From buried Maya cities to prehistoric southwestern cliff dwellings, the 2021 Flagstaff Festival of Science will explore “Stories in Stone” on September 17-26 in Flagstaff, Arizona. Archaeologist Jaime Awe, Ph.D., will lead off the free, 10-day adventure as he shares his zest for exploration, passion and in-depth research of the lasting grandeur of Maya civilization. Dr. Awe will illuminate audiences through his keynote presentation, “When Stones Speak: Decoding the Messages Embedded in Ancient Maya Monuments.” Sponsored by W. L. Gore & Associates, the event is scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 17, in Northern Arizona University’s Ardrey Auditorium.
Dr. Awe, Associate Professor of Anthropology at Northern Arizona University, Director of the Belize Valley Archaeological Reconnaissance Project and Emeritus member of the Belize Institute of Archaeology, will showcase exciting discoveries he and his team have made about life in ancient Maya cities hidden in the jungles of Belize. Through the use of LIDAR technology that revealed buried Maya structures and DNA studies on remains in newly discovered tombs, the team extracted clues about human conditions.
Dr. Awe has conducted archaeological fieldwork in every corner of Belize, and his research has touched on every facet of Maya civilization. He was recognized for his work with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Archaeological Institute of America.
“This year’s Festival of Science, whose theme is Stories in Stone, is a wonderful opportunity for me to share results of my long and ongoing research on Maya civilization, and on the significant information that is encoded in the monuments of the ancient Maya,” said Dr. Awe. “Maya monuments encode important information on how this fascinating civilization viewed their universe, and how they interacted socially, politically and ritually with their gods and peers.”