The Mesoamerica Center-University of Texas at Austin

04/13/2026

Upcoming talk at UT by Margarita Cossich Vielman, on the Lienzos de Tlaxcala. Monday, April 27.

02/26/2026

Almost out! A new look at Maya history by David Stuart, written for the non-specialist.

The Four Heavens: A New History of the Ancient Maya.

02/02/2026

Here's more on the place name Maayha' and its connection to the animate earth. Part II of David Stuart's recent look at regional place names in ancient Maya art and writing.

by David Stuart In Part I of this series on Maya regional names, I suggested the reading of a certain hieroglyph in Classic sources as MAAY-HA’, meaning something like “Fawn Waters.” I also p…

12/18/2025

The concept of gratitude among the Aztecs. A short essay by Frances Karttunen, via Princeton University Press.

12/02/2025

Where does the name "Maya" come from? Can we track it in ancient texts from the Classic period? Maybe. Here's Part I of a series of essays on regional place names in the ancient Maya world.

by David Stuart, The University of Texas at Austin Today the word “Maya” stands as a broad cultural and archaeological label, but this wasn’t always the case. Before the late nine…

11/06/2025

More amazing archaeology at Aguada Fénix

Archaeologists have uncovered evidence of a ritual-based site that may have been built long before the rise of Maya rulers

11/05/2025

A new paper by John Justeson and Justin Lowry offers insights into the eclipse tables of the Dresden Codex. They show that over time Maya astronomers recognized a connection between the lunar calendar, the 260-day ritual calendar, and the ability to predict solar eclipses.

Mayan calendar specialists anticipated solar eclipses by correlating their occurrences with dates in their 260-day calendar.

10/29/2025

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/29/world/americas/teotihuacan-writing-mystery.html?smid=url-share

It is clear that the sprawling city of Teotihuacan near Mexico City was a major metropolis of the ancient world, but what do all those glyphs mean?

10/17/2025

Where did the sign for the 13th Maya day Ben come from? Once, long ago, it was an animated corn cob, the Maize God. Here's a new look at its long visual history and original meaning.

by David Stuart (The University of Texas at Austin) In this essay we take a close look at the thirteenth Maya day, called Ben (or Been) in Yucatan, or Aj in several highland Guatemalan calendars. T…

10/08/2025

The San Bartolo-Xultun Regional Archaeological Project is one of several research programs where UT's Mesoamerica Center has been actively involved over the years. Check out the project's website, including this wonderful video with colleagues Boris Beltrán and Heather Hurst.

Learning, • 8/8/25 The Murals of San Bartolo This 12-minute film presents the significance of the extraordinary murals at San Bartolo, introduces the site history, and summarizes recent discoveries fueling our current research.The Murals of San Bartolo© 2025, Proyecto Regional Arqueológico San B...

09/22/2025

Upcoming Talk at UT:

THE WORLD IN A BOX: AZTEC RULERSHIP AND ITS PRECEDENTS
Molly Bassett (Presenting) and Jeanette Peterson

Art History Lecture Series

Time: Monday, September 29, 5:00pm
Place: ART Building, 1.120

09/16/2025

September 15 is Jun Batz' in the highland Maya calendar, or what was Jun Chuwen (1 Chuen) in the ancient lowland day count. It was the patron day of artists, scribes, craftspeople, learners and creatives of all sorts. Chuwen was a name for the mythic howler monkey who was, among other things, a shaper of the first people. When depicted in Maya art, he is often shown holding an open book, writing and reading, a channeler of art and knowledge. (Drawing by David Stuart)