MUSEUM & PUBLIC ARCHAEOLOGY
Crooked Tree Museum and Cultural Heritage Center
The Crooked Tree Museum and Cultural Heritage Center, established 2018, is a community museum and educational organization committed to sharing the deep history of the lower Belize River Watershed. The Belize River East Archaeology (BREA) project was honored to be part of its development as a community-based public initiative. The mission of the Museum is to collect, display, study, and exhibit material culture that tells the rich stories that comprise this history in order to advance knowledge and understanding of the people that have shaped Belize over time. The permanent exhibition that is housed in the Museum focuses on the history of human-environment interactions in the lower Belize River Watershed, which spans as much as 10,000 years of continuous human occupation, from Paleoindian times to the ancient Maya and into the colonial period, which includes a rich colonial history involving the Kriol people who still live in this area today.
To learn more about the Crooked Tree museum and Cultural Heritage Center and BREA’s partnership with the local community, click here.
For a virtual tour of the Crooked Tree museum and Cultural Heritage Center, click here.
Scholars-in-Residence Program at the Museum
Another long-term initiative for BREA is working on with the community in the development of a Scholars-in-Residence program for the Crooked Tree Museum and Cultural Heritage Center. The Museum will host scholars studying themes that resonate with the Museum’s mission of documenting the long history of human-environment interactions in Belize, allowing them to further their research while sharing their finds with the local community. Interested in being a Scholars-in-Residence? For more information on how to apply, please contact Dr. Sara Clarke-Vivier at CrookedTreeMuseum@gmail.com or sclarkevivier2@washcoll.edu
BREA and Public Archaeology
Public archaeology forms an important part of BREA’s mission in the lower Belize River Watershed in many different ways. During one field season, BREA held an Open Archaeology Day in Crooked Tree village at one of the historic site they were excavating in the village. They invited members of the local community to come visit the site, ask questions, and see what was being uncovered in the ongoing excavations. Teachers brought 78 students from Infant 2-Standard 6 (ages 7-14) on a walking field trip and BREA team members showed them the excavations, the artifacts they were finding, and talked about archaeological field methods.
Other plans include Teacher Workshops to help promote the Crooked Tree Museum as a learning center to teachers and students in Belize. In addition, a summer series of public programming at the Museum is planned with a speaker series and engaging activities for both adults and kids.
