The community of Pichelito II is a village that belongs to the Municipality of Melchor de Mencos and is located on part of the archaeological site of Ucanal as well as adjacent to the national park that protects a 1.4 km square zone of the site. There are no extensive records of it in bibliographic sources, and its emergence is presumed, in general terms, to be recent. Among the inhabitants of Pichelito II, the story is told that both this community and the now abandoned Pichelito I emerged as a result of the fact that some settlers were “looking for gold‟ in the Maya ruins and that as a result, they uncovered two “small pitchers (pichelitos)” (pre-Hispanic ceramic jar vessels) and that is how the name of the was community was born.
This village has at least two evangelical churches, an elementary school, a Catholic church and a few small stores. It lacks electricity, although some people have gasoline-based generators that they use at night for the use of light bulbs as well as the charge of telephone devices. They do not have access to drinking water, and most of the people will carry water from the Mopan River for their subsistence, although they are in the process of obtaining a water pump to obtain water for certain parts of the community. Most of the community members are engaged in agricultural pursuits (primarily corn and beans) and animal husbandry (cows, chickens, turkeys).
VISITS TO OUR EXCAVATIONS
PAU WORKSHOP (2016)
at the Pichelito primary school
Among the activities of the Ucanal Archaeological Project (PAU), the project hosted a workshop for the children of the village of Pichelito II at the primary school, with the intention of sharing project findings, stimulate interest in archaeology, as well as to develop bonds of trust between the youngest members of the community and the project. The activity consisted of providing brief explanations about the ceramics, shell and faunal remains, museum objects and archaeological heritage developments resulting from the project's investigations, the importance of photography in archaeology, as well as conducting a hands-on activity on archaeological drawing.