January 20
Jade and Chocolate: Ancient Mesoamerican Trade Routes, with Mary Lou Ridinger
Long-time supporter and member of the IMS, and previous presenter, Mary Lou Ridinger solved a long-standing archaeological problem… Where did the ancient Maya get their jade? Now, she shares her research into the ancient Jade and Cacao trade routes used by the Maya!
View the recording here: Jade and Chocolate
Febuary 17
Making a Home in the Maya Lowlands: Lifestyles of the Early Middle Preclassic Period,
with Debra S. Walker, RPA While people have been living on Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula for more than 10,000 years, three millennia ago they started settling down on smaller bits of the landscape, eventually committing
to redefining “home” as a more permanent location. View the recording here: A Home in the Maya Lowlands
March 17
The Sea-Floor Survey of Ek Way Nal, Belize
with Heather McKillop, Louisiana State University
Ek Way Nal is a large underwater site, the remains of a former salt-making site, located in the marsh groves along the Caribbean coast of Belize.
View the recording here: Sea-Floor Survey of Ek Way Nal
April 21
Ancient Maya Geometry – The Shapes of Sacred Space, with Dr. Ed Barnhart
This lecture will present evidence of an underappreciated aspect of ancient Maya geometry knowledge. The ancient Maya repeatedly used a set of geometric proportions to build their homes, temples, and sculptural works of art.
View the recording here: Ancient Maya Geometry
May 19
Burning Rings of Fire: Early Maya Burnt Lime Product in the Northern Lowlands
with Kenneth Seligson, PhD
The Ancient Maya used burnt lime for everything. In this talk,
I discuss the identification of a fuel-efficient Pre-Colonial pit-kiln technology in the Northern Lowlands that has implications for ancient Maya resource management strategies.
View the recording here: Burning Rings of Fire
June 16
Digital Approaches to the Past, Present, and Future of Egmont Key, Florida
with Laura K. Harrison, Ph.D., Director, University of South Florida Access 3D Lab.
Egmont Key is a small island located where the Gulf of Mexico meets Tampa Bay. Because of its strategic location, the island played a significant role in Florida’s history.
View the recording here: The Future of Egmont Key
June 23
From the Ground Up – Preclassic Construction Methods, Excavations, and Floors in the Cival/Holmul Region,
with Kaitlin Ahern, Ph.D, Research Associate, University at Buffalo This lecture discusses construction material, lime plaster, and floors researched from various excavations from the Holmul region in northern Guatemala. Particular emphasis is placed on the ancient Maya sites of Cival and East Witzna. View the recording here:
Floors in the Cival/Holmul region
July 21
Dogma and the Peopling of the Americas
with D. Clark Wernecke
Beginning in the 1970s a trickle and later a torrent of new archaeology clearly showed that not only did the first people in the Americas not walk here but they were here much earlier than we had previously suspected.
View the recording here: Peopling of the Americas
Measure & Geometry in Ancient Maya Art & Architecture,
with V. Garth Norman, director of the Center for Izapan Research Garth Norman proposes a sophisticated and complex link between ancient art and architecture in the Middle East and in Mesoamerica.
View the recording here: Measure and Geometry
August 25
Rapa Nui: Easter Island’s Mighty Ancestors
with Georges Fery
The tragedy of Easter Island is wrapped in the “mind-made” faith of another world, with dreadful consequences. What happened to the people of this sixty-five-square mile island in the middle of a million square miles in the South Pacific, which is called by Easter Islanders Te Pito o Te Henua or “The End of the Land”.
View the recording here: Rapa Nui Easter Island
September 15
A History of Ancient Maya Ancestor Veneration and Political Authority in the Mopan Valley of Western Belize
with Kathryn Brown and Jason Yaeger Thanks to over six decades of concerted fieldwork by several long-term projects, we have excellent data for reconstructing he region’s political history.
View the recording here: History of Ancestor Veneration
October 20
The Cultivated Landscape of the Maya Forest: Exploring Solutions Past
with Dr. Anabel Ford
This presentation will show the links of contemporary Master Maya forest gardeners to the ancient Maya settlement patterns and promoted a new way of seeing ancient monuments under the canopy.
View the recording here: Cultivated Landscape of the Maya
November 17
The Happy Accident – Linda Schele Meets Palenque, Moi, and Merle
with Elaine Schele
Linda Schele’s cathartic visit to Palenque, Mexico in 1970 was transformative for her. She fell in love with the ancient ruins, the forest surrounding it, the people of Palenque and with
the art and architecture of the site. She spent the next two years obsessively studying its architecture and its jungle, drawingthe buildings and creating oil paintings of its rich foliage.
View the recording here: The Happy Accident
DECEMBER 8
IMS: A History: Part II, along with our Annual Membership Meeting
with Rick Slazyk and Keith Merwin
Happy 50th Birthday IMS! Many are unaware of just how important a venue the Institute of Maya Studies has been for scholars and researchers to share their research and discoveries with IMS members and Maya enthusiasts for 5 decades!
View the Dec. 8 presentation here: IMS History Part II
MAYA STUDIES 