David Michael Pendergast, FRSC (born 1934) is an American archaeologist, and is most famous for his work at Altun Ha and Lamanai, Belize.
He began excavations as field director of the Royal Ontario Museum’s Altun Ha Expedition in British Honduras in 1964.
In his excavations of Structure B4 he discovered several tombs, one of which was famously called the Sun God’s Tomb [1] which yielded the Kinich Ahaw Jade Head which is the single largest piece of carved jade in Mesoamerica[2][3] and a national symbol of Belize.
Between 1974 and 1986, Pendergast directed the archaeological research projects at Lamanai, Belize, constructing the site’s chronology.
[6] From 1989-1993, Pendergast served on the editorial board of Ancient Mesoamerica, in 1992 as the Editor Designate of Latin American Antiquity, which he edited from 1993-1996, and from 1996-1999 served as Vice President of Collections and Research at ROM.
He currently serves as the Adjunct Curator of the Ancient Americas at the Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art, Curator Emeritus at ROM, and is an Honorary Senior Research Associate at the Institute of Archaeology at University College of London.
Fellow, Royal Society of Canada (Elected 1992) 1960 Distribution of metal artifacts in prehispanic Mesoamerica.
1969 Altun Ha, British Honduras (Belize): The Sun God’s Tomb.
1970 A. H. Anderson’s Excavations at Rio Frio Cave E, British Honduras (Belize).
1976 Altun Ha: A Guidebook to the Ancient Maya Ruins (Second Edition, Revised).
Center for Maya Research, Washington, D.C. 1990 Excavations at Altun Ha, Belize, 1964-1970, Volume 3.
2002 "Temporal change, social structure and diet in the Altun Ha Maya" (third author with Christine White and Fred J. Longstaffe).
2006 Reconstructing the Past: Studies in Mesoamerican and Central American Prehistory, edited by David M. Pendergast and Anthony P. Andrews.
1990 "Engineering Problems in Ancient Maya Architecture: Past, Present, and Future."
Environmental Geology and Water Sciences 16(1):67-73 1995 "Looting the Maya World: The Other Losers."
2002 "The Houses in Which They Dwelt: Excavation and Dating of Taino Wooden Structures at Los Buchillones, Cuba."
(first author with Elizabeth Graham, Jorge Calvera R., and Juan Jardines M.) Journal of Wetland Archaeology 2:61-75.
In Traditional Storytelling Today: An International Sourcebook, edited by Margaret Read MacDonald, pp.