Happy to finally see the new Rockefeller Wing at The Met. The Maya stela from Piedras Negras, Guatemala, always impresses (looted from there in the 60s). One detail I love is the elegantly carved skeleton with a cigar, probably representing a firefly (exoskeleton and cigar light, of course).

My next book comes out in spring of 2026 from Princeton University Press: “The Four Heavens: A New History of the Ancient Maya.” More details on the way.

How archaeology is feeling the big pinch from the cut-off of federal funding. Tina Warriner’s ancient Maya DNA project is one of the many unfortunate victims.

Taylor Mitchell Brown@tmitchellbrown.bsky.social · last yr.

I spoke with several leading archaeologists to better understand the impact recent federal funding cuts will have on archaeology in the US. The future doesn’t look good. #NSF #NEH #archaeology #paleoanthropology #heritage New at @science.org 🏺🧪

Our new article on a painted Teotihuacan altar found far from home, at the Maya city of Tikal. doi.org/10.15184/aqy...

A Teotihuacan altar at Tikal, Guatemala: central Mexican ritual and elite interaction in the Maya Lowlands | Antiquity | Cambridge Core

A Teotihuacan altar at Tikal, Guatemala: central Mexican ritual and elite interaction in the Maya Lowlands - Volume 99 Issue 404

doi.org

Of course humans have loved avocados for thousands of years. The Maya named one of their festival months, Uniw, after avocados. A guacamole-fest every 365 days sounds like a damn good idea. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/07/s...

Humans Have Been Perfecting Avocados for 7,500 Years

Ancient peoples of Latin America saved the fleshy fruits from extinction and gradually made them tastier.

nytimes.com

The last Maya hieroglyphs. Copied ca. 1877, from a lost indigenous historical chronicle in Mani, Yucatán. The glyphs are dates, marking the k’atuns (20 year) periods of history. From the copy of the Codex Perez, now at the Princeton University Library.

Bad-ass duck. Also, Daffy’s self-image.

10 years ago students, staff, and faculty founded UT Antiquities Action, bringing awareness and activism re. cultural heritage to to the UT Austin campus and beyond. On Feb. 22 we'll commemorate a decade of education and advocacy at our sixth annual symposium. Join us! art.utexas.edu/events/2025-...

Antiquities Action's 6th Annual Symposium — Cultural Heritage in Conflict Zones: Protecting Antiquities During War

6th annual symposium of Antiquities Action, a group of students, faculty, and staff at the University of Texas at Austin working to raise awareness about the destruction, looting, and illicit traffick...

art.utexas.edu

Finally, an article on the decipherment of cuneiform that does justice to the many figures involved, the timeline, competition, and sheer philological grit. Fascinating and colourful synopsis of how we came to be able to read tablets from ancient Mesopotamia www.smithsonianmag.com/history/myst...

The Mystery of the World's Oldest Writing System Remained Unsolved Until Four Competitive Scholars Raced to Decipher It

In the 1850s, cuneiform was just a series of baffling scratches on clay, waiting to spill the secrets of the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia

smithsonianmag.com

Very proud of my students who did outstanding drawings of Maya texts for their first assignment. None had any background in this stuff two weeks ago. I’ve seen far worse in published articles!

“Cultural heritage.” Now there’s a red flag! Absolute bullshit sweeping over the NSF.

Darby Saxbe@darbysaxbe.bsky.social · 2y ago

🚨BREAKING. From a program officer at the National Science Foundation, a list of keywords that can cause a grant to be pulled. I will be sharing screenshots of these keywords along with a decision tree. Please share widely. This is a crisis for academic freedom & science.

Our article is coming out very soon in Antiquity, on an exciting find at the Maya site of Tikal (hint: foreign relations). Details to come!

Oligarchy (noun): A government of and by a few at the top, who exercise power for their own benefit. Their power and wealth increase as they make laws that favor themselves, manipulate financial markets, and create monopolies that put more wealth into their pockets.

I have 37 students in my Mesoamerican Writing Systems class. Holy crap (k’uhul ta’). Let’s go!

First drawing of a temple at Tikal, ca 1853. Earlier explorers Stephens and Catherwood (a better artist!) never penetrated the Petén region of Guatemala and Campeche, so their explorations completely missed many of the largest Maya sites, Tikal among them.

The Society of Antiquaries of London@antiquaries.bsky.social · 2y ago

Our collections hold some brilliantly crafted drawings of monuments and items, but there are also drawings done by those who may not have such a gifted hand, but we still love them!

RIP Jimmy Carter. The only president I ever personally met. Back in 1981 he and his sons were on a fishing trip in Mexico near Playa del Carmen, and they stopped at Coba to see the Maya ruins. My father and I were there too, and we all had lunch, talking Georgia archaeology. Amazing day.

Stopped a few days ago at the Maya site of Balamku, known for its well preserved temple facade, ca. 400-450 CE. The iconography shows 4 ancestral figures being reborn from cosmic mountains. Similar ideas of landscape and ancestry are found today in Maya communities in highland Guatemala & Mexico.

My new article is out, on the importance of naming in Maya and other early writing systems. Part of an excellent new book on Maya archaeology, art and history, in honor of my friend Steve Houston.

Waxaklajun Ubah K’awil, the ancient Maya ruler of the city we know today as Copan, Honduras. Crowned in 695 CE, captured and executed in 738. Image: portrait on Stela A, dedicated in 731.

One of my favorite Mexica (Aztec) sculptures. A mad puma, just waking up from a nap. Gotta love the whiskers. Museo Templo Mayor, CDMX.

An example of ancient Maya writing. What I’ve studied and worked to decipher over the last fifty(?!) years.

Bolo’s had enough with these cabinet picks.

Recently digitised, the remarkable 1577 Florentine Codex, in 10 volumes, 2,400 pages & thousands of hand-painted images, documents the language, culture, natural science & history of the Mexica and other Indigenous people of Mesoamérica. See full text at florentinecodex.getty.edu

“Many” archaeologists? I would say all. A firm consensus agrees that Graham Hancock and his ideas are bananas. This isn’t “gate-keeping,” just advocating for science and evidence. As an archaeologist, and alum (‘89) I’m frustrated to see this PAW article, but glad sane voices were also included.

Harrison Blackman@hblackman.bsky.social · 2y ago

For Princeton Alumni Weekly, I investigated the scientific furor over Netflix's popular "Ancient Apocalypse" documentary series, which many archaeologists assert promotes pseudoscience.

In addition to wearing my professor hat, I’m an author who aims to make ancient Mesoamerica far more accessible and known to the public. So, I’m now putting finishing touches my new book, The Ancient Maya: A New History, for Princeton U Press. A drudge now, but excited at the idea it’ll be out.

Brand new here, to the Bluesky. Quit Twitter last year. I’m often on the fence about using social media, but I hope this can be a inspiring, nurturing place. I’m an archaeology and art history prof at UTAustin, a specialist in the ancient Maya & Mesoamerica. I like to share ideas new and old.