UCSB researchers are teaming up with officials from Belize to study the ancient Mayan city of El Pilar. On Monday Belize representatives will sign a Memorandum of Understanding to start a research and management program called "Archeology Under the Canopy."

The event is hosted by Exploring Solutions Past: The Mayan Forest Alliance, a nonprofit conservation organization, and UCSB's MesoAmerican Research Center. The signing will take place at 2 p.m. in the Chancellor's Conference Room at Cheadle Hall and there will also be a reception for the dignitaries.

From A.D. 600 - 900, 20,000 Mayans called El Pilar home in a landscape of city houses and gardens set against areas of forest and agricultural fields. It now sits at the heart of a 5,000 acre archaeological reserve that links Belize and Guatemala.

UCSB archeologist Anabel Ford mapped out the city of El Pilar on the border between Belize and Guatemala in 1983. She started a preservation campaign in 1993 and the site now has protected status in both countries.

This Memorandum renews the agreement between UCSB and Belize have had since 2005. The document will be signed by Chancellor Henry T. Yang, Ford, Institute of Social, Behavioral, and Economic Research director Sarah Fenstermaker, Secretary of Exploring Solutions Past Randall Fox, Belize National Institute of Culture and History president Diane Haylock, and Belize Institute of Archeology acting director George Thompson.

"This MOU underscores the importance of our international relationships and the value of Mesoamerica, literally at our back door," said Ford. "Having an opportunity to celebrate the value of research, the importance of exchange, and the critical quality of conservation is in and of itself remarkable. That UCSB can foster this relationship is proof of forward thinking. Here is where the past can help the future of the Maya forest."

The Daily Sound