Graduate student Nicholas Puente (Archaeology, PhD Candidate) awarded a Beverly Sears Graduate Student Research Grant.听听This funding will听support his dissertation project which explores how ancient Maya peoples engaged with subterranean caves during a period of frequent droughts. Caves are doorways to the underworld realm of ancestors and deities who can be peitioned for rain during times of stress. The funds will support fieldwork at the archaeological site of Punta Laguna, where two caves will be mapped and surface artifacts collected to identify whether caves were used for petioning deities for rain.