2010 Chautauqua Course - Ancient Maya

The Main Plaza at Copan, Honduras

The Ancient Maya Calendar, Astronomy, and 2012:

Copan, Quirigua, Kaminaljuyu, and Guatemala City

July 23-29, 2010

Instructor: Dr. Ed Barnhart

Course Description:

It has long been known that the ancient Maya of Mexico and Central America were highly skilled astronomers.  Have you ever wondered what evidence supports that assertion? This five-day tour and lecture series will investigate the observation methods developed by the Maya and what astronomy may have meant to them as a people.  

A visit to Copan , an ancient Maya ruins in the mountains of western Honduras, will be the corner stone experience course.  The group will stay comfortably in the nearby modern town of the same name.  More than most Classic Maya cities, Copan has an abundance of archaeoastronomical evidence, both in architectural forms and hieroglyphic texts.  Late in the city’s history they began to use the 819 calendrical cycle, a cycle used to track the movements of Jupiter and Saturn. The 819 cycle was first developed in Palenque , a contemporary Maya city located over 1000 miles away in Chiapas, Mexico.  Its implementation in Copan less than 20 years after its creation implies that there was a communication network among astronomers that spanned the ancient Maya world.  The hieroglyphic evidence behind these historical facts as well as the methods and motivations of the ancient Maya will be discussed in the ruins and during nightly lectures.  

The group will fly into Guatemala City, Guatemala where they will spend their first three nights and attend introductory lectures on Ancient Maya Civilization and the infamous “end of days” in 2012.  Day trips in Guatemala City will visit The National Anthropology Museum and what remains of Kaminaljuyu, the massive ancient Maya city underneath the foundations of modern Guatemala City.  The next few days will involve travel to remote ruins by day and lectures in the evenings.  Much of day three will be spend travelling through the mountains to Honduras , and day four will be dedicated to Copan. On the fourth day the group will cross the border back into Guatemala to visit one of Copan’s subordinate city’s, Quirigua.  Located in the middle of an enormous banana plantation, Quirigua contains the largest carved monuments ever produced by the Maya (some stand in excess of ten meters in height!).  The evening the group will arrive back to Guatemala City to attend the final dinner and closing ceremony.

Click for a more detailed itinerary 

For people interested in the following subjects: 

astronomy, mathematics, general sciences, architecture, geography, archaeology, anthropology, history, art history, sociology, philosophy 

and other related social sciences fields.

Prerequisites: 

Participants are encouraged to have at least some knowledge of Ancient Maya culture.  While not essential, this will help the discussions 

stay focused on Maya astronomy instead of on Maya history in general.  Ed Barnhart can recommend readings for those interested in 

learning more before the trip.  The tours will involve climbing pyramids in hot, humid weather.  Participants in weak physical condition 

are encouraged to build strength and stamina before the trip.

Click on this link for recommend readings for those interested in learning more before the trip.  
 

About your instructor:

Dr. Barnhart has worked in Mexico and Central America for the last twenty years as an archaeologist, an explorer, and an instructor.  During his four years as the student of Dr. Linda Schele (world renowned for finally breaking the Maya code of hieroglyphics in 1973) he developed a strong background in Maya hieroglyphics, iconography, and archaeoastronomy. During his graduate career, South American iconography and shamanism were also major foci of his studies.  From 1998 to 2000 he was the Director of the Palenque Mapping Project, an archaeological survey that discovered over 1000 new structures in the Maya ruins of Palenque.  He received his Ph.D. in Anthropology at The University of Texas at Austin in 2001 and is now the Director of the Maya Exploration Center, a non-profit research center based in Austin, Texas and Palenque, Chiapas, Mexico.  He and his team are currently investigating archaeoastronomy and ancient geometry in the ruins of Chiapas.  Visit www.mayaexploration.org for more information about Dr. Barnhart and the Maya Exploration Center.

Costs:

                       $1248.00  for double lodging  ($1200 if paying by check, not Paypal)

                       $1560.00 for single room lodging  ($1500 if paying by check, not Paypal)

Costs include:

Hotel lodging in Guatemala City and Copan, Honduras

Ground Transportation

All museum, tour, and park entry fees

Breakfasts and a box lunch at Quirigua

Border crossing fees

Final dinner in Guatemala City

Course notebook

Flights:

Participants are responsible for arranging their own flight reservations to and from Guatemala City.  Plan on arriving to  in the early afternoon on July 25 and departing the morning of July 31. Ahau Travel can arrange an extra nights lodging in Guatemala City for anyone who needs it.  Since participants come from all over the country, recommending a single flight is impossible.   As of Jan 2010, the average  flight to Guatemala City is running  about $500-700.

 

Costs do not include:

Airfare to/from Guatemala City

Most lunches and dinners

Tips for service providers (drivers, waiters, maid staff, etc.)

 

Hotels during the course:

Guatemala City - The Holiday Inn in Zone 9

Copan - The Hotel Marina

 

To apply for this course, you must:

 

 Step 1) Fill out an application through the 2010 Chautauqua Short Course Program at:

http://www.edb.utexas.edu/csme/

 The application is located on the left side of the home page

 

 Step 2) Send the $100 application fee to the Chautauqua Program as instructed on the application

 

Step 3) Send a deposit of $300 to Ahau Travel for the course travel package   

( This is so all the lodging and transportation can be reserved ahead of time)

Securing your place in the course in guaranteed with your deposit to Ahau Travel.

Balance payments will be due 30 days before the course.

 

Send your check to:

Ahau Travel

7301 RR 620 N

Suite 155 #284

Austin, Texas 78726

chautauqua@ahautravel.com

 

Or pay Ahau Travel with a credit card by Paypal.com with the button below

Copan ruler "18 Rabbit" from Stela A

      Detailed Itinerary for the 2010 Ancient Maya Course

Suggested Reading List

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