2005 Spring - Maya Exploration Center

MAYA EXPLORATION CENTERSPRING 2005A RCHAEOM AYAThe Newsletter of Maya Exploration CenterIn This Issue:• Junglecasts and theGringo Collapse• Chabot Space andScience Center’s“Maya Skies”• News from Palenque♦ Palenque’s FirstTheatre♦ A New Directorof INAH♦ Wooden ArtifactFound in Belize• A Review of theMaya Meetings atTexas• A MEC bookstore inPalenqueOn The Horizon:• Another May StudyAbroad Course forMissouri SouthernState University• May 23-June 2, 2005Private Tour for theMathematical Associationof America• 2nd Annual PalenqueThanksgiving Tour• NSF Chautauqua 2005www.mayaexploration.orgLost Worlds, Palenque on the History Channel“Lost Worlds: Palenque, Metropolisof the Maya” was broadcaston the History Channel onApril 4. The one-hour documentaryfocused on the innovativeresearch conducted by Maya ExplorationCenter. MEC scholarsEd Barnhart, Kirk French, AlonsoMendez, and Christopher Powellappeared on camera throughoutthe course of the film.This was the first time ChristopherPowell presented his theorieson Maya Sacred Geometry toa vast viewing audience, and thedocumentary succeeded in showcasingChristopher’s complex ideas in a veryaccessible way. It was also the first publicexplication of Alonso Mendez’s incrediblesolar observations in the Templeof the Sun. Kirk French, though erroneouslylabeled as an engineer, did a firstclassjob describing the intricacies ofPalenque’s water management features.Actor Domingo de la Torre of the Mayatheatre group Sna Jtz’ibajom did histroupe proud in his portrayal of a Mayaking in the process of bloodletting. Forthe record, Maya Exploration Centerdoes not believe Maya kings stabbed atthe genitals as the film indicated. Webelieve it was a more gentle, cautiousmovement….British archaeologist and author DavidDrew lent his screen-savvy presence tothe production. His colorful commentarieson the ballgame, Pakal’s court, andthe discovery of the tomb balanced thescientific information presented by MECarchaeologists. Stressing the violent na-French and the Filming Crew at the Picota Aqueductture of ancient Maya society, his narrativeadded heart-thumping drama to the scenario.The true highlights of the documentarywere the 3D reconstructions and fly-throughsexpertly rendered by the Atlantic Productionsgraphics team. Though the art work onthe building facades was overly speculative,the architectural details were superb. In afew short weeks, Atlantic Productionsachieved what Maya Exploration Center haswanted to see for years—a reconstructedPalenque brought to life in living color.Director Tom Whitter and his crew fromAtlantic Productions are to be credited with ajob well done. The documentary will airregularly throughout the summer on the HistoryChannel, and DVD’s of the broadcastshould be available through their website inthe future (www.atlanticproductions.tv).Work is currently underway to create versionsthat will air on History Channel Internationaland History Channel en Español.

PAGE 2ARCHAEOMAYALetter from the DirectorMEC BoardChairmanEdwin L. BarnhartSecretaryAngela I. MillimanTreasurerBlair DuncanOfficersFred BarnhartMark ChildKirk FrenchCharles C. WilliamsResearch AssociatesJames EckhardtKirk FrenchCarol KarasikAlonso MendezAlfonso MoralesWalter F. MorrisChristopher PowellMEC StaffDirectorEdwin L. BarnhartEditorsEdwin L. BarnhartCarol KarasikContact MECUnited States1901 Big Canyon DriveAustin, Texas 78746Phone: 512-350-3321MexicoEl PanchanApartado Postal 142Palenque, Chiapas 29960, MexicoPhone: 916-348-2896On the Webwww.mayaexploration.orgEmailinfo@mayaexploration.orgContents of this newsletter © 2005 MayaExploration Center, Inc.All rights reserved.What a greatstart to the year!MEC has alreadydoubled thenumber of studyabroad courseswe ran in 2004.The word is gettingout and our reputation nowprecedes us. Professors and tour organizersare contacting us based on therecommendations of our former programparticipants. A community isforming around MEC, and we’reproud to be their connection to theMaya World.2005 has also been a banner year forMEC in the news. In this currentnewsletter you can read about the HistoryChannel documentary featuringour research and the “junglecast” radiobroadcasts that are now floatingaround the internet. One of our studyabroad students returned home andwrote an article on MEC for