Center for Mesoamerican Studies

Famous Uaxactun Mural paintings, which were found in Structure B-XIII, have been well-known to Maya scholars for decades. They are considered as proof of Maya-Teotihuacan connection, and the importance of Uaxactun. On the other hand, the different scenes with musicians, nobles and warriors are a beautiful source of Maya iconography. Below these paintings, also a short inscription in form of calendric notation was found. This inscription was not analyzed due to imperfect drawing, which was made by Antonio Tejeda in 1930's. Fortunately, it was possible to create a new rendering of this inscription, thanks to preserved photographs of Carnegie Institute.

NEW ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS IN UAXACTUN: PRELIMINARY RESULTS FROM THE FIRST FIELD SEASON OF THE SAHI-UAXACTUN ARCHAEOLOGICAL PROYECT Investigated since the first years of archaeological exploration in Guatemala, the archaeological site of Uaxactún is visited once again. The Sahi-Uaxactún Archaeological Project of the Slovak Institute of Archaeology and History is a group effort composed of Slovakian, French, and Guatemalan researchers whose objective is to complete investigations previously undertaken at the site. During the first field season excavations were carried out in groups not investigated before or where the investigations were not intensive; these included Groups C, F, G, and H-North. In addition, restoration work at the ball court of Group A was undertaken, as well as a new mapping program. As we advance in our investigations, we hope to complement past work at the site, collaborating for a better understanding of the history of this important settlement, a fundamental pillar within the history of Maya archaeology. El Proyecto Arqueológico Uaxactun, propuesto por el Instituto Eslovaco de Arqueología e Historia (SAHI), es un proyecto científico internacional, cuyo objetivo principal es el de incrementar nuestro conocimiento sobre el sitio arqueológico de Uaxactun a través de sus áreas no exploradas. Como objetivo paralelo se pretende contribuir a la puesta en valor del sitio, previendo trabajos de restauración y conservación en el mismo. La iniciativa de realizar un proyecto arqueológico en el área Maya, surgió del Doctor Milan Kováč, miembro del SAHI

We present an integrated framework for multimedia access and analysis of ancient Maya epigraphic resources, which is developed as an interdisciplinary effort involving epigraphers and computer scientists. Our work includes several contributions: definition of consistent conventions to generate high-quality representations of Maya hieroglyphs from the three most valuable ancient codices, currently residing in European museums and institutions; a digital repository system for glyph annotation and management; as well as automatic glyph retrieval and classification methods. We study the combination of statistical Maya language models and shape representation within a hieroglyph retrieval system, the impact of applying language models extracted from different hieroglyphic resources on various data types, and the effect of shape representation choices for glyph classification. A novel Maya hieroglyph dataset is contributed, which can be used for shape analysis benchmarks, and also to study the ancient Maya writing system.

Famous Uaxactun Mural paintings, which were found in Structure B-XIII, have been wellknown to Maya scholars for decades. They are considered as proof of Maya-Teotihuacan connection, and the importance of Uaxactun. On the other hand, the different scenes with musicians, nobles and warriors are beautiful source of Maya iconography. Below these paintings, also a short inscription in form of calendric notation was found. This inscription was not analyzed due to imperfect drawing, which was made by Antonio Tejeda in 1930’s. Fortunately, it was possible to create a new rendering of this inscription, thanks to preserved photographs of Carnegie Institute.

During the second field season of the SAHI-UAXACTUN Archaeological Project, excavations were continued in areas already under investigation. Excavations were extended in Groups C, F, G, and H North with results that have changed our perception of the site. A program of epigraphy was added, which has reviewed already known texts from new points of view, and speleology, geodesy, and geophysical studies were also integrated. The restoration sub-project continued in Group H North, where two masks were treated, in addition to the consolidation of the principal access to this large platform. The project also extended its radius of action to neighboring groups of the site center, as well as sites in the periphery. ANTECEDENTES Conocido en el mundo académico desde las primeras décadas del Siglo XX, el sitio arqueológico Uaxactun ha sido fundamental en el desarrollo de los estudios Mayas. Localizado en el actual municipio de Flores, Departamento de Petén, el asentamiento prehispánico fue visitado por primera vez por Sylvanus G. Morley en 1916. Posteriormente, la Institución Carnegie iniciaría un programa de exploración arqueológica que se extendería desde 1921 hasta 1937. Sin embargo, el sitio permanecería en el abandono durante varias décadas, hasta que en 1974 David Pulleston realizara un reconocimiento de asentamientos entre Tikal y Uaxactun (Pulleston 1983) y trabajos de consolidación se llevaran a cabo en la Estructura E-VII-Sub bajo la dirección de Edwin Shook. Nueve años después, daría inicio el segundo proyecto de gran magnitud en el sitio, bajo la dirección del Dr.