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Ometepe Archaeological Project History: a Personal Account
—by Suzanne Baker
The antecedents of the Ometepe Archaeological Project are in the 1980s. I first went to Nicaragua with my husband and son in January 1985, excited by and wanting to learn more about the Sandinista Revolution, which had triumphed over the long-corrupt Somoza regime in 1979. In the two short weeks there, I was moved by its initiatives for the poor and formerly oppressed and fell in love with the beauty of the country. Tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of internationalists came to live, work, and visit Nicaragua during the 1980s to support its revolution. As an archaeologist, it wasn’t clear what exactly I could contribute, but I made contact with a North American conservator volunteering at the National Museum. The next year my colleague, Michael Smith, and I volunteered to work on Zapatera Island in Lake Nicaragua for a month with Nicaraguan archaeologists from the National Museum. It was a 19th century experience, working and camping out, with no electricity or running water, on an almost depopulated island, and often hiking in the jungle. But the sunsets were gorgeous, the company good, the rum great (although the food was skimpy), and I had my first contact with Nicaragua’s rock art and amazing sites.
Between 1986 and 1994 I got sidetracked doing other kinds of Nicaragua solidarity work, including participating in and leading volunteer work brigades on construction and sustainable agriculture projects, although I maintained some communication with the National Museum. But after one brigade in 1994, a friend and I took a few days vacation on Ometepe Island. We arrived in a rickety banana boat just at dusk at the pier in Moyogalpa to find a saint’s day parade gathering at the pier—young girls dressed as Indian maidens, the local brass band. It was magical. While watching the parade in the dark, a young man came up to me and introduced himself as Rafael González, an archaeologist at the Museum, who was on Ometepe covering cultural events. The next day he led us to some petroglyph sites and talked about the Museum’s desire to begin an archaeological site inventory. Impressed with the sites and stunned by the beauty of the island, I asked if they might be interested in volunteer help. Little did I know what I was getting into.
In 1995, I came back to Ometepe with four archaeologist friends—Michael Smith, James Martin, Martha Bakerjian, and Alice Hall—for a three-week survey and immediately began finding sites with large numbers of petroglyphs. We only managed to record about 3 sites, but these had almost 100 petroglyph boulders. It was clear that Ometepe was rich in rock art and to survey the island in any depth would require considerable time and manpower. We began talking about a long-term project. Jim Martin and I came back in 1996 to do some survey and scout out the possibilities, and, after finding Hacienda Magdalena as a base camp, the five of us founded Culturelink as a non-profit and began to advertise for volunteers for the 1997 season. Rafael González became a regular and enthusiastic member of the team, even after leaving the museum.
Volunteers recording a petroglyph site on Lake Nicaragua
Our Volunteers have been the life blood of the project—experienced archaeologists and interested avocationals alike. They have come from the U.S., Nicaragua, Canada, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Australia, and Germany. They have all brought their enthusiasm, excitement, labor, and thirst for adventure to the project. We thank them and hope, in return, that we have given them unforgettable new experiences, an abiding appreciation for the hard work of archaeology, love of rock art, and memories of a great time.
In 1998 I volunteered for three weeks on the Ometepe rock art project and had so much fun I did it again the following year! Nicaragua was quite an experience--I have never been anywhere even remotely like it in my life: very friendly people; incredible scenery; monkeys roaring in the trees; green parrots flying overhead; fried bananas that, with ketchup, tasted quite a bit like French fries; local men playing baseball; good cheap rum; the 300-pound pig that tried to sneak into the kitchen any time the cook had her back turned; women sorting shade-grown coffee beans; the young girl with the beautiful voice singing in the hammock; the rooster that crowed way too early outside our window; the grade school teacher who started to cry when we presented the crayons, watercolor paints, and Spanish language books we’d shlepped along in our luggage; the hike up to the cloud forest; and of course hundreds, maybe thousands, of petroglyphs. I must say it was one of the most interesting experiences of my life. And not a bad place to spend January and February when it’s cold and snowy back home.
—Ann Sharley, a former volunteer and 2009 crew chief
Project Work History
1995
Volunteers: Suzanne Baker, Martha Bakerjian, Alice Hall, James Martin, Michael Smith (United States); Rafael González Rivas (Nicaragua)
Recorded: 3 sites, 94 petroglyph boulders
1996
Volunteers: Suzanne Baker, James Martin, David Brennan (United States); Rafael González Rivas (Nicaragua).
Recorded: 6 sites, 121 petroglyph or other modified boulders
1997
Staff: Suzanne Baker, Michael Smith, James Martin
Volunteers: Tom Becker, Mathew Brain, Diane “Ronnie” Brown, Glenn Denton, Chris Deter, Elizabeth Dillon, Lynn Dunbar, Roque Garcia, Sandra González, Valerie Jones, Tom Meamber, Irene Papanestor, Judy Shocklee, Robert Slazinik, Karl Stover, Stacy Ulett, Laurie Warner (United States); Rafael González Rivas (Nicaragua).
Recorded: 14 sites, 238 petroglyph or other modified boulders
1998
Staff: Suzanne Baker, Michael Smith, Jerry Doty
Volunteers: Meredith Bergemann, Anne Bremer, Glenn Denton, Bill Ferguson, Ted Lewis, Scott McRae, James Martin, Ann Sharley, Janeé Taylor, Janine Thoelen, (United States); Rafael González Rivas (Nicaragua); Adrienne Munro, Megan Williams (Canada); Lee Andrews, Nicolas File, Desmond Pattison, Ben Roberts (United Kingdom).
Recorded: 23 sites; 300 petroglyph or other modified boulders
1999
Staff: Suzanne Baker, Michael Smith, Jerry Doty
Volunteers: Sarah Allen, Benita Briones, Milton Fonseca, Alice Hall, Angela Labrador, Joseph Livaudais, Michael Miller, Kristy Otte, Ann Sharley, Daniel Shoup, Janeé Taylor, Cathy Waterman (United States); Rafael González Rivas, Ramiro Garcia (Nicaragua); Marios Cleovoulou (United Kingdom).
Recorded: 12 sites; 396 petroglyph or other modified boulders
2001
Staff: Suzanne Baker, Jerry Doty, Michael Smith
Volunteers: Bonnie Bone, Lina Davidian, Carolyn Freiwald, Robert Hibschman, Chuck Kaufman, Crystal Pluym, Kate Rennegarbe, Bernard Rymarchyk, Ann Walls (United States); Rafael González (Nicaragua); Wayne Lipschitz (Australia); Andreas Toreld, Christina Westberg (Sweden).
Recorded 16 sites; 255 petroglyph or other modified boulders
2004
Staff: Suzanne Baker, Michael Smith, Jerry Doty
Volunteers: Cat Whitney Annable, Beth Anne Bethea, Markus Bodle, Dick Hall, Patrick Mulcahy, Bernard Rymarchyk, (United States), Rafael González Rivas, Rigoberto Navarro Genie (Nicaragua).
15 sites; 101 petroglyph or other modified boulders
2006
Staff: Michael Smith, Jerry Doty
Volunteers: Ryan Hainey, Ryan Hurd, Lizette Lezcano, Carolyn Orbann, Laura Orbann.
Recorded 15 petroglyphs, GPSed old sites