Ian Graham

Archaeologist Class of June 1981
location icon Location
Cambridge, Massachusetts
age iconAge
58 at time of award
age iconDate Deceased
August 01, 2017
area of focus iconArea of Focus

About Ian's Work

Ian Graham is an archaeologist dedicated to the preservation and cataloguing of Maya relics.

Graham combines the study of Maya epigraphy and sculptural art with long-term field studies in Guatemala, British Honduras, western Honduras, Belize, and southern Mexico.  Since 1975, he has worked to compile an all-encompassing reference of hieroglyphic inscriptions on Maya sculpture that consists of photographs of carved surfaces, drawings, maps, and descriptive text.  He has published these documents in an ongoing series of folio volumes entitled the Corpus of Maya Hieroglyphic Inscriptions (co-author, 1975-2003).  Graham’s work has saved a fragile, written record from destruction and provided an invaluable resource for other archaeologists and scholars.  His additional books include Archaeological Explorations in El Peten, Guatemala (1967), The Art of Maya Hieroglyphic Writing (1971), and Alfred Maudsley and the Maya: A Biography (2002).

Biography

Graham is the founder and director of the Corpus of Maya Hieroglyphics Program at Harvard University’s Peabody Museum.  In 1969, he led a pilot project that would become the Corpus of Maya Hieroglyphics Program, and then joined the Peabody Museum in 1970.

Graham received a B.A. (1951) from the University of Dublin’s Trinity College.

Last updated January 1, 2005.

Published on June 1, 1981

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