World of the Maya Symposium and Tour Program

Copán, sometimes called the “Athens of the New World” for the beauty of its stone sculpture and impressive architecture, has drawn explorers and researchers since Stevens and Catherwood’s groundbreaking visit in 1839 awakened the world to Mayan civilization. Now a World Heritage Site, Copán has been extensively studied and has played a primary role in our knowledge of the Maya.

In recent years, exciting new finds have been made here, including the Hunal Tomb, believed to be the burial place of the founder of the Copán Dynasty, and the Margarita Tomb, thought to hold the remains of his wife, both excavated by our Guest Speaker Robert Sharer. Recent excavations by Guest Speaker Ricardo Agurcia revealed the marvelous Oropendola Temple beneath Structure 16. There has also been important progress in preserving and deciphering Copán’s famous hieroglyphic stairway.

In recognition of these discoveries, we are very excited to return to Copán, site of our first Mayan program, to offer a three-day symposium with a remarkable panel of Mayanists who will address these discoveries and their implications. Our Guest Speakers provide an insider’s view as they escort us on in-depth excursions to the Copán ruins, then accompany us on a choice of four different post-symposium tours.

Copán Symposium

The symposium preceding our tours takes place in the ancient royal city of Copán, seat of power for 16 kings. This exquisite site has an overwhelming legacy of artistic achievement, including its intricately carved stelae and the monumental stairway that covers the entire western face of Temple 26, every block of it carved in hieroglyphic text. We make the most of Copán’s extraordinary treasury of art and architecture, interweaving presentations by our Guest Speakers with fascinating site visits, including access to areas of unfolding discovery not normally open to the public.

Symposium Tours

Each of these unique tours begins with the three-day World of the Maya symposium at Copán, then heads out to explore diverse, fascinating Mayan sites. Each tour is accompanied by one of our esteemed Guest Speakers, whose insights and expertise add greatly to our experience of the Mayan world.

Program Costs

Departures & Leaders

Our Guest Speakers

Dr. Robert Sharer received his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania and has conducted research in Central America for over 40 years, including long-term studies at Copán. In his most recent research, he directed the Early Copán Acropolis Program, excavating the royal acropolis to reveal the origin of the Copán state between 400 and 650 AD. He is the author of numerous books, including the definitive The Ancient Maya.

Ricardo Agurcia Fasquelle, the principal Honduran archaeologist at Copán, is the Director of the Oropendola Archaeological Project and Executive Director of the Copán Association. In 1989, he discovered the now-famous Rosalila Temple as he tunneled under Structure 16. With degrees from Duke and Tulane, he has taught at the National University of Honduras and is the author of Copán: A History Carved in Stone, the official guidebook to Copán, and the recently released Copán: Kingdom of the Sun.

Dr. Marc Zender is a lecturer on Anthropology at Harvard University and an Associate of the Corpus of Maya Hieroglyphic Inscriptions Program at Harvard’s Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology. He received his PhD from the University of Calgary and is well known for his expertise in Maya epigraphy, linguistics, and archaeology, having done research at numerous sites in Mexico, Belize, and Guatemala. Dr. Zender has lectured and written extensively and is co-author of the forthcoming Understanding Mayan Art.

Dr. Ellen Bell received her PhD from the University of Pennsylvania with a dissertation on Early Classic Ritual Deposits within the Copán Acropolis. An expert on Copán’s political and economic expansion during the Classic period, Dr. Bell was a key member of the Early Copán Acropolis Program from 1994 to 2004 and is currently co-Principal Investigator of the El Paraíso Archaeological Project and co-editor of the book Early Classic Copán.

Dr. Francisco Estrada-Belli received his PhD from Boston University, after which he was a lecturer at Harvard University and an assistant professor at Vanderbilt University. His find of a massive mask at Holmul that dates to as early as 200 BC indicates the origins of Maya civilization far precede the pre-Classic period. His discoveries were recently featured in a National Geographic TV special, Dawn of the Maya. He is the author of The First Maya Civilization: Ritual and Power before the Classic Period.

Dr. Loa Traxler, a Research Scientist in the American Section of the University of Pennsylvania Museum, focuses her research on the architectural evolution and sociopolitical organization of Classic Maya centers. Her recent excavations within the Copán acropolis to document its buried architecture revealed a series of ritual caches and elaborate tombs within the site’s royal complex.

Suggested Reading

Reading list, click here.