Under the direction of Dr. Linda Schele, Mr. Matthew Looper will collect data for his doctoral dissertation. He will study the stelae erected between ca. 720 to 810 AD at the Guatemalan Mayan site of Quirigua. Stelae are large stone plaques with carved inscriptions and produced and erected by ruling kings to proclaim their victories and legitimize their power. They thus contain a wealth of political and historic information. The site of Quirigua covers approximately 4 square kilometers and contains a large number of such remains. With National Science Foundation support, Mr. Looper will study the Quirigua stelae and with a professional photographer make a detailed and complete record of them. Copies of all photographs will be given to the government of Guatemala and to the University of Texas at Austin where they will serve as a permanent archive and record available to all researchers. In recent years great strides have been made in decoding this previously unreadable language and the results have provided a wealth of information for archaeologists. Mr. Looper wishes to understand how the many Mayan states developed and Quirigua, because of its many stelae provides an excellent test case. Work done to date indicates that this small polity grew rapidly between ca. 720 and 810 AD and that a number of monumental buildings were erected during this period. The stelae appear to record this process and the wars which the Quirigua people fought and apparently won. Through analysis of the writing Mr. Looper hopes to gain insight into how this occurred. This research is important for several reasons. It will provide data in the form of high quality photographs which will be of value to many researchers. Mayan artifacts are often stolen for illicit sale and such a record is essential. The project will also serve to increase our understanding of how Mayan peoples developed state level organization in a difficult lowland tropical environment. Finally, it will assist in the training of a promising young scientist.
