The John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress announced the appointment of Simon Martin, an anthropologist and specialist in Maya hieroglyphic writing, as the 2019-2020 Jay I. Kislak Chair for the Study of the History and Cultures of the Early Americas. Martin will begin his tenure in November 2019.

Dr. Simon Martin, Associate Curator, American Section, Penn Museum.
By at least 1000 BCE the ancient Maya were building massive temple platforms in the midst of dispersed settlements, an approach to urbanism that persisted for almost two millennia. The low density of these settlements was uniquely suited to their rainforest environment, based on an “agro-urban” system in which foodstuffs and other important crops were produced within the heart of the city, right up to the edge of palaces and ceremonial plazas. Major questions remain about how this system came about and functioned through time. Dr. Simon Martin’s takes us on a tour of the jungle cities, exploring the origins, operation, and ultimate collapse of one of the world’s most sophisticated tropical civilizations.

Dr. Simon Martin, Associate Curator, American Section, Penn Museum
The Maya universe was populated by a variety of strange beasts and hybrid entities, some as actors in mythic narratives, others as symbolic representations of the sky, earth, and netherworld. However bizarre and complex their form, each had a coherent part to play in a wider religious system. One of the more energetic areas in Maya studies today is the effort to fathom their meanings and, by doing so, enter the imagination and consciousness of an ancient American people.

In a small, cluttered office at the University of Pennsylvania, a bespectacled scholar deciphers the writings of an ancient culture that has enthralled him for decades. This month, his work can be found in an academic journal titled Antiquity.

Lecture given by Dr. Simon Martin, Associate Curator and Keeper of Collections, American Section. Every spring and autumn equinox thousands of people gather at the base of "El Castillo"—the pyramid at the heart of one of the ancient America's most famous and evocative cities: Chichen Itza. They come to marvel at the skill of ancient astronomers in aligning their structure in such a way that the sun casts a diamond-back shadow of a giant serpent down one of its staircases. They also come to peer into the depths of the great sinkhole known as the "Well of Sacrifice," and wander through the expanses of the "Great Ballcourt," the largest in the New World. Chichen Itza is a truly remarkable place, but the story behind it has hardly been told. There is a hidden history to these ruins and the biggest secret of all is that this great Maya metropolis is not very Maya at all. To understand the city properly it will be necessary to debunk the myths and take a journey into the symbolism behind its every carved stone—revealing its true designers and their ancient purpose.