Tikal, Peten, Guatemala. July 15, 2011. A Maya Archaeology Initiative-funded team headed by MAI board member Nina Neivens with well-known Guatemalan archaeologists Bernard Hermes and Diana Mendez Lee completed a month-long project to catalogue and store in archival containers thousands of diagnostic ceramics from the landmark excavations of the Proyecto Nacional Tikal in the area of the site known and Mundo Perdido in the 1980s.  The project was made possible thanks to two $2,000 donations by MAI sponsors. Since the 1980s excavations the ceramics had been moved and re-bagged in non-archival plastic bags and all accompanying information had since been lost. Worst even, many of the bags were rotting away strewing ceramics all around the warehouse to the point that the caretakers were considering finally disponsing of them as garbage. Instead, this has turned into a typological collection with thousands of unique ceramics stored in tyvek bags within plastic boxes clearly labeled for ease of access. “From now on, this will be a great resource for young local archaeologists to learn ceramic analysis with the best material ever excavated. It was a priviledge for me to handle them and to work next to Bernard Hermes who was the original excavator and ceramicist of this awesome collection” said Nina Neivens.  The MAI team wishes to thank the Direccion of Patrimonio Cultural and Tikal Park administrators for allowing and facilitating this work.