Copyright © 2019, The San Diego Union-Tribune

He knows the secrets of the Maya

Archaeologist Dominique Rissolo
Archaeologist Dominique Rissolo
(K.C. Alfred)

Archaeologist Dominique Rissolo consulted for theNAT’s latest Maya exhibit

Dominique Rissolo has quite a fancy job title: archaeologist and project coordinator at the Center of Interdisciplinary Science for Art, Architecture and Archaeology at the Qualcomm Institute at UC San Diego.

What that boils down to is that Rissolo, 46, is an archeologist with an expertise in Maya culture. He currently serves as a consultant and spokesman for the San Diego Natural History Museum’s (theNAT) new exhibit, “Maya: Hidden Worlds Revealed.”

Rissolo will be giving a public lecture at the museum on Sept. 23.

The Scripps Ranch resident was raised in Atlanta and moved to San Diego in 1989 from Valencia, Calif., to study geological sciences at San Diego State University.

He’s since researched the Maya throughout Mexico and South America, specifically focusing on ancient ritual cave use.

Rissolo tells us about his adventurous life as an archaeologist.

Q: Please tell us about your work with the Maya civilization.

A: I’ve been conducting research in the Maya area for nearly 25 years. Much of that early period involved spending part of each year in a traditional Maya community. Maya archaeology is typically a collaborative enterprise, involving the archaeologist working closely with local stakeholders and shaping the research program together.

Dominique Rissolo — K.C. Alfred

Q: Do you still have contact with Maya people?

A: Of course. To be honest, when I’m in rural Quintana Roo (in southeastern Mexico), I don’t really think about people’s cultural identity; I just think of them as my friends and as the people with whom I work. An interesting thing happened to me after my first field season living in a small Maya village. In my mind’s eye, the men with whom I had been working in the field were these towering, imposing figures. It wasn’t until I got my photos developed back home (remember, this is before digital cameras) that I realized I was actually much, much taller than them! This speaks to the power of their presence and the kind of respect they command.

Q: What’s been your most memorable (or scary) research trip?

A: We’re in the water with crocodiles often enough, but the only time I’ve ever been truly nervous was when my colleagues and I ran out of drinking water in the middle of one of our occasional death marches. We were slogging through a remote and wild section of coastline, which we fondly refer to as the “Fire Swamp” (a reference to “The Princess Bride”). There were no “rodents of unusual size,” but hot, shin-deep, hyper-saline water covered the floor of this dismal, hurricane-ravaged forest in every direction. When it dawned on us that our water bottles were empty, we became uncharacteristically quiet and started wracking our brains for a solution. My buddy Jeffrey found a puddle of rainwater on top of a rock. We brushed away the dead leaves and mosquito larvae and busted out our filter. Tannic water never tasted so good. We eventually made it back to our canoe, but still had three days of paddling to go.

Q: What’s a common misconception about archaeologists?

A: Besides the whole dinosaur thing? Many people seem to think that archaeology is about objects, or artifacts. Digging things up. Studying them. Putting them on display. Archaeologists are far more interested in what those objects can tell us about the behaviors or activities involved in the production, distribution, use and discard of those objects. Imagine if crime scene investigators collected evidence for the sole purpose of filing it away and or putting it on a shelf. Of course, they’re tasked with reconstructing something that happened in the past. Just like archaeologists.

Q: Why should the general public be interested in the new Maya exhibit?

A: TheNAT is such an accessible museum in so many ways, and I love how this particular exhibition makes seemingly complex subjects, such as Maya calendrics and writing, intelligible and fun. Having “Maya: Hidden Worlds Revealed” at theNAT is especially meaningful since San Diego shares a border with a country that is home to a great number of Maya peoples.

Q: What is the best advice you ever received?

A: My father used to recite Rudyard Kipling’s “If” to me when I was boy. “If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs ...” It imparted on me the eternal value of patience and perseverance.


A: I’m not on Facebook or Twitter or Instagram or whatever. I guess that’s not what you would expect from an outgoing guy.

Q: Please describe your ideal San Diego weekend.

A: For our boys, it would involve swimming. For me, it would involve falling asleep next to a campfire in some secluded canyon deep in the heart of Anza-Borrego.

What I love about Scripps Ranch ...

It‘s dark and quiet at night. We love all the parks and canyons, but we wish residents would stop hiring people to indiscriminately “trim” or stump their mature and healthy trees. Scripps Ranch suffers from a perennial bad haircut.