Merle Greene Robertson
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Merle Greene Robertson (b.1913) is an American artist, art historian, archaeologist, lecturer and Mayanist researcher, renowned for her extensive work towards the investigation and preservation of the art, iconography and writing of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization of Central America.
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[edit] Early life
Merle Greene Robertson was born 1913 in the small town of Miles City, Montana, moving to Great Falls as a small child. Her schooling was completed in Seattle, Washington.[1]
[edit] Contributions to study of the Maya
Initially trained as an artist, Robertson pioneered the technique of taking rubbings from Maya monumental sculptures and inscriptions, making several thousand of these over a career spanning four decades.[2] In many cases these rubbings have preserved features of the artworks which have since deteriorated or even disappeared, through the actions of the environment or looters. Robertson was also instrumental in intitiating the series of Mayanist conferences known as the Palenque Round Tables, which have produced some of the most significant breakthroughs in Maya research and the epigraphic decipherment of the ancient Maya script.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Barnhart (2003, p.1). In interview, Robertson describes Mile City [sic] of the time as "..a little cattle crossing in the road."
- ^ Some 2,000 of these rubbings are archived at the Tulane University's Latin American Library in New Orleans; see Gidwitz (2002), Olivera (1998). In a 2003 interview Robertson estimated that she has made "probably about four thousand" (Barnhart 2003, p.4).
[edit] References
- Barnhart, Ed (2003). Periodic Interview Series: Merle Greene Robertson (PDF). Resources. Maya Exploration Center. Retrieved on 2007-03-28.
- Coe, Michael D. (1992). Breaking the Maya Code. London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN 0-500-05061-9.
- Gidwitz, Tom (2002). "Doyenne of Mayanists". Archaeology 55 (3). ISSN 0003-8113.
- Olivera, Ruth (1998). Merle Greene Robertson Collection, 1966 - 1993. Latin American Library Manuscripts Collection. Tulane University. Retrieved on 2007-03-28.
[edit] External links
- Pre-Columbian Art Research Institute (PARI), founded by Robertson
- Merle Greene Robertson's Rubbings of Maya Sculpture, at Mesoweb. Contains online database of selected reproductions and some history.
- Merle Greene Robertson receives the Orden del Pop, video of award ceremony, Museo Popol Vuh (WMV format)
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