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Collection of shell beads and other personal adornments
This is a collection of shell beads and other personal adornments recovered from the ancient Mayan port site Vista Alegre. Among the collection are finished and unfinished shell beads and a tiger shark tooth pendant. The unfinished shell beads indicate that the production of shell beads was happening on site.
An international team of researchers, supported in part by the U.S. National Science Foundation, is researching the dynamic interplay between social and natural processes that shaped the lives of the ancient Maya over the last 3,000 years. Called "The Proyecto Costa Escondida," or "hidden coast" project, the research focuses on the ancient Mayan port sites of Vista Alegre and Conil.
[Research supported by U.S. National Science Foundation grant BCS 1530245.]
Learn more in the Georgia State University news story Unlocking the secrets of the ancient coastal Maya. (Date of image: unknown; date originally posted to NSF Multimedia Gallery: Oct. 09, 2022)
Credit: Photo courtesy of the Proyecto Costa Escondida
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