Gerardo Aldana, Ph.D.
(Prof. of Maya History, UC Santa Barbara)
FEATURED IN:
4.1 – The Mayan Conspiracy (2.17.12)
4.2 – The Doomsday Prophecies (2.17.12)
ABOUT:
EDUCATION: [1]
B.S.: University of California, Berkeley, Mechanical Engineering
M.S.: University of California, Irvine, Mechanical Engineering
A.M.: Harvard University, History of Science
Ph.D.: Harvard University, History of Science
RESEARCH INTERESTS: [1]
Maya hieroglyphic history
Mesoamerican art
Experimental archaeology
Science studies
Culture theory
Indigeneity
Gerardo Aldana is professor of Anthropology and Chicano Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is the author of The Apotheosis of Janaab Pakal and Tying Headbands or Venus Appearing as well as numerous articles including: “Solar Stelae and a Venus Window,” “Glyph G and the Yohualteuctin” and “On Deciphering Ancient Mesoamerican Foundational Texts: the challenges of a non-logos-based Creation narrative.”
Dr. Aldana’s academic intervention has been to introduce a history-of-science-based approach to the study of Ancient Mayan astronomy. Following methods developed to study modern and ancient Western Science, he investigates astronomical records relative to their historical, political, religious, and economic contexts in addition to reconstructing their internal logic and quantitative utility. Aldana has applied this method to the 819-Day Count at Palenque, the Lunar Series throughout the Maya region, solar event glyphs at Copan and even Glyphs G and F of the Supplementary Series. Currently, he is working on a historical unpacking of the Dresden Codex Venus Table.[2]
[1] http://www.chicst.ucsb.edu/people/gerardo-aldana
[2] http://www.mayaexploration.org/staff_aldana.php
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