Project Goal

"I want people to engage with their surroundings, to explore for themselves the relationship of history and nature.”

Anabel Ford has spent almost two decades working at El Pilar, a vast ancient Maya city straddling the border between Belize and Guatemala. With her multidisciplinary team of researchers, this American archaeologist and anthropologist is developing the site into a model for conservation, sustainable development and cooperation.

She is now closer than ever to realising her ultimate vision for a single, unified El Pilar. To achieve this, she has implemented the El Pilar Program, a strategic plan that transcends a troubled international boundary and establishes the long-term foundation for preserving the site’s cultural heritage.