Boston’sNatural Awakenings magazine. TheAustin edition of Natural Awakeningsis about to run the same article.Our presence in Palenque is alsogrowing. Plans to establish Palenque’sfirst bookstore in El Panchan are movingright along. Though we are still atthe very beginning of our capital campaign,the concept plan for our publicoutreach center is set and our quest forfunding is in full swing. The paperworkfor establishing MEC’s Mexicanbusiness affiliate, “Centro de ExploracionesMayas,” should be completed bythe summer solstice.For my part, I’m bracing myself for abusy summer. I write this letter fromAustin, where my wife Angela and Iare anxiously awaiting the mid-Maybirth of our second child. Then, familypriorities allowing, I’ll fly down to Meridato run our program for the MathematicalAssociation of America. (Youcan read more about the event in thisnewsletter.) The summer continues onwith me hop-scotching back and forthbetween Texas and Mexico, taking careof my growing family in betweenteaching three new Chautauquacourses for National Science Foundation.I’ll be stretched a bit thin, butMEC team members Kirk French, CarolKarasik, Alonso Mendez, and ChristopherPowell will be there to handleMEC’s growing activities with passionand professionalism. Thanks to all foryour continuing interest in and supportof Maya Exploration Center!Regards,CHAUTAUQUA SHORT COURSES FORCOLLEGE TEACHERS2005 FACULTY DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMTo see the National Science Foundation Chautauqua coursesoffered by Dr. Ed Barnhart visit www.ahautravel.comTo register for a course, visit www.chautauqua.pitt.edu

PAGE 3ARCHAEOMAYAMEC Study Abroad Programs in 2005Alonso Mendez with the SMSU students at TulumStudy abroad courses are really picking up at MayaExploration Center. Four courses have already beenconducted this year, and more are scheduled. In Januarywe led our first study abroad in Quintana Roo, achallenging Maya Mathematics course, organized forthe colleagues and students of South Minnesota StateUniversity’s Paul Enersen. During the weeklong lectures,participant Sherwin Skar made an important discovery:how to add, subtract, multiply, and divide usingMaya bar and dot numerals! Skar and Ed Barnhartplan to present the method in a forthcoming article.Our team returned to Chiapas for MEC’s secondcourse, organized for Professor Daisy McCoy of LyndonState College (Vermont). Her group was a pleasure toLyndon State students entering the Yaxchilan Labyrinthteach and some of the most adventurous students we’vehad yet. Participant Elisabeth Taylor returned homeand wrote an article about her experience for the Apriledition of Boston’s Natural Awakenings magazine, referringto the course as a “healing journey.”In March, MEC had its first course overlap. WhileAlonso Mendez and Christopher Powell taught ProfessorRick Warner’s 18 students from Wabash College(Indiana) in Chiapas, Ed Barnhart headed up toQuintana Roo to meet Professor Isabelle Champlin andher students from University of Pittsburgh at Bradford.In addition to visits to the ruins of Quintana Roo, hergroup also got the opportunity to spend a day in themodern Maya village of Ek Balam meeting its residentsand learning about their daily life. Professor Champlinis now the first professor to bring a group of studentsfor a second year and says she looks forward to makingMEC courses an annual offering through her AnthropologyDepartment.U. of Pitt Student Savannah Klunder in Ek BalamProfessors Sam Claussen and Conrad Gubera of MissouriSouthern State University are bringing classes fora second time this May and have organized scholarshipsso that all of their students can attend. They alsoplan to make courses with MEC an annual offering atMSSU.The climax of MEC’s scholastic year will be our upcomingprogram for the Mathematical Association ofAmerica. From May 23 to June 2, MEC will be hosting28 college math professors from all over the US on a tripfrom Merida to Chiapas. The days will be dedicated tosite visits, and evenings to a variety of presentations onMaya mathematics as seen through calendars, architecture,and hieroglyphic texts. MEC is looking forward tothe kind of intellectual breakthroughs “think tanks” likethese can produce.You can learn more about this special MAA trip by visitingwww.maa.org/prep/mexico/Mmain.html.

