We're delighted to offer three in-person workshop opportunities in 2024!
All workshops will be held in-person only at the Glickman Conference Center (located in Patton Hall - RLP, 1st floor), and limited to 50 individuals per session. Workshop fees include a printed workbook that will be provided at check-in the day of each workshop. Review descriptions of each workshop below.
To learn how to register, please visit our Registration Information page.
Workshop Descriptions
Workshop 1 - Introduction to Maya Hieroglyphic Writing
Day 1: Wednesday, January 10, 2024
10:00AM - 5:00pm CST &
Day 2: Thursday, January 11, 2024
9:00am - 5:00pm CST
Instructors: Danny Law and Mackenzie Walters
Fee: $110.00
This is a 2-day workshop open to all beginners and to other participants who would like a refresher course. Come learn how to read Maya inscriptions! Ancient Maya hieroglyphic texts recorded a range of topics and their decipherment opened up new avenues for understanding ancient Maya lives. This two-day workshop will provide an overview of ancient Maya hieroglyphic writing and get participants off to a running start in deciphering ancient Maya inscriptions for themselves. No prior experience is necessary.
**Please note: This 2-day workshop overlaps with the thematic workshops led by Dr. Zachary Hruby and Dr. David Stuart.
Workshop 2 - The Birth of K'awiil: Iconographic Inroads to Understanding the K'awiil-Maize God Complex
Wednesday, January 10th, 2024
10:00am - 5:00pm CST
Instructor: Zachary Hruby
Fee: $90.00
This 1-day workshop examines the Classic Maya deity K’awiil. Although clearly associated with lightning, the god has myriad other roles in Maya religion, including as a sort of maize deity. Specifically, the “Maize God-K’awiil” appears to be a combination of saurian lightning god and the tonsured Maize God. This workshop explores Olmec and Maya iconography to understand how and when K’awiil first appears in Mesoamerican art and why he seems to have such a close relationship with maize and maize agriculture. The workshop begins with a review of methods for studying Mesoamerican iconography and continues with an analysis of Formative maize symbolism and emblems of power in Olmec and early Maya art. Next, participants explore what is known about Maize God-K’awiil with an examination of Classic Maya scenes from monuments, pots, and capstones from the Northern Yucatan. The workshop includes a discussion of obsidian and flint eccentrics and representations of the deity in chipped stone, as well as a hands-on demonstration replicating a K’awiil eccentric using recently devised techniques for making them via indirect percussion. Finally, the workshop examines Postclassic and ethnohistoric evidence for K’awiil with special focus on the Dresden Codex, and concludes with readings and preliminary interpretations from ethnohistoric documents that discuss K’awiil.
Workshop 3 - Uk’ We’: Food in Ancient Maya Art and Writing
Thursday, January 11, 2024
9:00am - 5:00pm CST
Instructor: David Stuart
Fee: $90.00
This 1-day workshop offers an in-depth look at food, eating and drinking in elite Classic Maya society. We engage with the topic mostly through an examination of the ancient dishware of royal courts – drinking vessels, plates, bowls, etc. – and their design, imagery, and textual labels. Cacao (kakaw) and maize (waaj, ixi’m, etc.) are obvious topics of importance, but there are other foodstuffs and condiments as well, not so well-known or studied. The imagery and language of drinking (uk’) and eating (we’) offer important insights into Classic Maya subsistence, social networking, religious ideas, and in placing ceramics and related materials into a wider cultural context.
Event Links
In-Person Attendee Specific Information
