Maya Archaeologist

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University of Oklahoma Press, 1963 - History - 284 pages

Maya Archaeologist is an autobiographical account of explorations in Mayan ruins by J. Eric Thompson, one of the world’s foremost authorities on the Maya Indians of Mexico and Central America. Based on his expeditions from 1926 to 1936 - when conditions in the Maya area were very close to those in the years of the Conquest - this book is an intensely personal account of the investigation of the "stone cities," such as Uxmal, Chichén Itzá, Copán, Tikal, and Quirigua, as well as lively portraits of the archaeologists who probed this civilization - Morley, Gann, Ruppert, Vaillant, Roys, and many others.

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Contents

Digging at Chichen Itza
3
Merida Cathedral
8
Atlantean Figures Chichen Itza
27
A Find in the Temple of the Warriors
34
Coba Uxmal and Other Ruins
42
The Bishop and Mrs Proudie
50
Lubaantun British Honduras
71
following page
78
Uaxactun
158
Camps
158
Architectural Effort in a Large and a Small Ceremonial Center
158
Indoors and Outdoors
158
Copan Sculpture
158
Reconstructionary Drawings of Copan XVI Copan following page
158
Pottery
161
Archaeological Finds
168

Buildings at Chichen Itza
78
Coba
78
Uxmal
78
Maya and Their Students
78
San Antonio British Honduras
78
Masonry and Hieroglyphs
78
BallCourt Marker Lubaantun
85
Drummer
96
A Wild Goose Chase and Pusilha
100
Maya Ancient and Modern
118
Scenes from Hieroglyphic Codex Madrid
140
The Maggie B off Punta Gorda
149
The Cayo District British Honduras
151
Ceremonial Objects and BallCourt Marker
158
Loading Mules Benque Viejo
175
Cities of the Peten
183
On the Trail in the Forest
186
Animal Designs on Pottery
202
Copan Eastern Outpost
206
Hieroglyphs
212
San Jose and La Honradez
223
Part of Abandoned Kaxil Uinic
233
Pottery Vase San Jose
240
Across the Peninsula of Yucatan
252
Eccentric Flints
264
The Maya Area
272
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About the author (1963)

J. Eric S. Thompson, one of the world's foremost Maya scholars, is a veteran of archaeological field expeditions to southern Mexico and Central America. Associated with the Carnegie Institution of Washington for many years, he now lives near Cambridge, England, where he continues his investigations of Maya hieroglyphic writing. He is the author of A Catalog of Maya Hieroglyphs and Maya Hieroglyphic Writing: An Introduction, both invaluable tools for Mayanists. His other books include The Rise and Fall of Maya Civilization, the classic account of the prehistoric Mayas, and Maya Archaeologist, the delightful story of his archaeological adventures. All are published by the University of Oklahoma Press. Norman Hammond teaches archaeology at Boston University, and is the author of numerous books on the Maya and Mesoamerican archaeology.

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