PAGE 5The 2005 Maya Meetings at TexasARCHAEOMAYAMEC colleague Alonso Mendez traveled to Austin this lastMarch to attended the Maya Meetings at Texas. The followingis his review of the meetings.A rare blend of groundbreaking scholarship and unbridledpassion are hallmarks of The Maya Meetings, heldevery March in Austin, Texas. This year, deep friendshipsand personal memories were added to the mix. Hosted byfamed epigrapher Dr. David Stuart, the 29 th annual meetingdrew the largest crowds since the death of its founderand guiding light, Dr. Linda Schele. Participants, eager toattend the lectures and workshops, were also there tohonor ceramics expert Justin Kerr, and to celebrate therecent appointment of David Stuart to the Linda ScheleChair of Mesoamerican Art and Writing.A tangible air of excitement filled the auditorium asscholars and students waited to hear about the latest discoveriesin the field. And once again, The Maya Meetingslived up to its reputation as a major arena for new interpretationsof Mesoamerican art, iconography, and writingsystems.The three-day Hieroglyphic Forum brought together aformidable panel of archaeologists and epigraphers todiscuss ancient Maya ceramics. Potsherds have alwaysplayed a central role in piecing together history. As worksof art, painted ceramics also tell us about the culture.Dr. Mary Miller, Professor of Art History at Yale University,took the audience on a provocative tour of muraland ceramic painting. “What does art tell us that writingcannot?” she asked. Concentrating on the human figure,Dr. Miller viewed the depiction of action in Maya art as areflection of Maya concepts of time and space.Focusing on technique, Steven Houston presented adetailed description of Maya colors, their use in painting,and their specific hieroglyphic names. Houston’s surveyof new methods for color analysis provided a solid scientificbasis for students studying painted ceramics.Recently excavated hieroglyphic texts are crucial to archaeologistFederico Fahsen’s understanding of Cancuen.Located near the headwaters of the Rio Pasión, the cityonce controlled the flow of trade goods and is now yieldingimportant information about political alliances duringthe Late Terminal Classic Period (850-900AD) in northernGuatemala.Continuing the odyssey of discovery, Dr. Nicolai Grubediscussed his current archaeological work in the CalakmulBiosphere Preserve of Campeche, Mexico. The latestpottery found at sites dominated by Calakmul displaya surprising variety of individual styles. Greaterartistic freedom went hand in hand with political independence,according to Dr. Grube.The Stuarts and Taubes at the Maya MeetingsPre-Columbian art and religion was the topic of Dr.Karl Taube’s thrilling presentation on the beautiful muralsrecently uncovered at the pre-Classic site of SanBartolo, Guatemala. After years of studying images ofthe Corn God, Taube was visibly moved as he describedhis first glimpse of the murals, which containthe earliest portrait of the Corn God yet found. Masterpiecesin style and subject matter, the San Bartolo muralsrepresent one of the greatest finds in Maya archaeology.Photographer Justin Kerr’s keynote lecture, “Roundand Round We Go,” summarized the extraordinarybreakthroughs in hieroglyphic decipherment made duringthe 1970’s, when Kerr developed the rollout camera.Kerr’s invention made it possible to produce flat picturesof the images painted on round ceramic vessels.His vast collection of rollout photographs (availablethrough the FAMSI web site) has become an invaluableresource for researchers studying the complex sceneson Maya pots. His expertise was evident in the easewith which he identified details that most viewers seldomperceive.Kerr ended his talk by reading a passage from his personaljournal about a curing ceremony held for LindaSchele shortly before her death. Kerr received a standingovation as David Schele and David Stuart presentedhim with the first Linda Schele Award for OutstandingContributions to the Study of Mesoamerican Art andCulture.

