Maya Glyphs

Stephen Houston is an anthropologist, archaeologist, and epigrapher whose insightful interpretations of Mayan iconography and hieroglyphic inscriptions shed new light on the intellectual culture of Mesoamerican society and address fundamental questions about the role of writing in ancient civilizations. Houston draws on inscriptions and figural art to reconstruct the political and social structure of Mayan civilization, including the dynamics of royal court life and the role of religion. His interpretations of stylized representations of the human body demonstrate how displays of emotion were depicted and used by Mayan elites to reinforce their status within a hierarchical society. By considering Mayan script in the context of both ancient and modern civilizations, he has proposed new arguments, as well, about how writing systems function and how they originate, evolve, and expire. Houston s interdisciplinary approach brings into sharper focus the poetics and preoccupations of ancient Mayan texts and illuminates the relationship between histories recorded in hieroglyphic texts and those pieced together through archaeological evidence.