History of Research
The Four Valleys Archive consists of all records resulting from archaeological investigations conducted from 1983-2022 across 180km2 (ca. 70 miles2) within five distinct drainages in northwestern and western Honduras. These basins include: the Naco valley along the Chamelecon river; the lower Cacaulapa drainage, a tributary of the Chamelecon situated 9km southwest of the Naco Valley; the middle Chamelecon valley, linking the Naco and lower Cacaulapa valleys; the middle Ulua river basin ca. 40km south of the Naco valley; and, the El Paraíso valley lying 93 km to the southwest of Naco and 27 km northeast of the lowland Maya center of Copan. The materials recorded in the course of this work span three millennia (1200BC-AD1532). The archive contains data pertaining to the configurations, sizes, and locations of more than 900 sites recorded on survey along with the results of excavations at over 180 settlements and the analysis of roughly one million artifacts.
Types of Data
| Analysis Sheets | Catalog Sheets | Drawings |
| Excavation Reports | Field Notes | Lot Cards |
| Ulua Lot Cards | Photographs | Readouts |
| Season Reports | Survey Reports | Theses |
See our guide for more ways to navigate the collection.
Scholarship
| Posters |
Season Reports
PVC Report on Lithic Analyses Carried out in 2004, William McFarlane
PVN Informe Middle Chamelecon 2006 Season Report, Edward Mark Schortman, Patricia Urban, Lauren Schwartz, et al.
PVN Report on the 2022 Field Season, Edward Mark Schortman and Patricia Urban
PVN Season Report 1991, Patricia Urban and Edward Mark Schortman
PVN Season Report 1992, Patricia Urban and Edward Mark Schortman
Report on the 1984 PSB Investigations, Wendy Ashmore, Patricia Urban, and Edward Mark Schortman
Report on the 1990 Investigations at PVN 306, Theodore Neff, Patricia Urban, and Edward Mark Schortman
Skeletal Analyses of the 1995/1996 Naco Valley Archaeological Project Excavations, Susan Moorehead-Mooney
The incensarios and Candeleros of Central Santa Barbara: Distributional and Functional Studies, Patricia Urban and Sylvia Smith
Survey Reports
Middle Chamelecon Survey Report, Edward Mark Schortman
PAREP Site Survey Tables, Ellen Bell
PSB Additions to Survey in the Tencoa Valley, 1987, Jullie Benyo, John Weeks, and Marc Henrie
PSB-Lenca Archaeological and Historical Prject Report, John Weeks, Julie Benyo, and Mark Henrie
PSB-Survey Report, Edward Schortman
PSB Survey Table Upper Ulua Valley 1987, Julie Benyo, John Weeks, and Mark Henrie
PVC Survey Reports, Edward Mark Schortman
PVN Survey Report, Edward Mark Schortman
Theses
A Quantitative Analysis in Inter- and Intrasite Artifact Distribution Patterns in the Gualjoquito Hinterland, Santa Barbara, Honduras, Colleen Siders
Archaelogical Investigations Conducted at Site 335, Naco Valley, Northwest Honduras: An Anthropology Honors Thesis, Kim Sarnecki
Archaeological Investigations at Site 386, Groups II and III, Naco Valley, Northwest Honduras: An Anthropology Honors Thesis, Lyman Armstrong
Archaeological Investigations at Site 92, a Small Residential Site on the Periphery of La Sierra, Honduras, Helen Henderson
Archaeology in the Borderlands: Rural Communities in Northwest Honduras, Miranda Stockett
Candeleros of the Naco Valley: A Study in Ritual-Associated Artifacts, Nicholas Hearth
Closer to the Source: Prehistoric Ceramic Production in the Naco Valley Honduras, Samuel Connell
Closer to the Source: Prehistoric Ceramic Production in the Naco Valley, Honduras, Samuel Connell
Cores in the Periphery: obsidian and Sociopolitical Hierarchy in the Naco Valley, Northwest Honduras, Neil Ross
