This year’s symposium, titled “Monumental Landscapes: How the Maya Shaped Their World,” will examine the ways in which the ancient Maya altered their natural landscape to create monumental cities and communities. Recent research has dramatically enhanced our understanding of natural, political, and sacred landscapes in the Maya area. The invited scholars have explored this topic from different regions and perspectives, across the lowlands of Belize and Guatemala to the Guatemalan highlands.
The goal of this symposium is to showcase some of the most recent research in the Maya region that helps us examine and understand an array of topics such as early monumental construction, the development of kingship, the formation of complex political landscapes, and the role of sacred landscapes in the ancient Maya world. New texts, new analytical techniques, and new discoveries discussed in these presentations will help us appreciate how complex and dynamic Maya monumental landscapes were.
To that end, we have assembled a wonderful group of scholars in Maya archaeology whose different fields of expertise will allow us to muster as diverse an array of evidence as possible. Given how rare of an accomplishment such a consortium is, please JOIN US!
Speakers
"Introduction to the Maya" -- Evan Parker
"Tour of the Art of the Americas Collection" -- Rachel Horowitz
"Engaging K-12 Classrooms with Resources on the Maya" -- Mélanie Forné
"Crafting Lessons on the Maya" -- Brooke Grant
"Tour of the Art of the Americas Collection" -- Marc Zender
"13,000 Years of Tipping Points and Phase Shifts: Cultural Change and Landscape Transformation in the Evolution of the Río Blanco Valley of Southern Belize" -- Keith Prufer
"The Natural and Constructed Landscape of Salinas de los Nueve Cerros, Guatemala" -- Brent Woodfill
"Monumentalism and Sociopolitical Development at the Preclassic Maya Site of Pacbitun, Belize" -- Terry Powis, George Micheletti, Kaitlin Crow, Sheldon Skaggs
"Early Monumental Constructions in the Ceibal Region, Guatemala" -- Takeshi Inomata
"Shifting Landscapes: Navigating Through Kaminaljuyu's Political Scenery" -- Barbara Arroyo
"All the World's a Stage: The Built Environment of Chan Chich, Belize" -- Brett Houk
"From E-Groups and Causeways to Palaces and Tombs: The Changing Blueprints of Maya States in the Holmul Region" -- Francisco Estrada-Belli
"Landscapes of Warfare, Détente, and Trade in the Maya West" -- Charles Golden and Andrew Scherer
"On the Back of the Turtle: Animating Landscapes and Generating Power during the Maya New Year" -- Eleanor Harrison-Buck
"Architecture in the Underworld: Ancient Maya Caves as Built Environments" -- Holley Moyes
"Ritual Landscapes and the Development of Kingship in the Mopan Valley, Belize" -- M. Kathryn Brown
"Monumental and Sacred Geography as Economic Strategy: The Meteoric Rise and Violent Collapse of Cancuen and Its Implications" -- Arthur Demarest
"Introduction to the Ch'orti' Maya Language" -- Jim Dugan
"LiDAR: The Future of Lowland Maya Archaeology" -- Francisco Estrada-Belli and Thomas Garrison
"Uwitzil uk'uhuul: Sacred Landscapes of the Holmul Region" -- Alexandre Tokovinine Marc Zender
"Monumental Landscapes in the Olmec Heartland" -- Christopher Pool