Mayan Epigraphy Group

Mayan Epigraphy Group
Name	Mayan Epigraphy Group
Type	Research collective
Founded	1980s
Headquarters	Guatemala City
Fields	Epigraphy, Archaeology, Linguistics
Key people	David Stuart; Linda Schele; Simon Martin

Mayan Epigraphy Group

The Mayan Epigraphy Group is an international collective of researchers focused on the decipherment and documentation of Classic and Postclassic Maya inscriptions. Drawing on comparative work across Guatemala, Mexico, Belize, Honduras, and El Salvador, the Group integrates approaches from specialists associated with institutions such as the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, the British Museum, the Smithsonian Institution, the University of Pennsylvania, and the National Museum of Anthropology (Mexico).

History and formation

Founded in the 1980s amid a surge of interest sparked by scholars like Tatiana Proskouriakoff, Alfredo López Austin, and J. Eric S. Thompson, the Group emerged from meetings that involved participants from the Carnegie Institution for Science, the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Cambridge, the University of Bonn, and the École pratique des hautes études. Early conferences included attendees from the American Anthropological Association and the International Congress of Americanists, and drew on field data from archaeological projects at Tikal, Palenque, Copán, Quiriguá, and Yaxchilan.

Research focus and methodologies

The Group emphasizes decipherment of hieroglyphic inscriptions through epigraphic analysis, paleography, and comparative linguistics, collaborating with experts in Yucatec Maya, K’iche’, Kaqchikel, Itza’, and Tzotzil. Methodologies combine epigrammatic cataloging used by J. A. García Payón, radiocarbon contexts from Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, iconographic comparisons following frameworks by Alfred Maudslay, and statistical analysis inspired by work at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History and the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement. Field epigraphy employs techniques refined in projects at Copán Archaeological Project, Proyecto Nacional Tikal, and the Proyecto Arqueológico Mirador, with photogrammetry informed by practices at the J. Paul Getty Museum and digital workflows developed alongside teams at Google Arts & Culture and the Digital Archaeological Record.

Major projects and publications

Major projects include comprehensive catalogs of stelae inscriptions from Tikal Stela 16, Quiriguá Stela E, and monuments at Copán Hieroglyphic Stairway, atlases of glyphic variants paralleling work in the Corpus of Maya Hieroglyphic Inscriptions from the Peabody Museum, and philological studies published in journals such as Ancient Mesoamerica, Latin American Antiquity, and Journal of Anthropological Archaeology. Notable publications produced by members and affiliate teams include monographs inspired by Linda Schele and Peter Mathews, collaborative volumes modeled after Simon Martin and David Stuart’s compilations, and technical reports disseminated through partners like the Map and Imagery Laboratory (University of Texas), the Mesoamerican Center at Berkeley, and the Carnegie Institution.

Collaborations and institutional affiliations

The Group maintains partnerships with universities and museums including the Harvard University, Yale University, University of California, Berkeley, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Museo Nacional de Antropología (Guatemala), and the Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología (Guatemala). Collaborative fieldwork has been coordinated with national programs such as the Instituto de Antropología e Historia de Guatemala, the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH), and international projects led from the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology and the Field Museum of Natural History. Grant and fellowship links include ties to the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Science Foundation, the Getty Foundation, and the Guggenheim Foundation.

Notable members and leadership

Key figures historically and presently associated with the Group include epigraphers and archaeologists such as David Stuart, Simon Martin, Linda Schele, Tatiana Proskouriakoff, J. Eric S. Thompson, Peter Mathews, Ian Graham, Grant D. Jones, Heather McKillop, Arlen F. Chase, Diane Z. Chase, William Fash, Merle Greene Robertson, Mary Ellen Miller, Lynn V. Foster, Karl Taube, John Graham, George Stuart, Eric von Euw, Nicholas Hellmuth, Stephen Houston, Alexandre Tokovinine, Geoffrey E. Braswell, Heather Lechtman, F. Kent Reilly III, Thomas Gann, Ralph L. Roys, Michael D. Coe, Richard Hansen, Ana María Reyna, Claude Diehl, Elizabeth P. Benson, David Freidel, Linda M. Schele, John E. Clark, Peter Schmidt, Barbara Fash, Carlos Navarrete, Sylvanus G. Morley, Rodolfo F. Acevedo, Adrián Recinos, and Alfred Tozzer.

Contributions to Maya decipherment and legacy

The Group’s cumulative work has advanced understanding of Maya calendrics, dynastic sequences, onomastics, and ritual actions, building on breakthroughs attributed to scholars such as Tatiana Proskouriakoff and J. Eric S. Thompson and subsequent refinements by David Stuart and Simon Martin. Their documentation efforts support conservation at sites like Tikal National Park, Palenque Archaeological Zone, Copán Ruins National Monument, and Caracol Archaeological Reserve, and feed digital repositories maintained by the Mesoweb community, the Maya Hieroglyphic Database Project, and academic presses at Duke University Press and University of Oklahoma Press. The Group’s legacy is reflected in training programs at the University of Pennsylvania, field schools run in partnership with the Instituto de Antropología e Historia de Guatemala, and curricular materials used by museums including the National Museum of the American Indian and the Museum of Natural History (New York).

Category:Mesoamerican studies