PAGE 6News from PalenquePalenque’s First Theatre Long overdue, Palenquehas its first theatre. Built on the groundsof Hotel Kin Ha, the dinner theatre offers agrand performance space. Designed to holdover 500 spectators, the theatre is circular,with two floors of tables surrounding a centralstage. In the middle of the stage rises aliving ceiba tree (the Maya “world tree”).Trap doors in the stage floor will allow actorsto emerge from the trees roots. For now, theKin Ha plans to run performances depictingepisodes from the Maya epic, Popol Vuh. Asattendance grows, so will the theatre’s repertoire.Kudos to the owners of Kin Ha forgiving Palenque this much-needed culturalvenue.New Director of INAH In early April, LucianoCedillo assumed the position of NationalDirector of INAH, replacing Sergio Raul Arroyoin the post. Cedillo, who received Mexico’sOrder of the Polar Star Award in 2003for his achievements in INAH’s RestorationDepartment, announced that he would workto strengthen INAH’s relations withCONACULTA and to reform the laws protectingMexico’s pre-Columbian and colonialartifacts. When asked about outgoing DirectorArroyo’s decision to allow Wal-Mart tobuild within the ruins of Teotihuacan, Cedillosaid he would try to revise federal lawsin order to better protect archaeologicalzones from future intrusions.Wooden Artifact Found While investigatingancient salt production workshops along thecoastal lagoons of Belize, Louisiana StateUniversity archaeologists made a very rarediscovery. Among the typical assemblage ofpottery, stone tools, and occupational refusethey found the remains of a 1300-year-oldcanoe paddle. In over a century of Mayaarchaeology, this is one of only a handful ofintact wooden objects ever discovered. Therain forest environment usually reduces organicartifacts into little more than stains.Project Director Heather McKillop’s discoverygives hope that the soils in the regionwhere she is working may yield more rareobjects from the Classic Period.Chabot’s “Maya Skies” ProjectThe Chabot Space and ScienceCenter in Oakland, California, hasinvited MEC Director Ed Barnhartto serve as a consultant on an excitingnew project called “MayaSkies.” The full-dome planetariumshow will teach elementary andjunior high school students abouthow the ancient Maya viewed thenight sky. Using the latest computertechnology and graphics, the25-minute presentation will featurecelestial observations made fromChichen Itza and Palenque.Dr. Barnhart will advise theChabot staff on Maya cultural contentand, of course, archaeoastronomy.The full-domeformat, with its ability to set theARCHAEOMAYAsky in motion, should be capable ofillustrating the brilliant theories presentedby Dr. Linda Schele andDavid Freidel in Maya Cosmos. SoonBay Area residents will be learningabout the beauty of the Maya creationstory as played out in the movementsof the stars and the MilkyWay.MEC Bookstore Plans in PalenquePlans are in the works for aMaya Exploration Center bookstorein Palenque. Currently,Palenque has no bookstores, muchless English language reading materialsfor international visitors.MEC wants to fill that void by establishinga small bookstore in ElPanchan. Chato Morales, owner ofEl Panchan Cabañas and RestaurantDon Muchos, has agreed to letMEC transform his front receptionarea into a retail space. With theassistance of John Bloebaum, retiredbookseller from Portland, Oregon,MEC has spent the last year choosingappropriate books and arrangingshipping routes. After workingfor over 20 years at Powell’s Books,John retired in 2004 and came toPalenque looking for new opportunities.There he met MEC and offeredto help develop our bookstoreplans. John’s first five boxes ofbooks are currently with Texas borderbrokers and should be shippedto Palenque by mid-May. Remodelingof El Panchan’s 10’x20’ receptionspace is set to begin this June. WithJohn’s assistance, the Maya ExplorationCenter Bookstore should beoffering books about the Maya bythis fall.

PAGE 7The MEC Center Plans in PalenqueMEC’s mission to build a public outreach center in Palenqueneeds your support. The appropriate site for building has beenfound and agreements to purchase it are in place. With the currentrate of growth in Palenque, MEC must act quickly to acquire theproperty. The initial land purchase, for one hectare along the roadto the ruins, requires $US100,000. MEC is currently seeking individual,corporate, and foundation support for this purchase. Whilelarge donations are certainly invited, smaller contributions for thiscapital campaign are most welcome.Please contact edbarnhart@mayaexploration.org to get a copy ofthe full proposal and concept plan.ARCHAEOMAYAWhy Donate to MEC ?If you’re interested in the search forthe lost knowledge of the ancients, youshould support Maya Exploration Center.MEC is at the forefront of researchthat is making a real difference in ourunderstanding of the ancient Maya. Inaddition, our education programs encouragestudents to step away fromclassrooms and into to the ruins to seefor themselves.Our education programs are enrichedby current research and, in turn, ongoingresearch is supported through thefunds raised through our education programs.Support MEC’s non-profit organizationtoday and help us carve newpaths between the ancient Maya andmodern public awareness.Thanks to Everyone Who Has Donated to MEC This Winter and SpringLynn Kirk • Nicco Mele • Paul and Dixie EnersenDonate to Maya Exploration CenterYour support is crucial. Please help us to continue to do this important research. Donate today.Amount Donated:Method of PaymentCheckVisaMasterCardNameAddressPhoneMaya Exploration Center, Inc., is a501(c)(3), Texas Non-Profit Corporation.Your donations are tax deductible.Credit Card #Exp. dateSignaturePlease mail donations to: Maya Exploration Center, 1901 Big Canyon Drive, Austin, Texas 78746Credit Card Donations can also be made on our website: www.mayaexploration.org/support_donate.php