Sharing here a really great letter from on of our Mayanist friends and contributor to The Blog. I am sure most of you will enjoy her news as much as I do, but I do want to say that I started with memories of our trip to Mayaland in 1998 tracking Mandy’s route through the countryside and we covered so much that it would take a day to sort it all out and do it justice… Ended on another note….
Hey Ruth,
…Have to mention that I had a treat this evening. There is a retired professor, archeologist, and editor of National Geographic magazine who likes north or Asheville -maybe 30 miles or so in Barnardsville. He is president of the Center for Mayan research. Occassionally he publishes articles in the Asheville Citizen Times.
Yesterday, Carl saw a little notice in the paper that George Stuart was going to give a free lecture at the Weaverville public library this evening at 7 pm. So we went and invited a friend. There were probably 75 people there, and not enough seats for everyone. A lot of people stood or sat on the floor as he showed many slides of all the places we have visited in this life.
He showed us a slide of the newly reconstructed jade mask of Pacal Votan. Apparently a few fragments were not included in the first attempt so the mask was disassembled and reassembled with all of the fragments placed. It was quite beautiful. He also showed a replica of one of the masks that was found underneath the tomb. He said the heads (one was Pacal as a youth and the other was a portrait of him as as an older man) had been broken off from their places in a portrait gallery - I guess upon his death.
Dr. Stuart also showed us textiles and a replica of a chocolate pot. Can't recount the whole time here, but it was very enjoyable and informative. He seems like a very nice man. His wife Melinda was there, and he told a little bit about how they lived with their young children in Chiapas while he was working and researching. His son David was about 8 in about 1974 and her said the kids were very bored, but David started drawing glyphs to have something to do, and soon he was able to put them together and begin to read them. By the time he was 18 he had published 30 scholarly papers on the glyphs (more than his dad had published). The two of them will have a new book out at the end of the year. Sorry, my mind can't remember the name of it right now.
Enough on that, but, it was a really good evening.
Talk to you later. Julie
Wow, Julie…you met the parents of the MacArthur Genius award given to their son for his work on cracking the Mayan code. He is one of the chief presenters in Nova’s recent program dedicated to the subject. He and Michael Coe presided and my dear friend in spirit, Linda Schele, spoke of her love and affection for David Stuart and how she encouraged him with his work. She was dead by the time he received the award.
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