Anthropology professor toils to dig up secrets of Mayan city
By Emily Baker
Staff Reporter

He may not race through the Egyptian desert trying to save the world from the Nazis, but Tom Guderjan is the closest thing TCU has to Indiana Jones. He even has a mug in his office with both his name and Indiana Jones’ name inscribed on it.

Guderjan is an archeologist and an anthropologist. For the last 10 years, he has been unearthing secrets of a Mayan city in Belize.

During the school year, Guderjan, an assistant anthropology professor, teaches anthropology and archeology classes. And he said he gets his fair share of Indiana Jones comments.

“Those movies did more to support archeology than anything in the last 30 years,” Guderjan said. “Archeology is an adventure. Wandering around in the South American forest and getting lost is pretty weird. And there isn’t anything like the feeling when you find something.”

He said he has helped discover the world’s third largest jade collection in Belize. He also is piecing together the relationships between the Mayan social structure.

“The intellectual challenge makes it exciting,” Guderjan said. “It is exciting to learn about societies that haven’t existed for the last thousand years.”

Archeology also teaches the post-modern world about itself, he said.

“Understanding humans in the past gives us insight into what civilization is all about,” Guderjan said.

Guderjan also enjoys meeting volunteers and students who come from all over the world to work on the Mayan project at Blue Creek.

The project is located near an Amish city. Guderjan said the people who live there are now some of his closest friends.

According to Guderjan, the Mayan project has been one of the greatest causes of marriages and divorces. Guderjan met his wife, Colleen Hanratty, whom he married last May, while working on the project.

Each year, 10 students travel to the Mayan city to work, Guderjan said. Senior anthropology major Meghan Dennis said she credits her pursuit of archeology to Guderjan and the trips she has taken the last two summers to Belize.

“From the first class I had with (Guderjan), he sold me on the Maya,” Dennis said. “From the first moment I stepped foot onto camp in Belize, I was sold on fieldwork.”

Dennis said Guderjan is not just a good archeology professor.

“He’s great for his students when we’re on a project,” Dennis said. “I’ve seen him comforting a student whose grandmother passed and who was worried about going back out to do burial archaeology. I’ve seen him arranging transportation for a lovesick student’s fiancé, so that they could share a field experience together.”

Jared Fuller, a junior anthropology and radio-TV-film major, traveled to Belize last summer. He said it was one of the most intense learning experiences he has had.

“Dr. Guderjan has a lot of genuine respect for what his students have to say and treats them as friends and colleagues,” Fuller said. “I think a lot of people’s first reactions to Dr. Guderjan is that he reminds them of Indiana Jones. Dr. Guderjan would focus on teaching us while we were working in the field, but after the day’s work was completed, he would hang out with us like he was just another student.”

This year, Guderjan and a group of students are beginning an archeology project at an ancient trade city in Mexico known as Chetumal.

“We are renting a hotel on the beach that has six restaurants next door to it,” Guderjan said. “The site is two miles away on a road, which will be nice.”

During the time the group will be in Mexico, the Mexican government is uncovering and opening an ancient tomb, Guderjan said. The group will get to be at the tomb site when it is opened, he said.

There is still limited space for the trip to Mexico and space to work in Belize, Guderjan said. For more information about these trips, contact Guderjan at (817) 257-5943.

e.k.baker@tcu.edu