SAN ANTONIO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Please replace the caption for release dated March 28, 2016 with the accompanying corrected caption and photo credit.
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WORLD’S LEADING AUTHORITY ON MAYAN HIEROGLYPHS MAKES FIRST PUBLIC APPEARANCE AT THE WITTE MUSEUM
Dr. David Stuart to deliver keynote address at Texas Trailblazers Luncheon
The Witte Museum is proud to announce the world’s leading authority on Mayan hieroglyphs and art, Dr. David Stuart, as the keynote speaker of the 5th Annual Witte Museum Texas Trailblazers Luncheon on April 12, 2016. The event marks Dr. Stuart’s first appearance at the Witte, during which he intends to share his insights about the translation and interpretation of Mayan hieroglyphic writing. The event takes place in the museum’s new Mays Family Center for exhibitions and special events and builds further excitement for the premiere of the center’s first exhibition: Maya: Hidden Worlds Revealed.
For centuries, scholars considered Mayan hieroglyphs and calendars too complex to understand. Dr. Stuart, who is now a professor of Mesoamerican Art at the University of Texas at Austin, began deciphering Mayan hieroglyphs at the age of 10, and delivered his first scholarly paper on Mayan glyphs at the age of 12. At age 18, Stuart became the youngest person to ever receive a MacArthur Fellowship, popularly known as the “Genius Award,” to further his groundbreaking studies into cracking the Maya code.
David Stuart’s expertise on the structure and content of Maya hieroglyphic writing were highlighted in the award-winning PBS documentary film "Cracking the Maya Code.” The documentary details his travels to the remote jungles of southern Mexico and Central America to investigate how the code was broken and what Maya writings now reveal.
“There was an artistry and a playfulness that was as much a part of the system as the recording of language. So, visually it was complicated, but once you organized that visual material into the system that existed, it made perfect sense and you could predict things. You could really crack the code that way,” said Stuart in the film.
“Dr. Stuart’s keynote address detailing his compelling breakthroughs in decoding Mayan hieroglyphics is the perfect lead-in to the highly anticipated exhibition, Maya: Hidden Worlds Revealed,” said Witte President and CEO Marise McDermott. The exhibit, which opens to the public on May 14, is the biggest traveling exhibition in the United States featuring Mayan culture. The immersive exhibition enables visitors to experience the Mayan way of living and features the impact of the Maya on the world today.
The luncheon also honors Texas Trailblazers of the Year, Peggy and Lowry Mays, whose transformational gift to the Witte led to the construction of the building named for their family. For tickets or sponsorship information, visit www.wittemuseum.org.
Maya: Hidden Worlds Revealed is generously supported by the Orr Family Foundation, the City of San Antonio Department for Culture & Creative Development, and an anonymous donor. The Mind of the Maya Series is presented by the Orr Family Foundation.
About Maya: Hidden Worlds Revealed:
www.wittemuseum.org/MayaSA
#MayaSA
About David Stuart, Ph.D.
The son of archaeologist George E. Stuart and writer Gene S. Stuart, both of whom wrote extensively for the National Geographic Society, Stuart spent much of his childhood accompanying his parents on archaeological digs and expeditions in Mexico and Guatemala. David received his Ph.D. in Anthropology from Vanderbilt University in 1995, and taught at Harvard University for 11 years before arriving at the University of Texas at Austin, where he now teaches Mesoamerican Art and Writing.
About the Witte Museum
Founded in 1926, the Witte Museum is located on the banks of the San Antonio River in Brackenridge Park and is San Antonio’s premier museum promoting lifelong learning through innovative exhibition, programs and collections in natural history, science and South Texas heritage. The Witte hosts an average of 350,000 visitors each year, of which over 150,000 are school-aged children and 80,000 are free of general admission during weekly Free Tuesdays hours.