Decentralized Administration in the Naco Valley: An Anthropology Honors Thesis, Suzanne Crow
Discerning Ritual Cave Use in Northwest Honduras: Preliminary Investigations and Interpretations of the Santo Domingo Cave, Bryan Robbins
Discerning Ritual Cave Use in Northwest Honduras: Preliminary Investigations and Interpretations of the Santo Domingo Cave, Bryan Robbins
Discerning Ritual Cave Use in Northwest Honduras: Preliminary investigations and Interpretations of the Santo Domingo Cave, Bryan Robbins
Discerning Ritual Cave Use in Northwest Honduras: Preliminary Investigations and Interpretations of the Santo Domingo Cave, Bryan Robbins
Excavations at an Elite Residential Group at La Sierra, Santa Barbara, Honduras, Neil Ross
Excavations at Site 391, Group 3, Naco Valley, Honduras: Investigations at a Late Classic Household, Rachel Smith
Getting to Know You: Examining Identity Affiliations at El Cafetal, Honduras, Mary Hostenske
Honduras Thesis Upload Test, Upload Test
Investigations of a Late Classic residential Settlement: Excavations at Site 386 Group I, Naco Valley, Northwest Honduras, Matthew Turek
Investigations of Late Classic Guayavial, Naco Valley, Northwest Honduras, John Douglass
Investigations of Late Classic Guayavial, Northwestern Honduras: An Anthropology Honors Thesis, John Douglass
Non-Platform Occupation at Viejo Brisas del Valle, Northwest Honduras, Theodore Neff1993
Power Strategies in a Changing World: Archaeological Investigations of Early Postclassic Remains at El Coyote, Santa Barbara, Honduras, William McFarlane
Procurement, Production, Distribution, and Use: An Analysis of the Chipped Stone Artifacts from the Naco Valley, Honduras, David Schafer
PVN Site 120-S Buchmueller Thesis-Summary, Susan Buchmueller and Edward Mark Schortman
Rural Agrarian Diversity in the Late Classic (600-950 AD) Naco Valley, Northwestern Honduras, John Douglass
Rural Agrarian Household Diversity in the Late Classic (600-950 A.D.) Naco Valley, Northwest Honduras, John Douglass
Santa Barbara Lithics, Thomas Young
Social Power, Resistance, and Prestige-Goods Theory: The Political Economy of la Sierra's North Cluster During the Late Classic, Andrew Kindon
Social Power, Resistance, and the Prestige Goods Theory: The political Economy of La Sierra's North Cluster during the Late Classic, Andrew Kindon
Social Power, Resistance, and the Prestige Good Theory: The Political Economy of La Sierra's North Cluster during the Late Classic, Andrew Kindon
Surfing Honduras: Using the Surfer Mapping Program for Artifact Distribution Analysis at Las Canoas, Northwest Honduras, Mara Bernstein
The Censers and Candeleros of Santa Barbara, Honduras, Sylvia Smith
The Figurine and Ocarina Assemblage of the Naco Valley, Ellen Bell
The Santa Barbara Economic Network: A distributional Analysis of Ceramic Exchange in the Greater Santa Barbara Region, West-Central Honduras, Colleen Siders
The Structures of Operation 7: A Household or an Ancient Practical Joke Played on Archaeologists, Juliana Novic
Understanding the Candelero: A Synthesis of Research on the Candeleros of the Naco and Lower Cacaulapa Valleys, Jacob Griffith-Rosenberger
Understanding the Candelero: A Synthesis of Research on the Candeleros of the Naco and Lower Cacaulapa Valleys, Jacob Griffith-Rosenberger
Understanding the Candelero: A Synthesis of Research on the Candeleros of the Naco and Lower Cacaulapa Valleys, Jacob Griffith-Rosenberger
Wealth and Power in Late Classic Naco Honduras: An Analysis of Small Scale Political and Economic Settlement Hierarchies, Miranda Stockett