gems, jade, jadeite, fei cui, Mesoamerica, Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Mayans, Olmecs, Aztecs, archaeology, history, archaeogemology, Pre-Columbian jade; Costa Rica; Maya; exchange; iconography, lapidary

In June 2010, while I was still serving as Director of the Belize Institute of Archaeology, Gyles Iannone, who was conducting research at the upper Macal River Valley site of Minanha, arrived at my home in San Ignacio bearing two large fragments of an exquisitely painted polychrome vase. Exceptionally well preserved, the vessel fragments were decorated with vertical and horizontal bands of large hieroglyphs that bordered an elaborately attired Maize God. Iannone informed me that one of his workers, Dennis Martínez, had discovered the fragments of the vase within a cave located high on a cliff overlooking the Macal River gorge. Martínez had also noted that the cave was untouched and that it contained several other complete and fragmented ceramic vessels. Having directed the Western Belize Regional Cave Project for almost a decade, during which time we documented more than 30 caves in the Cayo District, I was well aware of the rarity of unlooted cave sites. Indeed, because most caves are readily accessible, and because the ancient Maya deposited cultural remains on the surfaces of these caverns, most cave sites have been, and continue to be, plundered for the ancient relics within them. For this reason, and because only a few hieroglyphic texts have ever been recovered in the Belize River Valley region, I arranged for a team of cavers to return to the site to conduct reconnaissance and search for additional fragments of the vase.