University of Pennsylvania Finding Aids

Linton Satterthwaite, a professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania and Curator of the American Section of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, conducted three trips to Caracol, Belize in the 1950s to investigate a previously unknown site of Maya culture. While his primary interest was in Maya inscriptions and chronology, his journeys to Caracol yielded artifacts for the Museum, including twenty-six vessels of the early classic period, nine vessels of the late period, Stela 11, a new "giant glyph" altar, and the bottom portion of Stela 3. The Caracol expedition collection consists of 16 boxes of correspondence, field notes and notes on individual stela, altars, and stones, glyph decipherment and chronology data, information for publication, and photographs and drawings including contact sheets and photographs from Caracol, Benque Viejo, and Cayo X. Satterthwaite organized and catalogued the photographs according to the type of film used, field numbers, and monument number. The collection also contains three file boxes of card notes to the photographs and a few pieces of oversized material. Satterthwaite's "The Monuments and Inscriptions of Caracol, Belize" with co-author Carl Beetz, was published after his death. The publication materials relate to his instructions and notes for publication and Beetz' collection of Satterthwaite's monument notes for the book.

Piedras Negras is a Maya site in Guatemala particularly noted for the beautifully sculpted stelae and hieroglyphic inscriptions it has yielded. Between 1931 and 1939 the University of Pennsylvania Museum conducted extensive excavations at this site. John Allen Mason led the first two seasons of work at the site (1931–1932), and Linton Satterthwaite directed the remaining six seasons (1933–1939, excluding 1938). Most of the monuments at the Museum borrowed from Guatemala were returned in 1947; only Stela 14 and one leg from Altar 4 remain on display in the Museum today. The textual records from the excavations of Piedras Negras consist of 11 linear feet of correspondence, financial records, field notes and diaries, catalogs, and reports and publication materials. The arrangement of the records reflects the original order insofar as could be detected, and portions that had been separated over time were re-integrated into this scheme.