for aid in climbing. That's Joshua Balcells in the red shirt.

Here's a "reverse shot" of the previous photo, looking down from the west side of the Temple XX pyramid. We can see terraces on the north side too and have some hopes that there will be good preservation on that side as well.

In a reversal of the normal ritual, Archaeologist Patricia Aguirre burns incense in order to stop the rains rather than bring them on. This was early in the season when our work was often halted by downpours.

Close-up of the burning copal.

Project members were out in force at the March 2002 SAA meetings in Denver and many presented papers. From left to right in the photograph (with Project and Mapping Project members in bold): Mark Child, Jessica Child, David Freidel, Merle Greene Robertson, Damien Marken, Marc Zender, Heather Hurst, Kirk French, Jim Eckhardt and Ed Barnhart.