page_title: Arenal Prehistory Project
section_title: Introduction
hierarchical_section_title: Arenal Prehistory Project / Introduction
caption_attribution_description: English: Arenal Volcano from across Lake Arenal in Costa Rica.
context_page_description: The Arenal Prehistory Project was a multidisciplinary research effort taking place between 1984 and 1987 that uncovered evidence of human occupation from Paleoindian and Archaic times through four sedentary phases to the Spanish Conquest in the tropical rainforest of Northwest Costa Rica.
context_section_description: The Arenal Prehistory Project took place as the start of a larger, ongoing research effort in the area around Lake Arenal and Arenal Volcano in Guanacaste province, Costa Rica that has spanned from the early 1980s to the present day.  This particular area of Middle America was found to be especially suitable for archaeological study because its dominant geographical feature, the still-active Arenal Volcano, had erupted at least nine times in prehistory and provided for extraordinary site-preservation with stratified layers of tephra that facilitated the dating of uncovered discoveries.  Examination of the area affected by volcanic eruptions also allowed for further study of human adaptation to such events.
  Primary disciplinary fields involved in the research project were archeology, botany, and volcanology.  Funding was primarily granted by the National Science Foundation and the National Geographic Society.  The Project's publishing researchers include Payson Sheets, Brian McKee, Marilynn Mueller, and Mark Chenault of the University of Colorado, John Hoopes of the University of Kansas, William Melson of the Smithsonian Institution, Tom Sever of Stennis Space Center, and John Bradley of San Juan College.
caption: Arenal Volcano from across Lake Arenal
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