Biology Stories
  • Home
  • Stories
  • About

Preserving Ancient History

 

Entrance
      Atlas Weathering Services Group, An independent testing lab from Arizona was contracted to set up an environmental monitoring system in a recently discovered pyramid located in Petén, Guatemala, to the Northeast of Uaxactún in the spring of 2007. They were discovered by archeologist William Saturno who stumbled upon the pyramid while searching in the forest for geological sites. Saturno went into the pyramid for shade as he was turned around and extremely dehydrated. To his disbelief he had accidently discovered an extremely rare find that would change his life forever.


Picture

  

Picture
­  
­    The Atlas Weathering Services Group lead project engineer that was sent to set up the series of data loggers was Duncan Maciver. The pyramid constructed in 100 B.C. had been sealed off for centuries until it was discovered in 2001 and had experienced the ravishing of site robbers who had escaped with little to show of. This allowed for the immaculate preservation of the murals found there today. Maciver was sent to Guatemala City in 2006 to pick up the necessary equipment to set up the environmental monitoring system at the pyramids, but his trip was delayed after a week of extensive searching through out agencies that he described as “places you don’t want to inside be for too long” due to bureaucratic misunderstanding.

    In March of 2007 Maciver again arrived in Guatemala to retrieve the equipment and head deep within the Tikal Forest. He packed himself into a small pickup truck and headed three hours out of the city and another three hours of thick bumpy forest driving. He arrived to the site made of huts and tents surrounded by not much other than a few people, limited resources, thick forest, and a pyramid that could only be distinguished as a pyramid by the hut that shaded a narrow hidden entryway. “It was back to basics out there” Maciver said during our phone interview.




Paintings

 

Equipment
    During the fifteen days spent at the site his objective was to set up a self-sufficient environmental monitoring system to record and transmit data. The system consists of three types of data loggers that would monitor data every fifteen minutes, and record and transmit the data collected from the site. The information collected would be used to preserve the murals with baseline data before allowing visitors inside and possibly limit the amount of visitors allowed into the pyramid to maximize the preservation of the ancient Mayan murals inside. The data logger inside the pyramid was placed near enough to the murals to collect accurate data but concealed as much as possible and monitored salinity, carbon dioxide, conductivity, light, temperature, and moisture. This data logger is wired with armored cable to a solar panel placed with precise calculation to supply it with power along with five other sensors in the pyramid. There is a similar data logger outside the pyramid to collect environmental data such as the data loggers inside the pyramid plus wind, rain and other outdoor weather related conditions. The information is recorded at the data loggers and sent to another data logger on the top of the pyramid that was also set up by Maciver to collect additional environmental information and to transmit the collected data daily to a satellite named with the acronym NESDIS. Maciver explained the critical timing of the data transmission, as it can only successfully be transmitted once a day during a certain time slot with perfect alignment with the satellite.


Picture

  

Inside The Pyramid
    Configuring precise multiple sensor and solar panel placement, along with the tedious installation of other delicate measuring instruments, Maciver was also required to find suitable placement for clear satellite transmission in a thick forest embedded with trees. Although he was able to trim some trees below the pyramid for maximum exposure, atop the pyramid a Chicozapote tree stood in the way which is strictly protected by the Guatemalan government for its provided resources to the natives. Maciver had to find a way around various obstacles such as these.  During the setup period Maciver had free reign of the pyramid that is not open to the public which allowed him an astonishing inside view of ancient murals that have been seen by few living eyes. He described the hallways as narrow and mentioned that there were not layers as those of the Egyptian Pyramids although it was multi layered, with branches off the main hallway. “I wore cowboy boots on that trip and it ruined cowboy boots for me” he added as he described his hikes to the top of the pyramid during his fifteen day stay at the geological site. Maciver described the living conditions as bathing in muddy waters from the flowing rivers, and meals that consisted of meat once a week. Maciver has lived and seen many places in the world and as cultured as he is I doubt this bothered him much. He expresses himself as very fortunate to have had the opportunity to experience such a historical endeavor as well as to participate in the preservation of such history.

Author: Steve Scharboneau

Special thanks to my very good friend, the lead project engineer at Atlas Weathering Services Group, Duncan Maciver
for providing his amazing story and amazing photographs.