Opportunities for volunteer work in Maya art, iconography, archaeology, ethno-botany and ethno-zoology

If you are interested in tropical plants and animals, and how the Maya perceived these, and how flora and fauna are pictured in Maya art, these are the projects that FLAAR is working on in 2008-2009.

This is not a dig; there is no treasure hunting. This is a scholarly project in the museums of Guatemala and adjacent countries. Most of the research involves digital photography and large format printing of rollout photographs of Maya vases.

First step: You should read the U.S. State Dept. description of travel to Guatemala and Central America.

Second step; you need to understand the delightful tropical health issues that await you in any and every tropical country around the world.

If you survive these hurdles and still wish to volunteer, please e-mail us. You will get a learning experience that no university, no college course or seminar outside of the Maya area can possibly provide. You will work with sophisticated digital imaging equipment and studio photography equipment. It is not expected that you know how to use this equipment in advance, but you do need to know (in advance) how to use a Macintosh OS and how to use Adobe Photoshop version 5.5. There are plenty of books on Photoshop to learn from.

FLAAR is situated in an especially beautiful part of Guatemala City (a city which otherwise is rather solid concrete and noticeable urban aspects that are typical of most large cities in Latin America). The university museum (Museo Popol Vuh) has one of the largest collections of Maya ceramic art in the world. Furthermore, all the ceramics are authentic. Most museums elsewhere have partial forgeries, pots that were once original but which have been faked with repainting and "restoration." Next door to that museum is the Museo Ixchel of Maya textiles, weaving, and indigenous clothing. The university is about 15 minutes from the FLAAR facilities. We have no formal relationship with these institutions but obviously have worked with them over past decades.

Tina, a student at the University of Ljubljana, at IB ProCADD in Ljubljana, Slovenia with Juan Luis Sacayon, Universidad Rafael Landivar, Guatemala City. Tina is currently in Guatemala to decide what digital imaging theme she will do her thesis on. Juan Luis is an employee at FLAAR, one of the many students who are provided training trips to Europe or the USA to learn advanced digital imaging technology: here a special scanner from Contex (ZCorp) for scanning rare books.

FAQ Frequently Asked Questions

What does it cost to live in Guatemala City? in some cases (but obviously not guaranteed) you could pay rent to be in a house of one of the FLAAR student employees. Cost would be about $500 per month, plus food.

What about Spanish language courses? It is not required that you speak Spanish when you arrive but it would make sense to learn while you are in Guatemala. However keep in mind that a volunteer position is full-time. This is not the appropriate manner to learn Spanish most of the day and volunteer in the leftover hours. If you are agile you can learn Spanish while helping out with the project. The Spanish courses in Antigua are too far away to commute daily (but are a good place to learn Spanish before or after your stint in Guatemala City).

How can I see in advance what this Maya art study project involves? Peruse the sites of the FLAAR network,

This program in Maya art is devoted to iconography, epigraphy, and style, especially of Peten Maya ceramic art: Early Classic, Late Classic, and Terminal Late Classic. PreClassic is not as crucial here because this program is interested in figural and non-figural decoration. Most PreClassic pots had no such decoration (they are important, but not for iconography). ProtoClassic pottery, however, is included due to the decorative form of the mammiform supports and the peccary supports that develop in the following century.

Mirtha Cano, biologist, graduated from the Universidad San Carlos, Guatemala City. Alen is a student from the University of Ljubljana who was a volunteer on FLAAR ethnobotany programs over the Christmas 07 New Year 08 holiday. Mirtha is one of the two full-time botanists on the staff of FLAAR Mesoamerica.

Teotihuacan influence on Early Classic Maya art, and especially Teotihuacan influence on the art of the Tiquisate (non-Maya) portion of Pacific piedmont Guatemala, is a featured part of all FLAAR Photo Archive research.

In epigraphy, our main interest is finding and photographing Primary Standard Sequences that have not previously been available to epigraphers to study. FLAAR has digital rollout cameras that can scan the inside walls as well as even beveled outside walls of the plates that often have these PSS sequences of glyphs. Naturally we can also do digital rollouts of vases and bowls.

Can I use material for my courses, seminars, thesis or dissertation back at my campus at home? Let us know the subject of your projected research and we will do our best to see if it fits into the FLAAR program. As with any field project, naturally the raw files are for use of the project and are copyright by FLAAR. But in most cases it should be possible to use material for a thesis, course, seminar paper, etc.

What previous experience is necessary? Patience and flexibility are probably the most important traits of all.

What abilities of yours will give you a better chance for being accepted? If you are a native speaker of German, Italian, or French, we need assistance translating our web pages on wide-format inkjet printing into these languages.

If you are an illustrator, this also gives you an edge. FLAAR projects on tropical plants, flowers, and animals need illustrators, as do our archaeological publications.

If you are an architect, you could help do a glossary of Maya architectural terms.

If you are a trained and experienced editor. Dozens of our publications need further editing and improvement, especially since most of our authors are Spanish and their English needs assistance.

Please realize that whereas you will gain all kinds of experience in Maya iconography, ethnobotany, ethnozoology and photography skills during any session with FLAAR, that there is no course in and of itself. You learn by doing the job; you learn by your own ability to watch and understand. This is a working project, not a course where a professor stands in front of a class and teaches you one aspect after another.

Alen experiencing the Highlands of Alta Verapaz, Guatemala. He is from a university in Slovenia.

Most Maya archaeology field projects assess a fee in addition to the volunteer covering their own personal expenses. It is not required that you pay a fee, though a tax deductible donation to the Maya iconography program/FLAAR Photo Archive would indeed be appreciated. The project needs to purchase additional Macintosh G5 computers for this program and thus we welcome financial contributions. But if you are unable to make such a donation, you should still apply. There is no fee for applying.

It is inefficient to have too many assistants and volunteers (also the various studio spaces can't hold all that many people at one time). Thus we usually limit the volunteer position to a single individual, or rarely, to a pair. The exception would be if the sole volunteer has already been selected and at the last minute another individual or couple apply and can make a financial contribution to the project. Naturally we would not cancel out the initial (nonpaying) volunteer, but might consider making an exception to the maximum number of assistants and also accept a person(s) who can contribute financially.

Initial contact should be by email and subsequently by Skype. You can write in German, English, or Spanish. Dr Hellmuth also understands Italian, some Portugese, and basic French. The FLAAR staff in Guatemala are all bilingual.

Most recently updated December 9, 2008.

Previously updated June 28, 2005.